Chapter 63: Water Ghost

Soon after Li Si boarded the boat, he naturally started chatting with the three people. Two of them were his students, so they were already close to him.

As for the boatman Lou, he was respectful towards Li Si’s scholar title, so he naturally flattered him as well.

Therefore, Li Si quickly blended into the conversation.

From the conversation, Li Si learned that the boatman Lou’s name was Lou Qing. He was a fisherman who had lived near the Feng River since childhood. He made a living by fishing, and sometimes earned money by ferrying passengers across the river.

Because Lou Qing was a villager from a nearby village and had never dealt with Li Si before, Li Si didn’t recognize him, but Lou Qing knew about him.

All the things Li Si had done after transmigrating had already spread throughout the county town and the surrounding countryside.

Especially that poem “Pitying the Farmers”, which had spread to the villages near Fengmen County. The poor people who had heard this poem all had a good impression of Li Si.

“Teacher, this is my fishing rod. Here, take it. I’ll just watch you fish from the side,” Yu Hu said with a grin, handing over a bamboo pole about two meters long.

Seeing this fishing rod, Li Si felt a bit eager to try. He had only fished once in his previous life and never again after that, so this fishing experience was somewhat novel for him.

Taking the fishing rod, Li Si saw Yu Hu pinching something in a small jar, which made the cabin smell a bit foul.

Then he saw Yu Hu take out a bit of black stuff and wrap half an earthworm on the fishhook with it.

“What’s this?” Li Si asked curiously, seeing the black stuff.

“This is cow dung, from Uncle Wang’s big black cow. I secretly went to his cow pen yesterday afternoon and scooped some. It works especially well for fishing,” Yu Hu said, his face showing a proud expression.

Hearing Yu Hu say this, Li Si’s face gradually stiffened. Using cow dung to fish? Is your fishing method this disgusting?

“Teacher, what’s wrong?” Yu Hu asked, somewhat puzzled.

Li Si sighed, then smiled and said, “Well, I’m going out to fish.” With that, he walked to the bow of the boat.

Although he could extend the fishing rod from inside the cabin to fish, which would also avoid much sun exposure.

But Li Si felt that the smell in the cabin was a bit eye-watering, so he went to the bow to fish.

Meanwhile, Yu Hu and Sun Zhi also came out. So, the three of them went to the bow, leaving only Lou the boatman leisurely poling the boat from behind.

Thus, a small boat slowly glided on the deep green lake water. From time to time, bird calls could be heard from the nearby shore, creating a scene of leisurely contentment.

Li Si and Sun Zhi sat at the bow, casting their fishhooks far out, while only Yu Hu stood watching from the side.

“Don’t you want to fish?” Li Si turned his head and smiled at Yu Hu.

“Teacher, don’t talk. You’ll scare the fish away,” Yu Hu put a finger to his lips in a shushing gesture, then lowered his voice and said, “Teacher, I can’t catch fish. I’m fine just watching.”

After saying this, Yu Hu smiled awkwardly and scratched his head.

At this moment, Li Si also realized that Yu Hu was afraid of not being able to catch more fish than Sun Zhi, which would be embarrassing. So he had given the fishing rod to Li Si.

Sighing, Li Si shook his head with a smile, and didn’t say anything more, continuing to wait for fish to bite.

“Li Si…” A childish voice suddenly reached his ears.

Li Si frowned slightly and called out, “Who’s there?”

At this moment, Li Si also noticed that after he spoke, Yu Hu and Sun Zhi beside him had no reaction, as if they hadn’t heard anything.

“Yu Hu?”

“Sun Zhi?”

Li Si stood up and called out twice, waving his hand in front of their faces, but the two had no reaction at all, as if nothing had happened.

“Li Si…” That voice came again.

Hearing this voice, Li Si hesitantly walked towards the source of the sound. He went to the edge of the boat and looked into the river.

“Li Si…” A pale little face in the river suddenly showed a hint of joy, involuntarily breaking into a grin. And with this smile, four fangs were immediately revealed.

Li Si looked at the child floating in the water and estimated the child’s position in his mind. It was about one meter below the water surface.

Adding the height from the water surface to the bow of the boat, this child was almost two meters away from Li Si.

After estimating the distance, Li Si gave up the idea of striking down this ghost creature.

However, he found it strange. Neither his previous self nor his current self had ever provoked a water ghost, so how did a water ghost know him?

“You must go to Zetian Prefecture to take the provincial examination in mid-August this year…” The child’s voice sounded childish, but there was also a sense of worldliness and vicissitude in it. It was as if a seventy or eighty-year-old person was speaking in a child’s tone, which seemed extremely bizarre.

Hearing the child say this, Li Si immediately understood. This water ghost was from the Nie family.

“Do you understand?” The child’s face slowly floated up, staring at Li Si from under the water.

“What did you just say? Why don’t you come up and say it? I can’t hear clearly,” Li Si rubbed his ears, showing a troubled expression on his face.

“Hehe…” Hearing Li Si say this, the child laughed, but instead sank a few inches in the water, his pale blue eyes staring intently at Li Si.

Li Si’s eye corner twitched slightly. This ghost creature was unexpectedly so cautious.

“Remember, if you don’t participate in the imperial examination in mid-August, you will die, your friends will die, everyone you care about will die…” The child gave Li Si a deep look, then slowly sank to the bottom of the river, his face gradually submerged by the deep green river water.

At the same time, Yu Hu suddenly exclaimed, “Teacher, how did you change your position so quickly?”

Hearing Yu Hu’s words, Sun Zhi and Lou the boatman looked over in confusion.

Li Si also looked at Yu Hu strangely and said, “I just walked past you. What’s wrong?”

“Is that so?” Yu Hu was a bit dazed, scratching his head in confusion.

He found it strange. One moment he saw the teacher fishing, and the next moment, the teacher had changed position.

Could his eyes be playing tricks on him? He suddenly doubted himself, wondering if he had damaged his brain during fights.

“Got one!” A voice suddenly interrupted Yu Hu’s thoughts. Sun Zhi had caught a palm-sized fish and was excitedly shouting.

Seeing this, Yu Hu felt a bit scared. If he had really fished together with him, he would probably have been embarrassed to death.

And with this distraction, Yu Hu immediately forgot about what had happened earlier.

At the same time, Li Si also let out a sigh of relief and sat down at the edge of the boat to continue fishing. He was really afraid that Yu Hu would keep pestering about it.

What just happened must have been that ghost’s ability. He suddenly remembered that the Dismembering Ghost had an ability called Ghost Blinding, and what just happened was clearly much more sophisticated than Ghost Blinding.

After all, with Ghost Blinding, one would feel an increase in weight around the eyes. Back then, Li Si had been knocked unconscious and didn’t notice when he woke up in a hurry. Otherwise, he would have discovered it earlier.