After more than a month of sea voyage, the passenger ship finally arrived at the Port of London in mid-June.
Shen Qing got up early to wash up, packed his things, and was ready to disembark at any time.
She went to the next room and saw Cheng Zhiwen dressed up, sitting by the living room window, reading a newspaper and drinking coffee.
He no longer looked sickly as he had a few days ago.
Shen Qing went to say goodbye to him: "I will disembark in London. Once the business is settled, I will return to Shanghai. Remember what I said."
She still wanted to give him one last chance, hoping he could abandon the wrong path and return to the right one.
Cheng Zhiwen didn't say anything, but just glanced at her indifferently and nodded with her chin at the seat opposite her: "Sit down, let's have breakfast together before we get off the ship."
Shen Qing felt that he didn't take her words seriously at all. She was a little disappointed and thought that if Cheng Zhiwen insisted on going down that path, then there was nothing more for her and him to say.
"No, I've already eaten. I'm about to disembark."
She glanced at him one last time, then turned and left.
He Fei looked at her and said softly, "Goodbye, Boss Shen."
Jiang Shen nodded to her, his expression unusually friendly.
She took great care of Cheng Zhiwen during this time. Without her care, Cheng Zhiwen would not have recovered so quickly. Jiang Shen saw all of this and his prejudice against her was not so deep anymore.
Shen Qing returned to her room and sat by the window to wait. Seeing that the boat was moving slower and slower, she knew that it was about to dock, so she quickly picked up her suitcase and prepared.
"Ring ring..."
The bell rang, signaling that it was time to disembark. She picked up her suitcase, left her room, and followed the crowd down the stairs she had come from.
With so many people around, she became a little nervous. Her hand instinctively touched her hair bun, only to realize that the hairpin knife was gone. It had been confiscated by Cheng Zhiwen after her failed assassination attempt.
Shen Qing pressed her hand to her chest, which was pounding with anxiety.
Having been in this world for almost a year, she had long since grown accustomed to having her hairpin and dagger with her whenever she went out. Without them, she felt uneasy, as if something had been lost.
The hairpin knife is definitely still in Cheng Zhiwen's hands. She has to go and get it back from him. Otherwise, there are still many dangers on her way to England. She can't go without something to protect herself.
Thinking of this, she immediately turned around, went up the stairs, and returned to first class.
Two young men in suits then turned around with her.
She didn't notice as she rushed to Cheng Zhiwen's room and bumped into him as he was about to leave.
"My hairpin knife!" she gasped, clutching her chest. "Give me back my hairpin knife!"
Cheng Zhiwen raised an eyebrow and curled her lips into a smile: "That was the murder weapon you used to kill me, how can I return it to you?"
She said anxiously, "If you don't give it to me, what if I encounter danger on my way to England?"
"Now you realize it's dangerous to go to England alone? Why didn't you think of that sooner?"
Speechless, Shen Qing decided to play the rogue, wrapping her arm around his lower back, pressing her fingers against the wound on his back, and threateningly saying, "Are you going to give it to me or not? If you don't, I won't be polite!"
With a "pia" sound, Cheng Zhiwen slapped her hard, and she recoiled in pain.
Cheng Zhiwen smiled and walked forward: "If you want the hairpin knife, come with me."
Shen Qing roared angrily, "Hey! Are you going to give it to me or not?!"
He Fei stepped forward and eagerly took her suitcase: "Ms. Shen, let me help you with this!"
Shen Qing quickly gave it to him, then caught up with Cheng Zhiwen and pestered him for the hairpin knife.
In the brief moment of confusion, they missed the opportunity to disembark first class. As they descended the stairs from the top floor, even passengers from Class D were already disembarking.
Shen Qing knew they were from cabin D because they were all dressed the same—in coarse cotton clothes, thin as a rake, and some were even in tattered clothes.
These are all Chinese laborers who crossed the ocean to work in Britain; they must have boarded the ship in Guangzhou.
Everyone wore the same numb and indifferent expression, being herded off the ship like piglets by the labor foreman.
Shen Qing had read about this scene in history books, but seeing it with his own eyes was still a shock.
But when I think about how these people's descendants, through hard work, eventually gained a foothold in foreign lands and lived and worked in peace, I feel a little comforted.
Behind him, He Fei casually said to Jiang Shen, "Everyone thinks life is better abroad, but it's actually worse!"
Jiang Shen glanced at the labor foreman wielding the whip and said in a low voice, "Some were sold here, and some were tricked."
Shen Qing heard this and turned around to look at it again.
Upon closer inspection, she noticed a long line of girls following behind, estimated to be twenty or thirty.
Some of them were older, around eighteen or nineteen years old, dressed maturely, and had a worldly air about them; these were probably going abroad to work as prostitutes.
Most of them were little girls who looked to be only five or six years old, or seven or eight years old. If you counted carefully, there were more than twenty of them.
Shen Qing was shocked. What kind of job could such a young girl do in England?
With a bad feeling in her heart, she leaned close to Cheng Zhiwen and whispered, "There are more than twenty girls under the age of ten behind us. What are they going to do in England if they are so young?"
Cheng Zhiwen glanced back, gritted her teeth, and said, "They are pig flowers."
"Pig flower?" Shen Qing asked in surprise, "What is pig flower?"
"Among the Chinese girls who were trafficked overseas, some were sold at high prices to foreigners and Chinese laborers as female slaves, while others became prostitutes."
Shen Qing's eyes widened, and he growled, "How could you do this?"
Cheng Zhiwen continued, "Due to the inaction of the Qing government, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of girls have been sold overseas as slaves over the years."
Shen Qing clenched her fists.
Cheng Zhiwen walked forward slowly, a mocking smile playing on her lips: "So, you still want to persuade me to pledge allegiance to the Qing court?"
Shen Qing bit her lip: "I don't have time to argue with you about your ideals right now. I want to save those girls!"
She is a woman, and although she is not a mother, she has Sulan. She cannot watch these girls, who are about the same age as Sulan, be sold overseas, bleed and weep, and suffer both mental and physical torment!
With tears in her eyes, she turned around and was about to walk towards the girls when Jiang Shen blocked her way.
Jiang Shen warned her in a low voice, "What are you doing? This is British territory, not Shanghai or Jiangzhou!"
Shen Qing bit her lip and insisted, "I must save them!"
She looked at Cheng Zhiwen with tears in her eyes, grasping his hands tightly: "Cheng Zhiwen, I know you have a way, I beg you to save them!"
Cheng Zhiwen gritted his teeth and glanced behind him, seemingly assessing the situation.
Shen Qing stared at him nervously.
He turned around, looked down at her, his eyes, hidden beneath his hat, were dark and unfathomable.
"I can save those girls, but I have one condition."
Shen Qing asked urgently, "What are the conditions? Tell me!"
Jiang Shen stepped forward to stop Cheng Zhiwen, and whispered, "Mr. Cheng, we don't have enough people, it's best not to..."
Cheng Zhiwen raised her hand, indicating that he didn't need to continue.
Jiang Shen immediately fell silent.
Cheng Zhiwen looked back at Shen Qing, who looked nervous, leaned down, and whispered in her ear in a voice only the two of them could hear:
"If you want me to save them, I can... but you have to give me yourself."
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