Legendary Captain

Chapter 402 Extra Chapter: Ten Years Later

Ten years later, the world has changed dramatically, and this is a small island in the South China Sea.

A somewhat weathered-looking man was working in the fields under the scorching sun. On the ridge of the field, Ye Xin was cooking over a small pot. Not far away stood an elderly man with white hair, Ye Xin's grandfather, Ye Fujun. He looked at everything with a sense of satisfaction.

Not far from the old man was a simple staircase leading to a makeshift dock where all the passing boats moored. Normally, it was just the Ye family grandfather and grandson who would take the boat to the big island to sell their produce in exchange for necessities; few people came here at other times. But today, an unexpected guest arrived.

Ye Fujun has difficulty walking and can only do simple farm work most of the time. Fortunately, Ye Xin is sensible since childhood and has taken on a lot of farm work. Ye Fujun is also bored, so he usually watches from a distance while Ye Xin is working.

Just as Ye Fujun was lost in thought, a person came up from the end of the steps. This person was Huang Ruyang, a member of the Huang family from the largest island in this sea area.

"Grandpa, look at Ye Zi working!" Huang Ruyang was very familiar with the Ye family. He walked over to Ye Fujun and glanced at Ye Xin, who was cooking not far away, and the man working in the fields.

Ye Fujun didn't even turn his head, and said indifferently, "What is it? It's not about the relocation again, is it?"

Huang Ruyang was a little embarrassed: "Grandpa, I know you've lived on this island your whole life. But that was before, no one cared. Now the country is taking the initiative to let us live a better life, so there's no need for us to continue staying here. Don't think that your Ye family only has two or three people. My Huang family has so many people, and we still have to relocate, right? This is a good thing, not something that's harming you."

"Hmph!" Ye Fujun said discontentedly, "We still have a small plot of land here. If we move inland, what will we have left?"

"My old man! I've asked you about this thoroughly this time." Huang Ruyang patted his chest and said, "After you move to the mainland, there will be a special place for you to settle down. Xiao Yezi and your eldest son will also have jobs arranged. You can rest assured about that."

Ye Fujun's anger subsided slightly: "Is there a place to stay, and work arranged?"

"Isn't that right?" Huang Ruyang said, "These islands used to be nobody's business. Now that our country is strong, they're remembering us and won't treat us unfairly."

This sea area was originally a disputed zone, a no-man's-land. However, with the country becoming increasingly wealthy and powerful, it's natural to relocate the local people. The main reason is that life on these islands is simply too difficult.

"Grandpa, tell me, besides this piece of land, what else do we have here? There are several typhoons every year, and you should know very well what they're like. Every time a typhoon hits, I'm afraid the waves will bury our house. And then there's water! Eating, washing clothes, bathing—we have to be very careful with everything, afraid of using too much fresh water. And then there's schooling."

Huang Ruyang's previous words did not elicit any emotional response from Ye Fujun, but when the topic of school came up, Ye Fujun was finally moved.

Huang Ruyang astutely seized upon Ye Fujun's change in expression and pressed his advantage: "Grandpa, everyone here is illiterate. Do you want our descendants to remain illiterate? Little Ye is older now, so it might be difficult to deal with her, but what about her children, your great-grandchildren? Do you want them to continue without education, to spend their entire lives on this island, seeing death from birth?"

At this point, Ye Fujun finally couldn't hold back anymore. He himself wasn't afraid of hardship, but he couldn't bear the thought of his descendants suffering as well. However, he was worried that Ye Xin wouldn't be able to adapt to life on the mainland; although life here was tough, at least there was a stable life.

"Are you serious? Can you guarantee it?" Ye Fujun stared into Huang Ruyang's eyes, hoping to get a definite answer.

Huang Ruyang did not avoid Ye Fujun's gaze and assured him, "Old man, I, Huang Ruyang, am putting this out there. If there are any problems, just come to me."

"Alright!" Ye Fujun wasn't one to hesitate. "I believe you!"

"Great!" Huang Ruyang clapped his hands. "Grandpa, you're the last family here to agree. Now we're all together. A special boat should be coming to pick us up next week. Grandpa, pack your things, we'll be neighbors again when we move inland!"

Ye Fujun nodded and said nothing more. Huang Ruyang, seeing that the matter was settled, greeted Ye Xin and went back to report.

At night, inside the house.

Ye Fujun, Ye Xin, and the man sat down for dinner. Ye Fujun looked at the man and said, "Ye Yun, we might be moving to the interior soon. When that happens, we'll go to a police station and see what's going on; maybe we can figure out your identity."

This man was the same young man Ye Xin had saved ten years ago. Because he had completely lost his memory and couldn't even remember his own name, Ye Fujun simply gave him the name Ye Yun.

Originally, Ye Yun was the name Ye Fujun had prepared for his grandson, but Ye Xin's parents perished in a storm at sea during a voyage, and the name was never used again. However, later, they happened to meet this man who didn't know who he was, and the name was given to him.

The man called Ye Yun grunted in response, then buried his head in his food and didn't say anything more.

Ye Fujun was already used to Ye Yun's taciturn nature and didn't mind. Instead, he turned to Ye Xin and said, "You should pack your things for now. A ship should be coming to pick us up in about a week. Huang Ruyang said that there will be opportunities to go to school once we get to the mainland. I wonder if we can arrange something for you. I don't need you to be an expert, but at least you should be able to read."

"Going to school?" Ye Xin was a little nervous. Her parents, grandparents, and everyone she knew had never been to school. There was no way around it; a school simply couldn't be built here. Ye Xin used to think that not going to school wouldn't make a difference, but when she heard about the opportunity to go to school, she felt inexplicably nervous.

"That's right! We can endure anything here, but there are no schools. Sigh, if we continue to live here, our Ye family will truly be illiterate for generations." Ye Fujun sighed, "If you, or your children, can produce an educated person, then when I'm gone, I can hold my head high in front of the Ye family ancestors. Huang Ruyang said that the government will arrange housing and jobs for us, which should be much better than here."

"You can even arrange work for me!" Ye Xin exclaimed in surprise.

The relocation had actually been discussed for some time, and Ye Xin knew roughly what was going on. It was normal to have a place to settle down after relocation, but the fact that they were also arranging jobs was something Ye Xin hadn't expected. Before, although Ye Xin had somewhat longed for life on the mainland, she was also afraid of not being able to find work there, especially since she barely knew how to read. How would she survive without a job!

"Yes, the country still knows how to take care of us." Ye Fujun said with deep emotion, "If they can really arrange jobs, it would be a good choice for our Ye family to move to the mainland. Moreover, I've heard that the technology in the mainland is very advanced now, and they might be able to find out about Ye Yun's past."

"Yeah!" Ye Xin became cheerful when Ye Yun was mentioned: "Brother, if you had been a college student, or if your family had been very rich, would you have disowned us then?"

Ye Yun said helplessly, "How do you think I look like a rich person or a college student? Don't even think about it."

"What if!" Ye Xin protested, "What if it is?"

"Just in case!" Ye Xin smiled and stroked Ye Xin's head: "No matter who I am, you are my sister."

Ye Fujun looked at Ye Yun and Ye Xin with some relief, but there was still a trace of worry in his heart.

A week later, the ship arrived as scheduled. The Ye family, who had been preparing in advance, boarded the ship with large and small bags, leaving the land where they had lived for so long.

On the deck, Ye Yun watched the island gradually disappear, remaining silent. Beside him, Ye Xin curiously observed the people on the ship; she recognized some, but saw most of them for the first time.

Suddenly, Ye Xin nudged Ye Yun: "Brother, they're looking at you!"

"Huh?" Ye Yun was taken aback and looked in the direction Ye Xin pointed. He saw several young women gathered together not far away, their gazes occasionally drifting towards him. As soon as they saw Ye Yun looking over, they looked away like startled rabbits.

Ye Xin laughed from the side, "Brother, they all seem to want to be my sister-in-law!"

"What are you saying!" Ye Yun said with a wry smile.

"I'm serious! Wang Erniang keeps coming to our house, isn't it all because of you? Brother, you're quite popular!" Ye Xin said with a grin.

Although Ye Yun's skin was rough and dark from years of working in the fields and being exposed to the sea breeze, he had a good foundation and was quite handsome. Many girls from nearby islands were very interested in him. Wang Erniang, whom Ye Xin mentioned, was the matchmaker in that area, responsible for arranging marriages, and she frequently visited the Ye family because of Ye Yun.

Just as Ye Yun and Ye Xin were rambling on and on, Ye Fujun was talking to Huang Ruyang on the other side of the deck.

Ye Fujun fiddled with his pipe, looking at Huang Ruyang: "Which way are we going?"

"We'll cross the Lijiang Bay, then follow the Lijiang Back, and our final destination is Yunnan," Huang Ruyang said.

"Yunnan? Where is that?" Ye Fujun's limited geographical knowledge only included the capital city; he had absolutely no idea what Yunnan was.

"Dianyun! That's a big city, the capital of Nanming Province!" Huang Ruyang exclaimed excitedly. "This time, our administrative region has been placed under the jurisdiction of Nanming Province. I originally thought the central government was going to send us to some small place, but I didn't expect it to be near the provincial capital. Grandpa, don't you think the government is doing a great job?"

"The provincial capital! That's a really big city." Although Ye Fujun still didn't know what kind of city Dianyun was, since it was the provincial capital, it must be very powerful.

"By the way, what happened to Ye Xin's schooling that I asked you about last time?" Ye Fujun asked, this was the question he was most concerned about.

"Grandpa, Ye Xin is already over twenty. She's a bit too old to go to school," Huang Ruyang said. "However, the government said they'll organize teachers to come and set up a special class for those of us who moved here. They don't expect her to reach university level, but at least she'll be able to read and write. Our country started literacy campaigns a long time ago, but the administrative affiliation in our area is a bit unclear, so the literacy work didn't reach us."

"That's good, that's good!" Ye Fujun was quite satisfied with this result. Ye Xin was indeed quite old, and forcing her into school to attend classes with younger children would be absurd. He felt that setting up a study group was acceptable.

"Although Xiaoyezi can't go to school, once we register her household registration, her children can go to school," Huang Ruyang said. "We didn't have household registration before, and now that we've moved to the mainland, we need to register again. With household registration, the children can enroll in school smoothly."

"Household registration, oh yes, yes, yes!" Ye Fujun was in high spirits. "We go to the police station to register our household registration, right?"

"That's right, our destination this time is a resettlement site in the suburbs of Yunnan. We don't need to go to the city's Public Security Bureau; we can handle it at the household registration hall of the local police station. Since there are many of us this time, there will be someone there to help coordinate things."

"I see!" Ye Fujun nodded and then fell silent.

After several hours by boat, Ye Yun and his group traveled along the Lijiang River to a small town in the suburbs of Yunnan.

The town government had already sent people over to welcome them. They first took the relocated people to the resettlement site to put their belongings away. After resting for a while, they counted the number of people and took them all to the police station to register their household registration.

This relocation involves several hundred people, which is quite a large-scale event, so the town's police station set up a temporary household registration office specifically to receive these people.

When the group arrived, a police officer handed out a stack of information forms to everyone present, shouting, "One form per person! Fill in your information according to the instructions. If you have any questions or anything you don't understand, just tell me. Everyone who has filled it out, go to the tent in front to have your fingerprints taken and your photo taken!"

Ninety percent of the people relocating here are illiterate, making it impossible for them to fill out information forms themselves. Therefore, the police station thoughtfully arranged for assistance. It's clear that the higher authorities put a lot of thought into this relocation, striving to help the relocatees as much as possible at every stage.

Among this large group, Ye Yun was one of the few who could read. However, he felt somewhat helpless facing the information collection form, as he didn't know much of the crucial information. Fortunately, Ye Fujun had discussed it with him before setting off and had compiled some basic information about him. After all, no one would actually verify it meticulously. In fact, the most important part of this household registration was collecting fingerprints and photos.

Written information can be deceiving, but biometric information is much more reliable, with fingerprint collection being the most crucial element. These relocated people are likely generations old on that island, but there's always the possibility of fugitives escaping there. Therefore, collecting fingerprints is essential to create a biometric database for these individuals. Furthermore, it allows for comparison with a database of fugitive fingerprints to prevent unauthorized individuals from gaining a new legal identity.

Ye Yun quickly adjusted the information, told Ye Fujun, and went to collect fingerprints. Ye Fujun knew what Ye Yun wanted to do and didn't stop him, waving his hand: "Go ahead!"

With Ye Fujun's permission, Ye Yun took the information sheet and was the first to walk towards the shed.

Ye Xin, who was filling out a form, looked at Ye Yun's back with a nervous expression.

Not to mention Ye Xin was nervous, Ye Yun was also quite uneasy. He handed the information form to the staff in the tent, who glanced at it and nodded: "No problem, just press your thumb here."

The staff member pointed to the fingerprint scanner in front of him. Ye Yun hesitated for a moment and asked, "Is this fingerprint information networked nationwide?"

"Yes!" The staff member noticed Ye Yun's nervousness, narrowed his eyes, and immediately became alert: "Is there a problem?"

Inside the fingerprint collection tent, an armed policeman stood ready, just in case they encountered a fugitive and caught him on the spot.

Ye Yun licked her lips: "No, it's nothing!"

After thinking for a moment, Ye Yun still pressed his right thumb onto the fingerprint scanner.

"Okay, all done!" the staff member said. "Please wait a moment."

At this moment, Ye Yun's fingerprint information has been collected and is now being sent to the fingerprint database for comparison.

A moment later, the staff member smiled and said, "No problem, go take the photos."

"No problem?" Ye Yun was taken aback: "What do you mean? What do you mean by 'no problem'?"

The staff member was also a little confused: "But it's already been registered."

Ye Yun's mind was buzzing: "You mean, this is a fingerprint that has never been registered before?"

"Yes!" The staff member frowned and said, "Have you registered your fingerprints before? This shows it's your first registration!"

"How long has it been since we started connecting information networks in China?" Ye Yun suddenly asked.

The staff member was puzzled, but still patiently replied, "Our country's information network has been in place for over thirty years."

"If I registered my fingerprints more than 30 years ago, can they still be found now?" Ye Yun asked.

"You had your fingerprints taken more than 30 years ago?" The staff member stared at Ye Yun. "Of course it can be found! Now, fingerprints are required for applying for or renewing an ID card, and even if they weren't taken before, they will be taken later. This has been in place for decades. What exactly do you want to ask?"

"It's been decades." Ye Yun's mind was a jumbled mess. If this fingerprinting system had been in place for decades, why did it show as his first time registering his fingerprints this time? Had he never registered his fingerprints before? Was he an unregistered resident before, or was he not a citizen of this country before?

Ye Yun was momentarily lost in thought. Could he really no longer find his past?

(End of this chapter)