novelzi Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Regarding the question of whether the crown prince would ascend, Qin Zheng couldn’t find any evidence.
After all, she couldn’t directly ask the crown prince.
The other passengers in the cabin quickly turned to other topics.
Qin Zheng closed her eyes, leaning against the cabin wall, feeling sleep gradually overcoming her.
Before drifting off, she vaguely thought, regardless of whether the crown prince ascended or not, it was definitely false that Emperor Chu Yang was refining elixirs to help him seek medicine.
After all, Emperor Chu Yang had more than one son, and no matter how deep the father-son relationship was, he wouldn’t tarnish the crown prince’s reputation like that.
In the original book, the crown prince’s consort was depicted as a calamitous, nation-ruining consort.
Most likely, some other prince concocted this scheme to bring down the crown prince.
...
As night fell deeper, the conversations of the other passengers gradually quieted down.
Some who slept deeply even started snoring.
Qin Zheng didn’t sleep soundly.
The space was cramped, maintaining one position for too long became uncomfortable, and the occasional swaying of the boat on the water caused her to bump her head against the cabin wall several times.
But she was too tired to keep her eyes open, only half-consciously rubbing the spots where she hit her head.
Her face wore an expression of confusion and grievance, as if she couldn’t understand why this pillar kept hitting her head.
The crown prince slept lightly, the loud snores in the cabin preventing him from truly sleeping.
Even though she had her hair twisted into a messy bun at the back of her head and was wearing a clearly ill-fitting, drab gray male robe, it was still obvious she was a woman.
The crown prince’s eyes narrowed slightly.
He probably knew why the man who had confronted her earlier kept looking at her after entering the cabin.
When they boarded the ship, it was dark, and others might not have noticed Qin Zheng’s appearance.
But the man had spoken to Qin Zheng at close range, so he had clearly seen her face.
It would take at least three days to travel to Wu County by water.
Was she going to be squeezed into this cramped place where she couldn’t even stretch her legs for the next two days?
Thinking about these things, the crown prince slowly closed his eyes in the cabin filled with snores and odors.
Qin Zheng woke up the next morning.
After a good night’s sleep, she felt refreshed, but her body was numb from maintaining the same position for too long.
Every time she moved, the crown prince would look over.
Seeing her grimacing, he reached over and pressed on several acupoints, instantly relieving some of the numbness.
“Thank you...”
The words “Your Highness” almost came out of her mouth, but she swallowed them back, remembering they were on the run.
“Between us, there’s no need for thanks anymore,” the crown prince said, then handed her a bowl steaming with heat. “Have some food first.”
Qin Zheng was indeed hungry, but when she saw the food in the bowl, she was surprised.
Fish soup?@@@@
It seemed a bit too luxurious for them right now.
The bowl had been sitting for a while, so Qin Zheng held it and didn’t feel it was too hot.
She didn’t hurry to eat, lifting her head to ask, “Where did this fish soup come from?”
The crown prince calmly said, “This morning, I went to the deck and caught some fish from the river. I gave a few to the boat owner and had his men help cook the fish soup.”
Qin Zheng had witnessed the crown prince’s martial arts skills, so catching a few fish was certainly within his capabilities.
What she was more concerned about was the crown prince’s injury, so she immediately asked, “Did the wound get wet again?”
“No, I didn’t get into the water. I tied the fish to the sword handle with a rope.”
His sword had a round ring on the handle, which made it convenient to tie a rope. With his exceptional eyesight, he could throw the sword and hit a fish eight or nine times out of ten.
However, the sword was too sharp, and several large fish fell off when they were pulled up. It was the servants on the boat who used a net to catch them.
Knowing that his wound hadn’t gotten wet, Qin Zheng felt relieved.
She glanced at the bowl of fish soup, sprinkled with a few chopped green onions, and asked the crown prince, “Have you eaten?”
“I have.”
At last, he added, “I now claim to be surnamed Cheng, with the single name Ji, the Ji in ‘social stability and prosperity.'”
Ji Cheng?
Qin Zheng felt that the name sounded familiar, but she couldn’t recall where she had heard it before.
She decided not to dwell on it and asked about the payment for his temporary protection: “Is this room the payment?”
The crown prince looked into her clear black and white eyes and added, “Upon arriving in Wujun, I will pay you another ten taels of silver.”
With that, he took out a handful of copper coins and placed them on the table. “Most of the fish caught this morning were sold to Master Chen. You can take this money.”
Qin Zheng looked at the pile of copper coins on the table, and the words the woman had said earlier suddenly came to mind.
Her mood became even more complicated.
Was he entrusting her with the money?
Feeling somewhat awkward, Qin Zheng said, “It’s the same if you keep it.”
The crown prince replied, “Not convenient.”
Sensing his displeasure in his tone, Qin Zheng didn’t insist further.
She found a thin string and counted out ten copper coins, stringing them together.
After counting for a while, she realized there were actually one hundred and twenty copper coins.
She wasn’t sure about the prices here or whether the crown prince sold the fish by weight or by quantity.
Although one hundred and twenty copper coins weren’t much, Qin Zheng was still quite happy to finally have some income.
She was about to say something to the crown prince when she noticed his cold expression as he sat across from her reading a book.
Qin Zheng blinked her eyes.
Was he angry?
Unaware of the situation, Qin Zheng didn’t know that the crown prince was actually lost in thought.
In his past life and this life combined, he had never been so embarrassed.
He must have been possessed at that moment, otherwise how could he have the nerve to give her a few copper coins as if they were gold and silver?
Even when he was at his lowest, he promised his generals gold and silver, not just a few copper coins.
What was he thinking, giving her a handful of copper coins like they were rare treasures?
No wonder she would refuse!
Embarrassing! Truly embarrassing!
The crown prince pinched his brow, unable to understand how he could have done such a foolish thing.
Qin Zheng felt that the crown prince had been cold all day.
She thought he might be displeased because she had refused to accept the money, but was it necessary to be upset for so long?
After nightfall, Qin Zheng reluctantly sat with him at the table for a while.
Later, she couldn’t hold out any longer and yawned, saying, “Your... Highness, it’s late.”
She was so tired, but she didn’t want to go to bed directly.
The crown prince, who had been holding a book all day without turning a page, finally turned one.
If Qin Zheng hadn’t secretly glanced over several times, she might have thought he was actually reading it seriously.
Without lifting his eyelids, he said, “You rest first. I still need to go to the deck later.”
Since he said so, Qin Zheng didn’t bother to speculate about his complicated thoughts and went to bed by herself.
Due to the limitations of the cabin, the bed was somewhat small.
After both of them lay down, it was probably difficult to even turn over.
Qin Zheng tried to sleep close to the edge, leaving him enough space.
In the latter half of the night, the entire ship suddenly shook violently, and Qin Zheng fell directly under the bed.
There was a commotion outside, and it seemed that there was also the sound of weapons clashing.
Attacked by water bandits?
Qin Zheng instantly became alert.
She climbed up and felt the bed, which was cold. It didn’t seem like someone had slept in it.
Where was the crown prince?