Chapter 4: Dropped Cotton Cloth, Check-in Successful

“We can stop the boat here,” Second Aunt pointed to a spot not far away. “It’s close to us, and it’ll be easy to tie the ropes.”

Sleeping on a boat did not mean letting it drift aimlessly on the water at night. Before going to sleep each day, everyone would find a place where they could secure a rope and tie the boat down. This allowed for a more stable night’s rest.

Otherwise, one might wake up and have no idea where they had drifted.

After their parents passed away, the three sisters had originally stayed with the families of their Eldest Uncle and Second Uncle. Two months ago, when Bai Yu turned fifteen, she proposed that they separate. She felt they needed to adapt to life on the water now so they could support themselves in the future.

Otherwise, always living in dependence would only make things harder down the line.

However, neither family felt comfortable letting them go too far. They were allowed to stay in a spot near where the uncles fished, which allowed the elders to look after them while still letting the girls grow on their own.

“Let’s stay here, I think it’s fine,” Bai Yu looked at Bai Xi. “What does Second Sister think?”

“It doesn’t look like anyone passes through here, so there should be plenty of fish below.” Bai Xi nodded and walked quickly to the bow. She grabbed the rope at the front, steered the boat over until the distance was right, and jumped across to tie the rope.

The place where she could tie the rope was a large rock.

Once the rope was secured, she returned to the boat.

The boat parked nearby had been watching. Once she finished tying the rope, Second Aunt’s relieved voice drifted over: “Xiao Xi has grown up too. It’s for the best that you sisters can support each other, though it’s a shame that Xiao Yu’s marriage prospects¹ will be delayed.”

“Second Aunt, there’s no need to mention marriage. I don’t plan on getting married,” Bai Yu said. “If I were to marry, I couldn’t rest easy leaving Second Sister and Youngest Sister like this.”

“If you meet someone suitable, wouldn’t it be nice to share a boat and live together?” Second Aunt said.

Bai Yu shook her head: “Unless the other person can let me bring Second Sister and Youngest Sister along.”

Second Aunt looked at the two younger children and stopped pushing. She only muttered: “We’ll talk about it later. It’s still early, you girls need to get your lives in order first.”

After saying this, Second Aunt braced her punting pole²: “Stay here and don’t run around. If anything happens, shout loudly, we’ll be able to hear you.”

“We know. Take it slow, Eldest Aunt.”

“I know, I’m steady.”

Eldest Aunt punted the boat away, leaving only the three sisters on their small vessel.

A breeze blew across the water, making Bai Xi hug her arms and shiver: “Next time we look for a place, let’s try to find one close to a city wall. At least that can block some wind.”

People usually lived along the banks where the water was calm. If they were lucky, they could stay near a pier. A second-best option was finding a spot near houses or city walls. The worst was staying by a deserted island where the wind leaked in from all sides. Naturally, one would choose the better option if possible.

“We’ll find a better spot then, and we can stay for a few more days,” Bai Yu walked toward the cabin. “It’s getting late today. Tomorrow morning we’ll check the surroundings. If the location is right, we’ll try throwing a net down.”

“It would be best to pull up eight or ten fish in one net.”

“Let’s hope for more.”

Their strength was weak, so it was almost impossible to compete with others for good territory. Every time they settled, how many fish they could catch underneath depended on luck. If their boat wasn’t so small, they probably wouldn’t even have a place to sleep.

Bai Yu had many things on her mind, but for now, she could only keep them buried.

Looking up and seeing her youngest sister squatting obediently in the cabin, she felt that life wasn’t so bad.

“There are five Steamed Buns left. Let’s eat two tonight. Tomorrow morning will be tiring when we go into the water, so we’ll save the remaining three.” Bai Yu crawled into the cabin and took down the bag containing the Steamed Buns from the wall.

“I hope I can get something good with the Shell again tomorrow.” Bai Xi also entered the cabin. She and Bai Yu sat at opposite ends, using their modest weight to balance the small boat.

Bai Miao lowered her head and patted the Shell hanging on her chest: “Check-in successful.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow morning, Miao Miao must wake up obediently,” Bai Xi hugged her. “Second Sister wants to know what good things we can get as soon as I wake up tomorrow.”

“Second Sister call me,” Bai Miao pressed the back of her head into her sister’s arm, lying back to look at her. “Check-in successful, Steamed Buns.”

“Steamed Buns are fine, Fine Salt³ is fine, anything works,” Bai Xi tightened her arm. “Don’t move, if you move more you’ll fall off.”

Bai Miao instantly went limp.

Bai Yu laughed and pulled a Steamed Bun from the bag: “We ate three this morning, two at noon, and two tonight. There are three more for tomorrow morning, and they’re all white flour Steamed Buns. Even people on land don’t eat like we do.”

“So the sooner we eat, the sooner our hearts are at ease.” Bai Xi took the half Steamed Bun from Bai Yu’s hand.

Bai Miao also took her Steamed Bun. Lying in Bai Xi’s arms, she held it with both hands to nibble. She took a bite but didn’t manage to tear it off, so she leaned in heavily to bite again.

“It’s dark, it’s not easy to start a fire, so let’s just eat it like this,” Bai Yu turned and took down a bamboo tube⁴ from the cabin wall. Seeing Bai Miao still lying down, she frowned and spoke, “Sit up and eat.”

Bai Miao immediately exerted herself.

She tried again.

And again…

“Second Sister-“

Bai Miao pouted, her round eyes welling with a bit of moisture.

With a slight pull of her arm, Bai Xi brought her up: “Aiy, you should have called me sooner.”

Bai Yu gave her a glare.

Just now, Bai Miao clearly could have sat up on her own, but Bai Xi had deliberately lowered her arm, making it impossible for her to rise. Since both of her hands were holding the Steamed Bun, she could only look on helplessly and ask for help.

Bai Xi smiled and took a bite of her Steamed Bun, leaning over slightly to tease her sister: “Is Second Sister very good?”

“Mhm,” Bai Miao was nibbling her Steamed Bun. When she nodded, she buried her face into it again. Feeling total darkness before her eyes, she looked up in confusion. “Huh?”

Bai Yu poked Bai Miao’s forehead with her finger, stopping her from burying her head again: “Eat your Steamed Bun properly, no wasting food.”

“Oh.” Bai Miao swayed her head left and right to look at the Steamed Bun in her hands, finally deciding to start from the edge. This time when she nibbled, she didn’t end up burying her face.

The Steamed Bun was still hard, but with a sip of water for every bite, it became soft and fluffy.

Out of the two Steamed Buns, Bai Miao ate half. After Bai Yu and Bai Xi finished their own halves, they split the remaining half.

By this time, the surface of the water outside was completely dark.

“It looks like it’s going to rain tomorrow,” Bai Yu said, looking up at the sky. “The stars are all hidden.”

“Then we should block things off with cloth strips. It’ll keep the rain from flooding into the cabin if it starts tomorrow morning.”

“Mhm. Whether it rains or not, it’s better to be safe and set up the cloth.”

The two sisters set to work immediately. They soon had specialized waterproof cloth strips secured at the junctions between the cabin and the bow and stern. Although the boat had its own rain-shielding design, reinforcing it with wooden boards and cloth made the seal much tighter.

They slotted the boards into place and pulled the curtains down.

“Miao Miao, if you need to pee during the night, don’t try to find a place in your dreams. You have to wake up, okay?”

“I know,” Bai Miao said, lying down in the middle. “I have to tell myself in the dream that I can only go once I wake up. Any place I find in a dream doesn’t count.”

“That’s right. Dreams don’t count. It only counts when Eldest Sister is holding you.”

“Mhm.”

The night grew dark, and the interior of the cabin became pitch black.

The three of them soon closed their eyes.

Bai Miao had drunk quite a bit of water while eating the steamed buns, so Bai Yu expected she would need to go soon. She didn’t dare fall into a deep sleep. As she lay there with her eyes closed, her mind drifted to the Check-in Shell, wondering what it might produce tomorrow.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt that no matter what it gave them, she would be satisfied as long as something appeared.

In her daze, she heard her youngest sister squirming. She immediately sat up, scooped her up, pulled back the curtain, and stepped out of the cabin.

“Want Eldest Sister…”

“Eldest Sister is here. Go ahead and pee.”

“Eldest Sister is in the dream,” Bai Miao murmured sleepily.

Bai Yu couldn’t help but laugh. “Mhm, Eldest Sister is always here.”

Having received that reassurance, Bai Miao finally finished her business.

The night was ink-black. As Bai Yu carefully carried Bai Miao back inside, she felt Bai Xi lift her head and ask in a low voice, “Not asleep yet?”

“Can’t sleep. I want to know what we’ll get tomorrow,” Bai Xi whispered back.

“It’s no use thinking about it now. Get some sleep. We’ll find out exactly what it is tomorrow,” Bai Yu said as she tucked Bai Miao back down. “Anything is fine. Even if it’s just a single cabbage leaf, that would be good.”

“A single cabbage leaf would be enough for a meal,” Bai Xi smiled. “Let’s sleep.”

“Mhm, goodnight.”

Peace soon returned to the cabin.

The next day, the pitter-patter of rain against the cabin woke the three sisters from their slumber.

Bai Miao usually slept late anyway, but Bai Yu and Bai Xi had stayed up late the night before, so they had both slept in a bit. The sound of rain drumming against the wooden planks gradually brought them to full consciousness.

“It’s raining pretty hard.”

“It really is. It’s a bit chilly, too. Let’s try casting a net later and see what happens,” Bai Yu said. She turned to look at her youngest sister, who was staring blankly with open eyes. Bai Yu sat up first and then helped the little girl sit up as well.

Bai Xi also sat up quickly.

“Miao Miao, the Shell.”

“The Shell!” Bai Miao snapped awake. “Check-in success!”

She pulled out the string hanging around her neck and fished the bag containing the Shell out from under her clothes.

Just as Bai Yu and Bai Xi were about to open the bag, Bai Miao had already fumbled around and found the “button” on the Shell, pressing down firmly.

(Do you wish to Check-in?)

“That works too?”

“This is better. That way we don’t have to worry about the Shell falling out.”

Bai Miao gripped the bag, holding both ends of the Shell inside it, and brought it close to her mouth to announce: “Check-in.”

(Check-in successful. Obtained [Cotton Cloth] * 3 pieces.)

As soon as the voice from the Shell faded, the cotton cloth manifested in the air and fell between the three of them.

“Cloth!” Bai Miao grabbed the cotton cloth and waved it high. “Clothes!”

“Doesn’t this Shell only drop food?” Bai Xi asked in shock.

“The Shell never said it only drops food; it just happened to drop food twice,” Bai Yu said, reaching out to touch the fabric. “Heavens, this cotton is so soft. This kind of cloth would cost a fortune on the market!”

“To think it would even drop fabric… this Shell really is a precious treasure,” Bai Xi said, reaching out. “Let me feel it.”

Bai Miao immediately turned around, puffing out her chest to let her sister touch the Shell hanging there.

Bai Xi touched it gingerly, then looked back at the cotton cloth, even more excited than when the steamed buns had appeared. “Eldest Sister, if this Shell can even drop cotton cloth, do you think we might eventually be able to use the things it gives us to move onto the land⁵ to live?”

Bai Yu looked at the Shell, then at her sister, and finally at the cotton cloth before them. “Can we… could we really?”

Bai Miao nodded with a solemn, childish face. “We can!”

Bai Yu and Bai Xi froze for a moment, then laughed and spoke simultaneously: “Right, we definitely can!”

Translator’s Notes