Vol. 2 - Ch. 12 - My Name is Sun Sheng

My name is Sun Sheng.

In the Jianghu, they call me "White Stripe in the Waves"—Zhang Shun.

This nickname has some history. I found it in my Foster father's study.

It appeared in a book called Water Margin.

The book described Zhang Shun as having skin as fair as snow, being an expert swimmer, and able to stay submerged underwater for seven days and nights.

He was an incredible figure.

So, I borrowed his name to make my way in the Jianghu.

Originally, I was just the child of an ordinary fisherman in Jianning Prefecture.

The Jianghu had nothing to do with me.

When I was five, my father went out to sea to fish but was swallowed by the waves when his boat overturned.

When I was ten, my mother died of illness.

Our relatives seized our home and threw me out onto the streets.

I had no choice.

I wandered the streets, doing odd jobs and errands for people.

And just like that, two years passed.

I worked as a waiter in an inn, tended vegetable gardens, washed clothes for others, and endured plenty of beatings.

Life was tough—I was constantly on the brink of starvation.

But I survived.

Because before my mother passed, she told me: no matter what, I must live.

Even if I had to beg or sell myself, I had to live.

She didn’t want me to follow her fate too soon.

She said our Sun family had been a single-child lineage for three generations. If I died early, she wouldn’t have the face to meet my father and grandmother in the afterlife.

I didn’t want to disappoint my mother.

I had to live.

And I had to live with dignity.

I wanted her to know that I could live well.

But surviving wasn’t just something you could say and make happen.

When I turned twelve, I went to the docks to carry cargo.

The boatmen refused me because I was too young and told me to go back where I came from.

At that time, I hadn’t eaten for two days. I was so weak that I could barely walk.

Just when I thought I was going to die, a middle-aged man with waves embroidered on his clothes walked over.

He picked me up from the wet dock planks and had someone bring me food.

That meal kept me alive.

Later, I learned that this man was from the Haijing Gang.

The Haijing Gang was a small coastal faction in Jian’ning Prefecture.

That dock happened to be under their control.

If not for that man, I would have starved to death.

Afterward, I wanted to join the Haijing Gang.

So, I acknowledged one of their members as my elder brother. I ran errands and did odd jobs for him for a month, hoping he could introduce me into the gang.

But the Haijing Gang had no interest in taking in a scrawny twelve-year-old kid.

At that time, their leader, Qiong Longshan, had just defeated all the rival gangs along the coast and became the dominant force in Jianning Prefecture.

With their reputation soaring, they had even less reason to accept a powerless child like me.

So, I stopped running errands for that gang member and returned to the streets.

I took on whatever work I could find, just to get a meal.

I don’t know how long it went on like that.

I had thought my life would continue like this forever.

But then came a turning point.

A day I would never forget.

That day, I found a home.

By then, I had wandered far from Jianning Prefecture.

I was starving—hadn’t eaten for a whole day.

The last thing I had was a sweet potato, stolen from a field.

For that, I got two hard whacks from the old farmer.

It hurt, but at least I wasn’t dead yet.

As I walked past a river, I saw several large carp swimming in the water.

If my father hadn’t drowned when I was five, I could have easily caught one.

But life didn’t give second chances.

I refused to starve to death.

Of all the ways to die, starving was the most disgraceful. If I met my mother in the afterlife, she would be heartbroken.

I would rather drown than starve.

So, I jumped into the river.

Since my father died, I had never gone near the water.

Not even a river.

My mother was terrified of water.

She was afraid I would meet the same fate as my father.

But I had no choice. I had to catch a fish to survive.

I vaguely remembered the swimming techniques my father had taught me.

Before long, I was paddling through the river.

I was clumsy and slow, but I could move.

The fish weren’t far away—I swam towards them, reaching out to grab one.

I failed.

Fish swim much faster than humans.

I spent what little energy I had flailing in the water, but I still couldn’t catch a single fish.

I was unwilling to give up.

I was a fisherman’s son. How could I not catch a fish?

I clung to a floating log, trying to rest.

I didn’t expect it to carry me further from the shore.

That was the first time I truly felt despair.

I was going to die.

But my mother’s last words echoed in my mind.

I couldn’t die yet.

I held onto that log with all my strength, drifting down the river.

At some point, a carp somehow wriggled into my shirt—lucky, I suppose.

I knew that as long as I reached the shore, I could survive.

I wouldn’t have to die.

But the log carried me along, drifting endlessly.

I had no idea where I was heading.

Luckily, it wasn’t long before I spotted a child standing on the riverbank.

He looked about my age, maybe a bit taller.

His face was honest, simple—trustworthy.

I cried out for help.

The child saw me and pulled me onto the shore.

If it weren’t for him, I would’ve been dead.

I owed him my life. I wanted to make him my sworn brother.

But later, I found out his name was Daming—and he was actually two years younger than me.

Still, in this world, righteousness comes first.

If someone saves your life, you must repay the favor.

That was something I learned from surviving on the streets.

A person must have loyalty.

If you have no loyalty, even beggars will look down on you.

So I was determined—Daming would be my big brother.

A woodcutter overheard me and said that if I really wanted to make Daming my sworn brother, I should follow him back.

I did as he said.

And then—something unexpected happened.

Daming lived in an orphanage.

He shared his home with a man.

A man named Chen Ye.

Chen Ye was an odd person.

He didn’t look very old—maybe around twenty.

After asking about my situation, he took me in without hesitation.

He gave me new clothes, cooked me a hot meal, and even let me have the drumstick.

The last person to give me a drumstick… was my father.

In that moment, I knew—

I had met a truly good person.

I wanted to call him ‘Dad’, just like Daming did.

But Daming had already taken that title.

So instead, I knelt on the ground and called him Foster father.

Foster father was a kind man.

He accepted me.

That night, he gave me a brand-new blanket and bedding.

After two years, I finally slept in a warm bed again.

That night—no shame in admitting it—

I cried the whole time.

I buried my face in the blanket to muffle my sobs.

By the time I fell asleep, the blanket was soaked.

I don’t remember exactly what time I finally drifted off.

I only knew one thing—

From that day on, I had a home.

I had a Foster father named Chen Ye and a big brother named Chen Daming.

…

I stayed.

I became a new member of the orphanage.

For the first few days, I looked for work every chance I got.

Washing clothes, folding blankets, calming Xiaofu, sweeping the yard…

As long as there was work to be done, I rushed to do it.

I had no special skills.

Foster father took me in, so I wanted to repay him.

In this world, loyalty is everything.

Even a single drop of kindness must be repaid tenfold.

One day, by chance, I read Water Margin and learned about the outlaws of the greenwood.

They valued brotherhood above all else.

They robbed the rich to help the poor.

I admired them.

I wanted to be like them.

But—I didn’t want to rob the rich to help the poor.

I just wanted to find treasures and give them to Foster father.

To repay his kindness.

That was the happiest half-month of my life.

But then, one day—

I met a really annoying old beggar.

We got into a fight.

I beat him up badly.

But that shameless, cunning old bastard wasn’t done with me yet.

Not long after, he ambushed me at the riverbank.

But instead of seeking revenge—

He showed me some Shaolin martial arts manual and said I had great potential to be his disciple.

Then, right in front of me, he demonstrated a move.

I realized—I had met a true master.

And at the same time, I saw an opportunity to repay Foster father.

I tricked the old beggar into writing down the inner energy technique and took it back to Foster father.

After reading it, Foster father said—

“This is priceless.”

I was thrilled.

After all this time of freeloading, I had finally proven my worth.

I could finally repay Foster father!

But—

Foster father did not accept it.

He said something to me that I still remember to this day.

I knew—he didn’t like that I had tricked the old beggar.

He wanted me to be a good person.

He told me to respect the old beggar.

I didn’t understand, but I was willing to listen to Foster father.

Later, the old beggar told me his name—Nan Yiyun.

One of the Five Grandmasters of the martial world.

Nan Yiyun said that if I trained diligently, with my talent, I could become a grandmaster in under thirty years—

And bring glory to his Nanhai Sect.

But I didn’t care about bringing glory to the Nanhai Sect.

I just wanted to become strong.

Strong enough to find treasures and beautiful women for Foster father.

And so, I trained for a year.

Every day, I went to the river—

Taking a deep breath, submerging myself, letting the current refine my inner energy.

I followed the path Nan Yiyun taught me, controlling my energy flow.

Over time, I discovered that I could hold my breath underwater for longer and longer.

Eventually, with a single breath, I could stay underwater for half a day.

When Nan Yiyun found out, he was ecstatic.

He said that once I fully mastered it, my inner energy would surpass all others.

That once I reached the grandmaster level, I would be the strongest among grandmasters.

I didn’t care about that.

I just wanted to become strong and repay Foster father.

After a year, Nan Yiyun told me that my inner energy had already reached Second Rank.

In that time, he had also taught me a palm technique and a movement technique: "Roaring Waves Palm" and "Floating on Water".

I wasn’t particularly good at either, but they were enough.

Last year—

Nan Yiyun said he wanted to travel the martial world with me.

To harden my skills.

I asked for Foster father’s permission.

Foster father said, “Everyone has their own path. You must walk yours.”

But he hoped—I would be a good person.

That I would do what I truly wanted to do.

I remembered his words.

I would be a good person.

After leaving Yuhang, I arrived at a place not far away.

Lake Tai.

A place full of hidden waterways and bandit strongholds.

The lake bandits here robbed everyone, good or bad, dragging them into the waters and killing them for loot.

It reminded me of Zhang Shun from Water Margin.

It reminded me of Foster father’s words.

At that moment, a thought took root in my heart—

I wanted to stay.

I wanted to turn Lake Tai into another Liangshan.

A place where we only robbed the corrupt and wicked.

A place where the outlaws of the martial world would speak of us with reverence.

And not drag everyone—good or bad—into the water to beat them to death.

I remained at Lake Tai.

Nan Yiyun wanted to take me along to spar with the various disciples of the different schools, to broaden my horizons.

I gave him a couple of kicks on the butt; he left behind five taels of silver as my seed money and slunk away.

Alone at Lake Tai, I began calling myself "White Stripe in the Waves"—Zhang Shun.

Then, my foster father sent over a letter via Sister Xiao Lian.

On it was written only one phrase:

Rob the rich to aid the poor.

One year.

I spent a whole year, with my second-rank strength, carving out a niche among the many water bandits, and gathering a group of loyal, dependable brothers.

Anyone who trespassed into my territory and turned out to be a villain exploiting the people—those who plundered the hard-earned wealth of the common folk—I made sure they became one more of Lake Tai’s drowned souls.

The silver I collected was partly used for the brothers’ expenses and partly to help the impoverished.

I never forgot that single phrase my foster father had written.

This Chinese New Year...

Those few days were truly joyous.

Although my foster father gave me a good thrashing—which hurt like hell—I knew it was for my own good.

I wanted nothing more than to stay.

But I had no choice; the brothers at Lake Tai were waiting for me.

Back to Lake Tai once again.

During the days I was away, none of my brothers made a move.

They all understood my rules.

Tonight, under a full moon and with a gentle breeze,

I caught wind of some news from Tianji Tower.

A wealthy merchant from Suzhou, Zhou Tongfu, had hired some experts, apparently intent on causing me trouble.

Fifteen minutes ago, they had sailed their boat into my territory.

Originally, I had planned to cripple their boat—sink it right then and there.

But then, I saw a woman dressed as a man.

A beautiful woman.

Even clad in a man’s attire, her beauty shone through.

She was bound with ropes, a cloth stuffed in her mouth—by the looks of it, she had been casually grabbed by those men along the way.

In that instant, my mind changed.

Such a beautiful woman… to kill her would be a waste.

Better to rescue her and present her to my foster father!

After all, my foster father was in need of a warm, bedside maid.

Even if…

Even if Sister Xiao Lian ends up killing me, I’ll still offer her to my foster father!

My name is Sun Sheng.

Now, I begin to say…

Ahem, ahem—I’m about to start robbing!

This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.

Notes

Yuyu: Sun Sheng, it's like you don't like the land of the living…

Vol. 2 - Ch. 12 - My Name is Sun Sheng

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