Chapter 5.3 Eight Hooks (Extra)

“Fishing?” Fatty took a sip of tea. “Twenty years? What kind of fish? After twenty years, you could’ve even caught the Dragon King (1) by now.”

The old man was enjoying himself and looked at the walls lined with fishing rods. “These twenty years weren’t spent on fishing, but on trying to find the right bait. That fish won’t be hooked with just any old bait.”

I had heard a few legends from some fishermen before. I hesitated, lit a cigarette and then said, “I’ve fished before. I’m no expert, but I’m pretty good. I’ve heard many of the most skilled foreign fishermen make special bait, each with their own unique secrets.”

Fatty nodded. “I’ve also fished before and still fry fish. Tell me what you have, old man. Don’t lie to us. We’ve been deceived for more than ten years. We can’t afford to play around.”

The old man wasn’t in any hurry, and made another pot of tea. My heart thumped as I wondered if the old man had arranged it so that the motorcycles would come after we had talked enough. Shit, I didn’t have anything prepared back at the village. If my parents arrived first and I wasn’t there, Uncle Two was bound to give me shit for it.

When the old man saw me anxiously looking out, he patted me and said, “I see the situation. You’re the boss, but the boss shouldn’t be so impatient. Look at this little brother, he’s not in any rush.”

He pointed to Poker-Face, who was still looking at the fishing rods. He had been so quiet recently that I was a little scared he had some kind of mental problem or something.

“If he gets anxious, you’d be scared to death, uncle.” I said to the old man. “And I’m of the same mind. Just say what you need to say. It’s the New Year and our elders are waiting for us at home.”

There was a faint look in the old man’s eyes. After a moment of silence, he sighed, “Well, to be honest, I was hoping you could help me rob a grave. There’s something in that coffin that can be used as special bait.”

Fatty and I looked at each other, and Fatty coughed, “Amazing, old man! So is this ‘bait’ a code that’s really a double entendre? To be honest, this fat man,” Fatty patted his chest, “is the last illiterate in New China. I didn’t understand it at all.”

“It’s not a code. I meant what I said.” The old man said seriously. “That why I said you should listen to me until the end. Otherwise, it would sound really ridiculous to laymen like you.”

Fatty and I looked at each other again. He gave me a wink that meant: endure it for the motorcycles.

I sighed in my heart and prepared myself for a long speech. Fatty said to the old man, “Ok. Take your time and tell us. We’ll rest here.”

After that, the old man spent two hours telling us about his experience.

In hindsight, it was very interesting to hear this experience, so I might as well lay it all out here. I’ve sorted out the narrative, but you first need to have a basic understanding of fishing.

Fishing is a very old sport that was widely praised as a kind of elegant activity in ancient poetry. According to the earliest legends, fishing had been a very common sport in Jiang Ziya’s (2) time. It wasn’t only done to support people’s livelihood, but also served as a good leisurely activity.

The act of fishing itself was often depicted in poetry, but it had a far-reaching meaning. People who have actually fished can probably understand what I’m trying to say. Fishing is basically a game of wits between you and the fish.

People’s IQ is much higher than fish, so if we only talk about catching skills, then fish are definitely no match for humans. But the whole fishing process cleverly balances the rules of the game. With fish swimming underneath the water’s surface, people can only fight with a very simple fishing rod. It’s like hunting in a dense fog.

This kind of charm has greatly been weakened in such an information-rich modern era, but if we imagine that it’s a different world underwater—like when the ancients first fished and didn’t know what they would catch—then the curiosity and expectation is very exciting.

The old man’s name was Lei Benchang, and his nickname was Eight Hooks. In the fishing industry, he was basically on the same level as the middle three clans in the Mystic Nine.

Lei Benchang loved fishing, but he didn’t like pond fishing. His circle mainly made a living by betting on fish. Fishing enthusiasts set off at sunrise and returned at sunset to place their bets. Among the people in Hubei, the bets that were placed were usually huge. In modern times, the fun of fishing had been replaced by the fun of gambling.

It wasn’t until twenty years ago—maybe more than that, the old man himself couldn’t remember clearly— when he was talking with friends about fishing that he overheard something about a strange murder that happened in a mountain stream in Fujian.

At that time, a group of fishing friends hiked to the mountainous area of Fujian and caught a strange fish in one of the mountain streams. Since they were wade fishing at the time (i.e., walking deep into the mountain stream and fishing during summer), no one saw what had happened when the accident occurred. Three people died in quick succession, and their bodies were dragged into the mountain stream, never to be found again.

At that time, Lei Benchang knew that the mountain stream had to be connected to an underground river; otherwise, they wouldn’t have gone wade fishing. He could imagine what the bottom of the mountain stream looked like. There must have been a lot large, deep holes at the bottom of the mountain stream. Moreover, the stream was very wide, indicating that it had been formed when the mountain split. If you didn’t wade in, then you couldn’t cast your line in the deepest areas.

This group of young men wanted to catch the big fish at the bottom of the stream. Sometimes the fish found in underground mountain rivers were as big as monsters, but Lei Benchang had never heard of any fish that could drag people down and kill them. At that time, he was just like a martial-arts expert who had heard of a possible opponent. He suddenly became very curious.

<Extra 5.2> <Table of Contents><Extra 5.4>

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TN Notes:

(1) Aka the Dragon God. Chinese water and weather god. He’s regarded as the dispenser of rain as well as the zoomorphic representation of the yang masculine power of generation (whatever that means). More info here

(2) Aka Jiang Taigong (c. 1100 BC, dates of birth and death unknown), partly mythical sage advisor to King Wen of Zhou and purported author of “Six Secret Strategic Teachings”, one of the Seven Military Classics of ancient China. He’s apparently well-known for being a fisherman. More info here