Translated by Wook
Edited by sienz
As the pair of master Huang Youbi and his disciple happened to have never left the house today, when a group of people entered carrying Bai Shiqi with a ruckus, it frightened the two of them.
“What’s going on?”
“Young Leader has gotten seriously injured!”
One of the subordinates lifted the quilt, revealing Bai Shiqi whose face had turned sallow with a pair of tightly shut eyes. Huang Youbi had subconsciously held his breath, he let it out, and started raining curses: “Where did he go to cause trouble this time?”
“The young leader didn’t cause any trouble!”
“He didn’t cause trouble but got back with injuries?” Huang Youbi yelled and shooed everyone out: “Everyone get out and guard outside.” Then he turned towards Zhu Shoumei and hesitated: “Are you… staying?”
Zhu Shoumei did not even have the thought of leaving from the beginning as the matter was urgent. Furthermore… it’s not like he did not know about the truth: “Master, let me help you.”
Bai Shiqi was placed on the bed. Zhu Shoumei went outside to prepare decoction, medicine, and hot water. Huang Youbi unfolded the quilt and saw that she was dying from the wounds all over her body, he cursed more fiercely: “Always causing trouble outside. Even when something seems shady, still rushes towards it. Are you still a little child? Despite the severity of the situation, you don’t even regard your little life as important anymore!” He truly wanted to give her a big beating, as to compensate him from wasting so many medicinal ingredients to save her life.
Bai Shiqi had always been an active person. She always woke up early and jumped here and there while running her mouth. Today, she was lying down quietly without any kind of response, which was enough to stop Huang Youbi from cursing further. He untied the belt on her waist and got angry again upon seeing the wound there: “You’re all soaked and got injured so badly. Do you not want to live anymore?!” He fished out a small bottle from his sleeve, opened it and poured a red life-saving pill to feed her with, then he began to treat the wound on her abdomen.
When Shu Changfeng pushed Zhao Wujiu over to Huang Youbi’s courtyard, the place was already packed with many members of the shipping group. All of them craned their necks and looked towards the room in anxiety.
“How is Shiqi?”
“Young Leader is wounded and comatose. Elder Huang is currently inside tending to his wounds.”
Zhao Wujiu hinted at Shu Changfeng to push him towards the door to knock, only to receive an angry voice from the inside: “Knock for what? Quickly come in!’’ Huang Youbi did not know that it was not Zhu Shoumei who had been tasked with boiling the decoction, as the result, when he opened the door, he was immediately annoyed: “Scram!”
His Highness Prince Zhou had never received such a rude scolding in his entire life. Shu Changfeng wanted to defend his master, but Zhao Wujiu tugged his sleeve: “Elder Huang, I got worried because I heard Shiqi is injured, so I came here. Is he… Is he alright?”
He did not know whether it was an illusion, but taking advantage of the time he was speaking, Huang Youbi pulled at the quilt and distractedly wrapped Bai Shiqi’s tightly with it, then in a stern voice, he urged: “He won’t die anytime soon. You should leave now!”
Zhu Shoumei shortly arrived after running all the way saying, “Move away!” with hot decoction in his hand and seeing Zhao Wujiu blocking his way, he was somewhat impolite: “Helmsman Zhao, I’ll have to ask you to get out of the way.”
Zhao Wujiu still insisted on going in, making Huang Youbi furious: “Didn’t I say not to come in?”
They came to a stalemate, but soon, there was movement from Bai Shiqi from the bed. Her voice small, like the sound of a mosquito flying: “Fucking noisy—”
Huang Youbi could not stay angry anymore and hurriedly stepped forward to get her pulse. He felt that the pulse under his hand was slightly stronger than when she was brought in. The gloom on his face finally disappeared, and he cursed again angrily: “You’re still lying here even though you don’t like the noise? Still don’t want to quickly change your clothes?”
He scolded her with his mouth but still gently supported her up. Her luggage was soon handed in by the helpers outside, and hot water was sent in. Huang Youbi walked around anxiously outside, yelling from time to time: “Are you done? Can’t you be faster!”
Shu Changfeng whispered: “Looking at Young Leader Bai’s appearance, he seems like he could fall at any moment. How could he wake up so soon?”
Yu Ang had been following Zhao Wujiu when coming here. In any case, he was also an elder, so he could somewhat guess Huang Youbi’s intention. In a small voice he said: “You may not realize. When I saw Young Leader Bai before, his face looked ghastly, like an arrow at the end of its flight, even breathing seemed hard. Elder Huang looked like he was angry, but in fact, he was only picking fights to keep him sober… .”
[an arrow at the end of its flight: At the end of one’s journey. Basically saying she’s dying.]
Bai Shiqi had always been cheeky towards Huang Youbi. The elder and the youth had always been arguing, and there had been times when he wished he could beat the little girl up. However, this time around, his angry curses sounded panicky. After a cup of tea’s time, there was a loud sound of a copper basin falling to the floor, making everyone outside even more anxious.
[a cup of tea’s time: it’s a bit random actually. I read somewhere saying it’s 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10, and even 15 minutes. This translator will leave it to your imagination appropriately.]
Zhao Wujiu stood up from his wheelchair: “What happened inside?”
Huang Youbi knocked on the door and asked anxiously: “Shiqi… Shiqi? .”
“You still need to ask first?” Zhao Wujiu pushed open the door at once. He held the door frame to take a look, only to see that half a basin of water had been spilled on the ground. Bai Shiqi had changed into a clean set of clothes, but her hand dangled powerlessly from the edge of the bed, with half of her shoulder being out of the bed. Her newly changed clothes were already stained with blood, and she had lost consciousness.
Huang Youbi pushed him away, almost making him fall. He stepped into the room with a cold face, then closed the door.
Fortunately Shu Changfeng was fast, he supported him and sat him back in the wheelchair. His complexion turned cold, and he hatefully muttered: “I didn’t expect the matter about the pirates from the canal would be this severe. What have the officials been doing?”
The victim, Yu Ang, appeared and said: “I’m afraid that the officials have colluded with the pirates since the start.”
Bai Shiqi suffered severe injuries and had lost too much blood. The other wounds on her body were not as severe as the one in her abdomen. Huang Youbi spent a lot of effort to clean up her wounds, apply medicine and bandage them. By the time he was done, she was already having a high fever. Her forehead was terribly hot, and she was unconscious.
Fortunately, Zhu Shoumei had made decoctions earlier. He warmed it up and fed her one spoon at a time. Luckily she could still swallow it.
Zhao Wujiu was sitting on one side and staring at Zhu Shoumei while he skillfully fed the medicine with a concerned expression. From time to time he’d also touched her forehead, he felt upset seeing the interaction.
Zhao Ziheng rushed in from the outside, yelling all the way: “How is Shiqi?”
Bai Shiqi accompanied him when they first arrived in Baoying. However, when Bai Shiqi went out to do errands, he became bored, so he went to the street to have fun by himself. He quickly met one, two, and then three local youths. Everyone grouped together and they went anywhere that contained entertainment. Which place had the ladies with the best musical skills, which restaurant had the best wine and food, which banquet had the best cakes. Within a month, they had gone through every store, and he made a promise with everyone: “Wait for my good brother to come back! I’ll introduce him to everyone. He’s the best at playing around, when the time comes, everyone will surely enjoy themselves to the fullest!”
As it turns out, when he arrived at the gate today, he heard that Bai Shiqi was seriously injured. It scared the living daylights out of him. All the good wine banquets had to be postponed, and he rushed in with bitter feelings, only to find that Bai Shiqi couldn’t even make a sound, which made him anxious at once: “What’s going on? When will he wake up?”
Huang Youbi was holding a mortar and pestle at the table, and his beard flared in anger: “Shut your mouth! If you make any more noise, I’ll kick you out!”
He was an old man with a violent personality, even more so at the moment as he was feeling upset because of Bai Shiqi, who was still lying in bed. Upon seeing someone who is not pleasing to his eyes, he cursed at him even more rudely: “A servant who muddles along outside every single day and even dressed more lavishly than their master. If nobody knows, people will think you are the master!”
Zhao Ziheng had just gone back from meeting with his friends, so he had dressed up nicely. Normally he would avoid Huang Youbi, however, since he came back in a hurry today, he did not have the time to go back to change his clothes. He had been caught red-handedly and had received a nasty scolding. However, the child apparently had a good temper: “Yes, yes, yes. The esteemed elder’s teaching is right. This small one will surely change later. However, could Elder please let me know… How is Young Leader Bai’s condition right now?”
Because of his concern for Bai Shiqi, Huang Youbi’s attitude improved: “With this old man here, he won’t die for the time being.”
Some people from the shipping group sent a letter back to Suzhou to inform Bai Zhenting and his wife. Bai Shiqi was still lying in the bed unconscious. Huang Youbi went to study some prescriptions. Zhao Wujiu and Zhu Shoumei stayed in the room to take care of her. Zhao Ziheng could not sit still, so he went outside to inquire about the cause of Bai Shiqi’s injuries from the people of the shipping group.
“He was fine when he left, why did he return with wounds like this?”
There were members who knew a little bit about the ins and outs, and together, they completed the whole situation.
“Brother Zhao wouldn’t know this. Qiu Ying was a playmate who accompanied the young leader since he was a child. At the beginning, the young leader picked five people. Qiu Ying was the youngest, and the young leader went the best with him. He was obedient to the young leader. If Qiu Ying were a woman, he must have been married to the young leader already… Unfortunately, not even his body was left… .”
“In order to track down the murderer, Young Leader has been running around the past few years and eliminated dozens of pirates. It was once rumored that our family’s young leader had lost his mind and was robbing the government of their work… .”
“You wouldn’t know this as well. The Young Leader never even changed his expression while he killed those pirates… .”
“He must’ve wanted to personally avenge Qiu Ying so he could rest in peace. It could be considered his biggest wish of all time… .”
“… …”
Those voices were passed into the room through the window, making Zhu Shoumei smile bitterly: “Sure enough, it’s for Qiu Ying again!” Then he changed the topic: “Does Helmsman Zhao know Qiu Ying?”
This is the first time Zhao Wujiu heard of this name: “I’ve never heard about him before.”
Zhu Shoumei spoke to him to pass time: “Qiu Ying was one of Shiqi’s five playmates. It is not an exaggeration to say that he was very handsome. His mother was a well-known beauty before she got disfigured, while his father was also a member of the shipping group. Unfortunately, they both died early, so he was raised under Helmsman Qian’s care ever since then. That year, Helmsman Qian brought him to Suzhou to pay their respects to Leader Bai. He was spotted by Bai Shiqi, and they played together for several days. After that he stayed behind as his playmate.”
Zhao Wujiu always felt that there was a hidden meaning behind his words: “What does Physician Zhu mean by saying this?”
“I didn’t mean anything, this is just a casual conversation.” One couldn’t find out what he was thinking about, he suddenly laughed to himself: “Fortunately Shiqi is also a man. If any of them were a woman, they might’ve been married already.”
Zhao Wujiu: “… …”
Zhuo Shoumei: “As I said, it’s just a joke.”
Bai Shiqi was in a coma for three days. Only when Bai Zhenting and his wife rushed over from Suzhou after receiving the news did she slowly wake up amidst Su shi’s crying. When she opened her eyes, she found Su shi sitting on the side of her bed, with her eyes swollen like a peach. When the eyes of the mother and son met, Su shi immediately cried loudly: “You evil creature! Do you want your father’s and my life? Scaring us like that!”
With the arrival of the leader, all the members who followed her to clean up the river that day were detained for interrogation. Bystanders Zhao Wujiu and Yu Ang, and even Miss Song Si and Qiu Yunping attended the meeting to hear about Bai Shiqi’s heroic deeds.
Bai Zhenting hated that he could not find a rod to break her legs to stop her from going out to fight with others. In the end she had seized the big criminal who had been wanted by the Coastal Guard. Do they want our people to deal with the criminals on land too now?
“Bastard thing! He never thinks first before doing something. Does he hate the idea of living a long life?” Before Bai Zhenting could finish his curses, he was hit by Su shi in front of everyone: “Are you cursing my child?” as she burst into tears.
Bai Zhenting hurriedly coaxed his wife to return back to the room and guard Bai Shiqi. Miss Song Si was pale, knitting her eyebrows and was on the verge of collapsing. She was then supported by Zhen’er: “Miss, what’s wrong?”
Qiu Yunping came closer and said with concern: “I think she got scared from hearing about those criminals. Why don’t I send Miss Si back first, and ask the physician to prescribe medicine to stop the nausea?”
Song Si shook her head firmly: “I just feel a little uncomfortable, I’ll feel better once I get some fresh air. Master is still asleep, I want to stay and wait for him.”
Zhen’er supported her to get some fresh air, while Qiu Yunping looked into the distance in disappointment. He sighed, feeling upset from the bottom of his heart.
Bai Shiqi had an astonishing ability to recover quickly. After waking up, although she couldn’t go out and mess around immediately, she could still yell in bed, asking for fat chickens and plump ducks: “I feel like my empty stomach has become a bottomless pit, and I should be able to fill it with fifteen fat chickens or ducks.” She was so hungry she could barely move.
Su shi poked her forehead: “You’re a devil! Are you satisfied now? Huang Youbi said that the injury in your abdomen has hurt your internal organs, so you can’t eat meat for the time being. You can’t even eat plain congee. Just bear with it for a while.”
Even while lying down, Bai Shiqi felt weak in her limbs. She felt flustered and almost cried upon hearing the bad news: “This must be Old Man Huang’s idea, right? I didn’t die at Xiang Ye’s hands, so now he wants to starve me to death?”
“What is this talk about death?!” Su shi wanted to wipe her tears again: “If you talk about these unlucky words again, see if I don’t beat you!”
Bai Shiqi guessed that she must’ve been frightened and wouldn’t be able to calm down for a while. So she urged the servant girl to help her to rest: “I’m fine, mum. Why don’t you go and rest for a while? Ying’er, go back and get a warm kerchief for my mother’s eyes.” She coaxed her to leave.
The personal momos brought by Su shi guarded the door personally, not letting people come in to see the patient easily, saying that the young leader needed to recuperate.
[momo: Old maid servants.]
Miss Song Si wanted to enter so she would be able to serve, but she was persuaded by the two momos to return; Zhao Wujiu also came, only to be stopped at the door. Only Zhu Shoumei, who came to deliver the medicine, was allowed to enter. There was also Qiu Yunping, who had been given special permission to enter by Bai Zhenting. However, even after three rounds of walking outside, he still did not dare to come in. He had a feeling that there was some kind of a trap waiting for him inside.
He was afraid.
The reason for this was that the words that the leader had spoken were too strange. What ‘you need to be more intimate with Shiqi’? And ‘Shiqi is always lenient towards you, in the future you should also be able to soothe her. If Shiqi makes any mistakes, you have to act as an advisor,’ there was also ‘You should discipline each other. Nobody else will be able to stop Shiqi’s stubbornness if not you’ and so on. Qiu Yunping became baffled upon hearing these: Leader, why on earth are you saying these things?
If not for Bai Shiqi’s might and courage, daring to even duel the big criminal of Lianjiang Lake, as well as Qiu Yunping being a man, he would’ve thought that Leader Bai was saying these lines for a prospective son-in-law.
[Basically he is saying that there is no way someone as brave and strong as Bai Shiqi is a woman. Because QYP is still thinking that Shiqi is a man, plus he himself being a man, makes it impossible to be a couple, at least in their era]
Qiu Yunping’s brain felt clogged. He really could not understand. He saw Zhao Wujiu who had stopped outside, and thought that even though he was crippled, his knowledge as someone from the capital must be better than him, so he went to ask: “I have something that I don’t understand.”
When Zhao Wujiu heard about Qiu Yunping’s difficulties, his complexion turned complicated: “So about this matter… what do you think?”
Qiu Yunping looked puzzled: “Leader’s words are somewhat baseless… .” His frowning brows gradually loosened, and he finally thought of a reason: “Could it be… that he was terminally ill and worried about Shiqi, so he entrusted him to me?”
Zhao Wujiu: “Such words… You must not say them in front of the Leader.”
Qiu Yunping: “I understand! Leader Bai is trying to hide it from his wife and child. His good intentions really move people emotionally, how could I expose him?”
Zhao Wujiu: “No. What I think is… if you curse Leader Bai in front of him like that, I’m afraid that he’d beat you to death!” With Bai Zhenting’s strength when he was hitting Bai Shiqi, Qiu Yunping’s body bones might not be able to stand it.
“Brother Zhao, what do you mean?”
Zhao Wujiu’s identity had been revealed in front of the Bai family’s father and son, but Qiu Yunping and most of his servants still did not know about him. He was still regarded as a rich brother who came to Jiangnan from Jing for medical treatment.
“Leader Bai’s health is definitely not the reason. You should think over it again.” Then Zhao Wujiu pushed the wheelchair away from the front door and knocked on the back window of Bai Shiqi’s room.
Bai Zhenting: Picking a stupid son-in-law is making laozi concerned. My heart is tired!
Zhao Wujiu: That was all because of your old man eyes!
Translated by Wook
Edited by sienz
As the pair of master Huang Youbi and his disciple happened to have never left the house today, when a group of people entered carrying Bai Shiqi with a ruckus, it frightened the two of them.
“What’s going on?”
“Young Leader has gotten seriously injured!”
One of the subordinates lifted the quilt, revealing Bai Shiqi whose face had turned sallow with a pair of tightly shut eyes. Huang Youbi had subconsciously held his breath, he let it out, and started raining curses: “Where did he go to cause trouble this time?”
“The young leader didn’t cause any trouble!”
“He didn’t cause trouble but got back with injuries?” Huang Youbi yelled and shooed everyone out: “Everyone get out and guard outside.” Then he turned towards Zhu Shoumei and hesitated: “Are you… staying?”
Zhu Shoumei did not even have the thought of leaving from the beginning as the matter was urgent. Furthermore… it’s not like he did not know about the truth: “Master, let me help you.”
Bai Shiqi was placed on the bed. Zhu Shoumei went outside to prepare decoction, medicine, and hot water. Huang Youbi unfolded the quilt and saw that she was dying from the wounds all over her body, he cursed more fiercely: “Always causing trouble outside. Even when something seems shady, still rushes towards it. Are you still a little child? Despite the severity of the situation, you don’t even regard your little life as important anymore!” He truly wanted to give her a big beating, as to compensate him from wasting so many medicinal ingredients to save her life.
Bai Shiqi had always been an active person. She always woke up early and jumped here and there while running her mouth. Today, she was lying down quietly without any kind of response, which was enough to stop Huang Youbi from cursing further. He untied the belt on her waist and got angry again upon seeing the wound there: “You’re all soaked and got injured so badly. Do you not want to live anymore?!” He fished out a small bottle from his sleeve, opened it and poured a red life-saving pill to feed her with, then he began to treat the wound on her abdomen.
When Shu Changfeng pushed Zhao Wujiu over to Huang Youbi’s courtyard, the place was already packed with many members of the shipping group. All of them craned their necks and looked towards the room in anxiety.
“How is Shiqi?”
“Young Leader is wounded and comatose. Elder Huang is currently inside tending to his wounds.”
Zhao Wujiu hinted at Shu Changfeng to push him towards the door to knock, only to receive an angry voice from the inside: “Knock for what? Quickly come in!’’ Huang Youbi did not know that it was not Zhu Shoumei who had been tasked with boiling the decoction, as the result, when he opened the door, he was immediately annoyed: “Scram!”
His Highness Prince Zhou had never received such a rude scolding in his entire life. Shu Changfeng wanted to defend his master, but Zhao Wujiu tugged his sleeve: “Elder Huang, I got worried because I heard Shiqi is injured, so I came here. Is he… Is he alright?”
He did not know whether it was an illusion, but taking advantage of the time he was speaking, Huang Youbi pulled at the quilt and distractedly wrapped Bai Shiqi’s tightly with it, then in a stern voice, he urged: “He won’t die anytime soon. You should leave now!”
Zhu Shoumei shortly arrived after running all the way saying, “Move away!” with hot decoction in his hand and seeing Zhao Wujiu blocking his way, he was somewhat impolite: “Helmsman Zhao, I’ll have to ask you to get out of the way.”
Zhao Wujiu still insisted on going in, making Huang Youbi furious: “Didn’t I say not to come in?”
They came to a stalemate, but soon, there was movement from Bai Shiqi from the bed. Her voice small, like the sound of a mosquito flying: “Fucking noisy—”
Huang Youbi could not stay angry anymore and hurriedly stepped forward to get her pulse. He felt that the pulse under his hand was slightly stronger than when she was brought in. The gloom on his face finally disappeared, and he cursed again angrily: “You’re still lying here even though you don’t like the noise? Still don’t want to quickly change your clothes?”
He scolded her with his mouth but still gently supported her up. Her luggage was soon handed in by the helpers outside, and hot water was sent in. Huang Youbi walked around anxiously outside, yelling from time to time: “Are you done? Can’t you be faster!”
Shu Changfeng whispered: “Looking at Young Leader Bai’s appearance, he seems like he could fall at any moment. How could he wake up so soon?”
Yu Ang had been following Zhao Wujiu when coming here. In any case, he was also an elder, so he could somewhat guess Huang Youbi’s intention. In a small voice he said: “You may not realize. When I saw Young Leader Bai before, his face looked ghastly, like an arrow at the end of its flight, even breathing seemed hard. Elder Huang looked like he was angry, but in fact, he was only picking fights to keep him sober… .”
[an arrow at the end of its flight: At the end of one’s journey. Basically saying she’s dying.]
Bai Shiqi had always been cheeky towards Huang Youbi. The elder and the youth had always been arguing, and there had been times when he wished he could beat the little girl up. However, this time around, his angry curses sounded panicky. After a cup of tea’s time, there was a loud sound of a copper basin falling to the floor, making everyone outside even more anxious.
[a cup of tea’s time: it’s a bit random actually. I read somewhere saying it’s 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10, and even 15 minutes. This translator will leave it to your imagination appropriately.]
Zhao Wujiu stood up from his wheelchair: “What happened inside?”
Huang Youbi knocked on the door and asked anxiously: “Shiqi… Shiqi? .”
“You still need to ask first?” Zhao Wujiu pushed open the door at once. He held the door frame to take a look, only to see that half a basin of water had been spilled on the ground. Bai Shiqi had changed into a clean set of clothes, but her hand dangled powerlessly from the edge of the bed, with half of her shoulder being out of the bed. Her newly changed clothes were already stained with blood, and she had lost consciousness.
Huang Youbi pushed him away, almost making him fall. He stepped into the room with a cold face, then closed the door.
Fortunately Shu Changfeng was fast, he supported him and sat him back in the wheelchair. His complexion turned cold, and he hatefully muttered: “I didn’t expect the matter about the pirates from the canal would be this severe. What have the officials been doing?”
The victim, Yu Ang, appeared and said: “I’m afraid that the officials have colluded with the pirates since the start.”
Bai Shiqi suffered severe injuries and had lost too much blood. The other wounds on her body were not as severe as the one in her abdomen. Huang Youbi spent a lot of effort to clean up her wounds, apply medicine and bandage them. By the time he was done, she was already having a high fever. Her forehead was terribly hot, and she was unconscious.
Fortunately, Zhu Shoumei had made decoctions earlier. He warmed it up and fed her one spoon at a time. Luckily she could still swallow it.
Zhao Wujiu was sitting on one side and staring at Zhu Shoumei while he skillfully fed the medicine with a concerned expression. From time to time he’d also touched her forehead, he felt upset seeing the interaction.
Zhao Ziheng rushed in from the outside, yelling all the way: “How is Shiqi?”
Bai Shiqi accompanied him when they first arrived in Baoying. However, when Bai Shiqi went out to do errands, he became bored, so he went to the street to have fun by himself. He quickly met one, two, and then three local youths. Everyone grouped together and they went anywhere that contained entertainment. Which place had the ladies with the best musical skills, which restaurant had the best wine and food, which banquet had the best cakes. Within a month, they had gone through every store, and he made a promise with everyone: “Wait for my good brother to come back! I’ll introduce him to everyone. He’s the best at playing around, when the time comes, everyone will surely enjoy themselves to the fullest!”
As it turns out, when he arrived at the gate today, he heard that Bai Shiqi was seriously injured. It scared the living daylights out of him. All the good wine banquets had to be postponed, and he rushed in with bitter feelings, only to find that Bai Shiqi couldn’t even make a sound, which made him anxious at once: “What’s going on? When will he wake up?”
Huang Youbi was holding a mortar and pestle at the table, and his beard flared in anger: “Shut your mouth! If you make any more noise, I’ll kick you out!”
He was an old man with a violent personality, even more so at the moment as he was feeling upset because of Bai Shiqi, who was still lying in bed. Upon seeing someone who is not pleasing to his eyes, he cursed at him even more rudely: “A servant who muddles along outside every single day and even dressed more lavishly than their master. If nobody knows, people will think you are the master!”
Zhao Ziheng had just gone back from meeting with his friends, so he had dressed up nicely. Normally he would avoid Huang Youbi, however, since he came back in a hurry today, he did not have the time to go back to change his clothes. He had been caught red-handedly and had received a nasty scolding. However, the child apparently had a good temper: “Yes, yes, yes. The esteemed elder’s teaching is right. This small one will surely change later. However, could Elder please let me know… How is Young Leader Bai’s condition right now?”
Because of his concern for Bai Shiqi, Huang Youbi’s attitude improved: “With this old man here, he won’t die for the time being.”
Some people from the shipping group sent a letter back to Suzhou to inform Bai Zhenting and his wife. Bai Shiqi was still lying in the bed unconscious. Huang Youbi went to study some prescriptions. Zhao Wujiu and Zhu Shoumei stayed in the room to take care of her. Zhao Ziheng could not sit still, so he went outside to inquire about the cause of Bai Shiqi’s injuries from the people of the shipping group.
“He was fine when he left, why did he return with wounds like this?”
There were members who knew a little bit about the ins and outs, and together, they completed the whole situation.
“Brother Zhao wouldn’t know this. Qiu Ying was a playmate who accompanied the young leader since he was a child. At the beginning, the young leader picked five people. Qiu Ying was the youngest, and the young leader went the best with him. He was obedient to the young leader. If Qiu Ying were a woman, he must have been married to the young leader already… Unfortunately, not even his body was left… .”
“In order to track down the murderer, Young Leader has been running around the past few years and eliminated dozens of pirates. It was once rumored that our family’s young leader had lost his mind and was robbing the government of their work… .”
“You wouldn’t know this as well. The Young Leader never even changed his expression while he killed those pirates… .”
“He must’ve wanted to personally avenge Qiu Ying so he could rest in peace. It could be considered his biggest wish of all time… .”
“… …”
Those voices were passed into the room through the window, making Zhu Shoumei smile bitterly: “Sure enough, it’s for Qiu Ying again!” Then he changed the topic: “Does Helmsman Zhao know Qiu Ying?”
This is the first time Zhao Wujiu heard of this name: “I’ve never heard about him before.”
Zhu Shoumei spoke to him to pass time: “Qiu Ying was one of Shiqi’s five playmates. It is not an exaggeration to say that he was very handsome. His mother was a well-known beauty before she got disfigured, while his father was also a member of the shipping group. Unfortunately, they both died early, so he was raised under Helmsman Qian’s care ever since then. That year, Helmsman Qian brought him to Suzhou to pay their respects to Leader Bai. He was spotted by Bai Shiqi, and they played together for several days. After that he stayed behind as his playmate.”
Zhao Wujiu always felt that there was a hidden meaning behind his words: “What does Physician Zhu mean by saying this?”
“I didn’t mean anything, this is just a casual conversation.” One couldn’t find out what he was thinking about, he suddenly laughed to himself: “Fortunately Shiqi is also a man. If any of them were a woman, they might’ve been married already.”
Zhao Wujiu: “… …”
Zhuo Shoumei: “As I said, it’s just a joke.”
Bai Shiqi was in a coma for three days. Only when Bai Zhenting and his wife rushed over from Suzhou after receiving the news did she slowly wake up amidst Su shi’s crying. When she opened her eyes, she found Su shi sitting on the side of her bed, with her eyes swollen like a peach. When the eyes of the mother and son met, Su shi immediately cried loudly: “You evil creature! Do you want your father’s and my life? Scaring us like that!”
With the arrival of the leader, all the members who followed her to clean up the river that day were detained for interrogation. Bystanders Zhao Wujiu and Yu Ang, and even Miss Song Si and Qiu Yunping attended the meeting to hear about Bai Shiqi’s heroic deeds.
Bai Zhenting hated that he could not find a rod to break her legs to stop her from going out to fight with others. In the end she had seized the big criminal who had been wanted by the Coastal Guard. Do they want our people to deal with the criminals on land too now?
“Bastard thing! He never thinks first before doing something. Does he hate the idea of living a long life?” Before Bai Zhenting could finish his curses, he was hit by Su shi in front of everyone: “Are you cursing my child?” as she burst into tears.
Bai Zhenting hurriedly coaxed his wife to return back to the room and guard Bai Shiqi. Miss Song Si was pale, knitting her eyebrows and was on the verge of collapsing. She was then supported by Zhen’er: “Miss, what’s wrong?”
Qiu Yunping came closer and said with concern: “I think she got scared from hearing about those criminals. Why don’t I send Miss Si back first, and ask the physician to prescribe medicine to stop the nausea?”
Song Si shook her head firmly: “I just feel a little uncomfortable, I’ll feel better once I get some fresh air. Master is still asleep, I want to stay and wait for him.”
Zhen’er supported her to get some fresh air, while Qiu Yunping looked into the distance in disappointment. He sighed, feeling upset from the bottom of his heart.
Bai Shiqi had an astonishing ability to recover quickly. After waking up, although she couldn’t go out and mess around immediately, she could still yell in bed, asking for fat chickens and plump ducks: “I feel like my empty stomach has become a bottomless pit, and I should be able to fill it with fifteen fat chickens or ducks.” She was so hungry she could barely move.
Su shi poked her forehead: “You’re a devil! Are you satisfied now? Huang Youbi said that the injury in your abdomen has hurt your internal organs, so you can’t eat meat for the time being. You can’t even eat plain congee. Just bear with it for a while.”
Even while lying down, Bai Shiqi felt weak in her limbs. She felt flustered and almost cried upon hearing the bad news: “This must be Old Man Huang’s idea, right? I didn’t die at Xiang Ye’s hands, so now he wants to starve me to death?”
“What is this talk about death?!” Su shi wanted to wipe her tears again: “If you talk about these unlucky words again, see if I don’t beat you!”
Bai Shiqi guessed that she must’ve been frightened and wouldn’t be able to calm down for a while. So she urged the servant girl to help her to rest: “I’m fine, mum. Why don’t you go and rest for a while? Ying’er, go back and get a warm kerchief for my mother’s eyes.” She coaxed her to leave.
The personal momos brought by Su shi guarded the door personally, not letting people come in to see the patient easily, saying that the young leader needed to recuperate.
[momo: Old maid servants.]
Miss Song Si wanted to enter so she would be able to serve, but she was persuaded by the two momos to return; Zhao Wujiu also came, only to be stopped at the door. Only Zhu Shoumei, who came to deliver the medicine, was allowed to enter. There was also Qiu Yunping, who had been given special permission to enter by Bai Zhenting. However, even after three rounds of walking outside, he still did not dare to come in. He had a feeling that there was some kind of a trap waiting for him inside.
He was afraid.
The reason for this was that the words that the leader had spoken were too strange. What ‘you need to be more intimate with Shiqi’? And ‘Shiqi is always lenient towards you, in the future you should also be able to soothe her. If Shiqi makes any mistakes, you have to act as an advisor,’ there was also ‘You should discipline each other. Nobody else will be able to stop Shiqi’s stubbornness if not you’ and so on. Qiu Yunping became baffled upon hearing these: Leader, why on earth are you saying these things?
If not for Bai Shiqi’s might and courage, daring to even duel the big criminal of Lianjiang Lake, as well as Qiu Yunping being a man, he would’ve thought that Leader Bai was saying these lines for a prospective son-in-law.
[Basically he is saying that there is no way someone as brave and strong as Bai Shiqi is a woman. Because QYP is still thinking that Shiqi is a man, plus he himself being a man, makes it impossible to be a couple, at least in their era]
Qiu Yunping’s brain felt clogged. He really could not understand. He saw Zhao Wujiu who had stopped outside, and thought that even though he was crippled, his knowledge as someone from the capital must be better than him, so he went to ask: “I have something that I don’t understand.”
When Zhao Wujiu heard about Qiu Yunping’s difficulties, his complexion turned complicated: “So about this matter… what do you think?”
Qiu Yunping looked puzzled: “Leader’s words are somewhat baseless… .” His frowning brows gradually loosened, and he finally thought of a reason: “Could it be… that he was terminally ill and worried about Shiqi, so he entrusted him to me?”
Zhao Wujiu: “Such words… You must not say them in front of the Leader.”
Qiu Yunping: “I understand! Leader Bai is trying to hide it from his wife and child. His good intentions really move people emotionally, how could I expose him?”
Zhao Wujiu: “No. What I think is… if you curse Leader Bai in front of him like that, I’m afraid that he’d beat you to death!” With Bai Zhenting’s strength when he was hitting Bai Shiqi, Qiu Yunping’s body bones might not be able to stand it.
“Brother Zhao, what do you mean?”
Zhao Wujiu’s identity had been revealed in front of the Bai family’s father and son, but Qiu Yunping and most of his servants still did not know about him. He was still regarded as a rich brother who came to Jiangnan from Jing for medical treatment.
“Leader Bai’s health is definitely not the reason. You should think over it again.” Then Zhao Wujiu pushed the wheelchair away from the front door and knocked on the back window of Bai Shiqi’s room.
Bai Zhenting: Picking a stupid son-in-law is making laozi concerned. My heart is tired!
Zhao Wujiu: That was all because of your old man eyes!
