When Chouyu asked, Mo Zi explained, “An old client entrusted me with this. They’ve looked after us so much that I couldn’t very well refuse.” She decided to keep Yuan Cheng’s identity as the number one corrupt official hidden for now, to avoid implicating everyone on her ship.
Chouyu clicked his tongue. “This fellow looks like he’s suffered quite a bit. Brother Mo, is there a tail following?” He meant whether there were pursuers behind them.
“Not at the moment, which is why we must hurry—get on the ship and depart immediately. Don’t forget the old rules: stuff the banknotes under the saddle. Even if we don’t do this business, the goodwill remains. Who knows when it might come in handy in the future.” Half of the silver for bribing the old soldiers still hadn’t been settled.
“Don’t worry. Even that group surnamed Bai obediently handed over their banknotes. Those people arrived just before you came. However, that bearded fellow muttered a few words when he saw you hadn’t arrived yet.” Chouyu was referring to Shi Lei.
Mo Zi just smiled it off, not wanting to complain in front of others about the troubles they’d encountered leaving the city.
She instructed Chouyu and Cen Er to bring Yuan Cheng down, and after getting off the carriage, she was about to inspect the olive-shaped boat when she noticed Bai Yu’s group standing apart in the distance, seemingly discussing something. At first she paid them little mind, but suddenly her brows furrowed tightly as she recalled Cen Er’s earlier suspicions about the four masked people who had robbed the number one corrupt official’s prison carriage. In truth, she’d had similar speculations herself.
“Brother Mo?” Chouyu saw that Mo Zi was still there and began talking about the weather and wind direction, only to realize his listener was distracted.
“Hm?” Mo Zi snapped back to attention, her skill at multitasking showing its prowess at this moment. “Our ship must leave today, even if knives fall from the sky.” The longer they delayed, the higher the chance of being discovered by Nande’s authorities. Better to hide among the reeds, where they could at least engage in guerrilla warfare.
“Right away!” Chouyu was bold as brass, afraid of neither raging rivers nor tumultuous seas.
“Cen Er, add another layer of clothing for Master Yuan, and cover his face. The wind is high and the waves are strong on the river. He’s weak—don’t let him catch another illness.” Better safe than sorry. Regardless of Bai Yu and his group’s true purpose for coming, this would help avoid unnecessary trouble.
Cen Er didn’t immediately think about Bai Yu’s group, simply agreeing as he removed his own long robe to put on Yuan Cheng. Because Yuan Cheng’s injuries were severe, he didn’t dare force it, moving as slowly as a crawling turtle.
Mo Zi couldn’t very well rush him. Just then, she heard someone behind her call out “Brother Mo.” Startled, she reflexively jumped onto the carriage and snapped the cloth curtain shut. Turning around, she saw Zhong An’s smiling face. He shouldn’t have seen anything—otherwise his expression wouldn’t be like this.
“Oh, it’s you, sir. I’m helping an acquaintance ferry a passenger across the river. Cen Er is inside finding him a change of clothes. This grown man is quite shy—when he heard someone coming, he asked me to close the curtain for him.” She jumped down from the carriage again, smiling as if spring breezes and summer breezes brought peace to all under heaven.
Zhong An chuckled. “Don’t worry, don’t worry, I didn’t see clearly.”
Chouyu laughed from the driver’s seat, while Mo Zi smiled bitterly at her own poor excuse. No help for it—her impromptu lying skills were just mediocre.
Zhong An then stated his reason for seeking her out. “Brother Mo, we’d like to stay a few more days. I wonder if you could wait for us? We’ll double the boat fare—we absolutely won’t let you lose out.”
She could wait, but the person in the carriage couldn’t, and neither could Qiu Sanniang in Luo Zhou.
So Mo Zi refused him. “Sir, it’s not that I don’t want to help you, but my employer only gave me seven days for the round trip. I’m already a day late, so I must return today.”
It would actually be better if Bai Yu’s group didn’t travel with the Yongfu. It would spare the person inside from being cooped up for three days. Though the boat fare would be reduced by half, she still had the two hundred taels guide fee. After giving Zan Jin fifty taels, she’d have one hundred fifty left, which should be enough to make up the three hundred taels in incense money Qiu Sanniang wanted to donate to the Cinian Nunnery. And as long as she had that Water-Purifying Pearl in hand, she wouldn’t need to worry about small change.
“I know this puts you in a difficult position, but our business isn’t finished yet—we can’t leave just like this. How about this: I’ll add another six hundred taels to the boat fare. Can you keep the ship docked for two more days?” Zhong An tried to entice her with profit again.
But Mo Zi thought: Could it really be such a coincidence? The number one corrupt official escaped, and their business wasn’t finished yet? She grew increasingly suspicious and decided to keep the two parties from meeting.
“Sir, this isn’t about the money. My employer will be leaving Luo City soon, relocating elsewhere. If I return late, the delay will cost more than just hundreds or thousands of taels.” If she delayed Qiu Sanniang’s wedding day, her highest aspiration would be to remain at the Qiu Mansion, striving to avoid becoming cannon fodder.
“Your employer is leaving Luo Zhou? What about the Wangqiu Pavilion?” Zhong An thought Mo Zi was lying.
“My employer has many business ventures. She rarely sets foot in Wangqiu Pavilion, having long since entrusted it to people she trusts to manage. Naturally, it won’t have much impact.” Mo Zi happened to be telling the truth about this, but wanting to make him back down, she asked further, “What exactly is the business you need to handle? Do you need me to introduce you to some local friends?”
“Uh—no need… no need.” Zhong An laughed awkwardly. “If Brother Mo is determined not to agree, I can’t very well force you. Let us discuss it again and we’ll inform you as soon as possible.”
“Please go ahead, sir. I’m the one who should apologize. Due to my employer’s orders, I must return to Luo City immediately and cannot accommodate you. However, if you’re not in a hurry, you could take the land route, following the mountain roads. In a month or so, you could also return to Great Zhou.” Mo Zi kindly pointed out an alternative route. Right now, Nande’s top priority was catching the number one corrupt official—it would be easy for them to slip out of the city.
“To be honest, we also urgently need to return to Luo City. It’s just that with this business unfinished, we’re reluctant to leave just like that.” Zhong An cupped his hands. “Brother Mo, please wait a moment. I’ll be right back.”
Mo Zi smiled as she watched him go over to Bai Yu’s side. Seeing him whisper in Bai Yu’s ear, she immediately told Cen Er, “Come down once you’ve changed his clothes, and cover his face—don’t let anyone else see him.”
Cen Er helped the person out. Chouyu hoisted Yuan Cheng onto his back and carried him onto the olive-shaped boat.
“Who is that person?” From the moment Zhong An came over saying Brother Mo wouldn’t agree to stay longer, Bai Yu’s sword-like brows drew together tightly. Like Zhong An, he believed the other party’s reason for refusing wasn’t genuine. That Brother Mo would rather lose the three hundred taels for their return trip than delay his departure—what was his real reason for being so eager to return? He was still puzzled when he saw the person on Chouyu’s back with a covered head.
“Brother Mo says it’s someone an old client asked him to ferry.” Zhong An was also watching.
“This boat of his is really doing brisk business. That person definitely wants to sneak into Great Zhou. This fellow—smuggling private goods is one thing, but he’s also transporting people of unknown background into our Great Zhou. I really want to arrest him as soon as we get back.” Shi Lei seemed to have forgotten that he himself had been transported by the Yongfu, making him, from Nande’s perspective, a person of unknown background.
Bai Yu’s obsidian-like eyes were as deep as a starry river. He glanced at Zhong An, who returned his gaze with equal understanding.
“Zhong An, what are you thinking?” He wanted to hear his opinion.
“I hadn’t thought of it before, but now that this blockhead mentioned it—” Zhong An took out his fan from inside his robe and twirled it. “It seems coincidental, but isn’t it too coincidental?”
“I’m not blockheaded, I’m straightforward.” Shi Lei protested, then asked, “You bookworm are speaking in riddles I can’t understand again. What do you mean ‘coincidental but too coincidental’?”
“That person’s hands are powerless, being carried by someone, clearly physically weak. The outer robe is Cen Er’s, and his head is covered—suggesting an attempt to hide something. His build appears eighty percent similar to the person we’re looking for.” Bai Yu’s cold eyes were sharp, a hidden chill glinting within them. “At this time in Yang City, who else would most want and most urgently need to escape?”
“If it really is him, Brother Mo’s reaction is also somewhat strange. He seemed unwilling to let us see his face and even suggested we take the land route. Could it be that Brother Mo knows we came for that person? But that can’t be—I’m certain we showed no signs of it on the boat before.” Zhong An understood yet didn’t understand.
“If we can guess, why couldn’t he?” A smuggler—and a very cunning and clever smuggler at that. If he’d already guessed their purpose for this trip, Bai Yu wouldn’t be surprised at all. “That incident caused a huge uproar. The streets and alleys of Yang City are all talking about it, describing it so vividly it’s as if they witnessed it with their own eyes.”
“If that person is him, we need to get on the boat. But what if we board and discover that person isn’t him? What do we do then?” Zhong An’s fan opened and closed several times, torn between options.
“What exactly are you all talking about?” A blockhead—no, a straightforward stone—was dying of frustration.
Bai Yu closed his eyes in thought, then opened them again, his eyes dotted with cold stars, his expression grave, his features hard and indifferent.
With one look, Zhong An knew he’d made his decision.
Mo Zi waited by the boat. Seeing the five people following closely behind Bai Yu, she silently groaned inwardly. To say goodbye, one or two representatives would suffice—there was no need for everyone to come together, unless—
“Brother Mo, we’ve discussed it. Without your boat, we can’t return to Luo City in time, so we’ll travel with you after all.” At this moment, Zhong An’s hand was without a fan.
“But your business isn’t finished yet.” After Mo Zi spoke, she saw Bai Yu suddenly smile. Good heavens, she nearly toppled headfirst into the water. It wasn’t that his smile was unattractive—on the contrary, he smiled with extraordinary handsomeness, all his noble arrogance gone—but it made her feel cold from the soles of her feet, as if even her hair roots were standing on end in defense.
“The business is finished. Only the follow-up remains, which doesn’t matter.” Bai Yu stepped onto the gangway plank in one stride.
The design of this ladder had once earned his praise too. The bottom arc fitted perfectly with the boat, the width just right for a firm footstep, leading all the way to the entrance at the top of the boat. The craftsmanship was exquisite, with the ladder and boat canopy connecting as if carved from a single piece of wood—truly remarkable.
Mo Zi thought: Who are you trying to fool? Just now Zhong An said the business wasn’t finished, but now he says it doesn’t matter.
“That’s right, Brother Mo. We’ve handled the important matters. The rest are optional. Like you, we still have business in Luo Zhou and need to hurry back.” Zhong An also boarded the boat.
One after another they came aboard. The boat rocked a few times, leaving only Mo Zi alone on shore, able only to watch helplessly with wide eyes. What could she do? The boat fare had been paid for the round trip. If she turned away customers now, she’d ruin her reputation. Not only would her reputation be gone, but when she returned, even her life might be finished.
Though the number one corrupt official had seen through her female identity, the pressure he exerted on her was far less than what Bai Yu’s group had initially given her—she barely felt any pressure from him at all. He might have once held power as vast as the heavens, but he’d already lost his position. Moreover, the benefits he offered were extremely generous, and he’d promised to end his own life if necessary—he was practically a harmless little white rabbit.
However, Bai Yu was a fierce lion. He knew about Wangqiu Pavilion, and he knew how to threaten her. Before her lay a cup of wine offered as a toast for petty profit, and a cup of wine as punishment that meant immediate death. Though she wasn’t pursuing the two hundred taels, she cherished her own small life. Worthless as it might be, it was still flesh and blood. Therefore, taking these six people aboard wasn’t her willing choice. Unwilling as she was, she still had to swallow her anger in silence.
Just like now, she still had to endure.