Chapter 1572 - Setting Sail

"Everyone push together! Ready... push!" Qian Duoduo shouted.

Under the leverage of the crowbars, the small boat tilted slightly, then slid smoothly down the slipway into the sea, kicking up a tremendous spray.

The boat pitched violently in the waves for a moment. For a split second, Lin Ziqi thought it would capsize—but it soon stabilized completely. Qian Duoduo rushed into the sea, grabbed the mooring rope at the bow, and dragged it back.

The girls hurried to install the mast and sails. The Xiaocang used the Bermuda rig common on small boats—light and flexible, capable of sailing easily whether downwind or upwind.

"Raise the flag!"

Zhong Xiaoying hung a Morning Star Flag on the flagpole at the stern. She stepped back, stood up straight, and without anyone's prompting, began to sing in a low voice:

"When the Senate, at Heaven's command, Arose from out the azure main, Arose from out the azure main..."

The junior Senators were all slightly stunned. This was the Senate's anthem, Rule, Senate. Since it was a complete plagiarism of Rule, Britannia, although it was sung or played on all major occasions, many Senators didn't take it seriously at heart. Many privately regarded it merely as a product of the widespread bad taste within the Senate. Having been influenced by what they saw and heard, the junior Senators weren't particularly fond of the song either.

However, seeing Zhong Xiaoying standing at the bow, singing this somewhat awkward "national anthem" with such a solemn expression, the laughing and playing atmosphere immediately subsided.

A sea breeze blew, and the Morning Star Flag fluttered. The girls couldn't help but join in the singing:

"The Senate is holy, far surpassing the nations; the emperors and princes of the whole world, Must submit, Submit, submit, submit!"

The singing gradually rose, finally reaching the highest pitch in unison:

"Rule, Senate! The Empire rules all waves, earth, and sky, The Imperial people shall be masters of the world!"

After the song ended, Qian Duoduo waved her hand. "Raise the voyage permit flag!"

At her command, a triangular flag rose to the top of the mast. Just as Zhong Xiaoying was putting away the cables to set sail, the Qian family's maid, Qian Xuanhuang, crawled out of the Feiyun and came running over, trotting all the way.

"Duoduo, wait a moment!"

She was thin and small, and running with a large wicker picnic basket in her hand made her stagger. Qian Duoduo had to order the boat to stop.

Qian Xuanhuang finally made it onto the pier and handed the wicker basket to Qian Duoduo, gasping for breath. "This was prepared for you by the Madam. You always forget to eat once you go out to sea. She told me to tell you that you must eat on the boat. Also, you must come back before dark—otherwise she will definitely spank you tomorrow morning..."

"Okay, okay, I know." Qian Duoduo accepted the wicker basket helplessly.

"And this is the pistol the Master instructed you must bring!" Qian Xuanhuang unslung a holster from her shoulder and handed it to Qian Duoduo.

"It's too ugly..." Qian Duoduo muttered.

This holster was not the cool American gear brought by the Qian brothers, but a genuine Lingao product. It had a canvas strap and a holster made of hardened paper pulp, containing a female Senator's standard-issue .357 caliber snub-nose S&W revolver.

"The Master said—"

"Alright, alright, I know. If I don't take it, I'll get a mixed doubles beating from both of them." Qian Duoduo took the holster. "Anything else?"

"No... nothing else..." Qian Xuanhuang still hadn't caught her breath. "Oh—and your sailor hat."

"Almost forgot this one." Qian Duoduo's face, which had been slightly disappointed because of the ugly holster, immediately brightened. She excitedly took the hat and perched it on her head.

It was indeed "perched," not worn. This hat had been bought six years ago. Back then, it was a bit too big for Qian Duoduo, but now she couldn't fit her head into it at all. Reluctant to part with this very "stylish" hat, Qian Duoduo had begged her mother to extend the hat strap and simply buckled it onto her head...

"Weigh anchor! Set sail!" Qian Duoduo stood with legs apart at the bow, shouting majestically. Zhong Xiaoying released the cable, Sonia deftly turned the sail, and the sailboat caught the wind and slid lightly away from the pier.

"Bon voyage—" Qian Xuanhuang waved from the pier, and Qian Duoduo waved back. Zhong Xiaoying asked, "Where are we headed?"

"This is a trial voyage. Let's just sail along the coastline of Lingao Cape—just don't enter the port area." Qian Duoduo took out the nautical chart board and pencil from the compartment and shouted:

"Starboard, report the angle of the battery flagpole!"

"Starboard reporting! The angle of the battery flagpole is 170 degrees!" Zhong Xiaoying, holding binoculars and acting as the observer, shouted back.

"Wind direction?"

"Southeast wind, force three to four!" Sonia, operating the sails, reported loudly.

Qian Duoduo marked the ship's position on the chart while planning the route based on wind direction and currents. Actually, this was making a mountain out of a molehill—for sailing along a familiar coastline like this, the captain's experience was generally enough. But she had formed the habit, following her father's instructions, of practicing her navigation skills at every opportunity.

While these three busied themselves operating the sailboat, Lin Ziqi, who knew nothing about any of this, finally had a chance to ask her best friend about her private family affairs. She hesitated several times. After all, this was a private matter—was it appropriate to bring it up so abruptly? Zhang Yunmi, on the other hand, didn't seem to have anything on her mind. Her swimsuit wasn't dry yet, so she'd draped a shirt over herself. The sea breeze blew, and her white clothes fluttered, giving her a fresh, literary-girl look...

After hesitating again and again, she finally decided to speak. No matter what, she was Zhang Yunmi's best friend—the closest person to her in this spacetime besides her father.

"Yunmi," she asked cautiously, "is everything okay at home?"

"Yeah, it's fine," she answered absentmindedly, gazing at the scattered sails on the sea.

"But I heard from my dad..."

"Heard what?"

"That things haven't been very happy at your home recently..."

"Oh, you mean Yunyu." Zhang Yunmi didn't move her gaze from the sea. "She is a bit of a drama queen."

"That's just called 'a bit of a drama queen'?!" Hearing her friend's nonchalant answer, Ziqi was decidedly shocked. "Can her behavior just be called acting up? It's practically rebellion!"

Zhang Yunmi was startled by Ziqi's reaction, but she still said calmly: "She's a person too, not a plastic doll. Naturally, she has thoughts and emotions. Having emotions means she inevitably needs to vent. Besides, didn't you say before that Life Secretaries are people too, and shouldn't be slaves who are obedient and have no thoughts of their own?"

Lin Ziqi was momentarily speechless. When she'd said those words, she hadn't anticipated the existence of maids like Yunyu—it was purely an outbreak of "Little Fresh" saintly sentiment. After all, everything she saw and heard was about Life Secretaries being grateful and dedicated to repaying the kindness of the Senators—like Menglan. Even if there were things about Menglan that dissatisfied her, her intentions were commendable, and she had no malicious intent—clumsy at worst.

"But—" Lin Ziqi argued, "It's fine for her to be selfish and have thoughts. But she serves your family! Is this kind of slack work and attitude called service? I heard from my dad that she even hits your sister... What is that? Although your sister doesn't have a Senate seat, she's still a second-generation Senator. When is it the turn of a mistress like her to hit her?"

Zhang Yunmi turned her face. "Ziqi, I didn't expect your feudal thinking to be quite heavy..."

"What?!" Lin Ziqi didn't understand for a moment.

"Aren't you saying that because she's a concubine, she's not qualified to discipline the 'young masters'?" Zhang Yunmi smiled. "She hits her own child. If the child's father isn't anxious, what does it have to do with me?" As she spoke, her chest heaved rapidly a few times.

Lin Ziqi knew that her best friend wasn't as "nonchalant" inside as she appeared, so she continued: "I don't care about feudal thinking. Fact is fact. She received great kindness from the Senate, yet she treats a Senator like this—that's ingratitude! It's just wrong!" She continued, "Your dad is in his forties, right? Now having two small children fall into the hands of a mother like her—can they be educated well? What will happen in the future?"

Zhang Yunmi's expression grew complicated. She sighed. "Ziqi, I just think it's not easy for Dad. He wasn't doing well before the crossing, and in the new spacetime, it's just so-so. He—" She sighed again and didn't speak for a long time. After a while, she said, "...he's just a useless person. If we talk about disciplining Yunyu: using force, with my status as a Senator, I could just slap her and she'd have to kneel. Using administrative means, I could go directly to Director Xiao at the General Office to report the situation and she could be taken away for labor re-education..."

"Yes, yes! Even if you don't want to do it yourself, what is the General Office for?" Lin Ziqi said eagerly. "This is their job!"

"Ziqi, you think too simply. Of course I can go to the General Office. The problem is, if I do that, Yunyu will definitely be taken away."

"Let her be taken away. Just find a few more Life Secretaries. Didn't a Senator say last time that the trainees in the Maid Training Class couldn't all be distributed and had to be transferred to the College of Arts and Sciences?"

Zhang Yunmi shook her head. "The ones who treat children best are their own parents. It would be easy for me to punish her, but what about the children? What about this family? My dad has been frustrated all his life and hasn't had many happy days. Now he finally has a somewhat decent life and status. I want him to live a peaceful and comfortable life..."

"Is he living a comfortable life like this? Isn't that Yunyu still acting up every day?"

"Hehe, I know her thoughts. It's all for show—for my benefit. I am the thorn in her eye and flesh." Zhang Yunmi said lightly. "Can I not understand her little schemes? Even watching soap operas would make it clear."

(End of Chapter)