Chapter 373

Pan Yun turned her head, swept her gaze across them, and saw Hong Yan and Xiao Hong standing on tiptoe to watch the commotion; she snapped, "What are you standing around for? People are dying—come with me into the water to find them."

Hong Yan pointed at her own nose and said, "Me? That's not right—the karmic debt of saving a life is too great…"

Pan Yun grabbed her hand and threw her into the river. "You're here to undergo trials—you're here to entangle yourself in karma. What are you afraid of?"

Hong Yan was tossed into the river, muttered something, and sank beneath the surface; though grumbling, she still dove to the riverbed to search for people.

After tossing Hong Yan in, Pan Yun turned to Xiao Hong.

Xiao Hong twisted her handkerchief. "This isn't right—if I go in too, won't they think I'm a water ghost seeking a replacement? How will I ever work on the pleasure boats again?"

"Work? Tomorrow, if we don't run, the Zhang Zhang Tian Shi's Mansion will arrest us," Pan Yun kicked her into the river. "After tonight, the pleasure boats of Changzhou have nothing to do with you."

Xiao Hong was kicked into the river, and Pan Yun leapt in with a splash.

Miao Zhen saw this, jumped up to leap in too, but Wang Cong snatched her midair and yanked her back.

Wang Cong tapped her on the head. "With your half-baked skills and swimming ability? Stay on the boat."

Then he himself jumped into the river.

The boat captain, seeing this, gritted his teeth and said, "Brothers, anyone with good swimming skills—step forward. We've been paid to work; we can't let the girls and guests do all the labor."

"For a few hundred copper coins? Are we supposed to risk our lives?"

Xue Yi heard this and immediately cried out, "Raise it! Raise it! Anyone who dives in to search gets one tael of silver. If you save someone alive, I'll give you five taels—and the guests, twenty taels!"

Hearing this, the boatmen finally agreed, stepping forward eagerly; seven of them plunged into the river to search for people.

Miao Zhen frowned. "You madam, you're playing favorites—why only five taels for saving a girl?"

"Oh my little young master, our lives are cheap. Never mind them—even I, if I die, it's just another death. But these guests? They cannot afford to be harmed."

"Hmph, do you think including yourself makes it fair?" Miao Zhen said. "You devalue yourself, think your life isn't precious—but that doesn't mean others think their lives are less valuable than yours."

Miao Zhen turned to help Tao Yanbai rescue the still-unconscious.

Miao He also ignored Xue Yi, pulling out her needle and thread kit to administer acupuncture.

E Huang slumped onto the deck, murmuring, "They're all physicians…"

Pan Yun's swimming was mediocre, but her cultivation was high; as soon as she entered the water, she sealed her breath, forming an internal circulation—this allowed her to hold her breath much longer.

She dove for a long while without seeing anyone, growing anxious; she floated in place, formed a hand seal, and drew the spiritual energy in the water into vibration…

The vibrating spiritual energy returned different echoes; she spun and dove toward the rear right, quickly finding one person on the riverbed.

Pan Yun reached out, grabbed him, and rose upward; as she ascended, she sensed another spiritual echo nearby. Without hesitation, she turned in the water, held her last breath, spotted a floating woman, seized her, and with one hand on each, shot upward swiftly.

When she broke the surface, Pan Yun gasped twice before drawing in qi and lifting off, carrying both people back onto the boat.

Hong Yan and Xiao Hong surfaced too, each carrying a person in their hands.

No sooner had the three laid them down than Tao Yanbai and the others rushed forward, felt their chests, and said, "No breath."

Xue Yi collapsed beside Pan Yun, wailing loudly, "Old Master Zhao! Oh no, it's Old Master Zhao! High cultivator, please save Old Master Zhao!"

Pan Yun's ears rang from the noise; she tossed Old Master Zhao to Tao Yanbai, laid the woman flat, pried open her mouth to clear out debris, then began compressing her heart, channeling yuan force into her body to stimulate it, while guiding her through artificial respiration…

She pressed for a long time, continuously nourishing and stimulating the heart; after delivering one final breath, the woman's heart finally gave a faint flutter…

As if her body had suddenly been activated, her lungs and heart opened instantly; she coughed once, and water gushed from her mouth.

Pan Yun immediately pressed to expel the remaining water, laid her flat again, pressed on her chest a few more times; when she saw the woman's eyes slowly flutter open, she finally exhaled in relief.

Beside her, Tao Yanbai had also revived Old Master Zhao.

Miao Zhen and Miao He were still desperately working to revive the people Hong Yan and Xiao Hong had pulled up.

Pan Yun went to help; she didn't know how long she pressed, how much yuan force she poured in—until the two slowly regained consciousness.

But the three rescued by Wang Cong and the boatmen were not so fortunate.

Pan Yun and the others pressed their chests, forced breath into them; Pan Yun even exhausted all her yuan force—but the three showed no sign of life.

Pan Xiaohei mewed softly, warning, "Stop pressing. You've been at it for a full quarter-hour and haven't revived them—they're truly gone."

Pan Yun gradually grew exhausted and stopped.

Wang Cong pried open their eyelids, shook his head at Pan Yun. "Dissipated. No saving them."

At these words, Xue Yi collapsed to the deck, pounding the planks as she wailed, "Young Master He, Young Master Su—how am I supposed to explain this to the He and Su families—"

The girls nearby burst into tears too, weeping for the girl under Pan Yun's care: "Sister Lanqin—"

The pleasure boat was filled with deafening sobs.

Nearby large boats arrived but dared not approach closely, shouting from afar: "Madam Xue, what's happened on your boat?"

Xue Yi snapped back to herself, shoved past the crowd, and rushed onto the boat, falling to her knees before Young Master Chen, covering her face as she wailed, "Young Master Chen, you must be my protector! My fine pleasure boat was burned, three lives lost—please, you must ask the Prefect to take my side!" Chen Han's face turned ashen; he kicked Xue Yi away with a furious foot. "Your pleasure boat was poorly managed and nearly killed everyone aboard—I'm not even holding you accountable, and you dare come to me for justice?"

Chen Han's gaze swept toward Old Master Lü. "It was Lu Jiannan who knocked over the lantern—you all saw it, didn't you?"

Old Master Lü's face turned livid. "Chen Han, don't you dare slander me! You knocked it over yourself—don't you dare pin this on me!"

The drowned gradually regained consciousness and heard the quarrel; the girls, though angry, could only swallow their rage.

But the guests were different.

They had nearly died; even if their opponents were the Prefect's son and a Changzhou magnate, they were furious.

Weren't their lives worth anything?

Besides, not all the guests were from Changzhou—they had no fear of the Changzhou Prefect.

So the guests staggered into the cabin, confronting Chen Han and Lu Jiannan: "Young Master Chen, Old Master Lü, the fire broke out because of your fighting—that's why we fell in, nearly died—and now you want to blame it all on the madam? Isn't that too easy?"

What does this madam have?

At most, some money—but are we the kind of people who lack that?

!. Read

Xue Yi looked torn—she wanted them to fight, yet feared they would.

Pan Yun saw them bickering, while a group of girls—burned, drowned, trampled—shivered in the cold wind;

The boatmen who had dived to rescue were also soaked and shivering in their wet clothes;

Adding that she herself was also wet and uncomfortable all over, she knocked unhappily on the cabin door, "Hey, hey, hey—"

The people who had been arguing turned around, and upon seeing it was the person who had just fished them out of the water, they all fell silent.

Chen Han and Old Man Lü also quieted down, because they had witnessed Pan Yun drawing water to extinguish the fire.

So although she looked young, no one dared talk back to her.

"If you want to argue, go ashore and argue. Pay up first, I'm going home." Pan Yun pointed unhappily toward the back of the boat: "Haven't you noticed how much water is in the painted pleasure boat? Are you planning to investigate the case right here?"

Snow Aunt swallowed and asked in a small voice: "Exalted one, what money, settle what account?"

Pan Yun pointed at the boatmen outside and said: "Their money. I heard everything just now in the water—one tael per person. They fished up two people, that's forty taels."

Snow Aunt said painfully: "Both of them are dead…"

"You didn't specify they had to be alive, did you?" Pan Yun asked the head boatman, "How much do corpse-fishers on the river charge?"

The head boatman considered and said: "At least five taels, no upper limit."

Pan Yun then asked Snow Aunt, "Look, are the honored guests of the painted pleasure boat not worth twenty taels for corpse-fishing? Besides, when they fished the people out, they weren't going for corpses, they were going to save lives."

The guests all turned to look at Snow Aunt in unison—a group of middle-aged men, their gazes still quite oppressive.

Snow Aunt swallowed, nodding quickly: "I'll pay, I'll pay, I'll pay."

Having said that, she called over the pimp, immediately counted out forty-seven taels and gave them to the head boatman, letting him handle the settlement.

Pan Yun held out her hand to her, "We saved people too."

Snow Aunt's hand immediately began to tremble.

The five of them had saved quite a few people; if it really had to be calculated at the market price just quoted, then she…

Snow Aunt's voice trembled as she said: "Exalted one, please wait while this servant goes to count heads."

Pan Yun said irritably: "Just give whatever you think is right, no need to count them one by one."

Snow Aunt, hearing this, let out a breath, hesitated for a moment, went to fetch a box, counted out five silver notes from inside, and with a stiff face stuffed them to them, "Please accept these, benefactors."

The five looked down—Pan Yun's was a hundred-tael note, while Wang Cong and the other four each got fifty-tael notes.

All five felt Snow Aunt was stingy, but said nothing, tucking the money into their clothes and preparing to leave.

Pan Yun kindly reminded Snow Aunt, "You'd best dock the boat and disembark right away, all of you. This boat is going to have more trouble."

Snow Aunt's face went white, and the guests no longer felt like arguing, hurriedly urging Snow Aunt to dock the boat quickly.

No one doubted Pan Yun's warning.

Pan Yun turned to look for Hong Yan and Xiao Hong, "Are you two leaving or not?"

Hong Yan: "I haven't finished playing… tempering myself yet. The Lantern Festival is just the lively time."

Pan Yun: "The people from the Zhang Zhang Tian Shi Mansion might arrive soon."

Hong Yan: "You're afraid of the people from the Zhang Zhang Tian Shi Mansion?"

Pan Yun: "I'm not afraid, but people drifting through the jianghu can't always do as they wish. The Zhang Zhang Tian Shi Mansion has rules—apart from rites performed by the Zhang Zhang Tian Shi Mansion and the imperial court, Daoist Priests may not casually use spells that arouse suspicion among mortals outside. As it happens, the Water Dragon Art is among them, so we have to run quickly."

Good night

(End of this chapter)