"Have you gone mad?"
"Hush!"
Yi Zhiyu clamped his hand over Yi Zhiheng's mouth, warily surveying their surroundings.
"They've just fallen asleep!"
The river water rushed by, the two narrow boats rocking coldly. The ropes from bow to stern pulled taut, a stillness that made one anxious.
Yi Zhiheng's heartbeat quickened as he gasped for air and licked his lips, "How could you think of this? Do you know the consequences?"
"I know, how could I not? At worst, we'll be flayed and fed to the fish, our tendons extracted and bones scraped clean. But I want to make something of myself! I don't want to spend my whole life on the water, to be even less than a fisherman, a lowly Tanka!" Yi Zhiyu grabbed an empty meat sauce jar, shoved it in front of Yi Zhiheng, "Eating this frozen lard waste, worm-infested raw fish every day! Living like an inferior horse!"
Yi Zhiheng stared at the meat jar.