Chapter 98 Shen Yuanruan's Provocation!
Shen Yuanqing's face immediately turned bright red. Why did his older sister still love pinching his cheeks like before? Ever since leaving the capital, he felt that his older sister had become a different person, and he didn't dare to get close to her anymore. Now, her sudden pinching of his cheeks, although embarrassing, felt strangely affectionate.
"Big brother, I'm a big kid now, I can't let anyone pinch my cheeks like that." Shen Yuanqing was still struggling.
Shen Lanxi let go of her hand and laughed, "Alright, you're a big kid now. I wonder which big kid wet the bed the day before my wedding."
Shen Yuanqing's face flushed red again, and she angrily retorted, "I didn't!"
Hearing his older sister teasing his younger brother in a lighthearted tone, Shen Yuanjing's tone also became much lighter.
"What do you mean, 'no'? Weren't you afraid someone would find out, so you secretly poured tea on it? But you accidentally spilled the whole pot of tea on it, and you even took the tea from my room!"
Shen Yuanqing's face flushed red instantly, almost burning hot.
"I'm ignoring you all!" With her short legs, she turned and ran away in a fit of anger and embarrassment!
Shen Lanxi straightened her expression and composed herself: "Go practice your martial arts!"
Wei Jiajun was training on the second-floor deck, their punches and moves powerful and imposing. Shen Yuanjing and his siblings followed behind them, practicing martial arts together.
The exiled prisoners fishing on the first floor would occasionally peek into the second floor.
The Shen family members also came out of the hold; if they stayed any longer, they would be beaten to death by the other prisoners. Besides, the hold reeked of a sour stench, and no one cleaned up the vomit. If they stayed any longer, they would either get sick from the stench or die from the nausea.
"Why can't I see Lanxi?" Liu muttered to herself.
"Master, do you think Lanxi might have gone to that ship at the back?"
Shen Conglian said nonchalantly, "Who knows? Instead of worrying about others, why don't you think about how to catch the fish?"
Liu pursed her lips and cursed Shen Conglian in her heart as a big fool before going to find her son.
“Grandmother, we’ve been out here in the wind and sun, why hasn’t my eldest sister come to help us?” Shen Yuanruan asked, approaching the old lady.
With a stern face, Madam Shen raised her hand and slapped her.
"Shut up, you have no right to speak here."
Shen Yuanruan turned pale with fright and shrank back.
"Useless fool, don't think I don't know what you're thinking. You've done something shameful, so behave yourself. When we get to Dongchuan, I'll see how I deal with you!" Old Madam Shen glared fiercely in Shen Yuanruan's direction.
"Second son's wife, go fetch a basin of water so I can wash up!"
"Third brother's wife, wash my clothes, shoes and socks."
"Fourth brother's wife, go to the bottom of the hold and clean out our resting place!"
"You bunch of useless bastards, all you do is cling to men and act like sluts. If you get in the way of the men fishing, see how I deal with you!"
Old Madam Shen used the same skills she had acquired years ago when she argued with village women, and she verbally abused all three of her daughters-in-law!
The three women, surnamed Liu, Miao, and Tian, dared not speak out in anger and quickly went to clean up the mess!
Old Madam Shen glanced at the martial arts training area on the second floor. She had seen Liu and the others snatching the fishing gear from the eldest son's children. Don't blame her for not speaking up as the grandmother; the eldest son's family still had Lanxi. Even if others starved to death, they wouldn't.
The other three families are different; they have to fight for food on their own.
It's all the children's fault for not guarding their things, which is why others snatched them away. When we get to Dongchuan, she'll make sure to give the eldest son's family more!
Wild fishing is not an easy task; at night, only a few experienced fishermen get to enjoy a delicious meal.
The others could only watch helplessly.
Liu Yanhui and Wei Dongzhu discussed for an afternoon and finalized the list of people going to Tongluo Island, and also formulated a system for rewarding meritorious service.
During mealtimes, the guards would read the messages to the prisoners!
On the surface, the people on both ships listened to Liu Laohu, and whenever they wanted to release any information, they would invite Liu Laohu to oversee the operation.
"If we go another day or two, we'll reach the Jiaodong Islands. Pirates and sea bandits are rampant there. Every ship that passes by has been robbed!"
The prisoners stared at the constable, wondering why he was bringing this up at this time.
"There are two options now. One is to take the land route. However, a plague has broken out on the land route, and there has been a riot among the displaced people. If we reach the shore, it will be a dead end!"
The prisoners were in an uproar when they heard the words "plague riot".
"There's another way: continue by water. If we encounter pirates, we can fight them to the death and still have a chance of survival!"
The previously noisy prisoners all fell silent.
Fight to the death? How can they fight? They are all flesh and blood, not shields. If they fight those ruthless pirates, they will only get stabbed.
The constable continued, "Mr. Liu has given us a good idea. Let Mr. Liu tell us about it." He's good at escorting prisoners, but this is really difficult for him. If he doesn't stop now, he'll start stammering.
Liu Yanhui unfolded the Xuan paper and pasted it onto the boat plank.
"We've killed bandits and fought refugees along the way, so we have a wealth of fighting experience!"
"Mountain bandits are bandits, and sea bandits are bandits too. If you can kill mountain bandits, you can kill sea bandits too!"
The prisoners stared wide-eyed!
Liu Yanhui explained his plan to send sheep into the tiger's den, then pointed at the Xuan paper with a bamboo stick and said, "Kill a pirate and you'll get a reward of one tael of silver!"
The bamboo stick went down one row.
"All spoils are yours to keep! No need to hand them over!"
The bamboo stick continued down.
"Killing a minor pirate leader will earn you twenty taels of silver. Killing a major pirate leader will earn you fifty taels of silver. And so on, the higher the rank of the leader, the more silver you will receive. If anyone has the ability to kill a pirate chief, the reward will be one thousand taels of silver!"
"I can kill!"
The prisoners all turned to look at Song Niangzi, who was shouting.
"What are you looking at? I used to be a butcher!"
The prisoners: "..." He's ruthless!
Liu Yanhui smiled and said, "Everyone who is going to fight, come and register with me. The food on the ship for the next two days can be paid on credit. We'll settle the debt after we kill the pirates!"
A few prisoners got the idea to fish, but they were really bad at it and hadn't caught a single seaweed after a whole day of fishing.
"I've signed up to fight."
"I'm signing up too!"
"Mr. Liu, I've signed up, can I go to the kitchen to get my food?"
...
Liu Yan replied: "Okay!"
In no time, more than half of the people signed up, with Song Niangzi being the first to do so.
Liu Yanhui, who had initially been critical of Song Niangzi along the way, began to look at her with new respect.
The Shen family is still discussing it.
"Father, I still owe ten taels of silver. My fishing rod was also stolen today. If I don't join the fight, when will I be able to pay back the ten taels!" He used to spend dozens of taels on a single trip to the teahouse, but now he has to bow down for ten taels of silver!
Shen Congwen looked worried: "Yuanjing, do you know that pirates are ruthless killers? Even the imperial court can't do anything about them. Going there will only be suicide!"
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