Great Tang Idyll

Chapter 110 The Little Gentle Boat In The Water Capsized

Magistrate Jia originally thought that as soon as he finished speaking, the waiter would arrange this immediately. He didn't expect that the waiter would reply with that kind of response. With the side of his face facing the waiter, Magistrate Jia asked, "Do others not find it cold?"

"My lord, my Young Master and Young Miss were forced to go. My master and madam are also worried. What if they fall into the water? My lord, you are different. If something happens to you, what will the people in the county do?"

The waiter averted his eyes and leaned back slightly while he spoke. Magistrate Jia saw this action immediately. He thought in his mind, ‘So they don't want to let me see the Emperor's nephew, humph! The more you don't want me to go, the more I want to go. What doe the Zhang manor even surmount to? You don't want me to meet him, so I shouldn't go?'

"My lord, aren't you in a hurry to return to the Administrative Office?" The waiter asked at an appropriate time.

This made Magistrate Jia more set on his decision. Staring at the waiter, he said, "Do you still dare to control what I do? I now order you to allow me to go to the pavilion as soon as possible, otherwise I will... I will kill you on the spot."

"Yes, yes, I will go now. My lord, to get there, we need to take the boat. When others went there, they rode their own boat. My lord, is it okay for you to ride the Zhang family's boat?" The waiter was so scared that he almost cried and he replied back with a quiet voice.

"Okay. No. I will go there to find my own boat. When I came here, I saw that there were some people fishing. I will borrow a boat from those people." Magistrate Jia wanted to agree, but he was afraid that the Zhang family did something to the boat, so he changed his mind. He planned to get there himself.

When he got up in the morning and went to this area to eat, there were people fishing in the river. He went out to have a look, and they were still spreading nets there. Once he borrowed a boat from here, he could go directly into the lake. He walked to the shore and shouted to the fisherman, "Fisherman, come here, I have something that I need you to do."

Several of the bailiffs beside him also hollered. The fishermen there didn't seem to want to come over. Hesitating, he moved closer bit by bit. Magistrate Jia was still wearing his official robe; he thought that by doing this, everyone in the San'shui County would fear him. Well, except for the Zhang and Wang families.

The fisherman came to the shore and looked at Magistrate Jia. He asked, "Who are you? Why are you looking for me?"

"Tell him who I am." Magistrate Jia whispered to the bailiff next to him. The bailiff immediately stepped forward and shouted, "This is our county's magistrate, the official that governs you."

"Why would the county's magistrate govern me? I'm not from the San'shui County. There are a lot of fishes here and once I catch them, I can exchange them for other items at the market." The fisherman didn't care about them at all. He seemed like a stubborn person. Usually, other people would be afraid when they meet an official.

"I don't care where you are from. Lend the punt1 to my lord. Here are five coins. We will return the punt to you once we're done with it. Hurry up and get off." The bailiff on the side rushed over with one of his hands on the handle of his sword. He dragged the person off and shoved five coins into the person's hand. Then he got onto the punt.

The man seemed to be very angry. He glared at Magistrate Jia and his men. His chest was rising and falling rapidly, but the others didn't care about him. The bailiff on the punt said to Magistrate Jia, "My lord, how about you let me bring you there? I know how to move a punt."

While speaking, the bailiff had already picked up the bamboo pole, which was thick as an arm. Once Magistrate Jia got on the punt, he was ready to leave, but he suddenly stopped. This was the bailiff who stood guard outside the door yesterday and was glared at by Magistrate Jia. Right now, he doesn't trust anyone since he was carrying those two items, which were worth 13,000 strings of coins, with him.

"No need. I will get there myself. I'll show all of you how great I am. Back then, I was quite good at this."

Magistrate Jia took the pole into his hand, and jumped onto the punt. He smiled at the people on the shore, and pushed away. The punt actually moved. Judging by how stable the punt was, he was indeed quite good at this.

Once he pushed the punt a certain distance away, the fisherman also left. The fisherman went to the horse stable next to Between The Water And Clouds and hopped onto a horse. He turned his head back to look in the direction of the Zhang manor. With red eyes, he touched the strap across his body and he turned his head back swiftly. Then he whipped the horse's rear twice. The man and the horse gradually moved away.

At the manor, two children, one older than the other, were standing there. It was uncertain if they could see the leaving horse. The younger one raised his head and asked, "Brother, when will father be back?"

"Minimally one year, maximally two years. Starting today, mother and grandfather will work in the inner courtyard. Let's study hard and wait until father comes back, he will see our achievements." The older brother touched his younger brother's head. Holding his younger brother's hand, they turned around and went back to school together.

The younger brother obediently followed, "Brother, have we been registered?"

"Yes. We're the Zhang Mansion's people now. It's a life-long contract, and we will also be paid while studying." The older brother nodded.

Magistrate Jia didn't know that just now, a father had parted with his sons. Using the pole, he pushed the punt towards the pavilion. In his mind, he thought about what to say later. Although the Emperor's nephew was the son of the Emperor's brother, his words had some weight to it. At the very least, his father was the governor of the state.

He could not speak poorly. He had to first greet him, but he couldn't go too near him. He had to stand on the side. As long as the Emperor's nephew was able to catch a fish, he had to praise him. His voice couldn't be too loud either. If there were no firecrackers earlier, it would have been better. He wondered if the fishes were scared away by the noise or not.

While thinking of how to act, Magistrate Jia had to work harder to move the punt. He was now in the middle of the small lake and would be able to reach the pavilion in a short while. There were a few punts docked there. From here, he was able to see that there were two children holding each other's hands, and they were accompanying another older child from the side.

Magistrate Jia felt a bit anxious when he saw this situation. He was afraid that the Emperor's nephew liked the two children. He used force to push the punt, and then he retracted the pole. He pushed vigorously on the other side too.

As soon as he made the push, Magistrate Jia felt that the direction of the punt was a bit wrong, and it seemed to be crooked. The first thought he had was that he had hit a rock in the water or a wooden stake that was nailed down. Just when he wanted to use his pole to fix his direction, the punt suddenly capsized and pushed him down from above.

Magistrate Jia wanted to swim, but unfortunately, at this time, he wasn't wearing the swimsuit2 that he wore when he was younger, his body was also not that strong, he was wearing that beautiful official robe and the punt was on top of him. His chest felt tight and he couldn't open his eyes. Everything was chaotic and the cold water was hitting his eyes, making his eyes feel sore and painful.

Right before Magistrate Jia's field of vision turned black and fainted, he saw a blurry figure approaching him in the water.

"Oh no, someone has fallen into the water, come and save them." At the moment the punt capsized, Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan shouted out loudly at the same time.

A lot of people appeared on the shore, and many others jumped into the water. Li Xun was invited over to go fishing this morning and it was a given that he was surrounded by a few guards. Just earlier, he had seen someone dressed in an official uniform coming over and felt a little irritated. He didn't want to interact with this official. Why would a prince meet with an official for no reason?

This was also why he was willing to interact with Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan, but he was unwilling to meet Father Zhang and Father Wang. However, he had to save the person, so he said to the people beside him, "Go save him. If he's incapable of moving a punt, he shouldn't have tried. Judging by his robe, he should be a seventh rank official. Where is he from？"

"Humph! It's the Jia Shan, Jia Yi'heng that everyone went out to greet? The higher ups also heard about it. An official that is so well received by the public comes to meet me, won't that just get me into trouble? What a killjoy."

Li Xun was so angry. If his father knew about this, it would be inevitable that his father would lecture him. But what did this have to do with him? He felt that Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan were interesting, so he wanted to come over and play with them. Usually, no one would treat him and play with him like Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan did.

Zhang Xiao'bao smiled secretly in his heart, and said, "Perhaps he is here to see the manors. He's the Magistrate. There's nothing wrong with taking a look at the land that is under his jurisdiction. Your manor is also in the San'shui County."

"I don't want him to have a look. It's over. In a few days, my father will send me a letter to scold me. He might even make me go back. It's so boring at the prince mansion.

Li Xun said worriedly. He wished he could just make Magistrate Jia disappear.

Zhang Xiao'bao persuaded, "The New Year is coming soon. You would have to go home regardless. Once the letter comes and you spend a couple of days preparing, it would be just before the New Year."

Li Xun didn't complain anymore at this time. He stared at the water. It didn't take long for Magistrate Jia to be pulled out of the water. His head was pointed down to help remove the water and after a while, someone on the boat shouted, "Young Master, he's still alive. He will wake once he gets warm."

With a calm face, Li Xun looked at the man who was saved. He nodded slightly and said to Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan, "The person my men saved has to be brought to my place to be taken care of. I'll come back on another day."

"Okay, let's come back on another day. I will go back with Juan Juan then." Zhang Xiao'bao consented, and then he jumped onto the boat that he and Wang Juan rode here. He got ther person to row back, and the other people also left. When they were near the shore, a head appeared between the boat and the shore.

Two items were thrown onto the boat and the person sank back into the water. Zhang Xiao'bao quickly put away the items. He looked left and right, and felt relieved when he confirmed that no one was watching him. Zhang Xiao'bao was the one who ordered the person to hide in the water. This person was the best swimmer on the manor. He tied himself to a large rock at the bottom with a rope to prevent himself from floating up.

After flipping over the punt, he grabbed the two items from Magistrate Jia and hid. He then dragged the rock at the bottom and walked a distance away so that no one would discover him. When Zhang Xiao'bao's boat arrived at the designated area, he handed the items over and sank back down. He resurfaced at a different area where a carriage was parked nearby. A doctor, sweetened ginger tea, a small charcoal furnace and blanket were all prepared. He needed to rest for a few days.

Translator's Notes

1. Punt

A punt is a special type of boat that is propelled forward by pushing against the river/lake bed with a long pole.

2. Swimsuit

In ancient times, people made swimsuits out of fish skin or shark skin.