Zhou Lezhi did not see the scene where he was given the name. This scene was told to him by his husband when he got the name later. When he told him, the gentleman's face was stern, and seemed to contain some kind of regret. But probably only the husband himself knows what he thinks.
Zhou Lezhi was currently chewing his teeth with Wang Liangxian on the stern deck. Seeing Mr. Zhou coming out of Mr. Wang's cabin, he quickly followed him. When the two returned to the cabin, Mr. Zhou ordered him to pack his belongings. ready to go.
"where are we going?"
"Go to Guangzhou!" Mr. Zhou was beaming, "Aren't you from Guangzhou?"
"Really?" Zhou Lezhi has been out for almost a year. Now that he heard that he was going to Guangzhou, he perked up and said, "Pack it up now, little one!" After that, he packed his luggage in the cabin. Only then did he realize that the two pairs of powder boxes he took from Mr. Wang were still in the cabin. He quickly wrapped them in silk cloth and prepared to return them.
He walked across the gangplank to Mr. Wang's ship, walked along the ship's side walkway to the middle cabin, and was about to return to the deck. Wang Liang, who had been outside the middle cabin door, was not there, and there was no one on the deck.
"Uncle Wang! Where are you lazying again!" Zhou Lezhi secretly laughed. Wang Liang got a servant a few days ago, and when he had free time, he went to find no one in the fleet. This will probably be the case again.
However, Wang Liang was not here, and he was a little unsure whether to alert the master with the small matter of returning the powder box. While hesitating, he suddenly heard someone speaking in the cabin, and it was Liu Zhao's voice:
"...Do you have any other instructions, Master?"
"This time when we are escorting the Jin and Wei people south, you should take a detour back to Shaoxing and bring a message to the second uncle. Just say: 'The second uncle can no longer bear the title. Find a way to shut them up.' You must say this yourself. Once it is passed on, no second person can know about it, let alone leave any evidence."
"My subordinate understands."
"There is one more thing that you need to arrange properly." Mr. Wang's voice became gloomy, "In a few days, I will send people back to Miss Wei and Mr. Jin in batches to settle down in the new farm in Dongyang. You have to send They must be protected by reliable personnel and supervised separately, so that they can stay in seclusion and cannot leak any information."
"Yes! My subordinates are going to arrange for Chen Mo to take care of him there. He does things well and speaks tight."
"Well..." It sounded like the master was quite satisfied with this arrangement. There was silence next, and Liu Zhao was not heard talking. Zhou Lezhi was nervous for a while. He knew that eavesdropping on his master was a taboo, and he wanted to leave. However, the place was narrow and the planks were all made of boats. It was easy for them to collide and make noise. It would be even more inappropriate if he was overheard.
After weighing the situation, he could only hold his breath and concentrate, huddled in the shadows, and waited for the conversation to end.
"Tell Chen Mo that I will send him a letter around the twelfth lunar month. If the letter says, 'The capital must send thirty hams as a gift during the Chinese New Year,' then everything will be fine; if it says, 'It is cold and the ground is freezing, and the road is difficult. There is no need to send ham, but silver. Let him kill Jin and Wei immediately."
When Zhou Lezhi heard this, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning, and his whole body became stiff. Although he was not familiar with Mr. Jin and Miss Wei, the master treated them as honored guests these days. Not only did they provide generous services, he was also very polite when meeting them. He even arranged a place for them to stay during the day and prepared to take their lives at night.
"As for that demon, if you find a treasure when you get to Guangfu, you should try to seize it first, and don't hand it over to the rough stuff. You can wait until you bring it back to the capital to discuss it. If this person does anything strange, I think you can find a way to let it go. He is obedient." Wang Yehao gave the key instructions in a very low voice, but it was quiet at night on the river, and the bulkhead was made of wooden boards with no sound insulation. Zhou Lezhi could hear clearly because of the wall.
"Don't worry, sir, we Jin Yiwei are not all noble relatives who just make a living." Liu Zhao replied.
"Be careful and don't take his life unless absolutely necessary. If necessary, you can use your secret line to pass the news to my fourth uncle."
After a moment of silence, Wang Yehao asked again: "With your connections in Beijing, can you recognize some Feng Shui strangers? You need to know the basics and don't try to trick people."
Liu Zhao thought for a while and said: "There is a brother from the same clan who is also a servant of the Jinyi Guards. His name is Liu Zhen. He has been helping people look after the ghost houses since his ancestors. It is said that he has quite a lot of practical knowledge. I wonder what is the use of my lord?"
"Okay, please write a note of recommendation." Wang Yehao did not explain his intention. Liu Zhao knew the rules and didn't pay attention to them.
Zhou Lezhi was sweating profusely on his back. It seemed that his husband was not in any danger for the time being, but this master was so ruthless. If anything happened to him in the future, he would probably be killed without mercy.
"How about the Madam and Youqing?"
"It's done. The madam presented Miss Youqing, and Magistrate Zhou let her go and closed the case as a robbery." Liu Zhao said with a bit of envy, "My man was in danger, but he got a big advantage! I got a great beauty for free. Miss Youqing’s net worth is one or two thousand taels of silver at least!"
"Haha, Mr. Zhou won't keep it for himself. Such an oiran woman is not something that others can afford..."
"I don't know any gentleman who is so blessed."
"Haha, you are such a genius, what does it have to do with you!" Mr. Wang smiled, "Don't think about these things, just do your errands properly. When things are done, your benefits are indispensable!"
"Yes, thank you for your cultivation!"
Liu Zhao resigned, and Zhou Lezhi waited for a long time. When there was no more noise in the cabin or on the deck, he leaned down and climbed back to Mr. Zhou's boat using his hands and feet.
Mr. Zhou didn't know anything about this, and he happily packed his belongings as usual.
There aren't many things to prepare here. Mr. Zhou's two maids have already been packed up. Mr. Zhou does not plan to take two maids with him to Guangzhou this time - it is inconvenient and unsafe to bring women along on such a long journey. The husband had no choice but to bear the pain and let the people from the palace go south to take them back to Dongyang Farm. However, when parting, the husband still said to them affectionately: "Zhiling, Yui, if you get pregnant, I will be responsible!"
In the past, Zhou Lezhi would have secretly had fun seeing his husband's wretched appearance, but what he heard today shocked him greatly. A life that once felt like a bright future has become bleak.
The next day, Mr. Zhou and his party transferred to a westbound boat and headed westward along the Yangtze River. The scenery on both sides of the Yangtze River is magnificent, but my husband is no longer in the mood to enjoy it. He just hates that the waterway moves too slowly. Liu Zhao heard his complaint and came out to explain: "Although the stagecoach can travel two to three hundred miles a day, it must be skilled in riding. I'm afraid it will be too much for you. If you ride in a sedan, you have to stay in an inn at night, but the waterway only requires By rotating the boatmen, we can travel both day and night, and since we have fewer people and lighter boats, it is generally faster than taking a car."
After hearing what Liu Zhao said, the husband had no choice but to sit on the bow of the boat all day long, looking forward to seeing what was going on. Until one day, he suddenly jumped up from the bow of the boat and hurriedly called Zhou Lezhi: "Hurry and prepare the four treasures of the study!"
After returning to the cabin, he leaned on the table and wrote and drew for a long time, and then confidently said to Zhou Lezhi: "Look, I'm going to add two paddle wheels to the boat, which can accelerate through human pedaling! In the park There are many similar pedal boats. I have calculated that the efficiency should be okay."
Zhou Lezhi was confused after hearing this. He looked at the patterns on the paper, scratched his head and said, "What park are you talking about, sir? What is a pedal boat..."
"This is the calculation process, and the following pages are three views." Zhou Lezhi patiently explained, "It means the front view, the top view, and the side view. It's been a long time since I drew it, but the meaning should be the same. How about it, it's very vivid, right? Why don't you find a carpenter to come over when you dock at night to rest, and I'll explain to him."
Zhou Lezhi thought to himself that this gentleman really wanted to do something. Where can I find a carpenter during this journey and install wheels on the boat? The boatman can't agree to it. However, following his husband these days, he has become very familiar with his personality, and the three-dimensional diagram is no stranger to him. Now he looked at the diagram carefully, and roughly understood what it meant, and said: "Is this paddle wheel the same as the waterwheel?" similar?"
"Yes, yes, you are very perceptive!" The husband was quite excited. "Can the carpenter understand what I draw like this?"
"There's nothing wrong with being a carpenter. It's just that you can travel thousands of miles in one day."
"no."
"Baili?"
"That's enough."
"It's useless to install it, not to mention that it takes time to stop the boat and install it. After the installation, you need to use more boatmen..."
Liu Zhao laughed after hearing this and said, "Sir, if you are impatient, I will just give the boatmen more money for drinks and let them row faster."
After seeing off the Hearthstone Taoist and his party, Wang Yehao was not in a hurry to return to Beijing. Instead, he stayed in Yangzhou for a few more days to look for opportunities to make friends with Tian Hongyu. He intended to win over the future "father of the state" as Mr. Zhou called him. Not only did he secretly give him a generous gift, but he also hinted that Magistrate Zhou would give Youqing to Tian Hongyu.
Tian Hongyu was born as a warrior. Although he was quite famous for his sensual pursuits, he was also a relative of the emperor and had many friends in the officialdom. However, most civil servants who came from the imperial examination did not actually like him and regarded him as a first-rate guest.
Now this Mr. Wang not only respects himself very much, but also gives him heavy gifts. Tian Hongyu felt quite flattered. Although I knew he was trying to win over me, I actually had nothing to repay. Although he is a relative of the emperor, his daughter is just the concubine of King Xin - to be honest, the father of the concubine Zhou, and even the father of the current Queen Zhang are not very popular. This made Tian Hongyu both moved and uneasy.
When Wang Yehao went north, Tian Hong met at the dock to say goodbye. He said that he had received a lot of favors from Mr. Wang but could not repay him, which really made him feel ashamed. Wang Yehao smiled and said:
"Master Tian has his own destiny. It's just bad luck at the moment, but he will be blessed with good luck in the future. It won't be long before you and I can meet again in the capital."
"Then I'll take the King's auspicious words." Tian Hongyu didn't know what his words meant, but he only thought they contained a Zen message. He didn't dare to ask any more questions, and immediately bowed to the end, "I wish Mr. Wang a safe journey and good progress!"
(End of chapter)
