Commander Wu hurriedly dispatched soldiers in small boats to rescue the people.

Yet before those small boats could even reach the ark, figures burst from the water’s surface — in the blink of an eye, like sharks hunting prey, they dragged the soldiers right off the boats and into the river.

In moments, rings of bloody water rippled across the surface. Not a single person swam back up. Illuminated by the lantern light at the bow, the scene was utterly terrifying.

The small boats were not far from the main vessel, so Yixiu Junzhu and her maids and nannies had witnessed every horrifying detail of this brutal attack in full clarity.

The group was so frightened it was as though invisible hands had clamped around their throats — they couldn’t even scream. It was only when the great ship began rapidly capsizing that they snapped back to their senses, desperately crying out for help.

At that moment, the young noblewomen standing on the sandbar island had also witnessed that soul-shattering scene.

Several young ladies who had nearly stayed behind on the ship just as Yixiu had, were so shaken that they burst into tears.

Thank heaven they had listened to Chu Linlang and come ashore with the others. Had they not, they would be the ones crying for help aboard a ship on the verge of capsizing.

By now, one of the military vessels had already overturned. Those who had remained aboard were leaping into the water one by one — yet moments after hitting the water, they had their throats cut by figures lurking below.

At the same time, numerous mysterious small craft emerged from the dark, misty night, their occupants wielding steel tridents, skewering the naval soldiers still struggling at the surface and chilling them to the bone.

Yixiu Junzhu clung to her maids on the deck, weeping and screaming for help. But the ship’s listing had grown so severe that she and several of her maids tumbled one after another — plunk, plunk — into the water.

Everyone assumed she would have her throat cut immediately, yet to their astonishment, when those men saw that the ones who had fallen in were women, a great net was swiftly cast, hauling Yixiu Junzhu and the others onto one of the small boats.

Watching Yixiu being pinned down, gagged, and bound after being brought aboard — looking utterly wretched — the pampered noblewomen on the sandbar island were completely terrified. Several could not restrain themselves and let out piercing screams.

The people aboard those mysterious craft also noticed that comparatively few had fallen from the ships — far fewer noblewomen than they had anticipated. Following the sound of those sharp screams, they turned their gaze and discovered, to their surprise, that a considerable number of people had gathered on a small sandbar island not far away.

At once, the target of those men was no longer the ark on the verge of capsizing, but the sandbar island — unanimously.

Commander Wu had no patience left for civility. He snapped at the screaming women: “Shut your mouths! You’ve drawn all the raiders right to us!”

Having said that, he turned and went to find the old man who had earlier predicted the attack on the ship.

He discovered that the old man, along with Chu Linlang and a few of her servants, had been quietly busy nearby.

At some point without anyone noticing, they had silently gathered the cloaks and padded jackets the noblewomen had brought to the sandbar, along with the three makeshift shelters, plus a pile of dried wood they had collected — and stacked it all into a tall mound.

The old man snapped open a flint and kindled the bonfire in a single motion, sending flames leaping toward the sky.

Then the one called Seventh Master borrowed an arrow from a soldier, lit a dozen arrowheads, and fired them one by one high into the southwest.

This… was unmistakably the military signal for urgent request of reinforcements. How did this old man know that?

By now, Commander Wu had no choice but to admit that every single measure this elder had taken was the optimal response to a surprise attack from the water.

Because they were on the canal — their travel time had been miscalculated, and they had not reached the next relay station along the canal before sunset.

Yet they were positioned upstream with no mountains or terrain blocking the way ahead. As long as someone was on watch at the downstream relay station, they would surely be able to see the fire and distress signals from upriver.

What they needed to do now was hold off the raiders who would soon come ashore, and delay as long as possible until reinforcements arrived.

After firing the arrows, Sui Qiye turned to Commander Wu and said: “Have the women move away from the bonfire and lie flat on the ground. Tell the academy’s men to raise their shields and form a circle to prevent stray arrows from reaching them. The remaining soldiers — take your weapons and follow me!”

Commander Wu finally saw that this elder was no ordinary man.

This was no common old man. He was clearly a seasoned veteran — someone who had long walked battlefields, regarded life and death with equanimity, and kept his composure with measured calm.

Everything he said made perfect sense. Commander Wu dared not show any more arrogance, and immediately passed along the orders, acting in accordance with Sui Qi’s instructions.

Just then, Seventh Master turned to look at Chu Linlang and stepped close to speak in a low voice: “Do you see that rock on the sandbar? I quietly tied a small boat behind that rock. If the men can’t hold on in a while, I’ll shout ‘the wind is tight.’ When you hear that, get all the women onto the small boats and scatter in every direction. Don’t worry about the rest of us — just take your mother and those two maids, find that boat as fast as you can, and head southwest. Do you understand?”

As he said this, the old man stared at her intently and pinched her arm — hard enough that Linlang let out a muffled grunt of pain.

She understood what Seventh Master meant: if it truly came to that, it would be every man for himself — each person finding their own way to survive.

If he could hold on that long, he would be fighting with his life. If they could no longer hold the line, the men would still have drawn all the raiders’ attention, leaving the water clear of other ambushes.

With the men expending every last ounce of their strength, they should be able to win the women a slim chance of escape. But at that point, the women would inevitably rush and fight over the boats, with fierce competition.

The boat he had hidden behind the rock was to ensure that Linlang and her companions would not be shoved off when the time came.

If it truly reached that point, even Seventh Master himself would likely face more peril than hope…

Linlang’s eyes grew faintly red-rimmed, but this was no time for feminine sorrow. She reached back and gripped Seventh Master’s arm in return, showed him the handle of the knife she had hidden against her chest, and said quietly: “Seventh Master, go handle your business. I’ll take care of myself — and you take care of yourself too!”

From beginning to end, this Chu Niangzi had not panicked as the other women had. And at some point unnoticed, she had even secreted away a kitchen cleaver — the kind used for cooking.

Seventh Master nodded in approval. He hadn’t seen it before — he had only thought the young girl pretty, with a head full of talk about business.

But seeing her now, this girl was truly remarkable. No wonder the young master had taken a liking to her. Even if the old general were still alive, he would surely be satisfied with this granddaughter-in-law…

Right now, he had to fight with everything he had to protect the person his young master had taken such trouble to find and hold dear.

With that thought, a killing intent appeared on Seventh Master’s face. He led Wang Wu, Commander Wu, and the other dozen or so soldiers to creep toward the edge of the sandbar island.

All the noblewomen on the sandbar island, following Seventh Master’s instructions, lay flat on the ground, sheltering behind the shields propped up by several male scholars. From just ahead, the sounds of fierce combat carried to them.

This detachment of naval soldiers turned out to be genuinely capable fighters.

Aside from the initial surprise attack on the vessels — when some had fallen overboard and suffered losses — once the fighting shifted to land, sword against sword, the raiders who had come off the small craft held no particular advantage.

Seventh Master was especially experienced. He consistently seized the moment when raiders emerged from the water and hadn’t yet fully opened their eyes, cutting them down with clean, efficient strikes. Very quickly, he had felled several of the water bandits as easily as slicing watermelons.

The other soldiers followed his example, engaging the enemy in kind.

Every one of the noblewomen was so frightened she had clamped a hand over her mouth, tears streaming down her face, and Linlang’s heart too was in turmoil.

These people were utterly unlike the water bandits who had attacked her father’s salt ship. They weren’t after money at all — their purpose was clearly focused killing. Yet after Yixiu fell into the water, she hadn’t had her throat cut. Instead, she’d been hauled onto a small boat…

Could it be that these water bandits’ goal was to capture these official-class noblewomen? And then demand ransom? That would be outrageously audacious — did they not care at all about the casualties they were suffering in fighting the soldiers?

Looking at how they had slaughtered those fallen soldiers in the water just now — so practiced, like trained assassins.

Blocked by the shields, Linlang could no longer see outside once she lay down. She could only gauge from the cries and wails that the bandits seemed to be drawing ever closer to them.

She had already conveyed Seventh Master’s words to her mother and to Xia He and Dongxue. Their current position was at the rear of the group.

When the time came to retreat, they would be well-positioned to slip away toward that large rock.

Whatever happened, she needed to get her mother onto the boat first — but even boarding the boat was no guarantee of a safe escape…

In this moment of crisis, Chu Linlang even found her thoughts drifting to Situ Sheng. If she and Seventh Master truly met with misfortune, would that man shut himself away in some dark room again, torturing himself to relieve his anguish?

At the thought, Chu Linlang’s heart ached faintly. She quietly steeled herself, while focusing all her attention on listening for any movement from the direction ahead.

It seemed as though the sandbar island was surrounded by boats on all sides. In the pitch-black dark, she even heard the sound of churning water — it seemed new boats were approaching.

Then, suddenly, she heard Sui Qiye cry out in a sharp, urgent shout: “The wind is tight!”

The moment those words reached her, Linlang felt a jolt shoot through the crown of her head. She grabbed Sun Shi’s hand and sprang to her feet, shouting at the same time: “Ladies, get to the boats quickly! More raider boats are coming!”

With that cry, she waited until the noblewomen had scattered and risen to find boats, then led her mother and the two maids in a run toward the large rock.

When they rounded behind the large rock, sure enough, a small boat was hidden there.

Once aboard the small boat, she turned back and looked — she could see the tidal flat strewn haphazardly with corpses everywhere, while Sui Qiye led his men, all drenched in blood, still slashing without pause.

The noblewomen, hearing her shout, had risen one after another and were scrambling to board the boats — yet not a single one of the male scholars fought to board.

These men, ordinarily frail scholars in everyday life, held their composure with a solitary and lofty spirit.

They gripped their shields, working to overcome the fear in their hearts, buying a path of retreat for the women.

In moments of crisis, it seems that what is most deeply hidden in a person’s nature tends to show itself most clearly.

Chu Linlang could see it plainly: Tao Huiru was the first to seize a boat. After pulling her niece Tao Yashu aboard, three more noblewomen also got on.

Just as the boat was clearly full, and yet another person was trying to board, Tao Huiru actually raised an oar and slammed it down hard on the woman trying to come aboard, driving her back. Then she shouted sharply for the oarsmen to row away.

Meanwhile, in the blazing light of the towering bonfire, another black raider vessel could be seen approaching.

Some of the water bandits had already set upon the scattered, fleeing noblewomen, clashing with the soldiers who held shields…

It was clear that Sui Qi had spotted the arriving raider reinforcements, realized they could not hold on, and had let out that sharp shout.

If more men came off that large vessel, their small group would certainly be unable to hold them back.

Sui Qi turned his head and saw Chu Linlang and the others had gotten onto the boat. He let out another battle cry and flung himself at the raiders surging toward the shore, fighting to buy Linlang and the others a little more time.

Xia He and Dongxue had both grown up in the river delta, so of course they knew how to row and work an oar. But the moment the boat pushed out, another small craft came directly at them. The raiders on it, seeing a boat full of women, didn’t immediately move to kill. Instead, one stood up and reached out, intending to drag them all into the water.

In that instant, Chu Linlang raised the kitchen cleaver she had concealed in her long sleeve and brought it down hard, full-force, straight at the man’s face.

She had no martial arts skills at all. She relied entirely on a reckless, desperate surge of courage.

The man had absolutely not expected that this delicate-looking young woman would have a kitchen cleaver hidden in her sleeve. With a cry of pain, he toppled backward into the river.

Dongxue and Xia He also raised their oars, bringing them down with full force on the heads of the remaining men on the boat.

Like that, the two bandits on that small craft were knocked off the boat, their heads struck, and they sank momentarily beneath the surface.

Linlang knew all too well what these men were capable of in the water. Just now it had only been the bandits’ momentary carelessness that had led to their stumbling. If they caught up and came back over the side, that would be a disaster.

With that in mind, she told Xia He and Dongxue to row fast, while she crouched in the center of the boat, cleaver in hand, alert gaze sweeping in every direction.

If anyone tried to rock the boat, she would bring the cleaver down without hesitation and chop off their fingers.

Just then, several boats carrying other noblewomen also drew close. Tao Huiru and her niece’s boat was in the lead, headed downstream.

At that very moment, however, one of the water bandits that Dongxue and the others had knocked overboard surfaced again. Mistaking Tao Huiru’s boat for Chu Linlang’s, he seized the side of the boat with a savage grip and rocked it violently, clearly intending to shake everyone aboard into the water.

The sudden rocking caught them off guard. Tao Yashu, who had been sitting on the edge of the boat, lost her balance and tumbled — with a loud splash — into the water.

The rocking bandit immediately reached out to grab Tao Yashu.

Unable to swim, Tao Yashu’s panic in the water gave her extraordinary strength. She flailed wildly and grabbed onto a water bandit, clinging to him with all her might, struggling and thrashing in the river.

The others on the boat instinctively wanted to rescue Tao Yashu.

But Tao Huiru, remembering the ease with which these men had cut people’s throats while in the water, and glancing up to see more bandits swarming onto shore, made her decision in an instant.

She shouted at the others: “Row! Row now! If you don’t, we’ll all be finished!”

Hearing her shout, the others instinctively obeyed her command, and rowed the boat downstream.

At that moment, Chu Linlang’s boat was nearby, and she had seen every bit of this scene play out with perfect clarity.

When Tao Yashu heard her aunt’s words — that she would be left behind — her face was filled with shock. Still struggling desperately in the water, she called out to her aunt above on the boat. The usually cool and elegant young woman had tears streaming from disbelieving eyes.

Chu Linlang knew that she too should do as Tao Huiru had done, and without hesitation let Dongxue and the others row away.

But when she looked at her classmate’s anguished face, something in her heart felt an indescribable weight pressing down — something she could not put into words.

In only that fraction of an instant, she made her decision. Linlang turned and told Xia He and Dongxue: “Row — don’t stop until you see a relay station, no matter what!”

Just as Xia He and Dongxue began rowing, Chu Linlang — seated at the stern — quietly picked up a spare wooden plank from the boat, tucked the cleaver into her waistband, and slipped silently into the water.

At that moment, the noise from the shore was loud and chaotic, and the night was dark — visibility was almost nothing. No one on the boat, not even her mother, noticed she had gone into the water.

Her swimming ability was actually quite good. Though she had some childhood fears around water, she had since gone swimming with Situ Sheng in a pool, and had recovered every skill that had lain dormant for years.

Now she moved through the water silently, drawing closer to the bandit who held Tao Yashu in his grip.

Fortunately, the bandit’s entire attention was fixed on Tao Yashu. When Linlang swam up behind the water bandit, she seized him by the hair, raised the cleaver, and struck.

A jet of blood spurted out. The man released the hand he had locked around Tao Yashu’s neck and sank again beneath the water.

Chu Linlang then treaded water around to Tao Yashu’s back, looped her arm around her neck — careful not to be pulled under by Tao Yashu’s panicked thrashing — and paddled over to the floating plank, guiding Tao Yashu to grab hold of it.

Linlang did the same, gripping one end of the plank. The two of them held onto it together and began to float downstream with the current.

As luck would have it — aided by the cover of darkness — no one noticed the two women floating in the water.

The river current was swift. They drifted downstream for what felt like a long while before they were at last drawn close to the riverbank.

When Chu Linlang helped Tao Yashu ashore, Tao Yashu’s expression was slightly dazed.

Chu Linlang understood: beyond the shock of surviving the ordeal, the blow her aunt had dealt her was even more devastating.

Growing up in such a ducal household, Tao Yashu as a legitimate daughter had surely been surrounded by affection, awash in words of flattery.

A young noblewoman of that kind — when had she ever seen such a hideous face of human nature?

After such a harrowing night, and having been soaked in the water for so long, Chu Linlang was famished.

She looked around in the riverside woodland and found some edible wild fruit, which she picked and brought back.

Chu Linlang wiped the fruit on her sleeve and took a bite. The sour taste, in that moment of survival after catastrophe, carried with it an endless sweetness. After eating one herself, she offered one to Tao Yashu.

Tao Yashu hesitated as she looked at the fruit that hadn’t been washed in clean water, and simply would not take it.

Chu Linlang knew she found it unclean — but at this point in time, even a heavenly fairy would have to come down to earth.

So Linlang said practically: “Neither of us knows where we’ve drifted to, nor the situation back at the sandbar island. It will likely take some time for the authorities to find us. These few fruits may be the only food we’ll have to eat for the next day. You should eat some, or you won’t have the strength to walk.”

In truth Tao Yashu had been hungry for quite some time. She reached out and took the fruit, and asked quietly: “Is it good?”

Linlang took a bite of her own, so sour that her eyes squeezed shut — yet she smiled and said: “It tastes like being alive. You tell me whether that’s good or not.”

Those words seemed to strike Tao Yashu with great force.

She closed her eyes, as though summoning the courage of a lifetime. Then, following Chu Linlang’s example, she shoved aside all thought of whether it was clean and bit into the fruit — the sourness was so overwhelming that her tears fell without stopping. She chewed, and laughed softly: “So this is what being alive tastes like. Bitter and sour…”

Chu Linlang said nothing, because she knew what Tao Yashu needed most right now was to cry it all out.

Otherwise — if a person lives without tasting bitterness and sourness, how would they know what true sweetness is? What Linlang had grown accustomed to from childhood was something half the world could only envy.

When they finished the fruit, Chu Linlang pulled Tao Yashu up and they pressed on, making for the relay station as quickly as they could.

After walking for a while, Tao Yashu suddenly spoke: “At that moment, even my own aunt wouldn’t look after me. Why did you risk yourself to jump in and save me?”

Chu Linlang hadn’t expected that question. She thought for a moment and answered honestly: “Of course it was a flash of impulse — I got too caught up in the moment. I thought I had a decent chance of saving you, so I jumped in. My mother and the others were already rowing downstream. Even if they’d noticed I wasn’t on the boat, they couldn’t have rowed back upstream against the current. They could get away safely, I still had some capacity to help — and how could I just watch you get dragged under right in front of me? If you’d become a wrongful spirit, wouldn’t you haunt me night after night, demanding your life back? Don’t ask me anymore. I’m still frightened thinking about it. If it happened again, I’m not sure I’d even jump in to save you.”

Tao Yashu had expected Chu Linlang to say something high-minded and righteous — perhaps even use it to claim some moral credit. She never in a million years expected to see a face full of regret and lingering fear.

The unexpectedness of it lightened the heaviness in Tao Yashu’s heart, and she let out a small laugh: “What do you mean? You can’t very well throw me back in the water now, can you?”

Seeing that Tao Yashu had finally stopped grieving and had made peace with the brush with death, Linlang smiled too: “Let’s get going. Once we reach the relay station, we’re going to have a proper meal!”

But just then, from the riverbank not far away came the sound of voices calling out — faintly, it sounded like they were calling “Linlang.”

She turned toward the sound and saw Sun Shi with Dongxue and Xia He, already onshore, calling out as they walked along the riverbank.

It turned out they had only noticed someone was missing from the boat as dawn was beginning to break.

Dongxue suspected that the young miss had lost her footing somewhere along the way and fallen into the river. With no strength left to row against the current, they had simply abandoned the boat and gone ashore, retracing their steps calling out as they went.

And so, here, they had found her.

Seeing Chu Linlang safe and sound, Sun Shi and the others let out a collective breath of relief. So the whole group turned back to the small boat still tied to the riverbank, preparing to continue downstream — by their estimate, the relay station could not be far now.

Just as they were about to push off, the sound of hoofbeats came from the dirt road nearby.

They looked up — judging by the dress and appearance of the riders, these looked like several of the same men from last night’s band of attackers, who had apparently switched to traveling by land.

These men also spotted Chu Linlang and her group. One look at their disheveled state told them these were stragglers who had escaped the net from the night before.

They drew their blades, wheeled their horses around, and immediately charged toward them.

Chu Linlang thought: disaster — she had only one kitchen cleaver. How could she possibly fend off these ruffians?

But at that very moment, a sharp arrow came slicing through the air with a whistling sound and pierced straight through a raider’s chest.

Linlang turned to look — several fast horses were riding through the mist of early dawn, heading straight for them.

And on the leading tall horse was a figure with a bow drawn, releasing one deadly arrow after another. He was strikingly handsome, clad in a black robe, his long arms extended — his back straight as he rode, like a god appearing before her.

He released one arrow, then nocked several more in rapid succession, sending them flying at the remaining raiders.

As the bandits fell from their horses one by one, Chu Linlang seemed to wake from a trance and sprinted toward him.

She truly hadn’t dared dream this big — that in this desperate moment, Situ Sheng would appear before her like a god, astride a fury of a horse with a powerful bow.

Situ Sheng couldn’t wait either. He slung the bow across the horse’s back, spurred the mount forward, and pulled the reaching Chu Linlang up into his arms.

Sun Fu had been trapped in wandering nightmares all evening. Having just survived a fierce and desperate escape, she now watched as her daughter — who moments ago had been ready to slash people with a kitchen cleaver — suddenly threw down the cleaver, broke into a run, and in the blink of an eye was swept up onto a horse by a tall, powerfully built young man.

Sun Fu’s instinct screamed that her daughter had just been abducted by water bandits.

Her entire life, she had been gentle and weak, meekly submitting under Chu Huaisheng’s tyranny.

Now, having finally managed to free herself, she was on the cusp of living a carefree life with her daughter. And just when she was filled with hope for what lay ahead, she was watching before her eyes as her daughter was about to be seized and carried away by a bandit.

In that moment, despair and fury rose to the absolute extreme. Sun Fu snatched up the kitchen cleaver her daughter had thrown to the ground, let out a shout, and swung it straight at Situ Sheng.

—