The few days on the ship were the most peaceful days for Ling Qingyu after she traveled through time. After she traveled through time, a series of misfortunes overwhelmed Ling Qingyu.
After her mother passed away, she was filled with anger and sorrow. Although she traveled through time, her mother in this life looked exactly the same as her mother in the previous life plus she also received the memories of the original owner.
During their days together, even though her mother was seriously ill, she only thought about what she can do to make her daughter's life better. That kind of love made Ling Qingyu treat the mother of this life as her own too.
Because of her carelessness, her new mother was angered to death. Ling Qingyu was angry and blamed herself. Now, her heart is filled with the need for revenge in her heart.
Holding her breath, Ling Qingyu has not left the cabin since she entered the boat. Even her meals were brought to her by servant Yao. She spent her time thinking quietly about her plans.
This action made servant Yao like this quiet girl even more. Currently, this boat not only has her mistress, Madam Yang but also the sixth young master of Fan family's first household, Fan Zheng. There are many girls on the boat who want to approach him.
In the past two days, servant Yao was worried that this young lady would do something inappropriate. Who would have thought that she would not go out at all? This made her job easier since she was responsible for the supervising her.
After Ling Qingyu followed Zheng Xi to get off the boat, she bowed deeply again. Madam Yang liked this young girl a lot and she could help but offer, "My master is the new chief of the Quanzhou Maritime Customs. You can come to the Fan Mansion to find me in the future."
Ling Qingyu thanked her, "Thank you, Sister Yao. If there's anything I can help you with in the future, just let me know." She then took out a small silver ingot, put it in Yao's hand, waved her hand. She immediately jumped off the boat and left.
Ling Qingyu held a notepad in her hand filled with tasks that she needed to do. She checked off the tasks one by one while muttering to herself, "First, find a small courtyard to live in peace."
She looked up at the courtyard she chose. It was not big, with only three main rooms, two side rooms, a utility room and a kitchen. However, there was a big tree in the courtyard. It's top were like clouds providing shade that blocked out most of the scorching sun.
There was a stone table and four stone chairs under the tree. There was also an old well in the west corner of the courtyard. The ground was paved with bluestone. The whole courtyard was small but clean and refreshing.
Ling Qingyu nodded in satisfaction, added a hundred taels to the end of the list, and continued reading, "Find the location of the Fengshen, inquire about the application procedures for shipping permits, check prices, find sailors, purchase goods and draw nautical charts. I'm done with the charts."
She spread a silk map on the table in the yard. She had started drawing this silk map since she had the idea of shipping. Based on her years of experience in sailing, she drew a world map, islands, ocean currents, monsoons, and outlined longitude and latitude. She also marked the names of foreign ports that she had learned from Zheng Xi and the names in her memory. For fear of being spied on, Ling Qingyu used simplified Chinese characters that others won't be able to read at this time.
Ling Qingyu looked at the sea chart carefully, wondering if there were any errors. She also thought that even though it was a parallel world, she didn't know if the terrain had changed, and whether the distribution of other countries was the same. Without noticing it at all, Zheng Xi brought someone in who had been standing behind her for a long time.
"Is this the nautical chart of Mr. Lin?" a sinister sounding voice was suddenly heard from behind her.
"Ah!" Ling Qingyu screamed and jumped up with fright, rolled up the silk painting and asked, "Who are you? My elder brother will be back soon. You'd better not do anything inappropriate!"
As she went around the table to dodge the unknown man, she saw that there was a person behind the man staring at him with a shocked expression. "Young Miss, this is the former captain of the ship and now Boss Ding of Houshanshe Shipyard." Zheng Xi, who had been standing behind Ding Budong, said embarrassedly.
Ling Qingyu looked at the man in front of her with a stunned expression. Ding Budong just listened to Zheng Xi's words all the way. In Zheng Xi's stories, this man was a great man who could do anything, was loyal and righteous.
The man in front of her was less than 170 cms tall, with a body as thick as his lower body, and a messy gray hair tied in a short bun. Only his small eyes were shining, which made his face, whose age could not be seen, more lively.
"Boss Ding, I've heard a lot about you," Ling Qingyu stretched out her hand out of habit, but immediately remembered that shaking hands was not popular in this era so she bent her waist and changed to bowing. But before she could bow, her hand was grabbed by Ding Budong and the silk painting in her hand was taken away and spread on the table.
"Can you be a boat master?" Ding Budong asked while he glanced at Ling Qingyu then on to the nautical chart on the table. "Of course!" Ling Qingyu raised his head and said.
A boat master is a modern navigator. When Ling Qingyu was in college back in her previous world, she joined a sailing organization and participated in several global amateur sailing competitions. She was a navigator.
Ding Budong looked at the chart and frowned. Although Lin Jiashen's chart was well protected, he had seen it once during a storm, and it was not as detailed as this one. Could it be that Lin Jiashen had added some information later? Not likely since he had been on all the ships that Lin Jiashen had sailed before, and this chart even showed a lot of places that Lin Jiashen's ship had never been to.
Ding Budong rolled up the nautical chart, returned it to Ling Qingyu, and asked, "Do you want to repair the Fengshen?" Ling Qingyu answered, "Yes, not only to repair the Fengshen, I also want to ask Boss Ding to sail again" Ling Qingyu paused, thinking back to the look on Ding Budong's face when he was looking at the sea chart just now.
She added, "Boss Ding has seen my father's nautical chart before, so you should know that there are places on my chart that my father has never been to. I wonder if Boss Ding still has this ambition?"
Ling Qingyu decided to take a gamble. In fact, no one except herself could understand the nautical chart. She could roughly understand it from Ding Butong's expression though that this man was indeed a veteran. It's just that her father died in a suspicious way while Boss Ding retired a year before her father's accident. Who knows if there is any inside story?
If she wants to go out to sea, she can only find the best helper who is not only loyal but also righteous and daring in Zheng Xi's words. Ding Budong stared at Ling Qingyu and asked
"Miss, do you know why your great uncle agreed to give you the ship and this shipyard?"
After seeing Ling Qingyu think about it for a while and shook her head slightly, he said, "Come with me and take a look at the ship."
Houshanshe has the best shipyard in Quanzhou and even in the whole country. Now, in this completely abandoned small shipyard with only some garbage debris, a large ship which is more than half tilted is docked at a small pier. Let's call it a large ship.
The main mast is broken in half, there are big holes on both sides of the ship, the bulkhead is broken into pieces, and there are traces of swords, axes and other sharp weapons everywhere. Ling Qingyu sneered unconsciously and commented "It is indeed a storm but with blades and bloody rain."
Ding Budong gave his observations while looking at the ship and said, "The people on this ship are all good fighters and all of them are the confidants of Master Lin. They were all inside this ship at that time. If the enemy did not have more than three times the number of people, it would be impossible to kill all the people on the ship, Miss."
Ding Budong glanced at Ling Qingyu and said in a low voice: "Miss Lin, are you sure you want to run shipping again? The money from repairing this ship can be used to buy hundreds of acres of good farmland and find a good man to marry. Isn't that a better option?"
Ling Qingyu looked at the ship and answered,
"I originally wanted to live a peaceful life, but since they didn't even let my mother go, I'm afraid they won't have any good intentions towards me." Her mind could not help but imagine the bloody storm on the ship during those days and nights with high winds and rough waves.
She closed her eyes and said, "Besides, even if I can live a peaceful life, I can't forget this blood feud. Lin Jiacheng left the ship for me to see. He purposely wanted to remind me that if he could kill my father, what is a little girl like me."
Ding Budong smiled and said, "You know you are a young. What can you use to take revenge on them? Two years ago, I told the head of Lin family that we should not get involved in government affairs. We are only after money, and that's enough. Your father wanted to quit this business, but he didn't expect this result."
Could it be that it's not just the Lin family and the Wu family? Ling Qingyu was very sensitive to the conspiracy and looked at Ding Budong. Seeing him shaking his head and unwilling to say anything more, she knew that given her current situation, Ding Budong didn't want her to get deeper into it.
She knew he meant well and responded, "Uncle Ding, I know the road to revenge is difficult. Now I have no power and no influence, I won't do anything that is beyond my ability. My father started in shipping and died in shipping and I..."She paused, raised her head and looked towards the distant coastline, where seagulls were flying above the snow-white waves.
Ling Qingyu extended her arms and gestured towards the sea and said, "This world is so vast. I want to see the world my father has sailed through. Uncle Ding, please believe me. I will be a better boat master than my father."
An old man's voice cut their conversation and said, "It has been a common saying since ancient times that women cannot board a boat." Ling Qingyu turned around in surprise. An old man tapped his pipe on a stone, took a deep drag from the pipe then exhaled a smoke ring. He squinted his eyes as enjoyed it, and said slowly: "If a woman boards a boat, it will definitely capsize. Even if you are Lin Jiashen's daughter, the sea god will still capsize your boat."
Ding Budong recognized the man immediately and asked in surprise. "Old Wu? You are not dead?"
Old Wu answered, "I would have died but before I could board the ship, I caught a cold. The boss took pity on me and let me get off the ship. He saved my life."
The old man looked at Ling Qingyu and said, "Miss, Boss Dong is a good man. Please don't kill him."
Ling Qingyu asked Zheng Xi in a low voice: "Who is this?" Zheng Xi answered with a delighted look on his face, "This is Master Wu and this ship was built by him. He is the best shipbuilder in Quanzhou."
Ling Qingyu straightened his face, brushed his sleeves, bowed deeply and said, "Hello, Master Wu." Master Wu glared at Ding Budong fiercely and said in a muffled voice.
"No need to be so polite. Your father, Mr. Lin, has been very kind to me. I cannot watch his only descendant die."
Ling Qingyu cleared his throat and said, "Master Wu, I heard that this ship is the fastest ship in Quanzhou." Master Wu raised his head unconsciously, looking like he didn't care who he was and answered, "Of course!"
Ling Qingyu asked with a smile, "I see that the ship's keel and other parts are still in good condition. How much money and time do you think it will take to repair it?"
Seeing that Master Wu was frowning and refusing to answer, Ding Budong replied, "Well, if Old Wu helps, I think it can be repaired in a month and a half at most. We need to replace the mast with a new one plus the cabin, and it will cost at least three thousand taels of silver."
"Women are not allowed on board." Master Wu tapped his pipe and insisted.
Ling Qingyu said with a smile, "Master Wu, generally, women refer to adult women, right? You see, I haven't even had my first period, so I'm not considered a woman. But no one says that children can't get on the boat, right?" This comment scared the three men so much that their eyes widened.
Master Wu Da took another good look at the girl opposite him. She had a big braid hanging behind her head, and she was wearing a clean blue dress. Her round face, like a full moon, had a sincere smile on it. Even her freckles and acne looked gentle. I really couldn't imagine how a girl could talk about her first period this easily amongst men.
Ling Qingyu forced a smile, and when she felt her face was about to freeze, Master Wu declared, "After the ship is repaired, Ding Budong can go out to sea." Before Ling Qingyu could speak, Ding Budong said, "But we don't have a boat master."
How could a woman get on board? When Zheng Xi looked for him, he thought he could just find a place to accommodate the orphan girl of the headmaster, and he would never take her out to sea. But when he saw the sea chart and the look in the girl's eyes when she was staring at it, Ding Budong felt something stirring in his heart, and he brought Ling Qingyu here for some unknown reason.
"If you get on the ship, no one will treat you as a woman or a child." Master Wu sighed. He also knew that the most important thing for sailing is the boatman. In the vast ocean, once you get lost, you will die. A good boatman can greatly increase your survival rate. Ding Budong must have recognized something unique about this girl or maybe something is wrong in his head.
Ling Qingyu declared, "I know that since I have chosen this path, I don't consider myself a woman or a child. Moreover, I am now independent. The Lin family can kill my family, but I, Ling Qingyu, will let the Ling family's sea flag fly all the way to the end of the ocean!" She smiled like the morning sun, her words were loud and clear.
Although Master Wu still believed that the right way for a girl is to get married and live with some property on land, the fact that the girl even said such a thing, not to mention the revenge for the murder of her family, made him admire her to some extent. Since she was already firm with her decision, he would use all his strength as an old bone.
Seeing Master Wu's expression, Ling Qingyu said, "If Master Wu has no objections, I have a few small suggestions. When father came home last time, he gave me some ideas. If we add a front sail and a rear triangular sail to the boat, the speed will be much faster. Then we can add an iron plowshare in the front and raise the bow." Ling Qingyu squatted down, picked up stones from the ground, and drew a picture of what she was describing on the sand.
As her drawings became clearer, Wu Da and Ding Budong began to concentrate. They were both veterans of sea vessels, and after careful consideration, they immediately realized how big a change and improvement this was for current sea vessels.
Only after she sat in the carriage and lowered the curtain did Ling Qingyu let out a long sigh and relaxed in her seat. She knew that her behavior was definitely not that of a 15-year-old girl, but there was nothing she could do. Before she came here, she was a woman in her 40s and she finds it hard to pretend to be a little girl.
Fortunately, Lin Huiniang, the original owner of her current body, had been well-protected by her family since she was a child. None of her father's old subordinates had ever seen her. Although they had doubts in her heart, they would still take care of her for the sake of her father.
Moreover, Ding Budong and Wu Da were both capable people. She thought that they would not immediately accept the improvements that she had mentioned that would only appear in the next few hundred years. Unexpectedly, they not only accepted it, but also seemed to have their own ideas on how to improve it further.
Overseas trade has always been the most profitable since ancient times. Only when you have accumulated enough wealth can you gain access to power.
Ling Qingyu closed her eyes slightly, thinking carefully in her mind about how to maximize the benefits of this route.