Unintended Immortality

The young girl wore a tricolored outfit, embroidered cloth shoes, and a bamboo hat. Her features were delicate and serious. The fabric of her clothes was soft, with loose sleeves. When she held the fishing rod, the sleeves naturally slipped down, revealing two forearms that were dazzlingly white under the sun, yet already tinged with red from being slightly sunburned.

The fishing rod in her hand was only three to four feet long, made of segmented bamboo.

Beside her, a shallow pit had been dug, now filled with fish.

The old man wore the common clothing of local villagers, primarily blue and white, with much more blue, likely because it was a set meant for manual labor. A cloth was wrapped around his head, and he held a bamboo pole over a zhang long, casting his line far into the water. His face was dark, deeply lined, and furrowed with worry, adding to his weathered appearance.

Beside him stood a wooden stick with a thin string tied to it, reminding Song You of old paintings where caught fish were strung together and carried on a pole across the shoulder. However, this string was completely empty.

As Song You noticed the old fisherman, the old man noticed him in return.

“Huh?”

The old man let out a surprised grunt. It wasn’t clear whether he was startled by the fact that there really was a Daoist lying there napping, or simply surprised that the Daoist had woken up.

“Greetings.” Still adjusting to the sunlight, Song You half-squinted as he offered a polite bow.

“That’s the Daoist priest I was talking about, he was just napping over there in the grassy patch,” the little girl said as she turned her head briefly to introduce him to the fisherman. Then she added for Song You’s benefit, “I think he’s a fisherman too.”

“Seems like it...” Song You smiled slightly, put his bamboo hat back on, and sat down by the lakeside, facing the sunlight.

“Might I ask your name, elder?”