As soon as Jinxia left the room, Yan ShiFan immediately pushed away the maid who was in his arms, facing Lu Yi and laughing, “She is indeed still a little girl, but she sat there longer than I expected…”
“The type of people who don’t understand manners, fortunately, only Daren can tolerate them.” Lu Yi shook his head and sighed, “I can only tolerate her because of my father and her master, Yang ChengWan. He was my father’s subordinate before resigning. My father reminisced about the past and asked me to find a famous doctor to treat his injury.”
These words had a meaning behind them. How could Yan ShiFan not understand what he was trying to say? He immediately laughed, “I am not interested in these little girls, immature and unromantic. Look at my ladies, they’re all better than her…You pick whoever you want, don’t need to discuss it with me. I guarantee tonight, the one you like will accompany you.”
Lu Yi laughed as he continued to deny, “No, no, no, they are all Daren’s favourites.”
“There is no need to be formal,” Under Yan ShiFan’s eyes, two maids with barefoot half leaned against Lu Yi’s body, “The autumn eagle painting you gave me, I really liked it. Why don’t you pick two girls you like and bring them home? Every day, being accompanied by young and beautiful women sounds nice, doesn’t it?”
Lu Yi put his hand on the soft maid’s waist and gently squeezed it, then he suddenly thought of something, turned to look at Yan ShiFan’s face and said, “Daren… I don’t want to hide this from you, but there is something Beizhe wish you can help with.”
“You and me, no need to act like strangers, just say it.”
It seemed that the issue was very difficult to solve. Lu Yi asked the maid to refill his cup first, then drank it completely, and said, “Daren also knows, my father told me to come to Jiangnan this time to take care of this case, his intention was to use… use this case to get promoted, but now the repairment funds cannot be found anywhere, the Emperor is also starting to be dissatisfied…”
He looked at Yan ShiFan, his face looked very embarrassed.
Yan ShiFan didn’t answer right away, only kept nodding his head, which meant he was listening.
Lu Yi could only continue, “I don’t know if Daren can help me this time, one word from Daren, maybe he can…”
“One word?” Yan ShiFan laid his shoulders back.
“Daren knows that the words of the lower ranks have no effect. Arriving at Yangzhou this time, I feel that the officials in the Yangzhou area were not at all interested in handling this case… Clues are few, government people who can be used are also very limited… The Prefect of Yangzhou, Fang Daren, is my father’s disciple. If Daren gives out a brief order, who knows, maybe this fund finding process can speed up faster.” Lu Yi’s attitude when he said those words was truly like someone who was looking down and begging, even his eyes were sincere.
Yan ShiFan continued to look at him. After a moment of silence, he suddenly laughed loudly, “Good words, it’s just one word after all, our families have known each other for a long time, the relationship is very deep, yet these words must come out of your mouth.”
Lu Yi let out a sigh of relief, his face looked cheerful again, “Thank you Daren, later when Beizhe gets promoted, I will definitely not forget Daren’s help… Oh, yes, that autumn eagle painting, if that one is real, then the one he’s hiding shouldn’t be fake. Tomorrow, Beizhe will ask people to send all the paintings and calligraphy over, Daren, please accept all these as gifts.”
“Of course.”
Yan ShiFan let out a loud laugh, then returned to laying on the maid’s lap.
Tonight, the moonlight was beautiful, accompanied by dancing and singing, and the two of them continued to drink until four in the morning, when the banquet was finally over.
***
“Daren, this way please.”
The barefoot maid held a lantern and walked in front of Lu Yi, leading the way. Lu Yi stepped on the wolf fur carpet, going down to the second floor and walked all the way down, stopping in front of a room.
The maid helped him open the door, “Daren, please rest, everything is well prepared according to our Master’s order. If you need anything else, you can pull the bell rope.”
Lu Yi nodded, stepped into the room, and heard the maid behind him closing the door. He looked back at the door bell, after thinking for a while, he didn’t do anything else.
In the room, on a round table with an embroidered tablecloth, a lantern had been placed, half bright and half dim. The curtain of the carved bed was closed and there seemed to be someone inside.
“I promise to let your favourite person accompany you tonight.” He still remembered what Yan ShiFan said and couldn’t help but frown. The wound was initially healed, but due to the amount of wine he had consumed today, it made him uncomfortable. He didn’t even have the interest to lift the curtain of the bed to see who it was, instead he sat down at the table and rested.
At the sound of candle popping, he struggled to bring his mind back, ‘Which room is Jinxia in? Could it be the room next door?’
While he was thinking, someone knocked on the door.
“Who is it?”
“Daren, are you resting already? I brought some hangover soup for you.” The person outside said respectfully.
Lu Yi sighed, got up and sat by the bed, taking off his shoes and saying, “Come in.”
The maid opened the door and entered, carefully placing the jade bowl filled with soup on the table, then stepped back and closed the door.
Lu Yi caught a glimpse of the jade bowl. He was too lazy to pick it up, hence he took off his boots and opened the curtain of the bed. He was about to pretend to be drunk and lie down to rest. As soon as the bed curtain was lifted, he was stunned: a pair of big wide round eyes were looking at him. They couldn’t be more familiar, and the irritation in them… he hadn’t seen it for a long time. Seeing her there, he couldn’t help but laugh involuntarily.
“Why are you…” He tilted his head to look at her, his hand reached out and swept aside the hair that had fallen on her cheeks.
She seemed unable to move, nor speak, but was frowning strenuously, as if she was trying to say something.
Lu Yi followed her gaze and saw that although she couldn’t move her arms, her fingers were twitching, therefore he placed her fingers on his palm.
“There’s a copper tube.” She wrote in his palm. “One end of the tube is in the room…” meaning the person at the other end of the tube could hear everything in the room. In prison, there were several cells that used that kind of tube.
Lu Yi understood what she meant, but didn’t take it seriously. He didn’t bother to investigate where the tubes were, he thought, ‘This is Yan ShiFan’s ship, naturally we can’t escape his eyes and ears. If we deliberately avoid it, it will raise more suspicions.’
“I know.” He wrote on her palm, “Why are you here?”
In her eyes, sudden flames appeared, she wrote on his palms in annoyance, “It’s Ruan Jin San, this bastard!”
*[Ruan Jin San = Make the person lose power to move, it doesn’t have any scent or taste, so it’s hard to find out, TN]
He couldn’t help but smile, pushing her inside, then laid down on her side, still keeping her hands on his palms.
Because of their closeness on the bed, she could feel that her body was a little hot. Jinxia asked with her fingers, “Do you have a fever? Is it because of the wine?”
“I’m fine,” He wrote briefly.
Jinxia tried her best to tilt her head to the side. Looking at his tired face, she frowned and wrote, “Yan ShiFan is a bastard!”
Feeling ticklish on his palm, Lu Yi closed his eyes to rest. Feeling each letter she wrote, he smiled and nodded his head.
“He’s bothering you?” She kept scratching his palm.
Lu Yi remembered when he bowed and begged for the favour, shaking his head slowly.
“You are not you when you’re in front of him.” She continued writing.
He thought for a moment, then wrote these two words, “Show weakness.”
Show weakness.
There was a saying in the world of kungfu, ‘When the opponent is stronger than you and there is no chance of winning, you should show your weakness to defeat the enemy, make them fall for it and then wait for the opportunity to attack.’
While thinking about these two words carefully, a long time had passed and Jinxia’s fingers hadn’t moved at all. Lu Yi’s fingers gently scratched on Jinxia’s palm, making her ticklish.
“Why did he put you on my bed?” Jinxia suddenly remembered and asked.
Lu Yi answered frankly, “He said, he would let the one I like best accompany me tonight.” Yan ShiFan could see through him. To be honest, he was not surprised, because he didn’t try very hard to cover it up. Thinking about tonight, as long as Lu and Yan families didn’t turn on each other, nothing extremely bad would happen. After all, he had no intention of tearing the Yan family apart, an idea he’d never thought of.
Upon hearing his words, Jinxia’s face reddened, she thought it had to be the side effect of the medicine, making people fantasize.
“The girl you like, because Yan ShiFan is reluctant to give her up, so he’s using me as a substitute for you.” This was the best reason that made the most sense to her.
Lu Yi was silent for a moment, then turned his head, opened his eyes and looked at her, “I don’t like anyone.”
Wasn’t it all the same? She was still a substitute. Jinxia fell silent, then could hear her stomach growling and shyly looked at Lu Yi.
“Hungry?” He opened his mouth to ask.
Jinxia nodded her head, she couldn’t be blamed for this. Yan ShiFan was weird, this ship was weird. She was trying to be on alert at all times, so she didn’t eat much at all. Now it was past four in the morning, it was natural for her stomach to scream.
“I will tell them to bring food here.” Lu Yi was about to get up, but was grabbed by Jinxia.
She was very nervous and scratched her finger slightly harder, “They might put something inside the food.”
Lu Yi replied with his finger, “You’ve already consumed Ruan Jin San, what else are you afraid of?” After he finished writing on her palm, he sat up and pulled the bell rope on the side.
“What do you want to eat?” He opened his mouth to ask.
Because Lu Yi was by her side, she now felt more confident. Her eyes lit up, “Can I eat anything?”
Lu Yi nodded his head, making an encouraging face.
“I want to eat… noodles! Beef noodles!” She got excited.
Right at that time, the maid knocked on the door. Lu Yi ordered a bowl of beef noodles, and the maid quickly went out. After a while, she brought a bowl of hot beef noodles in and put it on the table.
Jinxia praised, “It seems like there is always beef broth in the kitchen and ready to use anytime, very convenient.” After giving a compliment, she just realized that there was a problem, since she had taken Ruan Jin San, now she didn’t have any strength to lift herself up. How could she eat?
While she was trying to figure things out, Lu Yi had already lifted her body into a sitting position and taken the bowl of noodles. With the chopsticks, he grabbed the noodles and blew on them to cool down the hotness, then said, “Open your mouth… Why are you stunned?”
“……..” Although there was no better way at the moment, but based on Lu Yi’s status, how could she let him feed her? Jinxia endured the hunger and said, “You can leave it there, I will eat when I feel better.”
“Hurry up, my arms are sore.” His tone became serious.
At this time, Jinxia felt very apologetic, if she had remembered her situation quicker, she would’ve asked for a rice cake or an osmanthus cake from the start, or maybe a hard bun would have also worked. Why ask for noodles, making this situation so awkward?
“Open your mouth!” He stared at her.
Jinxia could only open her mouth.
“How does it taste?” He asked.
She nodded her head, “It’s delicious.”
There were some words she didn’t want to say: ever since she’d grown up, even her mother had never fed her once. Seeing him feeding her like this, she felt a little cautious but at the same time, thinking back at her childhood, her heart was warm.
Lu Yi fed her slowly, Jinxia also ate little by little. Before she knew it, the bowl of beef noodles had been eaten to the bottom.
“Ruan Jin San will not last long. Once you sleep, the effect of the medicine will fade after you wake up.”
He laid her back down, and settled himself beside her like before, putting her hand onto his palm.
‘In a place like this…’ Jinxia actually wanted to say, ‘Laying next to each other like this…’ She hesitated for a moment, then thought it was better not to say it. ‘How can I sleep?’
Lu Yi didn’t say anything, and gently wrapped her hand in his palm.
Maybe because of his fever, his hands were unusually warm. Jinxia reminded herself that tomorrow when they would return to the post station, she would have to cook some medicine based on Mrs. Shen’s prescription for him.
After that, she yawned, feeling tired, and then she made no more sounds; she had fallen asleep.
Listening to the steady breathing next to him, Lu Yi turned his body sideways and looked at her. ‘On this boat, under that person’s eyes, not everything is disgusting.’ He thought to himself.
**REMEMBER TO JOIN MY DISCORD FOR UPDATES** Link in the about page.
As soon as Jinxia left the room, Yan ShiFan immediately pushed away the maid who was in his arms, facing Lu Yi and laughing, “She is indeed still a little girl, but she sat there longer than I expected…”
“The type of people who don’t understand manners, fortunately, only Daren can tolerate them.” Lu Yi shook his head and sighed, “I can only tolerate her because of my father and her master, Yang ChengWan. He was my father’s subordinate before resigning. My father reminisced about the past and asked me to find a famous doctor to treat his injury.”
These words had a meaning behind them. How could Yan ShiFan not understand what he was trying to say? He immediately laughed, “I am not interested in these little girls, immature and unromantic. Look at my ladies, they’re all better than her…You pick whoever you want, don’t need to discuss it with me. I guarantee tonight, the one you like will accompany you.”
Lu Yi laughed as he continued to deny, “No, no, no, they are all Daren’s favourites.”
“There is no need to be formal,” Under Yan ShiFan’s eyes, two maids with barefoot half leaned against Lu Yi’s body, “The autumn eagle painting you gave me, I really liked it. Why don’t you pick two girls you like and bring them home? Every day, being accompanied by young and beautiful women sounds nice, doesn’t it?”
Lu Yi put his hand on the soft maid’s waist and gently squeezed it, then he suddenly thought of something, turned to look at Yan ShiFan’s face and said, “Daren… I don’t want to hide this from you, but there is something Beizhe wish you can help with.”
“You and me, no need to act like strangers, just say it.”
It seemed that the issue was very difficult to solve. Lu Yi asked the maid to refill his cup first, then drank it completely, and said, “Daren also knows, my father told me to come to Jiangnan this time to take care of this case, his intention was to use… use this case to get promoted, but now the repairment funds cannot be found anywhere, the Emperor is also starting to be dissatisfied…”
He looked at Yan ShiFan, his face looked very embarrassed.
Yan ShiFan didn’t answer right away, only kept nodding his head, which meant he was listening.
Lu Yi could only continue, “I don’t know if Daren can help me this time, one word from Daren, maybe he can…”
“One word?” Yan ShiFan laid his shoulders back.
“Daren knows that the words of the lower ranks have no effect. Arriving at Yangzhou this time, I feel that the officials in the Yangzhou area were not at all interested in handling this case… Clues are few, government people who can be used are also very limited… The Prefect of Yangzhou, Fang Daren, is my father’s disciple. If Daren gives out a brief order, who knows, maybe this fund finding process can speed up faster.” Lu Yi’s attitude when he said those words was truly like someone who was looking down and begging, even his eyes were sincere.
Yan ShiFan continued to look at him. After a moment of silence, he suddenly laughed loudly, “Good words, it’s just one word after all, our families have known each other for a long time, the relationship is very deep, yet these words must come out of your mouth.”
Lu Yi let out a sigh of relief, his face looked cheerful again, “Thank you Daren, later when Beizhe gets promoted, I will definitely not forget Daren’s help… Oh, yes, that autumn eagle painting, if that one is real, then the one he’s hiding shouldn’t be fake. Tomorrow, Beizhe will ask people to send all the paintings and calligraphy over, Daren, please accept all these as gifts.”
“Of course.”
Yan ShiFan let out a loud laugh, then returned to laying on the maid’s lap.
Tonight, the moonlight was beautiful, accompanied by dancing and singing, and the two of them continued to drink until four in the morning, when the banquet was finally over.
***
“Daren, this way please.”
The barefoot maid held a lantern and walked in front of Lu Yi, leading the way. Lu Yi stepped on the wolf fur carpet, going down to the second floor and walked all the way down, stopping in front of a room.
The maid helped him open the door, “Daren, please rest, everything is well prepared according to our Master’s order. If you need anything else, you can pull the bell rope.”
Lu Yi nodded, stepped into the room, and heard the maid behind him closing the door. He looked back at the door bell, after thinking for a while, he didn’t do anything else.
In the room, on a round table with an embroidered tablecloth, a lantern had been placed, half bright and half dim. The curtain of the carved bed was closed and there seemed to be someone inside.
“I promise to let your favourite person accompany you tonight.” He still remembered what Yan ShiFan said and couldn’t help but frown. The wound was initially healed, but due to the amount of wine he had consumed today, it made him uncomfortable. He didn’t even have the interest to lift the curtain of the bed to see who it was, instead he sat down at the table and rested.
At the sound of candle popping, he struggled to bring his mind back, ‘Which room is Jinxia in? Could it be the room next door?’
While he was thinking, someone knocked on the door.
“Who is it?”
“Daren, are you resting already? I brought some hangover soup for you.” The person outside said respectfully.
Lu Yi sighed, got up and sat by the bed, taking off his shoes and saying, “Come in.”
The maid opened the door and entered, carefully placing the jade bowl filled with soup on the table, then stepped back and closed the door.
Lu Yi caught a glimpse of the jade bowl. He was too lazy to pick it up, hence he took off his boots and opened the curtain of the bed. He was about to pretend to be drunk and lie down to rest. As soon as the bed curtain was lifted, he was stunned: a pair of big wide round eyes were looking at him. They couldn’t be more familiar, and the irritation in them… he hadn’t seen it for a long time. Seeing her there, he couldn’t help but laugh involuntarily.
“Why are you…” He tilted his head to look at her, his hand reached out and swept aside the hair that had fallen on her cheeks.
She seemed unable to move, nor speak, but was frowning strenuously, as if she was trying to say something.
Lu Yi followed her gaze and saw that although she couldn’t move her arms, her fingers were twitching, therefore he placed her fingers on his palm.
“There’s a copper tube.” She wrote in his palm. “One end of the tube is in the room…” meaning the person at the other end of the tube could hear everything in the room. In prison, there were several cells that used that kind of tube.
Lu Yi understood what she meant, but didn’t take it seriously. He didn’t bother to investigate where the tubes were, he thought, ‘This is Yan ShiFan’s ship, naturally we can’t escape his eyes and ears. If we deliberately avoid it, it will raise more suspicions.’
“I know.” He wrote on her palm, “Why are you here?”
In her eyes, sudden flames appeared, she wrote on his palms in annoyance, “It’s Ruan Jin San, this bastard!”
*[Ruan Jin San = Make the person lose power to move, it doesn’t have any scent or taste, so it’s hard to find out, TN]
He couldn’t help but smile, pushing her inside, then laid down on her side, still keeping her hands on his palms.
Because of their closeness on the bed, she could feel that her body was a little hot. Jinxia asked with her fingers, “Do you have a fever? Is it because of the wine?”
“I’m fine,” He wrote briefly.
Jinxia tried her best to tilt her head to the side. Looking at his tired face, she frowned and wrote, “Yan ShiFan is a bastard!”
Feeling ticklish on his palm, Lu Yi closed his eyes to rest. Feeling each letter she wrote, he smiled and nodded his head.
“He’s bothering you?” She kept scratching his palm.
Lu Yi remembered when he bowed and begged for the favour, shaking his head slowly.
“You are not you when you’re in front of him.” She continued writing.
He thought for a moment, then wrote these two words, “Show weakness.”
Show weakness.
There was a saying in the world of kungfu, ‘When the opponent is stronger than you and there is no chance of winning, you should show your weakness to defeat the enemy, make them fall for it and then wait for the opportunity to attack.’
While thinking about these two words carefully, a long time had passed and Jinxia’s fingers hadn’t moved at all. Lu Yi’s fingers gently scratched on Jinxia’s palm, making her ticklish.
“Why did he put you on my bed?” Jinxia suddenly remembered and asked.
Lu Yi answered frankly, “He said, he would let the one I like best accompany me tonight.” Yan ShiFan could see through him. To be honest, he was not surprised, because he didn’t try very hard to cover it up. Thinking about tonight, as long as Lu and Yan families didn’t turn on each other, nothing extremely bad would happen. After all, he had no intention of tearing the Yan family apart, an idea he’d never thought of.
Upon hearing his words, Jinxia’s face reddened, she thought it had to be the side effect of the medicine, making people fantasize.
“The girl you like, because Yan ShiFan is reluctant to give her up, so he’s using me as a substitute for you.” This was the best reason that made the most sense to her.
Lu Yi was silent for a moment, then turned his head, opened his eyes and looked at her, “I don’t like anyone.”
Wasn’t it all the same? She was still a substitute. Jinxia fell silent, then could hear her stomach growling and shyly looked at Lu Yi.
“Hungry?” He opened his mouth to ask.
Jinxia nodded her head, she couldn’t be blamed for this. Yan ShiFan was weird, this ship was weird. She was trying to be on alert at all times, so she didn’t eat much at all. Now it was past four in the morning, it was natural for her stomach to scream.
“I will tell them to bring food here.” Lu Yi was about to get up, but was grabbed by Jinxia.
She was very nervous and scratched her finger slightly harder, “They might put something inside the food.”
Lu Yi replied with his finger, “You’ve already consumed Ruan Jin San, what else are you afraid of?” After he finished writing on her palm, he sat up and pulled the bell rope on the side.
“What do you want to eat?” He opened his mouth to ask.
Because Lu Yi was by her side, she now felt more confident. Her eyes lit up, “Can I eat anything?”
Lu Yi nodded his head, making an encouraging face.
“I want to eat… noodles! Beef noodles!” She got excited.
Right at that time, the maid knocked on the door. Lu Yi ordered a bowl of beef noodles, and the maid quickly went out. After a while, she brought a bowl of hot beef noodles in and put it on the table.
Jinxia praised, “It seems like there is always beef broth in the kitchen and ready to use anytime, very convenient.” After giving a compliment, she just realized that there was a problem, since she had taken Ruan Jin San, now she didn’t have any strength to lift herself up. How could she eat?
While she was trying to figure things out, Lu Yi had already lifted her body into a sitting position and taken the bowl of noodles. With the chopsticks, he grabbed the noodles and blew on them to cool down the hotness, then said, “Open your mouth… Why are you stunned?”
“……..” Although there was no better way at the moment, but based on Lu Yi’s status, how could she let him feed her? Jinxia endured the hunger and said, “You can leave it there, I will eat when I feel better.”
“Hurry up, my arms are sore.” His tone became serious.
At this time, Jinxia felt very apologetic, if she had remembered her situation quicker, she would’ve asked for a rice cake or an osmanthus cake from the start, or maybe a hard bun would have also worked. Why ask for noodles, making this situation so awkward?
“Open your mouth!” He stared at her.
Jinxia could only open her mouth.
“How does it taste?” He asked.
She nodded her head, “It’s delicious.”
There were some words she didn’t want to say: ever since she’d grown up, even her mother had never fed her once. Seeing him feeding her like this, she felt a little cautious but at the same time, thinking back at her childhood, her heart was warm.
Lu Yi fed her slowly, Jinxia also ate little by little. Before she knew it, the bowl of beef noodles had been eaten to the bottom.
“Ruan Jin San will not last long. Once you sleep, the effect of the medicine will fade after you wake up.”
He laid her back down, and settled himself beside her like before, putting her hand onto his palm.
‘In a place like this…’ Jinxia actually wanted to say, ‘Laying next to each other like this…’ She hesitated for a moment, then thought it was better not to say it. ‘How can I sleep?’
Lu Yi didn’t say anything, and gently wrapped her hand in his palm.
Maybe because of his fever, his hands were unusually warm. Jinxia reminded herself that tomorrow when they would return to the post station, she would have to cook some medicine based on Mrs. Shen’s prescription for him.
After that, she yawned, feeling tired, and then she made no more sounds; she had fallen asleep.
Listening to the steady breathing next to him, Lu Yi turned his body sideways and looked at her. ‘On this boat, under that person’s eyes, not everything is disgusting.’ He thought to himself.
**REMEMBER TO JOIN MY DISCORD FOR UPDATES** Link in the about page.
