The passenger boat set off amid a murmur of whispered conversation.
No one felt sorry for Zhao Sheng’s disappearance.
From one remark to another, the passengers all agreed that his eye-catching clothes and haughty manner had practically announced to every thief that he was a fat sheep. Since he had enjoyed acting superior to everyone else, he ought to bear the risk of attracting thieves’ attention.
It seemed everyone still remembered being forced to wait around for Zhao Sheng in Bailu County.
Life aboard the boat was dull to begin with, so the matter of Zhao Sheng naturally became the passengers’ favorite topic. They chattered away, piecing together scraps of information they had heard from here and there, each trying to turn it into a thrilling story they could boast about to others once they disembarked.
“Last night, I heard an enormous splash, like something heavy falling into the water. Could that have been Master Zhao?”
“I heard it too. I meant to go take a look, but then the fire broke out in that direction. I panicked and forgot all about it.”
“But didn’t the sailors search everywhere? There was nothing nearby.”
“You fool. If he fell in during the night, the current would have carried him dozens of miles by now. We might actually run into him farther ahead.”
“Give it a few days. Once he’s bloated from being in the water, he’ll float back up naturally.”
“Heh, perhaps he was lucky enough to survive…”
…
The passengers’ descriptions grew more and more vivid. Whenever they had a moment to spare, they crowded along the railing, craning their necks to peer at the river.
Amid the clamor, Lin Wu’s thoughts were in turmoil as well.
He had been bound tightly, with cloth stuffed into his mouth. It had been the dead of night, so the chances of his survival were next to none.
But what if?
What if he had simply not been fated to die? What if this world’s malice toward them really was this great?
Lin Wu tried her best to think positively, but the string of coincidences still made her suspicious.
Very few people had seen Lin Jing. Yet, by sheer coincidence, she had encountered one of them on this tiny passenger boat. By sheer coincidence, he had caught sight of Lin Jing while being shoved around by the lock worker. And just as she had made up her mind to act, the thief had returned.
If Zhao Sheng could still survive after all that…
The sun climbed higher in the sky. The discussion in the cabin remained heated, but Lin Wu felt a chill settle in her heart. She could not accept it.
Lin Jing understood only vaguely what had happened the previous night, but he knew that everything was connected to the man surnamed Zhao—and to himself. His existence had placed A Wu in greater danger.
Uneasily, he rested his little head against Lin Wu’s arm and said in a soft voice, “I’m sorry.”
The quiet words fell upon Lin Wu’s heart, jolting her back to herself.
She reached out and took Lin Jing’s little hand. “A Jing, neither of us is to blame. The fault lies with those who did wrong. We mustn’t blame ourselves for other people’s mistakes.”
“Mm.” Lin Jing answered gloomily.
Lin Wu raised her hand and patted his little head again, her eyes turning toward the river glittering beneath the sunlight. The passenger boat was moving steadily onward, its bow splitting the calm surface and carving ripples that spread in widening circles.
Shen Guanting’s words from that day seemed to echo in her ears: “Once you choose a road, there may be no turning back.”
No turning back.
Lin Wu slowly exhaled. Now that she had taken the first step onto this road, there was no way to turn back. Hesitation and fear would only bring her more distress.
Since she had come this far, then she would go as far as she could.
The passenger boat continued downstream, but after traveling only a few miles, the way ahead was suddenly blocked.
“There—there’s something ahead!” The sailor keeping watch from the bow suddenly raised his voice.
At the sound of it, everyone aboard rushed toward the railing. On a shallow bank not far ahead lay a human figure. The river washed over his body again and again, yet he remained utterly motionless.
The boat owner’s head began to buzz, and his mind went blank. He had long feared that Zhao Sheng was unlikely to survive, but seeing that lifeless body stretched out on the bank still made his hands and feet go numb.
He repeatedly slapped his chest, trying to calm himself, but his voice remained unsteady. “S-stop the boat! Lower the skiff, quickly!”
He called for Zhao Sheng’s servant and summoned a sailor as well. Together, they rowed toward the body in a small boat, trembling all the while.
The corpse’s skin was deathly pale and wrinkled, plainly waterlogged after spending the night in the river. His wet, russet-colored brocade robe clung to him, and the white jade pendant that had hung at his waist was nowhere to be seen.
There was no need for a closer look. It was undoubtedly Zhao Sheng.
The truth was now perfectly clear.
Zhao Sheng was dead—thoroughly and irrevocably dead.
The boat owner then ordered several sailors to carry the body onto the deck.
The boat erupted into chaos. Frightened yet fascinated, everyone shoved and jostled their way over, eager to see with their own eyes how a man who had been perfectly fine just yesterday could have become this way today. It was a rare spectacle, one they would be able to talk about for years over tea.
Lin Wu stood quietly at the edge of the crowd, looking down at the cold, waterlogged corpse through a gap between the onlookers.
A chilly breeze seemed to brush past her heart, bringing with it a wave of relief.
Without showing anything on her face, she let out the breath she had been holding in her chest. Then she silently took Lin Jing by the hand and turned back to the cabin.
The passenger boat carried the corpse to Hetan County. If not for a shallow bank ahead of Hetan County catching the body, Zhao Sheng would likely have been swept far away by the current, and no one knew when he might have been found.
Upon learning that the deceased had some connection to someone in the imperial palace, the Hetan County authorities treated the matter as a grave emergency. They searched the entire boat from top to bottom.
Everyone aboard, passengers, owner, and crew alike, was separated and questioned repeatedly.
Lin Wu and Lin Jing were interrogated several times as well.
Throughout the questioning, Lin Wu kept her eyes lowered, her voice filled with lingering fear and guilt. Her words came out in a somewhat disordered rush.
“My stomach has been hurting these past two days, and I’ve been dizzy as well, so I slept deeply last night. I’m truly sorry, truly sorry. Yesterday, I even prayed to the river god. Who could have imagined that something like this would still happen? I should have noticed when the fire broke out. My cabin was close to where it started, but I slept too soundly…”
Her stomach pains and drowsiness matched what the young woman in the adjoining cabin had said. Besides, it was common for a woman in frail health to feel dizzy from the rocking of a boat. Seeing Lin Wu’s frightened expression and rambling speech, the constables decided she did not appear to be pretending and did not press her further.
After three full days of investigation, the authorities finally pieced together a plausible account of what had happened.
A group of thieves had planned the crime in advance. Using forged travel documents, they had boarded the passenger boat and secretly determined the location of their wealthy target’s cabin. Their original plan had been to steal his valuables without making a sound, then disembark at Hetan County the next day and flee.
But while carrying out the theft that night, they had accidentally awakened Zhao Sheng. In their panic, the thieves knocked him unconscious, bound him, and gagged him. Once their identities had been exposed, they were forced to change their plans. They hurriedly stole a small boat near the ferry crossing and escaped during the night.
After Zhao Sheng regained consciousness, he struggled out of his cabin in a daze, trying to call for help. He happened to see a faint glow near the stairway and mistook it for someone coming to his aid. He strained toward the light, but because he was dizzy and his hands were bound, he lost his footing at the stairs and accidentally fell into the river.
His servant and the boat owner were usually terrified of his harsh and violent temper. Neither dared disturb him in the middle of the night, and so they failed to notice anything unusual in time.
After hearing the explanation, everyone understood at once. They could not help sighing over the tragedy. Although the true culprits were the thieves still at large, when they thought it over carefully, Zhao Sheng’s death did seem to have been written in the stars.
The chain of coincidences had been tightly interwoven. If even one link had been missing, he might not have lost his life. If he had not risen at the time, someone would have found him by dawn. Even if he had fallen into the water, the splash should have roused at least a few people in the stillness of the night—especially since every sailor aboard was an excellent swimmer and could have rescued him at once. Yet, by sheer misfortune, a fire had broken out just then, drawing everyone’s attention away.
Even the yamen officials were privately speculating that Zhao Sheng had brought this upon himself through his usual overbearing conduct.
Lin Wu listened silently to the preliminary conclusions reached by the yamen. As it turned out, the petty thief had returned because one of his accomplices had gone to steal a small boat to come and fetch him. That was why he had not gone far. On his way out, he had also stopped to pilfer a few things from the boat’s owner, and happened to run into Zhao Sheng at the foot of the stairs.
The yamen sent warrants to every county along the river, placing particular emphasis on apprehending the three young men who had escaped.
To put an end to the matter, the boat owner gritted his teeth and refunded half the fare to every passenger.
Fortunately, Hetan County was only two days’ journey by water from Chunchou, and passenger boats traveled back and forth frequently. Lin Wu did not linger. She soon found another, more reliable boat and left that troubled place with Lin Jing.
The current carried them swiftly downstream, and two days later they arrived in Chunchou.
Chunchou had been built along the water, its waterways crisscrossing in every direction. Masts stood thick as a forest at the docks, where passenger and cargo boats from all over the region crowded together. Before their boat had even fully reached the shore, the clamor of voices could already be heard rising and falling.
The noise was even greater once they disembarked. There was no need to enter the city proper; the riverfront was already bustling. Food stalls, inns, travelers’ lodges, freight depots, and warehouses lined the river, while crowds and carts streamed back and forth.
Lin Wu held tightly to Lin Jing’s hand as she made her way through the throng. By then, the sun was already slanting westward, and it was certainly too late to find a passenger boat heading directly to Huzhou. She therefore looked for a nearby travelers’ lodge that appeared reasonably respectable and settled there for the night.
In those days, reputable inns were subject to detailed regulations. If an official, an examination candidate, or a merchant took lodging, the innkeeper had to notify the neighborhood guarantors so that the authorities could make nighttime inspections and keep watch. If traveling merchants bought or sold goods at the inn, the proprietor had to introduce them to a trustworthy broker registered with the authorities. This was meant both to prevent private transactions from evading taxes and to keep travelers from being cheated or extorted by unscrupulous brokers. In addition, if a guest behaved suspiciously or suddenly fell ill, the innkeeper was required to report it to the authorities and provide appropriate assistance.
The check-in process was somewhat cumbersome, but their official travel permits and household documents were all in order, so everything went smoothly.
After settling in, Lin Wu noticed that the common room downstairs was lively. She took Lin Jing down and ordered two bowls of noodles and a small dish of pickles. Before they had even sat down, conversation from the neighboring table drifted over. As expected, everyone was talking about Zhao Sheng.
The yamen’s investigation had concluded only a few days earlier, and the matter was still fresh. Already, Zhao Sheng’s death had acquired several layers of bizarre embellishment.
“If you ask me, it was retribution. He was so arrogant in life that even the River God couldn’t stand it anymore and sent a water ghost to claim his life!”
“Shh, keep your voice down. I heard he came out to inspect the shops on behalf of that imperial consort. Perhaps he got in someone’s way.”
“Inspecting shops could get a man killed?”
“You don’t understand. Once you leave the capital, who would care what that imperial consort wants? Business disputes can be—”
“I don’t think it necessarily had anything to do with outsiders. The empress’s throne is vacant, and that consort is the most favored. But her family background is rather ordinary, tsk, tsk. Do you really think the other noble ladies in the palace would tolerate her reaching her hands this far?”
“That consort must be furious by now.”
“Furious about what? He was only a lackey. If it had truly been someone important, would she have sent him out? He wasn’t even a minor official.”
“How do you all know so much?”
“My aunt’s cousin’s daughter-in-law’s elder brother’s wife happens to be…”
“A distant relative of mine is married to a man who was on that very boat. He saw the corpse with his own eyes. The jade pendant at Zhao Sheng’s waist was missing, and I hear it was an item from the palace. What ordinary thief would dare take it? It was definitely someone from the palace who did it—then had the thieves blamed!”
“There’s something even stranger. A fire broke out that same night. What are the odds? Perhaps the vengeful spirits of those he forced to their deaths years ago followed the water to come for him…”
Lin Wu ate her noodles in silence, listening as the rumors grew ever more fantastic. With each retelling, the story strayed further from the truth. Who knew what trouble it might bring about? This was no place to stay. The sooner they left, the better.
Early the next morning, she took Lin Jing back to the docks to inquire about boat departures. The crowds seemed even thicker than the day before. Amid the din, the words “Zhiyun Trading House” floated repeatedly into her ears.
Her heart gave a start. She immediately went to a food stall, bought a fried flatbread, and casually asked the vendor, “What a coincidence. I came from Lingzhou some days ago, and I personally saw the Zhiyun Trading House convoy heading toward Nan Ya from the docks. Why is everyone saying the Zhiyun Trading House is here now?”
“They did go to Nan Ya, but that was the convoy led by the Young Master. This is the old master’s convoy, and it’s heading back to Huzhou,” the vendor had yet to answer when a porter beside him spoke up. “Too bad they won’t be stopping in Chunchou this time—just pulling in briefly to replenish food and firewood. They won’t need anyone to load or unload cargo, so I won’t be getting any work.”
Back to Huzhou? Lin Wu froze for a moment. Should she go and ask them?
For one thing, Shen Guanting already knew of Lin Jing’s connection to the Gu family, so Old Master Shen presumably knew as well. For another, after the danger they had encountered on the previous passenger boat, she was unwilling to board another vessel full of strangers unless absolutely necessary. The Zhiyun Trading House was ultimately a safer choice than those chaotic passenger boats.
She hesitated for only a moment before taking Lin Jing by the hand and heading toward the place where the Zhiyun Trading House’s boat was moored.
