It Was All Fate

The torrential rain pounded the roof, plastered with sea mud, its crackling roar sounding as if it would rip the ramshackle house apart.

Chen Yue huddled on a low stool, holding a chipped clay bowl. The wild-vegetable porridge inside was so thin he could see his sallow face reflected in it. This was lunch for him and Mother Chen. As for Father Chen, he was still lying on the hard plank bed in the back room, too weak even to get up and drink a mouthful of hot porridge.

"Drink slowly. Don't choke."

Wang ladled half a blackened bran cake into Chen Yue's bowl, but only scooped herself half a spoonful of wild-vegetable soup. "Your father was in terrible pain this morning. That seaweed poultice was no use at all... We still haven't made up the Pearl Tax we owed from the last time he was injured..."

Mother Chen murmured as Chen Yue bit into the bran cake. The coarse husks scraped painfully at his throat. Three days ago, he had still been in a modern library, researching the history of salt and iron in ancient times. Then he opened his eyes and found himself lying on the beach at Pearl Village, having become a young man named Chen Yue—just like him—who had been swept away by an undertow.

"Li the Third's family was hounded by the Pearl Official again yesterday. He said that if they couldn't hand over three low-grade pearls, he'd take their boat instead. If we Pearl Households lose our boats, how are we supposed to get by?

"Last year, A-Fu from the east end was short two pearls on the Pearl Tax, so the Pearl Official dragged him off to repair the sea wall. He still hasn't come back. We Pearl Households have such thin lives... Ah!"

As Wang spoke, she wiped at the corner of her eye. Her gaze swept over the tattered fishing net hanging on the wall, the family's only means of making a living. Now it was soaked through by the torrential rain, hanging heavily from the wall.

Bitterness welled up inside Chen Yue. During the three days since his transmigration, he had already figured out his situation.

The Pearl Households of Hepu Pearl Village in Leizhou Prefecture had all been registered in the government's pearl rolls. Generation after generation, they could only dive for pearls. Trying to change professions would make them fugitives; if caught, they would have their legs broken at best or be exiled at worst.

The original Chen Yue had been swept away by the icy undertow while risking a dive into a crevice in the reefs to find pearl oysters. He had been trying to scrape together the two low-grade pearls he owed from the previous month.

A muffled groan came from the back room. Chen Yue hurriedly put down his bowl and went over.

Father Chen's right leg was swollen like a risen bun on the plank bed. The edges of the wound had turned purplish black. He had struck it against a reef half a month ago while diving for pearls.

"Father, once the rain stops, I'll go diving for pearls. I'll buy you medicine with the money I earn," Chen Yue said softly.

Father Chen gasped and shook his head, his withered hand gripping his son's arm.

"Don't go into the deep sea... The undertows there are fierce..."

Father Chen broke into a violent coughing fit before he could finish. Each cough jolted his wound and made it throb with pain. Looking at his father's sallow face, then thinking of the torrential rain outside and the Pearl Tax hanging over them like a death sentence, Chen Yue felt a tightness in his chest.

In the three days since his transmigration, Chen Yue hadn't failed to think about a way out.

Run? Pearl Officials and men from the Sea Shark Gang guarded every side of the village. Without a travel permit, there was no way out.

Learn a trade? Apart from the original Chen Yue's pearl-diving skills, he knew nothing. Besides, artisans wouldn't take on Pearl Households.

Save up to buy back his registration? Chen Yue had asked around about the fixed price. It was at least fifty taels of silver, a sum no Pearl Household could ever save up.

As noon approached, the torrential rain showed no sign of letting up. Suddenly, a shrill wail rose from Pearl Village, piercing the curtain of rain and drilling into the house.

"That's Auntie Li!" Wang's face turned deathly pale. She braced herself against the wall and started for the door. Chen Yue's heart clenched too. He had just lifted his foot when a pale blue glow suddenly flickered before his eyes, and a translucent, illusory panel materialized out of thin air.

[Name: Chen Yue

Identity: Pearl Household of Hepu Pearl Village, Leizhou Prefecture

Condition: Aftereffects of drowning (mild), long-term malnutrition

Skills: Pearl Diving (proficient 21/300), Wave-Turning Breathing Technique (not yet initiated)]

"Skill detected. Spend one tael of silver to simplify Pearl Diving?"

"Technique detected. Spend one tael of silver to simplify the Wave-Turning Breathing Technique?"

Chen Yue stumbled back in shock, nearly knocking over the low stool behind him.

What was this...

Chen Yue tentatively touched the panel with his fingertips. It felt cool, yet there was no real substance to it. His gaze settled on "Wave-Turning Breathing Technique (not yet initiated)."

There had once been an old Pearl Household in the village who said the technique could lengthen the time one could hold their breath underwater and keep their body steady in the undertow. Practiced over a long period, it could also strengthen the body and dispel the cold that had accumulated within.

The old Pearl Household had taught it to the villagers for free while he was still alive. But the technique required one to sink one's breath and coordinate the meridians. The original Chen Yue had practiced for more than half a year and still hadn't even reached the first step.

"Yue! Come out and look!" Wang's call from outside came through choked with tears, jolting him out of his daze.

Chen Yue quickly gathered his thoughts, and the panel instantly dissolved into specks of light.

He rushed out of the house. Rainwater drenched his thin clothes in an instant. Several men in ragged straw rain capes were carrying a stretcher made from a fishing net, trudging through the mud toward the Li family's home.

A patch of blackened coarse cloth covered the stretcher. The person beneath it lay completely still. Auntie Li threw herself beside it, weeping as if her heart were breaking. "My husband! How could you leave me like this? You gave your life for those lousy pearls!"

The neighboring households poked their heads out. When they saw the stretcher, they all sucked in a sharp breath. The torrential rain drowned out their murmurs, letting only snatches of conversation through.

"It's Li the Third... He went to sea secretly this morning, saying that if he didn't pay the Pearl Tax, the Pearl Official would drag him off to serve in the army."

"With rain this heavy, the undertows in the deep sea could flip a boat. He must've had no other choice!" An old Pearl Household shook his head with a sigh, his face filled with numb sorrow. "That's the third one this month..."

Chen Yue's heart clenched. He remembered seeing Li the Third mending his fishing net at the pearl-drying ground just yesterday. The man had said he would try his luck in the shallows once the rain stopped. Chen Yue had never imagined that in just one night, he would be gone.

As the stretcher passed, the wind lifted one corner of the coarse cloth, revealing Li the Third's swollen, purplish face. His hand still clutched a cracked seashell. Embedded inside it was a tiny low-grade pearl—what he had traded his life to find.

Just then, a jumble of footsteps approached. Seven or eight men in short jackets, short sabers at their waists, came splashing through the mud. The scar-faced man at their head recognized the Li family's home at a glance. A cold smile curled his lips. "Li the Third's Pearl Tax is due, isn't it? Don't think you can welsh on it just because you're dead."

Hearing this, Auntie Li wept even harder. She rushed forward and grabbed Scarface's trouser leg. "He went out to sea in the rain just to scrape together the Pearl Tax! He's dead now—where are we supposed to get pearls? Please, have mercy and spare this widow and her orphaned child!"

"Have mercy?"

Scarface kicked her away. "The Sea Shark Gang protects you from bandits, and the Pearl Official needs his cut too. Where do you think the money comes from? Either you hand over pearls, or you hand over your girl to pay off the debt. Choose!"

The men behind Scarface immediately stormed into the Li family's house. The noise of them rummaging through chests and cabinets mingled with a little girl's screams, piercing the downpour.

Chen Yue clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms. Before he could even think, Scarface's gaze suddenly swept over, a fierce, appraising glint in his eyes. He strode straight toward Chen Yue and Mother Chen.

"And your family, too." Scarface planted a foot on Chen Yue's threshold, muddy water dripping from his trouser leg. "You're half a month late on the Pearl Tax. If you can't hand over two low-grade pearls ten days from now, you know what'll happen!"

Mother Chen trembled all over with fright. She hurriedly pulled Chen Yue back two steps and nodded like a bobblehead. "Yes, yes, we'll scrape them together. We definitely will..." Her voice shook, and she had not an ounce of confidence. She was only begging for mercy by instinct.

Scarface snorted and spat on the ground, then turned to the other Pearl Households who had poked their heads out and roared, "Listen up! When the Pearl Tax comes due, nobody gets to welsh on it! Hand over pearls or hand over people. The Sea Shark Gang has no patience for you dragging your feet!"

With that, he stopped looking at Auntie Li, who had collapsed in a heap, and left with his men, cursing as they went.

The commotion in Pearl Village gradually died down. The neighbors pulled their heads back and shut their doors tight. The scattered murmurs from earlier vanished completely, leaving only Auntie Li's muffled wails drifting through the torrential rain, unbearably desolate.

Chen Yue supported Mother Chen, whose face had gone pale, and slowly helped her back inside.

"What happened out there? Why was everyone shouting?"

Hearing the commotion, Father Chen in the back room struggled to prop himself up. Mother Chen hurried over and pressed him back down. Her eyes reddened as she told him how Li the Third had gone diving for pearls in the rain and lost his life, and how the Sea Shark Gang had come to demand payment. Then she added Scarface's warning, her voice choking with tears. "How are we supposed to get by...?"

Father Chen froze for a long moment, then let out a heavy sigh. His withered hand struck the bedboard with a dull thud. In the end, all he could manage was a helpless murmur: "It's all fate..."

Chen Yue said nothing. He went alone to the shadow in the corner of the room and summoned the pale blue panel again.

Chen Yue's gaze drifted back and forth between "Wave-Turning Breathing Technique (not yet initiated)" and "Simplify?"

The Pearl Tax due in ten days was a hard deadline. He couldn't run from it or hide. If he relied on brute strength to dive for pearls, he would end up just like Li the Third. But what did this "simplify" mean?

It required one tael of silver. Chen Yue had a little over one tael on him now, saved through years of backbreaking effort.

Chen Yue stood there in a daze for a long while. At last, he murmured inwardly, I want to simplify the Wave-Turning Breathing Technique.

The next moment, the one tael of silver tucked in Chen Yue's sleeve vanished. The panel in his sight flickered faintly.

"Simplifying the Wave-Turning Breathing Technique... Simplification successful... Wave-Turning Breathing Technique → Breathing!"

Breathing?

Before Chen Yue could make sense of it, he suddenly noticed the information on the panel representing him had changed.

[Skills: Pearl Diving (proficient 21/300), Wave-Turning Breathing Technique (First Layer 1/100)]

As Chen Yue kept breathing, the number after the Wave-Turning Breathing Technique kept rising. In just a moment, it had reached First Layer 10/100.

At the same time, a wealth of insights into the Wave-Turning Breathing Technique flooded Chen Yue's mind: when inhaling, sink the breath into the abdomen and gather it, keeping it steady in the dantian; when exhaling, proceed gradually and adjust the rhythm of the breath to flow with the current...

As the number after the Wave-Turning Breathing Technique continued to rise, a faint warmth spread through Chen Yue's body, which had been chilled by the rain, and his limbs seemed to gain a little strength.