Chapter 73 Encountering Water Bandits
Chen Ning took Eryue and July out, and Yuanyue stayed at home with the others to look after the house. After all, when she was away, there had to be a reliable housekeeper at home.
Of course, in addition to them, there was a ship of twenty-six guards.
Pingning is not far from Haishi, but going there requires going upstream, which takes six hours. You have to spend almost the entire day on the boat, so it is always better to be well prepared.
Fortunately, Shen Ning doesn't get seasick, and the scenery along the way is nice, so there's no need to worry about it being too difficult.
Because the sea market had been open for two days, the initial peak time for flocking to the sea market had passed, and they did not see many ships when going upstream.
July and February were competing in fishing on the deck. July was no match for February, so he did something bad by throwing stones into the water on February's side to scare away the fish that was about to be caught by February.
February glared at him angrily, and July pretended to be innocent and bullied February for not speaking.
She knew February wouldn't complain.
Unexpectedly, Er Yue, who had been holding back even when wearing red, actually complained, though it was only two simple words: "Miss..."
Hearing that cold and stiff tone that still revealed a bit of grievance, Shen Ning guessed the general idea without even raising her head: "July, don't bully February."
July curled her lips, scratched her face at February and said silently: "Shame on you, you're such an adult and still complaining."
February was protected by Chen Ning, and her gloomy face suddenly became sunny, and she didn't care about July's ridicule.
Shen Ning watched as one fat fish after another was caught, and said to Su Lianyi with a smile: "We'll roast half of them and stew the other half in soup later."
Su Lianyi knew Chen Ning's cooking skills, and upon hearing this, she immediately said, "Xiaobai, go get someone to bring the food up."
Xiaobai's eyes were filled with resentment: "Boss, can you please call me by my name?"
There's a female employee from the store watching behind him. He has no regard for his reputation, huh.
Su Lianyi laughed: "Okay Bobo, go get the things quickly, don't be so stupid."
Xiao Baiyan stomped his feet and said, "My name is Dubo, not Bobo..."
Soon, the barbecue grill that Shen Ning had prepared in advance was brought onto the deck, and the chef he brought with him was very proactive in processing the fat fish.
A few days ago, when Su Lianyi was dealing with Rong Kangji's things, Shen Ning discovered that there were cumin, chili peppers, and some spices such as cardamom.
People in the Daxuan Dynasty had little contact with these, and no one would use them to make food, but these were good things, so Chen Ning had them all put away.
Not long after, thick white fish soup was bubbling in the pots on the two stoves. Shen Ning stood in front of the grill, slowly brushing seasonings on the seven or eight grilled fish and turning them over.
A strong fragrance wafted out, and July no longer cared about competing with February in fishing. He hugged Chen Ning's arm and sniffed hard.
"It smells so good! I can finally eat the delicious food made by the lady again."
February saw Shen Ning feeding Qiyue a homemade candy and looked away sourly: "I'm so greedy."
Qiyue turned around and made a face: "I am greedy, so what? Miss is willing to indulge me. Are you not convinced?"
The fact is that Shen Ning is particularly fond of Qiyue, the only girl among them. Eryue snorted and suddenly felt even more sour.
But at this moment, Er Yue's expression suddenly changed as his gaze moved to the front. He stood up and walked to the front of the deck.
In the distance, three ships formed a triangle and came towards this side from the front.
Encountered pirates...
It's also a bit unlucky!
While Chen Ning asked the guards to prepare for the response, he actually had the mind to regret the half-roasted fish.
If things get really chaotic later, she won't be able to eat these fish. Damn it, the grilled fish that were caught and killed right after being caught and coated with a thick layer of barbecue seasoning are so gluttonous that she's almost crying.
"Go get the archers ready."
The preparations she made on the ship were so that she would not be afraid of encountering a large number of Japanese pirates, let alone the pirates on these small ships.
Qiyue responded crisply, not nervous at all, and even a little excited...
There was no doubt that the three ships on the opposite side were pirates. When they got closer, the pirates' screaming and yelling could be heard. The three ships also dispersed and approached quickly, trying to block all directions.
But just as the pirates' boat was approaching, a boat in front not far from Shen Ning and his group suddenly crossed and blocked the pirates who were rushing towards Shen Ning and his group.
The pirate ship was stopped, and the ship that Shen Ning was on immediately got a chance to escape.
Su Lianyi exclaimed in surprise: "Where did that person come from, and why did he help us?"
Shen Ning didn't know either.
Su Lianyi asked, "Should we leave then?"
Although they had made every possible preparation, fighting was still frightening. Now they had a chance to escape. As long as they sped up, they could escape...
At this time, Shen Ning saw the person lying on the deck of the ship in front.
It was a man sitting in a wheelchair, dressed in a gorgeous purple brocade robe, his black hair tied up high, leaning diagonally on the back of the wheelchair... His back looked dignified and casual, not at all like a person with limited mobility.
Shen Ning confirmed that she didn't know this person, and Su Lianyi didn't know him either, so was the other party coming to her rescue out of righteousness?
At this time, the guards on the ship confronted the pirates.
Both sides were shooting arrows, but the archery skills of the pirates were obviously much worse. They were just a group of rabble, howling like wild beasts in an attempt to scare away their prey, but they were soon overwhelmed by the rain of arrows from the prey and could not get close.
The other two pirate ships had already surrounded them from the side.
Su Lianyi became nervous: "Ningning, what should we do?"
Shen Ning said in a deep voice: "Archers prepare..."
"Shoot!"
At a command, fifteen people led by Zhao Tong fired arrows at the same time. After a rain of arrows, several of the bandits who were approaching from the left front were shot dead.
Chen Ning took the bow and arrow from Er Yue, drew the bowstring, and pointed it directly at the one-eyed man with an eye patch on the pirate boat in the middle... His look was that of a classic bandit leader, who else would he shoot if not you?
Suddenly an arrow was released, and with a whoosh, the one-eyed man was hit in the chest without any preparation, and the people around him immediately became chaotic.
"Hit it!" Shen Ning said immediately.
The next moment, their ship did not escape but instead crashed head-on into the pirate ship in front.
Their ship was a carefully selected Fujian ship. Although it was not particularly large, it was much better than the pirates' dilapidated sand ships.
The pirates' boats were just old sand ships, and more than half of their archers were dead. Seeing the dark Fu ship coming straight at them, the motley group of pirates panicked and fled quickly while shooting arrows.
The Xinzhou navy was far away, and the ships that usually passed by here were ordinary merchant ships. It was not that they had not hijacked Fujian ships before, but those Fujian ships were just for show and the guards were mostly just for show. When they were surrounded by three ships like this, they immediately lost their fighting spirit and had no choice but to hand over the silver and goods to save their lives.
There were obviously no elite soldiers on the pirate ship. The original encirclement was broken. Seeing that they had bitten a tough bone, the pirates simply turned around and quickly disappeared in the waters.
The surroundings suddenly became quiet, leaving only Shen Ning's ship and the large ship that had just been turned sideways to help them escape...
The two ships were not far away. Shen Ning hesitated for a moment, then bowed and called out out of courtesy: "Thank you for your help just now."
In any case, the other party's goodwill is obvious.
The next moment, she heard a voice with a smile and a casual but very clear tone: "Oh, then how are you going to thank me?"
The wheelchair turned around, and the man in purple robe casually brushed away a strand of hair that was blown in front of his face by the sea breeze with two fingers. On his handsome face, a pair of upturned peach blossom eyes made his smile look particularly unrestrained.
It is human nature to say thank you. Shen Ning did not expect that the other party would ask her how she planned to thank him. Next to her, Su Lianyi secretly tugged at Shen Ning's sleeve.
"Looking like this... and even smiling like a normal person, Ningning, be careful."
Shen Ning hummed softly and was about to pretend to be polite, but she saw the purple-robed man's eyes fall on the barbecue grill beside her.
On the grill, the fish is sizzling with oil, golden brown and salty...
Shen Ning said tentatively: "Young Master, if you don't mind, we have grilled a few fish here and send them to you to try."
Sure enough, as soon as the words fell, the man with a devilish and frivolous appearance smiled and nodded: "Then I'd rather obey than be respectful..."
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