Old Uncle Seven happily called to him, but Old Ge acted as though he hadn't seen anyone enter.

Old Ge invited Old Uncle Seven to stay and have some wine and Uncle Seven agreed. He picked up the fish and was about to put them away when he casually said to the old captain; "Why don't you let Cao Mang stay and have a drink too!" Who would have imagined that no sooner had the words left his mouth than the old captain finally stood up. With difficulty he took a step forward and rapped Cao Mang on the leg with his walking stick. He angrily started to yell- "You! ..... (cough, cough! cough...)"

"Uncle Ge,I..." Cao Mang plucked up his courage and shouted as he fixed his piercing stare on the yellow eyes of the old captain. His legs were like two stone pillars planted firmly in the earth beneath his feet.

The old captain returned his stare, his mouth hung open, exposing two half-broken teeth which weren't willing to fall out just yet. The deep wrinkles all over his face grew animated. From his neck to his chest there was a diagonal scar --- It was as if Cao Mang had just then discovered that scar for the first time. He could see it trembling and flashing. Cao Mang was flustered and retreated a step, stammering, then he turned face and walked away.

Old Uncle Seven had been standing there all along, holding the perch, uncomprehending...

Cao Mang left. He was sweating heavily.

As he neared the shore he saw that boat again --- The two brothers, bare to the waist, were sitting on it pounding on something. He avoided the boat and at some distance he took off his clothes.

He dove into the sea and swam deep below the surface for a very long way. Afterwards he climbed back onto the shore, completely covered with sand. The sun dried his body which issued all over a layer of an oily substance which shone with a glow. He clasped his hands over his face and the tears seeped through the gaps between his fingers. Then he sat up and gazed at the black ocean water off to the northeast. The secret hiding place of the spirit of the black shark shoals was covered by a ring of fog. He stared at it gritting his teeth. His father had died in that stretch of black ocean.

He still remembered what his father looked like. He was small and thin, with a waxy yellow complexion, and when he spoke his voice was very soft. He was the general director of the commune's fleet of boats and, truth be told, people called him "The Little Tyrant." When Cao Mang was very small his father took him out to sea. After six months Cao Mang could swim a long distance from the boat, Once the young Cao Mang had gone out on a sampan to inspect the nets. The sampan capsized in the surf and he went missing overboard. Four days later his father finally found him on a tiny shoal. His father proudly told people: "This boy will never drown." From a very young age Cao Mang knew that his life would be given to the sea. He never applied himself at school and only thought about when he would be able to go back to sea.

When Old Ge came back from the sea the first thing he did was to seek out Cao Mang's father to have a drink. When his father spoke, everyone, no matter who, had to shut up. But whenever Old Ge spoke, his father would listen attentively. Old Ge wasn't tall, but he was very muscular. In his younger days he had fought with some pirates and killed three of them. Every time his father saw Old Ge off he would turn to Cao Mang and say: "That's the only hero in this entire village."

But later Cao Mang came to hate Old Ge. It was fall, not long after his father had drown. Old Ge had come ashore and, eyes bloodshot, had slept in Cao Mang's house. The next day he bought some chili peppers for a snack and drank all the wine that his father had left behind. That night Cao Mang was thinking of his father. His weeping startle Old Ge out of his sleep. For that Cao Mang got a punch in the face. Cao Mang must have forgotten that Old Ge had once killed three pirates because he jumped up like a little panther and flung himself at the old man. The result was that he got an even sounder beating. He crawled back onto his bed. Despite the fact that Old Ge was extremely regretful after he sobered up, Cao Mang still hated him.

At the time Cao Mang was only nine years old. The night before Old Ge was to put out to sea again he gave Cao Mang a severe talking to: "Don't ever cry again! Study hard and at least finish high school! I'll give you money for school every month. If you need money for food or other things you can ask me for it. You can consider me your father!"

Old Ge did what he said he would. Cao Mang grew up. He still had a slight resentment of Old Ge, but more importantly, he had an inarticulate fear of him. Probably, like all the other people who lived by the sea, from the time his father died he had begun to distance himself from the sea.

He distanced himself from the sea, but he never forgot it. When the waves roar day and night no one can forget it. The great sea is like a puzzle which can't be solved: The great sea is like a wild horse which can never be tamed! His father had died in the Black Shark Sea, but no one could say that his father wasn't a man of iron; Old Captain Ge had been struck down by a stroke, he only had two broken teeth left in his head, but he had killed three vicious pirates and no one could say that he wasn't a man of iron as well. Cao Mang was strong and he was tall, but he didn't believe that he could every surpass those to men of iron. That's the way he looked at it.

So, he hesitated. Should he go aboard Old Uncle Seven's boat or not?

At that moment he felt wronged. It was because he couldn't make out what the old captain was saying, and the old captain had gotten so angry with him! It was the first boat after all, and it had no small amount of allure. From the trembling lips of the old captain he knew that there was much that he wanted to say. Old Ge just had a very strange temperament and a good part of the strangeness was due to his overbearing manner. Cao Mang thought again of the nasty beating he had taken as a child. The sea waves flooded up the shore with a surging sound and foam soaked his entire body. Countless breakers shrugged up their shoulders, failing spectacularly over the shore ... Cao Mang grasped a fistful of sand tightly, then pounded hard on his sturdy legs. He stood up, put on his clothes, then walked off with big strides.

Feeling slightly angry, he thought; why do I have to figure out what Old Ge says after all? I'm nineteen years old, what do I think? He stopped, then turned and looked at the string of deep footprints which he had left on the beach. He said to himself; maybe I won't be better than those two men of iron, but why can't I be a third man of iron?!