Ji Ying was speechless for a long while.
Zhou Shaojin didn’t dare rush her, simply sitting quietly beside her in companionship.
After quite some time, Ji Ying suddenly gave a mocking laugh and said, “Forget it, why am I telling you all this? There are some things you don’t understand anyway!” Then she took Zhou Shaojin’s hand and said sincerely, “Thank you for coming to see me. I feel much better now.” She smiled bitterly, “I’m afraid I’ll have to live at the Cheng residence for a few more years. I just hope you won’t find me annoying!”
“How could that be?” Zhou Shaojin didn’t know how to comfort her, so she could only say earnestly, “If you ever feel stifled and uncomfortable, come talk to me. Although I may not understand everything, sometimes just saying things out loud makes you feel less troubled inside.”
Just like those years she spent at the Daxing estate—on the surface acting as if nothing was wrong, but actually suffering terribly inside. If she hadn’t set up a small Buddhist shrine at home where she could say all those unspeakable words to the Bodhisattva, she probably would have gone mad long ago.
Zhou Shaojin’s gentleness and warmth made Ji Ying hesitate.
Yes, what did it matter whether Zhou Shaojin understood or not? She genuinely cared about her, and that was enough.
Suddenly, she felt the desire to confide again.
“People from our Ji family once escorted Fan Qi all the way to the capital.” Ji Ying thought for a moment and said, “You must have realized long ago that our Ji family is quite different from ordinary families, right?”
Zhou Shaojin nodded.
She suspected the Ji family made their living in the martial world.
“Among the four major martial arts schools in Cangzhou, our Ji family is one of them, and we’ve been passed down for nearly two hundred years.” Ji Ying said, “The poor study literature, the rich practice martial arts. To practice martial arts, you need a good physique, which means eating well. But how much money can you really make from running a martial arts school, providing bodyguards, or serving as estate guards? So our family secretly trades in illegal salt…”
Zhou Shaojin was shocked.
Ji Ying smiled and continued, “In the past, trading illegal salt meant finding ways to steal salt from the salt yards—that carried great risk and easily attracted the court’s attention. By my great-grandfather’s time, our family began doing this business together with people from the Canal Gang. Jiao Ziyang’s family is one of the three major leaders of the Canal Gang. That’s how Jiao Ziyang and I met.
“You know what happened after that.
“But what I didn’t expect when I returned home this time was that Uncle Chi had made an enemy of the Canal Gang. The Canal Gang couldn’t deal with Uncle Chi, so they set their sights on our Ji family. Everyone in the martial world knows that Jiao Ziyang and I are engaged. Uncle Chi let me return home, and the Canal Gang seized on this opportunity. They actually wanted Jiao Ziyang to trick me into marrying him, and after I bore him a child or two, they would force my father to help deal with Cheng Zichuan.
“That bastard Jiao Ziyang even said he only agreed to his father’s plan because he wanted to be with me, saying that once we had children, they would be both my father’s grandchildren and his father’s grandchildren. For the children’s sake, his father definitely wouldn’t force me to do anything I didn’t want to do…”
“And you believed him?” Zhou Shaojin instinctively felt this Jiao Ziyang was unreliable. If he truly liked Ji Ying, even after mistakenly believing she had become Uncle Chi’s concubine, he should have confronted Ji Ying or sought clarification after his anger subsided. Instead, he just walked away and disappeared. Then when Ji Ying returned home, he tricked her into eloping with him—these weren’t things a responsible man would do.
“If I believed him, why would I come back?” Ji Ying said, her eyes reddening. “Those formally betrothed become wives; those who elope become concubines. If I had really eloped with him and had children, having followed Jiao Ziyang without proper status, both I and my children would be nothing to the Jiao family. The Jiao family might even gain another means to threaten my father! I was furious…” She glanced at Zhou Shaojin somewhat guiltily, lowering her voice, “I severed Jiao Ziyang’s sword arm with one strike… He’s the Jiao family’s only son… If his son can’t stand on his own before he retires, the Jiao family definitely won’t be able to keep their position as one of the three major leaders… My father can’t protect me either… So I had no choice but to follow your uncle back here again.”
So she had returned to avoid disaster!
Zhou Shaojin’s eyes widened as she said, “Well cut! Someone like Jiao Ziyang deserves to be severely taught a lesson, to learn what happens when you casually bully women!”
She greatly admired Ji Ying.
Ji Ying was much stronger than her. When she encountered problems, she only knew to cry, but Ji Ying had avenged herself.
Zhou Shaojin looked at Ji Ying with eyes full of admiration.
Ji Ying was somewhat dazed, saying, “You, you’re not afraid I’ll bring trouble to your family?”
Zhou Shaojin really hadn’t thought about that.
She said honestly, “Since your father let you follow Uncle Chi back, he must believe Uncle Chi can protect you. Otherwise, even if it meant diverting trouble eastward, he still couldn’t protect you—it would be better to hide you in some temple or nunnery!”
Ji Ying laughed heartily and couldn’t help pinching her face, saying, “How did you suddenly become so clever! You usually seem quite simple!”
Zhou Shaojin batted away her hand and said unhappily, “I’m not stupid—I just sometimes don’t want to think the worst of people.”
Ji Ying just looked at her and smiled.
Zhou Shaojin thought of Cheng Chi’s noble and dignified bearing and belatedly began to worry, saying, “Uncle Chi should… should be able to protect you, right?”
This set off another round of laughter from Ji Ying.
Zhou Shaojin became embarrassed and angry, saying, “I’m talking seriously with you. If you keep this up, I won’t pay attention to you anymore.”
“All right, all right, all right. I won’t tease you.” Ji Ying finally stopped laughing and said in a low voice, “Cheng Zichuan has another identity in the martial world. No one knows his background. The Canal Gang targeted me because they knew I had become Cheng Zichuan’s maidservant, thinking I must know where Cheng Zichuan’s family was, wanting to capture his family members to threaten him.” As she spoke, she showed a contemptuous expression, saying, “My father said that as long as I stay properly by Cheng Zichuan’s side, even if the Canal Gang finds out, they won’t be able to do anything to me.”
Zhou Shaojin’s heart raced for a moment before calming down.
In her previous life, the Cheng family had been executed by the court, not massacred by martial world people.
She couldn’t help saying, “Then you must be careful from now on. Don’t go wandering about outside. Just stay at home.” After thinking, she added, “Learn some needlework with me. It can pass the time, and after you marry, you can make little things for your children.”
Ji Ying’s expression was strange, as if she was forcibly suppressing laughter.
Zhou Shaojin asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Ji Ying quickly said.
She thought to herself that after the ten-year period ended, who knew if Cheng Zichuan would still protect her. Rather than learning needlework, she might as well find ways to practice her martial arts properly for self-defense and survival—that was stronger than anything else!
But she knew Zhou Shaojin wasn’t part of her world. Telling her these things would only make her worry, so she simply went along with what Zhou Shaojin said.
Zhou Shaojin couldn’t help but ask curiously, “How did Uncle Chi get involved with martial world people?”
Was it because of this that when the Cheng family faced execution in the end, Uncle Chi could mobilize those martial world people to rescue Cheng Xu from the execution ground?
Ji Ying smiled, “What do you think the martial world is? The martial world is made up of all walks of life! Whether scholars, merchants, or those who travel by boat or horse—they’re all part of those walks of life. If Cheng Zichuan wants to do business throughout the realm, how can he avoid dealing with martial world people?”
Zhou Shaojin still felt something was odd.
So many people did business—did they all have to be like Uncle Chi?
But why were all the merchants she knew careful and cautious, not daring to make a single wrong step?
Perhaps it was because Uncle Chi’s business was particularly large?
Zhou Shaojin consoled herself internally and asked Ji Ying, “Will those people come looking? Was that person we saw at Jiangbei Bridge that day also from the martial world?”
Would those people come?
Ji Ying didn’t know either.
Right now she could only instinctively trust her father’s words and trust in Cheng Zichuan’s capabilities.
So she avoided answering this question and instead smiled, “Your eye is quite good. The person we saw at Jiangbei Bridge that day is called Xiao Zhenhai. He’s from the Northeast, and his family does business in medicinal herbs and furs—quite formidable. Years ago, Cheng Zichuan had some kind of fit and ran to Changbai Mountain to dig for ginseng. He encountered the Xiao family people. That was the Xiao family’s territory, and he went to dig ginseng without even giving them notice. The Xiao family people naturally weren’t pleased. Later he destroyed the Xiao family’s ginseng field. The Xiao family had no choice but to issue a gag order. After that, Changbai Mountain became Cheng Zichuan’s backyard. Whenever he’s in a bad mood, he goes there for a stroll. The Xiao family is sick to death of him.”
“Then, that person must be very formidable, right?” Zhou Shaojin recalled the scene when Ji Ying saw Xiao Zhenhai.
“Yes!” Ji Ying said, “Even my father has to be completely alert when he encounters him.” As she spoke, she gradually began to understand her father’s intentions, and her speech slowed unconsciously, “Cheng Zichuan is actually quite formidable. He’s offended so many people, yet no one can do anything about him. The main reason is that he knows how to do business. The Mi family in Guizhou doesn’t dare provoke him. When he went there, they entertained him with good food and drink, letting him have his way in everything. As a result, with him taking the lead, the Mi family worked together with the court to mine silver, and the court even granted the Mi family a hereditary fourth-rank Pacification Commissioner title…”
Zhou Shaojin gradually understood the implication. She asked, “Are families like theirs all very poor?” At this point, she thought of Ji Ying’s family, “Or do they have money but the money comes from improper sources? So they want Uncle Chi to find a way for them to make money or help them conduct legitimate business?”
“That’s exactly it.” Ji Ying didn’t need to say more and breathed a sigh of relief, saying, “Anyway, whether through threats or enticements, most people have this intention.”
As for the minority, she felt it was better not to tell Zhou Shaojin.
Zhou Shaojin felt relieved.
As long as people sought favors, that was good. Since Uncle Chi had cards to play, there was no need to worry too much.
Ji Ying betting with Uncle Chi and ultimately giving her daughter to Uncle Chi as a maidservant was probably also for this purpose… It was somewhat like the pledges of allegiance and hostages written about in books from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.
She became happy again and was about to ask Ji Ying about the journey when someone coughed outside the door and said, “Miss Ji Ying, Fourth Master requests that you come speak with him!”
Zhou Shaojin quickly stood up and gave Ji Ying a meaningful look, signaling her to yield a bit later and not to oppose Cheng Chi.