The Sea Wolf, Bound for the Scrapheap

Nanwan Pier was a small pier in Haiying Town, a coastal town in southeastern Rabbit Country.

Apart from the occasional medium-sized cargo ship coming and going, the pier was mostly filled with fishing boats. Haiying Town had a thriving fishing industry, and many of its residents were fishermen.

Most of their fishing boats were medium-sized, though. Small boats like Nie Yun's, which could be operated by a single person, were becoming increasingly rare. Industrialization brought economies of scale, and medium- and large-sized fishing boats far outstripped little boats like Nie Yun's in both efficiency and profit.

With Nie Yun's excellent fishing experience and skills, quite a few boats had offered him a place on their crews. But he couldn't bear to part with his own Sea Wolf, so he had spent all this time barely scraping by, fishing solo with no guarantee of a meal the next day.

The sun slanted toward the horizon. As dusk approached, fishing boats returned to the pier in twos and threes to anchor, and the fishermen laughed and chatted loudly about the day's catch.

Amid a crowd of fishermen reeking of fish, a beautiful young woman in a white dress stood perfectly still on the pier, gazing out at the distant sea like a serene statue waiting for her husband to return.

The sea breeze lifted the hem of her white dress and stirred the hair across her forehead, revealing her delicate features. Her tranquil air set her apart from the muddy fishermen, who instinctively kept their distance, as if afraid to spoil the peaceful, beautiful scene.

A few younger boys nearby stole shy glances at her. They hesitated again and again, but none of them had the courage to approach and strike up a conversation. They seemed to belong to two different worlds, with her so close, yet beyond their reach.

"Oh, look! It's the Sea Wolf! Something's happened!" A fisherman's harsh, gonglike shout shattered everyone's appreciation of the scene. They glared at him, then looked in the direction he was pointing.

The shabby little fishing boat trailed a plume of black smoke from its stern. Its sail had been lowered, and it moved at a snail's pace. A figure aboard was frantically bailing water over the side. The boat was clearly taking on water.

It was Nie Yun's Sea Wolf. After more than two hours of frantic efforts to keep it moving, he had finally reached Nanwan Pier, just as the fuel ran out.

A medium-sized fishing boat happened to be approaching. When it drew alongside the Sea Wolf, someone aboard jeered, "Oh, look! If it isn't our Captain Nie Yun! Tsk, tsk! Run into pirates, or catch a big fish? Ahahaha!"

Nie Yun looked up and saw a dark-skinned sailor with a black headscarf, staring at the Sea Wolf and laughing uproariously.

"Baldy, quit running your mouth and give me a hand!" Nie Yun shouted, rolling his eyes.

The guy was Liu Xiaoniu, two years older than Nie Yun. He'd come down with a strange illness as a child and gone bald while he was barely ten, earning him the nickname Baldy. Of course, Nie Yun had come up with the nickname when they were kids.

The two had been sworn rivals since childhood, but they were also best friends. Their bromance had stood the test of more than a decade and was as solid as ever!

Despite the way he seemed to be mocking Nie Yun, Baldy had already tossed over a mooring rope the moment Nie Yun called out. It was clear he'd been getting ready to help all along. Nie Yun caught the rope and started tying it to the bow.

"Thwack!" "Ow!" Baldy was still leaning over to enjoy the spectacle when a knuckle rap came down on his head. A deep, booming voice sounded behind him.

"You little punk! Get down there and help!"

Then a bearded man's face appeared. With a pipe clenched between his teeth, he called to Nie Yun, "Yun, you all right?"

"Uncle Liu, I'm fine! Haven't even got a scratch!" Nie Yun replied with a grin.

He was Liu Xiaoniu's father. He'd watched Nie Yun grow up and was sworn brothers with Nie Yun's father, so he'd always looked after the boy. Whenever Nie Yun didn't have enough to eat, Uncle Liu would help him out.

Baldy reluctantly climbed aboard Nie Yun's boat to help bail out the water, but he worked hard all the same.

With help from Uncle Liu and his son, it still took more than ten minutes to bring the nearly sunken Sea Wolf to shore. As soon as they were ashore, Uncle Liu climbed aboard to inspect the boat. Frowning, he asked, "Yun, what happened? How'd it get a hole this big? And what's with your clothes?"

Nie Yun's vest had been torn through at both the front and back of his abdomen, leaving little more than strips of rag. But he didn't look injured, which was puzzling.

"Ah, who knows if it was a plane or a UFO up there. They were tossing trash around, and this hole got made when something hit the boat! I tore my clothes by accident while fixing it." Nie Yun had no idea how to explain that a meteor had hit him, yet he was somehow perfectly fine, so he made up an excuse.

"Haha! You're unbelievably unlucky! You go out on a boat and get hit by something falling from the sky. Did you pee in the sea or something? Talk about bad luck! Haha... Ouch!" Baldy had barely finished speaking when he got smacked on the head. He fell silent.

After scolding his son, Uncle Liu examined the area around the gaping hole twice, then frowned. "It's right where the keel was hit. That's a real problem!"

Nie Yun tensed. "Is it that serious? How much would it cost to fix?"

Ever since his father had passed away, the Sea Wolf had been his lifeline. Uncle Liu's words made his heart leap into his throat.

Uncle Liu shook his head. "It's not a matter of money. The keel's been pierced. Even if we patch it up, the boat's structure and stability will be compromised, and it'll still leak. The only way is to replace the entire keel, but that would mean taking apart the whole hull. It'd cost more than building a new boat.

"In other words, the Sea Wolf's probably bound for the scrapheap!"

When Nie Yun heard that, his mind went blank. All he could hear were the four words, "bound for the scrapheap."

He lowered his head and said nothing, but his eyes reddened. As he stared at the gaping hole in the Sea Wolf, memories of the past ten years came flooding back.

The Sea Wolf was the tool he depended on to survive. It was his home, and more than that, it was his brother. And now... it was bound for the scrapheap?!

Baldy fell silent too. He watched Nie Yun and wanted to say something, but Uncle Liu stopped him.

"Yun, maybe it's for the best. I've told you for ages that the Sea Wolf's been past its prime. Taking it out to sea is dangerous. Even if this hadn't happened today, it wouldn't have lasted another two years!

"Give up the Sea Wolf and come work on my boat! Before your father passed away, he told me to take good care of you. You're the stubborn one who insisted on taking the Sea Wolf out, but now it's time to move on. Pack your things and come with me. My place will be your home from now on!" Uncle Liu took a long drag on his pipe, blew out a ring of smoke, and looked at Nie Yun.

Nie Yun said nothing. He only stared blankly at the Sea Wolf. After a long while, he finally rasped, "Thanks, Uncle Liu. I'd like to spend tonight with the Sea Wolf."

Uncle Liu nodded and went outside. Baldy moved his lips, but in the end all he could do was sigh, pat Nie Yun on the shoulder, and follow him out.

Nie Yun slowly sat down on the gunwale. His thoughts were a tangled mess, one after another crowding into his mind—thoughts of his father, and of the Sea Wolf...