Wei Caiwei was first overjoyed upon hearing this – such good fortune existed? But then she became suspicious, wondering if this windfall was Luo Longwen testing her.

However, regardless of whether Luo Longwen’s intentions were false or sincere, Wei Caiwei’s only current option was gratitude. “Thank you for helping us, Manager Zhang! We’re unfamiliar with the area and will follow your arrangements entirely.”

Luo Longwen waved his hand. “Back then I couldn’t fulfill my own desires. Now being able to help others fulfill theirs is also a good deed.”

Thus, Wei Caiwei became even more devoted to treating Luo Longwen’s illness.

When Wang Daxia returned to the cabin, Ding Wu was looking at maps with Lu Ying. In the dim lamplight, their heads were almost touching. When the door creaked, though they hadn’t done anything improper, they instinctively moved their heads apart.

Ding Wu covered by stroking his chin, while Lu Ying took a sip of cold tea.

As soon as Wang Daxia entered, he reached into his clothing, rummaging around until he pulled out a small pillow stuffed with cotton. He tossed the still-warm pillow toward Lu Ying. “Catch – this is your Ximen family’s son.”

Lu Ying identified the direction by sound and caught the “son” without turning around, placing it on Wang Daxia’s bed.

Ding Wu took his leave. “Dawn is approaching. Let’s sleep a while – we’ll be busy during the day.”

Since Lu Ying and Wang Daxia were “husband and wife,” they shared a cabin – Lu Ying in the upper bunk, Wang Daxia in the lower. Their current relationship was like unrelated brothers sharing bunk beds.

Wang Daxia sat on the lower bunk removing his boots and blocked Ding Wu’s path with his bare foot. “Don’t leave.”

Ding Wu felt inexplicably guilty. “What is it?”

Wang Daxia lay down on the lower bunk, holding the pillow “son.” “I’m announcing something – from tonight on, this child will take the surname He…”

Wang Daxia told them about going to the deck to find the hairpin, adding a fabricated story: “…the ship rocked then, and the deck was too slippery with water. Dr. Wei looked like she was about to fall, so I rushed over and caught her. Just then Luo Longwen came to return my hairpin and saw us embracing, thinking we were having an affair.”

“In desperation, Dr. Wei made up a lie saying the child in my belly is actually hers.”

“You—” Both Ding Wu and Lu Ying were speechless at such luck! How could it be so coincidental!

Ding Wu asked, “He believed it?”

Wang Daxia said, “Of course he believed it. I said I couldn’t bear the loneliness and actively seduced Dr. Wei, got pregnant with a bastard child, and when I could no longer hide it, I used the excuse of accompanying my husband on business when actually planning to elope with my lover. I’m telling you in advance to avoid contradictions that would expose us.”

Lu Ying thought it over. “This excuse works and won’t affect the big picture. It also gives Dr. Wei legitimate reason to ask Luo Longwen about fleeing overseas. A lucky accident.”

During the Shunfeng merchant ship’s return journey, they encountered several other ships also traveling by night. The captain loudly warned them: “Pirates lie in ambush ahead! We fought a fierce battle and turned back! Don’t go forward!”

So the merchant ships began turning back to dock at the previous port – Xinghua County in Yangzhou Prefecture.

The captains gathered through the night to discuss, tallying weapons and manpower from each ship. Deciding they could resist pirates, they agreed to travel the canal together at dawn for mutual protection.

When the sun rose high, the Shunfeng merchant ship departed again with a dozen cargo ships from Xinghua Port.

The rain had stopped and the sun shone brightly. Standing on deck, golden rapeseed flowers filled the view. While Beijing residents hadn’t yet stored away their heavy winter clothes, Jiangnan already showed abundant spring scenery, with those sensitive to heat already wearing single-layer clothing.

After breakfast, the loving couple Lu Ying and Wang Daxia walked arm in arm on deck to aid digestion. Wang Daxia whispered, “It’s getting hot. I have three cotton bundles on my chest and belly – I’m about to get heat rash. What should I do?”

Lu Ying was using a telescope to observe surrounding ships and wasn’t listening carefully to Wang Daxia, absentmindedly saying, “Drink more hot water.”

“What?” Wang Daxia patted his belly. “Is that how you treat your own flesh and blood?”

“It’s not mine.” Lu Ying whispered, “You didn’t follow my and Dr. Wei’s advice, insisting on stuffing too much cotton in your fake breasts, making them as big as those Shandong steamed buns last time. When it was cold, you said having two big breasts was warm. You wouldn’t listen to women’s advice – now you regret it. However warm you were then, that’s how hot you are now. You brought this on yourself.”

Wang Daxia said, “I didn’t know it would be so troublesome. I’ll go back and remove some cotton from my breasts, shrinking them to Dr. Wei’s size – that should be comfortable.”

Caiwei’s looked better, like two apples hanging on branches, gently swaying in the breeze, swaying into his heart and dreams.

“What did you say? Like Dr. Wei’s?” Lu Ying put down the telescope. “Your thinking is dangerous. Why are you using Wei Caiwei as your standard for comparison?”

Last time at the Xie family tavern in Linqing County, under Wei Caiwei’s questioning, Wang Daxia had repeatedly denied any relationship with Third Madam. Lu Ying already felt something was off between them – that feeling was somewhat like how her sisters bickered with their husbands.

Lu Ying’s three sisters had all married well – whether sons of nobles, treacherous officials, or loyal ministers, all three brothers-in-law were upright men devoted to their wives, with no concubines or secondary wives, remaining faithful. The three sisters’ marriages were generally happy, so they took turns urging her to marry.

Moreover, regarding Wang Daxia’s story about the slippery deck, Wei Caiwei nearly falling, and him catching her leading to Luo Longwen’s misunderstanding, Lu Ying found it suspicious upon reflection. First, Dr. Wei was a cautious, careful person who wouldn’t fall easily. Second, with light rain last night making the deck slippery, even if they embraced, they could have simply explained it was due to the slippery conditions. Creating such an elaborate “adultery” lie for an accidental embrace and requiring everyone to maintain the deception seemed unnecessary.

So Lu Ying’s suspicions grew. Now hearing Wang Daxia wanting to shrink his breasts to “Dr. Wei’s size,” she detected a hint of intimacy. Something was going on!

“I…” Wang Daxia’s eyes darted about. “I was just speaking casually. Don’t overthink it.”

Lu Ying was thorough and wouldn’t let it slide, pressing further: “Why must you use Dr. Wei for comparison? Why not me?”

Wang Daxia stepped aside, crossing his arms over his chest. “Hey, how can you say such things? I’m a decent person. I regard you as a brother sharing the bottom bunk. What do you take me for? I don’t have the slightest improper thoughts about you.”

“Who isn’t decent?” Lu Ying caught another flaw in Wang Daxia’s words – he was terrible at keeping secrets. “I believe you have no improper thoughts about me. We’ve shared bunks for a month and become more like brothers. But you definitely have improper thoughts about Dr. Wei.”

Wang Daxia vehemently denied it. “I don’t. You’re talking nonsense. Stop imagining things.”

Lu Ying pressed relentlessly. “If you have no improper thoughts about her, why do you know what her chest looks like? You must have been secretly observing her for a long time.”

Wang Daxia: “I wasn’t peeping.” She was the one who initiated! That day, to seduce information about Ding Wu’s whereabouts from me, she came downstairs without her bodice, those two apples swaying in her undergarment where you could see their shape, and she wanted me to taste the rouge on her lips…

Lu Ying asked, “Do you dare swear to heaven that you don’t like her? That you have no improper thoughts about her?”

“I— why should I make such oaths for no reason?” Wang Daxia said. “Even courts need evidence to convict criminals. Just because you say so? You’re forcing me to swear – produce evidence first.”

Lu Ying became more certain. “Though my time in the Embroidered Uniform Guard was short, I interrogated quite a few criminals. Those who clamor for me to produce evidence are usually the guilty ones.”

Wang Daxia refused to admit it. “Think whatever you want, just don’t spread it around, or it will damage Dr. Wei’s reputation.”

Lu Ying said, “Don’t worry, I’m not a gossip, and I don’t plan to use this to blackmail you. I just think – you’re unmarried, she’s unwed, you’ve been through life-and-death situations together multiple times. When you raided the White Lotus Sect stronghold at Jishui Pond and she thought you’d drowned, she tried to save you despite not knowing how to swim – that far exceeds neighborly kindness.”

“If you truly care for her, I’m not surprised. Though you’re young, have too many romantic entanglements, are rather flirtatious, hold a low official rank, and earn little, you are a good man and could barely be worthy of Dr. Wei.”

Wang Daxia couldn’t tell if Lu Ying was insulting or praising him and was momentarily speechless.

Lu Ying continued, “Just mind your boundaries. Let emotion arise but stop at propriety. Don’t keep staring at her chest – it’s too lecherous.”

Wang Daxia felt he couldn’t clear his name even if he jumped in the Grand Canal. “I really wasn’t peek—”

Before he could finish, they heard gunshots and cannon fire from the distance!

Lu Ying quickly raised the telescope and saw many ships of all sizes on the waterway ahead, with horsemen on the banks, all flying pirate flags!

Judging by the ships and troop movements, the pirates numbered at least ten thousand!

The ship captain also saw this and quickly directed the sailors: “Quick! Turn the ship around. We’re not returning to port – we’ll sail directly into Xinghua County town! There are city walls and garrison troops there!”

Other ships also turned around, seeking shelter in the county town, not daring to engage such a large pirate force.

Lu Ying continued observing the pirates through her telescope and discovered they weren’t attacking the merchant fleet because they were also fleeing in all directions like homeless dogs.

Clearly, this scattered rabble wasn’t the well-organized, strategically sound force from last night.

Which pirate group was this?

Continuing to observe, Lu Ying discovered why the pirates were fleeing: she saw “Qi Family Army” banners – another famous anti-pirate general, Qi Jiguang, was exterminating pirates. The pirates were being routed and fleeing for their lives.

The Shunfeng merchant ship traveled from the canal to the moat, then into the county town. The waterway was immediately sealed to prevent pirate ships from entering.

The pirates first attempted to attack Xinghua County town to gain shelter. Those aboard the merchant ships capable of using firearms – Lu Ying, Wang Daxia, Ding Wu, Luo Longwen, and the Santong Escort Agency guards – all brought out their weapons, climbed the city walls to repel the pirates, and protected the city gates.

Various forces with hidden agendas temporarily united against the pirates – otherwise, everyone would suffer.

Author’s Note: The mystery will be solved in the next chapter.