Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen Horrible Past

I breathed a sigh of relief, Lord Jiao didn't even look at me, he stepped forward and sat on the edge of the bed, grabbed the girl's hand and asked, "Adi, do you feel better?" Adi nodded, made a face at me, and said to Master Jiao: "Father, I'm hungry." Master Jiao touched Adi's head and said softly, "My dear girl, I'll ask them to feed you right away." You send something to eat." I coughed and said to Lord Jiao: "Master Jiao, don't worry about eating, she will feel tired after acupuncture, let her rest first. I will bring her some light food later, with a smaller portion."

Lord Jiao raised his head and glanced at me, nodded and stood up, waved to me, turned around and took the lead to climb out of the secret cabin from the wooden ladder. I followed and climbed out, only to see Lord Jiao standing in front of him without moving. Just as he was about to speak, Lord Jiao spoke first: "Boy, do you have something to say to me?" I had already prepared some words, hoping to gain Lord Jiao's trust by curing the patient, and then I would find an opportunity to ask about the ship.When he asked so suddenly, I don't know what Lord Jiao's intention is, but I don't know what to answer for a while.

In silence, I wondered what was going to happen.But Master Jiao sighed and asked: "Young son, let me ask you. Can Adi's illness be cured?" After thinking about it, I decided to tell the truth: "Acupuncture and moxibustion are just soothing the blood vessels. It was helpful at the beginning. But if the real cause is not found, the effect will become less and less effective, just like the medicines she took before." Speaking of which, seeing that Lord Jiao didn't respond, I still bit the bullet and said what I've always wanted to ask: "I want to know the real cause of her illness, so that I can find a way to cure her completely."

"The real reason? Sickness is sickness. If I want to know the reason, what do I need you doctors for?" Master Jiao's tone didn't sound really angry, but a hint of annoyance. Seeing that Master Jiao didn’t reject this topic this time, I simply mustered up the courage to speak out all the doubts in my heart: “Master Jiao, although this is the first time for me to go abroad, I grew up in Quanzhou City. Is there a ship as weird as the Fuchang? Was the Fuchang rebuilt before going to sea? This is the first time I’ve seen a coffin-like ship.” "When I went out to sea, what kind of statue was worshiped on the boat? I have stayed in Quanzhou for so many years, and I have never seen such a thing. It looks evil at first glance. You don't think it's a statue of Mazu, do you?"

Having said this in one breath, I stopped and paid attention to Master Jiao's expression.Sure enough, he had a look of surprise on his face and a fierce look in his eyes.I quickly changed my tone: "Master Jiao, you have also seen my medical skills. You are not a charlatan, right? I can definitely cure Adi's illness. As long as you can tell me the truth about how I got the illness, I will have a solution." He pointed at the closed door behind him and said, "If I fail to do it, and you throw me into the sea, I will never frown." Lord Jiao looked at me for a long time, and the flesh on his cheeks twitched almost imperceptibly. I knew that he must be making a difficult choice in his heart.I clenched my hands tightly, waiting nervously for Master Jiao's decision, until my hands were wet with sweat, Lord Jiao suddenly raised his frown, and said solemnly: "I can tell you all this, but you must get on the boat. "

I listened to the first half of the sentence, and the heart in my throat fell, but the second half of the sentence made me puzzled, and I hesitated: "Master Jiao, I'm already on the boat?" Master Jiao glared at me: "You have to become a part of our ship, and live and die with the Fuchang. Only when I agree can you disembark!" After speaking, he turned around and walked out of the secret cabin. I was very anxious, does this mean that without Master Jiao's order, even if I arrive in Nanyang, I will not be able to disembark?But I just want to survive and get to Nanyang smoothly, but I never thought of selling my life to him.Just as he was about to open his mouth to fight, Lord Jiao, who had already reached the door of the cargo hold, turned around, pointed at me and said, "Boy, stay here honestly." After speaking, he opened the door and walked out. What, turned his head and stared at me fiercely, and closed the door with a bang.

Staying in the dark cargo hold, I was a little dazed, not knowing what Master Jiao meant by locking me here.Thinking carefully about what he said before, I have a bad feeling.I let myself try my best to think on the bright side, at worst, I promise him first, and then think about what to do after Nanyang, so that I can avoid danger and know everything soon. This time, I didn’t wait long, but the door of the cargo compartment was knocked open, and a few strong sea hunters rushed in, holding me down with their hands. I didn’t have time to resist, and someone kicked my foot from behind. All of a sudden, I fell to my knees with a thud. Fortunately, someone else grabbed my hands behind my back, so I didn't fall to the floor.

While still in shock, my eyes suddenly lit up, and Lord Jiao came out from behind me, holding a piece of talisman paper that had just been lit in his right hand, with strange patterns drawn on it, which were somewhat similar to the Dao talisman on the ballast stone.Facing the burning talisman, he muttered something, stretched out his left hand, and a man next to him handed over a full bowl, splashed a few points on the floor, and I smelled a smell of shochu. At this time, I had already vaguely guessed what they were going to do. At the same time as this idea came into being, I felt a sharp pain in my left hand, and then someone pulled up my left hand. Under my palm, I took a few drops of blood, and then dipped the talisman paper that was about to burn out into the wine.

Sure enough, it’s the blood-forging alliance again, I thought to myself, all storytelling scripts say and write like this, I didn’t expect that I would encounter such a thing one day.Next, something even more unexpected happened. Lord Jiao held the bowl of wine mixed with my blood and talisman paper ashes, raised it above his head, and bowed towards the door to pay respects. I tried to turn my neck, and barely saw a figure standing in the direction of the door. With both hands flat in front of the abdomen, the posture seems to be holding something.Although I can't see what it is, the strange wooden statue that appeared during the worship naturally appeared in my mind.Must be worshiping that weird idol!

As Master Jiao bent down and slowly spilled the wine in the bowl on the floor, the sea hunters around him also let go of me, and I sat down on the ground, covering the wound on my hand.I originally thought that this kind of ceremony would really be like what is said in the storytelling, where each person gets a knife on his hand, and then everyone drinks the wine in one gulp, but I didn't expect that it was just myself.Besides, the ceremony is also simple. But thinking about the ceremony, my heart gradually became frightened.I have a feeling that maybe the reason why the whole ship has become so weird is because the people on board believe in this strange god.And now, I'm caught in it too.I can't even tell whether I was forced into this matter or jumped in on my own initiative.

Master Jiao said something in a low voice, and the other sea hunters retreated. From the beginning to the end, they didn't say a word, and soon only Master Jiao and I were left in the cargo hold.If it weren't for the burning pain in my palm and the strong smell of alcohol remaining on the ground, I would have thought that what just happened was just a hallucination. I didn't bother to stand up, so I just sat on the ground, raised my head and asked, "Master Jiao, can you talk now?" Lord Jiao came over, sat in front of me, and said in a deep voice: "Minsheng, I now treat you as my own, and will tell you the whole thing. No one else knows about this matter..." I hurriedly said: "Lord Jiao, don't worry. I want to reveal a word, I don't need you to do it, I will jump into the sea by myself." Master Jiao didn't comment, sighed, and said to me in a serious tone: "What I'm going to say, you will definitely find it unbelievable, but it's all true." Lord Jiao is considered the top among the sea figures in Quanzhou City. The so-called skilled people are bold, and they often dare to go further when they go fishing, so that the harvest will be greater.After becoming famous, besides fishing, sometimes people would come to his door to do some business of shipping goods overseas. Master Jiao didn't go into details, but I guess it has something to do with smuggling.Although it is very risky for a ship of this type to go out to sea, because the target is much smaller than that of a large cargo ship, if it arrives smoothly, the profit will be surprisingly high. Fifteen years ago, Lord Jiao took such a business and traveled from Quanzhou to Nanyang.But when passing through the Strait of Malacca, suddenly encountered a strange hurricane. The hurricane was so powerful that it rolled up a huge water column far above the sea, like a channel connecting the sea and the sky, approaching the ship far away.The Fuchang fled away from the hurricane with all its strength, but the water column picked up by the hurricane followed like a shadow and slowly approached. What was even more frustrating was that at this time they discovered that an unusually huge black shadow appeared under the distant sea surface, approaching the Fuchang with a terrifying sound from the direction of the hurricane. Seeing this scene, the inexplicably terrified Lord Jiao quickly ordered to turn around and run away at full speed until night fell, as if he had escaped from the terrifying whirlwind.But after dawn, everyone found in despair that in the distance directly in front of them, a huge water column stood in front of them surrounded by the hurricane. And behind them was still the shadow of the huge monster that followed like a shadow, they could only immediately turn around and escape to the side and rear, but no matter which direction they ran, the situation was the same.In the end, it was finally confirmed in despair that the Fuchang was stared at by this strange tornado and the looming huge sea beast. Speaking of this, Lord Jiao sighed: "Thinking about it later, this thing is driving us there. If I had known what happened later, I should have let the Fuchang directly rush through the hurricane. There is a chance of life. Even if you die, you will be clean, once and for all." Hearing this, I lifted my spirits, knowing that many strange things must have happened in the future, so I held my breath and listened to Lord Jiao continue talking. Fuchang did not know how many directions it turned and changed its course several times.But when the ship fled east, the wind blew east, and when the ship ran west, the wind caught up to the west again... Although the hurricane always kept them at the edge of the most dangerous distance, the crew on the ship still suffered a lot of damage.In this way, the ship kept struggling between the edge of life and death in the wind and waves, and was trapped at sea for more than ten days without any hope of surviving. in sight.The enormous pressure made the people on board exhausted and nearly collapsed.Even the most resolute Lord Jiao began to pray, hoping to be blessed by gods and Buddhas, and escape from this catastrophe. Perhaps prayer really worked. One morning, when the people on board woke up from the exhaustion of confronting the wind and waves the night before, and opened their eyes numbly, they were surprised to find that the storm and monsters that followed them disappeared.During the more than ten days of fleeing, the Fuchang had unknowingly sailed into an unfamiliar waters. Under the bright sunlight, they saw a sea area in front of them that was as strange as a fairyland on earth. The sea surface was sparkling and peaceful, and it was completely like a different world from the storm before. There is a small island faintly in the distance. After Fuchang approached, Master Jiao found coral reefs exposed in the surrounding sea. There are red, blue, yellow, and purple. Under the sea, you can see groups of beautiful golden fishes, large and small, happily chasing back and forth. As long as a group of fish turns around at the same time, a large piece of dazzling golden sunlight will be reflected immediately. Faced with this situation, Lord Jiao became suspicious and dared not be careless, and ordered Tao Haike at the helm to drive forward carefully and be careful not to run aground.They didn't travel very far among the colorful coral groves, when they suddenly saw a colorful light in the distance ahead, and when they got closer, there was an ancient dragon boat lying on the surface of the dazzling coral reef. It's like God built a coral shelf, and then put a decorative dragon boat on it. Looking at the style of the dragon boat, it has a history of hundreds of years at least.From the outside, the ship looked intact, which shocked Lord Jiao and the others.No matter how strong a ship is, even if it does not sail on the sea, it should have become a pile of broken wood after running in the water for hundreds of years. Seeing this strange scene, everyone became puzzled. When everyone was discussing what to do, there were some differences: some boldly saw that they had escaped the threat of the storm, and thought that they had arrived in a fairyland. treasure left behind.Others think that this place is too weird, and they should find their way back quickly while the weather is calm. In the end, it was Lord Jiao who made the decision, thinking that since he came here, he must check it out.But he was more cautious in his actions. He chose a brave and brave guy, and went alone in a small sampan. The rest stayed on the Fuchang, and the boat did not anchor. If there was any accident, he could sail away immediately. . Seeing that the brave sea-scourer got under the dragon boat in a sampan, he threw a special long rope ladder and quickly climbed up.Not long after, the guy came back with a face full of panic. He scrambled and crawled back to the Fuchang, speaking incoherently and being so terrified that he had to be suppressed by other sea hunters before he struggled to say: "Ghost! There is a ghost! It's a ghost ship!" Everyone was taken aback when they heard that, they were exhausted by the shadows and the hurricane, and they were already nervous. Master Jiao went up and grabbed the scavenger by the neck. After asking for a long time, he found out that there was no one on the boat. , but everything else is intact.He walked all the way in with fear, and found that in the middle of the large cabin, there was a big chair carved with a golden dragon, and a man in a yellow dragon robe sat on it, with a lifelike face, looking at the entrance of the cabin with anger on his face. When he first entered the cabin door, the daring Tao Haike was shocked head-on, and immediately froze on the spot with his legs weak. Later, he found that the other party did not move for a long time, and he did not dare to approach, but turned around and walked run. In the vast sea, they were driven to an unfamiliar area. It is obviously impossible for living people to appear on such a strange small island and ancient ship.So who is that man in the dragon robe?The more Tao Haike thought about it, the more frightened he became, and when he came back to report, he was already out of his wits. After hearing the man's nonsensical words, Lord Jiao's heart was pounding. According to him, it should be that the dignitary and nobleman who didn't know the age had an accident when he went to sea, but he didn't know why he was able to survive at sea until now.Finally, curiosity overcame fear, Master Jiao took a few people, boarded the small sampan, and rowed towards the dragon boat. When he got closer to the boat, Master Jiao discovered that the wooden material on the hull had been eroded by the sea water. The reason why it did not disintegrate was because there was a thick layer of coral rock shell on the hull. The color was bright and bright, and it looked like a coral. It is no wonder that the huge ship built is colorful and looks like an exquisite handicraft from a distance. But the appearance of such a thing in the sea, this kind of beauty makes people feel frightened. After walking into the door of the big cabin of the ship, he saw the man in dragon robe mentioned by Tao Haike. Master Jiao took a look and felt that the man might not be dead at all. His face was full of anger, and even the beard was completely gone. The roots are raised, as if they are about to open their mouths to angrily reprimand these people who broke into the boat. Lord Jiao made a gesture to signal everyone to stop, and waited carefully for a long time, but the man in the dragon robe still had that majestic expression, without any change.Only at this moment did Master Jiao boldly walk up to the front first, he stretched out his hand to touch the dragon robe man, his hand was cold, and he was sure that the lifelike person in front of him was actually dead already, but for some reason, the corpse turned out to be dead. Has not rotted. Taking another step forward, Lord Jiao looked carefully, only to find that the dragon-robed man was holding an antique box in his hand. When I heard this, my heart moved, and I immediately thought of the strange wooden box I was holding in my hand when I saw Adi.After hesitating for a while, I still didn't interrupt, and quietly listened to Master Jiao's continuation. The casket, which he held in his arms until the last moment of his death, was obviously very important.Master Jiao suppressed the great curiosity in his heart, instead of touching it, he first observed his surroundings.After a circle, he found that there was still a piece of paper on the long table in front of the dragon robe man. The ink on the paper was fresh, as if the dragon robe man had just finished writing and was waiting for the officials to appreciate.Lord Jiao walked over cautiously, stretched his neck to carefully read the content on this piece of paper. It turned out that this man in the dragon robe was the second orthodox emperor of the Ming Empire, the grandson of the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang Zhu Yunwen, known as Emperor Jianwen in history.After Zhu Yuanzhang died, he passed on the throne to Zhu Yunqi, but his uncle Yan Wang Zhudi was not angry with his nephew, rebelled and entered Yingtian Mansion. Emperor Jianwen fled from Yingtian Mansion in a panic and fled to Going to the South China Sea, and then being usurped the throne, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di sent his confidant eunuch Zheng He several times, chasing and killing them all the way. The situation was critical and he fled to this strange place. Get out of this sea area. When Lord Jiao saw this, he was no longer afraid in his heart, but turned a little desperate. Could it be that their crew will also be trapped here, and they will never be able to get out?When he looked down again, he found another turning point in the second half of the suicide note. The first paragraph on the paper was mainly about angrily denouncing Yan Wang Zhu Di's conspiracy and crimes of usurping power and throne, but the second half changed the subject and talked about the ancient box in his hand. Regarding the origin of this box, there is no detailed description on the paper, only a brief mention that it was accidentally found at sea.Inside the box was a statue of a god, with a strange shape. There was a sentence engraved on the inside of the box: Make a wish to God, you can relieve all dangers at sea, but you must return to the original place to fulfill the wish after fifteen years, otherwise there will be no descendants. Emperor Jianwen had fled at sea for a long time, and it can be seen from his writings that when he came to this strange sea area, he was already tired of chasing and fleeing for a long time, and he was no longer interested in the restoration of the country. Hope again.Although he didn't mention whether he believed in the proverbs in the box, his despondent words revealed his nostalgia for the strange beauty of this place. Master Jiao saw the lifelike portrait of Emperor Jianwen in front of him, and then thought that there was no one else on the ship except him.I probably guessed the ending in my heart: Emperor Jianwen decided to stay here and didn't want to go back to the world.The remaining loyal courtiers jumped into the sea to commit suicide, and finally the ship became the tomb of Emperor Jianwen. After opening the box, it was as it said on the paper, there was a strangely shaped god statue inside, and that sentence was also in the box.Lord Jiao and the others are just a group of ordinary people after all, they don't have so many national and family hatreds, they just want to go home.So the dead horse was treated as a live horse doctor, and a ceremony of conversion was held in front of the statue in the way of worshiping Mazu.Although it is a bit ridiculous to say, but in that weird situation, everyone really believes in this statue. After returning to the ship, the Fuchang sailed out again, and the storm disappeared along the way.Soon sailed out of this sea area.After escaping from danger, Lord Jiao only thought it was a big dream.From then on, he never went out to the far sea again, and only fished in the near sea.When Adi was born, she gradually forgot about it. After Master Jiao escaped safely, he didn't take it seriously, but as the date approached, many abnormal symptoms appeared on himself and Adi.After a long period of treatment, Master Jiao finally remembered what happened back then. After doing the math, the fifteen year period from that year is coming soon. Hearing this, I understood why Lord Jiao brought Adi on board.But there was a new question in my heart, and I finally asked: "The guy who went to sea with you back then, does he have the same symptoms now?" Master Jiao was silent for a long time, and then said lightly: "They are all dead." Although this sentence is plain, I can't figure out the meaning contained in it. I have a faint feeling that there should be some stories behind it, but I don't care about it now.I frowned, what Jiao Ye said just now had too much impact on me.For a while, I couldn't think about the truth or falsehood at all. I could only think about it as true for the time being. If this is the case, I still have some puzzles. "Lord Jiao, since you decided to fulfill your wish, doesn't this conflict with the purpose of going to Nanyang?" "If that sea area is still there, it's on the way to Nanyang. It is estimated that we will arrive there in three days." "The box didn't say how to fulfill the vow. What are you going to do when the time comes?" Master Jiao chuckled lightly, and said in a vicissitudes of tone: "How can it be so easy to return the things of gods and Buddhas? Let's take one step at a time." I wanted to continue asking, but I heard the cargo door open, and a sea-scourer poked his head in: "Master Jiao, we may be approaching Huayu, I don't know if there are Japanese naval defense ships on Penghu Island, should we take a detour to avoid it?" ?” Lord Jiao stretched out his hand to support the ground, and said to me: "Minsheng, I'll go to the steering wheel room to have a look. I've told you everything I need to say, and I'll leave Adi's illness to you. I don't want you to treat it completely now. Good her, at least don't make her too uncomfortable until you get to that place." I went back to the secret cabin, Master Jiao seemed to really trust me, at least rest assured that Adi and I would stay in the same room alone.The girl seemed a little shy, and her face turned red when she saw me coming down alone.I don't know what to say. In the midst of embarrassment, I heard a Tao Haike talking in the bilge above my head. Although the voice was extremely low, I could hear every word clearly. Tao Haike whispered: "What's the matter? Brother Kui!" Brother Kui also lowered his voice and said, "Master Jiao is down there again?" Tao Haike said: "Let Zhong Touxian be called to the steering wheel room." After waiting for a while, Brother Kui asked again: "I see that the ballast stone is put aside, who is not afraid of death and ran down?" Tao Haike replied: "It's the slapstick who has been causing trouble these two days. Master Jiao asked that little boy to treat the lady's illness." Brother Kui's voice suddenly became a little louder: "Fucking his grandma, it turned out to be that big trouble, the little girl he abducted is now having a lot of trouble in the fish cabin, and even found me on my head and asked me for someone. " Tao Haike coughed: "Why don't you just throw that little girl into the sea and forget about it. Since I got on the boat, I have done so many things because of this little girl." Hearing their conversation, I was immediately out of my wits. I knew in my heart that the little girls they were talking about must be Ah Hui. Ah Hui must not be able to find me on the boat, and thought I was thrown into the sea by Lord Jiao, so that's why they made such a noise, right?I was about to speak loudly, begging Brother Kui not to make her a woman, but the person above my head suddenly spoke again, and whispered: "Brother Kui, before we start, can you give us some money from that coquettish bitch?" Cool?" I immediately clenched my fists and wanted to go out to rescue Ah Hui, but I heard Brother Kui yelling in a low voice: "You want to die! I will arrive in Manila in a few days, and I will go ashore after paying my wages. You can do whatever you want, and you will break Master Jiao's life on the boat." Rules, how many lives do you have?" Only then did I stop my desperate thoughts, and after hearing the secret conversation between Brother Kui and the Taohai people, I suddenly realized something. No wonder this girl is so weird about ignoring me. It turned out that she already recognized my voice.