Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Preparing to Go to Sea
Granny Yun shook her head. "If you ask me, that Lin Zhiqing, aside from being handsome, is completely irresponsible. You just can’t count on him."
"I know, right? There are good ones among the educated youth, too. Take Wang Zhiqing—he passed the college entrance exams and got accepted. He even took Ah Hua and their child to the city to enjoy a better life."
It’s just that situations like that were all too rare.
Yun Jiao sat to the side, eating peanuts and listening intently.
She knew of the Lin Zhiqing the two old ladies were discussing.
He was from the village next door, the one just behind theirs. That village had more land, so it needed more people to farm it. They used to be part of the same production brigade, but after the policy reforms, the brigades were dissolved and split into separate villages.
That Lin Zhiqing had two children, both about her age. But every time she saw them, they were filthy. On the few occasions she saw Lin Zhiqing take his children out, he would just leave them off to the side, burying his own nose in a book and paying them no mind at all.
Of course, that was all another family’s business.
When the two old ladies finished their chat, Granny Yun noticed it was getting late. She took the ten eggs and started for home with Yun Jiao.
The sky had already darkened, but the moon was large and full, so bright it made every cloud clearly visible.
Naturally, the path on the ground was easy to see.
The night air was alive with the chirping of insects, the drone of cicadas, the barking of distant dogs, and the chorus of croaking frogs. The whole evening was quite lively.
Granny Yun held Yun Jiao’s hand and reminded her, "See those things reflecting the moonlight? Those are puddles. Don’t step in them when you’re walking at night."
Yun Jiao nodded obediently. "Okay."
"Grandma, Jiaojiao..."
The voices of Yun Xiaowu and the others came from up ahead, followed by a beam of light from a flashlight.
Yun Jiao answered, "We’re over here."
Yun Xiaowu and the others ran over, their faces split by wide, cheerful grins.
"We came to walk you home."
They chattered and played around the entire way.
Under the moonlight, the family’s shadows were stretched long.
"Jiaojiao, let me show you something cool."
With that, Yun Xiaowu suddenly darted to the grassy edge of the path and began rustling through it.
A swarm of fireflies, their lights twinkling only in the darkness, flew out from the grass.
The tiny insects’ tails glowed with a warm, yellow light in the darkness.
Though the lights weren’t bright, the way they flew—sometimes scattering, sometimes gathering—created a uniquely beautiful, moving picture.
"Fireflies!"
Yun Jiao broke into a happy laugh. She loved these magical, glowing little bugs.
’There are glowing fish in the deep sea, too, but they’re far too ugly. Their appearance is an offense to the eyes and doesn’t match my aesthetic.’
’This little bug isn’t exactly beautiful, but I guess it’s cute enough.’
Yun Xiaowu caught one and placed it in her hand.
"If only Fourth Brother were here. We could get him to make a little cage, catch a bunch of fireflies, and hang it over our beds for a lamp."
Yun Jiao’s fourth brother, Yun Chenbei, was very deft with his hands. He loved handicrafts, especially woodworking. In his hands, anything could become a beautiful and fun toy.
In fact, Yun Chenbei had made many of Yun Jiao’s toys.
Yun Jiao quickly released the firefly. By then, they had already arrived home.
Mr. Yun was discussing with the family their plans to paste good fortune characters on the boat first thing in the morning.
"I want to go too."
"Grandpa, Dad, I want to go too!"
Mr. Yun smiled and nodded. "Alright, alright, we’ll all go. The entire family. We’ll bring three incense sticks to pay our respects while we’re at it."
Under the moonlight, the family sat at their doorstep, enjoying the breeze and chatting.
This was their one moment of leisure and comfort in the entire day.
Once the moon was high in the sky, it was time for them to head in and sleep.
Early to bed, and naturally, early to rise.
The next day around five, Yun Jiao rubbed her eyes and yawned as she climbed out of bed.
"Arms, Jiaojiao, lift your arms."
Yun Xiaowu was dressing her.
She was very good, lifting her arms whenever she was told.
"Alright, now go have Mom do your hair."
Shen Yunlian worked quickly, tying her hair into pigtails.
The ends of her hair were naturally curly, yet the strands were very soft, giving her a rather fashionable look.
Her thin bangs were naturally fluffy, framing her little face and making it look even more fair and adorable, just like a little figurine.
"Off we go~"
Yun Linhai lifted Yun Jiao straight onto his back, and the whole family trooped boisterously toward the docks.
Even the family’s pet sea turtle was brought along.
Though it was a secondhand boat—and a small wooden one at that—they couldn’t skip the proper ceremony.
Yun Jiao took the good fortune character she had written herself and, spurred on by her family’s encouraging looks, pasted it onto the bow of the boat.
"Our daughter is amazing."
"You’re amazing, Jiaojiao!"
Yun Jiao felt a little embarrassed by all the praise. She’d only stuck a piece of paper on the boat, but they were treating it like she’d done something incredible.
Finally, Mr. Yun, the patriarch of the family, led everyone in offering incense for the boat.
After the incense was offered, Yun Linhai and the others boarded the boat with brooms and cleaning supplies, scrubbing the small wooden vessel clean from inside to out.
Yun Linhai said, "Dad, the weather’s nice today. How about we take the boat out for a spin?"
Mr. Yun looked at the sky. "Alright. You and Second Brother can go out and test the waters."
The Yun family boys’ eyes all lit up.
Yun Xiaowu and Yun Xiaoqi were the first to clamor, "Dad, take us with you! We want to go too!"
Mr. Yun gave them a light smack. "What’s all this fuss? This boat doesn’t need that many hands."
Meanwhile, Yun Jiao was trying to be sneaky, hoping to slip into the boat’s cabin and hide.
But she clearly wasn’t successful. Yun Linhe scooped her right up.
"Well now, little Jiaojiao. Always trying to pull a fast one in silence, aren’t you?"
Yun Jiao hugged Yun Linhe’s arm, her voice soft as she wheedled.
"Uncle, I want to go."
"Not a chance. You’re still too little. We’ll take you out to play on the sea when you’re older."
Yun Jiao didn’t speak. She just stuck out her lower lip, and her eyes quickly welled up with tears.
Soon, teardrops began to fall, one after another—PLOP, PLOP. They were as round and glistening as pearls.
’There’s a legend that Merfolk cry tears of pearl. In fact, it’s true.’
’But Merfolk rarely cry.’
’Now that she was human in this life, her tears didn’t actually turn into pearls. But the way they fell, one by one, they truly did look just like them.’
She looked as pitiful as could be.
Yun Linhe and Yun Linhai were instantly thrown into a panic.
"Don’t cry, Jiaojiao, don’t cry..."
The two grown men clumsily tried to comfort the heartbroken little girl.
"Dad! Uncle! We won’t go! You can take Jiaojiao instead!"
Her older brothers couldn’t stand to see her cry, either.
Mr. Yun and the others gathered around, their hearts aching as they tried to comfort her.
"There, there, stop crying now. If you want to go, you can go along."
"You’ll just be in the coastal waters anyway, and our nets aren’t even finished. You two can just take Jiaojiao to a nearby island and do some beachcombing. That’ll be fine."
Everyone in their family knew how to weave nets, so they always made their own for fishing. But with their time currently taken up by building the house, the nets weren’t finished.
Yun Linhai and the others immediately agreed.
"Done. Jiaojiao’s coming with us."
Yun Jiao’s tears stopped instantly.
The tears vanished as if she’d flipped a switch, and a smile spread across her face.
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