One day, his children ran to their father and said they wanted a ride on his boat. Bai Qiuyue agreed.
But on that fateful day, on the very river he had navigated his entire life, a reef appeared out of nowhere and smashed his boat to pieces. He and his children were thrown into the water. He was eventually washed ashore, but by the time he found his children, weeping and searching along the bank, the water had already turned their bodies a deathly, bloated white.
His Madam, consumed by sorrow, threw herself into the river to her death. Bai Qiuyue thought of jumping from his boat to end it all, too. But something had changed. He had never been a good swimmer, but since the tragedy, it was as if he were a different person. The moment he hit the water, he would float. When he tried to sink, he found he could inexplicably breathe underwater.
He saw different things "down there."
Only then did he learn that the birthmark on his back held a different meaning.
