The man, who had been full of curiosity a moment ago, instantly took half a step back upon hearing about an arm-wrestle.
“I'm not stupid.”
With that, he hailed his companion to carry the next crate.
A burst of loud laughter immediately erupted from all around.
Ning Cang chuckled with a mock curse, carrying his fish knife back to the butchering rack.
The gray-winged ray was still lying across the rack, where two boatfolk were waiting for him to dismantle its wing bones.
“What's so funny? I could hear you all the way from the other side of the bridge.”
Zheng Azhu walked over holding a little boy just over two years old.
The child clutched an algae cake in his hands, dark green crumbs stuck around the corners of his mouth.
Behind her followed a little girl about five years old, who was also head down, nibbling on a cake.
Turning around and seeing the two children, Ning Cang's smile deepened.
Zheng Azhu led them up to An Youyu.
“The older one is Xiaoluo, and the younger one is Xiaoshi.”
She gave her daughter a gentle push on the back.
“Greet him.”
Ning Xiaoluo looked up.
“Little Uncle.”
With his mouth still stuffed with algae cake, Xiaoshi slurred along indistinctly, “Li'l... Unc'le.”
The two calls of “Little Uncle” came out so naturally that An Youyu actually froze for a moment.
Only then did he get a clear look at Xiaoluo's face.
Two rows of white tooth scars stretched across her left cheek, extending from below the cheekbone all the way down to her jaw. The deepest tooth hole sat right against the corner of her mouth, pulling the cheek flesh on that side slightly downward.
Xiaoluo pointed excitedly toward the public warehouse.
“Little Uncle, I heard them say that right after you said you'd turn in a thousand jin of fish, they came raining down from the sky with a big splash!”
“You're amazing!”
An Youyu opened his mouth.
He had meant to say the Fish Rain had nothing to do with him.
Yet meeting those bright, sparkling eyes, he swallowed the words back down.
Xiaoluo took it as confirmation and smiled even more happily.
The right corner of her mouth curled up high, but the left side barely moved at all.
An Youyu's gaze settled on those tooth scars.
“How did your face get hurt?”
“A sea wolf bit me.”
Xiaoluo reached up to touch it.
Zheng Azhu caught her hand and pulled it down.
“Don't scratch. I just put medicine on it.”
She brushed aside the stray hair around her daughter's scars.
“She got those the year A'Man went missing.”
“Ning Cang went out with the search and rescue ship to look for him. This girl was only three at the time, and she secretly crawled into an empty fish crate on the supply ship behind them, following along.”
“Not long after the ship reached that patch of sea, it ran into a residual tide, and the supply ship capsized.”
“By the time Ning Cang rushed back, that fish crate was still floating on the water, but a young sea wolf had already bitten down on her face.”
“She was lucky to survive. If that beast's teeth had closed just a little tighter, she would've been gone.”
Not far away, the fish knife in Ning Cang's hand paused for a moment.
Soon, it continued gliding along the ray's bones once more.
Zheng Azhu spoke no further.
Yet An Youyu understood most of it now.
The roots of a sea wolf's teeth harbored poison.
Even if the wound healed, the poison would remain dormant deep within the old scar; it was especially difficult to purge once the fangs touched the bone.
Normally it would flare up without warning, pulling the surrounding flesh and muscle tighter and tighter over time.
Out at sea, such an injury was called a 【Wolf-Toxin Sore】.
Xiaoluo suddenly glanced over toward Ning Cang and raised her voice, “Dad, it doesn't hurt anymore!”
Ning Cang kept his back to her.
Only after a moment did he reply, “Mm, Dad knows.”
“Finish eating your cake. Don't go secretly leaving it for Xiaoshi again.”
“Got it!”
Xiaoluo answered quickly and brightly.
The moment the words left her mouth, the left corner of her lips suddenly twitched. She immediately lowered her head and bit hard into the algae cake, choking back her groan of pain.
An Youyu had seen in the Yan Clan interrogation room what it felt like when wolf poison seeped into jawbones; even grown men who refused to break under fractured bones could rarely hold back screams when it truly flared up.
Yet she only bit down harder on the algae cake.
The next wave of pain struck even faster.
Once her father's back was hidden behind the fish crates, Xiaoluo's straight posture suddenly collapsed. Her knees buckled beneath her, and her right hand pinched down hard on the web between her left thumb and forefinger.
On the other side of the fish crate, the footsteps carrying the ray wing came to a halt.
“Xiaoluo?”
Xiaoluo was so pale with pain her lips lost all color, yet she managed to squeeze out a line: “Dad, I'm fine! I just ate the algae cake too fast and choked a little.”
Silence fell on the other end for a brief moment.
“Eat slower.”
The footsteps resumed.
Zheng Azhu lowered her head, prying open her daughter's tightly clenched fingers one by one.
Faint bloody gouges had already been cut into the web of her hand by her nails.
Only after resting for a good while did Xiaoluo's tense shoulders gradually relax.
She secretly wiped the corner of her eye, bowing her head to continue eating the algae cake she had crumbled in her grip.
Through the gap between the fish crates, An Youyu saw that Ning Cang had not actually gone far. Standing beside the washing rack with his back to them, he leaned one hand against the ray wing while the fish knife in his other hand hovered motionless for a long time.
An Youyu looked back at the tooth scars on Xiaoluo's face.
The purchase notice that had hung on the Maritime Affairs Board for nearly two years finally had its answer.
“That purchase notice on the Maritime Affairs Board... is it to make medicine for Xiaoluo?”
Zheng Azhu nodded.
“Her condition isn't an ordinary Wolf-Toxin Sore,” Old Knobby's voice came from the side.
He had been crouching by the pile of fish materials picking out fish bladders suitable for medicine, and had witnessed Xiaoluo's flare-up from start to finish.
As he spoke, he walked up to Xiaoluo, pulled open her left eyelid to inspect it, and gently pressed his fingers beneath her earlobe.
“That sea wolf bite went far too deep—two fangs nearly lodged into her jawbone.”
“The roots of the poison have lurked in the cracks of her bones for two years. Ordinary Salamander Swim blood cannot reach that deep.”
“It'll take at least three liang of Rare Salamander Blood with a Current Base of Three Hundred Fifty Pressure or higher, paired with a Tiger-Head Mushroom as a medicinal guide, to stand a chance of purging the poison completely.”
Old Knobby did not say any more.
Zheng Azhu did not press him in front of her daughter either.
She called over a woman she knew well and asked her to take the two children to the dry platform inside the public warehouse doors to await their meal.
Once the children were far out of earshot, she pulled Old Knobby behind several tall stacks of fish crates.
“Tell me the truth. If we still can't gather the medicine this year, how much longer can Xiaoluo hang on?”
Old Knobby stayed silent for a moment.
“This affliction has been dragged out for too long. When this year's cold tide comes... whether she can pull through, I honestly can't say.”
Zheng Azhu's hand gripping the fish crate suddenly tightened.
Just then, a brass horn blared from the west Tide-Viewing Tower, and Old Chaotou's voice carried on the wind across the entire float-commune.
“The undercurrent... has dispersed!”
The people in front of the public warehouse raised their heads in unison.
The black flag atop the tower began to lower.
Almost simultaneously, a heavy mechanical clanking resounded from the direction of the water gate.
The water gate, tightly closed for days, was finally opening again.
“The black flag is down!”
“We can go out to sea!”
Cheers instantly spread across the main bridges.
Several boat owners had already leaped onto their salvage boats, pulling back cabin tarps to inspect their long-unused nets and winches.
Right now was the Wither Tide, and the near-shore fishing grounds assigned to Clown were poor to begin with; during this season, seeing even the shadow of a fish was difficult. Even if they rushed to cast a net before nightfall, it would most likely be a wasted effort.
Besides, a commune-wide feast was being set up in front of the public warehouse tonight, and no one wanted to miss it.
Calling out across the trestle bridges to set a time for the first tide tomorrow morning, the boat owners returned to help in front of the public warehouse.
Outside the public warehouse, several large cauldrons were quickly lit and heating up.
Long tables kept deep inside the warehouse that were usually brought out only for festivals were set up one by one along the bridge.
Children clutched their family wooden bowls, hovering by the cauldrons; shooed away once by the adults, they soon swarmed back around.
It had been a long time since the entire float-commune was this lively.
The bustling work dragged on until nightfall.
By the time the last crate of fish was carried into the public warehouse, fish-oil lamps along the bridge were lit one after another.
Luo Dadou struck the rim of a cauldron with a wooden ladle.
“Dinner's served!”
The children who had been waiting nearby immediately rushed over.
Several large fish whose bellies had burst—unsuitable for salting and preserving—were already roasted golden brown.
Fat dripped continuously into the charcoal flames, sending the aroma floating out along the trestle bridges.
Zheng Azhu first ladled half a bowl of fish meat for Xiaoluo, then scooped a bowl of mashed fish for Xiaoshi.
When it came to An Youyu, she pushed a whole roasted fish straight in front of him.
“Eat up.”
An Youyu didn't stand on ceremony either.
He grabbed the roasted fish and took a bite.
Before he had even completely swallowed the first bite, he had already torn off a second.
Zheng Azhu frowned as she watched him.
“Slow down.”
“Nobody's going to snatch it from you.”
She pushed the plate closer to him.
“Today you officially joined the commune, and it coincided with the Fish Rain. Luo Dadou insisted on taking it as a good omen, so he saved the public warehouse's top portion for you.”
“Besides, you're a First-Transformation now, so eat as much as you like.”
“There's more coming.”
An Youyu grunted vaguely in response, but his hands didn't slow down a bit.
Sitting inside a clean fish crate, Xiaoshi watched in awe, forgetting to eat his own mashed fish.
“Li'l... Unc'le, there's bones.”
“Little Uncle isn't afraid of fish bones getting stuck in his throat,” Ning Xiaoluo told her brother with total seriousness. “He's a fish-transformed.”
A man nearby chuckled at that.
“Who told you fish-transformed aren't afraid of bones? Even the commune chief has to pick out bones when eating fish. It's only your Little Uncle's strange Clown Salamander aspect that lets him chew down even fish bones into his belly.”
Crunch!
Before he could finish speaking, An Youyu had already bitten through the hardest section of the spine, crushing and swallowing it whole.
Another burst of laughter broke out around them.
One.
Two.
...
Only after downing nine whole fish did An Youyu finally slow down.
His stomach, which had been empty for over a month, finally felt full.
Heat spread from his abdomen into his limbs, and his Conjoining Membrane began drawing the remaining water and nutrients bit by bit into his flesh and blood.
The charcoal fire gradually burned low, but it remained lively in front of the public warehouse.
Adults leaned against fish crates chatting while children gathered around the coals turning over charred fish skin, the clinking of bowls and plates mixing with post-meal laughter as it drifted across the water.
Just then, the metallic chime for receiving a ship suddenly sounded from the direction of the main bridge.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
The chatter and laughter in front of the public warehouse quickly died down.
“A ship from the Maritime Affairs Office?”
“Fish fell only this morning, and the moment the black flag was pulled down, those folks smelled fresh fish and came knocking?”
Rate on N.U.
