But after just minutes, the fisherman was unable to sleep anymore. He yanked the straw hat away from his face, huffing angrily, staring at the younger with great animosity. “Damn it! Don’t you see I’m fucking sleeping?” He cursed.

Zhou Zishu wasn’t at all offended, “Hey old man, wanna do some business?”

The fisherman cursed again, “You little shit, is your mouth for speaking or farting? Speak the fuck up if you want to use the boat!”

He stood up, stretching and swatting at his ass. But when he noticed that Zhou Zishu was still sitting, his anger exploded again. “Are you glued to the ground now?”

Zhou Zishu blinked, suddenly understanding why this one boat was idle compared to others.

He stood up and followed the old man morosely. “Do you have anything to eat? I don’t mind leftover rice,” he asked without shame in between the fisherman’s passionate swearing session.

“A damn reincarnated hungry ghost7 too, huh,” the other one spat.

He fished out a pie with evident teeth marks on it, throwing at the younger. Zhou Zishu giggled, biting into it without a care while walking onto the boat.

The fisherman started rowing away. “Fuck this,” he stole glances at Zhou Zishu, still fuming.

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Footnotes

The name of the arc is the first part of a line in the poem 遣懷/My Lament, by Du Mu.

1 銀子 (yínzi) A type of currency in ancient China, the standard size for a silver ingot.

2 大叔 (dàshū), a general non-relative term to address older men.

3 心有九窍, literally translated as heart with nine holes, used to describe people with high emotional intelligence.

4 公子 (gōngzǐ), a term used to address young noble men.

5 Two lines from the poem 代悲白頭翁/The Old Man’s Great Sadness, by Liu Xiyi.

6 阿 (ā) is a prefix of endearment used between people who have a close relationship; the character’s first name is only Xiang.

7 Ghosts of people who have done evil deeds in their life before death; they’re condemned to hell and perpetually starving.

Chapter 3. Abandoned Shrine

At this point in life Zhou Zishu was not in the least concerned about anything — he was familiar with courting death, after all; so the fisherman’s vulgarity all fell on deaf ears.

The boat calmly sailed across the water. On the other side of the river, a young woman called out melodiously, “Selling water chestnuts! Do you want some?” It was as if time had slowed down with the river flow to a sluggish speed. Even if I die right here, it’ll be worth it, Zhou Zishu mused.