A Dance with Danger by Lin Jeannie

Author:Lin, Jeannie [Lin, Jeannie]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-04-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

True to the merchant’s word, their transport was ready early the next morning. The boat was a small vessel with a shelter built over the hull. It was the sort of boat a fisherman could work as well as live on as he floated along the river. With the sun not yet fully risen, they would actually be setting out at the same time as the morning fishing boats.

Yang offered his hand to Jin-mei, who stumbled a little upon first setting foot on the swaying vessel. She righted herself and went to sit beneath the awning that had been rigged up to provide shade from the sun.

‘Do you know how to sail this boat?’ she asked as he untethered the vessel.

‘My ancestors built their fortune by the river.’ Yang used the wooden pole to push off from the dock. ‘My family has its own fleet of boats.’

‘Which you now use to transport salt?’

‘Among other things.’

The water was shallow there with very little drift. He wedged the pole against the river bottom and used the leverage to propel them forward. In the adjacent boats, fishermen stood to do the same, using small, efficient movements to guide their vessels along. As time went on, each of the boats floated farther apart until they were isolated upon the river.

Eventually Yang caught a current and the flow of the water took over, allowing him to sit down. With his shoulder pressed to Jin-mei’s, they watched in silence as the sky brightened into day.

‘Do you intend to keep smuggling?’ she asked him finally.

‘No.’

‘No?’

He wished she didn’t sound so surprised. ‘Do you think I can’t change?’

She played with the embroidery on her new slippers, tracing the fish pattern with her finger. ‘I don’t know if you really want to change.’

‘Jin-mei.’

Something in his tone must have warned her. She finally looked up.

‘I intend to spend the entirety of my ill-got fortune on toppling Wang Shizhen,’ he promised. ‘And when that is done, I can become a peasant farmer if you like.’

‘If you were a farmer, you’d swindle the landowners out of their property somehow,’ she retorted.

It was hard not to break out into a grin. He rather liked her picture of him. Despite her claim otherwise, he was the one who had tricked her into marrying him, and at that moment, he didn’t regret it at all. Because he was a scoundrel and because a man like him couldn’t have won a woman like Jin-mei through honest means.

All wooing was a bit of a con game. Jin-mei already knew him for what he was—Yang just hoped very much to be honest with her where it mattered.

‘So what is in Lintai?’ she asked.

‘Pottery.’

She frowned at him, but he didn’t leave her to ponder for long. ‘Deep in the valley, there’s a remote village inhabited by labourers and craftsmen all devoted to the creation of ceramic pottery. There are several such villages hidden throughout the area. It’s the ideal place for us to hide while I try to re-establish communication with our allies.

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