Volume One: Beyond the Mortal World

Chapter 001: A Cold Night on the Raft

　　Winter.

　　The waxing moon rises early; by the time it sets, dawn is near.

　　At this moment, the water town of Zhouzhuang is still shrouded in thick morning mist, with only a hazy outline of the riverside village visible.

　　On the riverbank, all is silent; the cold wind cuts like a knife.

　　In a crow’s nest atop a withered tree, the cold crows huddle together, occasionally letting out a harsh caw, especially jarring in the darkness.

　　Ethan Brooks stands on a small bamboo raft, his frostbitten little hands tightly gripping a ten-foot-long bamboo pole, drifting and swaying on the water, gliding toward the middle of the river.

　　On the bamboo raft behind him sits a woven bamboo fishing basket, a bamboo tube fishing lantern, and a set of fishing nets.

　　Splashes of water occasionally land on the raft, soaking his straw sandals, the icy water biting to the bone. When the cold wind blows, his thin, frail body shivers uncontrollably.

　　Ethan Brooks is the child of a poor fishing family in Zhouzhuang.

　　Life for fishing families is hard. The boat tax from the Gusu county yamen is already heavy, and with the constant extortion from jianghu gangs, it’s like two massive stones pressing down on the Su family, making it hard to breathe.

　　His parents go fishing on the big lake every day, leaving early and returning late, barely earning enough to feed their family of five.

　　Ethan Brooks is still a frail twelve-year-old boy, but already mature and sensible. He wants to take advantage of the pre-dawn hour—about an hour before sunrise—to catch some fish and shrimp in the river to sell for a few copper coins to help with household expenses.

　　When the bamboo raft reaches the middle of the river, he plunges the ten-foot bamboo pole deep into the muddy riverbed to anchor himself.

　　Ethan Brooks rubs his nearly frozen hands vigorously to warm himself up a bit. Rolling up his hemp sleeves, he pulls out a flint and some dry grass from his chest, striking it more than ten times before finally igniting a tuft of dry grass.

　　He quickly uses the dry grass to light the bamboo tube oil lamp on the raft, then uses a small stick to place the lamp at the edge of the raft, close to the water’s surface.

　　The light from the bamboo tube lamp is extremely dim, but in the quiet, misty river at night, it is the only source of illumination.

　　Fish and shrimp are attracted to light and are easily lured by open flames at night.

　　If you sprinkle some fish bait—like grass leaves, earthworms, or crumbs of cornbread—it naturally attracts even more fish and shrimp to feed.

　　“Luring fish with light” is a little trick fishermen use to catch fish at night, and it’s Ethan Brooks’s specialty.

　　After finishing these preparations, Ethan Brooks huddles in his thin hemp shirt, squatting on the cold, wet bamboo raft, holding a fishing net, patiently waiting for the fish to come.

　　There are plenty of small fish and shrimp in the river, but they’re worth very little.

　　Even if you haul a full basket of tiny fish and shrimp all the way to the west gate market in Gusu county, it only fetches two or three copper coins—barely enough for a day’s food for a fisherman.

　　What’s valuable are the big fish weighing several jin.

　　Near Zhouzhuang, in Lou County, there’s a deep lake over a hundred li wide called Dianshan Lake, with high winds and rough waves, famous for its large crucian carp.

　　A two-jin big fish can sell for five copper coins.

　　But such fish are usually eaten only by wealthy families and honored guests at inns in the county.

　　Fishermen in Zhouzhuang can’t bear to eat the big fish they catch.

　　They usually take them to Gusu county to sell for copper coins, which are then used to pay the boat tax. Whatever is left is exchanged for rice, salt, oil, and cloth, barely sustaining the family.

　　Besides that, the big lake also has three extremely rare delicacies: “silverback knife fish, snowflake stone fish, and red-tailed giant shrimp.”

　　Thinking of these three rare delicacies, Ethan Brooks feels a surge of excitement.

　　A single half-jin rare silverback knife fish, sold to the largest inn in Gusu county, “Tianying Inn,” can fetch a staggering five hundred copper coins—worth more than an entire boatload of ordinary fish.

　　Ethan Brooks often went with the fishermen to sell fish at Tianying Inn in the county, and got to know the inn’s errand boy, Sam. After several encounters, the two boys became close friends, so Ethan Brooks is familiar with the county’s fish market.

　　But these rare fish are extremely hard to catch. Even with hundreds of fishing boats on the lake each day, maybe only one or two will catch even a single one of the three delicacies.

　　Even veteran fishermen with decades of experience, using huge nets several zhang long in the deep lake, rarely catch a silverback knife fish.

　　If a fisherman is lucky enough to catch one, he’ll boast to all the fishermen in Zhouzhuang, eager for everyone’s praise and envy.

　　Unfortunately, only strong adult fishermen dare to take boats onto the big lake and cast large nets.

　　Ethan Brooks is still a boy, weak and lacking strength, so he doesn’t dare go onto the big lake. He can only paddle his small bamboo raft and fish in the calm river.

　　He envies those rare fish, but doesn’t dare to think too much about them.

　　Occasionally, he can catch a big crucian carp that has swum out of the lake into the small river.

　　However, the waterway from Zhouzhuang to Gusu county is a very busy river.