1580: Chapter 1581: Luoshui Dragon Carp 1580: Chapter 1581: Luoshui Dragon Carp Amidst the lush reeds, the white dew turns to frost; the one I seek is across the water…
Above the Luoshui, the simple folksong echoed between both banks, as Su Chengyu gazed at this largest tributary of the Yangtze River, speechless for a long while.
“Young man, do you wish to take a boat?”
At Luoshui Port, from ti to ti, soone would take the initiative to invite Su Chengyu aboard, but whenever he ntioned his destination, their expressions would subtly change before they retreated back into their own boats, ignoring Su Chengyu.
“No need, the place I am heading to is not sowhere you can go.”
Perhaps it was because the singing originated from that very farr’s boat, Su Chengyu kindly refused the offer.
No sooner had Su Chengyu spoken than the slightly plump boatwoman asked, “Is the young master perhaps intending to go to the Luo Shen Temple?”
The Luo Shen Temple, located near a small island at the center of Luoshui, is surrounded by turbulent waters that make it incredibly difficult to approach.
More importantly, it’s known to be a private area that no one nearby dares to venture.
“The gods are three feet above our heads,” and in Luoshui, Luo Shen is the supre deity, a sacred place that no boatman or fisherman dares to approach lightly.
“Yes, I’ve asked around and it seems like no one is really willing to go.”
The boatman sitting alone at the bow turned to glance over here and said coldly, “Is it that they’re not willing to go?
They can’t go.
An outsider like you wanting to visit the Luo Shen Temple, really ignorant of what’s good for you.”
The sarcasm was unmistakable, making the boatman’s wife, who ca out to solicit passengers, sowhat nervous, as she quickly tried to fill in for her husband.
“Sorry, my husband has a blunt way of speaking, please don’t take it to heart.
But it’s really not convenient to go there without proof, even we wouldn’t dare to dock there recklessly.”
“Proof?
May I ask what kind of proof?
How can I obtain it?”
“Of course, the temple worship proof, what else could it be?
Us people from Luoshui, at most, get only ten quotas a year, how could it be your turn, an outsider?”
The boatman at the bow spoke without turning his head, clearly showing disdain for Su Chengyu, the foreign visitor.
Before Su Chengyu could speak again, the plump woman hastily interjected, “Sorry young man, my husband is a bit straightforward, but what he said is true, without the temple worship proof, we really can’t take you.”
Su Chengyu looked at the couple with very different temperants without taking offense and smiled, “Then, could you perhaps take around Luoshui nearby for a bit?”
“Take you around for what, Luoshui…”
“You shut your mouth!”
This ti, before the old man could say more, the woman cut him off and then turned to Su Chengyu with a smiling face, “Young man, let tell you the truth, it’s not that we don’t want to take you, but that place is sowhere even we locals wouldn’t go to on any normal day.”
“I understand; I just want to see the scenery around Luoshui and take a casual turn, that’s all.”
As he spoke, Su Chengyu took out three hundred cash and handed it to the woman, saying before she could reply, “This is a deposit, another three hundred will follow when we disembark.”
The woman was stunned, seemingly confused by Su Chengyu’s generosity.
While she was still hesitating, the boatman had already started rowing, “If you’re getting on, then hurry up, don’t waste our ti.”
The woman frowned, still worried about sothing, but Su Chengyu had already stepped aboard, saying, “Thank you for the trouble.”
As the boatman rowed at the bow, he glanced sideways at Su Chengyu, clearly looking at him as an easy mark.
This scene made the woman feel even more embarrassed, as she offered Su Chengyu so of the Luoshui’s specialties while apologizing profusely, “Sorry, my husband’s temper isn’t great, please don’t take it to heart.”
Su Chengyu smiled and shook his head, showing he didn’t mind at all.
His magnanimity is not feigned; on the contrary, it’s his thankfulness towards the couple.
He had been at Luoshui Port for so ti, and had inquired with several ferryn, all of whom, upon hearing his destination was the Luo Shen Temple, promptly adopted an attitude of respectful distance.
Not to ntion explaining these matters, Su Chengyu couldn’t even be bothered to engage in conversation.
Yet this couple, although not polite in their speech, provided Su Chengyu with quite a few useful pieces of information.
“Where to?”
The boatman rowing at the bow asked with a sullen face.
Su Chengyu blinked and responded, “Besides the Luo Shen Temple, is there any other place nearby that’s sowhat special?”
“There are, but…”
“But what?”
The woman said with a troubled expression: “Most of them don’t welco outsiders much.
Our little place is far from the city, and the feng shui and customs are strange, so we basically don’t welco foreigners.”
“It’s okay, then let’s just take a casual cruise on the river.”
The secluded hamlet near Luoshui Village, where the residents have lived off fishing for generations, continues to do so even today.
Although the industry is not large, the Luoshui carp, with its unique taste, is widely sought after, and the villagers hardly worry about food and clothing.
Over the years, there have been attempts to monopolize the fishing industry near the village, but, without exception, they all have been driven away by the locals.
To this day, Luoshui Village still maintains an appearance of being cut off from the world.
Having already done his background check, Su Chengyu was well aware that the fundantal reason for all this was that Luoshui Village is located at the entrance to the Luo Clan of the Nine Ancient Tribes.
Without exception, the ancestors of the villagers are all intricately tied to the Luo Clan.
So may be commoners who once served the Luo Clan, while others could even be illegitimate children born from unions between the Luo Clan and outsiders, who, due to their impure blood, were placed in Luoshui Village and not officially recorded in the Luo Clan’s genealogy.
This is the real reason for the exclusionary stance of Luoshui Village.
“Is this Luoshui’s specialty, the Luoshui carp?”
Having borrowed a homade fishing rod, Su Chengyu casually caught a snow-white carp and asked the boatman couple.
The woman turned her head to look at the carp in Su Chengyu’s hand and said, astounded, “Young man, you’re really lucky.
We’ve been fishing for generations, and it’s good to see about ten or so of these carps a year, but…”
“Seems like I’m pretty fortunate.”
With a light chuckle, Su Chengyu didn’t wait for the woman to finish speaking and voluntarily released the carp back into the river.
Su Chengyu’s actions surprised the woman; she hadn’t expected that he would release the carp voluntarily without her even speaking up.
Luoshui Village actually offers fishing services, but any Luoshui carp caught are invariably bought back by locals at low prices.
However, this area is not part of the carp’s usual habitat, so the woman never expected Su Chengyu to actually catch one and hadn’t explained in advance.
Having observed the carp and achieved his purpose, Su Chengyu naturally released it after sensing the woman’s intentions.
The Luoshui carp, abundant in Spiritual Energy, almost bears signs of sentience, being only a threshold away from becoming a true spirit creature.
And such a creature, faced with ordinary fishern catching them, showed no hint of resistance, which clearly indicated the involvent of the Luo Clan again.
The Luo Clan provided the villagers of Luoshui with the ans to survive, so what do they gain from these ordinary people in return?
Su Chengyu gazed thoughtfully at the swiftly swimming Luoshui carp in the river.
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