Yu Xiaolian and Madam Sun waited until it was dark before Yu Changhe and Sun Fengshou returned.
As soon as they entered the house, Sun Fengshou pulled out a string of Copper Coins and handed them to Grandma Sun, grinning, "My brother-in-law and I wandered to the dock and happened to catch a big cargo ship unloading. The foreman said there were a lot of ships docking today and they were short of laborers, so he asked if we would do it. After discussing it with my brother-in-law, we decided to help unload."
Sun Fengshou’s joy was evident, praising Bohai City as a great place to make quick money.
In the village, even a day of hard labor would only earn about thirty Copper Coins.
Sun Fengshou asked Grandma Sun to keep the money and said excitedly to Yu Changhe, "Brother-in-law, let’s go again tomorrow. Anyway, we’re idle."
Grandma Sun said, "You can go by yourself, don’t drag your brother-in-law along, his leg isn’t convenient!"
Yu Changhe also handed a string of Copper Coins to Madam Sun, then turned back smiling at his mother-in-law and said, "Mom, my leg is fine. Besides, there are a few people over sixty working there; they don’t even walk as fast as I do!"
Even though Yu Changhe looked in good spirits and not too tired, Yu Xiaolian was still worried and said, "Dad, Uncle, you don’t need to go tomorrow. Our family isn’t short of a few hundred Copper Coins right now, let’s wait until we settle down in Yu State before earning more money."
Despite Yu Xiaolian’s efforts to persuade them, she couldn’t stop Yu Changhe and Sun Fengshou from going out to carry packages again the next day.
Yu Changhe and Sun Fengshou carried packages for several days. Yu Xiaolian also spent several days mingling with Uncle Ban and others, and collected two wooden barrels of sea shrimp from the fishing boats. The shrimp were small and not many, but they were fresh.
On the morning of the fifth day, Yu Changhe woke everyone early to pack their bundles.
After packing, Yu Xiaolian put their bedding into the space, and they hurriedly went to the dock.
A massive passenger ship, about ten feet long, three feet tall, and two and a half feet wide, stood majestically like a mountain, floating on the waves.
The hull was made from giant logs processed into large planks, stacked together, robust and firm, with excellent resistance to sinking.
Yu Xiaolian marveled at the ancient wisdom that should not be underestimated.
Many people heading to Lu State were queuing up on the shore, forming a long line, so Yu Xiaolian and her group also lined up voluntarily.
As the line slowly advanced, stopping at a notice board, Yu Xiaolian glanced at the posted announcement.
Passengers boarding the official ship must keep clothing and food within two hundred pounds. Violation by private carriage will result in fifty lashes per fifty pounds and one person; a hundred lashes per hundred pounds and two persons.
Seeing Yu Xiaolian looking at the notice board, Madam Sun asked, "Daughter, what does this mean?"
Yu Xiaolian explained, "It means passengers traveling on the ship cannot carry over two hundred pounds of clothing and food. Moreover, there are restrictions on carrying passengers privately on the ship beyond cargo space, which is punishable by flogging."
Madam Sun, not fully understanding, responded with an ’oh’, thinking it was stating the fare per passenger.
Yu Changhe walked in the front, clutching ten taels of Silver. At the boarding area, someone was collecting ticket fees.
"Five hundred Copper Coins per person, how many of you are there?"
Yu Changhe quickly replied, "Eight!"
He hurriedly handed over the Silver, and the person took it, checked eight tickets stamped with a red seal for Yu Changhe, gave him six taels of Silver in change, then shouted behind, "Fifteen more people can board before it’s overloaded."
Yu Changhe supported Madam Sun, Sun Fengshou supported the old lady, Yu Xiaolian held Little Tiger, and Zhao Erya held Sanyan. Their group cautiously stepped onto the ship via the gangplank.
The cabin was spacious, divided into three levels. The lowest level was for the crew’s work and rest. The ship they were on was a paddle-wheel ship, with paddle wheels equipped with paddles on the side or stern, rotated by human-powered pedal, pushing the ship forward by paddling water.
Yu Xiaolian and their group were now on the middle level. The ship had no chairs, and most passengers sat on the floor.
Of course, one could spend another two taels of Silver for a private room upstairs.
After all, reaching Lu State would take two days and one night, and possibly longer against the wind.
Yu Xiaolian also found the captain and paid six taels of Silver for three rooms.
Madam Sun was fine when she boarded, but shortly after the ship started moving, she felt dizzy and nauseous.
Yu Xiaolian realized that Madam Sun was seasick.
Madam Sun, with a ghastly pale face, couldn’t stop feeling nauseous lying in bed. After a long struggle, she finally couldn’t hold back and vomited heavily, but felt a little better afterward.
By noon, when Yu Xiaolian took out the prepared dry food for Madam Sun to eat, Madam Sun shook her head vigorously, refusing to eat anything.
Madam Sun believed that if she didn’t eat, there’d be nothing to vomit.
But how could a pregnant woman like Madam Sun not eat? Everyone tried persuading her to eat a little, but she shook her head, asking Yu Xiaolian to open the window to get some sea breeze to clear her head.
However, once the window opened, the slightly fishy sea breeze made Madam Sun gag and vomit again.
Even though her stomach was empty, Madam Sun couldn’t stop retching.
By the afternoon, utterly exhausted from retching, Madam Sun finally fell asleep on the bed.
Besides Madam Sun’s seasickness, the other seven felt fine. Little Tiger and Sanyan, far from being seasick, were excited, constantly leaning out the window to watch the waves, occasionally pointing and shouting at the silhouettes of sea fish in the water.
Yu Xiaolian told Zhao Erya to keep an eye on them, warning that it’d be disastrous if they fell into the sea.
After a day of adjusting, Madam Sun’s condition wasn’t as severe as the first day. Discover more novels at noᴠelfire.net
Yet she still refused to eat much, fearing that eating more would worsen her discomfort in her stomach.
Luckily, their trip reached Lu State with favorable winds, and the ship arrived by the afternoon of the second day.
Little Tiger and Zhao Sanyan reluctantly disembarked, while Madam Sun felt liberated.
Taking a deep breath of the air ashore, Madam Sun declared, "I never want to ride a boat again."
Having grown up by the river, she had never been afraid of water; why did she get seasick on a boat?
Sun Fengshou marveled, "Lu State’s dock is even bigger than Bohai’s!"
The larger the dock, the busier it was with people coming and going.
Yu Xiaolian laughed, "Of course, Lu State is more than ten times the size of Bohai City."
Sun Fengshou, surprised, said, "Didn’t you say we have to pass through Lu State to get to Yu State? If Lu State is as big as you say, we’re really in for a journey."