Obviously, the Dragon Girl didn't know where her father sent Ji Yuan to the Water Palace from, so the location where the black-sailed boat and Ji Yuan were sent to the river was only a dozen miles north of the Water Palace.
As Ji Yuan rowed, he looked at the surrounding mountains with blurry vision, and saw the snow-covered farmlands and snow-capped forests along the river. He gradually realized that he might still need to row a long way to reach the place where he had fished before.
Not knowing how long the exact distance was, Ji Yuan slowly increased the speed of his rowing, and with increased force the boat went much faster.
In fact, most experienced fishermen can also reach Ji Yuan’s current speed and can maintain it for a while, but they cannot continue like Ji Yuan without almost any loss of energy.
While boating, Ji Yuan tried his best to observe the scenery along the coast. Looking at the white color, he knew that the "first snow" three days ago must have fallen for quite a long time.
At this moment, the boat's forward speed was about the same as that of an ordinary person jogging. Ji Yuan, who had put on his straw raincoat and hat again, was not in a hurry to speed up again. After all, he had eaten so many delicious foods and drunk ambergris in the Water Palace, so he felt that he could maintain the speed and row the boat to the end of Tongtian River.
And perhaps because of the existence of the chess piece, Ji Yuan had a feeling that Master Yin would not be able to reach Zhuangyuan Ferry yet.
We rowed until the evening and estimated that we had traveled about seventy or eighty miles, but still did not see Zhuangyuan Ferry. Instead, we saw a house ship moving slowly ahead.
It’s so cold when we go out on a boat. I don’t know if we are out to enjoy the snow along the river.
The giant oars at the stern of the ship were swaying from side to side. It was estimated that the pedal boatman inside was not pedaling very fast at the moment.
It was not completely dark yet, and the servants on the ship had already started hanging lanterns. Through the firelight, Ji Yuan could see that there were words on each lantern, but he could not make out what was written vaguely. He only knew that the words were all the same.
From this point of view, this ship must be the private property of a wealthy family, and the words on the lantern are their surname.
Ji Yuan was bored anyway, so he just rowed the boat to catch up while guessing what the surname was and measuring the difficulty level based on the distance.
After paddling two hundred times, it was almost there. At least the characters were no longer blurred in my sight, but I still couldn't see them clearly.
After another two hundred strokes, it began to have a rough outline, and it looked square and neat, as if it had been drawn a lot.
After paddling for another three hundred times, Ji Yuan finally had a guess. The surname was roughly like that. Judging from the radical on the top of the head and the specifications of the middle below, it might be the character "Xiao".
At this time, the black-sailed boat was not far from the tower ship. Even though the sky grew darker and the wind was howling, one could clearly hear the melodious music and some conversations on the boat.
Behind the top deck of the ship, there were several people standing or lying on the railing, including a man wearing a thick cloak and a square crown, a younger man wrapped in a cloak and a fur hat, and two servants who were also dressed quite warmly.
The older man was holding a glass of wine in his hand. He looked at the black-sailed boat paddling towards him in the distance. He drank the wine and a servant immediately poured it for him.
"Zhong Lou, some things cannot be done as you wish. You have been raised in luxury, under the care of your father and mother. Although you have learned literature and martial arts, you have never experienced real hardship."
The young master was somewhat unhappy after hearing this.
"Dad, you have to suffer a lot when practicing martial arts. Is it appropriate to say that when you haven't practiced it?"
The old man smiled and pointed to the black-sailed boat on the river behind the boat.
"During the freezing season, on the cold river, fishermen fish for a living, and sometimes they catch nothing for several days. They are hungry and cold, but they dare not rest... Have you ever experienced this kind of suffering?"
The young man followed his father's hand and looked towards the small boat on the river. The boatman was paddling hard, as if he was powerlessly chasing the lights of the ship in the gradually darkening river.
I don't know why I couldn't utter that rebuttal.
This young man had heard from his servants before that there had been no fresh fish in the market for many days, and even if there were fish, they were shipped from other places. It was rumored that no fish could be caught in the Tongtian River for some days. This was certainly strange, but it did not affect them, the dignitaries. But what about the people who made a living on the river
"I guess this fisherman must have traveled a long way down the river in hopes of catching some fish, right?"
"Zhong Lou, you and I are still cold even though we are wrapped in furs. Look at the fisherman, he has only thin clothes under his straw raincoat. He can only keep paddling. If he stops, the sweat on his body might kill him... Well, he rows quite fast..."
The master was preaching when he suddenly noticed that the small black boat was actually very close to the large ship, and judging from its speed, it seemed like it was about to overtake the large ship.
Ji Yuan looked at the people on the black-sailed boat on the river. They had an air of authority rising from their heads, and they must be a family with power in the capital.
What you hear are the troublesome gossips that only the rich and powerful have.
The young man also took a look at the black-sailed boat, which was a good omen for him, and finally turned around and refuted his father.
"But I don't want Hongxiu to be my principal wife. Is it not okay to just marry her as a concubine?"
The father drank another glass of wine to warm himself up, then sneered and said.
"Who are you and who is she? If a prostitute enters our Xiao family, how will you let your mother arrange a marriage for you? How will the court view our Xiao family? Your future career will inevitably be affected!"
"Dad! Which article of our Great Law of Chastity stipulates that officials cannot marry prostitutes? Besides, Hongxiu sells her art but not her body!"
The young man was obviously a little angry, and even his tone became a little higher.
"Humph, she is nothing but a lowly woman! Besides, it is just a rumor that she only sells her art but not her body. Hasn't she opened her skirt to you?"
"You... Dad, you are just making up stories!"
The old man just sneered a few times and paused before speaking.
"I'm letting you out here on this cold river to feel the cold wind and clear your head. If you choose this step, the suffering you will endure in the future may not be less than that of the fishermen on the black-sailed boat, or even more miserable. Dad never lies to you!"
When Ji Yuan's black-sailed boat passed by, one could even hear the "creaking" sound of the young man's clenched fists, which showed how angry and unwilling he was.
"Oh, the troubles of the rich and powerful..."
Shaking his head, Ji Yuan increased his strength slightly again, and the black-sailed boat went a little faster, already overtaking the building ship by half its hull.
The young man on the ship left shallow fingerprints on the wooden railing with his fingers. His eyes followed the sail boat, watching the small boat struggling to overtake the big ship. He seemed to have a sudden realization in his mind, and the strength in his fingertips suddenly weakened.
At this moment, Ji Yuan felt something in his heart and turned his head to look upwards, looking at the young man. The latter had been staring at the boat, and suddenly saw the fisherman who had been rowing turned his head and looked at him, as if he was looking at him, and was slightly stunned.
Ji Yuan nodded slightly at him, smiled, turned back to paddling, and muttered to himself:
"It's quite interesting, quite interesting!"
But it's just a little interesting. Mr. Xiao's temporary change in temperament cannot represent his whole life. Maybe someone will be interested in knowing the result in the future.
The wupeng boat seemed to speed up again. Although it was not obvious, it soon surpassed the tower ship and left it behind.
On the Xiao family's large ship, the young man frowned and looked at the black-sailed boat for a long time.
"Zhonglou, what do you want to say?"
"Dad, I can't convince you, so I'll just take the top spot first!"
The old man finally smiled, stroked his beard with his left hand and patted his son's shoulder with his right hand.
"I'll go have tea with your Uncle Liu after I return to Beijing!"