Su Lan looked at Mo Zi, then at the doorway, somewhat embarrassed. “This, Miss Mo Zi—”
“It’s fine. Women’s matters—I listen to Auntie Miao on all of them.” Mo Zi smiled. “Young Master Su, when we return to Great Zhou, I’ll find a place to settle your family. Please set your mind at ease.”
Su Lan bowed slightly. “Miss Mo Zi need not feel troubled. If Master Yuan does not cast me aside, Su would be willing to follow and serve at his side.”
Mo Zi turned to glare at that tightly closed door. Even in such a small space, he had the ability to recruit retainers. However, Xiao Wei probably wouldn’t be easy to talk to about this.
Thinking again, once they split the ships, Xiao Wei wouldn’t have authority over it anymore. Could it be that Yuan Cheng wasn’t really using her identity as an excuse, but actually just wanted to shake off Xiao Wei?
She immediately smiled at Su Lan. “That would be excellent. I’m the steward of the Yuan estate. We’ll all be working for Master Yuan, so from now on we’re our own people. Young Master Su needn’t be so formal anymore, and please advise the old madam and your sister to be more at ease as well.”
Unexpectedly, Su Lan waved his hands repeatedly. “How would Su dare to call himself one of the master’s own people with the future mistress of the household? If Miss Mo Zi has any use for Su, please just give orders. Though Su lacks talent, I will do my utmost.”
“Future mistress of the household?” Mo Zi began grinding her teeth. “Who told you that?”
Su Lan was quite clever and immediately saw her expression was wrong, but didn’t understand where he had misspoken. “Master Yuan’s admiration for the young lady—even a blind person could sense it. Moreover, the master said this is the only time in his life he’s asked to marry someone. It should be that he won’t marry anyone but the young lady.”
“Yuan Cheng said this with his own mouth, that he won’t marry anyone but me?” From acting ambiguously in public to now being brazenly presumptuous in his words—this man’s tricks were endless. Mo Zi glared at that door again. This time no one jumped out to say “it wasn’t me.”
Su Lan wouldn’t answer anymore though. He smiled awkwardly, only saying he had matters to attend to, and left with Su Pei.
Mo Zi snorted. “Matters to attend to? Someone under house arrest is busier than I am.”
Luo Ying lowered her head and giggled.
After Su Lan left, Min Zhen arrived. He rarely showed his face because the blueprints Mo Zi had given him were so complex that he’d practically never left his room.
“Finished?” Mo Zi saw his appearance—beard covering his face, hair disheveled, clothes dirty—where was even half the dashing elegance of a refined young gentleman?
“Still one last step remaining.” Despite being unkempt, Min Zhen’s grace remained, and sunshine appeared with his smile.
“Thank you.” It saved her considerable effort. Next would be putting it into practice.
Min Zhen looked at Luo Ying, opened his mouth but then said nothing.
Luo Ying was very good at reading faces and went into Madam Miao’s cabin on her own.
“Elder cousin, you still haven’t told younger cousin about her background?” Seeing they were about to return to Great Zhou territory, Min Zhen, who had been fascinated by Mo Zi’s skills, suddenly realized the purpose of this journey had not yet been achieved.
Mo Zi had gone from correcting this “elder cousin” form of address every time to being too lazy to correct it. “Tenth Young Master, the matter of this background still isn’t confirmed as true or false. After all, in both our sisters’ memories, there’s only Song Yu as our father and elder brother. Words alone prove nothing. So much time has passed and we still can’t find any witnesses or physical evidence from back then to confirm that Doulü and I are granddaughters of the Min family. How can I tell Doulü?”
She hadn’t told the Min brothers about discovering the water-purifying pearl in her earring.
Min Zhen stared at her for a while, not anxious. “Elder cousin, why must you refuse to acknowledge it? You now have such a troublesome suitor—returning to Great Zhou you’ll surely suffer difficulties because of it. If you had the entire Min clan supporting you, who would dare bully you sisters for being orphaned and helpless? Even if they wanted to hand you over, they’d first have to see if the Min clan was willing.”
Mo Zi arched her willow-leaf eyebrows and smiled lightly. “It’s not that I look down on the Min family, but I don’t believe the trouble I’ve stirred up would disappear just because the Min clan interferes. Pardon my bluntness, but you cannot sway the court.”
Min Zhen also smiled, but with an unfathomable depth. “That’s not necessarily so.”
Mo Zi thought the Min family weren’t merchants but merely craftsmen, and didn’t enter official circles either. To influence political decisions, they’d have to be wealthy enough to rival a nation. However, as far as she knew, the Min clan’s reputation in craftsmanship far exceeded that of merchants. Although Old Master Min Yu had mentioned he didn’t only operate shipyards, and she had vaguely sensed the Min family was quite wealthy, the words “comfortably well-off” were probably sufficient to describe them. However, hearing Min Zhen’s tone now, it seemed quite substantial.
“Our Min clan has weathered two hundred years through countless calamities great and small, yet stands to this day. Elder cousin, do you know why?” Min Zhen asked her.
Mo Zi shook her head but was very curious about the answer.
“Because even the most useless wastrel sons of our Min clan firmly remember to protect their own, so after each calamity there are always Min descendants who were protected and who revive the family business. Elder cousin, you and cousin Doulü are the only surviving bloodline of my fifth uncle. The Min family absolutely will not let you suffer injustice. This is the stubbornness in Min clan blood.” Seeing Mo Zi’s frowning expression about to deny it again, Min Zhen added, “Elder cousin, I heard from Eleventh Young Master that you greatly fear others stealing your techniques, always saying they’re secret family skills that cannot be transmitted outside the family. Then why did you give me the blueprints? Leaving blood relations aside, you and I barely know each other. Your heart already has the answer, yet your mouth says there’s no proof. Whether there’s proof or not actually ceased being important long ago.”
Mo Zi thought to herself that this cousin was a bit too formidable, actually rendering her speechless. On the surface she wouldn’t acknowledge it, but in her actions she had already treated the other party as one of her own.
“Elder cousin should tell Doulü as soon as possible. Perhaps cousin Doulü still remembers something. Without asking, how can you know?” Min Zhen observed Mo Zi’s expression, then discovered her gaze flickering. Could it be he had guessed correctly?
Mo Zi made a dying struggle. “Would a two-year-old remember more than a four-year-old?”
“I’ll say it again—that’s not necessarily so. If elder cousin won’t ask, then I’ll ask.” This was Min Zhen’s ultimatum.
Generally speaking, Mo Zi didn’t accept such ultimatums, but sudden incidents often led to sudden consequences. Panicked footsteps sounded from overhead, causing her to hurriedly nod to Min Zhen and send him back to the secret cabin.
For communication convenience, she had opened all the voice tubes hidden on the deck, so she could clearly hear the activity above.
A very domineering voice said, “Hand over all your weapons to me!”
Wei Jia said, “We’re on official business by the Emperor’s command. By what right do you confiscate our weapons?”
The other party replied, “I don’t care about that. I only know your leader can neither produce an imperial edict to verify identity, and moreover this is a Daqiu ship that came out from Daqiu territory. Hurry up! If you don’t hand over your weapons, we’ll kill without mercy!”
Wei Jia said angrily, “Without an imperial edict, we have Great Zhou military seals. Why won’t you recognize them? I think you have shifty eyes like a rat—could you be Daqiu people impersonating our Great Zhou navy? Confiscate weapons? Since I first took up my bow, I shoot when I want to shoot. Aside from the Emperor, no one can force me to abandon it. You should lay down your weapons instead, or don’t blame me for not giving face to fellow soldiers.”
The other party wasn’t afraid though. “We’re just lowly soldiers who don’t recognize military seals. Besides, the garrison commander didn’t say he didn’t believe you, just that we need to return to the naval garrison to verify identities. Just hand over your weapons—it’s not like we’re taking your heads. The more you refuse, the more suspicious it is.”
Wei Jia shouted loudly, “Won’t hand them over, won’t hand them over, absolutely won’t! If you’ve got the ability, come and take them!”
With this commotion, Luo Ying ran out, her mood not very good, saying, “How is it that returning home, we instead let people board our ship and run wild?”
Mo Zi was relatively calm. “We should say Prince Su has trained his soldiers well. Who told us to appear at a location and in a manner that people can’t help but be cautious about?”
Suddenly, the ship’s hull violently shook once. The two collided with the corridor wall and nearly fell sitting down.
“What now?” Luo Ying asked urgently.
Wei Jia’s voice came down from the deck, answering this question. “You dare ram my ship?”
The other party remained cold. “If you don’t surrender your weapons, it won’t stop at just one ramming. The two hundred brothers on my ship will kill until not a single piece of your armor remains. Archers, prepare!”
With the other party being so uncompromising, Wei Jia was also somewhat at a loss.
Then they heard that domineering, cold voice laugh coldly. “Look, your companions on that other ship all complied. What are you still insisting on? If you’re truly a general of our Great Zhou, even if this bow is confiscated, naturally I’ll return it intact. Oh, and everyone in the cabins must come up to the deck—not a single one can be missed. Otherwise, we’ll treat you as spies.”
This was bad.
Mo Zi and Luo Ying exchanged glances, revealing the same worry.
Immediately after, Luo Ying pointed at Yuan Cheng’s cabin and said in a low voice, “Miss, quickly go discuss this with the master.”
With such a huge commotion and the cabin door still not opening, either Yuan Cheng was sleeping deeply, or he believed the situation wasn’t serious yet.
Mo Zi felt the latter possibility was greater, so she shook her head. “Let’s wait a bit more. If they really break down here, Yuan Cheng won’t have any solutions either. We can only take it one step at a time.”
On deck, the conflict between Wei Jia and the other party intensified. He originally didn’t want to hand over his precious bow, and now it was even more impossible to call everyone from the cabins up, so he flatly refused.
The other party’s tone began turning nasty. “Men, break open the cabin hatches for me and go search inside!”
Wei Jia shouted, “If you dare move even an inch, I’ll take your life!”
That person also raised his voice. “Let go of me! Still saying you’re not a spy? Clearly you have a guilty conscience. If you’ve got the guts, kill me—either way you’ll accompany me in death!”
The sound of clashing weapons outside continued incessantly, clearly both sides had drawn their weapons.
“Stop!”
“Cannot stop!”
Two voices. The one calling to stop was Xiao Wei. The one saying they couldn’t stop was probably the other side’s garrison commander.
The garrison commander said coldly, “My soldier spoke correctly. If you won’t let us see the lower cabin, I also cannot believe your story. Even if you really are from the Xiao family, it’s useless.”
Xiao Wei’s voice was very steady. “We are executing the Emperor’s secret edict. The results of our mission are in this lower cabin. If you’re so reckless and anger the dragon countenance, can you bear the consequences?”
There was silence for a moment.
It was still Xiao Wei who spoke. “I know you suspect our identities, but if we were spies, how would we so easily let you capture us? You say Prince Su is in the military camp—I can go with you. Before the garrison gate, let His Highness confirm Xiao Wei’s identity. That way, you also won’t need to worry about the lower cabin hiding any schemes that threaten the main camp.”
The garrison commander reluctantly agreed, but on the basis of surrendering weapons, added another condition—a hundred soldiers would be stationed on deck to guard each cabin entrance.
Xiao Wei agreed.
Next, Mo Zi heard many footsteps hitting the deck, stomping and clattering for quite a while before quieting down.
Luo Ying glared viciously at the trembling boards overhead. “What do we do now?”
“Wait to break out of the cocoon, I suppose.” Having said this, Mo Zi walked into the cabin where Madam Miao and Yang Qiao were staying.
They were also like Luo Ying, looking at the ceiling overhead, though with varied expressions. Seeing Mo Zi, however, they almost all breathed sighs of relief.
Mo Zi smiled, her voice lowered. “Didn’t you say you’d teach how to make sachets? I haven’t missed it, have I? Sachets are about the same as pouches, and I promised the brothers on the whole ship—one for each person. Quickly now, it’s rare we can’t go anywhere.”
The women laughed silently, yet their shoulders still shook with mirth.