Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 131: Gossip Aboard the Louchuan

[T/n: note on chapter title]¹

Obviously, the Dragon Daughter didn’t know where her father had found Ji Yuan before bringing him to the underwater palace, so Ji Yuan and his awning boat were brought to a point in the river only a dozen miles north of the underwater palace.²

As Ji Yuan rowed, he looked at the surrounding mountains through his blurred vision, taking in the snow-covered farmland and snow-capped forests along the river. He gradually realized that he might have to row a long way down the river to reach his previous fishing location.

Without knowing how far he still was, Ji Yuan slowly increased the frequency of his rowing, and the boat accelerated with the added force.

In fact, most experienced fisherman could still reach Ji Yuan’s current speed and maintain it for a while, but they would not be able to continue as Ji Yuan did without losing energy.

While he rowed, Ji Yuan tried his best to also observe the scenery along the coast. Looking at all of the white color, he knew that the season’s “first snow” three days ago must have lasted for quite some time.

At this moment, the boat’s speed was about that of an ordinary person jogging. Ji Yuan, who was once more wearing his straw raincoat and bamboo hat, was not in a hurry to speed up even more. After all, he had eaten so much delicious food, and drunk ambergris wine in the underwater palace, so he felt that he could maintain his current speed even if he had to row the boat all the way to the end of the Tongtian River.

Additionally, perhaps due to the existence of his chess piece, Ji Yuan had a feeling that Master Yin would not have reached the Zhuangyuan Ferry yet.

After rowing into the evening, he estimated that he had traveled around seventy to eighty li³ but he still did not see the Zhuangyuan Ferry. Instead, he noticed a Louchuan, a tower ship, moving slowly ahead.

It was cold when he went out onto a boat. He wasn’t sure whether they were outside to enjoy the snow along the river.

The giant oars at the stern of the Louchuan swayed side to side. He estimated that the pedal-rowing boatmen⁴ were not pedaling too fast at the moment.

The sky had not yet grown completely dark, but the servants on the ship had already begun hanging lanterns outside. In the lanternlight, Ji Yuan could vaguely see that there were words written on each lantern, but he could not make out what was written. He only knew that every lantern had the same word.

From this point of view, that ship was likely the private property of some wealthy family, with the word on the lanterns being their surname.

In any case, Ji Yuan was bored, so he rowed to catch up to the ship. He amused himself by guessing what the family’s surname was, measuring the difficulty level by the distance.

After two hundred strokes of the oar, he was almost there, and the character were, at the very least, no longer blurry in his vision. However, he still couldn’t see them clearly.

After another two hundred strokes of the oar, he began to make out a rough outline. The character looked square and neat, as if its calligrapher had been well-practiced in writing it.

After another 300 strokes of the oar, Ji Yuan finally had a guess. The there were only a few possible surnames that resembled this shape. Judging from the radical at the top of the character and the structure in the lower middle part, it was probably the character “Xiao” (萧).

The awning boat was now not too far from the Louchuan. Although the sky was growing darker and the wind was howling, he could still clearly hear the melodious music and some of the chatter on the ship.

On the top deck of the ship, several people stood or leaned against the railing, including a man wearing a thick coat and a square headpiece, a younger man wrapped in a cloak and wearing a fur hat, and two servants, who were also dressed quite warmly.

The older man held a glass of wine in his hand. He looked at the awning boat slowly approaching in the distance. He downed the wine, and a servant immediately poured him a new glass.

“Zhong Lou, you cannot always get what you want. You have been raised in luxury, under the care of your father and your mother. Although you studied literature and martial arts, you never experienced real hardships.”

On the other hand, the young master was a little unhappy when he heard this.

“Father, you have to suffer a lot when you practice martial arts. Can you truly say all that when you haven’t trained in it?”

The old man smiled and pointed his finger at the awning boat on the river behind the ship.

“During the freezing season, on the cold river, fishermen rush to make a living, and sometimes they catch nothing for several consecutive days. They are hungry and their bodies are cold. Despite this, they dare not rest… Have you ever experienced this kind of hardship?”

This young man followed his father’s finger to find the small boat on the river. That boatman was paddling hard, as if powerlessly chasing the lights of the ship in the gradually darkening river.

He couldn’t find the words to utter a rebuttal.

This young master had overheard from his servants before that there had not been fresh fish in the market for many days. Even if there were fish, they would be shipped in from other places. It was rumored that no fish could be caught in the Tongtian River for days now. This was certainly a strange phenomenon, but it did not affect dignitaries like them. But what about the people who made a living from the river?

‘The fisherman must have traveled a long way in the hopes of catching some fish, right? ’

“Zhong Lou, you and I still feel cold even when wrapped in furs. Look at that fisherman, he only has thin clothes under his straw raincoat and hat. He can only keep paddling. If he stops, the sweat on his body might kill him… Well, he’s rowing quite fast…”

This master was lecturing when he suddenly noticed that the small boat had actually grown quite close to the tower ship. Judging from its speed, it seemed like it was about to overtake the large ship with nothing but an oar.

Ji Yuan looked at the people far above the awning boat on the river surface. They had an aura of authority rising from their heads; they were likely from a family with power in the capital prefecture.

The conversation he overheard was nothing but the troubles that only the rich and powerful had.

The young master also looked back at the awning boat. This was finally a good omen for him. He turned his head to refute his father.

“But I don’t want Hongxiu to be my main wife. Is it not alright to just marry her as a concubine?”

The father drank another glass of wine to warm himself up again, and said with a sneer.

“Who are you, and who is she? A prostitute has entered my Xiao family. How can you even ask your mother to arrange a marriage for you? How do you think the court will view my Xiao family? Your future career will inevitably be affected!”

“Father! Which of the laws of our country of Dazhen stipulate that the family of an official cannot marry a woman from a brothel? Besides, Hongxiu sells her art, not her body!”

This young man was obviously a little angry, and his tone rose in pitch.

“Hmph, she is nothing but a lowly peasant woman! Besides, the idea that she doesn’t sell her body is just a rumor. After all, hasn’t she opened her skirt to you?”

“You… Father, you’re just making things up!”

The old man just sneered a few times, then paused before speaking.

“I’m bringing out out here on this cold river to feel the cool wind and clear your head. If you choose to take this step, the suffering you endure in the future may be no less than that of the fisherman in the awning boat. Perhaps you might even be more miserable. I, your father, would never lie to you!”

When Ji Yuan’s awning boat passed by, he could almost even hear the creaking sound of the young man’s tightly clenched fists, which only showed just how angry and unwilling he was to hear these words.

‘Oh, the troubles of the rich and powerful…’

Shaking his head, Ji Yuan increased his rowing strength slightly again, and the awning boat sped up. It had already overtaken half the hull of the Louchuan.

The gentleman on ship left shallow fingerprints on the wooden railing with his fingers. His eyes followed the small bat, watching as it struggled to overtake the large ship. He seemed to have a sudden realization in his mind, and the strength in his fingertips suddenly weakened.

At this moment, Ji Yuan felt something in his heart, and turned his head to look upwards, right at the young man. The latter had been staring at the boat; suddenly, the fisherman who had been rowing hard turned his head to look at him, as if he were looking straight through him. He was slightly stunned.

Ji Yuan nodded slightly at him, smiled, turned back to rowing, muttering to himself:

“It’s interesting, quite interesting!”

But it was only a little interesting. Young Master Xiao’s momentary change in the temperament could not change the trajectory of his life. Perhaps someone else might know the impact this event might have on the young man’s future.

The awning boat seemed to speed up again. Although it was not obvious, it soon surpassed the Louchuan, and left it behind.

On the Xiao family’s ship, the young man frowned and looked out at the awning boat for a long time.

“Zhong Lou, what do you want to say?”

“Father, I can’t convince you. Let me just take the top spot in the examination first!”

The old man finally smiled, stroked his beard with his left hand, and patted his son’s shoulder with his right.

“I’ll go have tea with your Uncle Liu once we return to the Capital City!”

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T/n: Nothing’s funnier than some random people using JY as a parable of suffering and hard work while JY’s just like “Oooh, pretty scenery, ooh a boat I’m gonna race you-“

1. A Louchuan, or Tower Ship, is a Han Dynasty ship intended as a central fleet ship for heavy artillery/other attacking maneuvers. In this story, it’s mostly used as a status symbol rather than its use as a floating trebuchet.
2. T/n: RIP, guess that man is never getting his boat back
3. 35-40 km, 20-25 miles
4. Rowing by pedaling. Think of the “pedalo” boats, except there’s like hundreds of pedaling people and the boat is several stories tall.