Chapter 77.2 – Meeting with pirates

When the men saw Jiang Zhen coming, they began to talk while looking at Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge, giving them a wink.

Jiang Zhen was there for some time, but the men didn’t think much about it. They just thought that Jiang Zhen might want to wait for them to finish washing up, so Zhao Jinge could have some privacy in the bath. So at the moment, they were teasing Jiang Zhen and asking whether Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge were going to bathe together.

“My wife, do you want to help me keep an eye on them?” Jiang Zhen asked. “Stand up straight, all of you!”

Those people stood straight subconsciously.

Jiang Zhen went inside the bathing area and carried a bucket of water for Zhao Jinge.

“You wash first. Call me when the water is gone. I’ll guard outside.”

“Mm-hmm,” Zhao Jing answered, and when Jiang Zhen left, he washed up. While thinking of their previous ts, his movements stopped.

Why was Jiang Zhen so kind to him? He obviously had no ability to do anything . . .

Zhao Jinge has always had a sense of inferiority. He had always been told that he was not good looking and that he will not be able to get married. Everyone looked at him with sympathetic eyes, so it was hard for him not to feel inferior.

If Jiang Zhen was just like him, that was, an ordinary farmer, after they got married, they would have, like the usual, farm together and raise their children. And slowly, his inferiority would have surely dissipated in time, and he would not feel that he was not worthy of Jiang Zhen at all, but Jiang Zhen was a very thoughtful person.

Along the way with Jiang Zhen, he became more and more aware of the gap between them, and the inferiority that was engraved in his bones would always emerge. Feeling down for a while, thinking of Jiang Zhen’s kindness toward him, Zhao Jinge soon regained his spirit.

As long as Jiang Zhen wanted him, he would never leave!

After Zhao Jinge finished washing, he changed into clean clothes and went out to change places with Jiang Zhen.

“Jinge, the boss is very kind to you,” someone said to Zhao Jinge, his words full of expressions of wonder.

“Mm-hmm,” Zhao Jinge answered, standing there proudly.

He knew that many people around him might not say anything, but deep down, they felt that he was not worthy of Jiang Zhen. But as long as Jiang Zhen was still by his side, there would always be some rumors, so he didn’t care about that at all.

They all lived on the same ship. There was something about Jiang Zhen that Zheng Yi knew clearly. Of course, this was mainly because he was so bored on the board that he liked to hear all kinds of gossip told to him.

At the moment, Zheng Yi’s servant boy told him about Jiang Zhen taking Zhao Jinge to take a bath, and he was a little confused.

“That Zhao Jinge looks very ordinary. I don’t know why Jiang Zhen is so good to him.”

Actually, it was not even a common problem . . . that Zhao Jinge did not even look like a ger!

“He saved Jiang Zhen’s life,” Zheng Yi said with a smile.

He certainly cannot be like Jiang Zhen, but he couldn’t deny that he appreciated such type of people and liked to use them.

Zheng Yi liked that Jiang Zhen knew how to repay gratitude very much, but if Jiang Zhen knew his thoughts, he would probably scoff at him.

He liked Zhao Jinge, and it was true that Zhao Jinge gave him porridge and saved him, but if it had been He Qiusheng, who was a little arrogant and feminine, who helped him, he would have given him some money at most.

Everyone’s taste was different, and the overall standard for beauty for each era was even more different. Zhao Jinge’s standards were not in line with this era’s! How could he not like such a person who was agreeable to him in every way and was devoted to him?

After taking a bath and going to the kitchen to ask for food, when he saw that Zhao Jinge was eating sweetly, Jiang Zhen was ready to start again. However, he overestimated his own physical strength.

He worked for a long time during the day and at night he fell asleep the moment his head touched a pillow, completely forgetting to mess with Zhao Jinge.

Zhao Jinge lay beside Jiang Zhen, and his heart settled down.

Zheng Yi’s fleet would also sail at night. Although it would be much slower, it could still be called a day and night journey.

Jiang Zhen and his men quickly got used to life on the ship, and the only thing that made them unable to adapt was that after the first day, they had no meat to eat.

Before, when Jiang Zhen had to train his men, they were fed well every day, but now it was out of his hands, so he couldn’t feed them well even if he wanted to.

Fortunately, the meat was gone, but the rice was enough, and Jiang Zhen didn’t need to reduce the training intensity.

However, the journey was very tiring and the sun that afternoon was too strong. Jiang Zhen reduced the training time in the end and split it to morning and evening.

People who performed well during training could sleep in separate cabins assigned to him by Zheng Yi while the others could only live in large bunkrooms . . . After coming out with such reward measures, the people under Jiang Zhen worked even harder.

The big bunks on the ship were not only damp but also smelly. Who wouldn’t want to sleep in cabins?

Jiang Zhen men were fighting for space for sleeping cabins every day. Lu Da and others were naturally even more reluctant to sleep in bunks . . . He wanted to make trouble for Jiang Zhen, who had “harmed” him, but when he saw Young Master Zheng coming to talk to Jiang Zhen every day, and even Jiang Zhen’s ger was called over he immediately stopped his thought.

He even tried his best to bear some of Jiang Zhen’s provocations.

The young master valued Jiang Zhen far more than he thought at the beginning, and he must not offend the annoying Jiang Zhen in the future!

It’s true that Jiang Zhen would be found by Young Master Zheng every day . . . to play cards.

It was very boring on the ship, and Zheng Yi had nothing to do, so he called Jiang Zhen to play cards every day. He also learned several ways to play cards from Jiang Zhen. As for why Zhao Jinge was there . . .

At first, Jiang Zhen took him because he was afraid that he would be bullied by others, and later, they needed one more card player.

Playing cards, having four people were the best. Jiang Zhen, Zhao Jinge, Zheng Yi, and his servant boy just added up to four people and could make a table.

In fact, Jiang Zhen did not like playing cards very much, and he preferred to learn to read and write when he had time, but Zheng Yi liked it, so he accompanied him. However, he still found a way to distract Zheng Yi’s attention . . .

In front of Young Master Zheng, Jiang Zhen relied on his skill to cheat several times. He first would beat Zheng Yi several times and then showed Young Master Zheng how he cheated.

“Master Zheng, if you play this card well, you may still be able to become a god of gamblers. Even if you can’t do it very well, your shuffling technique is good-looking and eye-catching enough.”

Jiang Zhen recalled all kinds of movies he had seen related to gambling and had a deep talk with young master Zheng.

Zheng Yi also knew that Jiang Zhen was probably tired of playing cards, so he told him so, but he was really curious about it, so he really learned it to entertain himself.

While Zheng Yi was trying to learn how to cheat and shuffle cards, Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge borrowed pen and paper from him to practice their calligraphy slowly.

Of course, Jiang Zhen also had to answer some questions of Young Master Zheng from time to time when Young Master Zheng was bored; he still had to accompany him to play cards.

Unknowingly, the fleet had been sailing for half a month, farther and farther away from the south of the Yangtze River and closer to the capital.

During this period, the fleet docked several times to replenish some supplies, and at each landing, the people on board were able to eat meat.

However, these days, the fleet could not dock; it was said that this area experienced drought last year and was not very peaceful.

“There are quite a lot of pirates in this area, and there are even more since last year’s drought. However, we went by water on a big ship, so it was basically safe,” Zheng Yi said.

Those pirates would also choose easy targets and would generally not start fighting with the big caravans.

Zheng Yi was very confident, however . . . that night, their fleet was surrounded by a gang of pirates.