Peach Blossom Land On Longyin Island Chapter 2

Mermaid

The room was darker than the outside; the moonlight couldn’t penetrate, and even though he had opened the window, the interior remained dim. Although lighting tools like candles existed, An Le disliked the strange odor they emitted when burning, so he avoided using them unless absolutely necessary.

Fortunately, he had caught quite a few fireflies tonight, and hanging them by the bed provided some illumination. An Le pulled up a chair and sat by the bed, staring intently at the tightly closed eyes of the young man on the mattress, his own eyes shining and unblinking.

After staring for a long time, an untimely thought suddenly popped into An Le’s mind: This person is quite good-looking.

Sword-like eyebrows, thin lips, a high nose bridge with a slight, almost imperceptible hump, and those beautiful eyes that had flashed open earlier. No wonder Su Su called him a mermaid; he was indeed handsome. In An Le’s time, he would be the kind of guy who would be secretly photographed on the street, posted online, and praised by all the girls in class.

Father An and Mother An had been gone for a while, and An Le hadn’t heard any sign of their return. However, An Le wasn’t worried about how Longyin Village would handle the young man on the bed. Although he hadn’t fully integrated into Longyin Village over the past six months, he had learned quite a bit about it. Longyin Village used An as the surname, with over two hundred households. Due to intermarriage, everyone in the village was related, neighbors helped each other, and the customs were simple and honest. The social structure of Longyin Village had an air of “when the Great Way is followed, the world belongs to all.” Villagers worked according to a division of labor, and assets were managed and distributed uniformly. The village administrator was the village chief, elected by popular vote.

The current village chief was Grandpa An Mu, who had told them the story of the mermaid repaying kindness today. He was one of the few literate people in Longyin Village. The reason An Le wasn’t worried about the young man’s fate was precisely because the village chief was Grandpa An Mu. Grandpa An Mu was kind and approachable. An Le even felt that Grandpa An resembled a hermit master from a novel—with white hair and silver beard, transcendent and refined. More importantly, Grandpa An was the only one in Longyin Village who could understand An Le’s advanced ideas. Consequently, their relationship had grown closer over the past six months.

A master like Grandpa An Mu would surely handle the mermaid properly. Just as he expected, while he was waiting for the mermaid to wake up, Father An and Mother An returned, bringing Grandpa An Mu with them. Seeing that the young man was still unconscious, Grandpa An Mu simply instructed them to let the young man stay in their home for now and decide what to do after he woke up and they had questioned him.

But why wasn’t this mermaid waking up? An Le couldn’t help but yawn. It was already the middle of the night, and his initial excitement was gradually being replaced by sleepiness as the night deepened.

“Hey, wake up, wake up.” Bored, An Le rested one hand on his thigh to prop up his chin and casually pushed the young man’s body on the bed with the other, attempting to rouse the mermaid.

He hadn’t actually expected to wake him, but then he saw the young man’s eyelashes flutter a few times.

He’s waking up?!

An Le shot up, energized, his gaze intensely fixed on the young man. At the same time, he shook the young man’s body with more force.

The young man didn’t disappoint An Le. After his eyelashes trembled several times, he slowly opened his eyes.

“You’re finally awake! What era is this?” In his excitement, An Le shook the young man even harder, and the question he had held back all night burst out.

“Ugh—” An Le was answered by a gushing sound of vomiting.

The young man on the bed forcefully pushed An Le away, grabbed the edge of the bed, and leaned halfway out to empty his stomach—it was all water.

“Hey, hold off on the throwing up! First, tell me which dynasty this is!” An Le was desperate for an answer. Ignoring the vomit on the floor, he stepped back to the bedside and urgently shook the young man.

“Stop, stop shaking.” The young man’s voice was hoarse. He weakly raised his arm to stop An Le. After vomiting, the young man’s face was even paler. He slowly raised his head, supporting himself on the bed edge, and examined An Le with beautiful phoenix eyes filled with scrutiny and confusion. After a moment, the young man seemed to finally regain his senses. He moved his lips and asked weakly, “Who are you?”

“Never mind who I am! Just tell me which dynasty this is first!” Based on the handsome young man’s attire, which looked exactly like outfits in historical dramas, An Le guessed that the outside world was still a feudal society with an emperor.

“Dynasty?” A flicker of confusion crossed the young man’s eyes. He frowned slightly, as if trying to recall.

“Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing! Which dynasty is it now?” Seeing that the confusion on the young man’s face hadn’t lessened, An Le thought, could it be even earlier? He added, “Then Spring and Autumn? Warring States? Qin? Han? Northern and Southern Dynasties?”

The young man remained frowning, unresponsive. An Le waited a moment longer, finally seeing the young man make a move.

The young man shook his head with hesitation and confusion.

“None of them?” An Le couldn’t help but feel disappointed. This world was completely unrelated to his original one.

“Then what dynasty is it now?” An Le slumped back onto the chair, asking dejectedly.

After a long while, the young man finally spoke: “I… I can’t remember.”

“Amnesia?!” This news hit An Le like a bolt from the blue. He stared at the young man on the bed for a long time before roaring out those two words.

A complete waste.

Not a single useful piece of information.

After a long silence, An Le resigned himself to fate and said nothing more.

“Do you recognize—”

“No, I don’t,” An Le interrupted, anticipating the young man’s question. “Don’t ask me. I don’t know who you are, and no one here knows who you are.”

Hearing this, the young man looked at the silent An Le and also fell into silence.

After another long pause, An Le yawned and rubbed his eyes. “Forget it, let’s sleep. I’m exhausted.” With that, An Le went to the table, retrieved the blanket Mother An had prepared, and said, “Do you want to sleep on the inside or the outside?” Without waiting for an answer, he muttered to himself, “Never mind, you sleep on the outside, just in case you need to throw up water again…”

The young man maintained his half-sitting posture, leaning on the bed edge. He watched An Le cross over his body, smoothly spread the bedding on the inner side of the bed, and lie down without saying a word. Finally, An Le closed his eyes, his sleeping face peaceful.

The light of the fireflies flickered on and off.

“Did… did you save me?” After a moment, the young man couldn’t help but ask.

“No, your savior went to sleep. You’ll see them tomorrow morning,” An Le said without opening his eyes.

“Then what is your name?” the young man asked again.

“An Le.”

“Where is this?”

“Longyin Village.”

“Longyin Village?” The young man repeated softly. After a short pause, he murmured, “No memory of it.”

“Let’s sleep first. We can talk tomorrow. We have plenty of time.”

In Longyin Village, time was the one thing they had in abundance. The days were long, the nights were long, and time seemed to flow slower here. The deep night was quiet, especially in the mountains. In his drowsy state, An Le heard a series of distinct rumbling sounds—a hungry stomach.

First, he had eaten dinner.

Second, he wasn’t hungry.

Therefore, it definitely wasn’t him.

An Le lifted his eyelids and tilted his head to glance at the embarrassed young man beside him. He sighed and said, “All we have are dry biscuits.”

They were not only dry but also hard. When An Le handed the rock-hard biscuit to the young man, he saw the young man’s expression visibly stiffen. Then, after what seemed like intense internal struggle, the young man hesitantly took the biscuit. He stared at it for a long time but didn’t take a bite.

An Le suddenly smiled. “Can you make a fire?”

The young man nodded. “Yes.”

“Can you get out of bed and walk?”

The young man got up, stepped onto the floor, and tried walking two steps. “I can, but I feel weak.” He added, “It must be hunger.”

“Then come on, I’ll boil some hot water so you can soak it.” An Le led the young man to the kitchen. The village still used the most primitive flint and steel to start fires. He didn’t know how; usually, when he needed a fire, he asked Su Su to help him.

When the water boiled, An Le poured a bowl of hot water into a rough earthenware bowl, added a little fine salt, tore the dry biscuit into pieces, and dropped them in. He had only learned this way of eating after arriving here. Although the taste was mediocre, at least it wasn’t impossible to swallow.

“Just make do with this for now.” To borrow the moonlight, the two sat down in the courtyard. An Le handed the chopsticks to the young man. “Everyone in the house is asleep. You’ll have a proper meal tomorrow morning.”

“Mhm, thank you.” Although the young man was starving, he ate slowly and gracefully.

An Le rested his chin on his hand, watching the young man’s movements. “Even though I don’t know you, I guess you’re not from an ordinary family.” The luxurious brocade clothing, the jade pendant that clearly cost a fortune, and the nobility that couldn’t be hidden even when wearing coarse linen—in An Le’s time, he would be considered a wealthy second-generation heir, one with considerable family background, refinement, and a good education.

“You really can’t remember anything at all? Don’t worry, I’m a good person; I won’t harm you.” Remembering that he himself was pretending to have amnesia, An Le still held a sliver of hope.

At his words, the young man shook his head with a troubled expression. “I don’t remember. Perhaps I’ll recall something in a few days. Did I not have anything on me when I arrived?”

“Oh, you did. Those are your clothes,” An Le said, pointing to the dark robe hanging on the rope in the courtyard. “You also had a jade pendant and a pouch filled with silver. They’re inside; I’ll get them for you.”

A moment later, An Le brought the jade pendant and the pouch and handed them to the young man. “Take a good look. Does it remind you of anything?”

Under the moonlight, the dragon-shaped jade pendant emitted a warm white glow. The young man stroked the pendant, frowning slightly, seemingly trying hard to remember. After a long pause, he sighed and said, “I can’t recall.”

“Sigh—” An Le let out a long sigh of disappointment, leaning back against the bamboo chair, staring blankly at the bright moon.

It truly was a waste.

Seeing his reaction, the young man handed the pouch back. “I still need the jade pendant for now, so I can’t give it to you, but please accept this silver as a token of my gratitude. I will reward you handsomely when I find my family.”

“No need,” An Le murmured, still looking at the moon. “Silver isn’t useful here.”

The young man looked confused. “Why?”

An Le glanced at the young man. “Do you know about the Great Unity society?”

“‘When the Great Way is followed, the world belongs to all. They choose the worthy and the capable, and they promote trust and cultivate harmony. Thus, people do not only treat their own parents as parents, nor only their own children as children. The elderly are able to live out their lives, the able-bodied are employed, the young are nurtured, and the widowed, orphaned, lonely, disabled, and sick are all cared for. Men have their duties, and women have their homes. They hate to see resources wasted on the ground, but they do not necessarily hoard them for themselves. They hate not to exert their strength, but they do not necessarily work for their own benefit. Therefore, schemes are suppressed and do not arise, and thieves, robbers, and rebels do not appear. Thus, the outer doors are not locked. This is called the Great Unity.’ Is this what you mean by the Great Unity society?”

“Yes, that’s it. It seems that, at least culturally, our worlds are the same.”

“Has the Great Unity been realized now?” The young man looked astonished.

An Le shook his head. “I don’t know about the outside world, but it has certainly been realized here. Property is communal, resources are shared, the elderly live out their lives, the able-bodied are employed, the young are nurtured, and the widowed, orphaned, lonely, disabled, and sick are all cared for.”