Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 155

Chapter 155
Guided by Lee Tae, the chief of the river bandits, we sailed for their base, a floating village, to have our ship repaired.
From my position at the bow, watching our course, I saw Seol emerge from the cabin to ask,
“So-ryong, now that it has its hind legs, can you finally see if it’s a frog or a toad?”
She had clearly been observing Hua-yang’s changes with Hwa-eun and, now that it had grown hind legs, believed its true nature would be revealed.
It was still too soon for that.
I shook my head.
“Not quite yet.”
“Why not!? It has hind legs now; shouldn’t that tell you if it’s a frog or a toad?”
‘Why!? Oh, no…’
I started at her sudden exclamation, a fleeting fear that she had contracted Cho’s habit of asking ‘Why?’ for everything.
But I quickly recalled that Seol was far too old for that.
Composing myself, I answered,
“Correct. We must wait for its front legs to emerge and its tail to recede before we can examine its skin. However, a toad does not necessarily have bumpy skin from the start. We will need to observe it further as it develops.”
“The suspense is unbearable…”
Seol’s face, which had been bright with anticipation at solving the mystery of Hua-yang’s form through its small hind legs, now fell with disappointment at my explanation.
Just then, the boatman’s voice called from behind us.
“So-ryong, with these reeds here, our vessel can go no farther. The water is too shallow.
Should we instruct the river bandits to find another path?”
Hearing this, I leaned over the railing.
Ahead was a vast field of reeds, each one as tall as a full-grown man.
A dense forest of them extended into the distance, obstructing the passage of the small boat that led our way.
I called out quickly to Lee Tae, who was guiding us from his boat ahead.
“Lee Tae, our ship is too large for this route!”
“It’s no trouble! Just one moment, So-ryong!”
Looking down at his boat, I saw him produce a small bamboo flute from his robe and blow into it, sending a long signal.
— Bweeeek!
The note, similar to a duck’s call, carried far into the reed forest.
Then, something incredible occurred.
The thick reeds in the center of the water began to pull apart to either side, unveiling a deep channel.
“The reeds!?”
“What? The reeds are moving!”
Both the boatman and Seol, who had been watching the reeds with me, were astonished.
I sharpened my focus, trying to understand the trick, and noticed the reeds bobbing on the water’s surface with the wake from our boats.
Normally, reeds are anchored in the mud at the bottom of a river or lake.
‘Ah… it’s like Inle Lake in Myanmar.’
In that moment, I realized what the river bandits had accomplished.
Much like the floating gardens of Inle Lake, they had woven mats of aquatic plants to float on the water and had planted reeds on top of them.
The bandits had likely cultivated these floating reed islands to conceal shallow waters, parting them only when they needed a secret passage.
“They’ve woven together floating plants and grown reeds on them, isn’t that right?”
“Incredible, just as one would expect from the young master.”
The boatman and Seol appeared greatly impressed, while Lee Tae seemed startled by my deduction.
“Is this how you avoid the government patrol boats?”
“Heh, well… you could say that.”
We sailed on down the revealed waterway, pushing deeper into the reeds. Soon, a small dock materialized from the reeds, and beyond it, a village came into sight.
Smoke rose in lazy curls from kitchen chimneys.
It was nearly time for the evening meal, and the sight of cooking fires from the houses made it resemble any ordinary countryside village.
I had expected the river bandits’ headquarters to be a lair of vicious cutthroats, but it had the feel of a peaceful fishing hamlet.
Fishing nets were hung out to dry in various spots.
Seol, apparently sharing my thoughts, murmured in surprise,
“I thought it would be a stronghold of savage criminals, but… it’s simply a village?”
“Yes, it truly is.”
Right then, Lee Tae’s voice carried up from below.
“This is our floating village.”
“It appears more like a village than a bandit refuge.”
“Well, when a sufficient number of people who have been mistreated by the world come together, it naturally becomes a village.”
Lee Tae asserted that everyone here was an innocent victim who had nowhere else to turn.
I, however, was not entirely convinced.
Criminals always protest their innocence.
In my previous life as a YouTuber, I’d watched vlogs by former prisoners, and every one of them claimed they were wrongfully accused.
Even the most notorious convicts often point fingers at others, calling them the ‘true villains.’
Yet, as we neared the dock, something made me reassess Lee Tae’s claim.
There were a considerable number of people in the floating village, and they were not what I had anticipated.
Near the dock, most of the individuals watching our boat with cautious eyes were women and children.
“So-ryong, they call themselves river bandits, don’t they?”
“They do.”
Seol was as taken aback as I was by this unexpected sight.
It seemed the advance party of bandits had already informed the villagers of our arrival, for they observed us with anxious expressions.
They were frightened.
Most probably because their men had been taken during the government’s recent raid.

As our boat was secured to the dock, a stoutly built man stepped onto the gangplank the instant it was lowered and announced,
“A Zhenke Ship on the Yangtze… It has been years since I last saw one. I am Xiao Samlang. I was once a shipwright in Fuzhou. You mentioned the ship is taking on water?”
The man, who appeared to be in his forties, pushed up his sleeves, revealing a muscular build worthy of a martial artist. His thick, untamed beard contributed to his rugged demeanor.
There was an air of dependability in the way he softly touched the ship’s hull as he spoke.
His calloused hands, rough from a lifetime of labor, only strengthened this impression of trustworthiness.
“I am So-ryong, son-in-law of the Tang Clan and a disciple of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. Boatman, please show him the leak.”
After introductions, I let them discuss the repairs.
The boatman was better suited to handle this than I was.
“Yes, So-ryong. Understood.
We hit a drifting log during the last storm. The leak is near the bow. Would you care to inspect it?”
“Let’s have a look.”
The two of them went below to the bow to examine the damage.
They returned to the deck shortly after and started talking about the repairs.
“To mend the leak, we will require ramie grass, lime, and tung oil.
We can have some of the boys collect ramie grass from the hills, but we possess no lime or tung oil here.
Do you have any by chance?”
“Naturally, we do. Will that suffice?”
“Yes, that should be adequate.”
“How long will the repairs require?”
“Hm… First, we must beach the ship at first light and allow it to dry. Ah, one moment. Lee Tae! Instruct the men to go gather a good amount of ramie grass from the mountains!”
“Understood!”
After yelling to Lee Tae outside the boat to procure the materials, the shipwright resumed.
“Where was I? Ah, yes, I was explaining that the ship must dry first. Once it is dry…”
According to the shipwright, fixing the ship would take approximately ten days.
After hauling it onto land to dry, they needed to treat the timber with tung oil, then caulk the cracks with a paste of ramie fibers and lime. The procedure demanded another period of drying, meaning a minimum of ten days’ labor.
The boatman, his discussion with the shipwright concluded, turned to me.
“So, shall we move forward as the shipwright recommends?”
“Agreed. I leave the repairs in your hands, shipwright. And—might I have a word with you in private?”
“You wish to speak with me?”
“I am uncertain if you are aware of the situation, but…”
The man looked puzzled by my words.
After I explained, his face shifted to an expression of stunned disbelief.
“That scoundrel Lee Tae, so he aims to betray me to save his own skin, does he? The Tang Clan… Well, I have already repaid any debt of loyalty I owed him… But are you certain of this? This man is a killer.”
“He killed someone?”
Hearing this, I reevaluated my choice. Had I not witnessed the villagers for myself, I would have departed after the repairs were done.
But Lee Tae’s statement about “people from across the land, victims of injustice, finding their way here” suddenly echoed in my memory.
I asked the shipwright,
“Would you recount the entire story to me?”
He gave a nod and, with a deep sigh, settled onto the deck.
“This is not a tale I can tell lightly. Do you have any liquor?”
His need for a drink to tell the story indicated it was not a matter for a sober telling.
Seol quietly motioned for the boatman to fetch some.
Once the shipwright had taken a long swallow from the bottle, he at last began to speak.
“Well, it happened like this…”
***
A sharp, surprised hiss came from Bin as I walked out onto the deck.
Beyond the cabin, a heavy morning fog had enveloped the floating village, reducing visibility to nothing.
“The fog is dense. Bin, should we delay our outing until it lifts?”
A sharp hiss replied.
Bin disliked high humidity, and truthfully, so did I. The moist air left my clothing feeling damp and clinging.
So I shut the door and went back inside, where I discovered the shipwright and Lee Tae lying unconscious on the floor.
I threw a blanket over them.
The reason for their collapse here was simple—the discussion with the shipwright, which had begun over drinks, had lasted much longer than planned.
And, inevitably, both had overindulged.
It was no surprise that Lee Tae, who had been drinking alongside him, was also thoroughly intoxicated.
After lighting the cabin lantern, I heard a soft splashing from the corner.
—Plop. Plop.
Hua-yang was indicating it was hungry.
I placed the lantern near it and turned my gaze to the sleeping shipwright.
His drunken mumblings from the previous night replayed in my head.
“He truly was not guilty…”
The shipwright had shared his history with me.
In Fuzhou, he had worked with his elder brother in the shipbuilding business.
One day, the son of a high official tried to violate his brother’s wife, so the shipwright struck the man dead.
But because the deceased was from a noble family, the shipwright was labeled a murderer and compelled to escape.
That was a decade ago.
Hearing his account, I believed he was not an evil man.
Yet the issue remained… he was still a fugitive from the law.
In this age, wanted notices were not like modern pictures—they were crude drawings, known as likeness descriptions.
They were seldom precise.
And after ten years, it was unlikely anyone would identify him.
Nonetheless, harboring a fugitive was a grave affair.
I would need to seek my father-in-law’s counsel before deciding.
‘I should bring this issue to the Tang Clan and request his judgment.’
Just as I was settling on this in my thoughts, a disturbance erupted outside.
“Boss! Boss!”
“Where is the boss!? Wake up!”
The cries of the river bandits cut through the fog.
“What is happening?” I prodded Lee Tae. “Lee Tae.”
“Grr… Leave me be, you fools… Hnngh…”
—Hiss!
“Ahhh!”
Bin, evidently repulsed by Lee Tae’s drowsy reply, let out a loud hiss directly into his ear.
With a shout, he jolted awake, despite the early hour.
I urged him toward the deck.
“Your men are shouting for you. Go see what is wrong.”
“…My men?”
Still rubbing his eyes, Lee Tae lurched out onto the deck.
He hurried back moments later, his face pale.
“So-ryong! You will still honor your promise, won’t you?”
“…Promise?”
“The promise that you would not give us to your creatures to eat!”
Lee Tae was suddenly in need of confirmation.
I looked at him, bewildered, and nodded.
“Of course. That matter was resolved. Why do you ask this now?”
“Well… It seems one of your spirit beasts may have been hungry through the night…”
“…What?”
Stepping out onto the deck, I saw the fog was starting to dissipate.
Hwa-eun had already arrived ahead of me and was examining something on the deck.
She raised a tarpaulin, uncovering what was hidden below.
Her voice shook with disbelief.
“This is… a moknaei?”
Unfamiliar with the term, I moved closer and drew back the tarp myself.
Beneath it was a desiccated corpse.
‘Moknaei means… a mummy!?’
The tarp shifted, releasing a faint smell of cilantro.
Finally, I comprehended what had frightened Lee Tae so.
It seemed my creatures had discovered this corpse and mistaken it for sustenance.
“…You cannot be serious. My creatures would not consume something in this state.”
They would never consider such spoiled fare edible.