In addition to the newly established city of Guangyang, Graham Island has two small villages, one is located at the northeast end of the city, and the other is Skidgate, which is less than 40 kilometers away from the city of Guangyang. Because the two places are separated by a large mountain, Guangyang appeared out of nothing, and the people who lived in Skidgate knew nothing.

It wasn't until one day in April, when several Haida people went fishing in Yakong Lake, that the first encounter between the two yellow-skinned people took place.

Dressed in very Indian sè clothes and colorful accessories, the Haidas carried their homemade fishing nets and sang their own tunes to the place where they used to fish. The small area of Yakong Lake is a small basin lake surrounded by mountains and green trees, where a large number of freshwater fish grow, and it is an important food for the Haida people who make a living by gathering, fishing and hunting.

Due to the declining economic value of the Queen Charlotte Islands, fewer and fewer Europeans came here, giving the island's economy a certain shock. Coupled with the shrinkage of the population, the island's riddlers are not so happy, and the Haida people, who are gradually getting out of the primitive fishing and hunting life, have to pick up the fishing nets and bows and arrows that they are still familiar with again, and go out to collect food for the sake of the village.

It's just that today, there seem to be other people on Yakong Lake, doing the same thing as them.

"Charlotte, look, there's someone fishing!" A teenager Haida shouted.

The young man named Charlotte followed the young man's direction, and saw a dozen strange people, driving two small boats, and a fishing net was pulled between the boats, and it was obvious that they were fishing.

The young man named Rita had good eyesight, and he looked at it and exclaimed, "It's the yellow-skinned man, is it Marcette?" ”

Charlotte pushed the boy and said, "It will take several days to get here from Massette, they have to fish, just go to Lake Massette, why bother to come to the smaller and farther Yakong Lake, you see those people are dressed differently from us, not our kind!" ”

Rita shook her head and said, "Is that the Aleutian or the Tlingit?" ”

Charlotte frowned and said, "No, they are dressed more like those white-skinned people, not like us, but not quite the same." ”

"But they look like us," Rita said. ”

A Haida next to him said: "There are more of them than us, what if they are hostile?" ”

Charlotte thought for a while, suddenly patted her head, and said, "I heard my father say that our previous beaver fur business was successful, mainly because on the other side of the sea, there was a group of people who liked beaver skins, and I heard from Europeans that those who liked beaver skins were very rich, and they looked like us, they were all yellow-skinned, called Chinese." ”

When Rita heard this, she suddenly said, "You mean, are they rich?" Why do you want to go fishing? ”

Charlotte laughed, "You idiot, they must have just arrived in Haida Guavai (the Haida people's self-call for the island, just as the Indians don't say they're Indians, the Inuit don't call themselves Eskimos, some of the names are called by Europeans or other ethnic groups), just like the whiteskins, new neighbors." ”

A Haida human: "I think that the Europeans have not treated us well, and the Chinese who look similar to us will not treat us well, maybe we can find a new way of wealth from them!" ”

Several Haida people walked towards the lake and shouted at the boat on the lake.

There were fourteen men on the boat, twelve fishermen and two armed marines.

"Brother Li, someone, alas!" A young man was surprised.

The marine named Li Qun also saw it, observed it carefully, and said with a smile: "It's a Haida person on the island, he has no weapons, only fishing nets, and he is probably here to fish, so when he sees us, he naturally wants to say hello to us." ”

The young man said, "Then go and say hello!" ”

The two boats put away their nets and quickly approached the shore. Under the clear water and blue sky, two groups of yellow-skinned people met in history.

The Haida language of the Haida people is a type of Inca language family, while the Chinese language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family, so no one can understand anyone between the Haida and the Chinese immigrants.

Charlotte was also very upset, these similar-looking guys couldn't understand Haida language, but he was immediately relieved, throughout North America, different indigenous tribes have their own languages, although sometimes everyone can understand each other, but most of the time, they can't communicate.

Li Qun is a system member, well-educated, and proficient in English, and he knows that Haida people mainly deal with British, so it is possible to understand English, so he tried to say, "Do you know English?" ”

Charlotte suddenly became excited, and said in English: "Understand a little, understand a little, are you also from Britain?" Or the legendary China. When he pronounced the word "Chinese", the pronunciation was very inaccurate, but Li Qun still understood.

"We are indeed Chinese, not British, I learned Britannica when I was in school, you see, my companions don't understand Britannica."

Charlotte seemed to find the similarity again, and hurriedly said: "Yes, only I understand, and my companions don't understand either." ”

When he saw the fresh fish jumping in Li Qun's boat, he was very envious, and pointed out: "You are so few, but you have caught so many fish, can you eat them all?" "He's a clever native who knows that if he asks for a piece of the pie, he might be seen as hostile or dangerous, so he just asks if he can finish it.

Li Qun said: "We are not only these people, there are more than 30,000 of us on the other side of the mountain!" ”

"More than 30,000 people!" Charlotte was taken aback, although he rarely used a number above thousand, it didn't mean that he didn't know it. As a fairly bright and strong young man in the village, he was fluent in arithmetic and language.

Li Qun said proudly: "That's right, we want to build a new city on Ai Island. ”

Charlotte said, "You've given this island a new name?" Really, if you have to change your name every time a new guest comes, that's a hassle! But, 30,000 people, do you have something to eat? ”

"Our empire is thousands of times larger than this small island, and we have plenty of supplies, and we set out with plenty of food, but we always run out of food, so we also started fishing, and we started growing food."

Charlotte's eyes lit up and she said, "You can grow food?" "The wise Shah had a surprising enthusiasm for growing food, and he lived a life of fishing and hunting, and saw the civilization brought by the Europeans, and was very eager to live and survive in a stable manner, but the Europeans obviously lacked the quality to live on this small island for a long time, and only did trade, but did not bring the seeds of food.

Li Qun stretched out his hand and said, "I have a good Haida friend, I sincerely invite you to our city Guangyang as a guest." ”

Several Haida people could feel the sincerity of these Chinese who were similar to themselves, and they all forgot their original mission and nodded their heads, wanting to meet more Chinese.

When the group walked through the forest and crossed the mountains to reach Guangyang, it was already the evening of this ri. Undoubtedly, it is normal behavior for a society lacking electric lights to go out and rest, so a group of Haida people in a daze, at the invitation of Sun Baoqun, came to an open space and had dinner around the bonfire.

Fish soup cooked with spices and pickled vegetables, coupled with hot steamed buns, in the eyes of Haida people, who are still very backward in life, are nothing less than food, in the night when there are no lights, listening to the sound of the cháo tide not far away, looking at the bright stars in the sky, Xia A, who eats delicious food, suddenly feels that life is so beautiful.