Chapter 675: Dragon Gate

Yang Xiaohai's worried heart eased a little upon hearing that his eldest sister was returning home. In these times, the sea offered more safety than the land.

"Wawazi! Dad wants you to come over." Hearing his second brother's voice from inside the boat cabin, Yang Xiaohai quickly replied, knelt down to wash his hands in the water, then stood up and walked towards the cabin.

The boat cabin was not very large; Yang Xiaohai could walk in without needing to stoop.

"Come on, Wawazi, a toast!" Chi Baishui, Yang Xiaohai's father, pulled him forward and pressed a cup of wine into his hand.

Although Yang Xiaohai wasn't a drinker, seeing the old men observing him, he nonetheless tilted his head back and swallowed the wine.

The wine, however, was strange; it had a strong fishy odor that made him feel like retching.

Seeing Yang Xiaohai's expression, the others burst into laughter.

"Well, Wawazi, can't you get used to it? This is white fish wine, good stuff! You can drink it, and it even has medicinal properties. You'll get accustomed to it after a while." Chi Baishui slapped Yang Xiaohai heartily on the back, then joined in the laughter.

"Fish... fish wine? Can fish be used to brew wine?" As a chef, Yang Xiaohai had truly never encountered such a thing before.

"What a novel question! Of course fish can be used to brew wine. Come, come!" Chi Baishui pulled him over to the table.

After three rounds of wine and several dishes, they turned to serious matters. A tipsy Chi Baishui took a sip of wine and declared, "Wawazi, since you're back, tomorrow morning you'll go to the Dragon King Temple to formally re-enter the 'Dragon Household.' I'll buy you a boat, and from now on, you'll fish diligently and build a life with your wife."

Yang Xiaohai was momentarily stunned by these words. Buy a boat? Go fishing? Settle down? These ideas were entirely outside of his plans.

Noticing Yang Xiaohai's reaction, Chi Baishui's face clouded over. "What? Are you planning to leave again? Then why did you bother coming back?"

Hearing his father, whom he hadn't seen in a long time, sound angry, Yang Xiaohai immediately panicked. "Dad, no, that's not it at all."

"Alright, it's settled. You can go now."

Seeing her husband emerge from the boat cabin with a bewildered look, Zhao Xiumei, who had been peeling crab shells, quickly stood up and hurried over to him.

"Husband, what's wrong? Wasn't it a feast? Why do you look so troubled?"

Yang Xiaohai gazed at her with a dazed expression. "Xiumei, Dad told me not to leave, to stay here. What are your thoughts?"

Zhao Xiumei turned and looked at the wooden boats, their oil lamps swaying, scattered across the distant sea, each carrying a family. "A wife follows her husband, come what may. I'm fine with anything. I... I'll go with what you decide."

Hearing her words, Yang Xiaohai remained silent. He simply returned to his seat at the boat's bow and continued eating with his siblings.

After the feast, Yang Xiaohai lay restless in his hammock, unable to sleep. On one hand, he had his newly rediscovered family; on the other, there were his sworn brothers, who had saved him and shared life-and-death experiences throughout their journey.

He naturally wished to have both, but that seemed an impossible feat; he would likely have to choose one path.

In this hazy state, Yang Xiaohai drifted off to sleep. When he next opened his eyes, he saw his mother gazing at him tenderly, her expression as if she feared he might slip away again.

A warmth spread through Yang Xiaohai's heart. This feeling of being cared for by family was something he had truly never experienced before.

"Wawazi, you're awake? I'll take you to the Dragon King Temple. Your father is waiting for you." Hearing this, Yang Xiaohai nodded, stood up, and helped his mother descend the steps out of the cabin.

Regardless of whether he decided to stay or leave, he knew he had to visit the temple; after all, he was a member of this family.

Walking past a succession of boats, Yang Xiaohai led his mother towards the cluster of wooden structures floating on the sea. The uneven, winding paths, rising and falling, were difficult to navigate, and he occasionally stumbled over other people's belongings.

The residents, however, were quite friendly, all casting kind glances in Yang Xiaohai's direction.

At one point, Yang Xiaohai considered asking his mother if the family should move with him to Niuxin Village, where life was clearly much better than living by fishing at sea.

However, he apparently forgot that his mother was deaf, and after speaking for a long time, he received no response.

"Never mind, I'll talk to Dad about it after I've been registered in the family tree."

After walking along the path for a while, a temple with remarkably wide eaves appeared before them. The broad eaves blocked all natural light, making Yang Xiaohai feel somewhat oppressed.

"Come on," Yang Xiaohai's mother urged, pulling him forward. "Don't keep your father waiting; his temper isn't very good."

Once inside, Yang Xiaohai stared in awe at a colossal painting in the distance. This dark-toned masterpiece, enveloped in the white smoke of incense, looked exceptionally mysterious.

"Mom, what's that?" Yang Xiaohai's hand began to rise, but his mother gently pressed it down.

"Don't point carelessly; that's very disrespectful to the Dragon King."

"The Dragon King? But isn't that a black snake?" In the painting, a colossal black serpent with no visible pupils was coiled.

"Oh, our Dragon King looks just like that. Hurry and offer incense. The Dragon King used to be unpredictable, sometimes answering prayers, sometimes not, but now he's very potent!"

At his mother's urging, Yang Xiaohai very solemnly offered incense to the Dragon King in the painting, bowing three times and prostrating himself nine times with great earnestness.

Just as Yang Xiaohai was kowtowing, a group of people emerged, including Chi Baishui and the old men who had dined in the boat cabin the previous night.

Today, however, they were dressed in elaborate robes: brown tops, skirts, and outer cloaks, giving them a very formal appearance.

Yang Xiaohai looked closely and noticed that their robes were covered in fish scales, appearing to be made from fish skin.

Just as Yang Xiaohai pondered whether this truly constituted officially joining the 'Dragon Household,' he observed an old man with a white beard step forward, pull out a bamboo slip, and begin reading from it to the painting.

Yang Xiaohai didn't understand a single word the man uttered; his speech was heavily accented, and its rhythmic intonation sounded like singing.

However, one name was repeated several times, which Yang Xiaohai barely managed to distinguish: Ao Wuzhi.

"Kneel!" Upon hearing this, Yang Xiaohai immediately knelt before the colossal painting once more.

After he completed his three bows and nine prostrations again, Yang Xiaohai saw the elderly men, clad in fish-skin robes, surrounding him and gazing at him with solemn expressions.

Before Yang Xiaohai could fully grasp the situation, Chi Baishui stepped forward and promptly stripped him of his clothes.

Immediately afterward, ink-laden fish bones were pressed onto Yang Xiaohai's skin, causing him agonizing pain.

Instinctively, he tried to stand but found himself completely immobilized; there was something more than just ink in those fish bones.

Yang Xiaohai remained kneeling, glancing nervously at his parents nearby, enduring as the fish bones left scale-like tattoos across his body, identical to those of other Tanka people.