Daomu Biji: The Southern Archives

One evening in Malacca, Zhang Haiyan and Zhang Haixia had a big fight on the beach at dusk.

He had forgotten the reason, but he still remembered that Zhang Haixia had told him he shouldn’t handle dangerous situations with a cheeky attitude.

If the opponent wasn’t strong, he would be fine no matter what he did. But if he encountered situations that went against common sense—like skilled masters hiding among low-level civilians—then he would be putting himself in danger.

The Americans were simply radical and straightforward, but there could be some experts among them who had established themselves in China.

Now Zhang Haiyan had finally learned his lesson.

The ship’s side was too high for him to climb back up, and there were a lot of people on shore watching the scene, so he had even less of a chance of getting close to it. But the boat that was trying to capture him was quickly approaching.

It would’ve been fine if he had just gone back to his room and thought things through earlier. It was only now that Zhang Haiyan deeply regretted his actions.

The rules Zhang Haiqi had taught him back then suddenly came to mind. For many years, he had forgotten the rules that his godmother had instilled in him when she cut the skin under his tongue with scissors so that he could remember better.

When you made a mistake, the most important thing was to make the right choice afterwards and not regret your past mistakes or missed opportunities.

What happened had happened.

Zhang Haiyan dove down and quickly swam towards the open sea. There were a lot of ships outside the port relying on small boats for supplies since they didn’t dare stop by the dock.

He swam very fast and quickly made it far away from those boats trying to capture him. When the people on the boats began to shoot at him, Zhang Haiyan dove for a long time before he surfaced again. As soon as his head breached the surface, he had only taken two or three breaths before the bullets arrived, and he had to dive again.

The sea waves by the port became so big that they were almost like floating hills. Not only was the view poor, but there was some distance between Zhang Haiyan and the boats. The snipers were also blocked by the waves, so they had to stop their pursuit.

As soon as He Jianxi got on the Baoen, he heard the sound of firecrackers coming from the huge ship behind him. He looked back in surprise, thinking that there was some kind of religious ceremony going on.

He was suddenly pushed to the ground from behind by the people who had just gotten on the boat.

The Baoen was a small barge heading to San Francisco. It had two masts, the sails were in tatters, and the deck was now full of cargo. The crew also raised chickens and ducks, so the feces and urine were everywhere and the smell was horrific. Both of He Jianxi’s hands had landed in chicken shit, which felt greasy and moist.

He Jianxi quickly got up and checked whether there was any dirt on him. He was wearing his more decent casual clothes, which were far more suitable for life on a boat. He didn’t want to get them dirty as soon as he had gotten on the boat.

A nearby sailor came to collect his ticket and said to him, “If you add a silver dollar (1), you can have a woman accompany you at night.” He pointed to a woman standing nearby. She seemed to be in a daze and was leaning against the cargo. “This woman is one silver dollar short, so she doesn’t have enough money to buy a ticket. Brother, do her a favor. Pay her silver dollar, and she’ll accompany you to San Francisco. I’m also a good person. She’ll definitely die if she stays in Malacca.”

He Jianxi looked at the woman, who seemed to notice his gaze. It appeared she had been rejected many times and had lost all hope. There was only despair in her eyes.

He Jianxi thought about it and went to grab the money in his pocket. He had one silver dollar since the owner of the winery had given him a lot of money. But things were expensive in San Francisco, and the money had to be spent very carefully. He thought it over and walked up to the woman.

“Do you have any relatives in San Francisco?”

The woman instantly came to her senses, stood up straight, and said, “Yes, a little brother. My brother is there.”

“I don’t do perverted things. My mother said that I shouldn’t help people indiscriminately when I’m out and about, but if you’re willing to return this silver dollar to me in the future, I’ll lend it to you,” He Jianxi said.

It took the woman a while to realize that someone was willing to help her. She couldn’t believe her eyes and immediately nodded. “I, I’ll definitely pay you back. Thank you, little brother.”

He Jianxi took out the silver dollar, held it out half an inch, but didn't let go. “You need to write me an IOU and press a fingerprint on it.”

The woman froze for a moment. “Little brother, such things are so troublesome! I don’t have anything. In fact, I was married, and my husband is dead. If you want me to accompany you, I won’t care since I’m experienced and not so young anymore.”

He Jianxi shook his head. “You have to promise to pay me back, or I won’t lend you the money.”

For some reason, the woman was perplexed. She looked to the sailor, who came over and said, “Come on. How can she possibly pay you back? It’ll be a very lonely journey. You two can look after each other. Moreover, don’t you know that a widow’s butt is rounder than beautiful girls’?”

When He Jianxi still shook his head, the sailor lit a cigarette and pushed him. “Go away. You two had a fateful meeting, but it didn’t work out.” The nearby sailors roared with laughter. He Jianxi didn’t know what they were laughing about. The sailor seemed to be embarrassed and pushed He Jianxi again, “Go and wash the chicken shit off. Are you saving it for dinner?” When he pushed him this time, his hand pressed onto He Jianxi’s pocket, which contained the silver dollars.

His banknotes were hidden in his waistband, but the silver dollars had been sewn into the inner pocket of his clothes. With this push, everyone heard the sound of coins clinking together, and could tell the amount was quite large.

The people standing around suddenly became very quiet, and everyone turned to look at He Jianxi.

He was startled by the change in atmosphere. The sailor stopped pushing him and patted his pocket again. The clinking sound of coins became even clearer.

The sailor wasn’t being polite and even looked down inside his pocket. The other sailors looked at him with interest, and even the woman was looking at him.

He Jianxi grabbed his luggage and looked into the other's eyes, but didn’t know what they meant. He immediately closed his pocket and walked away. When he looked back, he found that the sailor was watching him, but didn’t follow him.

After taking a few steps, he looked at the chicken feces on his hands and started searching for the ship’s toilet. At this time, all the sailors behind him stood up and slowly followed.

The toilets on the ship were usually on the side at the tail end of the deck. They were basically wooden boards with several holes in them. There was a bucket attached to the rope on the side that could be put into the sea to draw water up, which people could use for washing. And they could pee or take a dump by sitting above the holes since the sea was right below.

All the toilets on the ship were relatively clean. He Jianxi went in, looked behind him, and decided to pick a hole where he could conveniently sit down, and then fetch water to wash his hands.

He thought about which hole to choose for a long time. There were four of them, and he chose the second one from the left because it looked the cleanest. He had just taken off his pants and was about to turn around and sit down when he saw a person’s head poking out of the hole.

“Brother, hold it.” Zhang Haiyan poked his head out and then climbed out of the hole with difficulty.

“Who are you? A stowaway?” He Jianxi asked in shock. It was a serious crime back then, and he might be thrown into the sea if he was incriminated.

“How can you think that?” Zhang Haiyan was completely soaked. He looked around and tossed his hair back. “When I was in the toilet just now, I suddenly took a nap and fell off. I’m sorry, so sorry. I get sleepy whenever I’m taking a dump. I even feel sleepy whenever I smell shit.”

There was no way He Jianxi would believe this nonsense. But just as he was about to leave, the toilet door opened and a group of sailors walked.

They were all carrying daggers and went right up to He Jianxi. They grabbed his hair, had him kneel on the ground, and then someone immediately grabbed his arms. He Jianxi’s mouth opened because of the pain, but someone quickly covered it.

His pocket was instantly torn open, and the silver dollars scattered all over the floor. They rolled towards the crevices on the side, which caused everyone to panic since the sea was right below. Someone immediately stepped on them, and the scene became chaotic.

“Quickly. Let’s get his money before the boatswain finds out about it.” The sailors’ leader said. “Don't mess up.”

They obviously didn’t think there was another man in the toilet and froze when they looked up and saw Zhang Haiyan.

Zhang Haiyan looked down at the silver dollar under his foot, picked it up, and said a little awkwardly, “I’ll buy a ticket with this.”

****

TN Notes:

(1) It’s called Da Yang in the Chinese text, and one Da Yang equals 1,000 pennies back then. They are silver coins that looked like this: