Extra Chapter 4: Su Qingfan: Trickle Returns to the Sea

Su Qingfan remembered it very clearly.

On the day my father passed away, those people gathered around before the incense in the mourning hall had even cooled down.

Although she was young at the time, she understood what they meant.

They wanted to devour her, along with the shipping business her father had painstakingly built over the years, chew her up and swallow her, leaving not even a bone behind. She tried to resist, but her tender arms couldn't push away those greedy hearts.

More than a dozen large ships left by her father disappeared one after another. She couldn't even figure out who did it. She only knew that the berths belonging to the Su family in Mingzhou Port were becoming emptier and emptier.

In the end, apart from a few dozen old friends who were nostalgic for the past, all she had left were a few dilapidated boats that were about to fall apart.

What could she do? She stared blankly at the icy river at night.

In this world, it is common for an orphan girl to be unable to keep her family business.

She thought about it for several days and nights, and finally gritted her teeth, took those old friends with her, and sailed those broken boats, going through wind and rain to earn a hard-earned living and to show her unwillingness to admit defeat.

The days passed like this until one afternoon when she was sixteen years old.

A clerk from the Mingzhou government office came to the door and said, "Miss Su, the government has recovered your boat. Could you please go to the dock and check its size?"

"Are you back?" Su Qingfan stood there in a daze, almost thinking that he had misheard.

The clerk smiled apologetically and lowered his voice, "Her Royal Highness Princess Mingzhu has arrived in Mingzhou and has acted decisively, investigating and handling quite a few cases... ahem, anyway, Her Royal Highness has issued an order that all private property embezzled and misappropriated must be returned!"

She followed him to the dock in a daze.

When she saw the dozen or so familiar large ships quietly docked at the shore, with their masts towering and their sails and cables neatly arranged, as if they had just returned from a long voyage, she stood on the embankment, the river breeze making her clothes flutter, but she felt as if nailed there, and a strong trance came over her.

Not a dream.

The smell of tung oil on the hull and the guys' shouts of surprise were all real.

That night, she sat on the deck of the largest ship for a long time, looking at the broken moon in the middle of the river and listening to the waves hitting the side of the boat.

The next morning, she packed her things and went straight to meet the legendary Princess Mingzhu.

She knelt in the hall, raised her head, and her eyes were clear and firm: "I, Su Qingfan, am willing to give my life and property, as well as all the crew members under my command, to Your Highness the Princess. From now on, I will jump onto Your Highness's ship and will remain with you forever, regardless of life or death."

Ning Lingyi looked at her and said, "Following me, the road ahead may not be smooth. It may even be more dangerous than sailing on the river. Have you thought it through?"

Su Qingfan thought of every storm and every hidden reef she had encountered during her voyage over the years, and the scene of loss and recovery at the dock yesterday. She kowtowed deeply, "I have made up my mind. Your Highness has given me a way out, and I am willing to steer the ship for you, even if it means going through fire and water."

In this way, she became the second minister under Ning Lingyi after Shen Qingyan.

She originally thought that from then on they would be master and servant, and she just had to do her duty and follow orders. However, Ning Lingyi treated her very differently from ordinary superiors.

She would discuss the canal transport routes with her, listen to her stories about the waterways, and in between busy times, ask her "Are you tired?" Unconsciously, her respect was mixed with a bit of frankness between friends.

She began accompanying Ning Lingyi on the Northern Expedition, securing food and fodder and stabilizing the rear. Following Ning Lingyi's arrival in the capital, she managed general affairs and smoothed out connections. When Ning Lingyi was fighting on the front lines, she became the busiest messenger and logistics officer, shuttling between key land and water routes, delivering a steady stream of food, fodder, weapons, and intelligence to where it was needed.

Everything she did was what Ning Lingyi wanted her to do, and it was also what she was willing to do.

After doing it for a long time and meeting more people, she gradually discovered something very important.

She discovered that her talents were actually very ordinary.

In terms of cunning and strategy, she was far inferior to Shen Qingyan; in terms of uprightness, courage and innovation, she was not as good as Nong Zishi; even Chen Zhiwei, who emerged later, was far beyond her reach in terms of talent in mathematics and economics.

She never thought that one day she would stand at the top of this empire.

Her original dream was to keep the shipping company left by her father and become a shipping merchant leader with a say in Mingzhou Port.

It was Ning Lingyi who promoted her to this position, but she seemed to have nothing.

She has nothing but loyalty and hard work.

So, she became the person who was most willing to work hard under Ning Lingyi.

For every grain transfer, from collection, loading, escort to storage, she must be present on site to verify the quantity and supervise the progress; she repeatedly deduces every route for material allocation, striving to minimize losses and maximize efficiency.

Behind every troop movement by Ning Lingyi, there must be a supply line that she worked hard to ensure.

In this way, relying on her loyalty and diligence, she rose step by step in her official position.

Minister of Military Affairs, Shangshu, Cabinet, Second Assistant...

She is like a steadily sailing ship. Although she does not encounter any stormy waves, she always follows the set course and never deviates.

In the 20th year of Taichu, when she received the imperial edict appointing her as the chief minister, she was still in a trance.

She almost immediately went to see Ning Lingyi, her face filled with obvious confusion. "Your Majesty, I... am incompetent and lacking in knowledge. I'm afraid I can't handle the important task of being the Prime Minister."

Ning Lingyi raised her head from behind the imperial desk and looked at her with amusement, "Qingfan, you've been in the cabinet for twenty years, and have served as Deputy Minister for ten. You've handled countless government affairs, and the operation of the central government largely depends on you."

"Why don't you dare stand on the crest of the waves and control the wind and clouds?"

Su Qingfan was stunned, and then he realized that he had walked so far and stood so high without realizing it.

She spent the next few years in fear and hard work.

In a court dominated by men, a female prime minister needs to work ten times harder to win respect and truly enforce orders.

She did it.

She sorted out the veins of this vast empire just as she sorted out the canal transport routes in the past.

Until Ning Lingyi passed away, she suppressed her grief and joined forces with Wang Mengzi and others to stabilize the situation in the capital, assisted the Crown Princess Ning Lingyao to ascend the throne smoothly, and watched the Taichu Dynasty smoothly transition to a new era name.

She was like a magic needle that stabilized the sea, supporting the country that she and Ning Lingyi protected together in times of storm.

In the fifth year of Taihe, the autumn light was clear, just like the sky she saw at the Mingzhou Wharf when she was sixteen.

Su Qingfan, who is over sixty years old, submitted his resignation again.

The moment she walked out of the palace gate, she looked back at the numerous palaces.

In this life, she should have been destined to be a boat girl struggling to support the family business and eventually disappear in the world, but by some strange coincidence, she experienced the ups and downs of the court, became a high-ranking official, and enjoyed special honors.

She had nothing but His Majesty's trust. She believed she could do it well, and she did.

It’s not easy, it’s such a storm.

She seemed to feel the river breeze on her face, bringing with it distant moisture. It was time for her to return to the boat.

She was originally a boat girl.

She turned around and said, "Your Majesty, this journey of thousands of miles has been a journey that has lived up to your trust."