On the fortieth day of the search at sea, Zhao Mingyue found Zhou Erfu, Zhou Sifu, and Prince Huicheng on a tiny island. This made him very happy and more convinced that the princess and the others were also alive.
“What? The four of us are the first group you found? We are so lucky,” Zhou Erfu exclaimed, then his expression suddenly changed. “So you haven’t found Xingxing and the others yet? The original island seems to have been broken into many small pieces. When the earthquake occurred at sea, the four of us were trapped in a deep pit, so we didn’t see anyone else. Luckily you found us.”
"It was just a coincidence. We had been searching around the original island for a while. If we hadn't found you today, everyone would have lost hope. We all thought the island had sunk to the bottom of the sea." Zhao Mingyue's expression was solemn. He couldn't relax until he found the princess.
“The stars have always had excellent luck. All four of us survived, so the princess is even less likely to be in trouble. We'll go with you to search for her tomorrow.” It's late now, and everyone has been without rest for a long time, so it's a good time to rest on the island for the night.
You can also replenish your food supplies. Although the island is not big, you can have some wild vegetables and small game to enjoy.
The next day, Erfu and his three companions left the island with Zhao Mingyue to search for the whereabouts of the others. After finding Erfu and his companions, they went to other islands every now and then and found several groups of guards.
Qingyan and Qingluo were on an island. Besides them, there was also a masked man and Yokoyama Ichiro on the island. After being stranded on the island for two months, the two saw a ship docked and rushed over to hitch a ride.
Zhao Mingyue ordered the two men to be tied up, intending to take them back for execution. However, Erfu and Sifu felt that these two Japanese pirates were too skilled in martial arts. They had been starving on the island for so long that they were too thin to cause trouble, but if they recovered, they would definitely try to play tricks again.
"Let's just kill him directly, to avoid any unforeseen complications." Zhou Erfu sharpened his knife, looking ready to personally carry out the execution.
However, they were eventually persuaded not to attack the masked man and Yokoyama Ichiro immediately. Instead, they shackled their hands and feet and locked them in the cabin under guard.
"It was all your bad idea to try and hitch a ride on the government's ship. Now look what happened, we almost got beheaded. Even if we were lucky enough to survive, being caught and locked up in this dilapidated ship's hold is worse than being on the island," Yokoyama Ichiro complained in a low voice.
“There’s not much prey on the island we’re on. We often can’t find anything to eat and can only eat some leaves and wild vegetables. Even the wild vegetables are almost gone. If we don’t leave, are we going to starve to death on the island?” The masked man glanced at him as if he were an idiot.
"There's no food on the island, but we can go fishing in the sea," Yokoyama Ichiro stubbornly insisted.
"You tried fishing before, did you catch any fish?" The masked man scoffed, then closed his eyes and ignored him.
They searched at sea for another two months, and the search area had been expanded repeatedly, but they still couldn't find Xingxing and Zhulin, nor could they find the others from Xianwu Island.
Everyone's mood grew heavier, especially Erfu and Sifu, who were on the verge of tears because they couldn't find any stars. However, the experienced fishermen said that there might be sea winds and rain at sea, so it was best to return to port as soon as possible and go out to search again when the weather improved.
"We've been out for four months. Let's go back first. The food we brought is almost gone, and we need to go back to resupply," Zhao Mingyue ordered, and the group began their return journey.
Although Erfu and Sifu were very worried, they didn't want to go back so soon. How could they go back before finding the person?
But they couldn't risk the lives of their soldiers. Considering the previous earthquake and hurricane at sea, they had no choice but to return to port.
Zhao Mingyue was worried about his wife. When they went to sea, Zhang Xiantao was already more than three months pregnant. Now she was seven months pregnant and her belly was showing. He wondered how her appetite was and whether she would still feel nauseous.
The return journey took another month. By then, almost half a year had passed since the princess disappeared. To Erfu and Sifu's surprise, they met Dafu, Sanfu, and Wufu as soon as they returned to Anyang Prefecture Wharf.
"Why are you here? When did you arrive?" Erfu asked nervously.
“If we hadn’t come, we wouldn’t have known such a big thing had happened,” Dafu stared at him with a stern face, then looked behind him. “Where’s Xingxing?”
They had been in Anyang Prefecture for seven days. They originally came to find Erfu and Sifu to discuss engagements. Zhou Laoda and Zhao Guihua had already arranged for their sons to meet many girls. Dafu and Wufu had already been taken to meet girls, but they had not yet found anyone they liked.
Only Erfu and Sifu hadn't been chosen yet. They had written to them before, but hadn't received a reply. Zhou Laoda and Zhao Guihua felt something was wrong and were very uneasy, so they asked the three brothers, Dafu, to go and bring the people back in person.
Unexpectedly, upon arrival, they learned that something had truly happened. Xingxing had led a group out to sea when an earthquake occurred. They sent people to search for them, but several months had passed without any news.
Zhao Mingyue did send a message back to Zhang Xiantao via carrier pigeon to let her know she was safe. Zhang Xiantao knew that Zhao Mingyue was alright, but she also learned from the message that the princess had not yet been found.
Zhou Erfu and Zhou Sifu had been holding back their emotions at sea, but as soon as they saw Dafu and the others, they suddenly couldn't control themselves and hugged the three brothers, bursting into tears.
"Big brother, we didn't bring Xingxing back, we didn't find her, what are we going to do? How are we going to explain this to our parents, how are we going to explain this to the palace?" Zhou Erfu burst into tears, startling everyone.
Zhou Sifu was not to be outdone, hugging Sanfu and sobbing, "Third Brother, I'm so scared, I'm afraid something happened to Xingxing, sob sob sob."
The three brothers, Dafu, Sanfu, and Wufu, also had tears in their eyes. Dafu stomped his foot and cursed, "What are you two good for? I told you to take good care of your sister, but you came back and lost Xingxing."
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