Proofread by Fu Tianying
All of a sudden, Wu Zhong stepped back to shun Ma Tian"en"s hand, and bowed to her seriously, "Thank you for your help. Wu Zhong has nothing to pay back, and I want......"
"To marry me? Oh, it"s a little inappropriate because I worry that my father does not agree. You can just reduce my study tasks." Said Ma Tian"en, grinning.
"Hardly......can the nature be changed!" Wu Zhong breathed a sigh.
"I have decided that I will teach you two more hours each day to pay back to your saving me without extra payment."
"Ah, your idea is not to pay back but revenge. No, I don"t like it!"
"Hurry up, let"s go down the mountain. Your father is worried that you are hurt by Hu Chunqiu, so he is looking for you. I came here to have a try because I heard from Shun that you want to eat the small carp in Yuquan River, but I didn"t think that you would come for real. About half a day has pa.s.sed by, and your family must be worried about you very much. So go back early to ease your parents" minds." It turned out that Yanzi, a servant girl, finding that Ma Tian"en was lost, shouted out this morning. As Ma Chaosheng knew it, he sent people to look for her right away. As a result, no one found him after they searched all places which Ma Tian"en usually went to. Ma Chaosheng was worried that she was in danger, so he went out in person to look for her. Seeing this, Wu Zhong was worried too. He asked Shun for his abnormal behaviors. And he recalled for a long time to say that she wanted to eat the small carp in Yuquan Mountain. So Wu Zhong called a carriage hurriedly to have a look in Yuquan Mountain. To his surprise, he did not only find her, but also saw her real appearance in that condition.
"It doesn"t matter. My father has been used to looking for me because I often ran out of home. Mr. Wu, just wait for me to take the fish." As she said, she took the fish net and went off the carriage with Wu Zhong.
On the way, hearing Ma Tian"en"s words, Wu Zhong understood why she had to disguise herself as a man. The world is unfair to women, especially who in the Zhkeeper family. If a family has no boy in the next generation, it shall give all its business to the clan, though it can take in a son-in-law.
"Why not adopt a nephew of the clan?" Wu Zhong thought it better to adopt one than disguise a girl as a boy, which was too risky and might ruin the happiness of the daughter.
"Ah, because of my mother. When I was born, my mother said I was a boy and informed the clan. So all knew that my father had a son as he got back home. Then if the truth was told, my mother would be blamed or even punished, which my father did not want to see, so I was just raised as a boy. They thought another son would be born, and then my real gender could be revealed as something used to pray for a son. However, since then, my parents did not even have a daughter, let alone a son. So, I have become the only young master of the Ma Family who has blood ties. Though I have several cousins, they cannot live up to the expectations, so my father thought it more reliable to hand over the family business to me rather than to them."
Hearing this, Wu Zhong could not help but look at Ma Tian"en, whose face was full of self-confidence. He did not know where the confidence came from.
"Mr. Wu, believe me, though I am not good at study, I am one of the best at water matters. I can know where the water comes from as I taste it. I can know when it will rain, how heavy it will be, how high the water will rise and how many flashboards shall be lifted as I look up at the sky. Even my father cannot do better than me, so I was not lying to you as I said I was the princess of the sea." Ma Tian"en was a bit uncomfortable as she saw that Wu Zhong did not believe her. She was not a boy, but her ability was not fake.
"OK, well, it is my fault to look down upon you. I just think you are so hard and it is unfair to you."
"Unfair? No. Our Ma Family lives on the Datong River. All people, no matter men or women, are fed by the same water, so we should do something to pay back for it. My father once said that it was the highest glory if a Zhkeeper died in Datong River." As he said, Ma Tian"en"s eyes glittered with firmness, which was holy and n.o.ble at that moment.
But, just for a moment.
"But you don"t have to worry about me, because the Datong River is nice to me, which will never let me dead since it is waiting for me to fix it."
"Fix? You want to fix the Datong River? Don"t you know how many taels the government has spent on it?" Wu Zhong found that he did not understand his student. Behind her daily happy smile, there were actually many unexpected thoughts.
"It is really simple to do that, but they always make it too complicated. We can just find out the water source and bring the water down. If not, we can move the port to the north of Tongzhou City and change the earth dam into a stone one, then the water can be diverted from the Yuquan Mountain." Ma Tian"en said it lightly while Wu Zhong heard it in amazement. Such a simple matter had been done for decades but no effects had been made, and even the dredged reaches had been blocked again. It was not a natural disaster but a man-made one.
"Am I so smart?" Ma Tian"en stared at Wu Zhong with a look for praise, which made Wu Zhong recover from contemplation and smile at her.
As the carriage reached the door of the home, Ma Tian"en jumped down with the net on her back, and then rushed into the door. The moment she entered, she found it was in a mess at home. There were many people coming and going, which made her puzzled. At that time, Yanzi ran over and cried as she caught sight of Ma Tian"en, "Master, you are back at last. The lord had an accident."
"What? What has happened to him?" Asked Ma Tian"en, who threw away her net and grabbed Yanzi"s shoulders.
"The lord went out to look for you, but the carriage turned over. The lord was unconscious till now." Said Yanzi, who was crying too much to speak.
"Dad!" Ma Tian"en shouted and ran towards the bedroom of his dad.
Wu Zhong got hold of Yanzi again and asked for the details, then he followed her.
"Dad, how are you doing?" Running into the room, Ma Tian"en separated the crowd around Ma Chaosheng, and knelt down before the bed of her dad.
Mrs. Ma, sitting by Ma Chaosheng"s bed, raised her hand to beat Ma Tian"en as she saw her.
"You unfilial son! The lord would not have been hurt if you had not run about. How dare you come back?!"
A sound came to show agreement, "Tian"en, your behavior is really improper. Just think about it, you have invited so many disasters and all have been solved by your father since you were a child. At last, the catastrophe came. If my brother had unexpected misfortune or even death, the Ma Family would decline in your hands!" Said Ma Chaoyang, the uncle of Ma Tian"en. He had long been dissatisfied with Ma Tian"en, or to be more exact, his son could be adopted by Ma Chaosheng if Ma Tian"en was not born, which would make it more convenient for him to have money.
"My dad will be fine. Mom, please first tell me how my father is and why he is still unconscious." Ma Chaosheng"s eyes were closed and his head was bound up where the blood could be seen.
"Your dad went out to look for you but the horse got mad suddenly, so the carriage turned over. Your dad was thrown out of the carriage and his head hit the stone. He was still in a coma though he was given a medical treatment. I would not be alive if your father were dead!" Saying this, Mrs.Ma could not help crying.
"It"s my fault, my mistake, I..." Ma Tian"en got into a coma before he finished his words.
"Tian"en..."
"Master..."
All people got panicked and lifted Ma Tian"en hurriedly to the little room beside. Fortunately, the doctor who had not left, came to give her medical treatment.
With acupuncture and medicine, Ma Tian"en recovered. In fact, she was too anxious just now. Seeing that Ma Tian"en woke up, Mrs. Ma breathed a sigh of relief and dared not to blame her. On one hand, she cared about her child; on the other hand, she worried about Mr. Ma. Ma Tian"en struggled to get up to see her dad the moment she woke up, but she was persuaded not to do so.
"My dear, just have a rest first. If your father woke up and saw you in such a condition, he would be sad. I am going to take care of your dad. Yanzi, look after the master, and if something happens, tell me immediately." Seeing that Ma Tian"en had nothing serious, Mrs. Ma arranged Yanzi to take care of her daughter as she could not help worrying about Ma Chaosheng. Then as she saw Wu Zhong, she stood up to give a salute, "Sir, please look after Tian"en." Mrs.Ma was illiterate, but she respected and liked scholars all the time, or she would not have selected Ma Chaosheng before.
"My pleasure. Tian"en is my student, and I will take care of him. You can trust me that Mr. Ma is a lucky man and he will be safe and sound." He gave back a salute as he said.
Mrs. Ma went to the room of Mr. Ma. Wu Zhong let others go and stood in a position not far away from the bed, saying, "Tian"en, I doubt that Mr. Ma was hurt by someone deliberately."