Sunny and bright, the fleet sailed through the slightly turbid river, the yellowish-green trees on the bank appearing particularly clear in the summer sun. Near Songzhou, this section of the canal nearing Bianzhou was already quite prosperous, with rice paddies flourishing in the sunlit fields thanks to the river's irrigation. On the official road parallel to the canal, carriages occasionally passed.

After the Liangshan bandits coveted the Birthday Tribute incident, the fleet returned to its previous peaceful state. Although Chen Jingui and others patrolled and defended even more strictly along the way, the atmosphere among those traveling north on the ship became more harmonious. The young masters no longer quarreled, the children were not so difficult to manage, and even Su Wenyu's seasickness had gradually improved, likely due to the external pressure.

Originally, half of the Liangshan prisoners who had been captured escaped that day. Those who fled essentially lost their lives. Only the remaining twenty or so were not sun-dried alive but were handed over to various stakeholders as a means of settling accounts. After all, this concerned treason. Capturing such prisoners meant the army would get some, local officials would get some, the three departments of the capital would have demands, and Chen Jingui himself would have to keep a few. All were taken to claim credit. As for interrogation, it was unlikely to yield anything substantial. After the formalities were completed, most would likely face execution in the autumn.

Originally, Ning Yi had said he would break their legs and sun-dry them alive, but in the end, he gave everyone face and made a "concession," for which Chen Jingui was very grateful. At first, he had not taken this scholar seriously. Although the Secret Intelligence Division could report directly to Prime Minister Qin, the requirements for the Secret Intelligence Division were strict. Most of the time, in the execution of specific affairs, such intelligence agencies only had the right to advise, and Chen Jingui did not have to give them face.

After the Hongze Lake incident, he began to take Wenren Buyi seriously, although he still didn't know much about Ning Yi. However, in several subsequent events, from taking action against Yan Qing on the ship to using the Birthday Tribute as bait to save him and capture more than forty Liangshan people, he truly realized that this guy was not simple. And in the end, with a combination of blows and feints, he almost annihilated all the Liangshan bandits. When Chen Jingui thought about it, he felt a chill down his spine.

This guy truly had a grudge against Liangshan. Once he started seeking revenge, he manipulated these fierce Liangshan men from beginning to end as if he were playing with them. He captured so many of their people, and after achieving a great victory, he was still not satisfied. The next day, he schemed to annihilate the entire enemy force. He had said before that he would hang them directly, and Chen Jingui had hesitated. Who knew that he would release them that night and then kill them all in an ambush, turning it into a legitimate action in the blink of an eye. It was truly decisive and clean, without leaving any loose ends. The most ruthless people in the world were indeed these scholars. If he offended him, the consequences would be predictable.

Of course, at this time, within the fleet, there were not many people who truly knew the inside story of the entire incident besides the Secret Intelligence Division. Even though Ning Yi had publicly taken action on the main ship to deal with Yan Qing, in the eyes of others, Chen Jingui was the one who led the event from beginning to end. Relatively speaking, although Zhou Pei had said something about how he had dealt with Fang La in Hangzhou, which aroused everyone's curiosity, the most curiosity was about how deep Ning Yi's relationship with Zhou Pei was and whether they could afford to offend him – although there was no need to offend him.

As for the role he played in this matter, in the hearts of others, he was probably just a strategist-like figure who provided advice, a character who hid beside the boss and fanned himself while saying a few words. The ship was full of second and third-generation heirs, who had seen many people of this kind. Scholars most often played this kind of role, which could be good or bad, with varying degrees of competence.

Fortunately, Ning Yi did not live on the main ship at this time, and therefore did not have much interaction with everyone. Although Li Shishi was also somewhat curious about this childhood friend after that day, she was, after all, a person who had seen the world. The capital was vast, with countless strange people and talented individuals. It was only because such a thing had happened to someone she knew as a child that it felt surprising. People like Yu Hezhong and Chen Sifeng were of average talent. In Li Shishi's circle, it was always a bit of a stretch to associate with them, but if one day they could truly do something surprising, the possibility was small, but it was not impossible for her to accept.

She still did not know exactly what Ning Yi had done. What the young princess said about him having faced Fang La might have been embellishment. Thinking about it, she felt that it was quite likely. It was just that he originally had poetic talent, and after experiencing the war in Hangzhou, he had obviously undergone more experience. She might have underestimated him somewhat. After thinking this, she found her bearings and felt happy for the growth of this childhood friend.

She had these thoughts in her heart, but in the next two days, there was not much interaction with Ning Yi. Many people on the ship showed their talent and flattered her in front of her, and she dealt with these people with ease, occasionally relieving boredom with calligraphy and painting. When she met Ning Yi on shore, she would only nod and greet him, without much opportunity for deep conversation. On the main ship, perhaps the only one besides her who paid some attention to Ning Yi was Zhuo Yunfeng, because the little princess had publicly announced her master-disciple relationship with Ning Yi. In the past two days, she had openly left the main ship and gone to live on the ship where a group of strategists and accountants had gathered with their families, in order to facilitate Ning Yi's teaching her knowledge.

At this time, looking from the main ship, a little to the side and behind, on the stern of that large ship, there was a group of people making a mess.

Gathered together by Ning Yi were several children from that ship. Everyone found a large net on the ship and prepared to try to catch fish from the canal. The ship was a bit large and not suitable for fishing, but Ning Yi and others had already spread the net, tied ropes to the four corners, and then hung it at the stern with the hoist used for loading and unloading goods, preparing to start lowering the net into the water. In this way, after the ship traveled for a while, pulling two of the ropes might cause the net to scoop up fish.

This kind of chaotic activity was likely initiated by Ning Yi on a whim. Besides several children, Su Wenyu and Su Yanping were also helping out. The children's parents were watching around, or helping out. None of them were fishermen, and they were all amateurs, but they all knew that Ning Yi was of high status and quite knowledgeable. Princess Zhou Pei sat aside and watched with interest. Her status was too high, and her upbringing was good, so she would naturally not join in such a chaotic activity. Xiaochan sometimes came to help, and Yunzhu occasionally came out to watch with amusement.

Jin'er, who liked to play, did not come out, but lay on the bed in her room watching the clouds. She was sulking because Ning Yi had once taken liberties with her that day. Later, although she knew it was a matter of expediency, there had been no explanation after the fact, which made her very depressed. She had prepared to argue with Ning Yi. However, Ning Yi might have known that this matter was difficult to explain, or thought it unnecessary to say, and had not provoked her much these two days, which made her only able to hold her anger in her stomach, unable to vent it, which made her very unhappy. After all, it was not easy for her to bring up this matter, not knowing what to say. Should she say, "You said that day that you would give me an explanation"? Just thinking about it made her feel that she was too shameless as a girl.

Of course, she didn't expect any "explanation." No explanation could justify it. But she not expecting it was because she was broad-minded, and him not saying anything meant that he was unreliable! Jin'er was so certain.

Soon after, the unreliable Ning Yi was punished because the net was lowered too deep and hooked onto a reef at the bottom of the river. The ship was traveling north, and the wind-filled sails had a lot of force. Ning Yi and others initially thought they had caught a big fish, and pulled the rope hard. When he said "come and help," even Zhou Pei excitedly rushed over to pull the rope. Then, with a whoosh, a group of adults and children were all dragged down onto the deck. Then, the other two ends of the net, which were fixed, pulled on the hoist at the stern, which was not yet fixed, and with a bang, the entire hoist was pulled into the river.

That hoist was just a wooden frame used to load and unload goods at the dock, a simple wheel structure, insignificant compared to the large ship, but it was still necessary. The commotion startled others, and the entire fleet stopped. If ordinary strategists or accountants on this ship had caused such a thing, they would probably be cursed to death. However, after Ning Yi and others' names were passed on, the messengers mostly fell silent.

Chen Jingui and others ordered the fleet to dock. His deputy understood the feelings of the young masters on the main ship and said, "To hold up our entire fleet for such a small matter, that Ning Liheng is too much. We must go and reprimand him for this..."

Chen Jingui stroked his chin and glared at him: "What do you know? This Master Ning is unfathomable. This move must have a profound meaning. He seems to be playing, but perhaps he is testing some new device to prevent Liangshan bandits... Storytellers have said that the actions of the wise are like celestial horses soaring through the sky, or a gazelle hanging its horns, leaving no trace to be found. Don't go and embarrass yourself. If he wants to stop, we'll stop, pretending not to know that he has a profound meaning, do you understand... It's also possible that he wants to lure the enemy in to fall into a trap. If you're too serious, you'll mess things up. Tell the brothers to be vigilant, outwardly relaxed but inwardly tense... After traveling with this Master Ning for many days, I also know his habits. Be sure to be natural..."

However, Ning Yi was naturally just playing and didn't expect it to turn out like this. Fortunately, no one was injured. A group of children were used to falling and bumping around on weekdays and were different from the spoiled strawberry generation of later generations. After falling, they were already laughing and joking after experiencing an accident. Only Zhou Pei, who usually played little, was too serious when she grabbed the rope, using all her strength, and her whole body was almost pulled off the ground and then fell down, covered in dust, and her hands were also scratched by the rope. She had never suffered such injuries since she was a child, and she wanted to cry in pain. As a result, Ning Yi looked at her "injury" and scolded her a few words, and asked Xiaochan to drag her inside to apply medicine and bandage it. In fact, a little scratch was mostly just a red mark from being strangled, so there was no need to bandage it, but Xiaochan still wrapped a few circles of white bandages around her hands. At first, Zhou Pei felt aggrieved, but later she felt a little novel. She held up her bandaged hands and complained to others.

"We hurt our hands while fishing just now." The complaint was made happily. When others cared, she said magnanimously and excitedly, "It's okay, just a small injury, but we caught fish."

After the fishing net and hoist were salvaged, there were actually a few stupid fish caught in the net, which was considered the result of this. It was decided to grill them for lunch.

Others did not know what had happened. Only Zhuo Yunfeng had been watching Ning Yi and others on the main ship earlier. When he saw that her hands were injured, he knew who the culprit was: "The princess is a golden body. How dare he let the princess pull that rope and suffer such a serious injury. I want to..."

"What's it to you?"

Zhou Pei frowned and interrupted him, quite unhappy: "We have fish for lunch. Go catch fish." She was actually quite familiar with Zhuo Yunfeng, so she spoke like this. After speaking, she jumped up and down, holding up her hands and continuing to talk to adults: "Uncle Tian, Uncle Tian, look, I just hurt my hands while fishing, but we caught four fish..." The other party then said: "Oh, princess, you really were fishing."

In order to cooperate with Ning Yi, since they were going to stop here at noon anyway, Chen Jingui had already directed people to fish on a large scale in the river. It was good, anyway, everyone liked to play, so they would eat grilled fish or a full fish banquet here at noon. As for Master Ning's deep meaning, they would watch it slowly.

Only Zhuo Yunfeng looked at the little princess's figure with some grievance and said, "You can't eat fish when you're injured..." But he didn't know if Zhou Pei had heard him.

On the other side, Jin'er finally found an opportunity to argue with Ning Yi. After arguing, she was assigned by Ning Yi to be a strong laborer to catch fish using reverse psychology...