Chapter 8: Just Call Me Tang Zheng

"Canal water, ten thousand miles long, a thousand ships and ten thousand ships transport imperial grain, canal rice piles up in the granary, canal workers starve to death, if there is a girl, no one will marry a boatman..."

Accompanied by the sound of silk and bamboo, the singing girls on the ship sang softly. It was clearly a song reflecting the miserable life of canal workers, but it was sung as a decadent tune.

Some merchants on the ship were drinking and talking loudly. A fat, big-eared drinker was drunk, grabbed the girl's tender little hand, and laughed: "Not marrying a boatman, how about marrying me?"

The smell of alcohol sprayed from his mouth made the girl wrinkle her nose in disgust. She wanted to pull her hand out, but was held tightly by the drinker. She wanted to get angry but didn't dare, looking pitiful.

Lin Zuo watched coldly from the side. If it were normal times, he might have managed this kind of thing, but now that he was undercover, it was inconvenient to do anything to hide his identity.

"Brother, you're wrong about that."

A somewhat cynical voice sounded, and then he saw a young man stand up, walk behind the fat merchant, and pat him on the shoulder.

This young man was about fifteen or sixteen, with bright eyes and a faint smile on the corner of his mouth. He was dressed very ordinarily, but he had a blade-shaped object hanging from his waist, wrapped tightly in cloth. It was unknown whether he was playing mystery or had some unspeakable hidden trouble.

"Eh?" The fat merchant turned his head to look at the young man and asked subconsciously, "What's wrong?"

"You just said you wouldn't marry a boatman but would marry you, but you probably don't know that some of these boatmen on the canal are rich as oil."

As he spoke, the young man deliberately lowered his voice, looking very mysterious. The fat merchant's curiosity was completely hooked, and he let go of the girl's hand involuntarily.

"Really? Boatmen are rich as oil? I don't believe it!"

"I can tell you're not a local. There are many ways to do things here."

Although the young man was young, he spoke with confidence, and because he was naturally familiar, he had one arm around the fat merchant's shoulder while speaking, looking like two old brothers for many years.

However, Lin Zuo noticed that his other hand was behind his back, making a very covert gesture to the girl. After seeing the gesture, the girl bowed slightly to the youth, then hugged her pipa and left.

*This kid is interesting, * Lin Zuo thought to himself, unable to help but nod.

"Eh? Brother, tell me what the ways are." The fat merchant couldn't help but ask.

The young man raised his eyebrows proudly, tore a chicken leg from the fat merchant's table, and said while eating, "Why does brother ask when he knows? This canal corruption has existed since ancient times. A big boss like you who has seen so much, can you not have heard of it?"

A subtle flattery made the fat merchant nod frequently, his vanity greatly satisfied, and a knowing smile appeared on his face.

Another merchant nearby leaned over and whispered, "I heard that our Grand Canal is not peaceful recently. Just in our Zhenjiang Prefecture, several canal ships sank last month. Some people say that the group of river bandits is also eyeing us."

The fat merchant became interested again and said, "Isn't it? I heard that someone was disrespectful to the River God, causing the River God to be angry, which overturned the ships."

"You don't know about this again." The young man looked mysterious, his eyes vigilantly looking around, lowered his voice, and said, "I heard that it's not the River God, but a River Demon!"

"River Demon?" The fat merchant was startled and knocked over the bowls and dishes on the table.

"Shh!" The young man held a finger to his lips, signaling him to be quiet, and at the same time picked up a few peanuts from the table and threw them into his mouth.

"Is it really a River Demon?" The fat merchant's voice trembled. "Don't talk nonsense. If you anger the River God, we will all die!"

"Believe it or not!" The young man poured himself a glass of wine, drank it in one gulp, then licked his lips and said, "I tell you, the River Demon is not one, but a group. They look strange, move freely under the water, and are more flexible than fish."

As he spoke, he even stood up and twisted his body, imitating the posture of a fish swimming.

Several merchants around looked at each other, all with worried and frightened expressions. However, a voice suddenly came from the side: "Have you seen the River Demon?"

The young man followed the sound and found that the speaker was also a young man, but he was frowning and had a stern face, looking a bit majestic.

"Never seen it, heard of it."

"Do you know what the crime of spreading rumors to confuse the public is according to the Great Ming Code?"

"Eh? May I ask who you are?" The young man pouted, looking disdainful, and picked up the wine pot on the table to pour himself more wine.

The young man: "Grain Transport Supervisor Commander of Zhenjiang Prefecture, Su Shanhe."

The young man's hand froze in mid-air, and the previous merchants also shrank their heads, not daring to speak again.

"Hahaha, misunderstanding, misunderstanding!" The young man said with a smile, "I was just joking, don't take it to heart, just pretend you didn't hear anything."

And the young man just let out a cold snort from his nose and didn't say much.

Seeing that the other party didn't seem to want to pursue it, the young man felt slightly relieved. He walked out of the cabin with a smile, and after walking to a place where Su Shanhe couldn't see, he spat toward the surging river water outside and cursed in a low voice: "Bad luck."

However, at this moment, someone asked from the side: "Little brother, judging by your accent, you're from the Capital, right?"

The young man followed the sound and found that the speaker was a scholar-like person, unable to help but point to himself: "Talking to me?"

"Yes." Lin Zuo smiled and pointed to the seat opposite: "If you don't mind, sit down and have a drink, chat casually?"

"Chat then." The young man shrugged, not being polite, and sat down opposite Lin Zuo, picking up the wine pot to pour himself a glass of wine, and drank it in one gulp again.

"Lin Zuo, a scholar. May I ask your surname, little brother?"

"No surname, just call me Tang Zheng."

"Judging by your accent, you're from the Capital?"

"I did stay in the Capital when I was young."

"Then why did you come to Zhenjiang Prefecture?"

"Looking for someone. My dad got lost near here, so I came to look for him." Tang Zheng glanced at Lin Zuo. "Why do you ask so much?"

"Nothing, just seeing that you are heroic and talented, so I want to make a friend with you, and by the way, ask about the water transport, river bandits, and River Demon."

Hearing Lin Zuo's flattery, Tang Zheng became proud again: "I didn't expect you to have such good eyes. You asked the right person about these things." ===== CHAPTER 9 =====