The Faith and Salt

Xiao Yan initially thought finding this little girl's family was a simple problem that he could easily solve in half a day.

He went straight to the docks first.

The Huai'an docks were busy.

Some men wore tight sleeveless shirts with blue tiger tattoos on their bare arms.

Other groups wore dirty gray vests, and they wrapped identical red bands around their waists.

Many different local gangs gathered here to divide the huge area into their own clearly marked territories.

He walked directly toward the leader, who wore a black cloth wrapped around his head.

"Did you notice any fishermen who have connections with foreigners recently?" Xiao Yan asked.

The man stayed completely silent and looked closely at Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan pulled out a few small pieces of silver.

The money quickly changed hands between the two men.

"Yes," the gang leader said. "A foreigner was looking around for a boat to Yangzhou a few days ago. One boatman took the job, and he never came back."

This man was probably talking about that foreigner David, the missionary.

"Did that foreigner look like a Western monk? Acted stupid?" Xiao Yan asked.

"Close enough," the leader answered. "He carried a thick book around too, looked quite foolish."

Why would he want to go to Yangzhou? This troublesome foreigner...

The boatman could probably be a lead.

“Did that boatman ever mention anything about his daughter?”

“No.”

“Where’s he from?”

“Snowflake Village.”

Fuck, Xiao Yan thought, his heart skipping a beat.

“He came alone to Huai’an?”

"Yes."

"Do you know when he came to the city?"

"I forgot. A very long time ago, probably."

The pieces didn't fit, but Xiao Yan let out a sigh of relief.

"He is not the man I am looking for," Xiao Yan said firmly. "Think again. Did any fisherman ever mention having a foreign daughter in Snowflake Village?"

"A foreign daughter?" the man asked.

Xiao Yan nodded his head.

"You should go check out the Black Water Slum, then," the leader said.

Xiao Yan hesitated for a short moment.

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The gang leader saw this and quickly handed him a small wooden whistle.

"Blow this if you run into any trouble inside. Our people can help you out."

Xiao Yan pushed the man's hand away immediately. "No need. Thank you."

The leader looked quite insulted.

He made a cold, mocking sound and stuffed the wooden whistle straight back into his pocket.

Xiao Yan left the main docks and walked directly toward the Black Water Slum.

He passed the smoky courtyard of the Dutian Temple and walked along the Qingjiang Lock before going down a long set of stone stairs, slick with river grime.

Down here, the world darkened.

This place was not far from the docks at all, and it actually used to be a working part of the old loading area.

Several narrow water paths branching off the Inner Canal choked quietly under.

A large cover of dirty, cheap tarps was above. Everything looked filthy here.

The stagnant water here was thick and ink-black, breathing out a stench of rotting fish and trash.

A chaotic maze of cracked wooden houseboats, half-sunk barges, and stilt shacks leaned heavily against one another.

It’s a world of damp shadows and creaking boards.

Looking up through a gap in the overhead tarps, the view across the river felt like a different world.

On the opposite shore, the elegant Ciyun Temple pierced the skyline.

That northern side of the canal was pristine. White-plastered stone streets lined with prosperous tea houses, silk shops, and paper lanterns.

The people in this slum did not all look sick and starving. Some of them actually had pretty strong bodies.

A few men wore white cloth wrapped tightly around their heads.

Other men shaved the front of their heads and kept only a single small braid in the back, hanging down like a pigtail.

Some even wore heavy military armor right here in the dirt.

Many different kinds of people lived here, but foreigners were very rare.

Xiao Yan knew that Persian and Indian merchants never wanted to set foot inside this place.

They preferred to pay local Hui Muslims to run their errands instead.

The Manchu and Mongol warriors showed their attitude toward this place through their armor already.

He searched slowly through this messy maze, and he suddenly saw a familiar face.

"Wait," he shouted to the woman not far away.

The woman held a child by the hand. She heard his voice and immediately started running without even looking back.

"Hey! Wait!"

Xiao Yan quickly ran after them. He pushed his way through the tight crowd, and his rough movements drew many angry curses from the local men.

The woman suddenly turned and dragged the child onto a narrow wooden plank, which connected two broken houseboats right over the river.

Xiao Yan followed them into the woods without thinking.

Thick green moss covered the old board completely.

His right foot slipped hard against the wet moss, and half of his body fell straight toward the stinking canal water below.

The terrible smell hit his face instantly.

He threw his arms out and barely grabbed a thick wooden pole to stop his fall.

Quickly pulling himself back up and continuing the chase, he kicked over a large bucket of dirty fish water along the way, and more shouts followed close behind his back.

The woman finally ran into a dead end between two tall shacks.

Xiao Yan reached out and grabbed her shoulder hard.

The woman let out a scream of terror.

"It is me!" he said.

She shook badly all over her body.

When she turned around to look at him, Xiao Yan quickly realized he had caught the wrong person.

He originally thought this woman was Zheng Laosi's wife.

The woman standing in front of him looked completely terrified, and her face and hair were covered in heavy dirt.

Xiao Yan handed her a little money, and he just watched her back as she quickly ran away.

"Have you seen a fisherman..."

"Do you know a fisherman with a foreign child..."

"Snowflake Village..."

"Fisherman..."

"Foreign child..."

He kept asking around until the late afternoon, but absolutely no one knew anything about the little girl's father.

If her father was not a local man, it was simply impossible for him to leave no mark in the Black Water Slum. It was likely that these people just did not want to tell Xiao Yan the truth.

He felt a bit lost and had to stand right where he was to think.

The busy crowd walked around him; they automatically formed a space around his body.

It looked exactly like river water flowing around a hard rock.

He was already used to this and did not care at all.

The people in the Black Water Slum were not much friendlier to a man like Xiao Yan than the villagers back in Snowflake Village.

Perhaps he had to go all the way back to the Swallow Rock Inn to look. The inn owner probably knew a lot more about this.

But didn’t the Inn owner ask who this little girl was?

I don’t think he knew much...

However, he still had to wait for David before leaving Huai'an.

Some gut feeling told him that David would not get his job done very easily.

Besides, there was still one last place in Huai'an where he could try his luck.