Bai Shiqi was unhappy, resulting in harsher training for the guards in the Guard Station. The men automatically felt muscle cramps in their calves whenever they saw her—thinking it would be better to dive in by themselves rather than waiting to be kicked into the river by her.
Lord Luo stood on the bank and shouted: “You’ve made a bet with the Young Leader, so admit your defeat and train earnestly!”
Normally, he was the one responsible for their training, however, ever since His Highness Prince Zhou personally appointed the shipping group’s young leader Bai Shiqi to be the military drill master, whenever she was in the field, he’d stand aside. Even though he couldn’t be ruthless to them himself, there was always someone to teach these bastards for him.
No harm in it, anyway.
Now the guards now felt that Lord Luo was kind-hearted compared to the ruthless young leader. Despite being young and elegant, Young Leader Bai’s appearance was repulsive and disgusting in their eyes.
A group of young and strong men cried and begged: “Lord Luo, why don’t you train us?” Their appearance of begging for sympathy while soaked in water made the scene very spectacular.
Bai Shiqi stood on the bank with a military rod while laughing: “Whoever chitchats more can stay in the water for two more hours.” She then pretended to want to hit them with the stick, which frightened the crowding men. They soon dispersed and scrambled towards the middle of the river, wanting to be the first and afraid to be the last, as they knew they’d suffer from beatings if they were late.
Zhao Ziheng, who was at the back, hoped that Bai Shiqi would still cherish him for the little brotherly relationship they shared together. Who knew that this person wouldn’t make any accommodations for her own relative after she arrived at the training ground. He was so grieved and denounced her from the edge of the river: “Shiqi, you don’t deserve to be my brother anymore! Whenever I have good wine, good food, and good music, I always remember you, and this is how you pay me back?”
A cold-hearted military rod!
All his kindness towards her was in vain. He recalled that when he knew his cousin brother had that kind of thoughts toward her, he had stood by her side unreasonably, afraid that his good brother would suffer and not be happy.
Zhao Ziheng’s heart was breaking into crumbs, and he almost cried as he soaked in the cold water of early spring.
Bai Shiqi threateningly waved the rod in her hand and said ruthlessly: “You can’t blame me, I wasn’t the one who threw you in here to train! And there are no brothers in the training ground! Let’s discuss our brotherhood again once you leave the training ground ah!”
Her smile faded at once as she shouted with a stern face: “Hold your breath! Dive!”
The group of young and strong men on the river dove in. There were some with poor skills whose buttocks were still exposed on the surface, but they soon got pulled down by their own companions—else the whole group would be punished.
They couldn’t let out any of their bad sentiments regarding the training. Young Leader Bai was very thorough, treating as guilty those associated with the offender. Occasionally, when there were soldiers whose ability in water were lacking, they would be accompanied by their companions to overtime training. Therefore, if anyone in their group was lacking, everyone would become afraid that they’d be punished together, soaking in the water with a starving belly in the middle of the night…
The frenzied Young Leader Bai had a famous saying that almost became a nightmare for all the people in the Guard Station, it sounded like this: “Only when you are as nimble in water as you are on land can you fight the pirates!”
The spirited young men soon threw themselves into the frenzied training, while the defeated men who wanted to take revenge on their former shame shouted at the top of their lungs in the water: “Bai Shiqi, I will definitely defeat you!”
Bai Shiqi threw a pebble directly towards the youth’s head, and the youth who was hit clutched the new swell on his forehead and screamed before diving into the water, causing the fellow soldiers on the shore to laugh until their bodies trembled. After Bai Shiqi glanced at the mass, the crowd quickly stabilized their expression and shrunk like quails.
Luo Dajue said emotionally: “Young Leader Bai, you are more powerful than me now.”
Bai Shiqi: “I’m not going to leave the shipping group to join the army. Lord Luo doesn’t have to worry about me ruining your livelihood.”
Luo Dajue was a straightforward person by nature, hearing this he only laughed heartily: “Someone should’ve come to take care of this group of rats a long time ago. They are all slacking off.” Just like Zhao Wujiu, he had an interest towards her subordinates: “This lowly Luo wouldn’t dare to force Young Leader to leave the family business and come to the Guard Station to live a hard life, but if you have subordinates who have any thoughts about joining, can you introduce us?”
Bai Shiqi: Why does everyone want to dig through the wall of my house?!
[T/N: To dig through someone’s house is usually an idiom used for ‘stealing someone’s something’. Most often used for ‘stealing someone’s lover’ though]
She looked up: “No, they don’t want to join the army! Not at all!”
She suddenly said: “If His Highness is going to fight the pirates, Lord Luo must also follow him around. You mentioned that the people in the Guard Station are slacking off, but Lord Luo is also obsessed with fishing and making wine, raising flowers and plating vegetables everyday. It could be said that you’re also slacking off, why not go down to the river to practice as well?!” Without waiting for Lord Luo to object, she gave him a push to his back, and Luo Dajue, who had not yet reacted… fell into the water with a splash.
Luo Dajue floated up and down in the water, and the soldiers waiting for training on the shore shouted in panic: “Our lord has fallen into the water!”
After all, Luo Dajue was still the boss of Gaoyou Guard Station. When he fell into the water, the soldiers on the shore suddenly pushed each other and rushed to lend a helping hand to their boss, but they were all stopped by Bai Shiqi.
She said loudly: “Lord Luo feels that time is wasted, and is determined to train with everyone. In the future, he will be able to help you brothers when you go to suppress the pirates. How can everyone disobey the good intentions of the lord?”
Luo Dajue: “…”
Just now, many people were watching the other group who were training in the water, so they didn’t really notice Bai Shiqi’s small movements. Only two or three people, and Zhao Wujiu, who had just arrived to visit, saw it.
The former were still dazzled by the fact that Bai Shiqi pushed their boss into the water, while the latter was obedient to Bai Shiqi’s words and would not oppose the reason Lord Luo fell into the water. He was only curious about what inappropriate action Luo Dajue had done to annoy Young Leader Bai that made her play this dark trick.
The majority of soldiers on the bank who were oblivious to the fact, were moved by the sentiments of Luo Dajue, who wanted to share their hardships together. They shouted and cheered for Luo Dajue.
Luo Dajue: “…”
In this situation, he could not destroy the morale in any way, so he could only resign himself and swim towards the middle of the river, secretly thinking: Young Leader is really vengeful!
He just wanted to dig up some people with good skills in water from the shipping group on the spur of the moment, but the young leader just had to push him into the water at the drop of a hat in rejection!
Zhao Wujiu pushed his wheelchair over and said in curiosity: “What did Lord Luo do that upset you?”
Bai Shiqi looked at him threateningly: “Nothing much. Lord Luo wanted to dig over some people from my hand. I think he’s still feeling hazy so I kicked him down the river to wake him up.”
Zhao Wujiu hastily raised his hands in surrender: “I really don’t know anything about the water. I only said that casually, I won’t really do anything to your subordinates!”
The seller was not benevolent, might as well not do it.
Seeing that the threat worked, Bai Shiqi turned nice again: “Your Highness, don’t worry, I don’t have a preference for kicking people down the drain either. As long as others don’t get any weird ideas, I’m still a very nice person to talk to.”
—Who would say otherwise?!
Looking at her standing on the bank to direct Luo Dajue‘s diving training, full of evil smiles as she got her revenge, made Prince Zhou think: Luo Dajue’s trip into the water is very worthwhile. I will surely reward him when I return, so that he’d automatically and consciously dive more often into the water.
***
With Prince Zhou in charge, from Luo Dajue to Zhao Ziheng, to the guards who were originally thorns in the eye, they all became well-behaved and honest. No one dared to make a fool of themselves and obeyed Bai Shiqi’s orders.
After tossing everyone to death and announcing the end of today’s training, all the chickens in the river went ashore and dispersed, leaving only the two of them. Zhao Wujiu said casually: “Shiqi, why don’t we make a bet?”
Bai Shiqi: “What kind of bet?”
Zhao Wujiu saw that she was in a lot of trouble recently because of Qiu Ying. He restrained his thoughts because of that little white face, but it was so uncomfortable to do so.
But this Qiu Ying who kept pretending to be sick was very skilled. If Zhao Wujiu tried to take advantage of the situation, it’d only make him look inferior. So after thinking about it again and again, His Highness Prince Zhou wanted to take the initiative to attack: “Since you have doubts in your heart, why don’t I help you find out? If Qiu Ying is innocent, you win, and you can make a request; otherwise, if Qiu Ying deceives you and has a relationship with the pirates, I win, and I will ask you to do something for me. What do you think?”
Bai Shiqi was smart and immediately understood what Zhao Wujiu meant.
Jiangsu Shipping Group had been operating in Jiangnan and Jiangbei for many years. As long as there were clues, it was not difficult to find information about someone. But she had not sent anyone to find out Qiu Ying’s whereabouts for years, not because she fully trusted that he wouldn’t hide anything from her because they were good friends, but because she was unwilling.
The relationship between the two was extraordinary. She had doubts, but she looked away, and did not dare to confirm her guess.
Zhao Wujiu felt her indecision and simply pushed her.
The always-a-smooth-talker Bai Shiqi: “Why don’t you… let me think about it again?”
Zhao Wujiu was decisive, and the keenness he practiced on the battlefield allowed him to instantly sniff out the opportunity to take advantage of the situation: “Could it be that you are afraid of losing to me? Are you afraid that you won’t be able to fulfill the request I proposed?”
“Of course not!” Bai Shiqi flatly denied it.
Zhao Wujiu knew that she just didn’t want to look into Qiu Ying. As long as she started to think about it, it’d be like a betrayal to the affection they shared in the past. Unfortunately, she met Zhao Wujiu, whose heart was hardened and was good at figuring out his opponent’s mind: “Shiqi, I heard that there were several other people who were involved in the accident with Qiu Ying. Don’t you want to find out about them?”
Bai Shiqi was unhappy, resulting in harsher training for the guards in the Guard Station. The men automatically felt muscle cramps in their calves whenever they saw her—thinking it would be better to dive in by themselves rather than waiting to be kicked into the river by her.
Lord Luo stood on the bank and shouted: “You’ve made a bet with the Young Leader, so admit your defeat and train earnestly!”
Normally, he was the one responsible for their training, however, ever since His Highness Prince Zhou personally appointed the shipping group’s young leader Bai Shiqi to be the military drill master, whenever she was in the field, he’d stand aside. Even though he couldn’t be ruthless to them himself, there was always someone to teach these bastards for him.
No harm in it, anyway.
Now the guards now felt that Lord Luo was kind-hearted compared to the ruthless young leader. Despite being young and elegant, Young Leader Bai’s appearance was repulsive and disgusting in their eyes.
A group of young and strong men cried and begged: “Lord Luo, why don’t you train us?” Their appearance of begging for sympathy while soaked in water made the scene very spectacular.
Bai Shiqi stood on the bank with a military rod while laughing: “Whoever chitchats more can stay in the water for two more hours.” She then pretended to want to hit them with the stick, which frightened the crowding men. They soon dispersed and scrambled towards the middle of the river, wanting to be the first and afraid to be the last, as they knew they’d suffer from beatings if they were late.
Zhao Ziheng, who was at the back, hoped that Bai Shiqi would still cherish him for the little brotherly relationship they shared together. Who knew that this person wouldn’t make any accommodations for her own relative after she arrived at the training ground. He was so grieved and denounced her from the edge of the river: “Shiqi, you don’t deserve to be my brother anymore! Whenever I have good wine, good food, and good music, I always remember you, and this is how you pay me back?”
A cold-hearted military rod!
All his kindness towards her was in vain. He recalled that when he knew his cousin brother had that kind of thoughts toward her, he had stood by her side unreasonably, afraid that his good brother would suffer and not be happy.
Zhao Ziheng’s heart was breaking into crumbs, and he almost cried as he soaked in the cold water of early spring.
Bai Shiqi threateningly waved the rod in her hand and said ruthlessly: “You can’t blame me, I wasn’t the one who threw you in here to train! And there are no brothers in the training ground! Let’s discuss our brotherhood again once you leave the training ground ah!”
Her smile faded at once as she shouted with a stern face: “Hold your breath! Dive!”
The group of young and strong men on the river dove in. There were some with poor skills whose buttocks were still exposed on the surface, but they soon got pulled down by their own companions—else the whole group would be punished.
They couldn’t let out any of their bad sentiments regarding the training. Young Leader Bai was very thorough, treating as guilty those associated with the offender. Occasionally, when there were soldiers whose ability in water were lacking, they would be accompanied by their companions to overtime training. Therefore, if anyone in their group was lacking, everyone would become afraid that they’d be punished together, soaking in the water with a starving belly in the middle of the night…
The frenzied Young Leader Bai had a famous saying that almost became a nightmare for all the people in the Guard Station, it sounded like this: “Only when you are as nimble in water as you are on land can you fight the pirates!”
The spirited young men soon threw themselves into the frenzied training, while the defeated men who wanted to take revenge on their former shame shouted at the top of their lungs in the water: “Bai Shiqi, I will definitely defeat you!”
Bai Shiqi threw a pebble directly towards the youth’s head, and the youth who was hit clutched the new swell on his forehead and screamed before diving into the water, causing the fellow soldiers on the shore to laugh until their bodies trembled. After Bai Shiqi glanced at the mass, the crowd quickly stabilized their expression and shrunk like quails.
Luo Dajue said emotionally: “Young Leader Bai, you are more powerful than me now.”
Bai Shiqi: “I’m not going to leave the shipping group to join the army. Lord Luo doesn’t have to worry about me ruining your livelihood.”
Luo Dajue was a straightforward person by nature, hearing this he only laughed heartily: “Someone should’ve come to take care of this group of rats a long time ago. They are all slacking off.” Just like Zhao Wujiu, he had an interest towards her subordinates: “This lowly Luo wouldn’t dare to force Young Leader to leave the family business and come to the Guard Station to live a hard life, but if you have subordinates who have any thoughts about joining, can you introduce us?”
Bai Shiqi: Why does everyone want to dig through the wall of my house?!
[T/N: To dig through someone’s house is usually an idiom used for ‘stealing someone’s something’. Most often used for ‘stealing someone’s lover’ though]
She looked up: “No, they don’t want to join the army! Not at all!”
She suddenly said: “If His Highness is going to fight the pirates, Lord Luo must also follow him around. You mentioned that the people in the Guard Station are slacking off, but Lord Luo is also obsessed with fishing and making wine, raising flowers and plating vegetables everyday. It could be said that you’re also slacking off, why not go down to the river to practice as well?!” Without waiting for Lord Luo to object, she gave him a push to his back, and Luo Dajue, who had not yet reacted… fell into the water with a splash.
Luo Dajue floated up and down in the water, and the soldiers waiting for training on the shore shouted in panic: “Our lord has fallen into the water!”
After all, Luo Dajue was still the boss of Gaoyou Guard Station. When he fell into the water, the soldiers on the shore suddenly pushed each other and rushed to lend a helping hand to their boss, but they were all stopped by Bai Shiqi.
She said loudly: “Lord Luo feels that time is wasted, and is determined to train with everyone. In the future, he will be able to help you brothers when you go to suppress the pirates. How can everyone disobey the good intentions of the lord?”
Luo Dajue: “…”
Just now, many people were watching the other group who were training in the water, so they didn’t really notice Bai Shiqi’s small movements. Only two or three people, and Zhao Wujiu, who had just arrived to visit, saw it.
The former were still dazzled by the fact that Bai Shiqi pushed their boss into the water, while the latter was obedient to Bai Shiqi’s words and would not oppose the reason Lord Luo fell into the water. He was only curious about what inappropriate action Luo Dajue had done to annoy Young Leader Bai that made her play this dark trick.
The majority of soldiers on the bank who were oblivious to the fact, were moved by the sentiments of Luo Dajue, who wanted to share their hardships together. They shouted and cheered for Luo Dajue.
Luo Dajue: “…”
In this situation, he could not destroy the morale in any way, so he could only resign himself and swim towards the middle of the river, secretly thinking: Young Leader is really vengeful!
He just wanted to dig up some people with good skills in water from the shipping group on the spur of the moment, but the young leader just had to push him into the water at the drop of a hat in rejection!
Zhao Wujiu pushed his wheelchair over and said in curiosity: “What did Lord Luo do that upset you?”
Bai Shiqi looked at him threateningly: “Nothing much. Lord Luo wanted to dig over some people from my hand. I think he’s still feeling hazy so I kicked him down the river to wake him up.”
Zhao Wujiu hastily raised his hands in surrender: “I really don’t know anything about the water. I only said that casually, I won’t really do anything to your subordinates!”
The seller was not benevolent, might as well not do it.
Seeing that the threat worked, Bai Shiqi turned nice again: “Your Highness, don’t worry, I don’t have a preference for kicking people down the drain either. As long as others don’t get any weird ideas, I’m still a very nice person to talk to.”
—Who would say otherwise?!
Looking at her standing on the bank to direct Luo Dajue‘s diving training, full of evil smiles as she got her revenge, made Prince Zhou think: Luo Dajue’s trip into the water is very worthwhile. I will surely reward him when I return, so that he’d automatically and consciously dive more often into the water.
***
With Prince Zhou in charge, from Luo Dajue to Zhao Ziheng, to the guards who were originally thorns in the eye, they all became well-behaved and honest. No one dared to make a fool of themselves and obeyed Bai Shiqi’s orders.
After tossing everyone to death and announcing the end of today’s training, all the chickens in the river went ashore and dispersed, leaving only the two of them. Zhao Wujiu said casually: “Shiqi, why don’t we make a bet?”
Bai Shiqi: “What kind of bet?”
Zhao Wujiu saw that she was in a lot of trouble recently because of Qiu Ying. He restrained his thoughts because of that little white face, but it was so uncomfortable to do so.
But this Qiu Ying who kept pretending to be sick was very skilled. If Zhao Wujiu tried to take advantage of the situation, it’d only make him look inferior. So after thinking about it again and again, His Highness Prince Zhou wanted to take the initiative to attack: “Since you have doubts in your heart, why don’t I help you find out? If Qiu Ying is innocent, you win, and you can make a request; otherwise, if Qiu Ying deceives you and has a relationship with the pirates, I win, and I will ask you to do something for me. What do you think?”
Bai Shiqi was smart and immediately understood what Zhao Wujiu meant.
Jiangsu Shipping Group had been operating in Jiangnan and Jiangbei for many years. As long as there were clues, it was not difficult to find information about someone. But she had not sent anyone to find out Qiu Ying’s whereabouts for years, not because she fully trusted that he wouldn’t hide anything from her because they were good friends, but because she was unwilling.
The relationship between the two was extraordinary. She had doubts, but she looked away, and did not dare to confirm her guess.
Zhao Wujiu felt her indecision and simply pushed her.
The always-a-smooth-talker Bai Shiqi: “Why don’t you… let me think about it again?”
Zhao Wujiu was decisive, and the keenness he practiced on the battlefield allowed him to instantly sniff out the opportunity to take advantage of the situation: “Could it be that you are afraid of losing to me? Are you afraid that you won’t be able to fulfill the request I proposed?”
“Of course not!” Bai Shiqi flatly denied it.
Zhao Wujiu knew that she just didn’t want to look into Qiu Ying. As long as she started to think about it, it’d be like a betrayal to the affection they shared in the past. Unfortunately, she met Zhao Wujiu, whose heart was hardened and was good at figuring out his opponent’s mind: “Shiqi, I heard that there were several other people who were involved in the accident with Qiu Ying. Don’t you want to find out about them?”
