Chapter 4.5 Three Ships, Eight Drums (Extra)

Seeing Chun Si’s dad stiff and unresponsive, the half-naked man seemed to feel a little guilty. He waved his hand and tried to say something, but seemed unable to say it in the end.

“Don’t worry, I’ll leave in a minute.” The half-naked man whispered. “Really. Could you get me a bowl of water to drink? I had to come up because it’s so cold.”

Chun Si’s dad was a little confused and couldn’t help but think that this man was completely different from ordinary pirates. He could chase after a boat in freezing water during the middle of the night and was obviously an excellent swimmer. He said he would leave soon, so what was he doing in the water? Was he chasing another ship?

Were the pirates fighting amongst themselves?

Seeing that Chun Si’s father still didn’t respond, the half-naked man took out some small coins from his pocket, suddenly looking a little unhappy: “I’ll pay for a bowl of hot water. Sir, you know what I am. I just want a bowl of water. I’ll drink it and leave. Be sensible, you don’t want to provoke me.”

In the moonlight, the man’s pale hands were like claws, and the icy river water did nothing to hide the fact that they were covered in scars.

Chun Si’s father still hesitated, not quite sure how to deal with the current situation, but Chun Si’s mother immediately poured the wet coal out of the stove, put in dry coal, lit it, and told Chun Si to fetch water from the back of the boat.

As the water quickly boiled, a warm light suffused the boat and the copper coins were placed on the bow. “I won’t go in. Please bring it and the stove over. I want it to be warm.”

Chun Si’s mother picked up the stove and carried it to the bow, where the half-naked man pulled a small, two-finger wide tin bottle from the water-proof bag at his waist. The mouth of the bottle had been sealed with mud, and the man quickly peeled it off and poured the contents into the boiling water.

A fragrance immediately filled the whole boat, which turned out to be wine lees (1).

“I like to drink this.” The man said in the Hankou dialect. He chuckled as he took out two small bowls, filled one with the warm wine mixture, and then placed it in front of Chun Si’s dad. He then took a sip from his own bowl and smacked his lips appreciatively. “Come on, it’s not been easy for you.”

Chun Si’s dad looked at him warily, but the smell of wine made him a little restless. In the cabin, Chun Shen was woken up by the pungent smell. He looked up curiously, but was quickly pressed back under the quilt by his mother, who also covered his mouth.

“I’m offering you a drink. Why are you standing there staring?” The half-naked man seemed a little unhappy that Chun Si’s dad wouldn’t sit down. “You’re not giving me any face. Come on, I’ll leave after a few drinks. Chat with me a little. Oh, don’t be afraid. If I were after you, I’d have overturned your boat already.”

Chun Si’s dad looked at his expression and felt that this man wasn’t a vicious person. Moreover, pirates normally went around in groups, but this man was all alone. He didn’t seem like he was there to harm them. Chun Si’s dad breathed a sigh of relief, looked at the bowl of steaming wine, picked it up, looked at Chun Si and her mother sitting nervously under the awning, and took a sip.

The wine lees were very sweet, so the taste was very strong despite being diluted with the river water. As the flavor burst across his tongue, Chun Si’s dad swallowed, and involuntarily took another sip.

The man was happy, and grinned, “That’s right. We all live on the river. Being a water locust (2) is also a last resort. Drinking wine like this… we’re not all that different after all.”

“Drink and go quickly.” As Chun Si’s dad kept drinking and a warmth spread throughout his body, he no longer felt afraid.

“Hahahaha all good wine isn’t the same. Leave after drinking? Don’t you worry, I haven’t lied to you. I’ll leave after drinking.” He took out another tin bottle from the bag at his waste and poured it into the wine mixture. “Let me tell you, I’m so fucking tired of it. Being a water locust is all about bluffing and scaring people. You could say our ‘contributions’ come from merchant ships. Boats like yours have little money and few goods. With the recent military troubles, it’s hard to distinguish the merchant and military goods, so it’s easier to go after fishing boats. But don’t you worry about the future. With this bowl of hot water, I’ll remember you. I’ll even go back and tell my brothers about this. Here, take this.” He pulled out a yellow cloth from his waist and tied it to the rope on the bow of the boat that was used to dry fish. “This is the no-contribution flag of our Huang Kui (3) water locust group. With this up, Huang Kui won’t trouble your boat in the future.”

Chun Si’s father looked at the yellow cloth, which was painted with a strange flower pattern. The man’s face was red, and it was clear to see that he was already drunk. He sighed and continued lamenting, “Remember this: I was the leader of the Huang Kui water locust gang’s hitmen. Now all the water locusts in the five lakes and eighteen rivers have been pushed to the Yangtze River. All the desperate brats are looking forward to the death of us old people. I’ve been the hitmen’s leader (4) for more than ten years, and have made great contributions to Huang Kui, but now I’ve been fucking reduced to ‘beating the flower drum’. If I can’t beat the flower drum tonight, I’m afraid I can’t be the leader anymore. Did you hear the drums just now? That was the sound of beating the flower drum. It’s so annoying.”

Chun Si’s dad looked at the man suspiciously. He didn’t understand what ‘beating the flower drum’ meant, but the man drank another bowl of wine and continued, “Fortunately, I’m not that old and managed to beat eight flower drums in one breath. But I’m exhausted now, so I came to your boat to take a break. You don’t have to be afraid.”

With that said, the leader bent down and put his hand into the river. It turned out that there was an iron hook on the bow, which was attached to something underwater. The leader lifted it up and revealed a string of dripping human heads that had turned pale in the freezing water. “I just barely beat the flower drum. It was a coincidence that the first three boats had exactly eight.”

Chun Si immediately recognized the heads and screamed. She could see the head of the little girl from the boat next door, who often played with Chun Shen. The four-year-old girl had only half of her face left—as if it had been forcefully torn off—and her mouth was wide open in a silent scream.

Chun Si’s dad was also frightened and immediately stood up, feeling like he was going to vomit.

“One, two, three, four, five.” The leader fiddled with the heads, but suddenly froze and looked at the water. “Wait a minute. I’m missing some. Where did they go?”

<Extra 4.4> <Table of Contents><Extra 4.6>

****

TN Notes:

(1) Wine lees are deposits of dead yeast or residual yeast and other particles that are carried to the bottom of a vat of wine after fermentation and aging. In this context, it could also be “distiller’s grains” I guess, but that makes me think of beer so I went with lees lol.

(2) If you couldn’t tell, “water locust” is slang for pirate

(3) Huang Kui= yellow sunflower (what a cute pirate name lol)

(4) I’ll be referring to this guy as either “leader” or “hitmen’s leader” from now on (depends on how wordy it gets in the text lol)