Linxia

Chapter 219, falling into the water

It was mid-spring, the sky was clear, the sun was shining, the river was sparkling, and a ship was sailing on it.

Fang Lin, Tian Xuan, Qiuqiu, Fang Tai and Fang Xi were on the deck outside.

This was the first time for the three little ones to take a boat ride. They were quite excited and ran around. Several maids and guards stood outside to watch over them.

"We are about to enter the river, be careful."

Before Fang Lin finished his words, the boat suddenly shook. Fang Xi, who was the most active and closest to the side of the boat, stumbled and nearly fell into the water. Fortunately, he was stopped by the security guard who was watching nearby.

It turned out that a pleasure boat was passing by them at a very fast speed, forcing the boatmen to avoid it, which caused the boat to sway.

Seeing that Tian Xuan and his children were all fine, Fang Lin looked towards the pleasure boat.

This is a two-story pleasure boat. The boat is vermilion in color, with carved beams and painted buildings, and brightly colored paintings. It is extremely dazzling in the sun. There is a four-cornered pavilion with upturned eaves on the second floor, and the roof is covered with yellow glazed tiles. Against the vermilion boat body, it looks even more magnificent.

Three people were sitting in the pavilion with four corners, drinking and chatting. Each of them was served by a beautiful girl. On the deck below was a troupe of actors, who were singing passionately to the sound of gongs and drums.

The Jianghuai area was prosperous, with many wealthy people, but few of them were so ostentatious. The boatman came up to apologize for the shaking just now, and Fang Lin couldn't help asking, "Who was on that pleasure boat?"

The boatman's surname was Lu, and he was quite familiar with the area. He immediately replied, "That's Mr. Jiang from Yingtian. His family is in the silk business and is very wealthy. As for the other two, I think they are Mr. Jiang's friends."

At this time, Meng Jiang came over and said, "Sir, do you want to go up and teach him a lesson?"

He had fought in wars and seen blood overseas, and this time he came back to be a security guard and followed them out.

"Forget it, it's better not to cause trouble when you are out." Fang Lin shook his head.

……

On this side, Mr. Jiang felt that watching the show was not enough, so he came up with some new ideas.

It was a nice day today, and there were crowds of people on both sides of the river. Seeing that more and more people were stopping to watch on both sides, this man and his two friends were in a good mood. They ordered their servants to bring more than ten strings of money, cut the rope that strung the money, and threw it onto the shore with all their strength.

When the people saw this good thing, they immediately rushed forward and scrambled to grab it. For a while, there was chaos and the road was blocked.

Mr. Jiang just took it as a sight to see and laughed heartily while hugging the beauty.

When Mr. and Mrs. Fang heard the commotion outside and saw this scene, they were also dumbfounded.

"Are all the people in Xuzhou Prefecture so rich?" Fang's mother muttered.

"Just by throwing for a while, I'm afraid there will be a hundred taels of silver." Fang's father also said.

Just as Fang Lin was about to speak, he saw another luxurious pleasure boat passing by. Its luxury was comparable to that of Mr. Jiang. He asked the boatman named Lu, "Whose pleasure boat is this?"

"It belongs to Young Master Qian. The Qian family is a famous porcelain merchant in Xuzhou Prefecture. They are wealthy and powerful." The boatman surnamed Lu paused for a moment and added, "This Young Master Qian is also a playful person."

"I'm afraid there's going to be something interesting to watch," Fang Lin thought to himself.

Sure enough, Young Master Qian's pleasure boat caught up with Young Master Jiang's pleasure boat and sneered, "How stingy! You still come here to show off."

In order to please the young master, the attendant followed suit and said, "Young Master is right, who can't afford to play?"

"Then let's have some fun too, get some change!" This young master Qian threw change onto the shore. This made the people on the shore very happy. Fortunately, they checked the almanac and it was an auspicious day, but they met two fools who were fighting for their love.

On the ship at the back, the Fang family certainly had no shortage of this little money, but they did not quite approve of this behavior. Both Fang's father and mother shook their heads and called him a "prodigal son."

However, the boatman named Lu's eyes were wide open, and he wished he could fly to the shore and snatch the small change with the people.

……

Back here, Master Jiang was upset that someone had stolen his limelight for no reason, but if he was asked to upgrade his 'show of wealth' from small change to silver ingots, he couldn't keep up, so he snorted coldly and ordered his men to speed up and get rid of the other party, out of sight, out of mind.

But Young Master Jiang wanted to leave, but Young Master Qian took advantage of his power and refused to let him go. He said to his attendants, "Pass me, or you will get a reward."

The people below all knew how generous their young master was, so they immediately put in all their efforts and quickly caught up with Master Jiang's pleasure boat, reaching the same level as him.

Young Master Jiang had just lost face, how could he lose it again? He was unwilling to let Young Master Qian's pleasure boat pass, and gave orders again, asking his men to speed up.

In this way, the two luxurious pleasure boats started racing in the river, chasing each other, and neither was willing to fall behind.

The people watching on the shore had just robbed some money, and now there was something exciting to watch, so they were in high spirits and cheered.

This place was already crowded with people, and after this commotion, it attracted even more people to come and watch. For a while, it was so crowded that it was not inferior to a temple fair.

With so many people watching and cheering, the two young masters became more and more excited, and the two pleasure boats rowed as fast as arrows.

But at this moment, something happened.

In this river, people go in and out of it. Just as a boat was coming out, the scholar on it saw two large ships coming straight at them and hurriedly shouted to the boatman to get out of the way.

Unfortunately, the river was so narrow that the two large pleasure boats were parallel, occupying 60% to 70% of the river. Although the scholar's boat was slightly smaller, it was still a difficult job to avoid the disaster. Fortunately, the boatman had rowed a boat for most of his life and had seen many scenes. He was calm and said "Hold on", turned the bow, and sailed forward along the embankment.

The scholar felt a little relieved when he saw the boatman's skills.

However, before they could recover from the shock, Young Master Qian's pleasure boat was chasing them closely and was about to overtake Young Master Jiang. In desperation, Young Master Jiang ordered his boat to ram into it.

With a loud bang, the people on the shore screamed in surprise. The two speeding pleasure boats collided and swayed to the sides. Not only Master Jiang and his two friends, but also Master Qian and his servants were thrown into the water like dumplings.

Even the scribe's boat met with an unexpected disaster, capsizing and falling into the water.

"Dad, look, there's a ship crash ahead!"

"That bad uncle fell into the water."

Qiuqiu and her two siblings also watched the fun, and were especially happy to see that Mr. Jiang got his comeuppance.

The boatman named Lu pointed at the scholar who had fallen into the water and said anxiously, "That's Mr. Ge, sir, can you go up and save him?"

When Fang Lin heard 'Mr. Ge', his heart moved: "Could it be Mr. Ge Chong? Of course, we can go quickly."

……

(End of this chapter)