Three years ago, in the south by the beach covered with pebbles, the wind blew as waves rolled. A young man stumbled towards a distant place while holding his mouth and vomiting seawater.
This young man was none other than An Yesu, the future leader of the Water Tribe. However, on the day before he was to take over as leader, he fled across the sea.
He was born with enviable talent - a rare genius that only appears once every hundred years. His natural gills allowed him to breathe and swim underwater like a fish.
As a brave male member of his tribe, he would dive deep into the ocean to hunt for fierce sharks and make exquisite necklaces out of their teeth as gifts for his beloved girl.
Perhaps An Yesu was very brave but he grew tired of living adrift at sea all year round. He disliked seeing water tribe girls who were tanned from being exposed to sunlight and did not want to continue living such a difficult and dangerous life.
He did not want to take up leadership position either; instead, he wanted to create his own career path and open up new opportunities for himself in this bustling land beyond their waters.
With nothing but himself left behind, his most valuable possession was a luminous stone that glowed on its own accord throughout night time hours.
Without any clear direction or purpose ahead of him, An Yesu had no choice but to run away desperately from those pursuing him within his tribe. Enduring excruciating pain while crawling through nights spent sleeping rough under cars along roadsides until eventually arriving at an unknown destination without even knowing where it is exactly located on maps or GPS systems available today!
Upon getting off at one deserted town after another along this journey filled with uncertainty about what lies ahead next; hunger pangs gnawed relentlessly inside him while thirst parched throat dryness made it hard just standing outside restaurants smelling delicious food aromas wafting out from within.
He had never lived on land before, but he knew that eating here would cost money and shark teeth were of no use. He took out the luminous stone from his tattered clothes and tried to exchange it for some cash.
However, when he found the restaurant owner and demonstrated the magical properties of the luminous stone, the owner mistook him for a fraudster and kicked him out of his establishment.
Unbeknownst to An Yesu, a man who was dining in that same restaurant witnessed everything. With just one glance at this rare gemstone, he knew that it was an invaluable treasure worth acquiring for himself.
This man was a burly lumberjack driving a large truck used to transport wood logs. After An Yesu left the restaurant feeling dejected by what happened there earlier; this stranger approached him outside inviting him over to another nearby eatery where they shared meals together.
After roughly understanding An Yesu's situation, he made a suggestion to him. "Come work with me," he said. "I can give you a job that will provide you with food and clothing, and even pay you wages. However, I have one condition: you must give me the night pearl in your hand."
An Yesu was not stupid. He slurped his sour and spicy soup and looked at the man saying, "If everything you say is true for a year, then I'll give you this gemstone."
"Okay," the man agreed to An Yesu's request. He wasn't in a hurry because he could see An Yesu's predicament; he knew that he had no other options.
And so it was that after finishing his meal, An Yesu got into the man's car.
The man's name was Lu Dakun; he was over fifty years old with a sturdy build and specialized in timber business.
He owned vast properties including an enormous courtyard passed down from ancient times as well as his own forest farm located in an excellent position below the mountain slope where there were water channels flowing through it. After cutting down trees on the mountainside, they would roll directly into the water before flowing into Siyun River downstream where workers would intercept them at ferry crossings before loading them onto ships or trucks for transportation.
Lu Dakun bought himself a truck to transport some of these timbers out for sale personally over these years which earned him quite some money while many brothers within his family followed suit to become wealthy together with him.
After returning home with Lu Dakun, An Yesu's responsibility became intercepting wood at ferry crossings due to his good swimming skills allowing him to retrieve driftwood from further away locations promptly.
Due to his special ability, Lu Dakun appreciated him greatly by offering decent wages along with treating him like a son due to recognizing how young he still was despite being employed. An Yesu slept in a small room within Lu's large courtyard at night and ate meals together with him.
An Yesu was very grateful to Lu Dakun; after all, he could be considered his benefactor. If it weren't for Lu Dakun, he wouldn't even know where he would still be wandering around.
And so it went that one year passed without them realizing it. An Yesu had already become familiar with the people of the Lu family, and the night pearl had long been handed over to Lu Dakun.
At this point, entering the Lu family's large courtyard was like returning home for him. He was full of curiosity about this ancient and mysterious courtyard; therefore, when he had nothing else to do, he wandered around in the yard hoping to find something interesting.
Lu Dakun didn't object much to An Yesu's behavior; he only told him that there wasn't any place in this yard where he couldn't go except for a small locked-up courtyard behind their residence.
An Yesu readily agreed because he thought that perhaps that place might be where Lu Dakun kept his treasures hidden since it was so secretive outsiders couldn't easily enter.
Unfortunately, human curiosity is always difficult to contain. An Yesu was no exception. One day when nobody from the Lu family was present, he quietly climbed up onto the wall and looked into that little courtyard.
As a result, what surprised him greatly was seeing a little girl inside instead of an empty space.
According to An Yesu, it was the season of blooming flowers in the courtyard. The green leaves were sprouting and red flowers filled the trees. Xiaoping wore a pink dress and stood quietly under a large apricot tree. As the wind blew, petals fell like snowflakes, making her look like an elf from a fairy tale.
At first sight, An Yesu fell deeply in love with this girl and became obsessed with her.
However, what puzzled him was that when he waved to greet her, she reacted like a frightened animal and ran into the house tremblingly.
As she ran away, there was a clanging sound coming from one of her ankles - it turned out that she had been chained up.
This surprised An Yesu greatly and made him even more curious about this girl. He wanted to find out what was going on but didn't dare ask Lu Dakun directly. So he decided to investigate secretly by talking to Xiaoping herself.
Initially, An Yesu thought that Xiaoping might have some mental illness which caused Lu's family to lock her up for fear of hurting others outside. However, after getting to know her better, he discovered something incredible: Xiaoping did not have any mental problems at all; in fact she didn't even have a mind.