Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 160 A hero saves a beauty...

The sailboats flying the flag of the Gouchensi sailed from the Yuanjiang River into Dongting Lake, and then from Dongting Lake into the Yangtze River, sailing downstream, making a thousand miles a day. Within a few days, they arrived at Jiankang, the capital of Daliang.

This is the largest city in the world, with a population of well over one million, convenient transportation, developed commerce, and hundreds of years of accumulated wealth. Its prosperity and wealth are beyond imagination.

Some even say that the Southern Dynasty is Jiankang, and Jiankang is the Southern Dynasty. This statement is not too exaggerated, because the essence of the entire Southern Dynasty is all here.

Before Ren Yuan and his party even entered the city, they had already experienced what a real big city was... When their ship was about to enter the Qinhuai River from the Yangtze River, they saw masts like a forest on the river, the ships were densely packed, and it was obviously crowded.

Although there was no traffic jam, the speed of shipping was as slow as a snail.

"This is because there is a sandbar at the mouth of the Qinhuai River, called Bailuzhou, which divides the river into two." Zuan, the local tyrant, explained to Ren Yuan and others who were visiting Beijing for the first time: "So ships entering and leaving Beijing have to go slowly."

After a pause, he continued, "But today it seems to be particularly slow. I guess there's something wrong up ahead."

After driving slowly for a while, Zuan saw the reason for the traffic jam. "It turns out that the water near Bailuzhou is blocked. How can there not be a traffic jam?"

Ren Yuan and his companions also saw that at the river mouth ahead, there was a lush sandbar with flocks of egrets and pavilions hidden among it.

There were many official ships patrolling near the sandbar. Any civilian ships that approached would be immediately driven away. It was obvious that some important person was on Bailu Island.

Of course, their ship was flying the bright yellow Qilin flag, so the official ship did not dare to drive them away, but instead took the initiative to approach and investigate.

"Hey, isn't this Brother Zu? You're finally back!" On a nearby official ship, two ghostwriters, wearing black hakama pleats inside and red jackets outside, leather hats on their heads, leather boots on their feet, and holding the imperial ceremonial swords in their hands, greeted Zu An with a smile on their faces and clasped their fists.

"It's been a few months since we last met. The brothers missed you so much."

"So it's you two guys." Zu An scolded with a smile: "Do you want to win my money, or do you want me to take you to a brothel?"

"I want to, I want to." The two ghostwriters laughed for a while, pointed to the cabin and asked, "Is the owner of the fifth building here too?"

"Yes. The mission is completed and everyone is back." Zuan nodded, looked at Bai Luzhou and asked, "Which prince in the palace is this that requires you to stand guard?"

"Can't you see the standard? The prince." One of the ghostwriters replied, "The prince has been lecturing at Bailuzhou Academy for three days, and today is the last day."

"Okay, then go back and complete the mission, and we'll meet at the old place!" The two ships passed each other, and Zuan waved his hand.

“See you later!” The two ghostwriters also let him go with a smile.

The ship entered the warning area and no longer had to squeeze with civilian ships, and the view suddenly became clear.

"Yang Zhong, try harder." Zu An shouted to Yang Zhong at the stern, "Didn't you hear..."

“No, no.” Yang Zhong quickly interrupted the spellcasting and rowed vigorously, saying, “I already know enough. I don’t want to master rowing anymore.”

"Really? It's good to have many skills. You don't even know that it's good for you." Zuan curled his lips and gave up.

"I know, I know. The more you know, the more you can do. I've heard that overwork can lead to sudden death." While dealing with Zuan, Yang Zhong rowed the boat towards Bailu Island inconspicuously, searching for something on the water.

~~
On the bank of Bailuzhou.

On a huge pleasure boat with carved railings and jade-built buildings, there stood a young girl in a white gauze skirt and with two hanging buns. Although she had no hairpins or makeup, she was still extremely beautiful.

The palace maids, eunuchs and guards only dared to stand far away, and no one dared to disturb her solitude.

The girl looked at the water, as if talking to herself.

"It's alright, Lingzhi, I've made up my mind, don't try to persuade me anymore."

"You say it's too risky? So what? Fortunes are won through risk. If you want to gain the respect of others, you have to take appropriate risks." "What, I'm too naive? You are a well-fed woman who doesn't know the hunger of a hungry woman. They obey your orders and treat you respectfully. If you ask the ship owner to go to Beijing, he will go to Beijing obediently. If you ask Ah Zhong and Ah Ba to go to Wuling, they will rush over from thousands of miles away. Of course you don't feel uncomfortable."

"But what about me? My status on the ship is almost the same as that little monk. No, the little monk also has the credit of the Three Lives Stone, but I am just looked down upon all day long!"

"Who looks down on me? Ignoring me means looking down on me!" The girl suddenly raised her voice and said angrily, "You don't have to say anything more. I saw them."

After saying this, she no longer paid attention to the voice in her mind and stared intently at the small sailboat with a bright yellow Qilin flag slowly approaching from the distance.

~~
On a sailboat.

Ren Yuan was pulled to the bow of the ship by Chen Baxian.

"Did you see that big ship?" Chen Baxian asked in a low voice.

"Yeah." Ren Yuan nodded without knowing what was going on.

Chen Baxian made the gesture of sleeping with a pillow on his head, and he knew what was going on.

"I will dance later, and you just follow me." Chen Baxian whispered.

Ren Yuan nodded again imperceptibly.

At this time, the two ships were only a few feet apart.

Suddenly, the two saw a woman in palace dress jumping off the bow of the ship.

"The princess has fallen into the water! Hurry up and save the princess!" Suddenly, cries of surprise were heard from all over the ship.

"Save people!" Chen Baxian said as he jumped into the water.

Ren Yuan also jumped into the river. Just when he was about to fall into the water, Chen Baxian lifted his feet and pushed him forward.

He reached out and caught the girl who was about to fall into the water. He tapped the tiptoes on the river surface and his body floated towards the big ship like a willow catkin.

At this time, he also saw the face of the girl in his arms, and couldn't help but whispered in surprise: "Huan'er!"

"Shh." Huan'er made a gesture to him to keep quiet, and then screamed in shock: "Ah! Ah! I'm scared to death..."

Ren Yuan fell helplessly on the bow of the pleasure boat and was surrounded by eunuchs and guards who swarmed over him.

"Put down our princess quickly!" the palace maids also shouted anxiously.

"Ah, Princess?" Ren Yuan was shocked and stunned.

The girl gave him a smug look that said, "You didn't expect that?" and said softly, "Put me down. I'm fine."

"Oh oh." Ren Yuan quickly let go of her hand and put her on the deck.

A group of palace servants quickly gathered around, and the guards formed a human wall to separate him from the princess.

"Princess, are you okay?!" The personal maid checked on the princess' condition with a crying voice, and she was almost scared to death.

Not only her, but all the palace maids and guards on the ship, and their entire families had a close call with death.

"It's okay, don't make a fuss." The princess quickly regained her composure and said, "I just felt dizzy and fell off the boat. Fortunately, this brave man saved me from falling into the water."

"Hurry up and thank him for me." She gave the order, and everyone on the boat saluted Ren Yuan. He not only saved the princess, but was also the savior of their entire family!
(End of this chapter)