Peach Blossom Land On Longyin Island Chapter 3
byLongyin Village
An Le introduced the situation of Longyin Village to the young man. This place was isolated from the world. The villagers did not know which dynasty or era existed outside, living a peaceful life of farming, weaving, fishing, and hunting. From the books he could find in the village, he learned the origin of Longyin Village: In the thirteenth year of Yongle, war broke out, taxes were heavy, bandits were everywhere in the Nine Provinces, and the people suffered greatly. One hundred and forty-six households from Yong’an Village followed their village chief, An Shui, and moved the entire village to this island to escape the disaster. They found a half-buried stone tablet on the island, engraved with the characters “Longyin,” and thus adopted these two characters as the name of the place. That stone tablet now stands in the village Ancestral Hall.
In the eighteenth year of Yong’an, the war still hadn’t ceased, but the people of Yong’an Village, under the leadership of Village Chief An Shui, were already self-sufficient and living a prosperous life. In the seventh month of autumn in the eighteenth year of Yongle, with the consent of all villagers, Yong’an Village decided to permanently reside on this island as their new home. Yong’an Village was renamed Longyin Village, marked as the fifth year of Longyin. An Shui was elected as the village chief, and village rules were established, which the people of Longyin Village must strictly adhere to.
The Longyin Village Rules are as follows:
One: Longyin villagers are prohibited from leaving the island.
Two: The Village Chief is the highest administrator of Longyin Village, elected by villager recommendation and voting. The position is lifelong, but if more than half of the residents demand a change, a new Village Chief may be elected.
Three: Longyin villagers must be united, mutually helpful, and work together wholeheartedly.
Four: Resources are shared and distributed uniformly…
Aside from the village rules, there wasn’t much information about Longyin Village, nor did it mention how they found this place or how they moved the entire village here. In An Le’s memory, his world did not have a dynasty that used Yongle as an era name, or perhaps, he simply didn’t know about it.
Longyin Village had its own method of chronology, and this year was exactly the two-hundredth year of Longyin. This meant that no one from Longyin Village had left for nearly two hundred years.
After he finished speaking, the young man’s face was ashen, and he stiffly said, “Are you saying we can’t leave?”
An Le nodded. “At least the village rules stipulate that Longyin villagers cannot leave the island. The Village Chief says it’s to prevent outsiders from discovering the existence of Longyin Island and bringing disaster.”
“But I am not a Longyin villager.”
“But you know about Longyin Village’s existence.”
“Are you saying they will lock me up?” The young man was startled, his eyes showing fear.
An Le couldn’t help but laugh, shrugging indifferently. “Why bother locking you up? Even if they let you go, you wouldn’t be able to return.”
“Why?”
An Le smiled. “The sea stretches endlessly in all directions. How would you get back?”
“By boat. There must be boats here, right?”
“Naturally, there are,” An Le sighed leisurely, “but they are small fishing boats, the kind that capsize with a little big wave. However,” An Le paused suddenly, looking at the young man with a hint of slyness and a half-smile, “I think you have a tough fate. Maybe you can drift back again. How about this: you drift back, find a big ship, and then come back to pick me up.”
“…” The young man wiped away non-existent cold sweat from his forehead. “I don’t think I have the life left to drift again. Let’s think of another way.”
An Le was only teasing him, but hearing that the other person also wanted to leave gave him a sense of relief, as if he had finally found an ally. Two people fighting side-by-side was much better than fighting alone.
“We can build our own boat,” the young man suggested.
“Even if we had a boat, would you know where to go? Without a map, we don’t even know which direction the mainland is in. Where would we go?”
“The island doesn’t have a compass or a map? How did the Longyin villagers move here then?”
An Le shook his head. “I asked Grandpa An, and Grandpa An said they were lost a long time ago.”
The young man countered, “I don’t think they would carelessly lose something so important. If, as you said, they actively moved here to escape war, they wouldn’t be unaware of the importance of a map. At a critical moment, it could even be called their life-saving straw. How could they lose something so vital?”
“Hmm…” An Le pondered for a moment. “Are you suggesting that Grandpa An deliberately concealed the map’s existence?”
The young man added, “Do you remember the village rules you mentioned? The first rule is ‘Longyin villagers are prohibited from leaving the island.’ Longyin Village prioritizes secrecy above all else, forbidding villagers from interacting with the outside world. Perhaps they deliberately said the compass and map were lost to cut off any desire among the villagers to leave.”
Hearing this, An Le frowned and murmured, “And I have shown an intention to leave ever since I arrived here…”
“Arrived here?” The young man keenly grasped the key point, his eyes lighting up. “Are you also not a Longyin villager?”
“Ah? N-no… I mean, since I recovered from my illness,” An Le scratched his head, explaining awkwardly, “I used to be an idiot, and I only recovered half a year ago.”
“An idiot?”
“Yes,” An Le blinked, adopting a naive posture. “I was an idiot from birth, and I was only cured half a year ago. But even though I’m cured, I lost my memory, so I don’t know much more than you do.”
The young man looked at An Le with pity, as if they shared the same misfortune. After a long pause, he comforted him, “At least the people here recognize you and can tell you your name.”
“It’s certainly inconvenient not to have a name,” An Le muttered to himself, thinking thoughtfully for a moment. Suddenly, he leaned closer to the young man, curving his lips. “How about I give you a name?”
The smile was identical to the one he wore when suggesting the young man drift back, causing the young man’s hair to stand on end. He shook his head quickly without thinking, firmly refusing. “No need.”
An Le folded his arms, saying flippantly, “I saved you. Isn’t it perfectly reasonable for me to give you a name? That’s how it’s written in books.”
“You just said someone else saved me!” the young man argued logically.
An Le laughed. “Are you sure you want her to name you?”
“Uh… yes!” The young man hesitated slightly before nodding firmly.
“Fine, then let her name you,” An Le said with a cheerful smile, standing up and clapping his hands. “Since we’ve finished eating, let’s go back to sleep.”
“Brother! Brother! Where is the merman?”
Early the next morning, An Le was woken up by An Su Su’s unusually loud voice before he had enough sleep. An Su Su was wearing a plain nightgown, her hair messy but her eyes sparkling. Clearly, she had been thinking about the merman and ran over as soon as she woke up.
But the merman wasn’t there.
An Le was always a deep sleeper and hadn’t noticed when the young man got up, but he could generally guess where the person went.
“Is he in the Council Hall of the Ancestral Hall?” An Le asked, rubbing his sleepy eyes. The Council Hall was where the village held meetings. Since an outsider had appeared in the village overnight, they would inevitably hold a meeting to ask some questions.
“The Council Hall? Then let’s hurry! Brother, get up quickly!” Su Su clamored, dragging An Le out of bed, pushing and pulling him out the door.
Day breaks early on the island, and without a clock, An Le could only estimate the time by the sun. At this moment, the sun was in the east-southeast direction, and An Le estimated the time was no later than nine o’clock. Nine o’clock was just the start of the day for him, but for the Longyin villagers, it was a busy time.
Normally, when An Le got up and came to the yard, he would see the busy figures of the villagers in the fields. Today, however, the fields were empty, and few people were seen on the road.
It seemed everyone had gone to the Council Hall to watch the merman.
“Brother~ hurry up~” Seeing An Le standing still again, An Su Su circled behind him and pushed him forward.
“The merman isn’t going to run away,” An Le chuckled. “Look, aren’t they coming back now?”
On the road outside the door, Father An, Mother An, and the handsome young man were walking toward the house, followed by many curious villagers, both male and female, young and old. An Su Su let out an excited shriek, shouting “Merman!” and quickly ran toward them.
When An Le reached the four of them, he saw the handsome young man bending down, earnestly explaining to An Su Su that he was a boy, not a girl, and certainly not a merman.
An Su Su seemed not to have heard him at all. With one hand on her hip and the other pointing at the handsome young man, she tilted her head, looking very proud. “You are the merman. I picked you up, so you must repay my kindness by offering yourself in marriage!”
The handsome young man was dumbfounded. He widened his eyes, pointing incredulously at An Su Su, and then at himself. “Me? You? Offer myself in marriage? How old are you?”
“Just turned six,” An Le interjected, enjoying the spectacle.
The handsome young man’s forehead twitched. “Six years old. Does she even know what ‘offering oneself in marriage’ means?”
“I know!” An Su Su put both hands on her hips, her childish voice ringing out clearly. “Offering yourself in marriage means becoming a wife!”
“Pfft—” Suppressed laughter erupted from the surrounding crowd.
“…” The handsome young man was momentarily at a loss for how to explain that he was a man and couldn’t be a wife, let alone the wife of a six-year-old girl.
The handsome young man cleared his throat, about to explain, but before the words left his mouth, An Su Su said something even more astonishing: “You will be my brother’s wife from now on!”
“So Su Su picked up a sister-in-law for herself,” someone teased.
The young man’s expression was indescribable. He looked at An Su Su, then at An Su Su’s brother, An Le. He seemed to want to ask An Le for help, but An Le was smiling broadly, looking like he was enjoying the show, and had no intention of intervening.
It was as if the matter had nothing to do with him.
The young man took a deep breath, forced a smile onto his face, and bowed, explaining kindly, “Your name is Su Su, right? Su Su, thank you for saving me. I will definitely repay your life-saving kindness. But I am a man, and your brother is also a man. A man cannot be a man’s wife. How about this: I will find a woman to be your brother’s wife, alright?”
“No,” An Su Su was unyielding, still holding her head high, pointing at the handsome young man. She insisted, “You will be my brother’s wife!”
“…” The young man covered his face with his hand, feeling utterly helpless.
At this moment, Mother An smiled and intervened. “Su Su doesn’t understand these things yet, so don’t take it to heart. She just heard the story of the merman repaying kindness yesterday and is excited. She’ll forget about it in a couple of days. Let’s go back and eat first.”
The young man bowed to Mother An. “I apologize for the disturbance during this time, Auntie. If there is anything I can help with, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Don’t be a stranger. Since you’re here, settle down and stay,” Mother An smiled. “Although your health is fine, you still need to recuperate for a while. For now, let Le Le help you get familiar with the village. The Village Chief already explained the situation of Longyin Village this morning. If you need anything, just ask. You will stay with Le Le for the time being. Your height and build are similar, so you can wear his clothes first. Auntie will make you a few sets in the coming days…”
As they spoke, the group returned home. Father An and Mother An went to prepare food, while An Le and the handsome young man set up tables, chairs, and benches under the tree in the courtyard and sat down next to each other.
While braiding An Su Su’s hair, An Le asked the young man, “What did they talk about this morning?”
The young man replied, “The Village Chief started by asking some questions, but after learning I had amnesia, he didn’t ask much more. Then he talked about the situation in Longyin Village, which was mostly the same as what you told me last night. After that, he said I should settle down and that the village would provide for all my living needs.”
An Le nodded without replying, his hands skillfully tying two bun hairstyles on either side of Su Su’s head. He finished by tying red strings, then turned Su Su around to face him, examined her, and smiled with satisfaction. “Done. Nezha Su Su.”
“Su Su’s hairstyle seems different from the other little girls in the village,” the young man observed.
“Brother calls it the Nezha hairstyle,” Su Su chimed in.
“Nezha?” the young man wondered.
“Yes,” An Su Su nodded cheerfully. Suddenly, she put her hands on her hips and sang spiritedly, “It’s him, it’s him, it’s him, it’s him, the young hero Little Nezha~ He flies higher than the sky~ He dives deeper than the sea~ He battles demons and vanquishes ghosts~ The young hero is Little Nezha…”
The young man looked at An Su Su blankly. An Le smiled broadly. “A character from a mythology story.”
After An Su Su finished her energetic song, An Le said, “By the way, Su Su, the merman is still waiting for you, his benefactor, to give him a name.” With that, An Le glanced at the handsome young man with a sly smile.
Given his recent experience of being asked to offer himself in marriage, the handsome young man was already starting to regret his decision.
“An Xiaoyu!” Before the handsome young man could regret it further, An Su Su loudly declared the name she had chosen for him.
An Xiaoyu. That seemed acceptable. The handsome young man was visibly relieved.
“An Xiaoyu, huh. Alright,” An Le said with a tone of disappointment.
The young man suddenly felt a flicker of curiosity and asked, “What were you planning to name me?”
“Dou Bao (Bean Bun).”
“…Then An Xiaoyu is better,” An Xiaoyu said reluctantly, picking up his teacup to drink.
“Yay! Sister-in-law Xiaoyu~” An Su Su fluttered her bright, watery eyes and sweetly called out “Sister-in-law” to An Xiaoyu.
“Pfft—” Caught off guard, An Xiaoyu spat out a mouthful of tea. As he frantically wiped the tea stains from the corner of his mouth, his face instantly flushed crimson.
“I’m going to tell Papa and Mama that I named Sister-in-law Xiaoyu~” An Su Su seemed very happy, and she skipped and hopped toward the kitchen.
An Xiaoyu’s face grew even redder.
“Hehe.” An Le rested his chin on his hand, watching the red-faced An Xiaoyu with interest. He curved his lips. “Are you ancient people so easily embarrassed?”
An Xiaoyu quickly glanced at An Le, saying softly, as if shy, “I don’t like men. The matter of offering myself in marriage…”
An Le found it amusing that An Xiaoyu took the words of a small child so seriously. He patted An Xiaoyu’s shoulder, comforting him. “Don’t worry, I’m straight too. I won’t make you offer yourself in marriage. Children speak without thinking, you don’t need to take it to heart.”
“Straight… straight man?” An Xiaoyu asked, a hint of confusion showing.
“Oh, it means I don’t like men either.”
“Phew—” Hearing this, An Xiaoyu was visibly relieved. His tense expression and body relaxed significantly. He pointed to a mountain peak directly ahead and said, “Right, I want to go check out that mountain.”