The Demon Queen of Divine Doctor is not to be trifled with

Chapter 728 Ah Yan, you questioned me

Shi Liyuan opened the door, and the boatman squeezed in and put a plate of melon seeds on the table. "This is a gift from the boatman. It smells delicious!"

Feng Zhaolian's voice came from outside the door again: "You are too stingy. You didn't even fill the plate with melon seeds. Look at this shallow plate. You can even count the number of melon seeds! This is just on the boat. I will tolerate it for now. If I meet you again in another place, I will beat you so hard that your parents won't recognize you!"

The boatman delivering the melon seeds smiled awkwardly, then said to Shi Liyuan and Ye Wenyan, "I'm sorry, I'm just working on the boat, the boat is not mine, so what I say doesn't count. But you spent a lot of money after all, if there are any melon seeds left, I will remember to bring a few more plates. Oh, by the way, there's this -" he said, taking out a bundle from his clothes, and even closed the door before handing it over, "Weren't you searched when you got on the boat? A lot of your food was left under the boat. This is some I secretly brought up, not much, but it's better than nothing, take it! Eat in the room, don't go out to eat, it will be bad if others see you, and I will lose my job."

Ye Wenyan took the bundle and opened it. It was indeed the things they had thrown under the boat. Most of them were snacks, candies, and desserts. There were also a few meat buns in it, but they were already cold.

Ye Wenyan nodded and said casually, "Thank you." He originally wanted to send the boatman away, but after saying thank you, he pondered and asked, "You don't look very old, are you fifteen?"

The boatman said, "It's exactly the fifteenth, my birthday which happened three days before the boat sailed."

"How long have you been working on the ship? Are you living in the same city where you boarded the ship?"

The boatman nodded and said, "I live in that city, so I'm considered a local. I've been working on the boat since I was eleven years old, so I'm very familiar with this route. Sister, are you scared? The wind and waves have been really strong these days, and our boat captain originally said he would take a few days off, but he got greedy for money and started working again. But don't be afraid, the boat captain is a bit greedy, but he's a very good boatman. He's been sailing on this route for more than 20 years and has never made a mistake. He can handle any storm. I promise to take you to your destination safely this time, so don't worry."

"Aren't you afraid too?" Ye Wenyan pulled him and stuffed a piece of silver into his hand. "Thank you for helping us bring the food up. Keep it safe and don't let your captain see it."

The boatman was very happy, "Sisters, you are really rich. Not only do you pay 3,000 taels of silver for a boat trip, but you also give us such a large reward. This piece of silver is enough for our family to eat and use for half a year. I, I kowtow to you, sister!"

He was about to kneel down when Ye Wenyan stopped him. "No need. You said we are rich, so this little money is nothing. Brother, let me ask you, it's so cold outside now, aren't you scared? How can it be this cold in the summer?"

The boatman said, "I'm not scared, but I'm definitely worried. It's been like this for two days. My mother says that something must be wrong when things are out of the ordinary. The weather is so cold, maybe the government has made another unjust judgment and lost their conscience."

"Huh?" Ye Wenyan was stunned, then realized that there was such a saying in ancient times that snow in June means there is injustice. Although no one has heard of Dou E in this dynasty which is not recorded in history, there must be similar ones.

She wanted to laugh because she realized that she was worrying too much. The people had their own ideas and were not as scared as she had imagined, which caused great chaos among the people.

But this is the extent of the cold wind and rain. If the situation gets worse going forward, will people still be so optimistic?

Seeing Ye Wenyan stunned, the boatman persuaded her: "Sister, you really don't have to worry. The captain's boatmanship is really good. I didn't lie to you. In fact, the weather is secondary. The most important thing is to be afraid of encountering pirates. That's the most fatal thing. As long as there are no pirates, there is no need to be afraid even if the weather is a little worse." "Are there pirates on this river?" Ye Wenyan asked him again, "Have you ever encountered one?"

The boatman said, "Of course there are pirates. Wherever there is water for boats to sail, there are pirates. They know the river better and can sail better than we do. They lurk on the shore all year round waiting for the opportunity to make a fortune. I heard from the old boatman that our ship was also robbed at first, and some people even lost their lives. But later the captain learned his lesson. He took the initiative to give the pirates money to keep everyone on the boat safe. As for the pirates, because they didn't have to take the risk of robbing the ship, they could get money. Although it was less than robbing a ship, it was still easy to get it. So they stopped robbing our ship and let us go every time."

Ye Wenyan understood, it turned out that he had to pay protection money. "Did you pay money this time?" she asked again.

The boatman said, "We don't have to pay this time. The captain said that in this kind of weather, pirates can't come out to work, so let's save it. Sister, I have to go now. The captain will scold us if he finds out. When I serve you dinner in the evening, I will remember to serve you more. Thank you for the silver you gave me. Call me if you need anything." The boatman left as soon as he said that. Ye Wenyan looked at Shi Liyuan and said thoughtfully, "Am I overthinking? The boatman wanted three thousand taels. Is he really just trying to make more money?"

Shi Liyuan said: "It doesn't matter what the reason is. Anyway, we are already on the boat. As long as the boat continues to head south, it will be fine."

Tonight's dinner was very simple, one bowl of rice per person, one small bowl of green vegetables, one portion of salted vegetables, and a pot of water for each room, which was worth one or two taels of silver. The boatman also said that rice and fresh water were brought from the shore, so they were precious. On the boat, it was different from on the shore, and everything had to be carefully considered. If it was too expensive, you could skip it for the next meal.

People complained, but they didn't dare not eat, because if they didn't eat the boatman's food they would go hungry. All the food they brought with them was confiscated before boarding the boat, and they were not allowed to take anything on board.

It was hard for those sitting on the floor of the cabin. Three or five people earned enough money to buy a meal, but the meal was so small. How could it be enough? People complained and some even fought because of the uneven distribution of food. The captain of the ship was not a good person. When he saw people fighting, he immediately came over and shouted: "This is on the boat, not on the ground. You can fight as you please. Aren't you afraid of damaging the boat? If you fight again, I will throw you all into the river. Whether you live or die will be decided by heaven."

After being threatened like this, no one really stopped fighting.

Three days passed like this. The boat stopped for a while and the boatmen went ashore to buy things. They came back in less than half an hour.

But after this harvest, the food on the boat became more expensive, costing two taels of silver per person. The reason was that the weather was getting colder and snowflakes were already falling. The crops that had been growing well were frozen to death, so the food on the shore was also sold at an extremely high price. They were losing money by charging two taels of silver per person for the food.

The boatman also said: "If you really can't bear it, just get off here! I won't extort money from you. I will charge you according to the route. If you don't complete the route, I will return some of the money to you. Don't think about holding on. You will starve to death if you have no money to eat. No one can die on the boat."

Some people retreated and chose to go ashore here. Some people counted their money and thought they could hold on for a while, and if it didn't work, they would get off the boat at the next pier. Of course, there are also those who are very rich and don't care about how much money it costs, they just want to get to the destination quickly.

When the boat started again, there were 30% fewer people and the atmosphere was not as good as before.

People finally began to fear the unusual weather, just as Ye Wenyan had worried. Some people even started to recite Buddhist scriptures, praying to the Buddha to bless them with a safe journey and not let them fall into the water.

The boatman couldn't stand such words. As soon as he heard someone say this, he would start cursing, regardless of day or night.

Gradually, people got used to it. If they were really scared, they would just sit together as a group and chat about everything under the sun.

As more people joined in the chat, the topic became more diverse and the cabin gradually became lively.

Ye Wenyan and his group also walked out of the room, leaning against each other and finding a place to listen to their chat. One person might have been a storyteller, and he talked so much that he became the protagonist. Everyone gathered around him to listen to his stories, and someone even asked him, "Tell me, why is it snowing in June? And it's so cold, isn't it just like winter? Could it be that there is really a big injustice? But I haven't heard of any good people being wrongly killed?"

The storyteller slapped his thigh and said, "It doesn't necessarily mean that there is an injustice for it to snow in June. It may just be that God wants it to snow, so it snows! These are all God's business, and we have no right to interfere."

"Then what do you think is our responsibility?"

"We shouldn't be involved in anything! We are just ordinary people. If one person is well fed, the whole family will not be hungry. Why should we care so much? But even if we don't care, we can still chat about it. But we have agreed in advance that chatting is just chatting, and we can't take it seriously. Whoever takes idle chat seriously is a bastard!"

People burst into laughter, and after a while the man continued, "I don't know if you've heard of this. In Northern Qi, in the past few hundred years, any unusual movement, such as earth dragons turning over, floods, etc., are all related to the shoreless sea in the southernmost part. It is said that when the shoreless sea moves, Northern Qi moves, and when the shoreless sea turns over, Northern Qi turns over. You all know about the earth dragon turning over in the capital on New Year's Day, right? It is said that a huge wave suddenly appeared at the end of the shoreless sea, as high as three or four people, which scared the Chiyun prefect. At that time, he thought that Chiyun City was going to be in trouble, but it turned out to be in the capital."

Ye Wenyan was confused when she heard this. She whispered to Shi Liyuan, "Is it true? Are you going to surf at Wu'anhai on New Year's Day?"

Shi Liyuan snorted coldly, "Don't listen to his nonsense. I just rushed back to the capital from Wu'an Sea in the twelfth lunar month. If there is another unusual movement so soon, then wouldn't my trip be in vain? Ah Yan, you are questioning my ability by asking this question!"