Su Lan shook his head. “Although I’ve also heard that, Old Madam Zuo didn’t pass away, but became a nun. I met her near the temple where I was staying. At that time she’d sprained her ankle, and I helped her back to the nunnery. The old madam was grateful to me. Hearing I wanted to go to Great Zhou but had no connections, she said her son could help me. Later, the steward from the Zuo Mansion sent Zuo You’s calling card and letter of guarantee. Although I never met him in person, I think that old madam shouldn’t have been lying.”
Mo Zi came out from Su Lan’s place and happened to meet Xiao Wei and Zhong An coming downstairs.
“Didn’t you go to sleep?” Xiao Wei wanted to show concern but didn’t want to appear abrupt. Unable to gauge his tone properly, to Zhong An it sounded somewhat like a guilty conscience trying to cover up.
Zhong An sighed inwardly, thinking Xiao Wei was a veteran of romance who could even win the heart of Wu You Pavilion’s Mo Chou, yet unexpectedly when encountering Mo Zi he performed like a green youth. This too was an emotional obstacle.
Mo Zi, because she didn’t care, paid no attention and spoke her business. “Su Lan and Su Pei, this master-servant pair, leave them to me to deal with.”
“Why?” Xiao Wei asked for the reason.
“I’ve thought of a way to get Zuo You to take our ship. These two are still useful.” After Mo Zi spoke, she smiled at Zhong An. “Sir, observing the stars at night, do you know if our future path is smooth?”
Zhong An knew she was teasing him and Xiao Wei for coming down from the pavilion platform together, so he smiled and said, “I can’t read the stars accurately, but there are many stars—the night scenery is quite nice.”
Mo Zi also informed them, “Tomorrow we enter the interior border, taking the Jin River route to the imperial capital.”
“Isn’t that a detour?” Zhong An roughly knew the direction.
“Zuo You is there, and besides, I’m not Yu the Great—I can’t pass by my home without entering. It’s only three more days of travel. This time we entered Yuling smoothly, so we can pass through leisurely.”
Zhong An watched her turn the corner. “Entered smoothly, passing leisurely? Such a huge commotion burning two large ships into charred wood—to call it thrilling and dangerous wouldn’t be an exaggeration. How does it become ‘smooth and leisurely’ when it comes to her? If one day she says we can’t win, the sky will truly be falling.”
Xiao Wei furrowed his brow. “I only hope she’s not sympathizing with those two. Send someone to watch them closely. At the first sign of trouble, tell me.”
“I actually think she’s more ruthless than before.” Nearly five hundred people died in the river, yet Zhong An didn’t see a trace of fear on Mo Zi’s face. “Moreover, on the ship she’s in charge. If she wants to keep them, let her keep them. As long as they don’t leave the ship, those two can’t do anything anyway. You too—if you like her, indulge her a bit. Always being adversarial, do you still want her to have a good impression of you? She’s already different from other young ladies.”
Xiao Wei disagreed. “This is no child’s play. If I yield to her and those two have ill intentions that harm us instead, what then? Precisely because she’s different from others, I discussed more with her. However, she’s soft-hearted. Some things can only be done behind her back.” Though unwilling to admit it, he’d learned this from Yuan Cheng last time when Mo Zi was framed.
“Suit yourself.” Zhong An waved his feather fan and left.
The next day at dawn, the ship reached the Yuling interior river entrance.
When the Yuling soldiers inspected them, Xiao Wei stamped the jade seal and gave a small chest of silver.
The checkpoint captain had the warships behind make way while complaining, “Half a day later than the agreed date, and Boss Wu still has the leisure to sit there drinking tea. In the past he always came to greet us personally. This time he’s probably got eyes full of beauties and won’t even move his rear.”
If Boss Wu heard this, he’d definitely feel unjustly accused. Where was he distracted by beauties? He had a sharp blade pressed against his waist and didn’t dare move.
Zhong An responded flexibly. “Boss Wu is valued by the gang leader. When he returns this time, he’ll be transferred to the main helm as a protector. In the future, it’ll be us running this route. He wanted you all to remember our faces, which is why he didn’t come over. On the return trip, he’ll definitely drink heartily with the big brothers.”
After the captain heard this and lifted the box lid to see large ingots of no less than fifty taels each lined up neatly, his expression improved. “Forget it, forget it. Originally you’d have to leave tonight anyway. Since Boss Wu won’t be running this route anymore, you’ll inevitably need to greet the people in the imperial capital. I won’t deliberately make things difficult for you—go early and return early. But I must warn you, this waterway isn’t very peaceful now. We’re old friends, but the Daqiu people don’t care what backing you have. If they set their sights on you, unless you have another backer in Daqiu, your life and death are your own concern.”
Zhong An quickly said he understood.
Later on the route, they also encountered one or two groups of Daqiu warships. But what was Mo Zi’s ship’s speed? With fan-shaped rudders installed underwater at bow, stern, and both wings, once at full power, by the time the Daqiu ships arrived, they could only see a distant black shadow. Therefore, they had no choice but to give up.
Several days later they entered the imperial capital, found a large dock to moor at, and Mo Zi took Zan Jin and Ding Gou to disembark.
“Young Miss.” The maid caring for Yang Qiao called out to her. “Could you bring back some medicine to restore spirit and energy for the new madam?”
“What? She’s still not feeling well?” Mo Zi furrowed her brow.
The waterway wasn’t as wide as the river surface, so they could often see the situation on the shore. Having suffered war and chaos, this small country’s scenery naturally wasn’t beautiful. Corpses of the starved, miserable faces, collapsed or charred broken walls and ruins, plus ferocious cavalry that charged out from time to time—it was impossible to feel at ease.
Though Yang Qiao was a cheerful woman, she’d grown up in peaceful places after all. Where had she seen such chaos? Moreover, being kind-hearted, she urgently wanted to help but couldn’t. Under such internal distress, she’d become dizzy and unable to get up yesterday, eating only half of three meals.
“You can’t blame her.” Wei Jia walked over. “That she’s held up until now is already very good.”
“I don’t blame her—I’m worried about her. Medicine can’t be taken carelessly. We still need to find a doctor to examine her. There’s still half the journey left—she can’t fall ill here.” Mo Zi could see that Wei Jia got along particularly well with Yang Qiao. She thought if the pretense became real, the Emperor as matchmaker would be delighted—at least one pair would be successfully matched. Being able to see each other’s appearance with one’s own eyes before marriage was already good fortune. If Yang Qiao could use this journey away from home to find a good match, her blessings would overflow.
“I’ll go with you. You’re only taking two people—that’s too thin a defense. Though this Yuling imperial capital still looks prosperous, it’s definitely not like before.” Wei Jia volunteered to accompany her.
Mo Zi joked with him. “You’re not using protecting me as an excuse to disembark, then halfway through after finding the doctor, you’ll ditch me, will you?”
Xiao Wei had given repeated orders not to wander around unnecessarily, lest in an emergency evacuation they couldn’t find everyone. The task he’d assigned Wei Jia was to guard the ship.
Wei Jia’s tiger eyes rolled around, obviously thinking before answering. “Of course not. We’ll disembark together and board together. Just tell Bai Yu.” On the ship, she was the biggest authority.
“I can let you disembark, but after disembarking, you still have to listen to me. I’m not going ashore to play around—I have real business to handle.” When Mo Zi said this, though she was smiling, there was a solemnity that wouldn’t tolerate nonsense.
Wei Jia quickly straightened his expression. “Acknowledged.” After going through that water battle, he felt listening to her orders was very natural.
When Xiao Wei heard that Mo Zi and Wei Jia wanted to disembark, he had no choice but to give up his original plan to go along.
“I’ll have Old Guan, Fat Shrimp, and the others go purchase various supplies. With Stinky Fish leading people to stay and guard the ship, there shouldn’t be any problems. You and Master Zhong An might as well disembark and look around—you might gather useful information.” Mo Zi lightly overturned his repeated orders and disembarked with Wei Jia.
Wei Jia followed Mo Zi through main streets and small alleys, saying, “So you really did grow up here.”
Mo Zi didn’t deceive. “I didn’t grow up here—I only lived here a few years. In the past these places were very lively, with goods stalls packed full on both sides, selling everything.” Now, the goods stalls were sparse and scattered. The vendors’ faces showed fear from time to time, their gazes shifting everywhere, as if ready to pack up and leave at the slightest disturbance.
“In the flames of war, some people can escape, some cannot. We can only be glad that though the Daqiu troops are unbridled, they haven’t completely lost their minds.” Wei Jia saw the sparse street scene, but people still seemed able to buy vegetables and flour, and the restaurants had some business.
“It’s not that they haven’t lost their minds—they’re naturally beasts.” Zan Jin thought of those miserable Yuling assassins. “They eat people.”
Wei Jia and his four archers looked at each other. They’d heard of it but never seen it with their own eyes, so they still couldn’t believe it.
“Zan Jin is right. Though they use this method to frighten people into submission, they truly do eat them.” Mo Zi paid attention to both sides. “Wei Jia, once you clash with Daqiu cavalry, if you can’t escape, don’t let them capture you alive. Someone like you with good background and good physique—they might hold a special banquet just for you and cook and eat you.”
Wei Jia’s mouth turned down, looking sick to his stomach. “Mo Zi, don’t say any more.”
“I just want to tell you, don’t show those people any mercy. Each one your arrow kills saves dozens or even hundreds of Han people.” As Mo Zi said this, she turned onto a main street.
Compared to the sparse small streets, this main street was slightly livelier, but among those walking about, nearly half wore Daqiu clothing.
“Where are we going?” Wei Jia shook his shoulders, shaking off that nauseous feeling.
“To find a doctor. However, I don’t know if the place I knew is still there.” Sometimes, one had to rely on Heaven’s will. If Heaven didn’t grant it, she’d try to make do through other channels.
“I think it probably isn’t. Doctors should have travel money to flee.” Wei Jia spoke very bluntly, possibly related to his mother being a martial arts heroine.
Mo Zi saw the sign for Jixin Hall, then saw the main door open wide with moving shadows inside. Half her heart settled, and she said, “Not necessarily. Daqiu doesn’t eat everyone they see. People with skills and expertise are those they want to recruit for their own use.”
“There’s one prerequisite—your family can’t have any pretty girls.” Ding Gou, being well-informed, made this point, which Wei Jia found very hard to take. He muttered a few coarse words under his breath.
Mo Zi heard him curse and thought to herself he was a hot-blooded man.
Walking into Jixin Hall, they saw a youth with patches on his clothes grabbing medicine at the counter, while another Daqiu man with a full beard sat with his feet up on a chair, cursing.
“Little bastard, if you don’t hurry up, I’ll skin you and eat your flesh.”
The youth was mostly facing Mo Zi, so she could see him gritting his teeth, his gaze showing no fear, but his mouth repeatedly saying yes, forcibly enduring the humiliation.
He wrapped the medicine in three or two moves and quickly presented it with both hands.
The bearded man grunted and grabbed it to leave.
“Customer, the medicine payment, you haven’t—” Before the youth finished speaking, the bearded man slapped him twice.