"Ah, the fish got away. Hiss..."
Yi Shuyuan had hauled Yi Yong'an ashore. Shivering and huddled there, he still looked thoroughly unwilling to give up.
"U-Uncle, look, the rod's still moving. Hiss-ow..."
"What good is a big fish if you can't haul it in?"
As Yi Shuyuan spoke, he set down the dry branches and withered grass he had gathered, then lit a bonfire beside the woods along the bank so Yi Yong'an could warm himself.
The fire blazed up very quickly, but Yi Yong'an clearly had no attention to spare for such details. As he warmed himself, he kept watching the distant river. His eyesight was good enough to see that the rod, which had still been moving a moment ago, was now floating motionless on the surface.
When he came back to his senses, Yi Yong'an discovered that his uncle had already built a tripod frame out of fishing rods, line, and branches from the woods.
The fire could both warm him and dry his clothes afterward, while Yi Shuyuan walked back to the riverbank.
"Uncle-if you can, please fetch my rod back-"
Yi Yong'an called from the bonfire beside the woods. Yi Shuyuan glanced back, not bothering to respond to his eldest nephew.
But although Yi Shuyuan gave no response, the rod in the water reacted on its own. Water splashed up as a current formed beside it, swiftly becoming a whirlpool that swallowed the rod Yi Yong'an had put so much effort into making.
Hui Mian poked his head out of Yi Shuyuan's collar and watched the river without a word.
Inside his sleeve, Yi Shuyuan made a calculation on the fingers of his right hand, then frowned slightly at the river.
"Yong'an, your rod's drifted away. I'll row out and fetch it for you."
After