Jiangshan Dream - Chapter 28
"Okay, I've thought it through." Lin Feng glanced back at the chessboard and saw Bei Chentian smiling as he moved his horse two squares to the upper right. "Checkmate."
Lin Feng burst out laughing upon seeing this: "What kind of sportsmanship do you have? I was wondering why you were provoking me. Turns out you pushed my rook down a step when I wasn't looking. You cheated! That doesn't count!"
"Why not? It's a skill in itself."
“But cheating has to be done in a way that no one can detect it. I’ve memorized all your moves, and I remember all my pieces clearly. Do you think you would randomly change pieces when you’re using your pieces?” Lin Feng retorted.
“Not necessarily.” Bei Chen Tian laughed, and Shui Wuhen laughed beside him as well: “Isn’t Young Master An a Bei Chen native? Our lord once won a very impressive battle. That battle was very famous. It was two years ago. Our lord went on an expedition, and our army was blocked at Qiantang. The King of Qiantang borrowed a batch of weapons from a foreign country to send over, but our lord was astute. He intercepted them halfway and pretended to deliver weapons in exchange for a batch of scrapped weapons. This made them think they had received aid and became arrogant, but in reality, their forces suffered heavy losses. Wasn’t that the same as exchanging children?”
Lin Feng looked at Shui Wuhen, who had a calm expression and an extraordinary demeanor yet remained unassuming. He thought to himself, "Bei Chentian really knows how to choose talent. The young generals around him are all excellent."
Lin Feng laughed and said, "The story is quite vivid. I'll consider this a loss, but there won't be a next time." He yawned, patted his shoulder, and then realized how tired he was. "How did we end up talking about military strategy and warfare? You guys really can't stop talking about your profession! The world can't be won just by fighting. Commerce, agriculture, and industry are all important. If any of them are lacking, a country can't become strong."
The two people beside him pricked up their ears, and Lin Feng knew they were about to ask again, so he shook his head and said, "I don't know much about these industries. Do you think I'm a god who knows everything? I can get a little bit about business, but don't ask me about anything else. Asking will only mislead you."
Bei Chentian smiled knowingly. "Your country is truly fascinating. I wonder how one can travel there. If I have the chance, I would love to go and see what kind of place could produce someone like you..." He paused, omitting a woman in the middle.
"My country isn't one you can just go to whenever you want." Lin Feng knew what he was up to and suppressed a laugh. If Bei Chentian were to travel to the 21st century, just imagine... I wonder if Hong Kong would have another triad boss.
Shui Wuhen asked in surprise, "What's so difficult about traveling? We only need a bundle, a fast horse, and at most a boat. Why can't we go?"
Lin Feng was exasperated by his words: "Explaining it to you won't make you understand. You'll naturally try it when you have the chance in the future." Since the chances were practically zero, Lin Feng rambled on to avoid the issue. Bei Chentian seemed to know she didn't want to bring it up, and gave Shui Wuhen a warning look, preventing him from asking any further.
Suddenly hearing a commotion outside, Huang Ying came in and said, "My lord, we have arrived at Tianlu Ferry, but a group of soldiers insist on boarding the ship to inspect it, saying that we are harboring fugitives here."
Lin Feng and Bei Chentian exchanged a glance, both noticing the strange look on their faces. If it couldn't be Yi Beifei's people, then what was going on?
The soldiers outside were already shouting: "If you have nothing to hide, you can let us search you. If you resist again, you will all be treated as harboring fugitives!"
Bei Chentian's face darkened, his good mood from just moments ago seemingly vanishing into thin air. He stood up coldly, emanating an imposing aura. Lin Feng frowned and pulled him back, saying, "You don't look like a businessman at all. Leave it to Wuhen to handle."
Chapter Thirty-One Fugitives
Lin Feng found it quite strange. Logically speaking, Bei Chentian wasn't such an impatient person, so why was he acting so out of control? But then Bei Chentian waved his hand at her and said, "Someone's here!"
Lin Feng was startled. Someone was there? He saw Bei Chentian and Shui Wuhen leap out of the cabin at the same time. Then, the sound of fighting came from outside the cabin. She hurriedly chased after them. Her martial arts skills were not as good as the other two, and she was not very good at judging people by their voices. No wonder Bei Chentian's expression changed. It turned out that someone had indeed sneaked onto the ship while they were stopped for only a moment.
At this moment, a man in a blue robe hovered between the two, displaying remarkable lightness skills. Although Bei Chentian and Shui Wuhen were skilled in martial arts, they found it difficult to capture him.
Shui Wuhen spoke up at this moment: "Brother, please disembark yourself. We don't want to cause trouble. If you give up and leave, we will not make things difficult for you."
The man smelled of blood, confirming he was indeed the fugitive they had been talking about. Seeing that Bei Chentian and the other man had already withdrawn their killing intent, he turned and stopped not far from them, asking in a deep voice, "Where is Xiao Zhou?" The man's hair was disheveled, his body was filthy, and his face was covered in a beard, making it impossible to discern his features. However, judging from his voice, he was a young man.
The people outside couldn't stop the search anymore. A squad of soldiers was rushing over. If he turned the corner, they would definitely see him. Even if he jumped into the water, he would still be seen. At that time, the soldiers wouldn't care whether he wanted to hide him or not. If they found him, he would definitely be charged with harboring a fugitive... Before he had even taken two steps, trouble had already come knocking. Lin Feng felt quite speechless.
Lin Feng and Bei Chentian acted decisively. One grabbed the momentarily dazed man and threw him into the cabin, while the other sealed the door after the man entered, and looked around to see if there was anywhere to hide.
At this moment, the soldiers had already come over shouting, holding up a large crimson-gold order in a very formal manner: "By order of the Heavenly Green Royal Family, search all ships on the shore. Anyone who disobeys will be put into formation on the spot. If any of you try to stop me again, don't blame me for being impolite!" The inspector's face darkened. He saw Beichen Tiantong and Shui Wuhen standing outside the cabin, snorted, and figured they wouldn't dare to stop him. He was about to enter and search.
Suddenly, Bei Chentian stopped the investigator with one hand: "It's a bit inconvenient inside the cabin, please forgive me."
Seeing that he was blocking her way, Shui Wuhen smiled slightly and stood in front of the door to block it.
The investigator's expression immediately turned sour.
"You want to disobey orders!"
"It's not that I want to disobey orders, but your search is indeed unreasonable. The cabin is indeed a bit inconvenient. If you want to search, sir, you might as well wait a while."
"What are you waiting for! Who knows if there are escaped convicts hiding inside! You two don't look like respectable businessmen, could you be accomplices of the escaped convicts?" The search officer let out a series of strange laughs, as if he was certain that there were escaped convicts hiding in the cabin. "Men, seize them! Take them away when I find the escaped convicts!" The atmosphere suddenly became tense, and many soldiers pushed and shoved as they were about to come over.
In the midst of the chaos, the hatch suddenly creaked open, and a clear, melodious female voice said:
"Chen Tian, what happened?"
The search officers and soldiers stood frozen in place, their eyes practically bulging out of their sockets. Shui Wuhen was surprised and nearly fell over when he looked back, but he had to pretend to be perfectly normal, feeling extremely awkward inside.
Bei Chentian, however, remained calm and said with a smile, "Miss, I'm sorry to have disturbed you. There are a lot of people here who are determined to go into your room to find out what's going on. They're going to kidnap me and Wuhen."
The woman's hair was still loose and uncombed, her clothes seemingly hanging on her body as if she had just gotten out of bed, her fair arms still exposed. Even without much makeup, she was breathtakingly beautiful; these people could swear they had never seen such a beauty in their lives!
She seemed somewhat annoyed, her beautiful eyes glaring at the investigators, and said calmly, "This business trip was the first one my father sent people to protect me for. They are both my bodyguards. Do you think they 'don't look like respectable people'?"
The young lady spoke with considerable arrogance, yet the aura she exuded made it all seem perfectly natural.
Looking at the woman's face, the prosecutor could no longer maintain his tough tone and said with a forced smile, "I apologize for disturbing your rest, Miss. I was just following orders. Please forgive me."
The woman was none other than Lin Feng. Seeing that these people were still staring at her blankly, she snorted coldly, showing her impatience: "Didn't you want to search? Why don't you come in and take a look? But my room is very simple and cannot be disturbed by a large number of people. Sir, if you want to search, then come in and take a look yourself."
She spoke so casually that it didn't seem pretentious at all. The prosecutor, however, felt a little embarrassed. He went to the door and looked inside. The walls were bare, with only a bed and a table and chairs. There was nowhere to hide. His eyes fell on the unmade bed and he immediately felt that he had been presumptuous. He quickly retreated.
"I apologize for disturbing you, Miss, but there is indeed nowhere to hide."
Lin Feng glanced at them, still with his superior air. Seeing them still standing there in a daze, he waved his hand impatiently: "Now that you're done searching, hurry up and leave. Don't disturb my sleep. Weren't you searching for a fugitive? Be careful the fugitive gets away, how will you explain it to your superiors?"
The inspector then remembered he still had a mission, and hurriedly led his soldiers away, smiling obsequiously and turning back every few steps.
After they had gone some distance, Shui Wuhen and Bei Chentian turned around to go back into the cabin, but Lin Feng kicked them out: "I haven't changed my clothes yet, wait outside!"
After a while, Lin Feng called from inside, "Come in!"
The two then pushed open the door and entered. Inside, Lin Feng had changed back into a black men's outfit. She complained, "Why didn't you even prepare any women's clothes here? I wanted to change into women's clothes, but I had to wrap myself in a bed sheet!"
Bei Chentian smiled wickedly: "How was I supposed to know this would happen? Besides, I never intended for you to wear women's clothing in the first place, otherwise we would have run into countless troubles along the way."
Shui Wuhen stood silently to the side for a long time. He was a smart man, and the more he thought about it, the more surprised he became. He had already guessed that since Lin Feng was a woman, then this so-called "Dark" must also be a fake identity. Who was her real identity? Thinking back to the rumors that Bei Chentian had recently spread in Fancheng, he said that he had brought back a pure and beautiful woman, and that the woman also had a compassionate heart and often helped and saved people.