On the small boat, the tall person pulled the short person aside and cupped his hands toward the large boat in apology, yet couldn’t help saying: “What fragrant wine!”

Tie Ci had extraordinary hearing and could hear clearly. The wine in her cup was the famous brew from the imperial capital called Thousand Autumns Down the Throat. “One cup of heaven and earth, a thousand autumns down the throat.” It also bore the beautiful name of “One sight of this wine mistakes a thousand autumns.” This wine was reportedly brewed by a mysterious person, supplied in limited quantities, priceless, and its fragrance could travel for miles. It wasn’t strange that the tall person could smell it.

Tie Ci had always been generous and magnanimous. Seeing this person loved wine, she smiled and said: “In that case, let’s drink together, brother.”

She was already leaning against the ship’s rail, and at this moment the small boat was right below the large ship. With a flick of her wrist, she was about to pour the unfinished wine from her cup down to feed that tall person.

Before her wrist could turn, she suddenly saw a hand emerge from the boat cabin, holding an enormous basin that looked large enough to serve as a washbasin.

The washbasin moved beneath her wrist.

Tie Ci: “…”

Her hand holding the wine cup stopped mid-air. She looked down at that hand—the wrist was snow-white, the wrist bone delicate, the fingers slender with distinct joints, carved like jade under the starlight.

The face-obsessed Tie Ci immediately grinned and grabbed the wine pot beside her, pouring generously downward.

From the large ship, a stream of wine flowed like a fine rainbow into the large washbasin.

The washbasin was immediately retracted.

A moment later, the washbasin was thrown out, and along with it came a streak of white light.

Tie Ci was about to catch it, but Dan Shuang, quick with her eyes and hands, caught it first. She stared at it for a moment before passing it over.

When Tie Ci received it, it was bone-chillingly cold to the touch. It was a bone-shaped object strung on a fine silver chain. The ice-bone white base had a slightly yellow tinge, and the edges had been polished to a smooth luster. This thing emanated a faint cold aura that remained cool even when held for a long time, reminding one of snow that had never melted for millions of years on glaciers.

One pot of wine hardly warranted a reciprocal gift, and moreover, this wine was clearly meant as her gift to that tall person, yet it had been intercepted by the fellow in the cabin. Tie Ci was rather displeased, but she inexplicably liked this object very much. After thinking it over, she still waved at the small boat and pointed downward to express her gratitude.

The small boat then drifted away.

From beginning to end, the small boat remained shrouded in the large ship’s shadow. Forget about seeing the person in the cabin—even the faces of the tall and short figures couldn’t be seen clearly.

Tie Ci hung the bone around her neck and immediately shivered from the cold, yet felt her ears and eyes instantly become more acute and her mind clearer. She liked it even more.

Rong Pu pushed away his guqin and stared at that bone piece for a long while before turning his gaze away.

She wouldn’t accept any favor from him, yet was willing to accept a gift from a complete stranger she’d never met.

So close yet so distant, the relationship between sovereign and subject.

However, Tie Ci paid no attention to his gaze. She lazily waved her hand, indicating she was drunk and asking Lord Rong to do as he pleased, then took her two maids into the cabin.

The lights in her cabin were quickly extinguished.

The large ship gradually grew quiet.

In the pitch-black cabin, Tie Ci slowly opened her eyes.

She sat up, and Chi Xue silently approached. Tie Ci wasn’t surprised to see her and gestured to ask if everything was ready.

Chi Xue nodded and showed off by lifting an enormous bundle.

Dan Shuang’s mouth twitched at the side.

Let me tell a story.

There was someone who, after being rescued, also made off with the rescuer’s property and slipped away midway.

Oh my, who could be so unscrupulous?

The Crown Princess, that’s who.

…

The unscrupulous Crown Princess indicated that since she had no money and wanted to escape, she could only rely on robbery.

Since it was robbery, naturally the nearest tower gets the moon first.

What Rong Pu, who got the moon first, was currently feeling, no one knew. But Tie Ci was in a good mood because she had already seen that previous small boat indeed slowly approaching the large ship again.

Earlier, when she had finally waved at the small boat to signal, she had made a gesture meaning “wait below” while simultaneously throwing down a piece of jade from her person as advance payment for boat fare.

The people on that boat were indeed clever and came as agreed.

The three descended along the ship’s side, and when Tie Ci finally landed on the small boat’s deck, the small boat didn’t move at all. The tall person at the bow praised: “Excellent skill!”

Tie Ci cupped her hands to show gratitude and bowed, about to enter the cabin to pay respects to the master. The tall person suddenly said: “My master doesn’t see outside guests.”

Tie Ci was taken aback. She was dressed as a man with neutral posture and expression, appearing as a young man to outsiders.

The person in the cabin was probably a woman. Just as she was hesitating whether to honestly reveal her female identity, the tall person said again: “Don’t overthink it. He’s a man. Just ugly-looking and doesn’t see people.”

Tie Ci immediately felt solemn respect.

A guard who dissed his master to his face—what personality! I like it!

From the cabin came someone’s lazy voice: “Still a tiny bit prettier than you.”

Tie Ci suddenly turned her head, and all her pores opened at once!

So pleasant to hear!

What a magnificent voice!

Deep, magnetic, with slightly sandy echoes, like mellow wind brushing across eardrums, making one’s whole body tremble involuntarily.

The legendary bass voice!

Tie Ci shivered with pleasure and subconsciously walked toward the cabin, then stopped before a bead curtain.

The bead curtain showed vague shadows, revealing the silhouette of the person behind it. The lines were indistinctly elegant—tall stature, broad shoulders, narrow waist, robes trailing on the ground. Even sitting, one could see he was tall and upright.

The outline suggested a beauty, and the voice was even more beautiful.

But perhaps his face was ugly? Disfigured?

Tie Ci considered herself generous and certainly wouldn’t lift the curtain at this moment. She respectfully saluted through the curtain and politely expressed her desire to stay for a day or two before disembarking at the next ferry crossing.

The person behind the curtain didn’t speak. Tie Ci wanted to hear more of his voice and said flirtatiously: “I wonder if there are any inconveniences? Please feel free to speak, master.”

The person behind the curtain fell silent again. After quite a while, he said very emotionlessly: “Money.”

Tie Ci: “…”

Sir, that voice paired with that word is very… cheap.

She had never been one to willingly submit to extortion, even if the voice was pleasant.

“Earlier on the ship, I already threw down a piece of fine jade, sufficient as boat fare.”

“That was pickup fee. At most it covers boat fare for one person. There are still two more people.” The person behind the curtain said even more emotionlessly, “You don’t have to pay. Should we throw you overboard, or will you jump yourselves?”

Dan Shuang, listening at the side of the cabin, rolled up her sleeves, while Chi Xue rolled her eyes considering whether to jump overboard to save the exorbitant boat fare.

Tie Ci stared at the person behind the curtain for a while, shook her head with a smile, and signaled Chi Xue to fish out a jade pot from the bundle and pass it over. She laughed: “This boat fare—forget one or two days’ passage, it would be enough even for sailing the outer seas to foreign countries.”

A hand reached out to receive the jade pot. Tie Ci stared at that hand, thinking it was fortunate she couldn’t be considered hand-obsessed, or she couldn’t resist touching it and would have to spend more money.

The person received the jade pot and casually tossed it aside, yet said again: “Temporarily calculated as one day’s boat fare.”

Damn, she’d boarded a pirate ship!

Tie Ci was too lazy to argue with him. Disfigured people had eccentric temperaments—consider it charity. Besides, it wasn’t her money anyway.

She looked around and asked: “Please tell me, where do I sleep?”

This boat was really small. The cabin was only big enough for two or three people to sit facing each other. Now with half of it partitioned off for that person to sit and lie, there was clearly no place left to sleep.

The person said: “Stand up.”

Tie Ci stood up.

The person said: “Step back three paces.”

Stepping back three paces would mean exiting the cabin. Tie Ci watched him warily, thinking this fellow took money but didn’t provide service, trying to trick her into backing out herself?

Or perhaps he harbored thoughts of murder and robbery?

As for assassins and killers, she felt that was quite unlikely. She had noticed the route the small boat took when approaching—it was clearly heading south, traveling south from the north all along. Her departure from the capital was a hasty decision with a time advantage. The prefectures and provinces outside the imperial capital absolutely wouldn’t have had time to arrange assassinations from thousands of li away, and the Empress Dowager wouldn’t bother avoiding people in the capital to deploy outside personnel.

Unless her luck was explosively good and she randomly encountered a pirate ship.

She stepped back three paces, tensing her entire body, then heard two creaking sounds. Where she had just been sitting, a long board suddenly descended from the cabin wall and, when propped at the edges, became a simple bed.

At the same time, a long board also descended behind the bead curtain, placed parallel to this board, like a single bed separated only by a bead curtain.

The person behind the curtain raised his hand to remove his cloak and lay down on the long board. A snow-white long finger emerged through the bead curtain and tapped the neighboring bed board, meaning you can sleep now.

Tie Ci: “…”

A priceless jade pendant plus an equally valuable jade pot just for a wooden plank bed?

But seeing that the master was also sleeping on a wooden plank bed, Her Highness had nothing to say and could only lie down in grievance.

When she lay down, the wooden board creaked meaningfully. At the very least, the jade pendant and jade pot felt deeply wronged.

Only then did Tie Ci belatedly realize—wasn’t this equivalent to sleeping in the same bed with this ugly, money-obsessed fellow?

But with this bed, if she didn’t sleep here, she’d have to sleep on deck. Tie Ci could only sigh and lean back.

She originally thought she’d just rest lightly, but who knew that after a day of turmoil she was quite exhausted. She actually fell quickly into sweet dreams.