Hua Zhi did not linger any longer in Zhenyang. No matter that each step sent a tearing pain through her body of wounds, she checked out of the inn and left early the next morning.
“Miss! Miss, wait!”
That voice had become remarkably familiar over these past few days. Hua Zhi stood at the bow of the ship and looked toward the person running aboard with a bundle on his back. “Young Master Jiang, you are…”
“I haven’t anything pressing to attend to anyway — going back sooner or later makes no difference. I’ll just hitch a ride on the young miss’s ship, if she’ll allow.”
After the shoulder-to-shoulder battle they had fought through together, Jiang Huanran had become something distinct from the capital’s society scions in Hua Zhi’s mind. Even without warmth, he no longer received the coolness of before. She gave a nod. “The ship is large and there are many empty cabins. Young Master Jiang, make yourself at home.”
“Many thanks, Miss.” Jiang Huanran smiled so wide his teeth showed but his eyes squinted, and yet it was not an unpleasant sight.
Hua Zhi smiled back and slowly made her way toward the cabin.
The moment her back was turned, Jiang Huanran quietly sucked in a sharp breath through clenched teeth, features scrunching together. The run he had just done had apparently torn open something — the pain was quite real. Yet the young miss’s injuries were so much worse than his, and she hadn’t shown a trace of it. The more he thought about it, the more his admiration grew.
Who could have imagined it? Two young women, both raised in the seclusion of their inner chambers — yet while those other young ladies would complain of sore fingers from embroidering a flower, this young miss had been fighting for her life against others. He had encountered it on this one outing; who was to say how many times she had faced the same since the Hua Family’s fall over this past year.
If he were to tell it when he got back, probably no one would believe him. Good — let them not believe it. He had no particular desire to speak of it either. The fewer people who knew of the young miss’s extraordinary nature, the better. Once he was home, he would have his mother go and propose a match!
Turning all this over in his mind, happy thoughts blooming, Jiang Huanran broke into another grin — and somehow the pain seemed a little easier to bear.
The journey from Zhenyang to Jiangling would take two and a half days. During this time, Hua Zhi did not step outside her cabin once. Other than resting, she had the Sixth Imperial Prince with her for much of the time. Hua Zhi conversed with him here and there, teaching him things — not rigid lectures, but mostly drawing from real situations and events.
The Gu Family had held the empire for nearly two hundred years, and the fact that the dynasty remained as stable as it did spoke at minimum to the fact that the Gu family was never short of intelligence. Little Six was exceptionally clever, and moreover possessed a quality few could match: he was extraordinarily good at drawing conclusions. Whenever Hua Zhi finished presenting a real case, he could quickly distill the essence from it — and that essence was precisely the point the case had been meant to illustrate.
With such a perceptive student, Hua Zhi taught with a genuine sense of accomplishment. She thought nothing of it being seen. Whether it was Wu Xiaoshuang waiting outside the door or Jiang Huanran drifting close to listen in — they were welcome to hear whatever they could. What they took from it was no concern of hers.
The ship docked at the inner harbor of Jiangling as scheduled.
Shao Yao’s temper, suppressed for several days now, had finally reached its limit. She walked about with a murderous air, as if she might snap and attack someone at any moment. Whenever Jiang Huanran encountered this veiled young woman, he took a wide detour around her.
“Cao Cao — this outing is official business for you. I have no proper standing in it, so I’ll stay behind.”
Shao Yao immediately nodded. “You focus on recovering. I never planned to bring you along. Little Six, come with me — I’ll show you how the Seven Lodges Division operates!”
Hua Zhi furrowed her brow slightly but did not stop her. Looking was fine — a bird raised in a gilded cage could not weather a storm.
Without concern for whatever consequences this might bring, Shao Yao could not wait another moment. She strung the captives together and marched them off the ship, heading straight for the Regional Administrator’s manor. Yu Tao went on her orders to the military garrison outside the city to summon the garrison commander, Li Shiren.
Left aboard were only Bao Xia, Xu Ying, and Jiang Huanran. Even Wu Xiaoshuang had been taken along by the Sixth Imperial Prince — over these three days, the boy had already come to understand that this child, younger than himself in years, was the person he would serve for the rest of his life.
Jiang Huanran stood at the bow watching the group depart, his expression grave. He had caught a faint glimmer of something, but could not be certain — and dared not be certain. If his guess was right…the Hua Family…
Inside the cabin, Bao Xia had Xu Ying stand guard outside with strict instructions not to stray even a step, then carefully pulled the door shut tight behind her. A ship full of men — her nerves had been on edge the whole time.
“Miss, why did you turn down Shao Yao’s suggestion? Leaving even one of those guards behind would have been better.”
“Shao Yao needs the manpower more than I do. Besides, she left something with me for protection — that’s enough. Go tell the captain: raise the anchor and move away from the dock, but do not go far.”
Bao Xia looked puzzled. “This servant doesn’t understand…”
“In case the worst happens.” Hua Zhi was in the habit of preparing for the worst. If the ship moved off the dock, and someone discovered it was affiliated with Shao Yao and sought to use her as leverage against the Seven Lodges Division, she could slip away at once, sparing Shao Yao any burden. And if the ship stayed nearby, it could still provide support to Shao Yao if needed.
Given the authority and reputation of the Seven Lodges Division throughout the Great Qing dynasty, hopefully it would never come to that.
Meanwhile, Shao Yao had already arrived at the Regional Administrator’s manor. “Beat the drum.”
Yu Tao stepped forward, took up the drumstick, and channeled every ounce of force into both arms. Strike after strike shook the eardrums harder than the last. On the ninth blow, the drum split.
Before long, someone walked out from within — bearing a fierce expression, mouth already open to shout — but the sight of so many people outside drained him of it at once. He fell back a step before steadying himself, then asked in a trembling voice, “Who are you people? What is the meaning of this drumming?”
The drum outside the Regional Administrator’s manor had stood there for how many years. Never mind a year — even a full ten years rarely saw it struck once. Most people couldn’t afford the consequences.
Shao Yao gave Zheng Bei a hard shove forward. He stumbled and nearly went down two steps before the servant caught himself. No further prompting from Shao Yao was needed — Zheng Bei immediately scrambled forward on all fours, wailing, “Steward Wen! It’s me, Steward Wen — these people want to kill me! Please save me, save me!”
Steward Wen had been about to sidestep the falling figure but recognized the voice and caught the man instead, staggering back two steps before barely catching his footing. “Young Master-in-law? Is that you, Young Master-in-law? Oh heavens above — what on earth — how did you end up like this?”
At this point, Zheng Bei’s appearance was, to put it charitably, quite pitiful. “Swollen black and blue” would have been kind — his face was so puffed up it gleamed, as though one touch might burst it open, his hair hanging loose in every direction, the picture of complete dishevelment.
The manor’s garrison soldiers, who had been a step behind, now emerged as well — one look at the scene before them, and blades were drawn and raised in ready defense.
Shao Yao let out a cold snort, and sent Zheng Bei rolling back to her side with a crack of the whip. “Tell Mu Yunyang to come out.”
Steward Wen dared not delay and rushed back inside to summon him.
The fifty-something Mu Yunyang, who kept his short beard neatly and precisely trimmed, came out quickly. Accompanying him was his beautiful second wife of only a few years, the woman of the Zheng Family — which made it plain that at this hour of the day he had not been occupied with anything particularly serious.
The Zheng woman anxiously scanned the crowd. “Xiaobei — Xiaobei, where are you?”
Shao Yao sent Zheng Bei rolling straight to her feet with a flick of the whip.
The Zheng woman went pale with fright, yet still kept her composure, pressing a hand over her mouth to hold back a scream, and at the sight of her brother’s condition burst into tears. “Xiaobei — oh heavens, Xiaobei — my lord, my lord, look at him…”