On the surface of the lake.
Upon seeing the woman replenish her oxygen and dive into the water again, the nearby onlookers initially felt relieved. However, as time passed without her resurfacing, they began to suspect and whispered to each other. Just then, several water grass stalks suddenly floated up on the water's surface. Soon, other similar cut grass bunches appeared, scattered across the lake. Realizing it was the woman's doing, the crowd fell silent, all watching the water intently.
As if a long time had passed, just as the crowd was getting impatient, a vague black shape suddenly appeared on the water's surface, resembling a person. The onlookers became excited, pointing and shouting, "Look, she's coming up!"
Wei Zixing had seen the black shadow under the water surface early. Although he didn't stand up, he naturally leaned forward and stared with concentration, feeling something unusual. When the shadow resurfaced slightly, he furrowed his brows slightly, and his hand, originally gripping the chair's armrest, loosened, and he leaned back, returning to his original sitting position.
Although they were far apart, with his sharp eyesight, he immediately recognized it. The figure was not the woman with the surname Wen, but quite clearly a bloated floating corpse.
"A dead person, it's a dead person!"
When the black shadow completely surfaced, floating half-submerged and swaying with the water, others finally saw it clearly, and cries of astonishment broke out one after another.
Fang Zhen, seeing that the woman he expected did not surface, but instead a body did, his heart skipped a beat and his first reaction was to look back at Wei Zixing. Seeing him seated on the chair, holding a cup of tea with a indifferent expression, Fang Zhen quickly ordered the boatmen to approach and inspect.
Yamen runners found a nearby sampan and slowly approached the floating corpse. Before they could turn the bloated body over, a fisherman rowing the boat cried out, "It's Wusheng, it's Wusheng! He has a black birthmark on his lower back, I recognize it! It's him!"
The fishermen nearby, hearing that the floating corpse was Wusheng who had gone missing after diving into the lake, were shocked. They rushed to the scene and, with combined effort, hoisted the slippery body onto the boat. Amidst the commotion, they suddenly saw ripples on the water and the woman surnamed Wen emerged again, holding a black box, and paddled towards the large boat.
At a glance, Fang Zhen recognized it as his box containing the official seal, overjoyed, he blurted out, "Quick, throw it up here!"
Wen Lan ignored him, just took off her glasses, continued swimming toward the ship.
Wei Zixing put down the tea cup in his hand, went to the side of the ship, and looked down at the woman in the water. Seeing her getting closer, her face full of water droplets, jet-black brows and wet lashes against the light brown skin, under the intensity of the midday sun, amidst the ripples of the water, a strange and breathtaking beauty emerged. In a flash, she threw the box into the cabin and reached for the ship's side. Knowing she was about to come up, he almost instinctively leaned over, right hand slightly moved, just about to reach forward and pull her up, but saw that her hand had already landed on the ship's side, with a force, a splash, she was already out of the water, half of her body on the ship, water droplets falling from her hair and clothes.
Wei Zixing suddenly felt a little awkward. Fortunately, his reaching hand hadn't fully formed, and the others were all focused on the woman, so he withdrew his hand discreetly and stood up straight slowly.
Fang Zhen didn’t notice Wei Zixing's unusual behavior. With his full attention now on the box, he saw that it was wetly thrown onto the deck. The official seal was still in it. The tension that had been hanging over him for over a month finally loosened, and he held it tightly.
Wen Lan climbed onto the ship. Since she had stayed underwater for some time, she was physically exhausted. After catching her breath, she glanced around and realized that her clothes were clinging to her body, revealing her curves. This was nothing out of the ordinary for her before, but it seemed inappropriate in this place. When she noticed the chief of Wei who was staring at her, she took out a dagger from her waist and placed it on the deck, then immediately retreated into the cabin to dry her hair, change into the previously prepared clothes, and only then came out of the cabin.
Fang Zhen found the official seal, and was in a very good mood. He glanced at Wei Zixing and saw that he was unusually relaxed, almost as if he was enjoying the scenery of the lake and mountains, which reassured him even more. As the boat approached the shore and Wen Lan came out, he greeted her with a smile, "Good, good. You've helped me retrieve the item, and naturally, I will keep my promise and reward you with a hundred...” He looked at Wei Zixing and immediately changed his words, “Two hundred taels!" The steward was prepared and quickly handed over the two silver notes.
Wen Lan had gone into the water for the sake of money. Getting more was a good thing, but it seemed somewhat against her will because of the man with the surname of Wei. She was about to refuse, but seeing the male surname Wei's gaze turning towards her, she thought that declining would make her seem too deliberate. She changed her mind and said, "Then I’ll thank you, sir," and accepted the money.
Two hundred taels were a large amount of money for ordinary people, but not for Fang Zhen. He was happy not only to have retrieved the official seal but also to have gained favor in front of Wei Zixing. Why wouldn’t he be happy? He nodded with a smile.
Wen Lan had no good feelings towards the county magistrate Fang. Now that there had clearly been a corpse, and although Wusheng's death was an accident, he was a resident of his jurisdiction and had drowned retrieving the official seal for the magistrate, this fatherly official didn’t ask at all. This made her feel even more resentful. As for the man with the surname of Wei, from his behavior when capturing the White Lotus member the other day, it was clear that he was not a good person. She also noticed, intentionally or unintentionally, his occasional glances in her direction. Being on such a ship felt as if she had bugs crawling at the soles of her feet. Now that she had the money in hand, in silence, she looked towards the distant horizon, just wanting to get ashore as quickly as possible.
"Miss Wen, I noticed you wore this eye mask when diving. What use does it serve?"
Wen Lan heard the steward ask and replied, "Wearing it helps with underwater visibility. It is an item left by our ancestors, brought from overseas."
The steward made a sound of understanding. Wei Zixing glanced at the eye mask she held in her hand, raised an eyebrow slightly, and said nothing.
A crowd had gathered on the shore. The boat that had carried the floating corpse had already docked. The body had been carried ashore and covered with a mat. Wusheng’s mother and wife, upon hearing the news, had rushed over and were now kneeling next to him crying bitterly. Seeing the tragic scene, onlookers sighed and sympathized. Upon reaching the shore, Wen Lan was rushed by Wusheng's wife, who tearfully questioned how her husband had met his end. After listening to Wen Lan's brief account, she sobbed and knelt down, thanking her, saying Wusheng would have been left at the bottom of the water forever if it wasn’t for her actions.
Wen Lan helped her up. Seeing that the commoners around were all focused on her, Fang Zhen, who usually played the part of a clean official, felt slightly embarrassed in this situation, pinched his beard, and with a sorrowful look, angrily said, "In the end, the thieves are to blame. This official will surely catch them sooner or later, and bring peace to this county! The accidental drowning of Wusheng has grieved me deeply, so I offer a condolence of ten taels. The family expressed their gratitude and it was a chaotic scene.
Mrs. Fan had not boarded the ship and had been waiting on shore. She had been quite anxious. Now that she had seen that Wen Lan had really been pulled out and even gained a reward, she was naturally happy. She hurried over and bombarded them with questions.
With everything concluded, Wen Lan didn't want to stay any longer. She took Mrs. Fan's arm and quickly left in full view of the onlookers.
Fang Zhen approached Wei Zixing and whispered with a smile, "If the esteemed sir is interested in this lady, the subordinate can act on your behalf..."
Wei diverted his eyes, glanced at Fang Zhen, and lightly said, "You're overthinking, Master Fang." Finishing, he took the reins from a local leader, mounted his horse, shouted, and swiftly galloped away.
Fang Zhen felt dejected, stood in place awkwardly, with some confusion and puzzlement.
~~
With money in hand, Wen Lan found the situation much easier to handle. Accompanied by Mrs. Fan, she exchanged some loose silver at the money exchange and then proceeded to arrange for the burial of Li Sanniang. The local leader was always afraid of trouble. Now that someone had come forward to take responsibility for the death that occurred in his territory, he no longer needed to report to the authorities and was naturally willing to help with the arrangements. After it was all over, that night Wen Lan stayed at Mrs. Fan's house, but spent the night sleepless, thinking about her future.
In the past few days, she had learned that this dynasty had very strict population and household registration management. Especially in recent years, due to the unrest in the country, the control had become even more stringent. Traveling required a travel permit. It was stipulated that when military and civilians left their place of household registration for more than a hundred miles, they must have a travel permit issued by the local leader, stating their name, age, destination, and other relevant details. They would also be subjected to inspections at the passes along the way. If they were found leaving without a permit and were checked, it would constitute the crime of "illegally crossing a barrier" and they would be punished with flogging. Someone like her, without any identification papers, according to the law, if the local leader found out, they must report to the authorities. It was only because he had taken hush money from her that he kept it secret. But fearing that he might be held responsible in the future, he asked her to leave as soon as possible.
Although she had some money on her, she had no relatives around, and she couldn't stay here. She also didn't have any reliable long-term means of livelihood. It was not possible to always come across things like working as a salvager. In addition, this was not a peaceful and prosperous era, with bandits and marauders rampant. As a woman traveling alone, it was certain that she would have more bad luck than good.
After pondering all night, Wen Lan finally came up with a temporary solution. That was to use the travel permit left in the package by Li Sanniang to impersonate her, first go and seek refuge with that aunt in the White Dragon City of Pingjiang Prefecture. In the future, she could slowly come up with a plan.
Though this method was a bit far-fetched, she had no other options. Apart from the matter of making a living, without a legitimate identity, even if she wasn't robbed on the road, the only result waiting for her in the end was being caught and sent to the authorities as a fugitive.
Li Sanniang's immediate family was already gone, and she had mentioned to Wen Lan that this aunt had followed her husband's family to the remote Pingjiang Prefecture of Linnan when she was only five or six years old. Since then, they had never met again. Sanniang was now eighteen years old, and although she was a few years older than her, Sanniang had always seemed mature, and her age should not be a flaw. Moreover, it was said that her uncle had passed away early, and her aunt had poor eyesight, so there was no need to worry about being identified as a counterfeit. When asked about her hometown, she would tell the truth, and for any information not mentioned by Sanniang, she could just improvise when the time came. As for the cousin who was a patrolling inspector, Sanniang had said his name was Xie Yuan—there shouldn't be any problem with that either. Even if he had an exceptional memory and still remembered Sanniang's childhood appearance, he would see that she was different now—“a woman changes a lot at eighteen”—just using this phrase would be enough to deceive him.
With her mind made up, Wen Lan finally fell into a restless sleep. She prepared to set off the next day. Grateful for Mrs. Fan's help in the past few days, she gave her ten taels of silver. Mrs. Fan was surprised to see such a large amount of silver for the first time in her life, and after some initial refusal and pushing back and forth, she joyfully accepted it. When she heard that Wen Lan was going to Pingjiang Prefecture, she immediately asked her to wait a few more days, as her family was expecting a merchant relative, Zhou Gui, to come and pick up goods over there, and she could travel with him on his boat.
Wen Lan was overjoyed and thanked Mrs. Fan repeatedly. On the day of departure, she paid the fare to board the ship, and the boat set off to the south. The journey was very smooth, to the surprise of even Zhou Gui and his wife. They said that when they had been on this waterway before, for such a merchant ship as theirs, every time they passed a canal checkpoint, they had to pay extra. Apart from the regular payments, if they didn't slip some extra money, the officials would board the ship to conduct inspections and cause trouble. They described it as leeching and greedy. This time, however, they had an unprecedented smooth passage and were allowed to pass through just by showing their merchant's certificate without any questions. The couple said that Wen Lan was indeed a noble person, and they wished she would travel with them always.
Naturally, Wen Lan knew she wasn't that noble. But seeing how smooth the journey had been, she was also pleased. After a fortnight, the boat arrived smoothly at Pingjiang Prefecture, just a hundred miles away from White Dragon City.
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