Chapter 4.7 Female Corpse (Extra)

Chen Pi walked along the riverbank, bleary-eyed. He had lain in the bathhouse all night, and now his whole body ached because of the damp. The disturbance from last night had long since disappeared from his groggy mind, and he felt nauseous as the river wind blew all around him.

The sun had just risen as he started heading for the dock. If he wanted to eat, he still had to work as an unskilled laborer today. As he approached, however, he suddenly saw a thick circle of people standing on the bank in front of him.

Chen Pi instinctively leaned away from them. He could stand the stench and mildew, but the smell of people gathering together made him sick, so he usually avoided crowded areas. As he got closer, a breeze blew up from the river, bringing with it a smell that made him stop.

The wind carried the strong scent of blood, and the crowd was whispering amongst themselves. When Chen Pi pushed his way through, he saw a fishing boat stuck on the embankment, and the dock manager and a few others going through the boat investigating. Blood had dripped down all along the boat’s rails, and Chen Pi squinted and saw several dead bodies lying on the deck. Their heads had been cut off, and the meaty part of their necks had been exposed to the wind for some time, making them look like the color of baked sweet potatoes.

He could see a young white body in the pool of blood that belonged to a half-naked female corpse. The skin was as white as snow, and made for a stark contrast against the black blood on the deck.

Chen Pi listened to the people talking nearby and got a general idea of what happened. He glanced at the female corpse and found that the dazzling white still made him restless. Just as he was about to turn and leave, he suddenly saw a bloody boy sitting on the side of the boat.

It was that Chun Shen, who remained blank-faced and motionless as he watched the dock manager order people to carry the bodies out. He was clutching a jar tightly in his hands.

That kid is really lucky (1), Chen Pi thought as he turned and walked away. He looked at the river and found that the soldiers who used to be everywhere on the embankment were now gone. No wonder the pirates suddenly came back and went on a killing spree after not appearing for such a long time. He hadn’t cut anyone’s head off, but it seemed like way too much trouble to do so.

As he thought this, Chen Pi suddenly realized that he had left his signboard in the bathhouse, so he angrily went back and got it.

There weren’t many people on the dock today, and even the barge haulers were afraid to come out. The news of what had happened last night would spread all throughout Hankou today and reach those upstream by evening. Many ships would directly unload at the upstream dock and transport the rest by land so that they could bypass this area. There would definitely be less work tomorrow.

Since there were fewer people and more goods, Chen Pi managed to earn ten coins after making two trips. As the sun set, he dragged the plank behind him and went to the bathhouse again. When he passed by the place he had walked by earlier that morning, the crowd of onlookers had long since dispersed. The boat was still there, but the bodies had been carried away. Chun Shen squatted at the stern alone, washing the blood on the deck with a rag.

The blood had frozen on the deck, so it had to be scrubbed very hard before it could be washed away with the river water. Chen Pi could see that the river’s surface outside the boat was now covered in a layer of bloody foam. The child seemed to have grown up a lot overnight, and the scrubbing action looked exactly like those group of barge haulers on the dock.

When Chen Pi stopped to look at him, Chun Shen also looked up at him. Chen Pi had a sudden impulse to kill the brat. What are you doing alive? How long can you live?

Chen Pi looked around, but didn’t see anyone. Even all the nearby boats had fled towards the scattered lakes.

After staring at each other for a while, Chen Pi suddenly felt tired. Xi Qi’s dying words made him uncomfortable, and he really couldn’t gather his strength, so he didn’t do anything. Instead, he dragged his signboard and kept walking.

After taking a few steps, however, he suddenly felt that something was off. He turned around and saw Chun Shen getting off the boat, still holding the jar in his arms. He followed behind Chen Pi stupidly, and kept looking at the signboard he was dragging.

Chen Pi looked at his foolish appearance, and suddenly got angry. He walked over, lifted the plank up, and swung it, knocking Chun Shen to the ground.

As his bloodlust surged up, he suddenly heard Xi Qi’s dying words: “All the glory, splendor, wealth, and rank you can ever hope to achieve in this life is on this board.” The accumulated anger burst forth all at once, and he went up and took the board to Chun Shen’s head, smashing it three times in a row.

“Glory and splendor?! Wealth and rank?! Where the fuck is it?!” The wooden board cracked, and the skin on Chun Shen’s head split open. His nose and mouth were covered in blood, and he couldn’t stand up.

Chen Pi looked at Chun Shen coldly. It was as if he had seen himself, a helpless man who had been trapped in the same place without any hope. A murderous rage rose up in his heart.

He went to raise the wooden board again, but suddenly stepped on something. When he looked down, he saw that Chun Shen’s jar had been shattered and a handful of copper coins fell out.

<Extra 4.6> <Table of Contents><Extra 4.8>

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TN Notes:

(1) Per Tiffany: The Chinese saying “Life/Fortune is hard” means that someone is still able to survive even though they’ve been through bad things that might have killed them