<h4>Chapter 95: Cold Night, River, Leakage and Expose (1)</h4>
Trantor: Iris
Proofread by DragonRider
As the night wind blew, Minn gave a gentle sneeze. The bear-like man handed a pot of wine to the woman with good swimming skills. The woman drank several mouthfuls. When she saw Minn shuddering with cold, she held out a small cup of wine to Minn. The cold breeze puffed across the river and a faint aroma of wine drifted into Minn’s nostrils. The woman smiled, “If you don’t mind, you can drink some wine to warm your body up.”
Minn immediately looked up at Gu Tingye. Anyway, children should listen to adults. When he met Minn’s big bright eyes, Gu Tingye felt a sense of satisfaction and nodded slightly. With his consent, Minn reached out a hand from the quilt and took the cup. Then she raised her head and emptied the cup at one draught. Minn handed the wine cup back to the woman and said brightly, “Thank you.”
The wine tasted mellow. Minn felt her body getting warmer at once.
The woman and the rest of men on the boat were slightly surprised by Minn’s forthright manner. Thedies of prestigious families they had met were pampered and demure. They didn’t expect that this girl, who looked beautiful and delicate like a lovely doll, in fact, was frank and straightforward without any artificial shyness. The bear-like man held up his thumb and praised in a gruff voice, “You are such a forthright girl!”
The woman smiled and introduced herself, “Lady, don’t take offence. My husband always has dealings with various people from all corners of the country and is cheeky in speaking. By the way, my name is Che Sanniang.”
Minn looked carefully at the woman who was about eighteen or neen years old with big eyes and a wide mouth on her slight ck face, beautiful-looking and active. Che Sanniang pointed at the men on the boat and introduced them to Minn one by one: The bear-like man was her husband, Shi Keng. A boy beside Shi Keng, who was a little bit shorter than him, was his younger brother, Shi Qiang. A white-facedely young man standing in the bow of the boat was called Yu Wenlong. They were all members of Cao Bang. A middle-aged man standing beside Gu Tingye, who was dressed like an intellectual and always had a smile on his face, was called Gongsun Baishi. Behind him was his nephew, Gongsun Meng, a vignt and sharp-witted boy who looked like his uncle.
Minn struggled to reach out the other hand from the quilt and made a bow with hands folded in front, and then said politely, “Though I never heard of you, I have been looking forward to meeting you for a long time.”
Shi Keng and Shi Qiang were ingenuous and didn’t understand what she meant. They even enthusiastically bowed to Minn in return. Che Sanniang, Gongsun Baishi and Gongsun Meng couldn’t helpughing at her words. Yu Wenlong stole a nce at Minn and blushed at the sight of her bright and beautiful face. He lowered his head with shyness. Gu Tingye turned around with an expressionless face, but his eyes lit up as shiny as stars in the sky.
Another boat came over and all people except Shi Keng and Shi Qiang jumped onto it. Che Sanniang sat beside Minn and smiled, “There should be no pirates on your ship now. Let’s go back to the ship first. You can change your clothes. They are going to deal with the rest of the pirates. The members of Cao Bang are all good at swimming. I’m sure they can get your maids back.”
Minn expressed her gratitude repeatedly, even though she didn’t understand why Cai Bang lent a hand to stop this disorder.
The fighting on the river gradually calmed down. Shi Keng and Shi Qiang were at the stem and stern of the boat separately to protect them. Che Sanniang put her arm around Minn and was on the high alert. As they approached the ship, Minn couldn’t help but turn around to look at Gu Tingye, who put one foot in the bow of the boat and held a longbow in his hands. He straightened his back, drew the bow and shot an arrow, his arm muscles bulging. And blood spread in the river where his arrowsnded. The arrows had hit the pirates under the water. The men around him also shot arrows one by one. At this moment, the pirates, whose heads were exposed over the water, became sitting ducks.
Under the faint moonlight, Gu Tingye’s face clouded over. He looked down at the bodies floating on the river. When he saw some pirates wailing mournfully or struggling, he shot them to death. He stood with a murderous look on his face, his eyes sweeping from left to right, which scared Minn. She couldn’t help shivering.
Shi Keng and Shi Qiang were very skilled in rowing. They rowed the boat fast toward the ship but the sounds of the poles pping water were low. Minn chatted with Che Sanniang along the way. The woman was very forthright in character. After asking her a few questions, Minn got some information and was shocked when she knew that Shi Qiang was the new vice-leader of Cao Bang. Minn had thought him an ordinary member of Cao Bang as she had heard him call Gu Tingye “big brother”.
Minn sighed in surprise and said gently, “It’s an honor to have the vice-leader pole the boat for me, though I have met with the cmity tonight.” Che Sanniang blinked and smiled, “Now you seemed to have an easy conscience.” Minn threw her hands open and replied honestly, “I can’t row a boat, so I can do nothing but sit aside. Or maybe I can cheer him on.”
Che Sanniang burst intoughter and lightly patted Minn twice on the shoulder.
The ship of Sheng family was not seriously damaged. As soon as Minn boarded the ship, she saw Xiaotao standing on the deck and ncing left and right. Dangju stood next to her with an anxious look. They quickly threw themselves into Minn’s arms at the sight of theirdy. Minn was stunned and looked helplessly at them crying andughing at the same time. After walking into the wing-room, Minn eagerly asked, “Why are you still on the ship? Are you okay?” She looked them up and down and felt confused when she found them not injured at all.
Xiaotao was proud of herself and answered, “I couldn’t swim fast in the situation of helping Dangju. So I taught her how to hold breath and then we hid under the ship. I secretly took her out of water before we ran out of air, and then sank under the water again. The pirates were busy chasing others and had no time to search the ship’s bottom. Furthermore, it was dark tonight. So we weren’t found. Afterwards I wanted to swim across the river, but a group of men came and fought off the pirates on the ship. It was safe on board, so we came back.”
Minn gazed at Xiaotao with admiring eyes, silent for a long time, and thought, ‘What a brave and clever girl!’
Dangju helped Minn change into clean clothes. Then she dried Minn’s hair and simply coiled her hair at the back of her head. Che Sanniang was a little taller and stronger than Minn, so Xiaotao found some Yun’er’s clothes for her to change. After that, Minn asked someone to do a head count. Most of the servants and guards of Sheng family were safe and sound, and only two boatmen had died and seven or eight people had been injured. Minn had Dangju write down their names so as tofort andpensate them or their families in the future.
Two family retainers dragged three old female servants in and threw them on the floor. Dangju gnashed her teeth with hatred at the sight of them and said, “Lady, it’s the three of them who told the pirates our whereabouts!”
Minn sat on the seat of the host, looking sideways at an oilmp on the table, which sent out weak light. A creepy atmosphere filled the room. She bowed her head and stroked her embroidered velvet jacket, which was made of the finest brocade from Jiangnan, soft and silky. The three old female servants kneeling on the floor kept kowtowing and crying, their hair loosened and tangled around their shoulders, their face wet with tears.
Minn asked calmly, “What happened to you at that time?”
One of the old female servants looked at the other two servants beside her and worked up the nerve to defend herself, “Lady, please make a fair judgment. After those pirates caught us, they flew into rages and wanted to kill us because they found no money and valuables on the ship. I was so scared, so I told them... Lady, I didn’t mean to betray you. Please spare my life!”
The three old servants kept pleading piteously and begging for mercy. The family retainers gave them several kicks in anger. Dangju was also overwhelmed with rage when she recalled the rmingly dangerous situation. She med loudly, “The Sheng family pays and maintains you, so it’s your duty to protect yourdy with your life. I have already asked the others about what happened. At that time, the pirates just beat you and threatened you with violence. Why didn’t you followdy’s n to tell them that our masters anddies had sailed boats to the opposite bank with all belongings? You were so afraid of death that you told them everything in a panic. You almost killed Lady Minn!”
Minn sat expressionless and continued touching the decorative patterns on her coat with her head bowed. A few secondster, she slowly raised her head and sighed. “Lock them up,” she said to the guards and then turned to the old servants. “After we return to Youyang, I will ask Grandmother to penalize you.” The old female servants tried to beg for forgiveness but Minn waved her hand and interrupted, “It was justifiable for you to make mistakes when you got scared. You cherished your lives; however, you endangered the lives of others. I won’t punish you, but I don’t think I can forgive you. So I won’t keep you by my side anymore.”
After these words, Minn asked the guards to take them out of the room. Just then Che Sanniang walked in and saw this scene. She smiled, “You are a kind girl. In our gang, a man who betrays his brothers or gives secrets away will be forced to stab through his own thighs three times in front of Guang Yu’s statuette. It will leave six wounds on him.”
TN: Guan Yu is one of the protagonists in Romance of Three Kingdoms who is respected and often worshipped for loyalty and bravery.