Chapter 1 — Fisherman And Eighteen Billions

Since childhood, I have been able to breathe underwater, often hiding at the bottom of the river to play with fish and shrimp. When I was seven years old, the district command, in order to pray for good weather and wind, began to sacrifice young girls to the Ha god. The chosen lady's house can receive five taels of silver and two bags of rice. Every time I saved those ladies, secretly hiding them deep in the mountains by the riverbank. When I was sixteen years old, my parents took advantage of my deep sleep and tied my hands and feet. "Ngu Nuong, your brother is grown up, you have to marry my wife." "This year it's your turn to pay homage to the God of Ha!"1 When I was seven years old, from the beginning of spring to the Qingming Festival, there was heavy rain for more than two months in a row. The river broke its dike, submerging countless fields and houses. For the sake of the peace of the whole district, the district decree decided that every year on Doan Ngo and the Winter Solstice, we will sacrifice to the Ha god. "The district decree is also for the people of our Lam district. As long as we sincerely worship each year, the Ha god will definitely bless our district with good weather and a good harvest of grain." The district magistrate told the crowd of people gathered around. The old man who told the story looked at the document for a long time and sighed: "I thought it was just a matter of offering Ha Deity some chicken, duck, fish, meat, vegetables, fruits, melons, and fruit. But I didn't expect it to be a human." "It's cruel, cruel." "But the family of the chosen person can receive five taels of silver and two bags of rice, enough for the whole family to eat for several years." "That's right, being chosen to serve Ha Deity is also a blessing." "That said, but in the end it's still a human life." Everyone was talking about the document the whole time. afternoon. At night, when I went home and told this story to my parents, my father didn't say anything. Mother looked at the dim oil lamp and said one sentence: "What a pity." In the blink of an eye, we arrived at Doan Ngo, the district where the first Ha Than worship ceremony was held. Listening to what the adults said, in order to be fair, the district commander decided that the first sacrifice would start from his family's home. After everyone heard this news, they crowded to the riverbank to watch the excitement. When I crouched down to squeeze through the crowd of adults to squeeze to the front, the district commander's precious metal was tightly tied up. Her hands and feet were tied with stones, and she sat sideways on a small raft made of bamboo. On the bamboo raft there was not only the district's royal gold, but also a pig's head, two chickens, and two ducks. There are still many, many fruits and vegetables that we normally don't get to eat. "The district commander is truly a good mandarin, for us, even his own biological daughters dare to spend." "Who says no, even the district commander is willing to do so, what else do we commoners have to say?" "I heard that the district commander even brought five taels of silver and two bags of rice that he should have donated to the pagoda." Everyone stood on the shore praising the district commander as a good official. And I just kept staring at the bamboo raft drifting further and further away. The grass rope tying the bamboo raft has only one strand, and soon the bamboo raft will disintegrate.2 Since childhood, I have been able to breathe naturally under water, and my brother pushed me into the river several times without any harm. My parents said I was very lucky and could not drown, so they sent me to the river every day to catch fish and shrimp. But fish and shrimp are our good friends, we don't want to harm them. I wanted to tell my parents the secret of being able to breathe underwater, but my sister stopped me. "Ngu Nuong, promise me. Don't tell anyone this secret!" My sister's eyes were extremely strange at that time. I don't understand: "Dad, mom can't talk too?" Father and mother are the closest people to me in this world! "Don't say anything, you will be arrested." "They will cut your belly open to see if you are a monster or not." I was scared by my sister, I bit my mouth for a long time and did not dare to move. At the age of six, my sister got married, and soon she became pregnant. When I was filled with joy waiting to become a little aunt, my parents told me that the baby was too big to be born.

Okay so I'm dead. On the day of sister's funeral, I secretly went to see, there were wounds on her face and arms. "Sister, you are really useless, giving birth to a child and still torturing yourself and losing your life." "We still have to pay back half of the bride price!" Every time sister was mentioned, the parents were full of disappointment. From then on, the only person who knew I could breathe underwater was me. 3I took advantage of the crowd and found a hidden corner to quietly dive into the river. I risked my life and swam for a long time before finding that bamboo raft. It floated out into the middle of the river, and it looked like it was about to disintegrate. I dived to the bottom of the water and used my strength to pull over the bamboo raft, and the golden district followed the things on the raft and fell into the river. "Look! The Ha god has revealed his spirit." "The Ha god has personally come to welcome the bride!" In the distance, people on the shore knelt down. No one noticed that the girl had sunk to the bottom of the river and slowly surfaced, then I dragged her into the deep mountains on the riverbank. "The district commander is so cruel, even his own biological daughter was willing to throw him into the river." I pulled the girl to the shore, turned around to pick up the pig's head, chickens, ducks and fruit. "Thank you for saving me, but I am not the district commander's daughter, I am a maid in his mansion." "I was sold into their house since I was young, this time it was On behalf of the lady, she sacrificed the Ha God." When I returned, that lady was already waiting for me on the shore. I tore off a pig's ear from the pig's head and gave it to her: "So what's your name, where do you want to go now?" "My name is Thu Ngo, I've lived in the palace since I was a child, other than that I have nowhere to go." "But right now, that place is absolutely impossible to return to." Sister Thu Ngo looked very heartbroken. "Or you could just stay in this mountain, as long as you don't go out during the day, no one will find out." "Every few days I will bring some food to you." For you, there are a lot of wild fruits in this mountain, and there are also bird eggs to eat." This mountain is very far from the shore, the water is deep, normally no one comes. Whenever I miss my sister, I often swim here to play. "Thank you, what's your name?" On sister Thu Ngo's face finally showed some color. I took a big bite of the pig's ear and chewed it in my mouth: "Um... um... My name is Ngu Nuong."4 From then on, every three days I swam to the mountain. When I go, I will wear white cabbage and millet grown by my mother around my neck. Most of us go at night. During the day, our parents are tired from working in the fields and sleep very soundly at night. They won't notice that I'm not home. "Ngu Nuong, next time don't bring anything here, it's too heavy." "There are a lot of things to eat in this mountain, I'm not hungry." Sister Thu Ngo always comes to pick me up. To avoid snakes, beasts and people, I taught sister Thu Ngo to climb trees. We build a tree house on the highest branch of the tree, specifically for sleeping. I also taught sister Thu Ngo the ability to swim underwater. Although she cannot breathe underwater like me, she can still swim very far. We play in the water, and when we get tired of playing, we lie down in the tree house. When you're hungry, you eat wild berries, when you're thirsty, you drink river water. "Ngu Nuong, these are the best days of my past sixteen years." "No need to serve others, no need to take beatings. Freedom, do whatever you want!" Sister Thu Ngo smiled and said to me. She smiled so beautifully! The weather gradually became colder, and when I brought a winter coat to sister Thu Ngo, I saw her lazily sunning herself on the branch of a tree. Compared to when I just saved her, she has gotten a lot fatter. One day before the Winter Solstice, I met my neighbor's sister Van. "Ngu Nuong, this is for you." She gave her most precious scented bag to me. It was the scented bag that Sister Van's great-grandmother made for her when she was a child, with a small cat embroidered on it, very beautiful. "Don't you like this the most?" Before, I wouldn't even let her touch one. Sister Van bowed her head: "I've been chosen, I won't have the chance to wear it again in the future." "Ngu Nuong, I have to tell you

important!" She gently hugged me. "How could your parents give you to Ha Than?" My parents certainly wouldn't do that! Sister Van pursed her lips, wanting to say it again. She walked a few steps and ran back, close to my ear: "Ngu Nuong, if you can run, then run." 5 I don't know what Sister Van means, why should I run? Not only can I not run, I also have to save sister Van. Just let her go. Befriend Sister Thu Ngo! On the winter solstice, gongs and drums rang out on the riverbank. Not only did all the people in the district come to watch, but the villagers of the neighboring district were also present. After that, the wizard gave an order, and the bamboo raft that placed Sister Van was pushed into the river. Sister Van's mother hid in the corner and shed a few tears, then carried the rice and money home. Nuong, where are you going?" When I rushed to save sister Van, my mother called me back. "All day I just run around, I'm seven years old, I'm an adult, I should do more work for the family." "Mom, on that bamboo raft there are a lot of delicious things that just rolled into the river, I want to go pick them up." I'm telling the truth, if it weren't for the district commander who hadn't left yet, someone would have wanted to go down and pick them up long ago. Mom swallowed her saliva: "This clever devil, be careful, don't let anyone see." see.” “Yes!” After I finished speaking, I ran away. I swam to the middle of the river. Sister Van and the bamboo raft were long gone. I dived to the bottom of the river to find her. "Can you still save her life?" Sister Thu Ngo and I pressed on sister Van's swollen belly. "Cough cough... cough..." We pressed until our hands were tired, then sister Van woke up. "Ngu Nuong, why are you here? They also took you..." Sister Van woke up and saw me stunned. I couldn't help but laugh loudly, sister Thu Ngo also laughed. Sister Van was confused: "What is this all about? Have I already arrived at the Underworld?” “This is the human world.” Sister Thu Ngo always speaks politely. It took us a long time to tell everything clearly to sister Van. She looked at sister Thu Ngo and then looked at me, suddenly crying. "Ngu Nuong, thank you." I returned the scented bag to her: "Sister Van, from now on you and sister Thu Ngo will live well here." "I will visit you two often!" After saying goodbye to them, I searched at the bottom of the river for a long time before finding half a roasted chicken. It was eaten by fish and shrimp until it no longer had its shape. "Next time, look for that pig's head, the pork's head meat is fragrant." That night, father drank wine and ate roasted chicken, eating until his mouth was full of oil. 6 Day after day, year after year. Ten years have passed in the blink of an eye. Just like that, right under everyone's eyelids, I saved one billion after another. My parents always thought I disappeared to go get those food items, so they wouldn't reveal it to outsiders. When someone asked, they even helped me cover it up. "Strange, isn't it said that people were chosen by lot?" "Why isn't there a single rich lady, it's all us farmers?" Sister Lan Nhi was quite clever, not many days after being rescued, she discovered something unusual. As soon as she said that, everyone reacted. That's right, right now there are a total of eighteen girls in the mountain, none of them is a daughter of a rich family. Sister Thu Ngo is the oldest, now she is the head of the family. "And why else, the lives of poor people are not worth money." "The daughter of a poor family is even less worth money!" These years, sister Thu Ngo arranged life in the mountains well, everyone learned to swim together, worked together, the days passed very well. To keep nearby villagers away from the mountain, people also go out at night to pretend to be ghosts and scare boatmen who occasionally pass by. They even lit small torches and danced on the top of the mountain.