Chapter 674: Water Banquet

"Mother, this is delicious too. You should try this; I brought it especially for you from Daliang."

"Oh, and these Milazao dates! I happened to see them on the way and thought they tasted good, so I bought two jin for you."

"Mother, do you like sour things? I brought a jar of sour preserved fruit for you too."

An excited Yang Xiaohai, finally free from pretense in front of his birth mother, completely reverted to behaving like a child his age.

"Oh, and this!" Yang Xiaohai exclaimed, thrusting a large bag of silver into his mother's arms.

"Oh dear, oh dear, this is too much, far too much! Stop, that's enough, truly enough."

Hearing his mother say this, Yang Xiaohai became even more enthusiastic, as if determined to empty the entire carriage.

After his mother tried to stop him for a while, Yang Xiaohai finally ceased bringing things out.

He then began to tell his mother about the pain and longing he had felt over the years. However, she was deaf. Her bewildered expression clearly showed she couldn't hear him, leaving Yang Xiaohai with a belly full of unspoken words.

"Come, come, you've just returned home and don't know everyone. Let me introduce you to the family," Yang Xiaohai's mother said, standing up and pulling him towards the other Dan family members who were gathered around.

"This is your second elder brother."

"Hello, Second Brother!" Yang Xiaohai greeted the man, who was even shorter than him.

His second brother seemed very awkward, muttering a bit incoherently. "Uh... hey, you're back? Have you eaten?"

"This is your third elder brother."

"Hello, Third Brother." His third brother was much more composed than the second. He reached out and patted Yang Xiaohai's shoulder. "You've grown so big, that's great. When you were little, you were like a little chick."

"This is your younger sister. She's engaged through an arranged marriage and will be getting married after the New Year. As her elder brother, you absolutely must come for the wedding feast."

"Absolutely, I will."

In addition to his immediate family, his mother went on to introduce him to all the other Dan family members who were watching nearby, explaining that they were all his aunts and uncles.

It was through his mother that Yang Xiaohai learned all the Dan family members he had encountered on his journey were, in fact, his relatives.

The family hierarchy was also very confusing; he even had to address a girl younger than himself as "great-aunt."

However, Yang Xiaohai didn't mind at all. On the contrary, he was delighted that he wasn't alone and had so many family members in the world.

After introducing the elders, it was time for the younger generation. Yang Xiaohai's mother pulled him towards the stern of the boat.

"Those two are your second brother's children, your nephews," she said, pointing to two small children in bibs at the stern.

Aside from being a bit thin, the two nephews seemed fine. However, the ropes binding their bodies struck Yang Xiaohai as very odd; it looked more like raising dogs than children.

Yang Xiaohai found this scene very uncomfortable. He couldn't help but glance at the three "monkey children" near the carriage, who were similarly tied up.

"Mother, why are the nephews tied up?" Yang Xiaohai couldn't help but ask.

However, his mother, being deaf, still couldn't hear him. She just pulled him along and continued walking back.

Just then, Jiang Erlang came over and explained, "You've been on land too long and don't understand. This is how you raise children on a boat. If they're not tied up, they can easily fall into the water. Your second uncle was lost that way."

"Is that so? But you can't keep them tied up until they're grown, can you?" "Of course not until they're grown. After they pass the age of childhood, they go to the Dragon King Temple, offer incense, and become 'Dragon Households.' Then they can be untied."

"Dragon Households? What are those?"

"People like us are 'Dragon Households.' It's like registering with the ancestral temple and becoming part of the family lineage on land," Yang Erlang said, touching the tattoo on his body.

"Oh~" Yang Xiaohai nodded in understanding. So, the various rules the boat captain had mentioned earlier weren't made up; they had a reason.

"Father! Guess who's here? Fifth Brother is back!" Hearing his second brother's voice from the bow, Yang Xiaohai's heart tightened. Father?

When Yang Xiaohai led his mother back to the bow, he saw a stern-faced old man. He appeared a bit younger than Scholar Lu, with a thick neck and body and hands also tattooed with fish scales.

"Father?" Yang Xiaohai nervously stepped forward.

Immediately, he saw his father jump from a nearby boat's bow onto their own. His father reached out, rolled up Yang Xiaohai's sleeve, and examined his faint birthmark.

With a rustle, the sleeve was rolled back down. Yang Xiaohai's father turned to face the Dan family members, who were gathered in layers, and shouted, "Today, my fifth son has returned! It's a great celebration! No one needs to cook tonight! Our Chi family is hosting a water feast today!"

Hearing the cheers from the surrounding Dan family members, Yang Xiaohai looked at the small old man beside him with emotion, and his nervousness instantly vanished.

That night, Yang Xiaohai finally witnessed what a Dan family water feast was like. The boats of each household spread out, creating a waterway.

Two small wooden boats, laden with various dishes of all sizes, began to swiftly move back and forth along the edges of this waterway, allowing others to take food as they pleased. This was the "water feast."

Perhaps because the Dan people rarely went ashore, there weren't many seasonings. The dishes mainly consisted of various raw fish slices and blanched seafood.

There were also some dishes from land, but these disappeared the fastest, even including the hard *guokui* (a type of flatbread) Yang Xiaohai had brought as provisions for his journey.

That night, Yang Xiaohai ate more fish than he had in the first half of his life combined. There was a dazzling array of all sorts of unfamiliar fish and seafood.

Yang Xiaohai didn't care what any of it was; he simply grabbed it and stuffed it into his mouth. In one word: joy.

He picked up a long conch, sucked from the front, then mimicking his third brother, vigorously sucked from the back end. The meat from each end tasted different, offering a unique flavor.

Glancing at his biological father, who was inside the boat canopy clinking cups with his uncles, Yang Xiaohai asked his brother beside him, "By the way, Third Brother, I remember someone saying we had four children in our family. Where's the fourth one?"

He remembered clearly that the eunuch had indeed told him there were four siblings.

His second brother, meanwhile, opened a bloody shellfish, put it in his mouth, and vigorously slurped before replying, "We also have an eldest sister. She's incredibly capable; our family's rise is entirely thanks to her."

"Our eldest sister became a child bride for a wealthy family. She often sends money home; otherwise, your second brother and I wouldn't have been able to find wives."

"Oh, I see." Hearing this, Yang Xiaohai felt a touch of regret that he hadn't yet met one family member on this trip.

"Where does Eldest Sister live then? I'd like to go see her."

Yang Xiaohai thought that if it wasn't too far, he would make a detour to visit her.

"No need! Eldest Sister is actually coming back to visit in the next few days!" his younger sister chimed in.

Initially a bit reserved, the little girl gradually relaxed after seeing Yang Xiaohai's good nature.

"Eldest Sister even said she'd bring me something!"

"Returning home to her parents? Is she coming back to lie low?" Yang Xiaohai wondered to himself, knowing full well what the situation was like on land in Later Shu.