Chapter 29 Chapter 29 "...Jiu Niang?"

Ever since he came back from outside the city that day, Lu Chen's demeanor became colder and colder day by day. Nan Heng followed him closely, not daring to breathe. It was not until the spies he sent out found some clues that he breathed a sigh of relief and immediately came to report the news to Lu Chen.

"My dear, on the day of the incident, we screened out four suspicious canal boats. One went west to the Cai River, one went east to Guangji, and two went south to the Bian River. Carrier pigeons have come back from the Cai River and Guangji directions, saying that they have searched all the boats but can't find any sign of the lady. They have also asked at several ferries along the way, but no one who resembles the lady has been seen getting off the boat.

But the two cannon boats heading south were sailing with the wind, covering over 200 miles a day. They were so fast that the people sent out hadn't caught up yet."

Lu Chen's expression was calm as he nodded calmly. "Gather the troops from the east and west routes and disperse them directly to the major ferry crossings along the southbound canal. Report back immediately if you have any news. Remember, do not act rashly."

"yes."

Nan Heng took the order and left. Silence returned to the surroundings. Bright sunlight streamed through the latticed windows, casting a bright beam of light on the desk. Countless fine dust particles tumbled up and down in the light, making the room seem even emptier.

Half of Lu Chen's body was immersed in the magnificent waterfall of light. In the half-light and half-darkness, his features became increasingly difficult to discern.

In the past few days, he always felt dazed and often had the illusion that she had never left. Until at night, when he woke up from his dreams again and again, he instinctively reached out to his side, but again and again he touched nothing and felt something cold. Only then did he suddenly realize that she had left quietly for several days.

The green gauze bed curtains were replaced a few days ago. She picked out the style at the embroidery workshop in the west of the city. She said that since summer was approaching, she wanted to change to a cooler color. The plum vase on the table still contained the flower arrangements she had made, and the chest of drawers also contained the jackets and skirts she usually wore. If she sniffed them gently, she could smell a faint fragrance.

The whole house was filled with the atmosphere of her life. The various utensils and daily necessities displayed were purchased and selected by them when they first arrived in Beijing at Zhouqiao. They added to this new home bit by bit according to her preferences.

But now, she doesn't want anything anymore, and leaves without any regrets.

Why on earth?

He thought he was not a soft-hearted person. He had given all his sincerity to her and would not tolerate any more from others.

He had only ever dealt with the Xu girl, never truly feeling anything. He hadn't even felt a ripple in his heart. He only wanted his sister, only wanted to be with her forever, to love her deeply. He could have given her an explanation just by waiting two more days. Why had she gone to this point? How could she be so decisive?

He couldn't understand it, he didn't understand!

Then he thought of the child he had never met, and a dull pain like a piercing pain in his heart and liver was felt again, as if a piece of flesh and blood in his body was being gouged out alive. Lu Chen was so angry that his teeth were about to break. He closed his eyes and didn't want to think about it anymore, nor did he dare to think about it anymore.

They met when they were young and depended on each other for survival. It was not a blind marriage nor was it arranged by their parents. They just got married because they were truly in love with each other. The love and joy they felt were pure. There was no one else in the world who could make him feel so painful. Only he and Ji Ji, only her.

He must find her and ask her what kind of heart she had to abandon their own flesh and blood and him.

**

Zhe Rou woke up in a completely unfamiliar cabin.

She squinted her eyes and looked at the surrounding environment. She glanced at the corner not far away where there were some miscellaneous items and a few old boxes. There was a layer of dust on the wooden boards. It looked like an unused warehouse that was temporarily used to store people.

The clothes that were soaked with river water had been half-dried by her body temperature, and were sticking to her body with moisture. She looked down and saw that someone had wrapped her in an old linen garment. Judging from the shape and color, it should be a man's outer robe.

Zhe Rou's heart suddenly sank, and she opened her eyes wide in panic. Where was she? Had she been taken to a den of thieves?

“Mrs. Shen, are you awake?”

When Ye Yian saw her wake up, his eyes suddenly brightened. He hurried to the small stove next to him to get a ceramic bowl and handed it to her carefully.

"Even in the height of summer, if you fall into the water, you should drink ginger soup."

Zhe Rou smiled, thanked him softly, and reached out to take the ginger soup. "Did you save me, sir? I wonder where this is?"

"It's not me," Ye Yian hurriedly shook his head and explained, "Yes, it's an official ship, it's fine now."

Zhe Rou felt relieved, and then she saw that behind her, there were a few people lying in the cabin, both men and women, all in a dishevel, some with blood on their bodies. It was obvious that they were all passengers who had escaped the knife of the pirates by chance, just like her.

Ye Yian was not good at speaking, so he had some difficulty in explaining the details. However, Zhe Rou roughly understood what he said. It turned out that they were lucky because they happened to meet a government ship chasing the bandits and they were rescued along the way.

He finally finished explaining the whole process haltingly. He thought she would be anxious, but Zhe Rou listened attentively, her eyes clear and gentle, without a trace of impatience on her face.

Ye Yian was a little embarrassed for a moment, his ears slightly red, and he said self-deprecatingly: "I am in this state, and I still want to take the imperial examination. I am ashamed of you."

Zhe Rou smiled and said in a gentle voice, "Mr. Ye is a gentleman. The most precious thing about him is his gentlemanly conduct. The verbal incident is minor and can be made up for later."

Ye Yian's neck flushed, and he nodded hurriedly. Zhe Rou took a few sips of the ginger soup, and her stomach gradually warmed up. Just as she was about to put the bowl back, she saw a figure swaying at the door. A young man dressed as a guard bent over and entered the cabin.

Zhe Rou had only casually glanced at him, but the moment she saw the man's face clearly, she was stunned, and her heart began to beat rapidly.

She knew this person.

If I remember correctly, his name is Zhou Xiao, and he is Xie Yunzhou's capable bodyguard.

Since he is here, Xie Yunzhou must be on this boat as well.

It’s hard to tell whether this is a coincidence or not.

Zhou Xiao had met her twice before and didn't know if he could recognize her. Subconsciously, Zhe Rou lowered her head slightly, her eyelashes drooping, trying to avoid eye contact with him.

Xie Yunzhou must not know her whereabouts, otherwise Lu Chen will not be able to hide it.

She was too familiar with Lu Chen's temper. Once he found some clues, he would not let go easily.

Fortunately, Zhou Xiao seemed a little anxious and didn't pay much attention to the situation in the cabin. He just said to everyone, "We have urgent matters to attend to, so we can only give you a ride. The next ferry is Suzhou. After you get off the boat, you will find your own way. Remember this?"

After Zhou Xiao finished speaking, he swept his eyes around the crowd again. Zhe Rou was slightly tilted to one side, her hair was disheveled, covering half of her face, and she looked disheveled because she fell into the water. She was not eye-catching among the other passengers, so Zhou Xiao's gaze just passed by without lingering.

Zhe Rou secretly breathed a sigh of relief and thought about a more pressing matter.

All her gold and silver jewelry were left on the canal boat. After getting off the ferry, she needed to find a way to earn some money.

Ye Yian seemed to have thought of this as well, and turned to look at Zhe Rou: "Madam Shen, if you don't mind, how about coming to my pharmacy and being a doctor?"

Zhou Xiao was about to leave the cabin, but upon hearing this, he suddenly stopped, looked back at Ye Yian, then looked at Zhe Rou, and asked in a deep voice, "Do you know medicine?"

When their eyes met, Zhe Rou's heart suddenly hung in the air, but before she could deny it, Ye Yian beside her had already nodded honestly.

Zhou Xiao's expression changed instantly. He stepped forward quickly and asked, "My son has been injured and has a high fever. He is unconscious. Can you treat him?"

Seeing his undisguised anxious look, Zhe Rou was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but struggle in her heart.

Of course, she didn't want to meet Xie Yunzhou, and she didn't want to reveal any of his whereabouts. But seeing Zhou Xiao's attitude, she would ask any doctor she met on the street. She was afraid that Xie Yunzhou was seriously injured, and the guards around him had begun to try all kinds of medical treatments.

After hesitating for a while, Zhe Rou still couldn't bear it and replied cautiously, "I can try, but I need to wear a coat."

Zhou Xiao frowned in surprise: "Wearing a mask?"

Zhe Rou nodded and said calmly, "To be honest, I am a widow, and there is a difference between men and women, so I tried to cover myself up to avoid offending you."

Although Zhou Xiao didn't care much about these things, since it was related to her husband after all, there was no harm in being more cautious. Moreover, as personal bodyguards, they naturally carried things like face clothes with them, which were not rare. So she immediately agreed and asked someone to get her a clean one.

Zhe Rou washed her face with clean water, tied her hair into a bun again, put on her coat, and followed Zhou Xiao to the cabin where Xie Yunzhou was.

As soon as I entered the cabin, I smelled a strong scent of healing medicine mixed with a hint of blood.

Xie Yunzhou lay on the couch with his eyes closed, his clothes open, revealing his injured left arm wrapped in several layers of fine cloth, with faint traces of blood seeping through it.

Zhe Rou walked closer and saw that his lips were pale, his breathing was slightly rapid, and his cheeks were abnormally flushed. It was obvious that he had a high fever.

When I unwrapped the bandage, I saw that the wound was red and swollen. No wonder the high fever didn't go away.

"How long has he been injured?"

"Yesterday morning, the young master was accidentally struck by a hidden arrow from pirates. He thought it was just a flesh wound, but unexpectedly, it caught fire by evening. The young master was anxious to hunt down the pirates, so he just gritted his teeth and endured it."

Zhe Rou turned to look at Zhou Xiao, "Do you have any Ma Fei Powder on board? The arrow was stained with something unclean, and his wound has become swollen. It needs to be cleaned and rebandaged as soon as possible."

Hearing this, Zhou Xiao's expression changed. "These pirates are particularly fierce. Many of our brothers were injured last night. I'm afraid there's not much Ma Fei San left."

Zhe Rou frowned slightly, "Your young master's injury cannot be delayed, so let's just take what we have."

Zhou Xiao quickly responded and turned to send someone to get it, but Zhe Rou stopped him again, "I need a clean piece of fine cloth. Boil it twice in boiling water and give it to me."

Zhou Xiao nodded and left in a hurry.

After feeding Xie Yunzhou the remaining half bowl of Ma Fei San, and waiting for the effect of the medicine to take effect, Zhe Rou used fire to ignite the blade and began to clean his wound.

A strong smell of blood gradually filled the cabin. Zhe Rou looked calm and his movements were steady, but he was quite nervous. A thin layer of sweat gradually appeared on his forehead. Soon, his clothes, which had not yet dried, were soaked with sweat and stuck to his body.

It was too tiring, and he was also afraid that the Ma Fei San would not be effective enough, and Xie Yunzhou would wake up in pain and recognize him.

She really didn't want to cause any trouble.

Fortunately, everything went well. He applied the gold wound medicine again and fed him a few ginseng pills. However, Xie Yunzhou remained drowsy and never woke up.

But after all, she was a doctor he found along the way. As long as Xie Yunzhou did not get better, Zhou Xiao did not dare to let her leave easily. He waited until noon. Zhe Rou reached out and tested the temperature on Xie Yunzhou's forehead. She found that the fever had shown signs of subsiding, and she felt relieved.

She turned to look at Zhou Xiao and smiled, "Your young master's fever has subsided, and his life is no longer in danger. However, his injuries are serious, and it is not advisable for him to travel any further. He needs to find a safe place to stay as soon as possible and take medicine to recuperate."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xiao hurried forward to check and found that the fever had indeed subsided.

He was immediately overjoyed and nodded in agreement, crossing his arms in greeting, and said gratefully, "Thank you very much, madam, for your wonderful hands. I wonder where you live. When you are safe, our family will surely reward you handsomely."

"You saved me first, and I'm just repaying you."

Zhe Rou shook her head and smiled, then glanced at the person on the couch. Zhou Xiao didn't recognize her, and Xie Yunzhou wasn't awake yet, so this was just right.

She didn't stay any longer and told Zhou Xiao a few things to be careful of before leaving.

However, just as she walked out of the cabin, she suddenly heard Zhou Xiao's scream behind her.

"Young Master!"

Zhe Rou was stunned for a moment, and before she could turn around, her wrist was grasped by a hot and large palm.

"...Jiu Niang?" The voice was low, weak, and tentative.

She froze in place for a moment.

Xie Yunzhou had just woken up from a coma, and in a trance he saw a familiar slender figure.

Like... like Jiu Niang?

Xie Yunzhou's mind was in a daze when this idea suddenly came to his mind. He couldn't help laughing at himself. He thought that he had been thinking about it day and night and had such a beautiful dream.

She should be in Beijing at this time, why is she here?

He was probably confused because of the fever.

Next time I'll have to ask the doctor to add some tranquilizers.

But as he saw the figure about to walk out the door and turn around to disappear into the sky, Xie Yunzhou's heart inexplicably tightened. Without time to think, he struggled to get up from the bed, but his legs gave out and he almost fell to his knees.

He held onto the table and cabinet beside him, gritted his teeth to steady himself, took a few steps to catch up, grabbed Zhe Rou's wrist, and called out tentatively.

"...Jiu Niang?"