Chapter 135.1

“Pearl?” Jiang Zhen looked at the child who poked her head out from Zhao Jinge’s coat in surprise. Who would it be if it wasn’t Zhao Mingzhu?

His pearl was here!

No wonder Zhao Jinge, who never had a problem with the cold, wrapped himself so tightly in the straw raincoat. It was because he was holding Zhao Mingzhu in his arms.

When Jiang Zhen saw that Zhao Jinge was here, he was very surprised and happy, but he was even more excited to see Zhao Mingzhu.

When he was here, he always missed Zhao Jinge and Zhao Mingzhu, so when he saw Zhao Jinge, he couldn’t wait to go and hug him.

But . . . after sleeping outside for two months, Jiang Zhen was so dirty that he was disgusted with himself.

Under such circumstances, it didn’t matter if he hugged Zhao Jinge, who was wearing a straw raincoat, but Zhao Mingzhu . . .

Jiang Zhen looked at his thick, cracked, and stained hands covered with mud; he really couldn’t bear to reach out with them.

Zhao Jinge was also very excited. He was afraid that Jiang Zhen would bump into Zhao Mingzhu before, so he stopped him, but at the moment Jiang Zhen stretched out his hand, he grabbed it and held it tightly.

After grabbing Jiang Zhen’s hand, Zhao Jinge also patted Zhao Mingzhu, who was bound to his chest, with the other hand. “Mingzhu, call him ‘Father’!”

Zhao Mingzhu stared at Jiang Zhen with wide-open eyes; her pair of big black eyes stared at him without blinking.

His pearl could already call him dad? Jiang Zhen looked at Zhao Mingzhu with surprise all over his face, waiting for her to call him, but Zhao Mingzhu kept her mouth shut.

“She already knew how to call people when she was at home, so now I don’t know why she doesn’t say anything.” Zhao Jinge looked at Jiang Zhen awkwardly. After teaching Zhao Mingzhu for a long time, he finally taught Zhao Mingzhu how to say father and waited for this moment. But unexpectedly, his daughter stopped saying anything.

“It’s alright. When I go back, I will teach her more, so she will call me!” Jiang Zhen said, waiting to go back with Zhao Jinge. He must have taught Zhao Mingzhu every day, so she probably already learned it.

As soon as Jiang Zhen’s voice fell, Zhao Mingzhu, who had been watching him seriously for some time, suddenly opened her mouth. “Father.”

Jiang Zhen only felt that his heart was about to melt.

In the atmosphere going on between Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge, there was no place for anyone else but Zhao Mingzhu. When Zhu Erlin saw that, he looked at Jiang Ming and asked, “Who is that?”

Zhao Jinge was a little different from what Zhu Erlin had imagined, but Zhu Erlin was born poor and still has a good feeling for strong people like Zhao Jinge. “That ger is good.”

The others also thought that Zhao Jinge was good; such a sturdy ger could work, and he would not be targeted easily by the people from Hongjiang Salt Farm, which was something they liked.

Only Zhou Maohe was dissatisfied. “It’s immoral! It’s indecent!” A man and a ger, how dare they hug each other in public!

However, no one was listening to him at the moment.

The people who were slowly following behind looked excitedly at the huge ships in front of them.

They have been living here for generations, but what they have experienced had caused them not to love this place too much. Since they could leave, they were all very willing to, hoping to go somewhere else and live a good life.

In such a situation, they were even more grateful to Jiang Zhen, and many people cried in a small voice out of happiness.

There were more and more people around, so Zhao Jinge finally came back to his senses and quickly released his grip on Jiang Zhen’s hand before saying, “Quickly let everyone on board. I’ve asked someone to boil hot water for you, so you can take a bath and have a good rest.”

“Mm.” Jiang Zhen nodded and then added, “Let them go up first.”

Zhao Jinge was hoping that Jiang Zhen could go up earlier and have a good rest, but Jiang Zhen wanted those people to go up first, so he followed Jiang Zhen and helped him maintain order while they let those people board the ships first.

Originally, when these people saw the ships, they were scrambling to get on board early, but when they noticed that Jiang Zhen was not boarding the ship, they also became less eager, letting people who were unwell board the ship first.

These people were saved by Jiang Zhen, but they were lacking food, clothing, as well as shelter. In fact, they didn’t live a good life, and many people became sick or died, so this time, many had pale and haggard faces.

In this regard, Jiang Zhen could not do anything except give them a little more food, but after that day, these people would never have to go hungry again.

“Where is Young Master Zheng planning to locate them?” Jiang Zhen took the time to ask Zhao Jinge.

These days, Zhao Jinge has been following Zheng Yi, and he knew about Zheng Yi’s arrangements. “Sailing from here for about a day, we will reach a small island. Young Master Zheng intends to settle these people on that island first.”

“There’s an island?” Jiang Zhen added, “Whose family owns that island?”

“There are some fishermen living on that island. There are also some sea merchants that have docked there, but the island is ownerless,” Zhao Jinge said.

“Well . . .” Jiang Zhen looked in the direction Zhao Jinge pointed at and thought about it.

Ten thousand people boarded the ten ships.

It was taking a lot of time, and by the time everyone was on board, it was already evening.

Jiang Zhen did not get on the boat until that moment.

He boarded the biggest one, and once he got in, he saw Zheng Yin waiting on the bow.

There were many people on the ship, but those people were arranged to get on board from the stern, so the bow was quiet and not messy at all.

Zheng Yi was originally lying on a recliner at the bow, but after seeing Jiang Zhen, he stood up and said, “Jiang Zhen, long time no see.”

“Young Master Zheng, long time no see,” Jiang Zhen greeted Zheng Yi.

Zheng Yi smiled toward Jiang Zhen and reached out his hand with the intention of inviting Jiang Zhen to sit beside him, but soon, his expression froze.

He had seen Jiang Zhen messy appearance after a fight, but he had never seen Jiang Zhen so muddy and dirty.

Looking at the exquisite snacks and expensive drinks he had prepared, Zheng Yi said, “Jiang Zhen, go wash up first. We can talk later.”

Jiang Zhen also felt that he should wash up first.

When Zhao Jinge came to pick up Jiang Zhen, he also brought Cook Li and Ruo’er with him. After boarding the ship, he handed Zhao Mingzhu to Cook Li and then helped Jiang Zhen wash his hands and feet.

Before, although Jiang Zhen’s hands had thick calluses, his pampered life had left his hands free from chapping, but this time . . .

Zhao Jinge looked at Jiang Zhen’s cracked hands and felt very distressed.

“I’m fine.’ Jiang Zhen withdrew his hand and took off his clothes.

He likes to be clean, so he has boiled water to wipe his body these days. But his clothes were still dirty. After taking them off his dirty clothes and washing his hands and feet, he didn’t look as bad as at the beginning.

“Jinge, do you want to bathe with me?” Jiang Zhen stood beside the tub, smiling at Zhao Jinge.