By evening, the canal breakers indeed fired their cannons at the ice surface. After a thunderous roar, the originally spider-web-cracked canal ice began making crackling sounds as it fractured. For businessmen, this was undoubtedly a “Fortune-Calling Song.” Everyone pressed against tavern railings or windows, eagerly watching for the moment when the ice layers would collapse.

The broken ice pieces, thick as bricks, some large as beds, others small as duckweed, were carried along by the undercurrents below. At first, the ice fragments moved slowly like someone constipated for three days, then gradually faster and faster, flowing more urgently. With a rushing sound, it all flowed smoothly. The large merchant ships on both banks finally broke free from their icy prison, swaying at the canal docks. In that moment, the ship hulls seemed to gain souls, beginning their year-after-year journey shuttling between north and south along the canal.

The merchants raised their cups in celebration, anticipating this year’s wealth to roll in like the surging canal waters.

The medicinal herb merchant Lu Ying, who had gone upstairs to “rest” all afternoon, carefully helped his wife down the stairs for dinner. Since Wang Daxia had already been “exposed” for cross-dressing as a man, she simply stopped bothering to disguise herself and came downstairs in women’s clothing, beaming with joy. Her powdered face had peach-blossom cheeks and bright red lips, wearing a green jacket above and red skirt below, her hair adorned with a pair of purple wisteria silk flowers. She piled all the vibrant colors on herself, charming and alluring. Fortunately, she was young and beautiful enough to carry off such brilliant colors.

Ding Wu treated the traveling physician Wei Caiwei to dinner, setting out a full table of food and wine, praising her miraculous healing touch. After her acupuncture treatment, his waist indeed felt less sore and his legs no longer hurt. Wei Caiwei took the opportunity to have a hearty meal.

The courtesans from Qinghe County came again to solicit customers. Lu Ying was naturally their primary target, but Wang Daxia sitting beside him was too dazzling, glaring with both eyeballs in a “whoever dares steal my man, I’ll tear them apart” fierce lioness manner. All the prostitutes dared not approach, fearing the lioness would scratch their faces.

To avoid harassment, Lu Ying ladled a bowl of chicken soup for Wang Daxia. “This is old hen soup, specially made for you by the kitchen, stewed with ginseng – very nourishing.”

Wang Daxia smiled like a blooming flower. “Thank you, my lord.” He happily accepted this complex character setting of male-disguised-as-female, female-disguised-as-male, then back to women’s clothing while carrying a child.

Wang Daxia had an amazing appetite, eating even more than her husband. However, considering she was now eating for two, this was understandable.

As for Ding Wu’s “flower brother,” learning they could set sail tomorrow and wouldn’t encounter women for nearly a month, he didn’t even leave his room. The singing and dancing sounds from within didn’t stop until midnight.

That night, people from the Santong Escort Agency kept watch over the cargo in the Shunfeng ship’s hold. However, Wei Caiwei had drugged their food with the same sleep-inducing medicine she’d used on the White Lotus Sect members, so they slept deeply through the night.

Wu Xiaoqi, disguised among the cargo in a crate, heard the snoring sounds and crawled out, stretching his cramped muscles. He moved from his own cargo hold to the adjacent one. The crates were locked, but this didn’t trouble him.

He took out a set of keys from his bag, trying them one by one, found a similar one, then modified it with a steel file and small saw until he finally opened the crate.

The moment the crate opened, a dazzling golden light shot out from within, like Monkey King bursting from his immortal stone, nearly blinding Wu Xiaoqi’s eyes.

It was gold! Fifty-tael gold ingots neatly stacked in the crate. Wu Xiaoqi roughly calculated there were about five thousand taels!

Five thousand taels of gold, equivalent to fifty thousand taels of silver – what kind of concept was this? For example, in the twentieth year of Chenghua reign of the Ming Dynasty, Hangzhou’s total tax revenue was twenty-three thousand taels of silver. In other words, the Shunfeng merchant ship carried more than two years’ worth of Hangzhou’s total tax revenue.

Wu Xiaoqi put the gold ingots back, locked the crate, left the cargo hold, and returned to the upper passenger cabins. “Boss, Luo Longwen’s cargo is all gold, about five thousand taels. He’s just a scholar who makes ink – where would he get all this gold? It must belong to Yan Shifan.”

These five thousand taels of gold likely included the thousand taels my father paid as bribes to save Yu Dayou, Lu Ying thought, puzzled. “Something’s not right. Yan Shifan loves money like his life – how could he bear to let such a large amount of gold flow out of the capital? When things are abnormal, there must be demons at work.”

Getting money from Yan Shifan was like cutting his flesh. These five thousand taels of gold were equivalent to severing one of his arms. There had always been others sending him gold, never him sending gold to others. What was he planning to do?

Lu Ying was stuck here. “If father were still alive, he could surely point the way. He understood Yan Shifan well, but unfortunately…” She missed her father.

Ding Wu said, “Luo Longwen is also going directly to Hangzhou without stopping at any ports, so he’s sharing a ship with us. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Once we reach Hangzhou, we can continue following him and surely catch a big fish.”

Lu Ying asked Wang Daxia, “What do you think?”

Wang Daxia’s mind was still fixated on the five thousand taels of gold. “I’ve never seen so much gold before. Really, with so much money, why bother being an official in court? If it were me, I’d have resigned long ago to retire in comfort. Even if I ate gold every day, I couldn’t finish it in a lifetime.”

Seeing Wang Daxia’s unpromising attitude, Lu Ying was frustrated beyond measure. “I’m asking what you think we should do next?”

Wang Daxia’s eyes gleamed with golden light, eagerly rubbing his hands together. “How about we play a switching game and steal those five thousand taels of gold? It’s all ill-gotten wealth anyway. We’ll rob the rich to help the poor, distribute the money to poor people, and keep just a tiny bit as handling fees – not much, just one gold ingot each.” His wife’s dowry would increase by one gold ingot – what a windfall!

Lu Ying gave up on him. “Go back to your cabin and dream.”

Wang Daxia persisted, “Boss, consider it—”

Lu Ying: “Get lost!”

Wang Daxia salivated over the gold. “Be nicer to me – I’m carrying your flesh and blood in my belly.” Ever since Wei Caiwei diagnosed her “happy pulse,” Wang Daxia had consistently appeared in women’s clothing.

Lu Ying wanted to hit someone upon hearing this. Ding Wu’s eyelid twitched, and Wu Xiaoqi shook his head. “Yan Shifan loves money like his life. Unless absolutely necessary, how could he possibly transport so much gold to Hangzhou? This is clearly transferring assets. Could he be in some kind of trouble?”

Wang Daxia said, “Impossible. After Wu Peng retired, Yan Shifan’s uncle Ouyang Bijin just became Minister of Personnel. It’s even more convenient for Yan Shifan to sell official positions now, with so many officials lining up to send money.”

To outsiders, this indeed seemed to be the case. The Yan family remained prestigious, even growing more powerful, seemingly never to fall.

Lu Ying had been home in mourning this past month and didn’t know about Yan Shifan’s recent failures – his first time taking money without delivering results, and his uncle Ouyang Bijin’s refusal to cooperate in selling offices. If Lu Bing were still alive, he would have immediately recognized this as a harbinger of the Yan family’s impending collapse.

Ding Wu said, “Could it be that Yan Shifan has Luo Longwen take the gold for business deals? In terms of power, the Yan family has already reached its peak – going higher would mean becoming emperor, and power has limits. But money doesn’t – money has no end. Sect Leader Zhao Quan stole firearms from the Royal Gunpowder Factory and had Tie Niu lead death warriors with those weapons, disguising as Japanese pirates for smuggling profits.”

Lu Ying had a sudden inspiration. “To make quick money, it must involve pirate smuggling. Luo Longwen spent five years in the southeastern coastal areas, knew both legitimate and criminal circles, called the pirate leader Xu Hai his brother, and could drink and compose poetry with the famous anti-pirate general Hu Zongxian. Five years have passed – could Luo Longwen be taking Yan Shifan’s capital to resume his old trade?”

Wang Daxia slapped his thigh. “Collaborating with Japanese pirates! Yan Shifan wants to collaborate with Japanese pirates!” This accusation hit the mark precisely.

Wu Xiaoqi grew excited. “Right, collaborating with pirates. That’s a capital crime. Japanese pirates have plagued the coast for years – His Majesty despises them most. If we can get evidence of Yan Shifan colluding with Japanese pirates, neither his father nor uncle can save him.”

Wang Daxia asked, “If we catch the thief red-handed and arrest Luo Longwen trading with pirates, how much reward money would we get?”

Wang Daxia’s mind was full of gold and dowry money. His current monthly salary was only a fraction of Wei Caiwei’s, making him feel quite insecure.

Wu Xiaoqi said, “I’ll give my share to Wang Qianhu. I only want Yan Shifan to pay with his life, to avenge my father.”

Lu Ying said, “I’ll write a secret letter about this to my second brother-in-law (son of Cabinet Minister Xu Jie). They’ve been fighting the Yan faction for over twenty years. If you can really help them bring down the Yan faction, your future prospects will be limitless – far more valuable than any reward money.”

Wang Daxia thought about it – promotion and wealth. If he couldn’t get wealthy, promotion wasn’t bad either. “Good, this trip won’t be in vain. Killing two birds with one stone.”

Everyone discussed strategies when a subordinate knocked on the door, saying, “Luo Longwen has requested Dr. Wei to treat him. Dr. Wei has already gone with her medicine chest.”

What? Everyone immediately went on high alert, exchanging glances.

Luo Longwen was truly ill. Having lived in coastal areas for years, frequently traveling by sea, he had developed a taste for seafood and raw fish. Now in his fifties, gout had set in. When it flared up, it felt like countless needles stabbing his joints. During his five comfortable years at the Yan residence, he was treated by imperial physicians and normally wouldn’t think much of Wei Caiwei, a mere traveling doctor. But recently, living on the ship in damp, cold conditions with strong canal winds, his gout had flared up. When pounding ink, he could barely grip the iron pestle, forcing him to seek help from this traveling physician.

Luo Longwen scrutinized Wei Caiwei with examining eyes. “We’ve shared this ship for many days, but I don’t know the doctor’s surname? Where are you from? Who was your master?”

Wei Caiwei replied neither humbly nor arrogantly, “My surname is He. I wander from street to street, a person whose fate drifts like duckweed. My medical skills were passed down orally by my master, occasionally supplemented by reading medical texts. The relationship between doctor and patient also depends on fate. If you don’t trust my medical skills, I’ll take my leave.”

She had already revealed her background to Wang Daxia and used her real surname “He” when going out. Lu Ying had long suspected she was the missing Second Miss He, and seeing her call herself Dr. He, became even more certain, though she kept this realization to herself – the He father and daughter had died too tragically.

Luo Longwen extended his wrist. “Please examine me, Dr. He.”

Wei Caiwei glanced and saw his finger joints were swollen and red, with yellow-white sesame-sized ulcers on his ear rims and fingertips. Without taking his pulse, she immediately made her diagnosis. “Take off your shoes and socks – let me see your feet.”

Hearing this, Luo Longwen knew he’d encountered a real expert and exposed his most painful foot.

Wei Caiwei saw his toe joints had already begun deforming and asked, “You’ve had gout for some years, haven’t you? This disease is common among coastal patients. From now on, avoid seafood, fish soup, and meat broth. No alcohol. I’ll first apply needles to the affected areas for bloodletting.”

Wei Caiwei opened her medicine chest, lit a lamp, and used a three-edged needle to puncture the affected areas on his hands and feet for bloodletting. Seeing her technique and acupoint knowledge matched that of imperial physicians, Luo Longwen relaxed, realizing she truly had skill.

After the needling, with silver needles left in various major acupoints on Luo Longwen’s hands and feet, Wei Caiwei took up her brush to write a prescription. “When we dock at port, immediately have your escort rider go to an apothecary to fill this prescription. The further south we go, the more continuous spring rains there’ll be, making your gout worse.”

This southern journey coincided with the Jiangnan plum rain season, unfavorable for gout. How could Luo Longwen not know this? But his patron had made a request he couldn’t decline – he had to complete this task successfully.

Wei Caiwei removed the needles, collected her fee, and took her leave. Luo Longwen immediately felt the joint pain, especially in his hands and feet, ease considerably.

When Wei Caiwei returned to the cabin, Ding Wu and the others had been waiting anxiously. Wei Caiwei described Luo Longwen’s condition: “His gout is already quite severe, with deformity in both hand and foot joints. When it flares up, life becomes worse than death.”

Lu Ying said, “This is an opportunity. Treat him well and gain his trust.”

During nearly a month of sailing, Wei Caiwei performed acupuncture for Luo Longwen almost daily. Their relationship wasn’t intimate, but they became acquainted.

The large ship reached Zhenjiang territory on a rainy night. Wei Caiwei was awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of gongs. The boatmen struck gongs and shouted loudly: “Japanese pirates! There are Japanese pirate ships! Everyone bring out your weapons!”

Author’s Note: Hahahaha everyone should be able to guess who these “Japanese pirates” are