《赵剑平生态小说中短篇集》：
The small boat moved slightly, and the otter tied with a small rope around its neck came up from the stern as ifit had been responding to an order. In the dim light of the sky, it was already a spirit, rolling in its brown fur, its broad webbed feetclosed and short ears erected, silently licking the diced fish in the wooden gourd of the bow.
Along with a loud beeping sound, a bright red fire was set on the riverside. The old man gathered fire wood scattered all over the riverside from the river and made a fire. On the big fire lay a blackened copper basin full of water, in which live onychostoma simus and red tailed fish were being cooked. The fish had been fed with oil and the dirt in their stomachs was cleaned up. The water in the basin gradually boiled, and the fish in the water struggled incessantly, more and more tragically, until all the dirt in their bodies had been forced out and their eyes swelled up and turned white. Finally they became motionless.
Not far from Laohuang, two paddles were inserted in the sand, standing there like a gateway. Fishermen's paddles were never thrown about. From this gateway, the huge gray rock seemed like a fortress, making the whole riverbed look gloomy. A nameless black bird perched lonely on the rock, suddenly chirped twice, indescribably terrified, then disappeared like a flying arrowhead in the dark shadow of the mountain.
The first night of March flickered and fell into a cold silence.
Manshui felt a profound chill in the water. He crouched down on his knees, folded his arms, and stared at the otter in the bow of the boat. His mind was wandering.
On the other side of the mouth of Wujiang river, Laohuang had broken the paddle when he had a fight with others for a pool. As a result, the court sentenced Laohuang to three years in prison. Just before hitting the road, for the man who had been suffering through the wind and waves for most of his life, there was not even a soft or tender word to his wife and two children who had not yet grown up. But when looking bitterly at the boat and the otter tied to it, he shed bitter tears. The otter is very clever, as if feeling a forthcom/ng disaster. It shook its flat head, cried and moaned aU the time. Its neck became stubborn and straight, pulled the rope hard and jumped up and down uneasily...
It was no wonder that Laohuang felt attached to his boat and otter. Wherever the river flowed, the boat sailed and the person travelled, they never fell apart either in the day or at night. One might not feel anything lost or unusual when nothing special happened, but it really made him feel sad and difficult to give up when something did happen. As for the otter, it was bought from a man, and one of its legs was hurt by an iron trap. What's more, it was still an undomesticated otter. An otter was a delicate thing, let alone an injured wild otter. At that time, Laohuang went to visit the party branch secretary Wang in his house every day after he returned late at night from catching fish. A son in Wang's family joined the army in Yunnan province, where a genuine Sanqi, a herbal medicine for healing injury, was available. So he was intent on buying this medicine by mail. The branch secretary kept his promise, and the medicine powder was delivered to him very soon. Laohuang made the fish ball with this kind of magic medicine. Finally he cured the otter's wounded leg. Raising cattle and horses was hard, but domesticating an otter demanded extra patience. An otter always stayed in the darkness, you must move it to the light so that it would get used to it. At that moment, if you got close to it, trying to caress it, it would most probably shake its dexterous body, open its pointed teeth and easily take a few bites at you. After you had shed blood, endured pain while still remaining magnanimous, and time and time again in this way, it could rest assured and believe you were no threat to it, so that it might get acquainted with you. As for training it to know how to bite a fish, what fish to bite and how to serve for you, all depended on the training skills and efforts of its master. An undomesticated otter was like a piece of copper, while a domesticated one was like a piece of gold！ For Laohuang, in his life everything seemed easy and natural, such as marrying a woman and bringing up a child, except for raising the otter, which costed him a lot of painstaking efforts. At present, it was just the right time for an otter to catch fish in the river. What a golden agel Now, years of work would be totally ruined by a fight with his paddle.
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