Episode 158

  There is a peninsula jutting out into the sea, where the East China Sea meets the South China Sea. This place is commonly known as the Southeast Peninsula. On this island, there is a city facing the sea, called Fang. Originally, it was an important military location for coastal defense, used to defend against pirates or powerful naval forces from neighboring countries. Now, it has become a commercial port, with merchants and traders coming and going day and night without cease. It is thriving to such an extent that it seems to be the number one city by the sea!

  At that time, it was noon, the sun was high in the sky, outside the west gate of Fengcheng, on the main road, from a distance, one could see a faint mist rising, several teams of merchants' shadows swaying back and forth, gradually approaching. Several soldiers stood leaning against the wall at the entrance of the city gate, chatting idly in the shade. There were merchants lining up to enter the city, some on horseback, others in carriages, all looking exhausted, covered in dust and sweat.

  At this time, a man wore an old cyan-colored long gown made of coarse cloth, with an ugly and ferocious face. He raised his head to look at the large character carved on top of the city gate, which read "Defense".

  "This place is a fortified city, I've long heard of its name, today I finally see it, and indeed the name doesn't live up to the reality! This city wall is only about 15 zhang high, all built with bluestone, really impressive! Hmph! Those who look down on ordinary people as ants, how would they know that even ants can reach the sky? Now I'll enter the city for a stroll, and just like letting the horse run freely, even I myself don't know where the next place is, how could they possibly know my whereabouts?"

  He then walked into the city. Several soldiers at the city gate looked at him in surprise, one of them said:

  "Is this also a man? Ugly, not even one ten-thousandth of an ape!"

  "Ah yeah! If we can get this person to parade around the streets, there will definitely be kind-hearted people who will donate money!"

  "Don't be disgusting! With such a face, don't even mention selling it to Old Ma for begging, people won't want it. Even if you sell it to Chen Guan for digging manure pits, it's still impossible!"

  "That's it!"

  The soldiers guarding the city gate leaned against the wall and chatted idly with each other.

  This person is indeed insufficient. Escaping the siege of the Five Directions and Repairing Crowds, he didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly headed east. At this time, it had already been more than five months, and his face mask had long been damaged and could no longer be used. His ugly appearance made passersby avoid him. During his escape, although he occasionally encountered the Repairing Crowds' search parties, his insufficient appearance had changed greatly, so how could they recognize him? Moreover, Insufficient went wherever he pleased, without any purpose, and recently, there were no more Repairing Crowds coming to bother him.

  As I entered the city gate and walked along the main street, it took half a day to reach the market. I saw tall buildings standing in rows, wooden and stone structures, carved corridors and painted houses, with five colors and ten colors, which was quite different from the scenery of the ancient mainland. As a long-time resident of the mountain forest cave mansion, I had not experienced many ordinary city streets, and when I suddenly saw it, the color of novelty jumped on my face. The aroma of rice and dishes wafted through the air, and my stomach suddenly opened wide. Although I had been abstaining from food for a long time, my desire for taste had not decreased. Abstaining from food was nothing but something that had to be done out of necessity. If there was delicious food to enjoy, even immortals couldn't help themselves. I looked at the wine tower on the side and touched my waist, sighed, and continued walking.

  "Even a god cannot help without money!"

  He couldn't stay in the city, so he wandered around during the day and rested at the City God Temple at night. In half a month's time, he had toured the entire city. Not having a moment to spare, he set his mind on searching for the three treasures in the ancient mainland. Taking the land route was extremely dangerous, so it would be better to take the sea route instead. Thus, he made preparations and waited until his body and spirit were stable before setting sail.

  However, outside the east gate of the city wall, it is not possible to go out. Why? There are no fishing or business permits, and the east gate facing the sea cannot be entered or exited! This is an old rule of the city wall, and no one dares to abolish it.

  The Sea Fish Gang divided into factions, the leader Black Shark, was a big man with a black face, his thick and powerful arm pointing at a row of over ten people:

  "You are all brothers of the Black Shark Division of our Haiyu Gang from today, and in the future when you go out to sea, you must work together with one heart and mind. Don't tarnish the name of our Black Shark Division and let other divisions laugh at us."

  "Yes! Master."

  Everyone agreed.

  "Alright, alright, brothers, today we'll first issue the fishing permits, and then familiarize each boat's captain with the scope of our Haiyu Fishing Association's power. It just so happens that today is a day for going out to sea, let's set off together."

  Then he waved his hand and everyone went down.

  Among them, the one wearing a blue cloth long gown was not enough. Several fishermen around him saw that he was not enough, and one of them, who looked like a Confucian scholar, asked in surprise:

  "What is your name? Why do you have such an appearance?"

  "A certain family's golden lotus, in its early years, was careless and fell into the belly of a crocodile. Luckily, kind-hearted people rescued it and it became like this."

  That was insufficient and had already taken a fake name. Take the surname of Chang'e as the surname, take one word from his own name as the name to show people.

  "I say Golden Foot, eh! This name isn't bad at all. Golden Foot, it means wealth and prosperity! What great luck! Haha... From this moment on, you'll be one of my old skinny head's ten fishing boats' crew members. From now on, the catch will be divided according to labor, even if we don't get rich, we'll have enough to make a living."

  "Thanks a lot!"

  "Hmm!"

  The old thin man nodded and led everyone towards the East City Gate.

  At the city gate, a sentinel watched as several people approached, an older man among them smiled and said:

  "Old Skinny, you've already killed two boatloads of people, and now you're taking in another ten or so who are courting death!"

  "You! Don't provoke my family!"

  "What can be done about it?"

  "In there, you stood at the city gate all day, without the guts to go down to the sea, didn't you also kill several boat people? How dare you come and laugh at me?"

  "Damn it! No guts? I was hiding under a woman's skirt when I fought pirates!"

  "Hum! I won't argue with you over this trivial matter, let's meet at sea!"

  "Good! Just don't run away too quickly when the time comes!"

  The two men glared at each other and left, but those gatekeepers surprisingly didn't even check the fishing permit.

  Surprised at this, he turned to a Confucian scholar standing beside him and asked:

  "Why didn't you check the fishing license?"

  "That guy is the captain of one of the ships of the Haishen Gang, with 70 or 80 fishing boats under his command. His fishing grounds border those of our family's Old Master Laotou, and we often clash, with a deep-seated grudge between us!"

  "Can city gate guards also join the black gang?"

  "How can they be so ignorant! If the gang didn't have the backing of city masters and generals, how could they run amok in the world? Not to mention battalion commanders, even deputy generals and city master's assistants are also part of the gang."

  "No wonder the world is in such a difficult state, and the common people are struggling to make ends meet. It turns out it's because of this!"

  "What are we commoners? In the eyes of those big shots, we're probably not even worth a fart!"

  Insufficient, silently following the old thin head out of the East Gate of Fengcheng. In sight, a stone ridge five or seven zhang high and low, blocking the line of sight. Further ahead, along the left and right sides of the stone ridge, two major roads stretch out. Perhaps due to the long absence of war disasters, civilian residences stand densely on both sides of the road. Insufficient followed the old thin head to the left, and soon saw a large courtyard, built against the stone ridge. The wall was less than three zhang high, with gates that could accommodate carriages and horses, and corner towers that could be used for lookout posts. However, despite its grandeur, it was after all a civilian residence, and there was nothing to boast about.

  "This place is my home, and from now on you will be living here."

  Insufficient new people followed the old thin head into the inner room.

  "Mr. Akira, you've come to arrange your accommodation."

  "Yes, boss."

  That scholar said.

  "Ah! You're not a newcomer, how did you infiltrate our team? Oh! I get it, you're a mole, luring us into a trap!"

  One of them shouted loudly.

  "Haha! Brothers, from now on we are one family. Don't bear a grudge against Xu certain Ah! In fact, going to sea isn't necessarily as scary as the rumors in town. Deaths happen once every few years at most. But the gains from going to sea are quite good."

  Mr. Na smiled and then arranged for their accommodation. The newlyweds' room was in the inner courtyard, not far from a young man with a childish face. The young man looked embarrassed and said:

  "Big brother! I'm Zhu Yun, from a family in the southern city. My mother is seriously ill and our family's money is almost gone. I have no choice but to join your crew and go out to sea. Who are you, big brother? Why did you form this partnership?"

  "A certain family had nothing but a poor laborer, because of his ugly face, he couldn't find work anywhere, so he joined a gang and went to sea, just hoping to survive."

  The two chatted for a while, then each went back to their own place and together swept the dirt from the room. It took an hour or so. Later that evening, another colleague came to call, and after dinner, he returned to his quarters to rest. Since fleeing in difficulty, he had never lived in a house before. Now lying flat on his back on the bed, looking up at the ceiling, he felt deeply moved. Listening to Zhu Yun washing and getting into bed beside him, he secretly laughed at the decline of this family, whose old habits had not changed. And so he gradually fell asleep.