Chapter 42: Applying Medicine
Lei Sanxiang had been a soldier and knew the principle of combining kindness with authority.
This action would not only prevent the two ship workers from harboring resentment against him, but also establish his own prestige.
Lin Qian explained: “Third Brother, you are the boatswain, in charge of administering punishment to the crew members. If your relationship with the ship workers is too close, they will lose their respect and fear; if too distant, it is easy to be resented. This is the difficulty of being an officer. Therefore, today I had you administer punishment, both to establish your prestige and to bestow favor.”
“This…” Lei Sanxiang suddenly felt the alcohol taste bitter.
“When you go to apply medicine to those two, if you know how to speak, say a few comforting words. If you don’t know what to say, it’s fine; just apply the medicine. If personally applying the medicine makes the favor too obvious, you can leave the medicine in their room. In short, since you have been a soldier, you should have seen the methods used in the army to win people’s hearts.”
“Helmsman…” Lei Sanxiang’s voice trembled.
He understood that what Lin Qian said were all sincere words from the heart, with every sentence considering his position. The helmsman truly treated him as one of his own.
Not only was there no intention to use him to establish prestige, but he was also being cultivated as an officer.
Yet he had so misunderstood Lin Qian. Truly… truly an ungrateful wretch, truly judging a gentleman with a petty man’s heart, truly that dog biting Lu Dongbin, ignorant of good intentions.
Lin Qian continued: “When you go, take the opportunity to inquire about that ship worker who bullied the woman. If he was just momentarily overcome by lust, then so be it. If he is inherently insidious by nature, find an opportunity to eliminate him, lest the petty person harms us in return…”
They made their living as sea bandits, indulging fully in food, drink, prostitution, and gambling. Lin Qian did not mind that, only that one must not be vicious or psychologically twisted.
This bastard who beats people indiscriminately looks like a ticking time bomb no matter how you view it. If that is truly the case, better to eliminate him cleanly sooner rather than later.
Lei Sanxiang: “Helmsman… I…”
Lin Qian deliberately sighed: “Sigh, Third Brother still calls me Helmsman. It seems there is still some resentment in your heart. Then this whip…”
Lei Sanxiang stood up and cupped his hands deeply: “Helmsman, I, Lei Zhendong, have never submitted to anyone in my life. Today, I submit to you!
If an apology is needed, it should be me apologizing. It is I who am narrow-minded and ignorant, failing the helmsman’s painstaking cultivation.
If the helmsman mentions the whip again, I’ll be too ashamed to show my face. From now on, whatever the helmsman orders, if I disobey even once, I’ll throw myself into the sea and become a thief turtle!”
Lin Qian stood up and supported his shoulders: “Good, as long as there are no more knots in your heart. No more of these affected words. Come, drink!”
As Lin Qian spoke, he picked up the wine jar and drank a large gulp very heroically.
Lei Sanxiang also drank a hearty gulp, then set down the wine jar and said solemnly: “Lin Laodi, I still have to go apply medicine soon, so I cannot drink more with you. Let’s agree in advance: today’s drinking does not count as you winning. Do not go bragging outside and tarnish us Shandong people’s prestige.”
“Hahaha, sure sure.” Lin Qian smiled and replied.
……
Dusk.
Front of the galleon’s cannon deck.
Idle ship workers were gathered here gambling and chatting.
A few weak wails were mixed in among them.
“Stop wailing. No matter how hard you wail, it won’t stop the bleeding.” A ship worker scolded impatiently.
The two beaten during the day were now lying on the deck, their backs a mess of blood and flesh, with streaks of blood beneath them too, looking extremely miserable.
“Please have mercy, help me find some more medicine…” The one beaten the worst pleaded.
“We already asked Zhou Zhiku this afternoon. The trauma medicine on the ship ran out long ago. Chen Bo said that after finishing dinner, he’ll scrape some pot ash for you two to use first.”
Hearing this, both shivered.
Pot ash for stopping bleeding is a poor family’s folk remedy. Whether it works depends entirely on fate; if fate is bad, it can make one die even faster.
“Can’t someone go buy medicine from the flower boat? There should be some on board…”
“Tie Zhang Zhou, you still have the face to mention the flower boat? After what you pulled, would they stay here? They rowed away this afternoon.”
The one who hit the girl originally had a proper name too, but after this incident, he was given the nickname ‘Tie Zhang Zhou’.
Most ship workers despised Tie Zhang Zhou’s behavior. Moreover, he had gotten everyone punished during the day, offended the flower boat into leaving, and deprived them of evening entertainment, so they all hated him greatly. Seeing him suffering in a pool of blood, they only sneered coldly.
The other one who passed out from drinking was surnamed Lu and was given the nickname “Zui Mao Lu”.
Speaking of which, he was even unluckier. This person was not yet twenty, had never touched a woman in his life, and it was his first time going to such a place.
In the end, he was plied with drink by the flower boat girl; he didn’t even kiss her lips once, yet spent four taels on alcohol.
When he woke up, he found himself at sea.
He woke up again to find himself tied to a post, with the flower boat girl whipping him with a whip, heedless of his cries to daddy and mommy.
He woke up once more in the cabin and, hearing others recount it, finally understood what had happened.
He felt utterly ashamed and too embarrassed to show his face.
Fortunately, he was usually honest, so the ship workers were not too harsh on him.
If the whip wounds on his back went untreated, he was eighty to ninety percent likely not to survive, so the cook Chen Bo was willing to provide some pot ash.
At this moment, footsteps sounded from the deck gangway. The ship workers thought it was Chen Bo and all looked over.
Unexpectedly, it was Lei Sanxiang who walked over, and they all averted their gazes.
Lei Sanxiang was usually generous and often treated everyone to drinks, so many ship workers were close to him. But now, upon seeing him, they merely said: “Boatswain Lei.”
Lei Sanxiang nodded in acknowledgment and walked over with a stern face.
The ship workers automatically parted to make a path.
Reaching the two lying there, Lei Sanxiang frowned: “Go fetch a rag and wipe the blood under them clean.”
The ship workers did not dare disobey and hurriedly fetched rags. They lifted the two and wiped away the blood scabs beneath them and on their chests.
But this movement reopened wounds that had begun to scab. The two inevitably gasped in pain but did not dare cry out in front of Lei Sanxiang.
Lei Sanxiang had the two lie on the deck, took trauma medicine from his bosom, and handed it to a ship worker: “Apply it to both of them.”
Seeing this, the two thanked him profusely.
The surrounding ship workers whispered among themselves.
Although these two deserved their punishment for their mistakes, the beating was so severe and medicine scarce on the ship, inevitably stirring a sense of the rabbits’ death and foxes’ grief in the other ship workers.
And now Lei Sanxiang had personally come to deliver medicine.
This evidently proved that Boatswain Lei was still the familiar “Lei Dage” who cared about everyone.
The ship worker took the trauma medicine and applied it to the two.
As soon as the medicine was poured on, Tie Zhang Zhou reacted as if scalded by a branding iron; his whole body arched up and he let out a miserable scream.
Lei Sanxiang scolded: “If you’re a man, endure it.”
Tie Zhang Zhou nodded repeatedly, though sweat beaded nonstop on his forehead.
Fortunately, the medicine was extremely effective and stopped the bleeding immediately upon contact with the wounds.
After a while, the medicinal effect spread, easing the pain as well. A cool, icy sensation came from the wounds, so comfortable that Tie Zhang Zhou kept humming.
Taking advantage of the medicine application, Lei Sanxiang said in the tone of admonishing his own brother: “Now you know pain? When you were beating her, did you consider if the girl was in pain? Though they sell their flesh, they are people too, not objects. How could you ruin them like that?”
Tie Zhang Zhou said aggrievedly: “The girls on the flower boat are all sharp cookies. I merely patted her lightly twice, and she turned around accusing me of hurting her. Clearly just extorting money!”
