I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 357 Parting Halfway

That night, food was placed on the bow of the boat. Zhao Wei stood beside the table, looking at the sky quietly.

Compared with the industrial pollution of several years later, in this era, you can see many stars at night as long as it is not cloudy or rainy, unlike in later generations when you can hardly see many stars at night even if it is a sunny day.

The ancient astrologers would probably be dumbfounded a thousand years later.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Zhao Wei knew it was Zhao Paner as soon as he heard it. He was quite familiar with Zhao Paner's voice and smell.

After all, while his physical fitness has been enhanced, his five senses have also been greatly improved. Although his hearing and sense of smell are not as sharp as a dog's, they are many times stronger than those of a normal person.

Zhao Wei turned around and made a gesture of invitation: "Madam Zhao, please try it and see if it suits your taste."

"Thank you, General Zhao. Please come in."

"We are friends after all, so don't be so polite." Zhao Wei shook his head and smiled, then sat down.

"I am honored to be valued by you, General. However, you are a general and I am just a commoner. I dare not marry you."

Zhao Wei pretended to be displeased: "I make friends without asking about their background or origins. Moreover, Madam Zhao is different from others to me. If you say that again in the future, I will be very unhappy."

Zhao Pan'er opened her mouth but didn't know what to say. She didn't dare to offend Zhao Wei, but she couldn't become friends with Zhao Wei as an equal.

At least not now.

"General, I..."

Zhao Wei waved his hand and interrupted, "Okay, let's eat first."

Zhao Wei could feel that Zhao Pan'er was quite reserved, but he didn't say anything more. The two of them just ate quietly.

Seeing Zhao Pan'er put down her bowl and chopsticks, Zhao Wei said while eating, "Madam Zhao, let me ask you a question."

"General, please speak."

"Have you ever thought about the future before you go to Tokyo? If Ouyang Xu is really unfaithful and wants to marry Gao Hui, what will you do? Are you prepared to throw everything at the wall and mess up their marriage, or just accept your fate, sever ties with Ouyang Xu, never have any contact with him again, and then quietly leave Tokyo?"

This stumped Zhao Pan'er. She was silent for a long time before she said, "I don't know. I don't want to think about it now. Let's talk about it after I get to Tokyo."

Zhao Wei hummed: "If you still haven't made up your mind by then, I can help you stay in Tokyo."

"Thank you."

Zhao Pan'er was grateful from the bottom of her heart. Zhao Wei was just a chance acquaintance, but he helped her a lot without any reward. Moreover, as a general and a noble, he did not put on airs at all. He was truly a rare good man.

Zhao Wei just didn't know that Zhao Pan'er had given him a good guy card, otherwise he would have cried out that he was innocent. He was not a good guy. Everything he did was based on his own little thoughts, and it could not be considered free help.

"I've always said you don't have to be so polite..."

Before he could even utter the word "angry", a discussion suddenly came from the bow. Zhao Wei looked up and asked, "What's going on?"

Shuangxi walked over quickly and said, "Sir, it seems someone has fallen into the water ahead. Sun Qian and the others have gone down to rescue him."

Zhao Wei was stunned for a moment: "Someone fell into the water?"

If I remember correctly, in the TV drama, when Zhao Pan'er and Gu Qianfan went to Beijing, they seemed to have seen Sun Sanniang committing suicide by jumping into the river.

The current situation... is it because of them?
Out of curiosity, Zhao Wei took Zhao Pan'er with him and walked over.

When they arrived, they saw Sun Qian and Liu Sheng pulling a woman in the water and swimming towards the boat.

Everyone gathered at the bow, helped each other, and quickly pulled the person up.

Shuangxi had sharp eyes. He saw the face before the person even came up and exclaimed, "Oh, isn't this Madam Sun?"

He and Zhao Wei had been to the teahouse many times and had seen Sun Sanniang many times. He recognized her at a glance.

Zhao Pan'er, who had not paid much attention to it, was suddenly frightened when she heard Shuangxi's exclamation and rushed over.

"Sanniang, it's really Sanniang, Sanniang..."

After confirming that it was Sun Sanniang, Zhao Pan'er became extremely anxious and kept shouting, but Sun Sanniang was completely unconscious at this time and could not respond to her at all.

Zhao Wei walked forward, squatted down to take a look, then asked Zhao Pan'er to help Sun Sanniang sit up, and patted her luck.

"Cough cough, cough cough..."

Sun Sanniang spat out several mouthfuls of water and then fell down again.

"It's nothing serious. Shuangxi, send Madam Sun to the cabin. Madam Zhao, change her clothes."

Shuangxi didn't say anything, he just carried Sun Sanniang on his back and went to the cabin.

Zhao Paner thanked him first before hurriedly following.

The next morning, Zhao Wei learned about Sun Sanniang's story from Zhao Pan'er. It was no different from the TV drama. Her son was first adopted, but later she found out that her husband had an affair with a widow. What's worse, both her husband and son didn't want her and abandoned her. She returned to her parents' home in Deqing overnight, only to find that the house had collapsed long ago. Sun Sanniang suddenly felt that she had nothing, and then she jumped into the river out of confusion.

Not long after Zhao Pan'er brought breakfast into the cabin, Sun Sanniang woke up slowly. She first complained to Zhao Pan'er, then started to go crazy and try to commit suicide. Finally, she fainted again due to excessive mental exhaustion.

Time passed quietly, and another day passed, and Zhao Pan'er found Zhao Wei.

"General, Sanniang is in very bad condition and is getting weaker and weaker. This won't work."

Zhao Wei hummed and said thoughtfully, "Madam Sun actually has no symptoms. On the contrary, she is stronger than the average woman. She has psychological problems, but if the psychological problems are not resolved, it will indeed cause great harm to the body."

Zhao Pan'er hesitated for a moment, but still told her plan.

"General, I want to take Sanniang off the ship to see a doctor. We can go to Tokyo after she recovers."

"You want to get off the boat?"

Zhao Paner nodded: "Yes, Sanniang has always taken good care of me. I can't bear to see her suffer. Although I want to go to Tokyo immediately, I can't leave her alone. So I want to wait for Sanniang to recover, then find Yinzhang, and then go to Tokyo by land. Calculating the time, we should be able to arrive before Grain Rain."

"Have you really decided?"

"Yes."

Zhao Wei thought about it and did not object. He also saw Sun Sanniang's condition and knew that she really needed to go to the clinic to get medicine and recuperate.

But for Zhao Wei, time was already very tight, so it was naturally impossible for him to stop the boat to rest for Sun Sanniang.

It is true that Zhao Pan'er is his mission target, but that doesn't mean that everything he does has to revolve around Zhao Pan'er. He also has his own things to do.

"I have no objection to you taking Madam Sun off the boat, but when I left Qiantang, I promised you that I would take you to Tokyo. I have important matters to deal with now and cannot waste time. I will let Huai En and Sun Qian stay to take care of you. When you recover, they will arrange for you to rush to Tokyo by land."

Zhao Pan'er quickly declined, "No, don't bother, we can do it ourselves."

"No trouble. I am a man of my words. If I say I will send you to Tokyo safely, I will definitely do it. I will feel at ease only if Huai En and Sun Qian follow you."

It was impossible for him to follow Zhao Pan'er all the time, but Zhao Pan'er's safety still had to be guaranteed. Although they had walked some distance now, they were still hundreds of miles away from Tokyo. For two weak women, who knows what problems might arise if they walked hundreds of miles, so it was necessary to arrange someone to protect them.

Zhao Pan'er didn't want to trouble Zhao Wei, but Zhao Wei's attitude was very firm, and his reasons made it impossible for Zhao Pan'er to refuse.

"Let's not talk about whether you need someone to follow you. Let's just talk about your sister. If no one leads the way for you, how are you going to find her? Also, she has a criminal case on her shoulders, and you want to get her off the record. Can you and Sun Sanniang handle it?

If it can be resolved, just pretend I didn’t say anything.”

"Thank you very much, General."

So, at the next port, Zhao Pan'er took Sun Sanniang off the boat, and Zhao Huai'en and Sun Qian were ordered to follow them.

The group of four first recuperated in the town where they disembarked for a few days, and only set off for Huating County when Sun Sanniang was almost recovered.

As soon as she entered the city, Zhao Paner heard a familiar voice.

"Miss Zhao."

When Zhao Pan'er heard the sound, she looked and saw Yinping running towards her in a hurry.

"Madam Zhao, please go and save my girl. She has been harmed by Zhou She."

Zhao Pan'er was shocked: "What?"

"It looks like I'm going to die."

Zhao Pan'er's face changed again, and when she was about to ask something, Li Wu came over.

"Madam Zhao, Madam Song has only suffered a little, but it's not so exaggerated that she can't survive."

For someone like Li Wu who had just returned from the battlefield, the beating Song Yinzhang suffered was nothing at all.

"Madam Zhao, why don't we go to the inn first? There are too many people here and it's not a good place to talk." Zhao Huai'en suggested.

Zhao Paner nodded and said to Yin Ping, "Let's go, and talk while we walk."

"That day, the girl eloped with Zhou She. After the wedding, he was quite gentle and considerate to the girl. But when they arrived in Huating County, he suddenly went ashore, saying that his old illness had recurred and he needed to rest, so he couldn't go to Yingtian."

"and then?"

"The next day, he said he needed expensive medicinal materials and asked the girl for money. The girl paid him back at first, but later she felt something was wrong. I secretly inquired and found out that Huating County was actually his home."

Yin Ping was furious: "When the girl asked him, he got angry and said that business was not good and told the girl not to worry about it. He forced the girl to take out 500 strings of cash from her dowry to support her. If she didn't give it, he would beat her."

"Yinzhang's dowry is all with me. Where did she get so much money?" Zhao Paner asked.

"No, I wanted to wait until you calmed down before asking you for it slowly, but I was afraid it wouldn't look good when I got married, so when I left, I asked someone to get some stones, cover them with brocade, and put them in more than ten boxes."

"So stupid?" Zhao Paner couldn't help but complain.

"Later, this matter was discovered by Zhou She. If the girl didn't pay the money, he forced her to sell me to him." Yin Ping pointed at Li Wu, and pulled Zhao Pan'er by the hand and cried, "Madam Zhao, now you are the only one who can save the girl. I was sold the day before yesterday. At that time... at that time, the girl had been beaten by him so hard that she couldn't get up, and was locked in the woodshed to die."

When Zhao Huai'en heard this, he glared at Li Wu fiercely: "Didn't I ask you to protect Madam Song in secret?"

Li Wu felt wronged: "Manager Zhao, swear to God, I went to see her yesterday, and Madam Song was just slightly injured, not as serious as she said."

"Humph, I'll settle the score with you when I get back." Zhao Huai'en snorted coldly and said to Zhao Pan'er, "Madam Zhao, this is my fault. I didn't arrange it properly."

Since Zhao Huai'en said so, what else could Zhao Pan'er say?

"Don't blame you. It's Yin Zhang who is stupid. I hope she will learn a lesson after this experience and won't be stupid again in the future." Zhao Pan'er sighed and asked, "Manager Zhao, can we go and rescue them now?"

Zhao Huai'en didn't say anything, but turned to look at Li Wu.

Li Wu understood and replied, "Lord Xu came to Huating yesterday and should be in the county government office now."

"Then go and take Zhou She to the county government office and rescue Madam Song." Zhao Huai'en instructed Li Wu and turned to Zhao Pan'er and said, "Madam Zhao, then shall we go directly to the county government office?"

Zhao Pan'er bowed and saluted: "Thank you for troubling Manager Zhao."

"Ms. Zhao, you are so polite. It's my duty."

In this way, the group went directly to the county government office.

With Zhao Huai'en giving advance notice, Zhao Pan'er naturally didn't need to design Zhou's house, and the county government acted very quickly.

When they arrived at the county government office, they happened to hear the county magistrate judging the case of two people.

The verdict was similar to the original plot, the only difference was that Zhou She was not sentenced to exile three thousand miles away, but was beaten and sentenced to death.

He was imprisoned on the spot and awaited execution in the autumn.

However, Zhao Pan'er and the others did not know the result because they went directly to the back court.

Seeing the group coming in, Xu Yong, who was wearing a bright red official robe, hurried forward and saluted, saying, "Manager Zhao."

"Master Xu." Zhao Huai'en bowed, slightly stepped aside, and introduced: "Master Xu, this is Madam Zhao; Madam Zhao, this is Xu Yong, the governor of Xiuzhou, Master Xu."

Zhao Pan'er was shocked when she heard this. The governor of a state was so polite to a housekeeper. It seemed that Mr. Zhao was not just an ordinary noble. Could he really be a member of the royal family?

She thought so in her heart, and bowed slightly, saying: "This humble lady greets His Excellency the Governor."

"Ms. Zhao is polite."

Xu Yong was so polite, secretly thinking about Zhao Pan'er's identity. The retainer of His Royal Highness King Han specially introduced her. It seems that this lady Zhao's identity is not simple. Could it be that...

Taking the opportunity to take a look at Zhao Pan'er, Xu Yong couldn't help but make a bold guess, and his attitude became more polite: "Madam Zhao, Madam Song's case has been judged, please wait for a moment."

"Thank you for your help, Lord Zhouzun."

Said Cao Cao, Cao Cao.

Song Yinzhang was supported by Yinping and followed Li Wu to the back court. The magistrate of Huating County also came with them.

Zhao Pan'er and Sun Sanniang rushed over and asked with concern: "Yin Zhang, how are you?"

"Sister Pan'er, I'm fine, why are you here?"

"Don't worry about how we got here. Let's just thank Chief Steward Zhao and Lord Zhouzun." Zhao Pan'er said as she was about to take Song Yinzhang to pay her respects.

Zhao Huai'en knew his master's thoughts, so he dared not accept Zhao Pan'er's gift. He hurriedly said, "Madam Zhao, you don't have to be so polite, and Madam Song, you don't have to be so polite. I have asked someone to redeem your pipa for you."

"My Gu Yue?" Song Yinzhang laughed at a speed visible to the naked eye: "Thank you, Manager Zhao."

Zhao Huai'en waved his hand and looked at Xu Yong: "Master Xu."

Xu Yong quickly bowed and said, "General Manager Zhao, I am deeply terrified that I have failed to govern well and that the people under my rule have suffered such a disaster."

Zhao Huai'en shook his head: "Master Xu, the master still has high hopes for you. Don't let the master down. When you are an official, you should benefit the people. I hope Master Xu will remember this."

"I will definitely keep in mind what Manager Zhao said."

Xu Yong was immediately delighted and said to Zhao Pan'er, "Madam Zhao, I heard that you are anxious to go to the capital. I have arranged the fastest post carriage and will definitely send you to Tokyo before Grain Rain."

(End of this chapter)