Chapter 4.1 Spring Killing (Extra)

There was a layer of mist on the surface of the Yangtze River, and the sun was shining through the white fog. When the children went running past, Chen Pi, who had been sitting in the cold wind by the riverside, felt a little tired. He straightened the bamboo pole in his hand, shrank his neck back into his shirt collar, and leaned against the tree to continue his previous nap.

Before, he had been dreaming that he was by the sea, watching the fishing boats come back to shore. It was always a big event whenever the fishermen returned, because many died at sea. Some old women were waiting for them impatiently on the beach, so Chen Pi looked at their expressions. As the sun sank to the horizon, he watched their faces gradually change from hope to despair.

The children stopped beside Chen Pi again and looked at him curiously. The beggar had been sitting there all day, but didn’t catch a single fish and had been sleeping the whole time. He didn’t even lift the fishing rod up. This beggar was lazy enough not to wander around the market, and too lazy to even fish by the river. Their parents had already warned them about him.

The children stood nearby and threw pebbles into the river, many of which landed in the lake in front of Chen Pi. They started to sing: “lazy beggar, hungry belly, copper coins rolling into the Yangtze River, begging mother, pure rubbish; the water for washing feet is full of dirt, and all the dirt on your body can be rubbed into dough. Cover the bucket to worship Buddha.” (1)

Chen Pi didn’t lose his temper. Those living by the river had diverse accents, so he couldn’t really understand what they were saying. These children pulled the boatmen’s tow-ropes, while their fathers either worked as barge haulers on shore or were fisherman. The children were a mixed group of varying ages. They would run up and down the shore every day and make trouble everywhere, which was very annoying.

Seeing that Chen Pi didn’t respond, the brats started throwing pebbles at him. There were eight- or nine-year-old children among them who were actually quite strong. A pebble hit the drowsy Chen Pi on the head, surprising him, but as soon as he turned his head, the brats ran away in a hubbub. There was only one brat left, and he continued to throw pebbles at Chen Pi without paying attention to where the others had gone.

Chen Pi recognized this child as Chun Shen, whom all the other children called Silly Shen. He seemed to be dumber than his peers, his reactions were slower, and his throwing was uncoordinated, so the pebbles landed very close to him rather than Chen Pi. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to hit him.

It was only when Chen Pi stood up and grabbed the back of his collar that the child thought of turning and running away. Chen Pi picked the brat up, walked over to the river, and threw him in.

The child struggled in the water. Children who lived by the river were very good at swimming, but Chen Pi used all his strength to kick the brat down every time he reached the shore. Slowly, the brat started to turn pale and sink.

Chen Pi lazily went back to the tree he had just been leaning against and pulled the bamboo pole up. It was very heavy, meaning that the bait below was also very heavy. After lifting it up, the whole fishing pole was bowed.

He pulled the bait out of the water, dragged it to shore, and then glanced at it. It looked like a big lump of rocks and hair all mixed together, but it was actually a rotting corpse stuffed full of rocks. He had recently found it in a mass grave on the outskirts of the city. The corpse had a very long braid, and he didn’t know whether it was a Qing Dynasty relic (2) or a woman. Chen Pi had tied the long hair into various knots, and managed to pull up countless crabs whose feet had become entangled in them.

He picked the crabs out one by one, snapped off their pincers, and then tied them to some nearby sticks. He put the broken pincers into his pocket like melon seeds, and then grabbed one and ate it. At the same time, he kicked the corpse back into the river.

At this time, he saw Chun Shen pop up from the river one last time and swim to shore.

Unfortunately, it was high tide on the Yangtze River, so the water was an arm’s length away from the shore. He had no strength to climb up and could only lean there while holding onto the rocks. His face had turned pale with the cold, but Chen Pi looked at him coldly and went to lift his foot up.

At this time, he found that the brat wasn’t crying, but looking back at him dully, as if he was too stupid to even cry.

Chen Pi looked at the brat and felt that he was a bit like himself when he was a child. But whether it was back then or now, it didn’t make a difference whether they lived or died, so Chen Pi kicked him back into the river. Chun Shen sank into the water without making a sound.

Chen Pi walked back to the city while eating crab legs in the sunset. He passed by Chun Shen’s group of friends in the distance, who were looking for Chun Shen and calling his nickname. When they saw Chen Pi again, they started throwing threw stones at him, but he didn’t care. He had eaten enough tonight, so now he had a big plan to put in motion. He was going to change his situation.

<The Mystic Nine Chapter 36> <Table of Contents><Extra 4.2>

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TN Notes:

(1) Yeahhhh no idea. It’s a Wuhan nursery rhyme. The kids are basically being little shits.

(2) I’m sure you all have seen pictures before. He’s talking about the queue (or cue), which is a hairstyle worn by the Jurchen and Manchu people of Manchuria, and later required to be worn by male subjects of Qing dynasty. The hair on top of the scalp is grown long and is often braided, while the front portion of the head is shaved. Check out this dude here:

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RIP little bro, RIP. You brought it on yourself, messing with Chen Pi Ah Si of all people lol