I am the god of this land.

04: Fishing

After the door closed, the main room remained quiet for a while.

Han Feng stood in front of the table, staring blankly at the empty plate for a long time. Li Ange was still the same as always, arriving in a hurry, eating the lychees and leaving without saying a word of politeness. He didn't act like a guest, but rather like he was returning to his own home. Han Feng smiled, put the plate away and washed it. When he turned around, his gaze fell on the small fish tank in the corner.

The sun was already setting, and the fish tank, placed in the shadow of the old house, still shone brightly, as if the light hitting it would bend. The lychee tree leaves were lush and green, layer upon layer, stretching out in the transparent space. Each leaf looked as if it had just been pulled out of the rain, its green so bright it was dazzling. The bright red fruits hung among the green branches and leaves, making them stand out even more vividly. But then he remembered how Li Ange had walked around the main room earlier. She looked at the table, at the lychees in the dish, and even glanced at the corner of the wall, but from beginning to end, she hadn't reacted to the fish tank at all.

A thought suddenly popped into Han Feng's mind.

He quickly walked back to the fish tank, squatted down, and asked in a low voice, "Um... I have a question for you. That woman from earlier, could she not see you?"

The main room was quiet, with no sound responding to him, yet that familiar feeling returned—not words, not sound, but a direct and clear sensation, like water seeping into a sponge. He clearly sensed one thing: Yes, only you can see the true scene inside the tank; to everyone else, it's just an ordinary empty fish tank.

Han Feng was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh out loud. No wonder Li Ange didn't ask a single question from beginning to end. It turned out that in her eyes, the fish tank was empty. He looked down at the transparent tank next to him, then at the lush lychee tree inside, and suddenly felt that the whole world was not quite real.

He composed himself and asked a question that had been on his mind for a long time: "Can you simulate the weather? I mean... sunrise, sunset, wind, rain, and all that?"

This time, the fish tank responded even faster; almost as soon as he finished speaking, a sense of certainty surged up – it was possible.

Before Han Feng could ask "how to simulate it", the fish tank changed.

At first, a light, a light he had never seen before, rose from the bottom of the tank. It was not the warm gold he had seen before, but a purer, more intense white light, as if someone had lit a sun in that small, transparent container. The light rose from the bottom of the tank, passed through the branches and leaves of the lychee tree, and cast dappled shadows on the emerald green leaves. Then it rose higher and higher, and hung steadily in the center of the upper part of the fish tank.

It was a sun. A palm-sized, bright white sun, emitting light and heat.

Han Feng stared wide-eyed, his mouth slightly agape, as if he were nailed to the spot. The sun hung in the fish tank, its light spilling out from the transparent walls, illuminating the entire floor of the main room. The light was warm, the kind of warmth that would make one feel slightly hot on the skin. Under the sunlight, the lychee tree in the tank had leaves that were even greener and fruits that were even redder.

The sun moved slowly, rising from the east to its zenith, and then setting in the west. The angle of the light changed little by little, and the shadow in the tank lengthened inch by inch. The entire process of sunrise and sunset was compressed into a mere ten seconds in the fish tank. The last ray of sunlight disappeared at the bottom of the tank, and the world went dark.

But the darkness did not last long.

A sliver of cool light rose from the bottom of the jar; it was the moon.

Unlike the sun, the moon is not blazing. It is cold and quiet, and its silvery light shines on the leaves of the lychee tree, as if coated with a thin layer of frost. The moonlight is much softer than the sunlight, but also much more beautiful. Han Feng looked at the small moon hanging in the fish tank, its soft light like water, pouring down. The branches and leaves swayed gently in the moonlight, as quiet as a poem.

The moon was moving from east to west, its light like water, turning the entire floor of the main room silvery-white.

After the moon sank, the stars came out, not just one or two, but a dense cluster, as if someone had scattered a handful of diamonds into a fish tank. The starlight was a deep blue, flickering and swirling between the transparent tank walls, as if the entire night sky had been contained in this palm-sized container.

Then the weather began to change. The moon and stars receded, the clouds churned, and rain began to fall in the fish tank. The fine raindrops fell on the emerald green leaves, sliding down the veins and seeping into the sand. The rain stopped, and fog rose. The white mist swirled among the branches and leaves, making the entire lychee tree seem to float in the clouds. After the fog dissipated, the sun shone again, and everything was as bright as if it had just been washed.

Han Feng squatted in front of the fish tank, his hands supporting his knees, completely absorbed in watching. It was so amazing—the rising and setting of the sun and moon, the movement of stars, the wind and rain, the sunshine and the gloom, all played out in this small, transparent world before his eyes. It was just a small fish tank, yet it contained an entire sky and the changing seasons.

He was engrossed in watching when a thought suddenly flashed through his mind: What time is it?

I quickly took out my phone and saw that the screen showed: 13:52.

It was almost two o'clock. Li Ange had arranged to go fishing with him at two o'clock in the afternoon. Knowing her personality, if he was late, she wouldn't let him off easily.

Han Feng jumped up, his legs numb from squatting, and staggered. He didn't bother to rub them, and rushed upstairs to change into clean clothes. He then grabbed a plastic bucket from the kitchen—you need something to hold the fish when you're fishing.

When he reached the door, he turned back and glanced at the small fish tank. The sun was high in the sky, the sky was clear, and the lychee tree was a vibrant green.

"I'll see you when I get back," he said to the fish tank, not knowing why he said it.

Then he turned and went out the door, closing the old wooden door behind him. He walked along the village road towards the stream. The afternoon sun made his back feel hot, and the sound of the stream could be faintly heard in the distance. He could also hear Li Ange standing by the stream waving at him.

"Xiaofeng! What are you dawdling for! I've been waiting for you for ten minutes!"

Han Feng jogged towards the stream, stepping on several pebbles and nearly slipping and falling flat on his face. When he arrived, panting, Li Ange had already set up two fishing rods and arranged two folding chairs neatly on the bank. She stood there with her hands on her hips, her face clearly showing her displeasure.

"I'm fourteen minutes late." Li Ange glanced down at the old digital watch on her wrist, then looked up at him. "Han Xiaofeng, did you think I was joking?"

Han Feng approached with a forced smile, clasped his hands together and held them up in front of him: "Sister An Ge, I was wrong, I was really wrong. I was packing things in the house this afternoon and forgot to check the time. My legs were numb from squatting when I went out, so I ran all the way here. Look at all this sweat."

He pointed to the beads of sweat on his forehead; he had indeed run fast, and his hair was wet and stuck to his forehead, making him look quite disheveled.

Li Ange snorted, her lips drooping slightly, but she still pulled a pack of tissues from her pocket and threw it at his chest: "Wipe yourself off, you look like a drowned rat."

Han Feng quickly caught the card, pulled out a sheet, and vigorously rubbed it. Seeing his eagerness, Li Ange's tense face finally relaxed, but she still uttered a harsh threat: "Han Xiaofeng, listen to me carefully, if you're late again next time, I... I won't talk to you anymore! And I mean it!"

She wasn't satisfied with what she said, so she clenched her little fist and waved it in front of Han Feng. Her fist was white and tender, and when she waved it, it looked like a cotton candy. It had no intimidating power at all. Han Feng cooperated by shrinking his neck back and making a "please spare my life, heroine" expression. Li Ange couldn't help but laugh out loud at his cowardly appearance. She quickly withdrew her fist and turned her face away from him.

"Alright, alright, sit down and fish." She pointed to the folding chair on the left, "You sit over there, don't disturb my fishing spot."

Han Feng obediently sat down and cast his fishing hook into the water. The stream was crystal clear, flowing down from upstream and splashing in the crevices of the rocks. Several egrets strolled on the shallows on the opposite bank, occasionally stretching their necks to peck at the water. The afternoon sunlight was filtered into fragments of gold by the old camphor trees on the bank, falling sporadically on the water's surface and swaying with the ripples.