Sixteen years in China.

Yunnan Province, Nanguang County.

Nanguang County is located in the northernmost part of Yunnan Province, which is the north gate of Yunnan Province's fortress, bordering Sichuan, Shu and Guizhou, and was known as the place of "three provinces of chicken" in ancient times. Therefore, the customs and customs here are different from other places, there are not only the fierce strength of the southern barbarians, but also the cunning and slightly bold style of Guizhou, and the spicy and witty style of the Sichuan and Shu people.

Nanguang County has been surrounded by Xiongguan for thousands of years, and it is by virtue of this Xiongguan fortress that it has become a large county town in Yunnan Province. Zhenxiong Pass, is to take the meaning of "town guarding Xiongguan", the pass is relying on the first peak in Nanguang County, Wufeng Mountain, stretching for dozens of miles from north to south, high and low, easy to defend and difficult to attack, for thousands of years has always been a place for soldiers to fight; in addition to Wufeng Mountain, there are Fengyi Mountain, Chishuiyuan, Baishui River and other famous mountains and rivers, the terrain is cold and undulating, the mountain road is complicated, very few can be stationed foreign soldiers, are local soldiers are many.

There are four townships and sixteen towns in Nanguang County, three townships and five towns in the eastern half of the county, one township and eleven towns in the western half of the county, one of which is Wude Town. One said, Wude Town was called "Wuyandong" Township in ancient times, there were five Wuyan Wells near the ancient town and got its name, and then merged with Dehe Township to take a word each, so it got the name of "Five Virtues";

Wude Town is the first town on the bank of the Baishui River, densely populated and has always been a good place for people from the rivers and lakes to live in seclusion, the Baishui River has flowed slowly from west to east for thousands of years, dividing this Jiashan town neatly into two, 80,000 people live on the north and south banks of the river, the west is the source of the Baishui River that few people have explored, and the east is the unknown end of the flow of the Baishui River. At the source of the Baishui River is an extremely ancient strange fish, the giant salamander. The giant salamander crawls on all fours, has sharp inverted teeth in the mouth, and is a ferocious amphibian and land carnivore, because it likes to live in mountain streams, and because its cry is very similar to the cry of a baby, so it is also called "baby fish".

To the west of the town, at the source of the Baishui River, there lived a strange old man, who was particularly fond of catching giant salamanders, but after catching the giant salamanders, he did not eat them or street vendors, and still released the ferocious giant salamander back into the Baishui River, as if he just liked the process of fighting with this fierce animal. After a long time, several large giant salamanders in the source of the Baishui River were tamed by this old man, and they had to chirp and forage outside the old man's house every evening like a family, just like dozens of children crying sadly, and the whole town was noisy from afar, so that it was rare for the whole town to have a peaceful evening.

This day, evening.

As usual, the old man took some fresh minced pork from the house, and leisurely fed the giant salamanders in the river, and talked to the giant salamanders in the water as if he were teaching himself.

Behind the old man stood a boy of fifteen or sixteen years of age, dressed in a green linen coat, with some shabby and shallow mud, and a boy with big eyes and a slightly flat face, with a few sparse freckles on his face, not ugly but by no means pretty. The boy said softly: "Grandpa Yu, you can teach me to fish, I want to be as brave as you." “

The old man's surname was Yu, he was in his early fifties, and he didn't know when he moved to the town, and there were not many people in the town who knew him, and even fewer people in the town he knew, because it was always people who talked more about him behind his back, but he always lived alone, and lived alone on this source. But the boy in front of him is an exception, since he was a child, he has always liked to accompany Lao Yu here, and look at the giant salamanders in this river that are said to eat people.

Old man Yu smiled and asked rhetorically: "Isn't your family's charcoal business doing very well, what's the use of learning from me, a useless and unprofitable business?"

The boy said with some sadness: "My family should no longer be able to sell charcoal, because my second aunt is vicious, and my father and mother are not allowed to sell charcoal to the people in the town anymore, and she is only allowed to sell it alone, and the yamen is not allowed to sell charcoal anymore, for fear of bringing fire and candles to the town." “

Old man Yu suddenly sighed and said: "Since this is the case, I can teach you to fish, but my life is a fight for my life, even if I catch shrimp and small fish in the river, it is possible to die in the river at any time, you have to think about it." “

"I naturally thought that instead of living in this town and always being bullied, it would be better to feed the fish in this river and sea, and if I can fight for my life, I will catch some treasures sooner or later, and I will always get ahead and have a lot of money!" The boy only had wealth in the distance, as if he believed that there would always be something, full of expectations and belief.

"First, I have to ask your mother in person if she will allow you to learn this drudgery to make a living, and second, I really don't want you to learn my craft with such a heart full of wealth, and sooner or later there will be retribution for catching innocent creatures, and I really don't want you to end up like me, and be alone and half-dead for the rest of your life. Old man Yu poured a basin of cold water on him, unwilling to teach the boy to learn this fishing skill.

"If there is really difficulty, I will try my best to help, old man, for more than ten years, I still thank your family for taking care of firewood and rice, so let's go back first, tomorrow I will bring some dried shrimp to sell on the street, and go to your mother to ask and say!." Lao Yutou waved his hand and motioned for the boy to hurry back, it was already dark, and it was still about half a mile away from the town, for fear that the boy would not be able to walk home after it was dark.

The boy had to leave stupidly, secretly scolding himself for being stupid all the way, and the words he had prepared only said were blocked by Lao Yutou. Originally, I thought about not telling Lao Yutou that he was learning to fish to make money, but now he only said that I was fishing for his beloved baby fish to sell for money, so he naturally refused to teach me. The boy blamed himself all the way, and he didn't know when he had returned home.

The boy's family lives in the middle of the town's street, the family is engaged in charcoal business, both parents are authentic small businessmen, in the early years of Sichuan and Shu carried private salt, repairing canals and repairing roads and helping to work hard, and gradually climbed up from the strict hierarchy of "Shi Gong and Ran", from a hungry peasant turned into a merchant who could buy clothes, from the lowest person to the inferior person. The boy's name is Li Yuanqing, and since he was a child, he has followed his parents to run a small shop at home, and the family is to store charcoal, sending charcoal fire and warmth to thousands of households in the town, regardless of the third and fifth floors, it is to earn that hard-earned money. This is not the same as Lao Yutou, who fights for his life, and this only needs to be held by strength to get the reward of survival.