Fenglin Tianxia – Queen with a Thousand Pets

Chapter Eight: Change

The days went by quickly and a month had passed. Summer arrived at the Quan Province and the days became hotter.

On this day, Ling Quanyu didn’t go to the shipyard but sat at the stone table under the tree, studying a products list that Zheng Xi had brought to her.

Recently, Ling Qingyu visited the shipyard every few days in order to monitor Wu Da’s progress on fixing the ship and to plan detailed improvements. At the same time, she bid Zheng Xi to connect with merchants in the Quan Province in order to find products that they could bring on the ship.

Lu Yao recovered quickly. He started asking for jobs after only ten days. Ling Qingyu did not let them go outside, so they mostly split wood and cleaned the courtyard. Later, even food was cooked by them. As expected, the food didn’t taste too good.

“Hmm. Lu Yao, did Zheng Xi not buy any salt?” Ling Qingyu held the products list in one hand and tasted food using chopsticks in her other hand.

Didn’t you say salt costs money and thought I added too much salt? Lu Yao stared at Ling Qingyu but didn’t respond. He went to get some water in order to wash the courtyard. The weather was extremely hot. After pouring water onto the pavement, one could feel the heat rising up.

Ling Qingyu had just casually said her mind. In her previous life, there were many subjects that she didn’t learn very well. Since school started, there was only one thing that everyone had disliked about her and that was cooking. She made porridge into crackers, fresh vegetables into paste and even charred fish would be raw inside. After hearing forced praise from her parents, her classmates, her previous boyfriends and her husband, she finally gave up on cooking.

So, even though she has a delicate stomach and know how delicious food should be made, when there was no choice and someone cooks for her, she was still very grateful. No matter what, it would still be better than her own.

Compared to Lu Yao, these few days were very comfortable for Ye Shiyi. Even though Ling Qingyu did not let him out the door, she also didn’t order him to do anything. She bought some books and writing utensils for him and a large wooden bucket to help him practice holding his breath underwater.

After coming back from the shipyard, she usually helped Lu Yao change his medicines. Afterwards, she would chat with Ye Shiyi about stories that she had never heard of before. Ling Qingyu never touched on who he really was and who his enemies were. But sometimes when he had a nightmare, she would hold him to sleep. If he couldn’t fall asleep, she would discuss the possibility of obtaining revenge and what he would do to his enemies. For example, digging a large hole for his enemies to jump into, streaking through the streets and many other possibilities that a normal girl wouldn’t be able to imagine.

Of course, Ye Shiyi didn’t believe Ling Qingyu to be a normal girl. Otherwise, how could she calmly undress Lu Yao to change his medicine. Any other girl would have a bright red face. Ye Shiyi asked Zheng Xi about this situation under the instruction of Lu Yao, but Zheng Xi responded, “What can we do? I am so busy that I am about to die of exhaustion. Do you have the ability to help him? Also, didn’t you say the other day that you wanted this guy to become the Miss’s groom? If he is already a groom, then why care so much?”

Truthfully, Ye Shiyi didn’t understand the whole idea of a groom. What he said before was from gossip he had heard. If undressing someone made him a groom, then wouldn’t he be one as well; considering Ling Qingyu helped him bathe, slept with him and have seen him naked? Good thing he was smart and didn’t share these opinions with anyone else.

Ling Qingyu didn’t care. Zheng Xi ignored it. Ye Shiyi didn’t understand. The only one who really cared about it, Lu Yao, was living in tragedy. There were some days when he heard Ling Qingyu’s voice, he would be afraid of her not stopping at undressing but would take further advantage of him. After worrying for a few days, he finally understood that this girl really didn’t care. She didn’t even think of herself as a girl.

“Sister, when will we be able to get on the ship?” asked Ye Shiyi after eating and cleaning his bowl and chopsticks.

“Hmm, another few days.” Ling Qingyu flipped to the next page on the list and recorded the product and quantity on a piece of paper. “Did you train yourself to hold your breath like I asked?”

“I trained. I can hold my breath for very long now,” answered Ye Shiyi happily. He came from the north and didn’t have any knowledge of swimming. After finding out that these two were dry ducks, Ling Qingyu almost gave up on bringing them onto the ship. In the end, Zheng Xi said some words that changed her mind: “On the ship, knowing how to swim doesn’t matter. Anyone who falls will end up dead anyway.”

Ling Qingyu patted Ye Shiyi’s head as congratulations. After organizing the list in her hands, she calculated that after subtracting 3000 silvers for repairing the ship, 2000 silvers for obtaining a sailing license, and expenditures on expendables and sailer fees, she only had around 4000 silvers to buy commodities. This much money was only enough to buy the cheapest porcelain. It also wasn’t enough to load an entire ship. Looks like she will have to do as Zheng Xi said and rent out some cargo space.

Seeing Ling Qingyu start writing in characters that he could not read, Lu Yao mentioned for Ye Shiyi to go into the room to start training martial arts.

Ling Qingyu watched as Lu Yao quietly closed the door. After Lu Yao recovered somewhat, he started to secretly teach Ye Shiyi. Ling Qingyu guessed that it must be martial arts. Saying that she didn’t care was fake. After seeing Lu Yao’s careful attitude, Ling Qingyu decided to accept it. After all, they were all wanderers. There was no need to investigate too deeply.

Moving her gaze, she saw that Zheng Xi had quietly opened the door to come in. After turning to check outside, he softly closed the door.

“Miss.” Zheng Xi’s expression was ugly. Without caring for his head full of sweat, he hurried in front of Ling Qingyu, glanced at Lu Yao’s room, then said in a low voice, “There is trouble.”