Daomu Biji: The Southern Archives

Merebear Note: This didn't change from the author's first draft of the story so you can skip past it if you've already read it.

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The sailor looked back at his accomplices, winked, and they all moved to surround Zhang Haiyan with their daggers raised.

Zhang Haiyan counted the number of sailors and found that there were seven of them. For this kind of small barge, seven was a large number.

I can’t kill them. I can’t cause a panic again. In addition, if I kill them all, this boat will never set off, and then I might affect a lot of people’s lives.

But the other party obviously didn’t want to let him go, and started surrounding him in a half circle.

“Killing Chinese passengers on a ship. Aren’t you afraid of being pestered by the plague god?” Zhang Haiyan asked with a smile.

Back then, they killed the sailors who killed Chinese people at sea. For a long time, the Chinese on this route gained some sort of respect. But as the murders decreased, their missions had also decreased, so their reputations seemed to have gradually faded.

“The plague god isn’t that well informed and this person doesn’t have any companions. In this corner, no one will see him getting killed.” The leading sailor was a man with an Indian-style cloth wrapped around his head. Zhang Haiyan listened as he continued, “I’m afraid it’s the same for you. Since you’ve witnessed the scene, I guess we’ll have to kill you, too.”

Now Zhang Haiyan understood why there were so many sailors. They’re obviously in a group, and even came to the toilet to kill someone. It seems that my reputation is still lingering here. This young man should be on the boat alone without relatives, so they targeted him.

He looked at the silver coins and thought to himself, he’s quite rich despite being so young.

The sailors surrounding him were getting closer and closer. These people had been working on the water for a long time, so they were quite observant. They saw that this young man looked calm even though he was drenched and seemed a little absent-minded. As a result, they didn’t dare move forward rashly.

Zhang Haiyan calculated the time. After a while, the police would definitely board the boat to investigate. To be on the safe side, he couldn’t let things get any more out of control, so he decided to solve the problem quickly. He sneered before suddenly stepping forward, falling to his knees, and saying to the sailors, “Masters, please have mercy on us.”

The sailors were startled and took a step back. Zhang Haiyan took out a roll of money from his pocket and offered it up with both hands. “This person is my cousin, and there are only two of us left in our family. If we both die, our family will have no descendants. Take the silver coins and the money. We promise not to tell a soul about it. Please have mercy on our cheap lives.”

When the sailors looked at each other, Zhang Haiyan continued, “It’s not robbery. We’re giving you the money out of respect. You don’t need to be afraid that the plague god will find out about it. Now that the plague is running rampant, you don’t want to be condemned by the heavens, right?! We’re all just trying to make a living.”

Zhang Haiyan’s eyes became red and watery as he spoke. The leading sailor frowned, took the money, and flipped through it. It wasn’t a small amount, so he smiled and said, “Little brother, you’re quite talented. You’re not like those who want money but don’t want their lives. You know that you have to worship a mountain when you see one.”

As Zhang Haiyan nodded flatteringly, the leading sailor winked at the people behind him. They didn’t want to kill people and cause trouble, either. They released their hold on He Jianxi, who started coughing after being painfully strangled.

The sailor patted Zhang Haiyan. “My name is Er Erlong. You can call me Brother Long. I will protect you on this boat. The money will be handed over to the brothers.” With that said, he turned around. “Give them a single room. Our ladies are theirs. They can pick whoever they want.”

The sailors were anxious to get out of the toilet, and hurriedly picked the silver coins up. It seemed that they wanted to go and divide the huge amount of money.

Zhang Haiyan breathed a sigh of relief and then turned to help He Jianxi up with a grim look on his face. “They’re pathetic.” He said. “These people don’t even know that they barely saved themselves just now. If they had been tougher, their lives would’ve ended—“

He Jianxi punched Zhang Haiyan in the face. “Those silver coins are mine. How could you give them my stuff? We can’t give in to these kinds of people!” As soon as he finished speaking, he moved to chase after the sailors.

Zhang Haiyan grabbed him and gently moved his head to the side. He Jianxi’s head hit the boat’s wooden wall quite heavily, and he immediately passed out.

Zhang Haiyan touched his face. “This guy has quite a temper.”

He Jianxi was young and still looked childish, almost like a teenager. Zhang Haiyan picked him up with one hand and put him on his back.

When He Jianxi woke up again, he was already in a single room.

The single room was actually a small space that had been separated from the passenger cabin. It had a little privacy, but there was only a curtain instead of a door. Two door panels laid out on the ground were their beds.

Bedding had already been spread out on He Jianxi’s bed. Zhang Haiyan was sitting on the other bed without his shirt on. He was smoking a cigarette and looking at him. Zhang Haiyan’s bed didn’t appear to have any bedding on it, and looked completely bare.

Of course there was nothing. All the special treatment he could get was on the Nan’an, which was a kilometer away. Zhang Haiyan suspected that it was his fate to never get to sleep on a bed with springs.

He Jianxi sat up and found that he was still very dizzy. After a while, he remembered what had happened before he passed out.

“You—”

“Shut up.” Zhang Haiyan looked at him coldly.

“I don’t even know you. I’m going to get my money back. Ouch!” He had a terrible headache, and felt the area where his head had been hit.

“You’re a passenger on this boat. You want to get justice, and then what? Are you going to get off the boat? If you fight them, they won’t let you stay on the boat,” Zhang Haiyan said.

“I worked hard for that money. They can’t just easily take someone’s hard-earned money.”

Zhang Haiyan pulled He Jianxi’s waistband and dug out the banknotes. He flipped through them and found that a lot of words had been written on them. “Isn’t there a lot of money? To the people on this boat, you’re like someone who helped put their shoes on. Don’t plan on dying if you can survive. Human life is so precious.”

He Jianxi instantly panicked, and quickly grabbed his waistband. “Give it back to me!”

Zhang Haiyan released his waistband and threw the money back to him. “Stay on the boat and hide your money. This ferry ticket is for entering the ghost gate, but your silver coins can at least give you a better chance at getting out. It’s worth it.”

He Jianxi immediately put the money back into his waistband and adjusted it.

“Let me ask you a question. Where’s this boat going?”

Since Zhang Haiyan gave the money back to him just now, He Jianxi calmed down and lowered his guard a bit. “To San Francisco.”

“San Francisco? Can this kind of small boat make it that far? As far as I can tell, the sailors on this kind of small boat will kill you all and throw you into the sea. It happens a lot.”

“After the legend of the plague god surfaced, there’s no such thing.” He Jianxi said. “It’s how my brother got to San Francisco successfully. Of course, it will be a difficult journey, but I’m used to it.”

“All your quilts have been infused with Chinese medicine. You’ve obviously made a lot of preparations.” Zhang Haiyan took a puff of his cigarette, and He Jianxi covered his nose with a very pained expression. “What’s wrong?”

“Your cigarette smells really bad.”

The sailors had given him these cigarettes, which just so happened to be the kind he liked to smoke back in the day. Since Zhang Haixia found them unpleasant, he had switched to another brand. It was rare that Zhang Haixia wasn’t around, so he could finally let himself go, but he didn’t expect he’d be judged again.

Zhang Haiyan couldn’t help but smile bitterly and think to himself, I’ll stink you to death. He deliberately took another puff. “Cousin, let’s discuss something and make a deal, ok?”

“I don’t want to make a deal with you. You gave my money to someone else. Can I do business with someone like you?”

“Ah, it has something to do with your money. If I can get your money back before I get off the ship, will you do me a favor?” Zhang Haiyan asked.

He Jianxi was stunned for a moment, unsure what Zhang Haiyan was planning.

“Look outside.” Zhang Haiyan said.

He Jianxi looked outside the curtain and saw that there were a lot of police officers in the cabin that were interrogating the guests. As he was looking, Zhang Haiyan crawled over and hid under his quilt.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey. What are you doing?” He Jianxi was furious. He hated it when others got under his quilt. He was very sensitive to smells, and couldn’t fall asleep on a bed that others had slept in.

Zhang Haiyan covered his head with the quilt. “Remember, I’m your wife. You just had sex with me. We aren’t dressed properly.” With that said, Zhang Haiyan immediately opened He Jianxi’s collar, quickly messed up his hair, and then shrank back under the quilt. He took a few gold needles out of his pocket.

Before He Jianxi could figure out what was going on, Zhang Haiyan whispered, “Help me with this, and I’ll help you get the money back. Otherwise, I’ll say you’re my accomplice and we’ll die together.”

Just as He Jianxi finally understood what was going on, the curtain was suddenly opened. The police came in to take a look and asked He Jianxi, “Who are you talking to? Get up. We need to see your faces.”

There was no way He Jianxi could improvise, so he started to panic. Just as his face flushed, he suddenly heard a female voice that sounded like silver bells coming from under his quilt. “Oh, who is it? I’m not wearing any clothes.”

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Tiffany’s note: He Jianxi officially joins the being-bullied-by-the-Zhangs club. Let’s welcome him lol

Merebear note: If you want to keep reading the "first draft", then here's Chapter 16‘s link and Chapter 18‘s link.