Chapter 10 I'm Not a Pervert

  Ye Zhao, the imperial envoy, indeed traveled lightly with only one servant, six geshaha, and five personal attendants including four senior eunuchs and old man Du Wenquan who had returned from Shandong a few days ago and became Ye Zhao's teacher. In addition, there were Su Hongniang, Su Lao Da, Luo Ajiu and seven other members of the Tiandi Society.

  More than 20 people chartered a horse-drawn carriage to Dagu, and then requisitioned a sandboat from Dagu to take the sea route to Shanghai. At that time, various places were in turmoil, but taking the sea route was actually the safest.

  Under the scorching sun, the emerald waves stretched for miles. The huge sail of the sand ship billowed in the wind, making a rustling sound. Ye Zha stood at the bow of the ship, gazing out into the distance. Although he didn't know his exact location, he figured they had already left Bohai Bay.

  "Sir, the wind is strong at the bow of the ship, we can't wait for long." The captain was a robust man in his thirties, speaking Mandarin with a tongue-twisting accent to Ye Zhao. His surname was Li and he was also the owner of this sand-transporting boat, hailing from Chongming. The Chongming gang was one of the three major gangs in Shanghai's maritime transport industry. Of course, these so-called three major gangs were just a way for merchants to identify with their fellow provincials, uniting together to compete with outsiders for business.

  Li Lao Da had just transported a ship of white rice from the south and was preparing to go to Niu Zhuang to purchase soybeans before returning to Shanghai, but unexpectedly encountered an official requisitioning his boat to transport passengers, to which he readily agreed.

  Ye Zhaos attire was simple, but the matters of requisitioning ships were all handled by Rui Si. However, the Geshaha with the red tassel and neatly dressed uniform stood guard beside him, making it clear at a glance that he was the true master. Although Ye Zhao was young, there were countless Manchu nobles in the capital who had achieved success from a young age, not to mention this young official who only had a few followers, so he probably wasn't a high-ranking official or noble.

  "Li Dage, this boat must have cost tens of thousands of taels of silver, right?" Ye Zhao asked with a smile.

  Li Lao Da's face revealed a hint of pride, and why not? From being a young apprentice in a business at the age of ten to today, where he could jointly purchase a ship with someone and establish himself, it was something that many people struggled for their entire lives but couldn't achieve.

  However, he replied naturally and humbly, "Lord, this is an old ship that I co-purchased with others. It's laughable to show it to you, Lord. My partner and I plan to use it for a few years, then borrow some silver from someone and buy another one."

  Ye Zhaowu nodded slightly and gazed into the distance, but then let out a soft sigh: "After all, it's not as fast as a steamship."

  Li Lao Da laughed and said, "It seems that the master has been to Shanghai and seen the foreigners' steamships. To be honest with you, sir, I also had such thoughts before, but first, I didn't have enough money, and second, operating a steamship is complicated, and there weren't any ready-made partners. Later on, my enthusiasm faded away."

  Yeh Chao said, "If the silver is not enough, you can make preparations from all sides. If there are no partners, you can learn from foreigners, it's not a particularly profound skill. In your transportation industry, you must always talk about innovation and progress. If you stick to the old ways, you will eventually be eliminated."

  Mr. Li smiled apologetically, but was clearly unconvinced. Ye Zhao said: "What do people rely on to make money these days? It's nothing more than relying on the transportation of goods between north and south. But foreigners' steamships are prohibited from trading in the north, who knows when this rule will be abolished? Think about it, steamships can also go to Niuzhuang to purchase beans, and there will be no restricted areas for going north or south. How will our sandboats make a living then?"

  Li Lao Da smiled and said, "It's not that I don't believe what you're saying, but the imperial court will always give us a way out, right? Outside of Shanghai, there are tens of thousands of sand ships, it's not just my family."

  Ye Zhaoshao smiled and said, "Business competition is also a matter of life and death. Many things the imperial court has no choice but to do. More than ten years ago, foreigners were only allowed to trade with the thirteen hongs in Guangzhou. But now? Five ports are open for trade, free trade. To have a way out, one must change, reform, and strengthen oneself!"

  Lao Fuzi Du Wenquan didn't know when he had arrived at the bow of the boat, listening to Ye Zhao's words and stroking his beard with a smile.

  Li Lao Da's face turned ugly, as if he had seen the end of the world in Ye Zhao's words. He returned to the helm with a depressed mood, but Ye Zhao's words kept echoing in his ears.

  "Old Master Du, it's very windy outside, why don't you go back to the cabin?" Ye Zhao looked at Du Wenquan's thin and frail figure, and was really afraid that a gust of wind would blow him into the sea.

  The old man smiled and said: "Sir, you're not afraid of anything, what's there for this half-dead body of mine to fear?"

  Yao Guang'er, to be honest, among the people I know, only Lao Fuzi can be considered a real gentleman. Others are good to me, but when they turn around, I don't know what kind of face they show to others.

  "Grandfather, I have a question to ask for your guidance. Since England is separated from us by thousands of miles and it takes half a year to come to our country across the ocean, why do they insist on not getting along with us?"

  Seeing Lao Fuzi's humble and inquiring appearance, Ye Zhao suddenly felt a headache. It was strange that he wanted to give those few books to Su Hongniang, so he asked Lao Fuzi to copy them out, which made Lao Fuzi become the problem now.

  Actually, the great Confucian scholar Lao Fuzi looked down on the barbarian system, but was quite curious about the various descriptions in the book, and often discussed them with Ye Zha.

  "For the sake of clarity." Yeshao had no choice but to simplify this complex system.

  The old lady stroked her beard and nodded, deeply agreeing. "Sir, you rest, my son is afraid that even in seven or eight days, he won't be able to finish copying." Now the old master works day and night at this task of transcription.

  Ye Zhaosheng smiled and said: "Don't worry."

  Even if everything goes smoothly, it will take at least a dozen or so days to get to Shanghai.

  ……

  Although close to the well-ventilated cabin, the narrow cabin was still a bit damp and stuffy. When Ye Zhao entered the room, Su Hongniang was sitting on the wooden bed holding that book "Peasant War".

  She is a leader of thousands of troops and horses, so she can naturally see the value of this book.

  Ye Zha pulled out a wooden box from behind his back and smiled: "A gift for you."

  Su Hongniang saw Ye Zhao enter the cabin and put down her book, stood up and saluted with her hands, which made Ye Zhao feel very unaccustomed.

  Su Hongniang really didn't know how to deal with Ye Zhao, this little slippery head who was corrupt and indulgent, nine out of ten sentences were false, let alone a hero or a great man, he was just a banner person. Looking at him easily rescuing his brother from the dead prisoner's prison, it was not a light weight, a noble aristocrat with a heavy family background.

  But he was his brother's lifesaver, and all the way escorted the group out of the capital's danger zone.

  Su Hongniang's Jianghu faction values loyalty over life, with a heroic and carefree spirit. This lifesaving favor has left her somewhat troubled, now she only hopes to find a way to repay Ye Zhao as soon as possible, clear the debt with this little ghost, and have no more entanglements.

  Otherwise, listening to his frivolous language every day, I'm afraid that one day I won't be able to bear it and chop off his head with a knife.

  Ye Zhao's gift, Su Hongniang naturally declined politely.

  Ye Zha opened the wooden box, inside was a flower flag country-made revolver, in terms of style and structure, it was not much different from the later generation's left-handed revolver, only thicker.

  This was one of the Western firearms that the British had originally given to the Qing nobles, but this batch of Western firearms had long been put away by the Daoguang Emperor. This revolver, however, had somehow ended up in the Zheng Prince's mansion, where it was locked away in a corner of the study. If Ye Zhao hadn't stumbled upon it by chance, the prince would have long forgotten about it. Seeing that Ye Zhao liked it, he naturally gave it to him.

  Ye Zhaohanded over the wooden box, smiling: "Western firearms, this is called a handgun. The range and power are not as good as a long gun, but it's convenient. There aren't many bullets, though. When we get to Shanghai, I'll help you buy some more."

  Su Hongniang waved her hand and said: "You'd better use it for self-defense, I don't need it."

  Ye Zhao, however, didn't give him a chance to explain and pushed past him. "I know you're proud and skilled, but everyone has moments of weakness. Besides, no matter how skilled you are with your sword, can you compare to the power of firearms?"

  Su Hongniang didn't take it and said: "I've also seen the clear demon's firearms, they're nothing special."

  Ye Zhaoh sighed, "Western firearms are not comparable to bird guns, are they? Let me put it this way, if a bird gun could fire continuously without stopping, with a longer range and greater power, could you dodge it?"

  Su Hongniang's pretty face slightly changed color, and she immediately thought of the horror of this firearm. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she asked: "Is Western firearms so fierce?"

  Ye Zhaodao said: "It is still not achievable at present, but with the advancement of technology, the semi-automatic Mauser rifle era will soon arrive."

  "What's technology?" Su Hongniang was somewhat puzzled.

  Ye Zhaosheng smiled and said: "In the books I sent you, there is one that mentions Western technology. It seems you're not interested."

  "Let me tell you, Westerners have invented something called the telegraph, which connects two places with wires, and a sentence you utter can be transmitted to thousands of miles away in an instant; they also have trains, with steel machines as locomotives, whose power is tens of millions of times greater than that of oxen or horses, carrying goods on roads at high speed; and there are also cameras, which can capture your shadow in the mirror instantly, leaving it as a keepsake."

  "These are technologies, not magic. In the future, there will be machines that can fly in the sky and carry dozens or even hundreds of people."

  "You want to conquer the world, but what's the point of conquering the world if you become a slave to it? The Westerners are attacking, how will you resist them?"

  Yue Shao's words became more and more absurd towards the end, and Su Hongniang was originally amazed by this little ghost's vast knowledge, but her admiration dissipated into thin air.

  Ye Zhao didn't know what Su Hongniang was thinking in her heart, he handed over the wooden box and smiled: "Here, you can continue now. I'll teach you how to use firearms. In short, if you want to win every battle, firearms are your best choice."

  When she met such a lazy person, Su Hongniang felt powerless, but she had to take over the wooden box. She said seriously: "Ye Gongzi, I mean what I say, I'm grateful for your great kindness, but please don't think that I'm a flirtatious person."

  Su Hongniang was truly born with a charming and beautiful bone, her eyebrows and smile could hook people's souls, even in the midst of thousands of troops and horses, she would still have red lips and a smiling face, coming and going like the wind, the enemy generals would already be surrendering amidst the silver bell-like sound of her laughter, the two Guangdong Green Camps often spoke of her mighty name, calling her the charming Rakshasa.

  Facing Ye Zhaohua, Su Hongniang had to put on a stern face all day long, lest Ye Zhaohua took advantage of the situation and said something nonsensical, and even more so, lest he misunderstood that she had some good feelings towards him.

  It's all because Ye Zhao is a lifesaver, so he can't show his true colors and let him know how formidable he is.

  Ye Zhaowu naturally understood Su Hongniang's meaning, nodded slightly and said seriously: "Of course, I admire Su Niang from the bottom of my heart for her loyalty to her deceased husband." This was what he thought in his heart.

  Su Hongniang finally understood.

  Ye Zhao began to explain to Su Hongniang how to load the bullet, how to aim, "three points in a line, right, right, just like this." As he spoke, the room suddenly shook violently, and Su Hongniang fell back onto the bed. Ye Zhao also stumbled and fell forward.

  "Ah!" Ye Zhao exclaimed in surprise, seeing herself about to fall onto Su Hongniang's body, but feeling a sudden jolt on her chest, waist and legs, and then found herself suspended in mid-air.

  Ye Zhaowu slowly came back to his senses, only to find that Su Hongniang had her left hand supporting his chest and her right hand holding a revolver pressed against his waist, while also kneeling down to press against his legs, which was the only reason he hadn't fallen onto her.

  It's just that the current posture is a bit too ambiguous, Ye Zhaolooked down and his heart suddenly jumped, the beautiful and unparalleled face was right in front of him, those bright red and seductive cherry lips seemed to be able to kiss deeply with just one nod, the white and tender neck, the small earlobe was all in sight, the snow-white hand painted with vermilion was stroking her own chest, while the person below had a red dress with a trembling breast that made Ye Zhao think of the idiom "to refuse but also welcome", his head buzzed loudly, for a moment Ye Zhao's body almost exploded.

  What made Ye Zhaos bones even softer was that although he didnt touch the other persons body at all, he was pressed to his knees in mid-air, feeling the force and elasticity, and could imagine the natural charm of the body under him, which was soft and slippery.

  It is precisely the delicate white snow that wraps around the jade skirt, with infinite charm in its curves; the water bone is tender, the jade mountain is lofty, and the mandarin duck quilt holds back the spring breeze.

  It's a long story, but in fact it was only a short moment. Dizzy and confused, Ye Zhaowu immediately felt himself flying up like a cloud, and then he was brought back by the force and stood steadily in front of the bed.

  It wasn't until a while later that Ye Zhaowu came back to his senses, only to see the lovely figure slipping out of the door. He hastily chased after her and asked, "Where are you going?" Su Hongniang's face was stern, and she didn't even bother to acknowledge him.

  Ye Zhaowu knew that Su Hongniang was really angry this time, and his lecherous appearance was obvious even to a blind man, let alone Su Hongniang. In Su Hongniang's world, he was probably the kind of scoundrel who would have been stabbed with several transparent holes if they had just met.

  Alas, how can I blame myself, Ye Zhaoye shook his head and sighed.

  Twenty years ago, I had a taste of the wonders of sex, but my identity made me even more tempted in this world. However, I really didn't want to be a lustful person, so I could only suppress it. Take the night when Da Chun and others saw me off, for example. Although my face was calm, Cui Xian's teasing was almost naked later on. Any normal man would have been consumed by desire, but I remained unmoved. I'm afraid even Liu Xiaohui couldn't do any better than that.

  But why did all the hardships of these twenty years come back tonight? And on Su's body?

  And just now I said that I admired her for keeping her chastity, but in the blink of an eye she became a lustful demon in front of me, how can this be endured?

  Ye Zhaoye was left with a splitting headache and a heart full of frustration.

  But there's one thing I don't understand, why did Su Hongniang pull herself instead of throwing herself to the ground? Was everything that happened at that moment a subconscious move? Is it possible that deep down inside her, she didn't hate herself that much?

  Thinking of Ye Zhaoye, he couldn't help but smile wryly, comforting himself like this - how could that be possible?