Shunde's Nanfeng District.
The streets were lined with small eateries, bustling with diners enjoying their meals. I wandered around for a long time, repeatedly tempted to dispose of the soil I was carrying. But each time, I held back. After all, it was my first time doing something like this. Though I had been full of confidence earlier, now that the moment had arrived, I felt a pang of fear.
I was terrified that someone in uniform would tap me on the shoulder and ask what I was up to.
After meandering through the streets, I eventually found myself by a small river. The sight of it made my eyes light up, and a plan quickly formed in my mind.
Shunde is known as the "Land of Aquaculture," rich in water resources. I thought to myself, if I dumped the blue-white soil into the river, it would dissolve into mud, and no one would ever notice.
Making sure no one was around, I quickly unzipped my backpack and was about to empty the soil into the river.
"Wait! Stop right there!"
"What do you think you're doing?"
A sharp, clear voice suddenly rang out from behind me, startling me so much that I nearly stumbled into the river.
Trembling with fear, I turned around and saw a girl standing with her hands on her hips, pointing an accusatory finger at me.
She was wearing a school uniform, her hair tied in a ponytail, her cheeks flushed. On her arm was a red band with the words "Waterway Cleanup" embroidered on it.
"You! What are you staring at? What were you about to throw into the river? Were you trying to dump garbage?"
My backpack was still unzipped, and I panicked, hurriedly waving my hands in denial. "N-no... I wasn't throwing garbage."
"Lies! I saw it with my own eyes! What's in your bag? Show me!" she shouted, striding toward me.
As she approached, I was scared out of my wits. In a moment of panic, I grabbed my backpack and started running.
"Stop right there, you brat!"
She chased after me without hesitation, and soon we were racing along the moat.
But as I ran, my foot slipped, and I tumbled straight into the moat...
The blue-white soil in my backpack sank to the bottom as soon as it hit the water. I didn't know how to swim, so I flailed wildly, swallowing several mouthfuls of river water as I screamed for help.
In the end, it was the girl who saved me.
Her name was Li Jing, a local of Shunde. At the time, she was a sophomore at Shunde Third High School. That day, she was filling in for her mother, who was responsible for cleaning up garbage in the moat.
When I was pulled out of the water, I was drenched like a drowned rat, but inwardly, I breathed a sigh of relief. My bag of blue-white soil was gone, and no one had caught me red-handed.
Li Jing was also soaked from saving me. She grabbed my clothes and demanded, "Why did you run? You can't even swim! Were you trying to get yourself killed? What was in your bag?"
Blushing, I stammered, "I just slipped and fell into the river. My bag had books in it. They're gone now, but I can always buy new ones."
She looked me up and down skeptically, clearly not buying my story.
"I think you're up to no good," she said. "Lately, there's been a lot of illegal fishing around here. You're coming with me to see my mom. You're not leaving until she says so."
"Let's go!" Without waiting for a reply, she dragged me along by my clothes.
I waved my hands frantically, protesting loudly, "I'm not an illegal fisher! I'm not!"
But of course, I couldn't tell her the truth. If I admitted I was a tomb raider, things would be even worse—the punishment for that was far more severe than for illegal fishing.
Several times, I thought about making a run for it, but I didn't dare. I knew that if I tried to escape, this stubborn girl might end up implicating my entire team.
Li Jing's home was right next to the moat. To get there, we had to cross an overpass.
Several street vendors were set up on the bridge—some selling children's toys, others hawking shoe inserts and socks. One stall, in particular, stood out: a fortune-teller's booth.
The fortune-teller looked to be in his fifties, wearing round sunglasses and chain-smoking hard-pack Honghe cigarettes, which cost only five yuan a pack. He barely finished one cigarette before lighting another.
"Well, well! Little Li Jing, you're even more capable than your mom! Caught another one dumping garbage, eh?" the fortune-teller said with a chuckle, seated on his folding chair.
Li Jing puffed up with pride at the compliment. "Oh, Li Banshen, you have no idea! This kid took off running as soon as he saw me and ended up falling into the river. I suspect he's an illegal fisher."
The fortune-teller blew out a cloud of smoke, so much that it almost enveloped him.
"Tsk, tsk, illegal fishing? That's not good, young man. People who engage in such acts bring bad luck upon themselves. Karma has a way of catching up to you."
Li Jing burst out laughing. "Old Li the Sixth, I just called you 'Li the Mystic,' but you really think you're some kind of immortal? That's hilarious! Last time you told Aunt Li that the pig she raised would get pregnant within a month, and what happened? The pig died from diarrhea on the third day! And the piglets?!"
"Ahem..." The fortune-teller coughed twice. "That pig was just unlucky. It's not that my prediction was wrong. If you don't believe me, how about I tell your fortune?"
The girl doubled over with laughter, pointing at him. "No, thanks! I don't dare let you tell my fortune. You probably haven't had any business for days. If you want to tell someone's fortune, tell his! Tell me if he's an electrofisher!" she said, suddenly pointing at me.
Somehow, I ended up letting him tell my fortune.
First, he asked for my birthdate. Then, he took out a turtle shell containing three Qianlong Tongbao coins.
He shook the shell in all directions, and the three coins fell out onto the table.
Whether by coincidence or not, all three coins landed face-down. Two of them were stacked together, while the third lay alone some distance away.
I remember it clearly—the fortune-teller's playful grin vanished. He stared at the coins, dumbfounded, for a long time, his Honghe cigarette burning down to the filter.
When he finally snapped out of it, he glanced at Li Jing, then at me, sighing and shaking his head repeatedly.
The girl laughed and asked, "Well, Old Li the Sixth, what did you figure out? Is this guy an electrofisher?"
The fortune-teller lit another cigarette, took a deep drag, and looked at me meaningfully. "Young man, you're… something else."
Feeling guilty, I cautiously asked him what he had seen.
He chuckled and said, "Deep waters, shallow pond—the pond is shallow, but full of turtles. You're the most valuable turtle in that pond. Yet, you can't escape your fate: to be slaughtered and made into a bowl of turtle soup."
Back then, I was furious when he called me a turtle.
But now, looking back on his words…
Every single word was profound.
I returned once later, but I never found that fortune-teller again. When I asked around, some said he smoked too much and died of lung cancer two years earlier because he couldn't afford chemotherapy. Others said he had left Shunde, and no one knew where he went.
If I could see him again now, I'd pay a fortune to have him tell my fortune one more time.
To tell me if Xiang Yunfeng can still settle down and start a family.
To tell me where I should go from here.