Red Mansion and Crimson Pearl

Chapter 274: Beater

Seeing that the boatman was shaking with fear all over, Daiyu had no idea what to do, so she called Qingwen out and talked to him for a while. Finally, he felt better.

At dinner, the Queen Mother was pleasantly surprised to find the meal was exceptionally rich, with sea fish, shrimps and crabs, vegetables, pickled meats, and even a kind of longan wine that they had made themselves, which was sweet and delicious.

In fact, the sea route from Jinshan Port where they boarded the ship in Songjiang Prefecture to Haiyan Port in Jiaxing Prefecture is not far.

The Empress Dowager cherished the opportunity to take a sea boat ride very much, so Daiyu asked the boatman to go slower, and it took three days to arrive.

When the group came ashore with their bags, Feng Ziying suddenly appeared with an untidy beard, followed by a team of ten imperial guards and an army of five hundred people!

Ni Er and several other bodyguards jumped down first, followed by Chu Kua, then Zijuan supporting the Empress Dowager, Qingwen supporting Daiyu, Xue Ya supporting Tanchun, Xue Yan supporting Aunt Meng, and lastly Jia Jin and Jia Wei supervising several porters carrying the luggage.

Feng Ziying let out a long breath, and for a moment he felt his vision go dark and his knees go weak. He gathered himself, stepped forward quickly, and knelt down in the sand:

"Your servant Feng Ziying pays respect to the Empress Dowager! Princess Zhaoqing! Princess Yimin!

"The Supreme Lord has ordered me to lead the Zhejiang garrison to wait for the Empress Dowager here and escort her back to the capital!"

Therefore, the result of this sneaky trip was that they were not even allowed to stop in Yangzhou, and the three of them were directly packed up and sent back to the capital!

Daiyu and Tanchun looked at each other quietly, made faces at each other, and then stood quietly and obediently behind the Empress Dowager, not moving a muscle.

The boatman on the ship, who had received a large reward and was feeling very happy, heard this series of titles and the neatly-lined soldiers in helmets and armor on the shore. He thought about what he had said and rolled his eyes and fainted!

The Empress Dowager was very calm. After hearing this, she looked at Feng Ziying and suddenly frowned: "You ran here. Besides your father, who else is with the Emperor?"

"Jinling Jia, Youshi, the widow of Jia Zhen, a branch of Lord Ning, heard that His Majesty was going on a secret tour to the south and was afraid that she would not have enough people to take with her, so she immediately sent thirty of her former Duke's personal guards over.

"I actually recognized the leader, the Grand Master. Plus, the Governor-General of Liangjiang personally accompanied him with his guards. Please rest assured, Your Majesty, the Grand Master is safe."

The Queen Mother hummed, as if she was finally relieved, and pointed to the back: "Since you are here, I will leave it to you to arrange these."

Feng Ziying bowed his head and agreed, but did not move away. He continued, "The Supreme Lord has given an oral order. Princess Zhaoqing and Princess Yimin are requested to kneel and listen."

Therefore, the two people still couldn't escape.

Daiyu and Tanchun had no choice but to come over and kneel down in front of Feng Ziying: "Zhaoqing/Yimin is here."

"You two are so bold and naughty, damn it!

"I will consider your filial piety and that it is rare for the Queen Mother to have such a leisurely trip, so I will give you a lenient sentence."

Feng Ziying felt extremely troubled, but he still drew out the scabbard, and said in an awkward voice:

"Put out your hands."

Daiyu and Tanchun were puzzled. They looked at each other, then obediently stretched out their hands and held them in front of Feng Ziying.

Feng Ziying gritted his teeth and hardened his heart. He followed the Supreme Emperor's order to "beat him until he is swollen", raised the scabbard, and started striking him four times!

Daiyu and Tanchun were about to scream in pain, but they had to hold it back in front of so many people, and each bit their lower lip harder than the other!

Before the two of them could do anything, the Queen Mother saw what was happening and immediately became anxious: "Feng Ziying! Are you looking for death!?"

He strode over, pulled up each of the four hands one by one, and spread them out in front of his eyes. He saw that in just a few breaths, there was a thick red mark on the palm of each hand, and they were swollen!

The Queen Mother was immediately furious, pointing at Feng Ziying and shouting, "Chu Qian, beat him up!"

Feng Ziying smiled bitterly and bowed: "Your Majesty, without the order of the Supreme Lord, even if you give me the courage of heaven, I would not dare to touch a hair of these two!

"Please understand!"

Tanchun tugged at the empress dowager's collar with two fingers and smiled sweetly, "Don't be angry, mother.

"On the day we left, Sister Zhaoqing and I had already made preparations to copy scriptures and kneel in the ancestral hall.

"Now it's just a slap on the wrist, which is much easier than those."

Daiyu also blew on her palm in pain and joined in softly, "That's what I mean.

"I sneaked out and ran around for such a long time. When I return to Beijing, I don't know how many people are waiting to punish me.

"Now the Supreme has already slapped my hand. If I go back, no one will be willing to do anything to me again!

"Don't be angry, Queen Mother. It's okay. We have Aunt Meng. It's just a minor injury. It will heal in two days."

The Queen Mother stared at Feng Ziying fiercely, and after a while she said, "Today, the Supreme Lord has ordered that you have no choice but to do what you want. I will let you go!

"When we return to Beijing, I will find you the most powerful wife in the world!

"I'm so controlling of you that you don't even have time to go out for a drink!"

Among the ten imperial guards following behind, one could not help but burst out laughing.

Then Daiyu laughed too.

Aunt Meng quickly joined in the fun and laughed.

The Queen Mother glared at them one by one, and then she pulled Zijuan and said, "Let's go! Ignore these heartless people!"

Zijuan smiled and said softly, "You have just been on the sea for three days. Walking on land, I am afraid you may not be used to it at first. I will support you and we will walk slowly."

After she whispered to him, the Queen Mother nodded reluctantly.

Feng Ziying hurriedly led the way and signaled to the guards to help look after the luggage.

Soon everyone arrived at Haiyan County.

The Queen Mother, Daiyu and the others first had a nice bath, and after they had cleaned themselves up, they ate some porridge which was only available inland.

The Queen Mother enjoyed the sea breeze very much while she was at sea, but once she got ashore, she felt dizzy, had a stuffy nose, and her whole body was burning hot. It seemed that she had caught a cold.

Aunt Meng hurriedly checked her pulse, prepared some medicine, and personally helped her to sleep and sweat.

Daiyu and Tanchun watched the Empress Dowager fall asleep and her fever subsided, so they were relieved. When they came out, they saw Feng Ziying waiting at the door and knelt down to thank him for his trouble.

Seeing Feng Ziying's eyes fixed on Tanchun, Daiyu's heart moved slightly, and she said to Tanchun:

"It's so hard to get ashore, I have to write to Yun Ge'er and the others and ask them to set off back to Beijing.

"You can learn from Master Feng about what we experienced along the way. I'm going back to my room first."

Tanchun was a little embarrassed at first, but seeing that Daiyu spoke so seriously, she had to let her go. She took Xue Ya with her and talked to Feng Ziying.

In the afternoon, Daiyu finished writing a thick letter and asked Feng Ziying to send it via the post station:

"There are my father's belongings in there. How should I arrange the details of returning to Beijing? I'm afraid they will be lost."

Feng Ziying readily agreed.

In just one day and one night, the letter reached Suzhou Prefecture.

Jia Yun and others had already set out the day before.

Lin Jing took the letter, but saw that it was written on the envelope: From Lin Jing himself.

Feeling curious, he opened it and saw another letter inside: Please hand it over to Prefect Wei!

Later that day, Wei Jun received the letter in surprise. He unfolded it and read it, frowning tightly: "Fake Japanese pirates?!"