Chapter 70.2 - Life on board

During the day, Jiang Zhen had been very busy, but in the evening, after approaching Fucheng, he relaxed. Thinking that it was Zhao Jinge’s first time away from home, Jiang Zhen thought about making him eat better, so he went to the galley, or the place where the cooking took place, intending to cook two dishes himself. He chose a piece of pork and stir-fried it in the pan with oil, then put in two cloves of garlic and fried it until it was fragrant, and then added the cowpeas to the stir-fry. His cooking skills were not very good, but the cowpeas fried like this were definitely better than the cowpeas cooked by these two women.

After preparing the meat slices and the fried cowpeas, Jiang Zhen fried a bowl of eggplant with sauce and then went to Zhao Jinge with the rice and the braised meat.

At that time, the ships they used were not small, but they still could not be compared to those big ships from the modern era, so the places where people could live were also small. No matter if it was Jiang Zhen’s men or the merchants, they all slept in the same cabin, but Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge had a separate cabin.

The room was small, only about four square meters, but at least no one came to disturb them. Jiang Zhen entered the room with the food and saw Zhao Jinge playing with the abacus there.

This abacus was brought by Jiang Zhen. When he was a child, he learned a little about the abacus in his math class. But to be honest, at the moment, except for the one above representing five and the one below representing one, he had almost forgotten everything else. He was going to relearn it, but unfortunately, he hadn’t had the time yet.

“Jiang Zhen, you are back!” Seeing Jiang Zhen, Zhao Jinge immediately stood up.

“Well, dinner is ready.” Jiang Zhen put down his bowl and added, “Tomorrow we will stop at this side of Fucheng for a day. Would you like to go ashore?”

“Are you going?” Zhao Jinge asked.

“I’ll be a little busy,” Jiang Zhen said. After all, it was the first trip out. He had to keep an eye on everything, and he had no time to accompany Zhao Jinge for a stroll.

“Then I won’t go either. I’ll help you,” Zhao Jinge said. Although there were some things he didn’t understand, he could do simple things like ordering and other things, so he could also help Jiang Zhen a little.

“Good.” Jiang Zhen went over and gave Zhao Jinge a kiss.

Zhao Jinge was started, but did not try to avoid it and just said, “Don’t do this. We are on the boat.” The soundproofing on this ship was not very good. He could even hear what was said next door . . .

“It’s just a kiss. We won’t do that. What are you afraid of? Even if we do . . . It will be alright if you keep your voice down,” Jiang Zhen teased.

“Then . . . Then you must also pay attention, and don’t make any noise,” Zhao Jinge thought about it and said to Jiang Zhen.

Jiang Zhen: “. . .”

When he flirted with him, he forgot that Zhao Jinge didn’t make a sound even when he was extremely happy, so . . . They only made noise at night, basically because he moved too vigorously and the bed creaked. But when Zhao Jinge said that, it was somewhat strange . . .

“Why don’t you move and do it gently?” Jiang Zhen said again.

“I?” Zhao Jinge looked at Jiang Zhen puzzled. How could he be the one to move?

“Eat first, and I will teach you later in the evening,” Jiang Zhen said.

Zhao Jinge started eating in silence, but his heart was beating like a drum. He already had a bad premonition. How could Jiang Zhen know so much?

Zhao Jinge went out to work with his father from a young age. Because he listened to other people’s dirty talk, he knew more or less about men and women’s affairs. But after spending time with Jiang Zhen . . . Zhao Jinge suddenly found that he seemed to know too little. How could Jiang Zhen know so much?

Zhao Jinge did not understand, so he ate a few more mouthfuls of food and then asked, “Did you ask this woman to especially cook this? This piece of meat is really delicious.“

“That woman can’t cook something so delicious, so I made it.” Jiang Zhen laughed.

Zhao Jinge looked at Jiang Zhen in surprise and suddenly regretted eating too fast and not tasting it well.

Although he had eaten a lot of food cooked by Jiang Zhen before, he hadn’t eaten anything made by him since their relationship was made official . . . Moreover, Jiang Zhen had made it extra for him to eat. Just thinking about it, Zhao Jinge felt satisfied. Jiang Zhen was very good, he had to work harder, so that he could help him.

Although Zhao Jinge liked to eat sliced meat, he only ate two pieces to taste it, then he stopped moving his chopsticks intending to let Jiang Zhen eat more.

Jiang Zhen knew what he was thinking, so he put his chopsticks in the bowl and said, “Don’t act like a stranger in the future. If you don’t eat it, I will give it to others to see what you will do.”

Zhao Jinge was shocked.

“I knew a businessman named Fang before. He was poor when he was young and lived a bad life. His wife was an ordinary village woman. Later, when he got rich, he bought this and that for her and wanted her to dress up beautifully. However, his wife thought it was just a waste of money. She was unwilling to make more delicious food for him at home. Later, he didn’t like going back home. He went to a restaurant every day and then took a concubine . . .”

Jiang Zhen started to make up a story to scare Zhao Jinge. “The concubine wanted rouge and powder today; silk and satin tomorrow; chicken, duck, and fish for dinner; sedan chair and carriage for going out. The money was spent just like water, but the businessman surnamed Fang still liked her because he could live comfortably with her. Later, he didn’t even want to see his old wife, so he was afraid to go back. At that time, his wife still thought that even killing a chicken was too wasteful.”

“!” Zhao Jinge quickly ate a piece of meat.

In fact, Jiang Zhen spent a lot of money, and every two days, he would buy a chicken or a duck to eat. He felt that it was quite wasteful, but he thought that all this money belonged to Jiang Zhen, so he didn’t say anything. But . . . if Jiang Zhen didn’t buy it, he really wouldn’t buy and eat it. After that . . .

After scaring Zhao Jinge and finishing the meal, Jiang Zhen lay down on the bed. He was a little tired after that busy day. Zhao Jinge frowned and took the bowl and chopsticks outside deep in thought. But as soon as he went out, he was stopped.

“Zhao Jinge!”

“Yes?” When Zhao Jinge looked over, he found it was one of Jiang Zhen’s men, Ding Lian.

“Before, when Boss cooked, was it for you to eat?” Ding Lian glanced at the dishes in Zhao Jinge’s hands and then looked at Zhao Jinge with a complicated expression.

At first, they thought that Jiang Zhen didn’t care about Zhao Jinge and didn’t value him, otherwise, how could he possibly let a ger run around and train with a group of big men like them? But as time went on, they soon found out they were wrong. In fact, Jiang Zhen was very good to Zhao Jinge. At least, what Jiang Zhen taught Zhao Jinge was never taught to them. Of course, they didn’t have anything to say about it either . . . it wasn’t like they were Jiang Zhen’s gers. Why would Jiang Zhen teach them something that was so hard?

However, although they all knew that Jiang Zhen was very good to Zhao Jinge, it still surprised them that Jiang Zhen would cook for Zhao Jinge. Men, especially married ones with their wife still around . . . how could they not let their wife serve them? And even cook for the wife?

Jiang Zhen was so good to Zhao Jinge, that it was beyond good. It was said that, in order to marry Zhao Jinge, he was even willing to marry in his wife’s family . . .

“Boss is very kind to you.” Ding Lian sighed.

Zhao Jinge nodded. He also thought Jiang Zhen was very kind to him, so . . . if Jiang Zhen wanted to teach him something in the evening, he would study hard.