Chapter 15

“It’s you, big brother!”  

Lian Yue quickly paddled the bamboo raft closer and, seeing that Jiang Wan hadn’t touched the sea urchin, he sighed in relief.  

“Little girl, this thing stings and hurts a lot. It’s not fun, don’t touch it.”  

“It’s fine, I’m using a shovel, not my hands.”  

Jiang Wan waved the shovel in her hand, smiling obediently. Lian Yue knew he had misunderstood, but he couldn’t help but remind her once more.  

“If you want to play with it, just use the shovel. Don’t touch it with your hands.”  

“Got it, thank you, big brother. My name is Jiang Wan, what’s yours?”  

Jiang Wan, eager to make a good impression, was sweet and obedient. Lian Yue, who usually didn’t pay much attention to children, found himself giving her his name.  

“My name is Lian Yue. I have some things to do, so I’ll leave now. Don’t stay in the water too long.”  

“Okay, okay!”  

Jiang Wan obediently walked to the beach and watched as Lian Yue paddled further away before returning to the water.  

When Lian Yue had first approached, she had seen a big wooden basin and a pile of fishing nets on his bamboo raft. The basin had a few large fish, weighing about six or seven pounds, obviously meant to be sold.  

Jiang Wan couldn’t help but feel envious of how he sold his fish, and also of his bamboo raft. If she had the chance, she wanted to befriend him and show her gratitude.  

Right now, her family didn’t have much, and the sea snails and crabs she had wouldn’t be impressive enough. She decided to wait a little longer.  

Putting those thoughts aside, Jiang Wan focused on carefully extracting the sea urchin into her basket. This was the season for purple sea urchins, and she had just checked with her shovel—they were fat, weighing at least four taels (about 2 oz).  

Sea urchins tended to cluster together, so finding one often meant there were more nearby. Forgetting about the sand crabs, she bent down and began searching the rocky crevices for more sea urchins.  

One, two, three…  

The little girl was happily gathering them, but nearby, Lian Yue’s expression was hard to describe.  

He had already paddled away but, thinking of how obedient and well-behaved the girl had been, he softened and decided to turn back and give her a bamboo clip. After all, he had made several and could spare one.  

However, when he turned around, he saw that the girl, who had just promised to be careful, had already gone back into the sea and was eagerly collecting sea urchins.  

To avoid awkwardness, he thought better of it and silently paddled his bamboo raft away towards the Dongwan Wharf.  

The Dongwan Wharf was one of the largest outside Yuanxi City, constantly patrolled by guards, with strict controls over the docking of ships. Every person entering the city had to pay two copper coins, so the fishermen rarely went into town, preferring to sell their catch directly at the wharf.  

At the wharf, the buyers included city fishmongers, buyers for wealthy families, and shopkeepers of restaurants.  

Lian Yue always brought the largest fish to the wharf, and he would sell them to the shopkeeper of Wanyuzhai.  

Today, when he arrived, he noticed that the uncles he usually waited with to sell fish were all gone, their faces grim.  

Something didn’t seem right.  

“Lian Yue, are you still waiting for the shopkeeper? Don’t bother. Yesterday, Wanyuzhai was shut down after a table of people died.”  

!!!  

“Uncle, what do you mean, someone died at Wanyuzhai? What did they die from? This is so sudden…”  

“Yeah, I heard about it this morning, and a lot of people didn’t believe it. When they went into the city, they found out it was true. They say they ate octopus, and within one incense stick’s time, the whole table dropped dead, all of them within half an hour.”  

The uncle selling tea was quite emotional, and Lian Yue, who was listening, felt a cold sweat run down his back.  

His family had octopus too, and his grandmother had said she’d cook it for lunch today!  

Lian Yue instantly lost any interest in selling fish and grabbed the basin, using all his strength to paddle back.  

He wasn’t worried about his grandmother because she always waited for him to come home and eat. What worried him was his younger brother—he was greedy and always hung around the kitchen, stealing a bite or two whenever their grandmother cooked.  

If their octopus was poisonous…  

He didn’t dare think about it and urged himself to paddle faster.  

It was quite a distance from the village to the wharf, and a round trip took at least an hour. When Lian Yue finally made it home, he saw the smoke rising from the kitchen.  

“Grandmother!”  

“Yue, why are you back so early today? The food isn’t ready yet.”  

The kindly old woman peeked her head out, then stood up to pour water for her eldest grandson. The little boy in the kitchen quickly brought water over to his older brother.  

“Big brother, you must be tired. Drink some water.”  

Seeing that his younger brother was fine, Lian Yue felt some relief, but he didn’t drink the water. Instead, he turned to his grandmother and asked, “Grandmother, did you cook the octopus?”  

“No, I was going to cook it for lunch.”  

Just as Lian Yue was about to relax, his grandmother spoke again.  

“This morning, I went up the mountain to gather firewood, and I slipped and hurt my arm. It got dislocated, but luckily, the new girl from the Yin family was passing by, and she helped fix it for me. I offered her money, but she refused, so I gave her the octopus you caught yesterday instead.”  

With a thud, the water bowl fell to the ground.  

Lian Yue’s scalp tingled, and he didn’t have time to explain. He ran straight towards the edge of the village.  

The Yin family had just arrived, and they were running low on food. They would definitely eat the octopus today!  

Although he didn’t know if the one he sold to the shopkeeper was the same one that caused the deaths, he knew that it was better to be safe than sorry.

The octopus he caught was from the same spot as the large one, and no matter what, he couldn’t take the risk. He couldn’t let the Yin family eat it.  

While Lian Yue hurriedly rushed toward the Yin family, they were busy enjoying their meal.  

“Cousin, the grilled octopus you made smells so good…”  

Yin Ning took a deep breath, savoring the aroma, then aggressively bit into a leg of the octopus. The leg no longer had the cold, intimidating feel it used to; it was soft and bouncy, with a great chewy texture, similar to the taste of snail meat.  

She was no longer afraid of octopus; after all, she was the one eating them!  

Jiang Wan smiled and said nothing. Even though her cousin was enjoying herself now, once they went to the reef, she would be trembling in fear again. The psychological trauma wasn’t something that could be erased so easily.  

Each member of the family had a bamboo skewer with octopus from yesterday’s catch and some fresh ones that had been delivered today. They were eating heartily and enjoying the sweet taste.  

When Lian Yue arrived and saw the scene, his legs almost gave out.  

“Hey! Big Brother Lian Yue! What brings you here?”  

“I…”  

Lian Yue took a deep breath and said honestly, “I just came back from the Dongwan Wharf. I heard that people at Wanyuzhai in the city died from eating octopus yesterday, and when I came back, I heard Grandma say she gave the octopus to your family…”  

As soon as the family heard this, the octopus in their mouths suddenly didn’t taste so good anymore.