While Chu Haoyu’s father and Granny Daiyu started haggling over a fair price for the monster trout, Lin Shao and Chu Haoyu walked to the front of the Chu family’s fish market.

“So?” Chu Haoyu asked eagerly.

“What?” Shao grunted in confusion.

“Come on, Lin Shao. There must be a story behind that catch. What happened? How did you manage to catch such a monster?”

“Well,” Shao scratched his chin, trying to tell the truth without offending Granny Daiyu by showing off too much. “There’s not much to say. I harpooned it.”

The two young men entered the front door of the Chu family’s shop. As they walked out of the hot summer air and into the large wooden building, Chu Haoyu looked over at his friend with an expression of exaggerated shock. “Really!? You caught a man-sized trout, and the best story you can think of is, ‘I harpooned it?’ I thought fishermen were supposed to be skilled at the art of embellishment.”

Inside of the Chu Fish Market, Chu Haoyu’s twin sister, Chu Peijing, stood behind the counter. Her hands were covered in fish guts, her apron was stained with blood, and her hair was tied back in a loose ponytail. Lin Shao’s breath caught in his throat as he saw her.

To Lin Shao, the blood and fish guts did not detract from Chu Peijing’s natural beauty in the slightest. Her harsh surroundings did nothing to mar her alluring skin and beautiful eyes. She would not have been out of place as a princess in an imperial palace. If Lin Shao wasn’t a poor fisherman with no prestige or honor, he would ask her to marry him.

Lin Shao bowed respectfully to Chu Peijing before saying, “Please excuse our intrusion.”

Smirking, Chu Haoyu quietly muttered, “You don’t have to be so formal when you enter a fish market, you know.”

Chu Peijing tossed the viscera recently removed from a salmon into a half-filled basket a moment before she heard Lin Shao speak. Seeing the two new arrivals, she smiled and said, “Hello, Lin Shao. What’s this about a man-sized trout?”

Chu Haoyu cut in, saying, “Lin Shao and his grandmother caught this massive fish. It has a hole in its center about the size of a fist.” Turning his attention to Lin Shao, he continued, saying, “Are you telling me a harpoon did all that?”

“That’s what happened.” Lin Shao shrugged.

“And you’re not going to brag even a little bit?”

“I think I’ll leave the bragging to you, friend,” Lin Shao said, patting Chu Haoyu on the shoulder.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“How much did it weigh?” Chu Peijing asked.

“Four hundred jin, probably,” Lin Shao said, trying to give his best guess regarding the weight of the fish.

“Sounds like we’ll have our work cut out for us, then,” Chu Peijing said. “It’s probably for the best, since we’re going to have a special guest tomorrow.”

“Special guest? Who’s that?” Lin Shao asked.

With a broad smile, Chu Haoyu said, “It’s a secret, so keep your mouth shut. A cultivator from the Shigong Temple is coming to the village tomorrow.”

The memory of the earlier conversation with Granny Daiyu returned to the forefront of Shao’s mind. The image of some unknown cultivator killing six people on a whim caused his teeth to grind against each other. Why would a cultivator be coming to Bluecrest Village? Was he going to kill everyone in the Yang Clan like that cultivator killed his parents fourteen years before?

“It won’t stay a secret if you keep telling people,” Chu Peijing chided her brother.

“Why is he coming here?” Lin Shao said, his serious tone cutting through the conversation like a knife through butter.

“There’s no need to worry,” Chu Haoyu said with a casual tone. “He’s just coming here to do some kind of ‘test.’ Patriarch Hongmin is getting ready to throw a party to show hospitality to the cultivator.”

“How nice,” Lin Shao said, sarcasm dripping from his tone.

The door to Chu Fish Market opened, and Granny Daiyu entered the room. In one hand, she held a bundle of silver coins connected to each other by a string. In the other, she held a straw hat.

“I hope my boy isn’t causing you too much trouble,” Granny Daiyu said immediately upon entering. Before Lin Shao could protest, she continued. “Shao. Chu Yahui has generously paid us a hundred silver tael for our catch. Here’s your cut, boy.”

Lin Daiyu cut the string approximately in half and held one of the halves out for her grandson. Lin Shao eagerly took the stack of silver coins. Immediately, he knew what he would spend his money on.

It was clear that Lin Shao was eager to get out of the fish market and spend the money he just made. Seeing this, Chu Peijing quickly said, “Lin Shao, one last thing. Will you be competing in the Harvest Festival again this year?”

“Of course.”

“How do you think you’ll do this year? Do you think you’ll finish in the top three again?”

Lin Shao’s eyes darted to Granny Daiyu before he said, “Top three? Yeah, I should be able to do that. I’m not confident I can beat Wei Jinhai, though. That old man is stronger than he looks.”

“Well,” Chu Peijing said, suddenly finding it hard to meet Lin Shao’s eyes, “I’ll be rooting for you.”

Lin Shao couldn’t stop himself from smiling, despite the terrible mood he had been in a moment before. He said, “I won’t disappoint, then.”

“Hey! Why won’t you cheer for me?” Chu Haoyu pouted. “I’m competing, too.”

“And you never break into the top twenty,” Chu Peijing responded quickly.

Using the siblings’ argument as an opportunity to leave, Lin Shao took his straw hat from Granny Daiyu and quickly left the Chu Fish Market.