Chapter Eleven: The Storm is Coming

  The days on the boat were very boring.

  Zhaoyi had been on the boat for two or three days, getting used to the tossing life, and after looking at the scenery outside the window, she began to daydream. She really had nothing to do. Her younger brother Zhao Wei could still practice writing and read books, but she could only stay in the cabin all day. The autumn wind in August was already quite cool, and she had been seriously ill, so Mrs. Mi did not allow her to go out for a walk, nor even to take a stroll on the boat, fearing that it would be too bumpy and she might fall. She was only allowed to stay in bed all day.

  Zhao followed his grandmother and parents onto a boat, where aside from the boatmen and several rough male servants sent over by the Hou estate, they were basically surrounded by their own people. But compared to the days spent in that small courtyard at the Hou estate, life now couldn't help but be a bit more difficult, for example there were fewer attendants, not counting those who did rough work, Spring Grass and Autumn Leaf who attended Zhang Shi aside from also helping Mi Shi take care of Zhao Zhuo's food and daily life, Mi Shi also took charge of her son, while Zhao was left to the wet nurse Zhenzhu.

  Pearl's personality is gentle and kind, easy to get along with. The problem is that she was born into a servant family, grew up as a maid, married out to be a daughter-in-law, and became a wet nurse. All her life, she learned skills to serve others. Her eyes saw only what was in front of her, her ears heard only what was nearby, and her mouth spoke only what was necessary for her daily tasks. She couldn't read or write and didn't have much worldly experience. She could handle ordinary children, but when it came to someone like Zhao, who pretended to be a Lolita, she seemed dull and uninteresting.

  She didn't want to hear Pearl's aunt say "good child, listen obediently", "girls should be elegant and quiet" or how prestigious the Zhao family was and how beautiful and excellent she would become when she grew up. She would rather go with Zhao Wei to learn characters and read books, but Pearl's aunt held her in her arms and wouldn't let go: "Big sister, don't make trouble, be obedient, otherwise Old Lady and Second Madam will get angry soon."

  She called "brother", Pearl aunt covered her mouth and whispered: "Don't disturb brother, brother is reading."

  She couldn't help but utter two more words: "I want to learn to recognize characters with my brother." Pearl aunt covered her mouth and smiled, coaxing her: "Sister learns to speak quickly, but recognizing characters is for boys. Sister just needs to be obedient."

  Zhao couldn't help but get angry!

  Unfortunately, Mrs. Mi didn't notice her daughter's temper at all, she was exhausted from taking care of her son and husband alone. Her son was fine, obedient and well-behaved, but he had some seasickness, slept poorly at night, and was not in good spirits during the day, but as time went on, he gradually adapted. The problem was her husband Zhao Zhuo, who started to feel seasick from the moment he stepped onto the deck, vomiting for several days, sleeping poorly, eating poorly, his face had lost two circles, his complexion was pale and wan, and he was completely exhausted. Zhang Shi was worried about her son and gave him some motion sickness medicine that she had prepared beforehand to try, but the effect was minimal, and every day he could only rely on thin porridge and ginseng soup to sustain himself, the two women were worried sick.

  The Zhang family intentionally waited for the fleet to dock, and asked a doctor to come and take a look at their son. However, Zhao Jiong received the news and didn't know if it was intentional or not, every time they stopped in a small town to replenish food and water, but the doctor might not be found, and even if he was found, his level of expertise might not be high enough. The Zhang family was secretly annoyed and asked Zhao Jiong to find a larger town to rest for two days, so that Zhao could catch his breath. However, Zhao Jiong sent someone to say: "After holding on for a few more days, you'll get used to it. This seasickness is like this, if you can't bear it and stop to rest for two days, second brother will indeed feel better, but when we set off again, he'll still get sick again, what to do then? Rest for another two days? If we keep resting on the way back, when can we arrive at our hometown? The auspicious day of entering the soil has already been determined, don't delay father's big event!

  He moved out of the late Duke Gong's mansion, and even Da Lao Ye himself came to persuade him. Zhang Shi had no choice but to swallow his anger.

  Mrs. Mi was heartbroken and secretly cried to her husband, "They must be doing it on purpose! They deliberately brought us back to our hometown just to torment you!"

  Zhuo Ran's face was pale, and he panted heavily to comfort her: "It's not your fault. I've grown up so big, this is the first time I've taken a boat back south, and I just found out that I have this problem. How could they know? This is my own fault, don't blame others. Don't cry anymore, it will be hard for mother to see you like this, and the children will worry too."

  The Miss Mi could not stop wiping away tears, but she couldn't help saying: "If I had known it would be like this, I shouldn't have agreed to it in the first place, Master Rui."

  He sighed: "He wants to come, it's also good intentions, but the Zong house is weak and can't control the big brother. I'll go back too, want to stop them from making trouble when giving the elders a funeral, mother must go back, I naturally have to accompany her on the trip. I just regret not letting you and the child come along and suffer."

  Mrs. Mei felt warm in her heart and scolded him, "What are you talking about? You accompany your mother back to the south, how can I stay alone in the capital and enjoy myself? It's also unreasonable to leave the child with the servants to take care of. Although this journey is inconvenient, it's better for us to be together as a family than to be separated and miss each other."

  She was actually hiding something, originally Zhang's family wanted her to stay in the capital to take care of the children and watch over the new house, which was a considerable property after all. It didn't seem right to just leave it to the servants, so Jiang suggested to her privately: "Second uncle will be gone for at least three or four months, or even half a year, and there will inevitably be young maids serving him by his side. Although they are in mourning, as long as no children are born, who would care about that? If you don't follow him, won't you be letting others take advantage of you? You've been married for several years without even sharing a bed, what if he returns to the capital in the future and brings back someone else, wouldn't you regret it?"

  As for the children, Jiang felt it didn't matter, if they were inconvenient, they could be temporarily placed in the Hou Mansion to be raised. It was Mi who was worried and insisted on bringing them along. Jiang's words made her feel both ashamed and embarrassed, but she had to admit that every word struck a chord in her heart.

  Mrs. Mei didn't dare to tell her husband the truth, but in her heart she was both regretful and relieved. She regretted bringing the child along, letting her son suffer, but at the same time she was glad she had come with him, otherwise who would have taken care of her husband when he became so ill?

  The young couple was sweet and intimate, Zhang's wife took a look at the cabin door and left. She returned to her own cabin, thought for a while, and called out to Chuncao: "Among the luggage we brought on board, aren't there several boxes of books? Originally they were for me to pass the time, I remember there might be some medical books inside, go and fetch a few for me to take a look, see if there's any remedy for seasickness." Chuncao hurriedly went off, and after about half an hour, brought back several books: "Look at these few, they seem like medical books, can you use them, Old Madam?"

  Zhang took the book, flipped through it, and showed a pleased expression: "Here it is, this one seems to have a prescription for treating this. I've seen it before." He found the prescription, copied it out, and ordered Chuncao to find some of the spare medicine they had brought with them that could be used. Chuncao found several flavors, brewed a bowl of medicine, and sent it to Zhao Zhuo to drink. In the afternoon, he improved a lot and was able to eat half a bowl of thick porridge. Zhang and Mi were both overjoyed and hurriedly ordered someone to prepare more medicine for Zhao Zhuo to continue taking.

  These things, Zhao didn't know the details of, she hadn't left her cabin for several days. At most, it was just her grandmother or mother coming over to see her a few times a day, seeing that she was fine and then leaving reassured. But Zhao Zhuo hadn't appeared even once, which wasn't normal. Zhao Wei had also come over the past two days to play with his sister, but Zhao Zhuo, being a loving father, didn't come to see his daughter at all, how could people not be suspicious? Zhenzhu didn't like to gossip, so Zhao only vaguely knew from Chuncao that her father seemed to have gotten seasick and was seriously ill. Seasickness isn't a big deal in modern times, so Zhao hadn't taken it to heart, but after waiting for several days without seeing any improvement from Zhao Zhuo, she started to get worried.

  Zhao struggled to ask Pearl to go see "Dad", Pearl still tightly hugged her: "Sister, don't make trouble, Second Master will come to see you in a while." In fact, she says this several times every day, but it never comes true. Zhao didn't believe it and made a fuss. Zhang's side heard the commotion, now that he saw his son recovering, he also put his mind at ease, smiling as he came to see his granddaughter: "What's going on?"

  Zhao kept calling out "Dad" to her, and Zhang Shi heard it with great comfort: "If your dad knows you're so filial, he'll recover from any illness." She then instructed Zhen Zhu Shu: "Don't restrain the child too much, just don't let her go up to the deck, let her walk around a bit, she's at the age where she should be learning to walk."

  Pearl's sister naturally has only an obedient share.

  Before long, Mrs. Mi also came over, and Zhao finally got the chance to see his father. As soon as he saw Zhao Zhuo's haggard appearance, she was stunned. However, Zhao Zhuo's mood was quite good, and his spirit wasn't bad either. He hugged her into his arms: "Little sister, have you been behaving yourself these past few days? You're so young yet you already know to miss your father, truly a filial child."

  Mrs. Zhang said to him: "Just hold it for a while, you have a smell on your body, and the child is carefully fumigated."

  Zhao Zhuo couldn't help but smile and say, "Mother, these past few days you've been worried sick about your son to the point of losing your appetite. Now that your son is a bit better, are you going to start disliking him?"

  Zhang's wife gave him a glance, ordered Pearl to take Zhao back to the cabin, and then instructed Spring Grass to prepare ginseng: "Tonight, decoct a bowl of ginseng soup and bring it over for Second Master to drink, let him replenish his energy, look at how thin he has become now!"

  The spring grass smiled and responded, a kind of thing like ginseng, because the storage requirements are high, it was not placed with other spare medicines, but in a large box at the bottom of the hold, where it is dark and dim, she had to find a lantern to light up before climbing down the ladder to look for it.

  Zhaoyi was carried to the corridor, where a gust of wind blew in her face and she couldn't help but sneeze. Pearl Aunt worried that she would catch a chill, so she quickly turned around to block the wind for her, rushed into the cabin door, and added another layer of clothing for her. She muttered to herself, "Strange, didn't Second Madam order someone to close all the doors and windows just now? How could there be wind?"

  "Mr. Zhang also sensed that something was amiss and asked Mrs. Mi, 'Have someone go out and take a look to see if the wind has picked up? I've been watching the sky all day and it doesn't look right, it might rain. Send someone to signal the boat ahead and if it does start raining, it's better to find a place to dock and wait it out, it's getting dark.'"

  Zhao Kuai received the message, but had someone loudly shout in this direction, saying that in the past few days, in order to accommodate Zhao Jiong's physical discomfort, they slowed down the boat speed, delaying a lot of time. Now that he has recovered, they should speed up and sail overnight to arrive at their hometown before the auspicious day. As for the weather, a little wind and rain are nothing for such a large ship.

  Zhang's face turned white with anger: "He did it on purpose!" Mi was worriedly looking at her husband, who had just recovered a bit, and didn't want him to get sick again because the boat was rocking violently in the stormy weather. Zhao Jiong smiled reassuringly at them: "It's okay, I feel much better now, this time I'm not dizzy, it's just that my body has no strength." Mi slightly put her mind at ease and immediately got up to cook some more porridge.

  Before long, night fell and the wind was mixed with rain threads, which gradually increased, causing the boat to capsize even more violently.

  Zhao furrowed his brow and sat on the bed, watching as his small body slowly slid from one end of the bed to the other, then back again. He felt like his heart was going to jump out of his throat, and his chest was suffocatingly tight.

  For some reason, she suddenly felt a sense of foreboding in her heart.