Chapter 271: Boarding the Ship

Chapter 271: Boarding the Ship

Xia Yuan didn’t get much useful info out of Chen Zhenlong, and he wasn’t sure if the guy really didn’t know or was just holding back.

As for getting to the island, according to Chen Zhenlong, Lina’s letter said a boat from the island would come pick them up when they reached Beihai Port.

Sure enough, after another two days, early one morning just before dawn, a foreign kid knocked on Xia Yuan’s door.

The kid didn’t say a word. He just handed six jade tokens to Feng Chu, who’d opened the door, and pointed toward the port in the distance.

Feng Chu followed his gaze and saw a big ship had tied up at the port sometime during the night.

After handing over the tokens, the boy left right away, heading toward where Chen Zhenlong was staying.

“Husband! The ship is really here!”

Meng Wan groggily pulled on his clothes and crawled out of bed. Chi Yu was already packing the luggage. “On the table were the jade tokens Brother Chu just handed over. He said the ship was already waiting at the port.”

“Jade tokens?” Meng Wan, wrapped in a thin cotton jacket, moved to the table and picked up the two tokens to examine them.

Each token was a long, thin slice of jade, carved with a merperson—half-human, half-fish—holding a pearl in its mouth, as if about to spit it out. The carving was incredibly detailed: the scales on the tail and the wavy hair were brought to life with just a few strokes.

Meng Wan traced the patterns on the tokens and murmured, “The skill of whoever carved these tokens is absolutely top-notch—rare even in the whole Yu Kingdom.”

Chi Yu called out, “Hubby, what’s that about something rare? I’m done packing. Let’s go.”

Meng Wan carefully tucked the jade tokens into the front of his robe, silently grabbed a couple of bags Chi Yu had forgotten, and followed him out.

Chen Zhenlong also joined them, along with two servants and four bodyguards. They weren’t the only ones. Another group of unfamiliar rich merchants was also heading to the port, probably to board the ship. Meng Wan hadn’t noticed them in the past couple of days, so they must have just arrived in Beihai Port.

Meng Wan didn’t spot the kid Feng Chu had mentioned near the port, but he was sure someone had been watching them the whole time they’d been at the port. Otherwise, the jade tokens wouldn’t have matched their exact headcount.

The same went for the tokens Chen Zhenlong received—exactly seven, no more, no less.

The sky was dark. From a distance, the ship at the dock didn’t look all that big, but as they got closer, they could see it was a medium-to-large vessel that could carry over a hundred people.

As their eyes adjusted to the pre-dawn darkness, the ship’s full shape slowly came into view.

Meng Wan looked up at the towering mast and the curved, sturdy sides. The wooden ribs ran from bow to stern, one after another, incredibly wide.

Four cabin levels were stacked in the middle of the ship. The bottom level’s doors were sealed tight, the middle level had lattice windows, and the top level was ringed with low railings. They stood solid on the rocking ship, as if they were bolted to the hull.

“Sharp bow, wide stern, narrow bottom, broad top, with the bow and stern riding high and the sides bulging out. This kind of shape cuts through rough waves and still gives lots of interior room. It’s a genuine Fu ship!”

Xia Yuan was an expert in such matters. In the Yu Kingdom, Fu ships and treasure ships weren’t something ordinary folks could just use.

When Song Tingzhou came to Lingnan to take office, he had to rent civilian boats. Transporting all his goods and people meant switching boats every time, which was a hassle and cost a fortune. If Meng Wan hadn’t saved up enough money back then, just moving would’ve been a struggle.

Beihai Port had four docks, with the middle one the biggest. The Fu ship was now moored nearest to that middle dock.

The group moved forward in an orderly way, only to find they couldn’t board directly—they had to take small boats over to the Fu ship.

Five small boats were tied up at the dock, each able to carry just seven or eight people including the boatman.

Meng Wan definitely wasn’t about to be the first to board. His group hung back and let another unfamiliar wealthy merchant and his people go first.

That merchant brought a huge crowd—thirty people at least. Just moving his group took all five boats a full round trip.

The salty, damp sea breeze cut right through Meng Wan’s cotton coat, but he didn’t care about the cold. He squinted and carefully watched every move the party made as they boarded.

A middle-aged merchant, helped by a servant, climbed into a boat. Then one, two… until the boat was full. The boatman didn’t start rowing right away—he checked each person’s jade tokens to make sure the count was right.

Once he confirmed everyone had a token, the boatman showed no reaction and the boat left without a hitch.

Meng Wan saw the small boat hadn’t gone far before it was tied up to the Fu ship. The merchant successfully got his people on board.

The same thing happened with the other four boats. The boatmen also asked to see their tokens. Three boats left without any trouble, but on the last one, a fight broke out.

“That jade token in your hand is clearly mine! You said you just wanted to borrow it to look, so I lent it to you. Give it back!” one servant shouted angrily.

The servant next to him sneered, “Who says it’s yours? It’s obviously mine.”

The servant who’d been conned stared at him. “No, you’re not from my family. Who are you? Brother Wang, help! He’s not one of our men!”

Brother Wang was about to fight back when someone beside him grabbed him and pinned him.

The conned servant got goosebumps. “Something’s not right. You, you, and you—who are you people? How did you sneak on board?”

Only then did he realize that besides himself and Brother Wang, every other servant around him was a stranger. It was too dark; they had been oblivious until now. But by the time they noticed, it was too late. They were outnumbered.

“Boatman! These people aren’t from the Wang family! Kick them off!”

No matter how much they yelled, the boatman didn’t bat an eye. Finally, in despair, the group pushed them under the water and they went silent.

From start to finish, the boatman didn’t even look up. After making sure everyone on the boat had a token, the boat finally left, leaving only ripples that the waves quickly smoothed over.

Everyone at the dock saw what happened. Xia Yuan’s eye twitched. He was about to say something when two more people came up from behind.

An old man and a young man. The young man was the master, the old man a servant. Each held a jade token.

The young man held his token up to his eyes. “So the legend of Jipo Island is real. I wonder if we’ll actually see merpeople when we land.”

The old servant rasped, “Whether there are merpeople or not doesn’t matter. What matters is getting the job the master gave us done smoothly.”

The young man was very polite to the old servant. “You’re right, Uncle Heng.”

Merpeople? Mermaid pearls?

What kind of nonsense is this?

Meng Wan thought it over. At first, he’d figured this was just a con to cheat ordinary merchants. But now, between the Fu ship and this mysterious master-servant duo, nothing was as simple as it seemed. There had to be more to it.

These two probably knew something and had deliberately seized the jade tokens to board the island.

And the people from Jipo Island only recognized the tokens, not the people…

Fortunately, it wasn’t Chen Zhenlong who had his token stolen, or they would have had to confront this unfathomable pair.

The small boats returned, and Meng Wan’s group boarded one. This time, there were no incidents. With few people and many boats, Chen Zhenlong and the master-servant pair were split into three boats. Meng Wan’s group, including the translator Ambo, totaled seven. However, Meng Wan had a lot of luggage, so it was transported separately in one boat. Finally, they all successfully boarded the Fu ship.

The ship was very quiet. The crew worked busily but silently. The red lantern on the port side and the green lantern on the starboard side echoed each other, cutting through the waves as the ship sped forward.

Meng Wan had switched from a small boat to a large one, but after being exposed to the sea breeze for so long, he grew increasingly drowsy. He simply went into the cabin.

According to Xia Yuan, the bottom level of the Fu ship was mainly filled with earth and stones as ballast. The second level was the living quarters. The third level housed the operating space for hoisting sails and raising anchors, as well as the kitchen and storage rooms.

When Meng Wan went down, he saw many crew members moving back and forth on the third level, presumably some of those rooms were where they rested and slept.

There were many rooms on the second floor, but they were divided into two sections, locked in the middle by an iron door. Meng Wan and his group went down the stairs on the right side. The ship's laborers gave each of them a key, and they could choose rooms at random.

Meng Wan chose a room near the stairs on the right side of the middle. His group settled in adjacent rooms, with Meng Wan and Xia Yuan among them.

When Chu Ci accompanied Meng Wan down, the first wealthy merchant to board the ship was confronting the old man and the young man.

Naturally, the wealthy merchant had seen his servant killed after boarding the Fu ship and came to settle the score.

Everything in the cabin was in plain sight. Meng Wan had no intention of watching the commotion and quickly opened the door to enter his bedroom.

Chu Ci followed him in to take his pulse, frowning slightly. He raised his hand and gestured, "Godfather, you have a bit of a cold. I'll go back to my room to get your medicine."

"No wonder I'm dizzy." Meng Wan grabbed Chu Ci. "Don't go out yet. Wait until things outside are settled. It won't make a difference in this short time."

Outside in the corridor, shouting had already started, mostly from the merchant surnamed Wang. With many people on his side, he thought he had the capital to be arrogant. Avenging his servant was a pretext; the real issue was that his dignity had been challenged.

The result could be known just by listening to the screams coming from the door. Although the master and servant pair only had four people with them, those four struck ruthlessly, clearly not easy to deal with. It remained to be seen whether they would be more restrained on the ship.

After a while, when there was no more noise outside, Meng Wan let Chu Ci go out. The rooms on the second floor were very small, basically only containing a bed and a cabinet.

Most of the luggage Meng Wan brought was stored in Chu Ci and Chi Yu's rooms. He changed into a light and soft cotton jacket and pants, took off his shoes and socks, and got into bed.

The weather was still a bit cold, let alone on the sea where it was even worse. He got under the covers and shivered from the cold. The bed swayed with the ship, making him even dizzier. He fell asleep without knowing when.

When he woke up again, it was still dark outside. The oil lamp in the room had been lit, and the bitter smell of herbal medicine made Meng Wan retch.

"Husband, are you all right?" Chi Yu helped him sit up.

Chu Ci first brought him a bowl of warm water, then took a jar of sour plums from the luggage in Meng Wan's room.

After drinking water and eating two plums, Meng Wan managed to suppress the nausea. He then gritted his teeth and gulped down the whole bowl of bitter medicine. At this moment, he finally understood Chang Jinhua's suffering from seasickness and was too lazy to say a word.

It was already afternoon. Meng Wan had no intention of getting out of bed to move around; he couldn't even eat.

Most of their luggage was food and ingredients. Chu Ci found a pile of snacks and placed them by Meng Wan's bed, then scooped some rice to go to the kitchen to cook porridge for Meng Wan.

"Xiao Ci, be extra careful when you act here."

Chu Ci turned back and nodded to Meng Wan. He borrowed the kitchen on the third floor to cook some porridge. Among the luggage were pickled bamboo shoots that Chang Jinhua had made, which he took back to stimulate Meng Wan's appetite.

Carrying the porridge back to Meng Wan's door, he happened to meet the master and servant pair living inside. The young man smiled slightly at Chu Ci, who nodded slightly in response, then knocked and entered the room.

The young man laughed and said, "Interesting, two men serving a young page boy?"

Chi Yu, being such a large young man, was too conspicuous. For the sake of keeping a low profile, Meng Wan always had him wear a headband.

Uncle Heng advised, "None of these three look like servants. Although that young page has some beauty, Master must by no means be careless."

"Uncle Heng, rest assured. I know what I'm doing."

After the two left, Chu Ci pushed the door open again. He saw dark bloodstains on the floor by the wall, and his eyes turned deep.

Although no one had been killed in the morning, the merchant's people were also seriously injured. Brother Chu said that the old man among the master and servant pair might be on par with him in strength.

How could the strength of an ordinary merchant's servant rival that of a guest of a second-rank official?

Meng Wan, with a cold and seasickness, was in a half-dead state. Chu Ci had to take care of him while staying alert to strangers, and had completely assumed the demeanor of an adult man.

The first wealthy merchant to board was taught a lesson and afterward became very docile, basically not going out except to eat on the third floor.

Meng Wan was even more so, eating all his meals in the room, relying entirely on his godson and Chi Yu to attend to him. When the waves were high, he would vomit, ridding him of all his scheming. Not to mention scheming against others, he himself was half-crippled, and when he opened his eyes, he was in a dazed state.

On the third day after they boarded, unexpectedly, the Fu ship welcomed new guests.

Meng Wan, suffering from a stuffy nose, leaned against the bow and took a sip of warm tea to clear his mind, then asked Chi Yu, "What was all that commotion outside just now?"

"It seems some new people have come aboard. I'll go back and ask around." Seeing that Meng Wan was awake, Chi Yu took a wooden basin and went out to fetch water for his washing.

Before Chi Yu returned, someone knocked on Meng Wan's door.

He held his forehead and walked to the door with weak steps. He remained silent at first, and only when the knocking came again did he ask, "Who is it? Xiaoyu?"

A crisp and pleasant female voice came from outside, sounding young. "Our household has just boarded. Our young lady has prepared some small gifts for everyone. Please accept them."

Figuring Chi Yu would be back soon, Meng Wan opened the door a crack. Indeed, there were two teenage girls outside. They wore matching aoqun, with silver hairpins in their hair and silver bracelets on their wrists, making pleasant tinkling sounds when they moved. They should be maids from a wealthy household.

At the moment, each held several packs of pastries, and they offered one small pack to Meng Wan.

"Thank you, ladies. Please kindly thank your young lady for me." Meng Wan took the pastries and smiled at them with a pale face.

The two maids exchanged glances, and one replied with a smile, "There's no need to be polite, young master. We'll go deliver to the others now."