Chapter 27

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“Open!” She grabbed the Jade Bone with one hand, chanted the incantation, brushed her fingers down, and instantly split a pathway through the sea in front of her, straight to the surface! The pathway only lasted for a few moments, and, not caring about the pain, she picked up the child and raced up towards the surface overhead, as fast as she could.

At last she saw the attendants in the boat, shouting at her, “Princess… Princess!”

Not just one boat, but at least ten more behind, were rushing towards her. As far as the eye could see, there were crowds of people on the shore in the middle of the night, and torches lit up the docks – what was going on? Why were there suddenly so many people on the pier outside the city at this time of the night?

She didn’t have time to think about it, she did her best to float to the surface, but was unable to hold on to the side of the boat and fell limply into the water, clutching the Jade Bone in one hand and the child in the other.

“Quickly, pull the Princess up!” Someone exclaimed, it was Grandma Sheng.

Zhu Yan was dragged into the boat by the attendants and went limp, coughing incessantly and spitting out the salty seawater in her chest. However, she did not dare to be careless and kept her eyes on the sea – those dark shadows were lurking underwater, she was afraid they would suddenly leap out of the water and drag her down again!

However, as another boat approached, the dark shadows underwater suddenly disappeared.

“The Princess is frightened.” She heard someone speak, “Is your body unharmed?”

Who is it? Zhu Yan looked up in astonishment, but saw a white houseboat appearing at her side, at the prow stood a noble man, about in his thirties, his face like a crown of jade, wearing a white robe embroidered with the emblem of a rose, leaning down slightly and looking at her like she was in a state of disarray.

She subconsciously pulled her bodice tighter and said in dismay, “You… who are you?”

The man smiled, “I am Bai Fenglin, the Governor of Yecheng.”

“Ah! It’s you?” Zhu Yan was startled, “Xue… Xueying’s brother?”

“Precisely.” Bai Fenglin nodded.

Zhu Yan inhaled a breath of cold air, subconsciously tidying her wet skirt and stroking her messy hair, then she thought of how messy she must look into his eyes now, and how soon the Six Clans would know about this, she would inevitably be scolded by her father. She immediately got invaded by a burst of anger. Not bothering to maintain any manners, she said, “It’s all your fault!”

Bai Fenglin was stunned for a moment, “Huh?”

Zhu Yan looked at her soaked and wretched appearance and said with a puff of anger: “If you hadn’t locked me out of town, how could something like this happen tonight?”

“Princess, how can you talk like that? How rude!” Grandma Sheng chimed in.

She rushed over in another speedboat and hastily intervened, “The Governor saved you, why don’t you thank him properly?”

“He didn’t save me?” Zhu Yan scoffed and raised the Jade Bone in her hand, “It was clearly me who saved myself by killing my way out… How thick-skinned is he to come and pick up this bargain?”

Grandma Sheng was so angry that she was about to count her out again, but Bai Fenglin was motionless and smiled, “Yes. Your Highness is so skilled that was able to get out of danger by herself, how dare I take credit for it? It is indeed my fault for causing you to be frightened, so I would like to apologize to you first.”

“…” He was so polite and courteous that Zhu Yan shrank back defeated, it was hard to vent her anger on him like this, so she could only murmur, “Forget it!”

Bai Fenglin waved his hand and ordered all the boats to turn around, “The sea is windy, hurry back, don’t let the Princess suffer from the wind chill.”

It was March, and the spring chill was so intense that Zhu Yan who was soaked to the skin, was trembling to the bones under the sea breeze. She subconsciously lifted her arms and hugged the shark child tight, as to shielding him from the blowing wind with the back of her shoulders – she was fine, but the child was already ill, so she didn’t want him to get really sick.

“Is the Princess cold?” Bai Fenglin untied his outer robe and handed it over to her, then turned his head to order, “Row a little slower.”

“Aye.” The speed of the boat slowed down in response, and the wind was not as biting.

Zhu Yan draped herself in his clothes and felt instantly warmer, she immediately found the man much more agreeable – in fact, she heard Xueying talking about this brother for a long time, but it was the first time she had seen him. As the eldest son of the White clan and the governor of Yecheng, he would inevitably inherit the position of White King in the future. In the past, she heard people say that he was mean and unkind, but the Bai Fenglin she saw with her own eyes was polite and modest, so she could see that rumors were often not to be trusted. Compared to Xueying, this brother of hers was really a completely different person.

“Hey, you and Xueying, I don’t think you were born from the same mother, were you?” She couldn’t help but blurt out the question as she thought about it – then she let out an “ouch” as the Nanny pinched her hard underneath.

“No, we are not.” Bai Fenglin smiled, “My mother is a side concubine.”

Zhu Yan understood that she had poked another landmine and couldn’t help but give herself a secret smack – it is true that she has a talent for causing trouble, why is it that every time she meets someone new, she is able to offend them in less than three words.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” She apologized repeatedly.

“It’s alright. How did the Princess get here tonight?” Bai Fenglin, however, was not angry and remained gentle, “What exactly happened? Who is the child in your arms?”

“Oh, this one… sort of picked up by me halfway across the country.” She ruffled the disheveled hair from the unconscious child’s face with one finger, and couldn’t resist poking it again, saying hatefully: “I promised this child’s mother to take good care of him, but the child just wouldn’t listen and ran away in the middle of the night all by himself…”

Bai Fenglin gazed at the unconscious child in her arms and suddenly said, “This child is also a shark, right?”

“Hmm?” Zhu Yan couldn’t help being stupefied for a moment. “You can see that?”

“If it were an ordinary child, he would have suffocated long ago after being underwater for so long, but he was able to breathe so steadily.” Bai Fenglin tapped his fan in the palm of his hand and nodded, “No wonder, then.”

“No wonder what?” Zhu Yan was even more surprised.

Bai Fenglin said, “No wonder the Restoration Army wanted to take the child away.”

She was even more stunned, “The Restoration Army? What’s that?”

“It’s an organization secretly formed by those shark slaves, claiming that they want to rebuild the Sea Kingdom in the Blue Sea and restore freedom to all sharks on the Yunhuang.” Bai Fenglin said, “Over the years they kept fighting against Kongsang, encouraging slaves to run away and rebel, assassinating slave owners and nobles – the emperor has suppressed it several times, but it has resurfaced, and in the last few years it has gotten even more vicious.”

“Oh? No wonder those sharks are all so skilled, one look and you can tell they’ve been trained!” Zhu Yan couldn’t help but freeze for a moment and blurted out, “But isn’t it good for them to rebuild the Sea Kingdom in the Blue Sea? It’s not like they’re taking up our Kongsang people’s land, so let them build it.”

Bai Fenglin didn’t say anything, just gave her a quick glance, his eyes changing slightly.

“As the Princess of the Red Clan, you shouldn’t say that.” His voice went cold. “Does the Princess applaud the rebels and want to support them in fighting against the Imperial Capital and launching a rebellion?”

“Ah…” Zhu Yan stopped speaking as Grandma Sheng had twisted her thighs under her skirt with a deadly force that almost made her scream. Grandma Sheng hurriedly intervened to round up the situation and said, “Lord Governor, don’t blame our Princess for speaking without thinking, she is used to babbling nonsense since she was young.”

Who speaks without thinking? She glared angrily at her Nanny, but heard Bai Fenglin chuckle softly on the side while saying: “It’s alright, I’ve also heard my sister say that the Princess is naïve and often speaks out of turn.”

What? That stinky girl, Xueying, what exactly was she doing behind her back to undermine her? Zhu Yan almost jumped up, but was held down by Grandma Sheng. Nanny changed the subject and asked with a smile, “Then, the reason the Lord Governor showed up here tonight and arranged for so many people to be here is because of…”

“I’m not going to lie to you, it’s because Yecheng has not been peaceful for some time recently,” Bai Fenglin sighed and said, “There have been non-stop disappearances and escapes of shark slaves, and a merchant who was breeding sharks was killed, which directly led to the failure of the first slave auctions in both the east and west markets at the start of spring.”

Zhu Yan become white, “So you are here to catch the Restoration Army?”

“Yes.” Bai Fenglin nodded, “I didn’t expect to run into the Princess.”

At this moment, the building boat had slowly sailed back to the pier and moored at the shore. Bai Fenglin gave a slight arch of his hand and said, “It is already very late, why don’t I send someone to escort the Princess back to rest first?”

Zhu Yan was a little curious, “So you’re not going back?”

“I have to stay here and continue to round up those Restoration Army.” Bai Fenglin smiled and pointed at the sea with his folding fan – there were already many warships shooting out like arrows on the silvery surface of the sea, a huge net was spreading out into the depths of the sea, and he sounded faintly smug, “I’ve long since arranged for my men here, and I’ve easily caught the rioters venturing out, so how can I give up halfway? The guys who just besieged the Princess, none of them will be able to escape!”

“…” Zhu Yan was silent for a moment.

Although these men had wanted to take her life a few moments ago, for some reason, she felt uncomfortable at the sight of their impending doom.

“What will you do to those people if you catch them?” She looked away and couldn’t help but ask, “Sell them into slavery in the Eastern and Western markets?”

“Where would that be? Do you think the governor can double himself as a slave trader?” Bai Fenglin gave a bitter laugh and shook his head, “Besides, those Restoration Army warriors are all very tough men, they all die when captured and won’t talk, and the sharks are weak, most of them can’t stand the torture and die in prison – the few that don’t die are basically seriously injured and crippled, so how can they be sold in the market?”

“Ah…” Zhu Yan felt bad in her heart and said, “What then?”

“Most of them will be taken away by jewelers at a cheap price, a tenth of the price of a normal shark slave, just to count on the remaining pair of eyes that can be made into shark beads.” Bai Fenglin glanced at her as he spoke, “Why does the Princess care about this?”

“…” Zhu Yan paused for a moment and simply said, “It’s nothing.”

She bid farewell, followed the Nanny back to the shore and spurred her horse back under the moon – before she left, she couldn’t help but look back.

The moon was silver and shimmering on the blue sea. Warships weaved across the sea, their bows and swords lined up, and a huge net was cast out into the depths. The gentle Governor of Yecheng stood in the moonlight, methodically directing it all, a cold light glinting in his narrow eyes, as if he had turned into a cold-hearted trapper.

Will this sea be stained red with the blood of the sharks?

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