Chapter 157 – Water Moon Canal
Translated by Jon
“What happened?”
Ping had just come back from giving Fu Shi his food and exchanging small talk with the guards. Before she could even cross the threshold of her house, she saw people flocking towards the pond and decided to hurry her steps to join them.
“Ping, two crocodiles have been killed!” A woman loudly exclaimed.
Ping jumped in shock. After being informed of all that had just happened, Ping wished that she could lay her hands on the murderer. Sadly, the identity of the culprit was still unknown. But when she heard about the misunderstanding with Shao Xuan, she exclaimed, “Shao Xuan is a good person! He didn’t even covet my family’s Water Moonstone.”
“What?!”
Everyone was astonished that there was someone who actually did not lust after their Water Moonstones?!
This gave the surrounding people a better impression of Shao Xuan. Those that coveted the stones were never good people. Anyone like Shao Xuan, who wasn’t moved by greed, was treated more cordially. Yet, thinking about his lack of a reaction in a deeper sense, how could Shao Xuan not like these Water Moonstones? For such an amazing item, why wouldn’t he like them?
“Shao Xuan, Water Moonstones are really useful, they are able to be exchanged for so many different kinds of items.”
“Indeed, Shao Xuan. It must be that the rock Fu Shi had shown is both small and dull. It has to be simply too old to be impressive. Come to my house instead. Our stone is incredibly bright, since it was only excavated last year, and this year, we’ll have even bigger ones!”
“You should come over to my house, our stone is also quite large, it was something that my daughter had obtained last year. Speaking of her, she’s at home right now, and she is extremely beautiful. If you saw her, I know that you’d like her.” Said an elderly woman pointing towards her house.
Shao Xuan followed the woman’s finger and his eyes ended up looking upon a girl who stood inside her house. At this moment, the girl opened her mouth all the way to her ears, smiling over at him. Apparently she had just finished eating, so her snow white teeth were covered with blood stains.
“Hehe.” Shao Xuan turned his head back to hide his stiff smile.
Luckily, he didn’t have to say much. At this moment, as Chun received the two crocodiles, he warned everyone to be more diligent in surveying their surroundings, as well to pay closer attention to the crocodiles.
Holding the beef shank and the brown eyed crocodile, Shao Xuan returned home completely covered in blood.
Although he had been wrongly accused twice, he was still unsure if he should think of this group of people as good or bad.
After all, he had not suffered any injuries from both attacks, and Shao Xuan had wanted to use these people to gather information regarding the other tribes. Furthermore, the Drumming tribe wanted to build a good relationship with him. So Shao Xuan wouldn’t bother to pick a fight regarding these small matters.
Looking at the crocodile in Shao Xuan’s arm, Ping felt heart broken. She had watched over those three crocodiles since they broke out of their shells, and because the larger crocodiles had already left, it was her who had raised them from the start.
And so, Shao Xuan discovered that night, that just as the people of the Drumming tribe were easy to anger, they were also easy to sadden. When they were sad, the words they spoke seemed to increase, since during the walk back home, Ping told Shao Xuan everything there was to tell in regards to those crocodiles.
Apparently it wasn’t the crocodile’s breeding season yet, so there weren’t many young creatures at the moment. Without the adult crocodiles to protect them, the job of guardianship fell upon the Drumming tribe’s people.
Generally speaking, the larger crocodiles would return on the day that the eclipse of the two moons occur, when the water levels would once again rise. That is also the time where they would lay another batch of eggs, and the population would once again shoot up.
And so, of the three crocodiles that hatched, only one remained. Ping continued to talk while tearing up. At this moment, Chen Jia came back home and gained Ping’s undivided attention. Shao Xuan took this opportunity to escape and brought the brown eyed crocodile back into his room.
It had already somewhat quieted down, so Shao Xuan tried to recall the exact sounds he heard before Ban Ling appeared. When he walked towards the pond, he had already managed to find some clues.
Although his location wasn’t at the core area of the Drumming tribe, there were still many houses around here. With so many members of every family on guard duty, how could someone from outside the tribe manage to infiltrate in?
If the culprit wasn’t someone from within the tribe, then the murderer of these two crocodiles had to have too much ability.
The brown eyed crocodile was still crying as he brought it back inside; it was probably still frightened. It had continuously latched onto Shao Xuan and it refused to return back to the pond
The three crocodiles came from the same nest and they had grown up together, spending every moment with one another.
The tribe always said that these creatures could clearly see inside the people’s heart. Perhaps they discovered a person with ill will, and then cried out. They might have also been killed because of their cries, to stop them from attracting unwanted attention.
And now, the ones that could cry had died, leaving behind only this ‘mute’ creature.
After calming his mother down, Chen Jia entered the room, asking, “When you went over, did you see anyone around the dead crocodiles?”
Shao Xuan shook his head as he looked at Chen Jia. This kid had been beaten again because he had recklessly gone out. However, the degree of his injuries didn’t appear to bother him at all.
“I didn’t see any strangers.” Shao Xuan responded. Although he wasn’t familiar with all his neighbors, he had still seen them and had impressions of them all. When he went to check on the crocodiles, he had not seen anyone strange around.
“It isn’t necessarily a stranger. Could it perhaps be someone familiar?”
Chen Jia was in a bit of a dilemma. He wasn’t good at masking his emotions, so everything was on display on his face as to what he was thinking.
Being an outsider, Shao Xuan wouldn’t rashly speak about the matters of the Drumming tribe. He instead asked, “Yesterday, who pushed you into the river bank?”
Astonished by what Shao Xuan asked, Chen Jia raised his head and asked back, “How did you know I was pushed?” When he came back home, he had told everyone that he had carelessly slipped in, refusing to telling anybody the truth.
“I guessed.” Shao Xuan responded. Although Chen Jia looked irresponsible, from the many details Shao Xuan picked up, he could tell that Chen Jia was actually a very cautious person. He wasn’t the type to just fall into danger like that. Shao Xuan thought that the tribe’s Shaman and chief also knew more than they were letting on, but just didn’t question Chen Jia. After all, they weren’t simple people.
Since he had been hiding this secret in his heart for two days, Chen Jia felt that he couldn’t choke it down any longer. Yet, he didn’t dare tell the tribe, not when everyone was this intense. They simply wouldn’t be able to question their own tribe members.
“So, do you think there’s a mole inside the tribe?” Shao Xuan asked.
“What’s a ‘mole’?”
“It means that someone with malicious intent is hiding inside the tribe.”
“…..En.” Since everyone agreed that Shao Xuan was a good person, Chen Jia believed he could confide in him.
“On that day when I snuck out, I noticed a man heading towards the river bank, and so I followed him. When I went over there, I saw that there were other people, and I could hear them talking. But I couldn’t clearly hear what they were saying. I waited until they left before I walked to where they were, and then I was roughly pushed down from behind.” Chen Jia stated, recalling that event.
“What did he look like?”
“…..That….. That I don’t remember.” Chen Jia struggled to recall. After exerting a great deal of effort, he still wasn’t able to remember. The face in his memory was always indistinct, yet he had a feeling that it was a person from the tribe. For if that wasn’t true, then Chen Jia wouldn’t have kept this bottled up inside of him.
Shao Xuan patted his shoulder to comfort him. “It’s fine if you don’t remember. Just, don’t tell others about what you saw. If you’re to tell someone, then you must make sure that they’re absolutely trustworthy, for example your parents. If the moles knew that you were suspecting them, they might find a way to silence you, just like they did to those crocodiles.”
“Why?!” Chen Jia asked in alarm.
“Because they could make noise.” Replied Shao Xuan as he pointed to the ’mute’ crocodile. Continuing he said, “Yet he can’t, and so, he was able to survive.”
Chen Jia wasn’t considered stupid. After thinking for a bit, he understood what Shao Xuan meant. His face went deathly pale as he stuttered out, “I-I-I-I’ll first go look for my mother!”
Regardless of whether Shao Xuan’s words were true, it still frightened Chen Jia to the point where it insured that he wouldn’t recklessly run around anymore. If he did, then he risked being killed.
“There are many tribes here, so it’s easy to get confused. What do you think?” Shao Xuan asked the crocodile as he gave a strip of meat to it.
The crocodile’s teeth belonged to the Thecodonts family tree. They weren’t like the feline species that would just rip a chunk of meat to eat. Instead, they had to roll or sway around in order to eat. These ‘death rolls’ and ‘swings’ were what many people were familiar with.
Seeing the crocodile rolling around, Shao Xuan started to think about the people from his tribe, as well as Caesar.
He didn’t know how they were doing right now.
He didn’t feel much as he was leaving the tribe, but after arriving in this new area, he started to miss them. He remembered the day he left, Shao Xuan originally wanted to tell the Shaman and Old Ke “You guys relax”, but he could only say two words before being hit with wooden crutches.
Shao Xuan couldn’t help but smile as he recalled this.
The moonlight shining inside through his window was even brighter than last night. It would soon be the time when the two moons eclipsed. If he wanted to return home, he would have to wait a full year.
The next few days there were no more anomalies, and the tribe became tranquil once more. Yet, Fu Shi and the tribe’s guardians were still on alert.
The day where the two moons met was the most important day for the tribe, apart from when they offered sacrifices. This day was called the “Water Moon Festival”.
Inside the Drumming tribe, there was a small winding river surrounding the whole tribe. The tribe’s people had named this river the “Water Moon Canal”.
Around the time that the two moons met, when the water level on the river declined, this “Water Moon Canal” broke off from the river. On that night, the two moons coincided, and every household would guard the area of the canal that flowed through their house, waiting for the stones to arrive. Then, they would go and fish them out of the water.
Shao Xuan was extremely curious regarding the creation of the Water Moonstones, yet to avoid arousing suspicion, he didn’t take the initiative to raise questions. However, Ping enthusiastically invited Shao Xuan to come with them, as she recalled the night where the other families had badmouthed her stone.
Fu Shi was vigilantly guarding around the area around the tribe, so he was unable to be with Ping and Chen Jia.
“This year, my family will be the best!”
“Nonsense! My family will be!”
“You guys can both stop arguing. In any case, the number one will obviously go to my family.”
Before they could even reach the Water Moon Canal, a group of children had already started to bicker.
Everyone in the tribe could be seen in this area. At the moment when the Water Moonstones appear, they could only stay in their own family’s area. How many or how few one retrieved from the canal relied all on themselves, as you couldn’t blame others for your ill fortunes.
Shao Xuan and Ping stood together in Chen Jia’s family area.
Seeing the muddy, less-than-five-meter-long river, it was really difficult to see where the name “Water Moon Canal” came from. Shao Xuan looked forward to the following events. Those shining stones, how did they come into being from this turbid river?
The area where the two moons eclipsed gradually increased, and Shao Xuan suddenly heard a strong, minute sound, as if metallic dust was attracted by a magnet towards the source.
And in front of him, the original turbid river was rapidly becoming clear.