Giant Ship Across the Song Dynasty: My Supplies Come from My Motherland

Chapter 43, Oh my... this little smell, it just flares up with a single tickle.

Today, the "Bold and Delicious" villa is bustling with activity.

Throughout history, war has been the fastest way to determine a nation's status; once you lose, you lose. This damned Song dynasty ruined Yue Fei, then fought a disastrous war with the Jin dynasty. It was like a newly paved road without any pebbles.

A once mighty Central Plains dynasty is now forced to serve as a son of a minority regime. Song officials have to automatically be demoted by half a rank when they see Jin officials. This Prince Rui is not a direct descendant of the royal family; he is the son of the fourth prince of Wanyan Aguda's family, but here he can still get Wanyan Gou to send him congratulatory gifts.

Why? Because according to seniority, he had to call Zhao Gou "brother," and what's wrong with a brother giving gifts to his sister-in-law?

Today's occasion was naturally very lively. Lin Zhou could feel the different atmosphere as soon as he walked in. He had been here once before, and at that time, everyone here was strolling around leisurely, even the servants were quite relaxed.

According to his understanding, the Jurchens had fewer rules and etiquette compared to the Song people. When did they start to become more polite? It wasn't until five or six hundred years later, when the Manchus entered the Central Plains, that they gradually became more fussy. At that time, the Jurchens were relatively rough and had relatively weaker control over their subordinates.

But today was different. Almost everyone was jogging forward, from the officials to the maids, rushing around as if they were attending a funeral. Moreover, the rituals looked complicated and made people feel very uncomfortable.

Needless to say, there must be Han Chinese behind this. That's how these noblemen are; they openly compete. If your window has six carved flowers, that won't do. My window must have eight. If yours has roses, then I'll have to have peonies.

In order to demonstrate their wealth and power, they would try every means to differentiate themselves from others, and this was fully demonstrated in front of Lin Zhou today.

"Scatter! Scatter!"

A group of people rushed up from the road behind them, a dozen or so carrying a whole roasted camel, and charged past Lin Zhou with great force. They looked powerful.

"No, what does your young master want me to do at such a big event?"

"Young Master Lin... please don't ask me anymore. How could I possibly inquire about your affairs?" The maid followed behind Lin Zhou with her head down. "You'll know when you see him."

"Alright."

Following the maid through the side door into the backyard, a place originally reserved for family members and off-limits to outsiders, Lin Zhou was obediently allowed to enter. However, no one had the time or inclination to concern themselves with such matters today, so he simply followed along.

After navigating through countless twists and turns, he arrived at a house. The maid pointed inside and then stepped aside.

Before Lin Zhou could even knock, the door was pushed open with a bang, and a bright red figure rushed out and bumped right into Lin Zhou.

"Aww~~~"

The man was covering his nose and howling with his head down. Lin Zhou was also clutching his chest and grimacing. When he looked down, he saw that the person squatting there, wiping his nosebleed, was none other than Da Chuan'er, who was always in a hurry and didn't care about anything.

Hearing the screams outside, the people inside came out and, seeing the two seriously injured people, asked, "What's going on here?"

Yangti quickly pulled his younger sister up. Just a moment ago, she was crying her eyes out, but now she was a mess. Her nose and face were covered in blood, and her tears were mixed with the blood. It was a truly tragic sight.

About twenty minutes later, Hongliu, with paper stuffed in her nose, tilted her head back and was still cursing, but not at Lin Zhou, but at her good-for-nothing brother.

As for the minor injury to their noses, the people of Northeast China didn't care at all.

"You're a complete waste. People are talking about your sister like that, and you're just cowering and cowering. Do you even look like a man?"

"Hey, they're not wrong, actually. Your personality is just not right. A girl who keeps talking so foully all the time, who would dare to marry you?"

"You're talking nonsense, Wanyan Yangti! No matter what I do, it's none of their business to talk about me. You go out and fight them one-on-one later."

At this point, Yangti turned to look at Lin Zhou, his eyes full of pleading. Lin Zhou probably knew what had happened; she had likely overheard someone gossiping about Hongliu behind her back, and her fiery temper, unable to contain herself, had her brother go and duel with that person.

It's estimated that this has been going on for a while, and no matter what tricks they use, they're not very effective, which is why Yangti had the quick thinking to call Lin Zhou over.

"What's wrong?" Lin Zhou asked from the side, "Who made you so angry?"

"It's all because of that Privy Councilor's son, who spoke ill of Hongliu behind her back. Now she's heard it and insists I go and fight someone one-on-one." Yangti sighed beside him, "Today is my mother's birthday, how can I go and fight someone one-on-one?"

"Even if no one wants me, it's none of his business! Saying that I was lonely and bored at home, so I found a traveling actor, is practically insulting the Wanyan family to our faces!"

After a moment of silence, Lin Zhou pointed to himself and asked, "That江湖戏影 (jianghu actor/performer) wouldn't happen to be me, would it?"

Hongliu glanced at him and gave a muffled "Mmm..."

"Hey..." Lin Zhou sat down. "You tell me, I'm the one who's been wronged the most, okay? Outside, people call me a traitor, but here you call me an actress. Who did I offend? The key question is, why did you call me here? To confirm that your princess really found a scoundrel?"

"That idiot!" Hongliu said, pointing at Yangti. "His brain!"

"Oh right." Wanyan Yangti suddenly realized as well: "I was just thinking that you could come and appease Hongliu, I didn't expect this..."

Lin Zhou and Hong Liu rolled their eyes at Yang Ti in perfect unison. And you have to admit, the two of them actually do look quite like a married couple now…

"Then I'm leaving." Lin Zhou sighed, "Aren't you making things difficult for me?"

No sooner had the words been spoken than firecrackers went off outside, and the person announcing greetings at the door shouted, "Welcome our guests!"

Hongliu stood up, yelled, and kicked the lamb's leg: "You're the one who ruined this!"

As the eldest son, Yangti couldn't linger there, so he quickly went out. Just before reaching the door, he turned back to look at Hongliu: "You'd better stop your nosebleed quickly, or our whole family will be laughed at if someone sees it."

"Haven't I been laughed at enough? You stupid dog! You stupid pig!"

Lin Zhou sat there and sighed: "The way you two siblings get along is quite interesting. He calls you a country bumpkin, and you call him a stupid pig."

Hongliu shook her head, then removed the paper from her nostrils, and the nosebleed started flowing again immediately.

"Are you sick? It's been bleeding for so long!"

"Are you crazy too?!" After stuffing the paper back, Hongliu also sprayed Lin Zhou with water.

Lin Zhou smacked his lips: "What do we do now? Should I just hide here and not go out?"

It's pretty much certain now that Yangti isn't very bright; that damn wild boar is really a menace.

If someone were to see him walking out of Wanyan Hongliu's boudoir, he'd be doomed. He'd be utterly humiliated, like a piece of mud falling down his pants. If you had to say it wasn't excrement, then he'd have no choice but to kiss Wanyan Yangti in public.

"Oh, right."

Lin Zhou reached out and yanked the wad of paper off Hong Liu's nose, and blood gushed out again.

"Are you crazy?!" Hongliu quickly caught the blood in her nose with her hand and hurriedly found a new piece of paper to cover her nose. "Speak up!"

"How did this news spread so quickly?"

Hongliu asked in a buzzing voice, "What is it?"

"The rumors about me and you."

What is a scandal?

Lin Zhou scratched his head: "The color scarlet is the color of a peach, a bright red. Scandal is just gossip."

"Hey! Who's talking about you with romantic gossip!" Hongliu took a deep breath, pressed one hand against her nose (which wasn't bleeding), and forcefully flushed out the blood and foam that had splattered on the ground before saying, "It's just that after yesterday, they started spreading rumors today, saying that I couldn't find a good man and just picked up some random guy off the street."

"So what do I do now? Just sit here and wait?"

"Just wait. You can leave after it's over."

Just then, a maid ran over and said, "Miss, the Prince and Princess are calling for you."

"They're here."

Hongliu stood up and patted Lin Zhou on the shoulder: "Don't wander off, wait here!"