With Ding Yudie present, Zong Hang couldn’t speak freely and kept hoping he would leave. After finally waiting for him to say goodbye, Yi Sa still spent a long time talking quietly with him at the door, about who knows what.
However, as soon as the door closed, Zong Hang eagerly told her everything, speaking excitedly as if talking about his sister who had miraculously appeared after being dead for over twenty years.
But Yi Sa didn’t seem particularly shocked by the statement “Old K is Yi Xiao,” and even responded with slight bewilderment: “Yi Xiao?”
She hadn’t heard this name for many years. Even when people occasionally mentioned her, they only referred to her as “your sister,” to the point where the combination of characters “Yi Xiao” sounded extremely unfamiliar.
She said: “Do you know how many years ago my sister died?”
Zong Hang had been preparing his response for so long, that he had his arguments ready: “Yes, but there are two points. First, you were very young then – did you see your sister die with your own eyes? What if it was just a lie others told you?”
“Second, since you believe I could die and come back to life, why couldn’t your sister?”
“She told me her name was Yi Xiao, and she said she was the Yi family’s water ghost, and also, also, she showed me a photo, she was very beautiful, like a Hong Kong star from the 90s, with big wavy hair…”
Yi Sa cut him off bluntly: “My sister was very well-known among the three families back then, many people knew the name, Yi Xiao. What if someone’s just impersonating her?”
“The photo she showed you, just because she said it was her doesn’t mean it couldn’t be used to deceive? I could also take any woman’s photo and claim it was me before plastic surgery.”
“And if she didn’t die, why hasn’t she come to find me all these years? Don’t tell me she couldn’t find me – she even went to Cambodia.”
That made sense. Zong Hang was at a loss for words. After a pause, he said: “Well, at least you’re aware now. Whether it’s true or not… we’ll know when you meet.”
A meeting was indeed necessary, and Yi Sa was already planning for it, but deep down, she didn’t want to believe Old K was Yi Xiao, and hoped she wasn’t.
Perhaps because she had long accepted that “Yi Xiao was dead,” without lingering attachment or expectation.
When someone unexpected appears without being anticipated, it doesn’t bring joy but rather creates awkwardness, catches one off guard, and even causes trouble.
She sighed, putting this matter aside for now.
“Anyway, the ship will stop here for a day. I just told Ding Yudie that after lunch, he should take you out on a boat to tour around the lake. I feel… she might not be on the ship, more likely in the water.”
There were too many people from the three families on the ship. Just the black ghosts alone numbered in dozens this trip, concentrated and under special supervision. She remembered that Old K had a slight putrid smell, and black ghosts were very sensitive to such odors, not unlike wolves catching the scent of blood.
Zong Hang felt uneasy: “What about Ding Xi…”
“Your disappearance wasn’t much reported in China. On this ship, probably only Ding Xi would recognize you, but just to be safe, we’ll disguise you a bit. When the time comes, I’ll find a way to keep Ding Xi in his room. If he can’t see you, you’ll be much safer. Also, think about how to cleverly attract Old K’s attention.”
Zong Hang made a sound of agreement, nervous but also excited about this covert operation.
“Also, there are several points I need to instruct you on.”
“First, don’t tell others about your situation, not even Ding Yudie. He’s a good person, but with secrets like this, the fewer people who know, the safer you are.”
“Second, if Ding Yudie makes crude jokes about us, just let him. A man and woman sharing a room – even if you say nothing’s happening, he won’t believe it. Let him think what he wants; this way, he’ll be more enthusiastic about helping cover for you.”
Zong Hang’s face heated up, and he nodded.
“Third, if he asks about the confidentiality fee, say… a hundred thousand.”
Zong Hang didn’t understand: “Confidentiality fee?”
Yi Sa explained: “I just said you were ‘one of us,’ but actually, the Jiang and Ding families haven’t taken in ‘outsiders’ for many years because they have enough people and don’t need external help.”
“But the Yi family had a major incident years ago, where many skilled members died – my sister was lost in that event. We were suddenly short-handed, so everyone tacitly agreed that the Yi family could recruit ‘outsiders.'”
“These ‘outsiders’ are people with potential and excellent swimming abilities. You can sign them on as future backup. For example, in the ‘12.3’ tomb opening, the Yi family led it, but we didn’t have enough skilled people, so ‘outsiders’ came to help. Since they help, they inevitably learn some of the three families’ secrets, and the confidentiality fee ensures they keep these secrets.”
Zong Hang couldn’t help asking: “What if they leak the secrets?”
Yi Sa gave him a sidelong glance: “You should know that before Liberation, most people who made their living on the water were extremely poor. Being chosen by the three families to work for money was like striking gold – who would be foolish enough to leak secrets and lose their rice bowl? Moreover, since there’s a contract, there are penalties for breaching it. Once secrets are leaked, the Council has ten thousand ways to handle it…”
“Ding Xi is part of the Council – you’ve seen what he’s capable of, right? They handle all kinds of internal and external matters, they’re not just eating rice for free. If you didn’t already know about the three families and could ‘ride the water’ and ‘break the crocodile,’ I wouldn’t have told you so much.”
That was true – Zong Hang remembered that before he could “ride the water” and “break the crocodile,” Yi Xiao hadn’t mentioned anything about the three families. When Ding Yudie came in, he hesitated to speak until hearing that Zong Hang wasn’t a “landlubber.” These people did follow the rules.
After lunch, Ding Yudie came as promised to pick up Zong Hang, bringing him sun-protective clothing, a sun hat, and sunglasses.
Going out boating at noon in midsummer, such attire wasn’t strange, but Ding Yudie was a sight to behold, carrying a long-handled parasol under his arm, walking with a swaying gait, the flower-piercing butterfly on his topknot fluttering as if about to take flight.
With his previous experience and full equipment, Zong Hang wasn’t too nervous. He kept his hands in his pockets, trying to match Ding Yudie’s demeanor, walking casually. As they went down the stairs, they met Jiang Taiyue coming up. Ding Yudie called out “Grandmother Moon” and whooshed past her, Zong Hang following suit. Jiang Taiyue’s face turned black as coal, and after they were far enough away, she muttered: “Such an effeminate display.”
With the water memorial tonight, there was much to prepare, and all the motorized rubber boats were in use, leaving only rowing boats. Ding Yudie picked one, and they each took an oar, slowly rowing out.
After rowing some distance, Ding Yudie dropped his oar and busied himself applying sunscreen, then said to Zong Hang: “Let it drift with the current, save energy. Yi Sa said you’ve never been to Lake Poyang, wanted me to show you around while we have time, afraid of drawing attention herself — but aren’t all lakes the same? Just water.”
Zong Hang said: “That’s not true, Lake Poyang is famous, it’s China’s largest freshwater lake.”
Ding Yudie opened his parasol.
It was extremely large, covered with butterflies, and one or two were done in gold leaf effect – when sunlight passed through, golden butterfly shadows would dance on the boat.
No wonder he was called Ding Yudie – he did love butterflies.
Zong Hang looked at the great lake, thinking about how to “cleverly attract Yi Xiao’s attention.”
Sure enough, Ding Yudie asked him: “How much confidentiality fee did the Yi family give you?”
Zong Hang answered smoothly: “A hundred thousand.”
“How many minutes can you ride the water? How deep can you free dive?”
Free diving meant diving without any equipment, not even a mask or fins, just diving freely.
Zong Hang had no concept: “Ten-something minutes… fifty meters maybe?”
Ding Yudie shouted: “Holy crap, fifty meters! Even trained people can only free dive about twenty meters, and with such water pressure, they can’t last more than a few minutes…”
Zong Hang quickly pretended to think: “Fifty… or was it fifteen? I can’t remember clearly…”
Ding Yudie decided for him: “Fifteen, couldn’t be fifty. Do you know how much pressure there is underwater? Regular swimming pools are only one or two meters deep. If you could reach fifty, you could be a water ghost.”
He appeared thoughtful: “Ten-plus minutes, fifteen meters, that’s not bad. The price is fair.”
After speaking, he lay back in the boat, adjusting the parasol to cover his upper body: “You can… slowly enjoy the scenery.”
This Ding Yudie was rather slack in his duties. Zong Hang made a sound of agreement, then suddenly had an idea.
He raised his hand and made the water ghost’s “come if you dare” gesture three times toward the empty lake surface.
Ding Yudie squinted: “What are you doing, talking to fish?”
Zong Hang grinned: “I want to see if they’ll jump into the boat by themselves.”
Ding Yudie snorted, thinking him silly. After a while, he stared fixedly at the butterflies on the parasol and muttered: “What a shame, what a shame.”
Zong Hang was curious: “What’s a shame?”
Ding Yudie replied listlessly: “We can’t open the golden chamber this trip.”
Zong Hang felt somewhat sympathetic: “If you can’t open it, you’ve made the trip for nothing, and there’s no money to split, right?”
Ding Yudie scoffed: “Water ghosts already have more money than they can spend, who cares about a bit more or less? I’m just disappointed because this golden chamber was supposed to be around the Lord Temple area. I’ve been looking forward to this for many years.”
Zong Hang was puzzled: “What’s so special about Lord Temple?”
Ding Yudie looked surprised: “You don’t know? Oh right, you’re a Southeast Asian brother, it’s normal you wouldn’t know.”
Getting another chance to show off, Ding Yudie perked up: “Have you heard of the Japanese ship Kobe Maru?”
Zong Hang shook his head.
Ding Yudie educated him: “It was like this – around 1945, the Japanese knew their invasion of China was nearly over, so they started frantically hoarding wealth, transporting China’s gold, silver, jewelry, paintings, antiques, and such back to Japan through various means.”
“The Kobe Maru was such a ship, 2,000 tons, quite large for that time. It was loaded with precious cargo plus over 200 military personnel, planning to travel by water through Lake Poyang into the Yangtze River, then back to Japan.”
“But unexpectedly, near Lord Temple, the sky went from clear to stormy in an instant. The ship was enveloped by black fog and quickly sank. Nobody on board survived. And right after it sank, the sky immediately cleared up, becoming bright and sunny… Sounds like a ‘zha ning’ incident, right?”
Zong Hang didn’t know what “zha ning” meant but agreed blindly.
“Think about it, how much would that ship be worth? The Japanese wouldn’t give up easily, they must have gone crazy! The Japanese forces stationed in Jiujiang immediately sent a speedboat with a diving team to salvage it.”
Zong Hang was captivated.
“But when the diving team went down, almost all of them perished. Only one surfaced, and he’d gone mad. After winning the war, the Nationalist government couldn’t let go of this ship of treasures either. They invited America’s best diving expert, someone named Bohr, who formed an expedition team to salvage it. Same result – nothing found, and except for Bohr, the entire expedition team disappeared.”
Zong Hang looked at the vast waters around them, his arms getting goosebumps: “It happened… here?”
“We haven’t reached it yet. Jiang Jun’s incident delayed us, otherwise we’d be there by now.”
There was a hint of yearning in Ding Yudie’s voice: “Later they discovered that area was extraordinary. Not just the Kobe Maru, but in the past fifty or sixty years, over 100 ships have sunk there, not just small wooden boats, but vessels of dozens or hundreds of tons.”
“Just on August 3rd, 1985, thirteen ships sank, leading people to call the Lord Temple area the Oriental Bermuda Triangle. They say every time a ship sinks, the weather starts fine, then suddenly turns stormy with black fog, and within minutes the ship sinks. After sinking, the weather turns fine again.”
“Even stranger, the water isn’t very deep there, thirty to forty meters. This many sunken ships anywhere else would have filled up the area, but!”
He emphasized the “but”: “They haven’t found any ships under that water!”
Zong Hang thought he’d misheard: “Not even one? There must at least be wreckage?”
“Right? People have gone down to look – there are clams and fish and shrimp, but no ships. A scientific expedition team came specifically to study it, and they vaguely explained that maybe the ships were buried in silt. Do you believe that? What kind of silt could bury over 100 ships? And forget about the others, just talking about the Kobe Maru – the Japanese sent people to salvage it immediately after the incident. How could it get buried in silt overnight?”
He closed his eyes and murmured: “So now you understand why I was so eager for this golden chamber opening? It’s just a shame… good things take time. With Jiang Jun’s incident, who knows when we’ll get to open the golden chamber…”
Now Zong Hang understood – Ding Yudie believed that while there were no golden chambers or sunken ships visible at the bottom of Lord Temple if they could find a golden chamber, they might also find the sunken ships, solving a world-class mystery…
The sun was making him dizzy, the boat’s gentle rocking was hypnotic. Zong Hang leaned over the side, dipping his injured hand into the lake water.
He felt this would somehow make his bones heal faster.
…
Some time passed, and suddenly Ding Yudie heard Zong Hang cry out in shock.
He jolted awake from his half-sleeping state, his head hitting the parasol: “What is it, what is it?”
Lifting the parasol, he saw Zong Hang still leaning over, face pale, stammering: “I just… almost fell asleep, my leg suddenly twitched, I thought the boat was capsizing, so I…”
Not worth shouting about. Ding Yudie said irritably: “That’s called a hypnic jerk, do you know why it happens?”
He explained to Zong Hang: “Three reasons: too much pressure, incorrect sleeping posture – look at you sprawled out like a toad… and calcium deficiency.”
Zong Hang laughed awkwardly: “Oh… I see.”
After a while, he quietly withdrew his hand from the water.
Just now, someone underwater had gripped his wrist and slipped something between his index and middle fingers.
Now he could see clearly – it was a folded note, wrapped in layers of small plastic bags.