Chapter 58: Narrow Space

  That Zhao Yao was a middle-aged man in his thirties with scars on his face, looking fierce but actually having a very small temper. After hearing Zhou Lun's order, he became somewhat afraid, fearing that Yang Yue would not catch him and become the ghost under Yang Yue's knife. However, he did not dare to say this directly.

  Zhao Yao's eyes rolled, and he leaned in close to Zhou Lun, saying in a low voice: "Third Master, Wang Lao San has gone to search the sea, there are only five or six people left by your side. Can you suppress the original people of Second Master? Or should I stay behind to protect you, old man?"

  "It's nothing! They can't stir up any big waves, the second master is dead, what else can they do? I've already announced that their treatment won't be worse than when the second master was in charge, and each month they'll even get two more taels of silver!" Zhou Lun listened but didn't think so.

  Then he paused and looked at Zhao Yao with a sharp gaze: "Zhao Yao, you shouldn't be afraid again, should you?"

  "Where, where? I'm just worried about the safety of the Third Master's family..." Zhao Yao's face turned slightly red, and he could only say: "If that's the case, then you should be more careful, Third Master!"

  Having said that, Zhao Yao had no choice but to turn to the pirates standing beside him with short crossbows and say: "Put away your short crossbows, all of you change into Water Ghost suits, take up the Split Water Eyebrow Needles, we're going to search the waters by the shore..."

  At this time, Zhou Lun ordered two other pirates to go down to the small boat and carry Li Yu Rong, who had been scared pale, onto the big ship and locked her in the brig.

  At this moment, Yang Yue was taking Yue Yun to a narrow space beside the rudder of the big ship. This place happened to be a blind spot, and it couldn't be seen from the ship, but it was above the water surface, so they could breathe easily. Unless someone swam to the side of the rudder, they wouldn't be discovered. If someone really came, as long as they turned their body sideways and hid behind the rudder blade, they also wouldn't be found out. Although Wang Lao San had also swum here twice, he was led by Yang Yue to circle around the rudder with Yue Yun, and both times easily avoided him.

  Yue Yun's rope had already been untied by Yang Yue. Seeing that Wang Lao San and Zhao Yao's groups were far away, Fang Qing heaved a sigh of relief and said in a low voice: "I didn't expect there to be such a hiding place at the back of this boat, otherwise we would have probably been discovered by these pirates."

  Yang Yue was in a very low mood at this time, suddenly encountering a sneak attack, two trusted subordinates suffered a disaster, and were ambushed by their own sworn second brother, the anger and depression in their hearts can be imagined.

  She looked dispirited and said in a low voice, "This Nanhai Hao was built by my second brother and me when we first escaped to the sea, imitating the style of our original large boat on Dongting Lake. My second brother specially left such a narrow space here, preparing for the tail rudder, just in case it broke, so that it would be convenient to repair. As a result, I didn't expect my second brother's idea to save us from death."

  Yue Yun asked with some curiosity at this time: "Yang Niangzi, why did the third master want to kill you? Weren't you together?"

  Yang Yue listened, but shook his head with a bitter smile: "Actually, I should have thought of it earlier. The first and third masters have been in frequent contact with the Golden People recently, and there are already some unstable signs. Unfortunately, my second brother and I were too self-deceived, always thinking that everyone who came out of Dongting Lake together was still sworn brothers and would not hurt each other..."

  The hiding space inside the stern was very narrow, originally only able to hold one person, now two people were squeezed in, and Yue Yun and Yang Yue's bodies were already tightly pressed together. The heads, chests, abdomens, and backs of the two were closely attached to each other. Smelling the faint scent of a young girl on Yang Yue's body, feeling her soft body, Yue Yun couldn't help but have some lewd thoughts.

  He tried to push aside his thoughts of her and said in a low voice, "Miss Yang, now that we're on the same boat, we need to think of a way to escape. Otherwise, they'll find us sooner or later!"

  Yang Yue nodded slightly, but her face was difficult to look at: "I also know the situation you described, but Zhou Lun's subordinates are all elite water ghosts from our original righteous army, with extremely strong tracking abilities in the water. As soon as we enter the water, we will be discovered quickly, and they are all equipped with divided water eyebrow needles and underwater crossbows. I only have a strange knife on me, and you are empty-handed, the two of us can't defeat so many people in the water."

  Yue Yun thought about it and realized that although he knew how to swim, he was completely clueless when it came to fighting in the water. He was afraid that if he entered the water, not only would he be unable to help Yang Yue, but he would also become a burden.

  Then he thought for a moment and asked again, "Miss Yang, you can't just have two followers, where are the others? Is there any way to inform them and let them come to rescue?"

  Yang Yue heard the news and sighed with a hint of sadness: "It's impossible now! They're too far away from me. Our Four Seas Gang has dozens of medium-sized warships, as well as four large warships, namely Donghai, Nanhai, Beihai, and Xihai. The Nanhai is the flagship of the Second Master, which is the ship we are on right now. My Xihai was sent to Japan by the First Master, Zhong Ziyi, to purchase grain. Otherwise, why would the Second Master's ship come to pick me up? Most of my followers are on their way to Japan, and there are only a few dozen followers left on Four Seas Island. I estimate that most of them... have probably been captured or met with misfortune..."

  At this point, her pretty face suddenly showed a sad expression, apparently thinking of Sun Dahe and Old Chen who had been killed.

  "Yang, then you tell me the ins and outs of this matter in detail, I'll also help you think of a way. I don't dare say we can turn things around, but at least we have to find an opportunity to escape safely!" Yue Yun said anxiously.

  Yang Yue listened, gazing at Yue Yun's handsome yet slightly anxious face, and felt a wave of warmth in her heart. She thought to herself: This Yue Yun is indeed a heroic figure. Initially, I didn't have a good impression of him, and even repeatedly claimed that I wanted to kill him and use his head as an offering to my brother. Yet now, he doesn't show any signs of resentment towards me; instead, he's always considering my well-being. This act of repaying enmity with kindness is truly admirable.

  The hatred and desire for revenge she had in her heart towards Yue Yun disappeared completely when Yue Yun saved her, and even her hatred towards Yue Fei also faded a lot.

  Yang Yue even secretly thought to herself that her elder brother Yang Yao and Yue Fei were originally just fighting between the water bandits and the government army, a war based on differing stances, not some personal vendetta. Even if the imperial court didn't send Yue Fei to besiege them, they would have sent another general instead. Given the circumstances at the time, her elder brother would still be unable to escape defeat no matter how hard he struggled.

  In the years since leaving Dongting Lake, whenever the people of Song Dynasty mentioned Yue Fei, they all showed reverence and admiration. They believed that only with Yue Fei around could the people of Song Dynasty be protected from being trampled by the Jin people. If Yue Fei were really killed, the Jin army would launch a large-scale invasion of the south, and the people would likely fall into an even more difficult situation.

  No wonder that over the years, many of his subordinates have forgotten their hatred for the Yue Family Army. Perhaps he shouldn't be so fixated on that hatred either.

  Women are such strange emotional animals, when they hate someone, they will think of ways to tear that person apart, and everything that person does, no matter how good it is, seems like a pretentious act to deceive others in their eyes.

  But when she falls in love with someone, she will go to great lengths to excuse his wrongdoing, and even bad things become forgivable mistakes. Yang Yue is now undergoing a drastic change of heart due to the lifesaving grace of Yue Yun's revenge.

  When she heard Yue Yun's question, she thought for a moment before sighing and saying in a low voice: "Most of the people from our Four Seas Society were originally members of the righteous army at Dongting Lake. Five years ago, after the righteous army was defeated by your respected father, my brother Yang Xiao died in battle, and we could no longer stand firm in Dongting, so we had to leave our hometown and drift to this eastern sea area..."

  Yue Yun gazed at Yang Yue's beautiful face, only to see her skin as white as snow, a pair of black and white eyes flashing with anxious and sorrowful expression, a red and moist cherry lip revealing clear and pleasant words. His heart was slightly bewildered.

  However, Yue Yun still clearly knew that he was currently in a dangerous situation and it wasn't the time to admire beautiful women. He quickly came back to his senses and carefully listened to Yang Yue's words, finally gaining a basic understanding of the current situation with the Four Seas Gang.

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  Wishing everyone a happy Dragon Boat Festival, eating zongzi until your belly is round and full!