The boy glanced sideways at Shi Yin and Rong’er, then returned to the cabin with a sneer.
“Mother, that person was so rude,” Chengzhou said, a little angry.
“Don’t trouble yourself with other people’s faults,” Shi Yin pulled Chengzhou back. “A true man knows when to yield and when to stand tall. Right now, we cannot afford to cause extra trouble.”
Chengzhou furrowed his brows and said, “But Father once said, ‘A true man cannot be corrupted by wealth and honor, cannot be moved by poverty and humble conditions, and cannot be subdued by power and force. This is what it means to be a true man.'”
“What your mother is teaching you right now is ‘A living dog is better than a dead lion.’ Don’t listen to your father’s old-fashioned scholar ways all day long—his mind is as rigid as a block of wood,” Shi Yin tapped Chengzhou’s little head softly and continued, “One must learn to be flexible. That is, to preserve the green mountains, and also to cast off the shackles forced upon oneself, refusing to enter into other people’s framework of evaluation.”
Shi Yin did not elaborate further, and Chengzhou scratched his head, nodding in half-comprehension.
On the other side, the Li family’s party had already been marching for ten days, setting off at the hour of Mao each morning and walking continuously until the hour of Hai before resting.
The soles of everyone’s shoes were completely worn away, leaving the exposed bottoms of their feet bloody and raw.
Mother Li had long lost her past lamentations and resentment, quietly taking turns to carry the small children on her back, barely securing a brief moment of rest for the young ones.
As for the young and beautiful female relatives, they no longer wept by now, their expressions marked by total numbness.
They only wished that once this ordeal ended, it might yield a bowl of rice porridge to give their children a few more chances to survive.
Li Bi wore heavy shackles, and the two concubines who had been by his side were nowhere to be seen—they had thrown themselves into the river to commit suicide the previous day.
The remaining female relatives of the Li family watched, and in the depths of their hearts, a faint trace of envy even emerged.
Meanwhile, Father Li, trailing at the very end of the line, was now like a withered piece of wood on his last breath.
“Cough, cough…”
A violent fit of coughing broke out. The withered wooden crutch he relied on for support finally could not bear the heavy pressure of his body and snapped abruptly down the middle.
Father Li crashed heavily to the ground.
“Father!”
“Father!”
Li Bi stumbled forward, dropping to his knees and shouting anxiously.
*Crack! Crack!*
“What are you dawdling for! Move faster!”
The guard’s whip struck down coldly and fiercely, adding a few more bloody welts to Li Bi’s already scarred back.
“Sir, my father can’t go on. Please be merciful and let him rest for a bit!”
Li Bi had long lost all his proud bones, putting down every shred of dignity as he pleaded again and again.
The guard cast a cold glance at the dying Father Li on the ground and spoke in a frigid tone:
“I’ll grant you fifteen minutes to handle the final arrangements, dig a hole, and bury the corpse. As soon as the time is up, we set off immediately with no delay.”
“Father!”
“Master!”
“Grandfather!”
In just a short moment, a wave of wailing broke out.
In the eastern sea, the ship’s hull gradually sailed into the deep ocean.
The sea wind rolled with increasingly tumultuous waves, and the vessel pitched up and down with the swells.
Lying on the sheepskin mat, the two children slept soundly to the rhythm of the rolling waves.
Not far away, the members of that prominent family leaned over the ship’s railing, suffering unbearable seasickness, dry-heaving repeatedly in a miserable state.
The neighboring family traveling with children was not doing any better—having just finished vomiting, they were huddled together resting.
Shi Yin kept her eyes closed, suppressing the discomfort in her heart with sheer willpower.
Tonight was the final night of the sea crossing; once dawn broke, they would arrive at Heishan Island.
Relying on this single thought, she gritted her teeth and endured, finally making it until dawn.
As daylight broke, Shi Yin stood up early in eager anticipation, leaning against the railing to gaze into the vast ocean ahead.
Sure enough, a small black dot gradually emerged—that place was Heishan Island, their final destination.
The principle that a visible mountain can still be miles away applied just as well to a vessel sailing on the sea.
From that small dot until they could clearly see the majestic island, it took them a full four hours!
At the hour of Si, the ship finally drew close to the dock.
The scattered reefs on the beach and the undulating mountain peaks all reflected into Shi Yin’s eyes—every piece of it was a scene she was intimately familiar with from her past life.
In her past life, this place had been a thriving tourist island. Though it could not compare to the southern islands, it was quite well-known in the north, and she herself had visited it several times.
Even with modern development on the island, it had not been excessively commercialized. The villagers still lived in houses built of stone, making a living through fishing and tourism, retaining a simple local tradition rarely seen in modern cities.
Confirming that Heishan Island was indeed the very island she knew from her past life anchored Shi Yin’s heart even more. As all her panic dissipated, a sense of anticipation arose instead.
Deep within her mind, the historical records, topography, and hydrology concerning this island that played on a loop in the island’s only village museum grew increasingly clear.
*”Dear tourists, the island beneath our feet is a typical bedrock continental island. In ancient times, it was connected to the mainland, only becoming an independent island later through sea erosion.*
*The entire island features high terrain in the middle and low terrain around the perimeter. The coast is primarily bedrock, exhibiting classic marine erosion topography with steep cliffs and deep coastal waters, making it an exceptionally endowed natural deep-water port. Only select bays feature small sandy beaches.*
*It experiences four distinct seasons with a mild, warm-temperate climate. The island boasts lush vegetation, predominantly salt- and wind-tolerant shrubs and grasses, with an overall forest coverage rate exceeding sixty percent, offering a beautiful ecological environment and pleasing scenery.*
*Coastal erosion cliffs, sea caves, and wave-cut platforms are distributed along the shoreline.*
*Some of these wave-cut platforms served as natural salt-drying sites for people in ancient times.*
*As for the vast majority of the sea caves, because their rock walls have been washed over by waves for ages, seawater floods into the caves during high tide. As the tide rises and falls, sea winds blow through the caves, producing a weeping sound like crashing waves, which forms a highly distinctive natural phenomenon of the local region.*
…
*The drinking water history of the villagers is equally long-standing. The entire island possesses a total of four freshwater sources: one well originally built during the Qin and Han dynasties that has been continuously used through generations to this day; a natural spring discovered during the Tang and Song dynasties that nourished islanders across generations; and two mechanical wells drilled in modern times to secure daily water usage.*
*Since the power grid reached the island in the 1990s, the island’s living facilities have gradually improved, relying on its unique mountain and sea scenery…”*
“A natural spring discovered during the Tang and Song dynasties?”
Shi Yin’s pupils shrank in shock as she suddenly remembered this piece of commentary!
Which meant right now, that spring was still hidden beneath the scattered rocks!
“Mother—are we there?”
Chengzhou rubbed his eyes as he walked over to his mother’s side, interrupting Shi Yin’s thoughts.
She picked Chengzhou up, gazed out at the increasingly clear island, and whispered in his ear, “Chengzhou, over there—that is our territory!”
Chengzhou looked at the grand green island, not probing deeply into what his mother meant just now, assuming it was simply the place where they were going to live from now on.
However, Shi Yin merely looked at the island with a smile, already beginning to make plans in her heart.
*That place belongs to us.*
“Clang, clang, clang—” The familiar sound of the bamboo pole tapping rang out again, and the boatman’s resounding voice echoed across the entire ship.
“Pull alongside the dock—douse the sails—!”
The deckhands gathered once more, using various thick bamboo poles together to brace against the dock’s rocks and prevent the ship from colliding.
Three other deckhands took a few steps back, took a running start, and accurately threw the coil of thick hemp rope in their hands onto the shore.
Upon the dock, the exiled crowd had long gathered in waiting; several strong men reacted swiftly to catch the ropes, skillfully wrapping them around stone mooring posts and binding them tightly loop after loop.
Once the three hemp ropes pulled taut, the ship slowly came to a steady stop. The crew members carefully adjusted the force on the bamboo poles, letting the vessel berth alongside the dock at just the right distance.
“Drop anchor—lower the gangplank—”
As the boatman’s command fell, everything on the official ship proceeded in an orderly manner without a hint of confusion.
Shi Yin observed the gangplank for a moment; the slope was about thirty degrees. By stepping backward slowly and steadily, it presented no real danger.
She strapped the lighter luggage onto her own back.
The heavier iron tools were handed to Chengzhou.
The millet and wheat grain were tied tightly in sacks and loaded onto the lamb’s back.
On the handcart, there were only the two large hemp sacks of beans and grain along with two large sheepskin mats.
With the weight significantly lightened, there was no fear of items rolling off.
Shi Yin waited until most of the people had disembarked before pushing the handcart onto the gangplank.
She walked backward, using the wooden legs of the handcart from time to time to brace against the gangplank and stabilize it, slowing her pace as she moved step by step.
The instant her feet stepped firmly onto the blue stone of the dock, a long-lost sense of solidity washed over her, causing her frame to sway slightly.
When she composed herself and turned her head to look, she suddenly realized that the eyes of everyone on the dock were brushed clean and focused entirely on her.