Chapter 45 Having Another Child It was midday, and the river shimmered...
At midday, the river shimmered. It had been a long time since so many boats had docked at the Shanhai Ferry, and most of them were exquisite two-story boats.
Zhao Linzhang did not order the ship to set sail. As he expected, as soon as they returned to the ship, a group of people immediately came after them.
The leader, dressed in the purple official robes of the Great Yan Dynasty, rode up on horseback, holding the reins in one hand and pressing down on his official hat with the other to prevent it from falling off.
Upon reaching the ferry, he hastily dismounted and practically tumbled to his knees on the ferry. The people of Shanhai County, who were busy unloading goods and setting off, all stopped in their tracks, staring in astonishment at their local tyrant's ashen face. He cried out, "Your Highness, I was unaware of Your Highness's arrival! Please forgive me!"
"Your crimes don't stop there!" Zhao Linzhang, seething with anger, stepped out of the cabin and stood on the deck, facing the wind. He pointed at the magistrate of Shanhai County and berated him!
"As the local official in charge of the people, you should be dedicated to relieving their worries and be completely impartial and selfless! Look at the foolish things you've done!"
"Your Highness, those are all rumors. Please let me explain!"
"Rumors? Ding Feiguang, you were the second-place scholar in the thirty-first year of the Yan Dynasty. You came from a poor family and studied hard for decades. You also came from a poor background. After serving as an official for a few years, have you forgotten your origins?"
"Your Highness, I have failed to discipline my son properly and have brought him here to apologize!" Ding Feiguang cried bitterly.
"I have already sent a message to the Emperor by carrier pigeon, Lord Ding. You'd better watch yourself!"
Ding Feiguang brought his son, bound hand and foot, to apologize because he was afraid that Zhao Linzhang would report to the emperor. He could still defend others, but this was the emperor's own brother, the most impartial and incorruptible, and rumored to be the emperor's most trusted.
That's it, Ding Feiguang plopped down on the ground, watching the ship weigh anchor and drift further and further away from Shanhai County.
Zhao Linzhang remained standing on the deck, his majestic figure upright, the wind blowing his robes, like a heavenly general punishing injustice in the world.
Shen Yunrong and Jiang Xinyan waited quietly to the side. Not only was Shen Yunrong stunned by Zhao Linzhang's voice, but Jiang Xinyan's admiring gaze never left him.
"Thank you, Your Highness, for upholding justice for me!" After a long while, Jiang Xinyan finally found her voice and knelt behind Zhao Linzhang to express her gratitude.
"No need to thank me, it's what I should do!" Zhao Linzhang turned around and saw them. He concealed the turbulent emotions in his eyes and gave Jiang Xinyan a helping hand.
Shen Yunrong quickly helped Jiang Xinyan up, saying, "Sister, you saved the prince. It was nothing more than a small favor. There's no need to thank me!"
"It's windy, why did you come out here for so long?" Zhao Linzhang pulled Shen Yunrong aside and forcibly broke her hand from Jiang Xinyan's.
Jiang Xinyan blushed with embarrassment and curtsied, saying, "This humble woman will take her leave now!"
As Jiang Xinyan's figure disappeared from the deck, Shen Yunrong looked reluctantly in the direction she left, and couldn't help but share with Zhao Linzhang: "Sister Jiang bought a lot of medicinal herbs to make the heat-relieving pills we had the other day, and she can also make dampness-removing pills since it's humid in the south!"
"You've been talking about that woman non-stop these past two days. Is she really that good? If you like these things, I'll find you a few doctors and make whatever pills you want!" Zhao Linzhang was a little annoyed. Just now, that woman looked at him with admiration, but now that she's here, all she cares about is pills.
“This is different. Sister Jiang knows a lot!” Shen Yunrong did not notice the dark cloud on the man’s face.
"Is that so? I know a lot too. Would you like to give it a try?" As dusk fell and the sunset slowly spread across the sky, the boat slowed down, and occasionally a flying fish would leap out of the water and then quickly sink back to the bottom.
Several fishing boats approached, likely fishermen from Shanhai County returning from a bountiful harvest, singing melodious folk songs, creating a scene as beautiful as a traditional Chinese ink painting.
"Does Your Highness understand pharmacology?" Shen Yunrong asked, puzzled, as he embraced her and bathed in the evening glow.
"Not this one!" Zhao Linzhang said, then lightly bit her earlobe. Instantly, Shen Yunrong's face turned as red as the evening glow.
"You really dare to say anything!" Shen Yunrong had already forgotten what the noble prince was like at the beginning; he was completely different now.
She never dreamed that such a stern-faced man would hold her and say such blush-inducing nonsense.
"I have so much more to say. Come, bathe with me!" After a day of walking around, Zhao Linzhang was drenched in sweat.
Shen Yunrong had no choice but to agree. She half-embraced and half-pushed her into the cabin where a special bathing area was prepared, where warm water had already been provided.
"You wash it yourself, or someone will see!" Shen Yunrong was afraid he would do something reckless, so she immediately tried to run out!
No matter how fast she is, she can't outrun a man's hand: "Don't be afraid, I really won't touch you!"
Half-believing, half-doubting, Shen Yunrong watched as he calmly took off his clothes and stepped his straight, slender legs into the steaming bathtub, and he let out a long, comfortable sigh.
Having seen his naked body so many times, Shen Yunrong blushed every time she saw it. How could there be such a big difference between a man and a woman!
"Your husband is much better looking than that Jiang guy!" Zhao Linzhang chuckled, quite pleased with her shy expression as she looked at him.
How can these be compared? Shen Yunrong grabbed a cotton towel from the water and helped him wipe his back: "You've just recovered from your illness, don't soak for too long!"
"Let's bathe together!" Zhao Linzhang got up, ignoring the water splashing everywhere, and carried Shen Yunrong back to the bathtub.
After helping her remove her clothes, the two of them simply took a bath.
As Zhao Linzhang helped her get dressed, Shen Yunrong was still somewhat incredulous. The man who practically clung to her every day had actually changed his ways today!
Noticing her new question, Zhao Linzhang gave her a meaningful smile!
After dinner, Xiao Ruoyu was lulled to sleep by her wet nurse, and most of the maids and guards who accompanied her also went to rest, leaving only the starry sky and the men and women on the deck.
A white veil was hung on the deck, and under the moonlight, only the shadowy figures could be vaguely seen inside.
Shen Yunrong finally understood why Zhao Linzhang hadn't touched her while she was bathing.
He had promised to take her to see the stars, and to keep her warm in the wind, he hung up a gauze curtain. She was immersed in the starry sky, as if she could reach out and pick the stars.
It's even more breathtaking than what you see on land.
She looked at the stars in the sky, and the man looked at her. Without her noticing, he reached out and pressed his hand against her waist, making her soft and tight against him.
The friction against the skin through the fabric ignited a pleasurable tremor, seeping into the very bones and arousing a strange itch.
Shen Yunrong was startled. It was just a normal hug, why did she have such a strange longing?
She was eager to back away and leave that warm embrace, but the man was no longer satisfied with just that kind of hug.
Seeing that she was eager to distance herself from him, he moved closer to her, lifted her chin, and captured her lips that were trying to escape.
They could be seen at any moment, and Shen Yunrong pushed him away in a panic, which only made him push harder, as if he wanted to swallow her whole.
"Don't be afraid, no one will come. They won't come without my order!" Zhao Linzhang said as he released her to let her catch her breath.
Then he pressed forward, the tight pressure making Shen Yunrong unable to move. She was anxious and scared. This place really couldn't be like this. No servants saw it, but what if the passing ships saw it?
She tried to lift her hands and stretch her legs, but to no avail. Her lips and tongue were numb from his sucking, and she could only whimper, unable to speak.
"Let's have another child, to keep Ruoyu company!" Zhao Linzhang said vaguely, biting her lips, eager to prove his place in her heart, that he was the one she truly loved, not some random person Jiang had mentioned.
The river breeze dispersed the broken sobs, as if someone on a distant boat was singing a song. But upon closer listening, there was no melody, only the sound of the boat moving on the river and the rushing water.
Shen Yunrong felt like a fish thrown ashore. Terrified, she clung tightly to the man and begged him in a low voice. He took her into the water, and then tossed her high into the air a moment later.
She bit down hard, suppressing the scream that was escaping her throat. Zhao Linzhang coaxed her in her ear, "If you don't dare to scream, then bite me!"
His tears fell onto her closed eyelids. Holding back her tears to the limit, she finally bit the man's shoulder.
As she drifted off to sleep, Shen Yunrong only remembered the man asking her to have another child.
“Miss Jiang, you can’t go that way!” Xiao Zheng’s voice rang out.
Zhao Linzhang quickly put his outer robe on the drowsy little woman.
"I just wanted to go over and get some fresh air!" Jiang Xinyan hadn't noticed that the deck was covered with gauze curtains at some point, and there seemed to be someone inside.
"His Highness has ordered that no one is allowed to approach! Miss Jiang, please return!"
Just as Jiang Xinyan was about to turn around, Zhao Linzhang, wearing a white undergarment, came out carrying a woman who was wrapped up tightly in her arms.
Without even glancing at them, he carried the person barefoot into the cabin.
Jiang Xinyan stared in shock at the woman's black hair cascading down Zhao Linzhang's chest, where his shirt was unbuttoned.
Her father had taken seven or eight concubines, and she knew more than the average young lady. This scene made her blush and stand there, at a loss for words.
"Miss Jiang, please return!"
Xiao Zheng's voice rang out again, startling Jiang Xinyan, who hurriedly fled.
The image of the man's muscular chest and long black hair lingered in her mind.
Zhao Linzhang carried her back to the cabin, cleaned them up, and, feeling completely satisfied, fell asleep peacefully in her arms.
In the middle of the night, the person in his arms suddenly disappeared. Zhao Linzhang's heart pounded in alarm, and he jumped up to look for the person.
Only when he met the gaze of the woman sitting on the side of the bed did his heart jump back into his chest!
"Why are you sitting here? Are you still angry with me?" Zhao Linzhang remembered that she was shy and unwilling to be intimate with him on the deck.
He didn't know what had gotten into him; things he would never have done before, he couldn't help but indulge in with her after seeing her.
"I had a dream!" Shen Yunrong raised her face, which was covered in tears.
"Nightmare?" Zhao Linzhang quickly pulled her into his arms: "Why didn't you wake me up? It's all my fault. I won't force you next time!"
"No, what if I can't give birth to a son?" Shen Yunrong vaguely remembered that when she gave birth to her daughter, her body was severely weakened, and it seemed that the midwife said that she would probably have difficulty conceiving again in the future.
Zhao Linzhang, with his extremely tender and affectionate manner, told her to have another child. She suddenly remembered this in her dream, and her mind was in turmoil.
"It's just a dream, everything in a dream is fake!" Zhao Linzhang patted her back and comforted her softly.
"No, I'm not dreaming, I'm serious!"
Zhao Linzhang paused as he gently patted her hand, looking down at the woman in his arms with a look of inquiry and confusion in his eyes.
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