“Set off!”
With Jin Feng’s command, the escorts began boarding the ships.
“Where is Xiaobei?”
Jin Feng scanned the surroundings but saw no sign of Tang Xiaobei, so he asked Yuan Caiwei.
“Madam Xiaobei said she feels unwell and will not come to see you off.”
Yuan Caiwei replied with an odd expression.
She had just visited Tang Xiaobei, who was bouncing around full of energy and showed no signs of illness.
She was merely pouting like a resentful wife, clearly sulking with Jin Feng.
Everyone in Xihe Bay Village knew how much Jin Feng doted on Guan Xiaorou and Tang Xiaobei.
Tang Xiaobei was also very sensible. She had never thrown a tantrum on such an occasion before.
Yuan Caiwei was extremely curious about what had happened between them, but as a subordinate, it was not her place to pry into her superiors’ gossip. She could only suppress her curiosity and plan to ask around after Jin Feng left.
“Very well. Please pass on a message to Xiaobei that I have departed.”
Jin Feng shook his head helplessly and boarded the ship with Da Liu and Han Feng.
absence makes the heart grow fonder. After returning last night, Jin Feng and Tang Xiaobei naturally spent some intimate time together.
Afterwards, they discussed the upcoming East Sea matter.
Tang Xiaobei still tried to persuade Jin Feng not to go personally. When that failed, she compromised by demanding to accompany him.
The journey to the East Sea was exceptionally dangerous. Jin Feng did not want Tang Xiaobei to risk it and refused without hesitation.
Tang Xiaobei refused to accept this. She used every trick in her arsenal, employing nearly all the skills she had learned in the brothel. Jin Feng accepted all the benefits but still refused to let her join him in the East Sea.
This infuriated Tang Xiaobei. From the moment she got up in the morning, she had vanished.
By now the fleet was ready to depart. Jin Feng could not delay the schedule just to coax Tang Xiaobei. He could only ask Yuan Caiwei to relay the message.
Yuan Caiwei watched the fleet sail away, then immediately went to find Tang Xiaobei.
But the staff in the courtyard told her that Tang Xiaobei had left, leaving only a letter for Yuan Caiwei.
Yuan Caiwei opened the envelope. Her eyes gradually widened, then she gave a wry smile.
In the letter, Tang Xiaobei said she had secretly slipped aboard to follow Jin Feng to the East Sea. For the time being, Jiangnan affairs were entrusted to Yuan Caiwei.
At this point, Yuan Caiwei should have immediately sent someone to inform Jin Feng, but Tang Xiaobei had explicitly warned at the end of the letter not to do so.
“You two are sulking and leaving me caught in the middle…”
Yuan Caiwei muttered as she folded the letter away. In the end, she decided not to report it.
Because Jin Feng was a man. Even if the matter came to light later, he was unlikely to punish her too harshly over it.
But Tang Xiaobei was different.
Never offend a woman.
Especially one determined to follow her husband.
Yuan Caiwei thought the matter was settled, but three days after Jin Feng’s departure, she suddenly received a carrier pigeon message from Xichuan.
The message had been instructed by the Ninth Princess before her departure and sent by Qing Mu Lan. It detailed the imperial edict and stated that the Ninth Princess was returning to the capital.
“Why has this message from Xichuan only just arrived?”
Yuan Caiwei glanced at the date on the note and frowned as she asked.
Normally, a pigeon could fly at least several hundred li in a day. Some strong ones could manage over a thousand li.
They could fly straight, ignoring mountains and rivers.
The direct distance from Xichuan to the site of Tang Xiaobei’s ambush was only about two thousand li.
In theory, a carrier pigeon should take at most three or four days, yet so many days had passed before they received it.
“Manager Yuan, there has been heavy snowfall and blizzards in Xichuan recently. The pigeons were frostbitten. It is already impressive that they made it here.”
The pigeon keeper looked heartbroken as he gently lifted the pigeon’s wing.
Not just any pigeon could carry messages. They had to be professionally trained.
These people were known as pigeon keepers.
Raising pigeons required immense patience. Unless one truly loved pigeons, few could persist.
Even those who forced themselves to continue rarely produced high-quality carrier pigeons.
Thus, most pigeon keepers genuinely treated their pigeons as companions, even as children.
Yuan Caiwei followed the keeper’s finger and indeed saw a patch of frost damage on the pigeon’s claw.
Its wings also seemed to flap with difficulty.
“You have worked hard!”
Yuan Caiwei could hardly blame the keeper. She could only offer kind words of comfort, then asked, “When will we be able to breed homing pigeons that actively seek their nests?”
Jin Feng had now been gone for three days, travelling downstream.
Even if Yuan Caiwei sent the fastest boat, it would be hard to catch up in the short term.
The quickest way to send a message now was still by pigeon.
But as mentioned before, ordinary carrier pigeons only recognised fixed nests. This meant Jin Feng could send messages to Yuan Caiwei, but she could not send them to him.
When Jin Feng departed, he took the pigeon cage with him.
To send a message, one simply released the pigeon from that station. It would fly back to its home nest on its own.
That completed the delivery.
But since Jin Feng was constantly moving, only special pigeons could locate him.
The Jinchuan Chamber currently had no such pigeons.
“Manager Yuan, I do not have that skill.”
The pigeon keeper shook his head. “If you ever find such an expert, you must introduce me.”
After seeing off the keeper, Yuan Caiwei paced back and forth in the room. Moments later, she rushed out.
The events in Xichuan were far too serious. She had to inform Jin Feng as quickly as possible.
Without pigeons, she would send someone by boat to catch up.
Soon, a long, narrow boat slipped out from the dock, raised its sails, and headed downstream.
Jin Feng, unaware of all this, was buried in work in his temporary laboratory aboard the ship.
In his previous life, Jin Feng had rarely travelled by boat and had never experienced naval combat. He felt somewhat lacking in confidence for this operation.
Thus, even though the opponents were merely river bandits, he prepared as seriously as he had against Danzhu.
He believed that opportunity always favoured the prepared.
Over these days on the ship, Jin Feng had not rested for a moment. He was either immersed in the temporary laboratory or discussing battle plans with Han Feng, Monkey, and others.
He only emerged from the cabin at noon.
Not because he was hungry or tired, but because he had run out of materials for his experiments.
The needed materials were on another ship. Jin Feng had to take a small boat to the vessel carrying the supplies.
This was a cargo ship loaded with everything Jin Feng had prepared for the East Sea trip, from experimental materials to cured meat and fruit.
The ship’s steward saw Jin Feng board and asked nervously, “Mr Jin, why have you come?”
“I need some fireproof cloth. I have come to fetch it.”
Jin Feng paid no mind to the steward’s unusual behaviour and headed straight for the hold.
The steward opened his mouth as if to stop him but could find no reason to do so.
He could only cough a few times, then hurry after Jin Feng and ask loudly, “Mr Jin, what did you say you needed just now?”
“Why are you shouting so loudly?”
Jin Feng rubbed his ears and pushed open the hold door.
The first thing he saw was Tang Xiaobei, one hand holding a string bag, the other reaching to open a window…
