There is a god in the sky

Chapter 98 On the Road 3

Life on the ship was very monotonous.

Xuan'er was seasick and felt drowsy every day, spending most of her time lying in the cabin.

Late at night, Shen Lan woke up from a nightmare. When she sat up and saw that no one was beside her, she put on her coat and went out of the cabin.

She assumed Xuan'er had gone out to relieve herself, as there was only one outhouse on their floor, specifically for the two ladies.

The moonlight was cold. Shen Lan tightened her coat and walked to the end of the boat, only to find the outhouse empty.

The lanterns emitted a faint light. Shen Lan walked back, wanting to go up to the deck to take a look.

As she passed by Xiao Ji's room, she happened to see him open the door and come out, wearing an outer garment just like her.

In this situation where you meet someone at the door in the middle of the night, it's most likely that you're going to the toilet together.

Shen Lan smiled awkwardly, "Lord Xiao got up in the middle of the night, so I came out to look for Xuan'er."

Xiao Ji nodded and said, "Go back, I'll help you look for it."

Shen Lan wanted to say no, she only came out to check because she couldn't sleep.

There were officers on duty on board at night, who would sound the gong and drum immediately if anything happened.

"Why don't you come along, Miss Shen?"

Shen Lan followed behind him, noticing that he was heading in the opposite direction from the outhouse, and reminded him, "Lord Xiao, why don't you go take care of this first?"

Xiao Ji suddenly turned around, and Shen Lan almost bumped into his chest.

He said helplessly, "I'm not in a hurry, I'll go up with you and take a look first."

They had barely stepped onto the deck when they heard the crying.

Shen Lan recognized Xuan'er's voice and called out anxiously, "Xuan'er?"

The crying stopped, and the two of them saw the girl sitting in the corner, crying.

"What's wrong?" Shen Lan ran over and asked.

Xuan'er wiped away her tears shyly and leaned against Shen Lan's chest, saying, "Sister Shen, I'm fine. I just had a nightmare last night and I miss home."

It's normal to miss home, and Shen Lan often thinks of that dilapidated house where only she and her godfather lived.

She would often wonder: What did my godfather eat today? Did he drink alcohol? Did his rheumatism flare up?

"It's cold outside. If you want to cry, just cry inside. I won't laugh at you," Shen Lan teased.

Xuan'er stopped crying and smiled, rubbing her eyes. "I was afraid of waking my sister."

Seeing Xiao Ji standing behind Shen Lan, she said nervously, "Why have we alarmed Lord Xiao? This servant deserves to die."

She stayed at the Song family mansion for a few days and saw how the servants of wealthy families served people, and learned the etiquette from them for a few days.

It was then that she realized that Sister Shen and Lord Xiao were both first-rate masters.

"It's good that you're alright. It's windy outside, let's go back." Xiao Ji turned and left first.

Seeing how fast he moved, Shen Lan guessed that he was probably feeling restless.

Just as Shen Lan was about to pull Xuan'er into the cabin, she saw her eyes widen suddenly and point forward.

"Sister...sister..."

Shen Lan turned her head and saw a sparking arrow flying towards the ship, passing over their heads and hitting the sail.

The cloth sail caught fire instantly.

"Enemy attack!" Shen Lan shouted, pulling Xuan'er and running quickly into the cabin.

She told Xuan'er to wake everyone up, and then ran back to the deck to see exactly how many enemies were on the other side.

"Sister, be careful!" Xuan'er shouted anxiously.

As Shen Lan passed the water tank, she soaked her coat in the water, carried it back to the deck, and saw more than a dozen rockets being fired at her.

She moved nimbly across the deck, shooting down and extinguishing the rockets one by one.

Before the other party could make a move, she climbed up the mast, tore down the burning sail, and threw it into the river.

A group of people rushed out of the ship's cabin, fully armed.

Xiao Ji put on his outer clothes, stood at the front with a sword in his hand, looked up and saw Shen Lan lying on the high mast of the ship, and hurriedly called her down.

Shen Lansong released her grip and jumped straight down from above, landing lightly and steadily.

"I saw their boat; it was just a small fishing boat with about a dozen people on it."

Xiao Ji took off his coat and draped it over her shoulders, saying, "Be careful not to catch a cold."

He ordered his men to extinguish the lanterns on the ship, and then had his officers line up at the bow, holding shields.

The wind howled past, and neither side made a move for a moment.

Shen Lan's move just now was so amazing that it startled the other party.

The other party probably didn't expect that their midnight raid would result in them encountering someone who wasn't sleeping.

If Shen Lan hadn't happened to be on the deck tonight, those dozen or so rockets would have set off a huge fire.

The boat was made of wood, making it very easy to catch fire. Even if everyone woke up and put out the fire, it could easily cause chaos.

“I saw this ship during the day,” one of the officers exclaimed.

As the boat travels on the river, they are naturally not the only vessel; they encounter quite a few other boats coming and going.

But most ships look pretty much the same, so you can only remember one unless it's very special.

The official explained, "This ship is dilapidated. The people on board drink during the day, and the aroma of the wine is strong. I smelled it and even bought a jar of wine from them."

Xiao Ji stepped forward and stared at that tiny dot in the night.

It was indeed a wrecked ship.

"How many of them are there?" Xiao Ji asked.

"I glanced at them and saw seven or eight people. I asked them where they were going, and they said they were fishermen from the neighborhood."

"That's not right. Those fishing boats are so old and small, how could they keep up with the speed of our official boats?" someone questioned.

"This……"

Everyone assumed he had misread it.

After a while, the boat remained quiet, without any sound or movement, as if it were just an ordinary boat moored on the river.

"Shout to them, if they don't show up within ten breaths, we'll ram them."

As soon as Xiao Ji finished speaking, the officers shouted in unison, "Listen up, you people on the other side! You are ordered to step forward and surrender immediately, or we will ram you!"

He called out three times, but the ship remained motionless.

If a rocket hadn't actually been fired at us, Shen Lan would have thought she was seeing things.

The boatman hiding in the back asked in a panic, "Could it be a ghost ship?"

The officers herded the men into the cabin and said to Xiao Ji, "Lord Xiao, would you like us to swim over and take a look?"

Xiao Ji frowned, a bad feeling creeping into his heart. Then, he suddenly swayed and almost lost his balance.

"Oh no! Someone is scuttling the bottom of the ship!"

Without being told, the officers grabbed their weapons and jumped into the water.

They were all excellent swimmers, and sure enough, after they went into the water, they saw figures shoveling at the bottom of the boat.

Such a large official ship must be of guaranteed quality; without special weapons, it's impossible to just casually chisel it through.

Shen Lan leaned over the fence and looked down. Xiao Ji shoved an empty gourd into her hand and asked, "Can you swim?"

"Yes." Shen Lan tied the gourd to her waist; this thing was a lifeline in this era.

Blood was visible on the water's surface, but it was unclear which side was dead or injured.

The other side was well-prepared and had a clear objective; they were willing to risk their lives to drag them down with them.

"Don't be afraid. We found them early and have the advantage in numbers, so everything will be alright," Xiao Ji reassured her.

Shen Lan was not used to entrusting her life to others. Just waiting on the deck, unable to see the situation underwater, made her feel unsafe.

“I want to go down and take a look,” she said.

Xiao Ji disagreed, "It's too dark. You can't see friend from foe underwater. You're likely to get hurt if you go down."

He turned and ordered his men to light all the lanterns and hang them on the side of the boat, so that at least they could see what was happening on the water.