Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Meng Fuyao stepped onto the boat and smiled at the s.h.i.+ning sabers.

“Good afternoon, gentlemen,” she greeted.

The leader was a man in yellow robes, and he looked visibly enraged as he roared, “Who are you! How dare you disrupt our gang's ceremony!”

“How old-fas.h.i.+oned, what age is it already, still using human sacrifices?” Meng Fuyao wriggled her eyebrows at the unconscious person in Tie Cheng's arms. The person had a face as small as a palm, his hair sticking to his pale face, making him look even frailer. He was bound tightly by leader ropes, and Tie Cheng was busy trying to untie him. Looking at the person's age, he was clearly still a child.

“That's our business!” The yellow-robed man yelled, “Aren't you afraid of death, an outsider poking your nose into our business?”

The men on the boat brandished their sabers in the air, shouting and chanting—this was the secret signal to attack the enemy. Meng Fuyao smiled lazily and reached a hand out; suddenly, the yellow-robed man's throat was between her fingers.

The shouting and banging of sabers stopped abruptly as the men looked on in shock and retreated slightly. The yellow-robed man was struggling frantically, his face turning red yet he could not utter a single word.

Meng Fuyao continued squeezing the opponent's throat unhurriedly and closed her eyes. “I've taken a liking to this boat of yours, so I'm definitely using this boat to head to Lishui. From now on, the men from all three boats must stay on this boat, the top five rooms are for us. Apart from the rower and the chef, everyone else is to stay below deck and report everything, from using the toilet to eating. Every day, I will count the number of men, if even one is missing, I'll kill the whole crew,” she said casually.

She lightly, almost gently, reached for an iron anchor that was almost a hundred kilograms and kneaded it into a round shape as if it were clay, then hung it on the neck of the yellow-robed man. Smiling faintly, she said amicably, “Do you need me to kill someone right now to prove it?”

All the men had watched as she kneaded the iron anchor as if it were clay, then watched as she hung it on their leader's head and how he immediately sank to the ground when she let go, unable to get up. Even if he didn't die, he would, sooner or later, having something like this hung on his neck for all his life. Meng Fuyao clapped her hands together, then reached for another anchor and threw it towards the third boat that was waiting to escape.

The anchor flew through the air with a whistling noise and landed heavily on the boat, smas.h.i.+ng its hull as water started to seep in.

Meng Fuyao sat down arrogantly and waved at the men on the boat. “Come, let's have a meeting,” she called out.

The men had no choice but to board her boat, and the boat was now filled with people. Meng Fuyao let Tie Cheng order them into the lower deck, each cabin filled with five to six men. Meng Fuyao stuck her head in and took a look at the cabin design. Each room was sealed shut with only a door. She smiled and said, “I'll open a window for you guys.” Reaching out for a spear, she stood in the first room and launched it at the cabin wall.

The spear pierced through the wooden wall with a thunderous noise and instantly, a new, gaping hole was planted on the wall of every cabin. Everyone could see through the hole and see the movements of everyone in the cabin rooms.

“I've already said, if one of you tries to escape, I'll kill the whole crew.” Meng Fuyao smiled coldly and pointed at the hole. “You're welcome to report any offenders.”

She headed out, chortling again when she reached the door and said, “You're welcome to try and escape.”

The men, packed like sardines, could only stare at her silently, their expression that of looking at a man-eating demon.

Meng Fuyao was very satisfied with the outcome; it was either kill one of them to instill fear or else she would have to oversee so many men. How tiring would that be? If not, Tie Cheng would have to oversee them, and she was unwilling for him to expend that energy as well. It was more efficient to let them oversee each other.

She lazily headed to the top deck, but Tie Cheng was still uneasy and pulled a bench to the entrance of the lower deck and sat there. As Meng Fuyao walked past him, she sighed and said, “Silly, you'll worry yourself to death.”

Tie Cheng was still counting something on his fingers.

Meng Fuyao smiled and continued walking as Lord Yuan Bao crawled out of her robes and planted itself on her shoulder. Facing Tie Cheng, it pointed at its own nose.

‘One more room, is for me, Lord Yuan Bao.'

Tie Cheng sighed and glanced at the ‘sardines' with a sympathetic expression.

Meng Fuyao walked past the cabin that the child was sleeping in and glanced in. The child was still unconscious. She went in and felt his pulse; it was erratic, and it seemed that he was suffering from trauma, but there wasn't anything serious. The child had skinny limbs but rough hands, worn out by fis.h.i.+ng nets, he was probably a fisherman's child, yet n.o.body knew how he became a sacrifice for the water G.o.d.

Meng Fuyao was rather sensitive towards children, and after checking his condition, she immediately left the cabin and headed back to her own. However, after opening the door, she spotted a certain prince lying on her bed as if it were his own and upon seeing her, he waved at her and said, “Come over.”

Meng Fuyao felt that the Crown Prince was becoming increasingly unbecoming, often catching her off guard and causing her to be on high alert at all times. Wanting to discipline him, she said sternly, “Hey, why are you sleeping on my bed!”

“This is your bed?” Zhangsun Wuji blinked innocently.

“Obviously!” Meng Fuyao replied sternly.

“But I heard that someone has the habit of entering the wrong room.” Someone was digging up old dirt.

Meng Fuyao's face darkened as she said, “I won't enter wrongly today, firstly, I didn't drink, and secondly, I've already asked Tie Cheng to put a mark on the room he prepared for me.”

All the cabins on the boat looked the same, and Meng Fuyao was afraid that someone would use the excuse of “entering the wrong room,” and hence, she had called Tie Cheng to create a mark on each of the rooms. Tie Cheng had already told her that the first room was hers, marked with a salted fish, and Zhangsun Wuji's was marked with fishbones.

“Is that so?” Zhangsun Wuji smiled faintly and tapped the room door, saying, “That's right a mark.”

Meng Fuyao raised her head only to see fishbones dangling from the top…

“Shameless, you changed the mark!” Meng Fuyao cursed angrily.

Zhangsun Wuji merely smiled and waved a hand. A cat wriggled out from under the bed with a “meow,” and he patted its head tenderly, praising, “Good kitty, you eat very fast.”

“Eeeee—” Lord Yuan Bao let out an ear-piercing shriek and dove into the deepest folds of Meng Fuyao's robes…

Zhangsun Wuji got up and pulled Meng Fuyao over, still smiling. “It doesn't matter which room is the right one or not, come, let's look at the water view together.”

The cabin room was only that big, and it was difficult to turn around, so Meng Fuyao sighed and squeezed by his side. The two of them leaned against each other as they watched the water ripples on the surface of the river. There was a certain quality to the quietness and tranquility around them, and after a while, Meng Fuyao said, “If you can think of this, why not think about how we can get to Tong City quicker.”

“Isn't it great now?” Zhangsun Wuji chuckled. “Based on the current situation, going by water is the safest route. Earlier on, the gang was performing their ceremony, so the surroundings are clear, and there isn't a single boat around. Right now, n.o.body under the heavens knows where you and I are located.”

“Your hidden guards and my soldiers don't know as well,” Meng Fuyao reminded. Sighing, she said, “There is good and bad.”

“Earlier, I had a little chat with the boat's chef upstairs,” Zhangsun Wuji tried changing the topic. “He said that these three boats belong to the elite of the gang, and after the ceremony, they had originally intended to stop at a harbor and partic.i.p.ate in the Green Forest Alliance Conference held by the Guangcheng County. According to him, it's because the bandits that Eleventh Prince had bribed were disrupting the martial balance in the northern region of the Green Forest. Apart from the clans that Feng Jingrui had bribed, the others did not want any relation with them, yet also did not want to declare enemies with Feng Jingrui. This Green Forest Alliance Conference was set up to select a Green Forest Alliance Leader to fight against Feng Jingrui.”

As Meng Fuyao listened, her eyes slowly started to light up with a sly glint, her eyes rolling around in their sockets as she thought. Zhangsun Wuji's lips curved slightly and immediately planted a kiss on her forehead. Before she could react, he'd already let go and said, “I'm going to sleep.”

Meng Fuyao was about to get back at him for sneaking a kiss on her but was surprised that he suddenly let go and temporarily forgot to punish him. She yawned lazily and lay down to sleep, faintly hearing ceaseless reports coming from below the deck.

“Report, I need to pee!”

“Report! I need to s.h.i.+t!”

She snorted and closed her eyes.

As she slept, she rolled around on the bed, feeling as if something was amiss, yet she couldn't tell what was amiss. She patted the bed and sat up, but she still couldn't sense anything, so she lay back down to sleep, thinking, ‘What is it? What is it?'

In the middle of the night, she suddenly felt the board beside her disappear and the bed s.h.i.+ft, then… A pair of arms reached out, and she smelled the familiar faint fragrance as her entire being was swept into a certain person's warm embrace.

That person's eyes were glinting in the dark like a pearl in a cave as he said in a calm yet a.s.sertive tone, “I've said before, it doesn't matter which room is right or wrong, this board… is movable.”

Meng Fuyao: “…”

“Besides.” The G.o.dforsaken scoundrel continued, “Your bed is right next to mine, it was meant to be together. Once the board is removed, it becomes one bed. You and I were sleeping on the same bed to begin with.”

Meng Fuyao, tearfully, “…”

“Fuyao, look.” Zhangsun Wuji blew gently on her forehead, then on her nose, followed by her lips. He chuckled softly and said, “We really do have fate, even on a random boat we are fortunate enough to share a bed.”

‘Fate your head…' Meng Fuyao was already in tears… ‘@#$% you, if we have fate then why did you block my meridians?'