Wat was noted by the "Chinese Recorder" as having received his initial Christian instruction not from Morrison but from William Milne, which would have occurred after he had (illegally) left Guangdong for Malacca around 1815. In Malacca, he worked for Milne at the Anglo-Chinese College along with Liang Fa, who instructed him in the art of printing and successfully converted him to belief in Christianity. As Liang's assistant, he helped print Morrison and Milne's Bible. His son Ahe also worked as a typesetter for Morrison's dictionary.