The sun was shining brightly. The fleet sailed through the slightly muddy river, and the yellow and green trees by the shore were particularly clear in the summer sun. The canal near Songzhou, which was near Bianzhou, was already quite prosperous. With the irrigation of the river, the sun shone on the paddy fields. Carriages passed by on the official road along the canal.
After the incident of the Liangshan bandits coveting the birthday manual, the fleet returned to its previous peaceful state. Although Chen Jingui and the others had tightened their patrols and defenses along the way, the atmosphere among the people heading north was more harmonious. The young masters no longer quarreled, the children were not so difficult to manage, and even Su Wenyu's seasickness had gradually improved. It was probably because of the external pressure.
Half of the captives from Liangshan escaped that day, and those who escaped basically lost their lives. Only the remaining ten or twenty captives were not burnt to death in the end. Instead, they were handed over to various stakeholders to report to. After all, this was related to rebellion. Capturing such captives, the army needed a few, the local officials needed a few, and the three departments in the capital also needed them. Chen Jingui also had to keep a few for himself. They were all used to take credit. As for interrogation, they probably wouldn't find anything. After going through the motions, they would most likely be executed.
Originally, Ning Yi said that he would break these people's legs and then sunburn them to death. In the end, he gave everyone face and made a "concession". Chen Jingui was very grateful. In the beginning, he didn't think much of this scholar. Although the Office of Secret Investigations had direct access to Prime Minister Qin, the requirements for the Office of Secret Investigations were very strict. Most of the time, when it came to the execution of specific matters, this kind of intelligence agency only had the right to make suggestions. Chen Jingui didn't need to give them face.
After the incident at Hongze Lake, he began to take Wenren Bu Er seriously. He still didn't know much about Ning Yi. However, after a few incidents, such as attacking Yan Qing on the ship and using the birthday manual as bait to save him, and capturing more than forty Liangshan bandits, he really realized that this guy wasn't simple. And in the end, almost all the Liangshan bandits were wiped out. When Chen Jingui thought about it, he felt a chill down his spine.
This guy really had a grudge against Liangshan. Once he started taking revenge, he would toy with this bunch of Liangshan villains from the beginning to the end. After capturing so many of the enemy's people and obtaining a great victory, he was still not satisfied. On the second day, he plotted against the enemy until they were completely wiped out. Previously, when he said that he wanted to hang them to death, Chen Jingui was still a little hesitant. Who knew that he would let them go that night, and then ambush and kill them all. In the blink of an eye, it would be justifiable. It was really clean and neat, without any loopholes. The most vicious people in the world were indeed this bunch of scholars. If he offended them, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Of course, apart from the Office of Secret Investigations, there weren't many people in the fleet who knew what was going on. Even if Ning Yi had publicly attacked Yan Qing on the main ship, in the eyes of others, the mastermind was still Chen Jingui. Relatively speaking, although Zhou Pei had said that he did something to Zhou Pei in Hangzhou, which aroused everyone's curiosity, they were most curious about how deep the relationship between Ning Yi and Zhou Pei was, and whether they could afford to offend him. Of course, there was no need to offend him.
As for the role he played in this matter, in the eyes of others, he was at most a counselor-like figure who provided advice, or a character who hid beside the boss and said a few words when he had nothing to do. The people on the ship were all second and third generations, so they had seen more of this kind of people. Scholars mostly played this kind of role. Some were good, some were bad, and the good and the bad were intermingled.
Fortunately, Ning Yi didn't live on the main ship at this time, so he didn't have much contact with others. After that day, Li Shishi was a little curious about this old childhood friend, but she was a person who had seen the world. The capital was so big that there were countless extraordinary people. It was only surprising when that kind of thing happened to someone she knew when she was young. People like Yu Ho-chung and Chen Sifeng were just average people. In the circle that Li Shishi interacted with, they were always a little out of reach. But if one day he could really do something amazing, the possibility was small, but it was not impossible.
She just didn't know what Ning Yi had done. The young princess said that he had met Fang La, which might be an exaggeration. After thinking about it, she felt that it was quite possible. However, he was originally talented in poetry. After the war in Hangzhou, it was obvious that he had gained more experience. He might have underestimated him. After thinking about it in this way, she found her position and was happy for the growth of her old childhood friend.
She had these thoughts in her mind, but in the next two days, she didn't have much contact with Ning Yi. Many people on the ship showed their talent and flattered her, but she dealt with them skillfully and easily. Occasionally, she used calligraphy and paintings to relieve her boredom. When she docked, she just nodded to greet Ning Yi, but there was no chance to talk deeply. On the main ship, besides her, Zhuo Yunfeng was probably paying attention to Ning Yi. Because the young princess had announced that she and Ning Yi were master and disciple, she openly left the main ship and went to live on the ship where a group of counselors and accountants gathered with their families, so that it would be convenient for Ning Yi to teach her.
At this time, looking over from the main ship, there was a group of people fooling around at the stern of the big ship slightly behind them.
The people who were gathered by Ning Yi were a few children on the ship. They found a big net on the ship and were ready to try to catch fish from the canal. The ship was a little big and not suitable for fishing, but Ning Yi and the others had already spread out the net and tied ropes to the four corners. Then, they hung it from the back of the ship through the hanger for loading and unloading goods. They were ready to start putting the net into the water. In this way, after the ship moved for a while, they could pull two of the ropes and the net could catch the fish.
This kind of messy thing was probably initiated by Ning Yi on a whim. Besides the children, Su Wenyu and Su Yanping were also helping. There were children's parents watching or helping. There were no fishermen among them. They were all amateurs, but they all knew that Ning Yi had a high status and was quite knowledgeable. The young princess, Zhou Pei, sat on the side and watched with interest. Her status was too high and she was well-educated. Naturally, she wouldn't join in this kind of messy thing. Xiaochan sometimes came to help, and Yunzhu occasionally came out to watch with interest.
Jin'er, who liked to play around, didn't come out. She was lying on the bed in the room and looking at the clouds. She was sulking because Ning Yi had done something frivolous to her that day. Later, although she knew that it was urgent, there was no explanation after the incident, which made her very depressed. She was already prepared to quarrel with Ning Yi. However, perhaps Ning Yi knew that it was not easy to talk about it, or he didn't think it was necessary to talk about it, so he didn't provoke her for the past two days. She could only keep her anger in her stomach. She was very unhappy because she couldn't vent it. After all, it was not easy for her to talk about it. She didn't know what to say. Could she say, "You said you would give me an explanation that day?" Thinking about it, she felt that she was too shameless as a girl.
Of course, she didn't expect any "explanation". No matter how she explained, it would be impossible. However, she didn't expect it because she was open-minded. If he didn't say it, he was not reliable! That was what Jin'er was sure of.
Not long after, the unreliable Ning Yi received his retribution. Because the net was placed too deep, it hooked onto a rock at the bottom of the river. The ship was sailing north, and the sails were especially strong. At first, Ning Yi and the others thought that they had caught a big fish and pulled hard with the rope. When he said, "Come and help," even Zhou Pei rushed over excitedly to pull the rope. Then, with a swoosh, a group of adults and children were all dragged to the deck. Then, the other two ends of the fixed net pulled on the hanger at the stern that wasn't fixed. With a bang, the whole hanger was pulled into the river.
The hanger was a wooden frame used to load and unload goods on the dock. It was a simple structure and was insignificant compared to a big ship, but it was still necessary. The commotion startled the onlookers, and the entire fleet came to a halt. If it was an ordinary advisor or accountant on this ship who did this, they would probably be scolded to death. However, after the names of Ning Yi and the others passed through, most of the people who passed the news fell silent.
Chen Jingui and the others ordered the fleet to dock. His deputy understood the mood of the group of young masters on the main ship and said, "That Ning Liheng has gone too far to delay our whole fleet for such a small matter. We must go over and reprimand him for this …"
Chen Jingui rubbed his chin and rolled his eyes at him. "What do you know? This Young Master Ning is unfathomable. There must be a deeper meaning behind his action. He seems to be fooling around, but maybe he is testing some new tricks to guard against Liangshan bandits … The storyteller once said that a wise man's actions are unconstrained and unconstrained. Don't embarrass yourself. If he wants us to stop, we will stop. Pretend that we don't know his deeper meaning. Do you know … maybe he wants to lure the enemy into a trap? If you take it too seriously, you will mess it up. Tell the brothers to keep their spirits up and be relaxed on the outside but tense on the inside … After traveling with this Young Master Ning for so many days, I also know that he is used to it. We must act naturally … "
However, Ning Yi was just fooling around. He just didn't expect it to end up like this. Fortunately, no one was injured. This group of children were used to falling and fighting. Unlike the pampered strawberry clan in the future, they were already laughing and joking after falling and experiencing an accident. Only Zhou Pei, who was usually playful, was too serious when she pulled the rope. She used all her strength, and her legs almost left the ground before she fell down. Her face was covered in dirt, and her hands were scratched by the rope. She had never been injured like this since she was a child. It hurt so much that she wanted to cry. However, after Ning Yi saw her "injury", he scolded her and asked Xiaochan to drag her inside to apply medicine and bandage. In fact, it was just a little scratch, and most of the red marks were left. There was no need to bandage it. However, Xiaochan still wrapped her hands with a few circles of white bandages. Zhou Pei felt wronged at first, but later she felt a little curious. She raised her bandaged hands and complained to others.
"We just injured our hands when we were fishing." She was so happy to complain. When others showed concern, she said with optimism and excitement, "It's okay. It's just a little injury. But we caught the fish."
After the fishing net and the hanger were fished out, there were actually a few stupid fish caught in the net. It was the result of this time, and they decided to roast them for lunch.
The others did not know what happened. Only Zhuo Yunfeng, who was on the main boat, saw what Ning Yi and the others were doing. After seeing her injured hands, he knew the culprit. "The princess is precious. He dared to let the princess pull the rope and get such a serious injury. I want …"
"It's none of your business."
Zhou Pei frowned and interrupted him. She was quite unhappy. "We have fish to eat at noon. Go and fish." She was actually quite familiar with Zhuo Yunfeng, which was why she spoke in such a manner. After she finished speaking, she jumped up and down and continued to talk to the adults. "Uncle Tian, Uncle Tian, look, I hurt my hand when I was fishing just now, but we caught four fish …" Only then did the other person say, "Oh, Princess, you were really fishing."
In order to cooperate with Ning Yi, they would stop here at noon anyway. At this time, Chen Jingui had already ordered people to fish in the river on a large scale. Anyway, everyone liked to play. They could eat roasted fish or fish feast here at noon. As for the deeper meaning of Young Master Ning, they could wait and see.
Only Zhuo Yunfeng looked at the figure of the young princess with some grievance. He said, "You can't eat fish when you are injured …" But he did not know if Zhou Pei heard him.
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