Daomu Biji: The Southern Archives

Zhang Haiqi and Zhang Haiyan had landed in the South Lake of Yueyang. They headed towards the lights in the distance, walking along the river bank until they saw Yueyang City. But it was still far away, so they boarded one of the many fishing boats that were in the area. The fisherman took them all the way to Yueyang Tower, and once they disembarked, they realized they were in the downtown area.

Lights were hanging from Yueyang Tower, but they didn’t know what festival it was for. Since the two of them were soaked, they found a tailor shop on the street and bought some ready-made clothes. Once they changed, they finally got to walk around in Changsha-style clothes.

Zhang Haiyan’s mind was full of thoughts, but he didn’t voice them.  He wasn’t sure if Zhang Haiqi was really quick-witted, or if she had made a back-up plan with Zhang Qishan a long time ago. If it was the latter, didn’t that mean she had already expected him to mess things up?

But Mo Yungao was much more difficult to deal with compared to whatever was happening in Malacca. Zhang Haiyan somewhat suspected that Zhang Haiqi had sent him to Malacca because she knew there was no way he could survive in China with his intelligence. 

It was only a day’s journey from Yueyang to Changsha, but the two of them had suffered injuries from the previous fight. Zhang Haiqi began to cough after she got on the boat and Zhang Haiyan’s hands were very swollen, so they went to find a doctor. The doctor set Zhang Haiyan’s bones, but couldn’t find anything wrong with Zhang Haiqi. He hesitated and looked like he wanted to say something, but stopped himself for some reason.

Zhang Haiyan was a little worried, but Zhang Haiqi shook her head. That kind of poison gas would definitely have an effect on her, but the doctor didn't have a cure for foreign nerve gas. It must not have been particularly terrifying if Mo Yungao dared to stay in the room with it, so they could only wait until after they saw Zhang Qishan tomorrow to ask the military doctor.

The doctor gave Zhang Haiqi some licorice to put under her tongue, and then she and Zhang Haiyan went to find a restaurant. They ordered some side dishes and started eating.

Zhang Haiyan asked for an extra pair of chopsticks and set them aside. He was a little annoyed because he didn’t get to avenge Zhang Haixia this time.

Zhang Haiqi put the extra pair of chopsticks back and said, “Don’t always make yourself so obvious. It might feel good when you’re doing something special, but you don’t know what trouble it might cause in the end.”

“Did all this happen because I said my name on Flower Reef?” Zhang Haiyan asked. This was the question that had always been on his mind.

“While I was spending some quality time with Mo Yungao, I had the feeling that he had lost his mind.” Zhang Haiqi shook her head. “You had every right to give out your name. Even if you hadn’t done that, Mo Yungao still would’ve fought against us. We know his conspiracy, after all.”

“But—”

“Let’s drop this topic. I was patient enough to comfort you once, so shut up and eat,” Zhang Haiqi said.

Zhang Haiyan sighed. He had no choice but to swallow the next ten thousand sentences.

He looked at Zhang Haiqi and suddenly felt that her state wasn’t quite right. Was she also unsatisfied with the result?

The two of them ate silently. The Yangtze River and Yueyang Tower were outside, while countless people were coming and going. Zhang Haiyan felt a little distant from them all. They didn’t even know what had happened just now.

After dinner, the two of them took a walk and asked some people for ways to get to Changsha. They boarded a night boat that would take them from the Yangtze River to Dongting Lake. After that, they transferred to the Xiangjiang River at Laogang and took the waterway the rest of the way to Changsha.

After they got on the boat, Zhang Haiqi suddenly became very tired and fell asleep. Zhang Haiyan couldn’t sleep, so he watched the fishing lights on the dark river.

Those who lived on the river knew that the river breeze, fishing lights, and boats were going to another shore. Even though there were so many wonderful things, no one was waiting for you on the other side. Those people knew the kind of freedom, loneliness, unlimited possibilities, and anxiety that was brought about by wandering.

They didn’t talk that night. Zhang Haiyan leaned against the side of the boat and fell asleep. When he woke up at dawn, Zhang Haiqi was already awake. She leaned against the fishing boat’s shack as they approached Changsha’s port.

At this time, the sun was bright and all the shops were open for business.

As the two helped each other ashore, Zhang Haiyan felt as if Zhang Haiqi was a little different.

They walked onto the dock and Zhang Haiyan suddenly stopped. He looked at Zhang Haiqi and saw that she suddenly had several gray hairs.

“Mother, what’s got you so stressed that your hair is turning gray overnight? Why do you have gray hair?”

Zhang Haiqi froze, “Where?”

Zhang Haiyan pulled a strand out and Zhang Haiqi looked at it with a very strange expression on her face.

She clutched her chest and coughed a few times as they stopped a passing rickshaw. Zhang Haiqi had never had gray hair before, so she quickly calculated her age. Although people in the Zhang family still grew old, she hadn't lived long enough to start thinking about this problem.

She wasn’t too worried about it and asked Zhang Haiyan, “Would you believe me if I told you I’m over a hundred years old?”

“But Zhang Haixia also had gray hair? He pulled it out every day.” Zhang Haiyan said as the two made their way to Zhang Qishan’s defense headquarters.

Knowing that Zhang Qishan had left for Guangzhou overnight, Zhang Haiqi knew she had succeeded.

In the next series of chain reactions, countless changes would take place, but the two of them were unable to keep up with them. They went back to the hotel and waited for news from Zhang Qishan. The military doctor gave them both checkups, and they also received food and lodging as a free courtesy.

When Zhang Haiyan recalled this period later, he found that these were the happiest days. Although he couldn’t really get used to the weather in Changsha, the lard noodles and various kinds of spicy pressed duck, fish head, and chicken dishes were so delicious that he felt as if he might take flight.

The newspapers had a lot of sporadic reports every day, and the various discussions and gossip about Beihai headquarters had also begun to increase. For them, this news meant that there were intense undercurrents beneath it all.

But Zhang Haiyan was a little confused at this time. In his memory, Zhang Haiqi had always been energetic and never looked tired. Over the past few days, however, she kept sleeping longer and longer.

At first, he just thought that his godmother wanted to sleep longer.

But the amount of time she spent sleeping was getting longer and longer, and started to exceed the reasonable amount of time ordinary people would sleep.

Zhang Haiqi began to sleep ten hours a day, then fifteen, and the time just kept increasing.

Zhang Haiqi herself also found it very strange, because she would feel incredibly sleepy after only having been awake for a short period of time. She couldn’t fight the drowsiness at all.

Finally, one day, Zhang Haiqi fell asleep and didn’t wake up. Zhang Haiyan waited a whole day, but she still wasn’t awake by the time afternoon came. When he knocked on her door and didn’t get a response, he jumped to her balcony to check on her.

With all the fierceness gone from her face, the sleeping Zhang Haiqi looked like a child. Zhang Haiyan sat on the bed and held her hand, finding that her pulse was still strong at this time. It was in this moment that Zhang Haiyan finally realized that he was already an adult.

Holding Zhang Haiqi’s hand on such occasions no longer felt like a child holding his mother’s hand. Instead, it was more like a father holding his daughter’s hand.

The sunlight shone in and happened to cast the shadow of the window frame on them. That was when Zhang Haiyan realized that there were too many gray hairs on Zhang Haiqi’s head to explain it away as stress-related. Although she didn’t have a head full of gray hair, it was definitely impossible to try and pull them all out.

Moreover, he saw a few looming wrinkles at the corner of Zhang Haiqi’s eyes for the first time.

He suddenly understood the truth.

His godmother was getting old?