Chapter 927 Sounding Him Out

Chapter 927: Sounding Him Out Chapter 927: Sounding Him Out Editor: Atlas Studios Qi Haoran pulled Little Lion away and asked him to note down a few questions.

He said in a low voice, “Tell this to your Brother Little An and big brother secretly and get them to ask Andre these questions.” Qi Haoran knew that if he stayed there, Andre would be on guard even if it was the children who asked the questions.

However, it was different if Andre was left alone with the children.

Considering the young age of the children, Andre wouldn’t be on guard.

Just as Qi Haoran thought, after he left, Andre let his guard down and tried his best to answer the children’s strange questions.

Sometimes, he even joked.

For example, Tiger Head would ask, “What do your people eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

Do you drink tea too?” And Little Lion would ask, “At what age do the children in your country start learning how to read…” Little An, on the other hand, expressed that he was still the most interested in sea trade.

He asked, “If I sail a ship to your country, do I have to pay taxes too?

Aren’t children exempted from paying taxes?” Noting that this was a question instructed by his father, Little Bear widened his eyes and listened attentively.

Andre laughed out loud and replied, “Young Master, the tariffs are calculated according to the value of the goods, not according to the owner’s age.” Feeling a little regretful, Little An asked, “How much taxes do I have to hand over for ten bolts of satin?” With a smile, Andre answered, “Four bolts.” Little Bear thought about it and asked, “Which item has a higher tariff—gemstones or spices?” “It must be gemstones,” Little Lion shouted.

“Gemstones are prettier.” “Then let’s go and buy the spices instead,” Tiger Head suggested.

“When the time comes, we’ll get Spring to make us a few more pouches.

We’ll all pack them with spices and carry them with us.

We don’t have to pay taxes for the things we carry with us, right?” Andre, who was originally on guard, laughed after hearing these childish words and said, “Young Masters, you’re wrong.

The tariff on spices is even heavier than gemstones.

However, this young master is right.

We indeed don’t have to pay taxes for the things we carry with us, but there’s a limit to what we can carry on us.

Moreover, if the other party believes that you’re deliberately avoiding taxes, I’m afraid you’ll have to make a trip to jail.

We don’t care for that bit of savings.” Every time they went out to sea, they would bring an entire ship full of goods.

Why would they be afraid of the tariffs on the few things they hand-carried?

Only the boatman would secretly smuggle some things on board in order to earn more money from the round trip.

However, the expenses of being a boatman was also very high.

Sometimes, their earnings would be gone after a few months of fun.

But of course, Andre would not tell the children about this.

Andre was pestered by the children and asked questions one after another.

Some of them spoke in childish language, while others were questions involving the sea trade economy.

Sometimes, they even asked about politics.

Of course, it was impossible for the children to ask openly.

They would only ask, “How many concubines does your Emperor have?

How many princes does he have?

Are they as old as us?

Is the princess beautiful?

Is there a capable Prince in your country like my father?

Does your Prime Minister have a beard?” By the time the children were finally satisfied, Andre’s mouth was dry.

At this moment, they had already traveled far away, and there were only a few fishing boats floating on the sea.

Hearing a slightly sharp voice came from afar, the children lay at the bow of the ship and looked into the distance.

They exclaimed, “Look, that’s a fish!

A fish that can spit out water!” The group of fish let out a crisp cry again, though not as sharp this time.

The four children let out loud exclamations and lay at the bow of the ship, not daring to blink.

Smiling, Andre said, “That’s a whale.

Looks like we’re very lucky today.” The whale wasn’t coming toward them and was a long distance away.

The children watched eagerly as it disappeared into the horizon.

Tiger Head exclaimed, “Mother said that this kind of fish is very precious.

We have to protect them.” With a beam, Andre said, “Whales are very powerful and don’t need human protection.

Moreover, according to what I know, many coastal countries like to capture whales.” The four children exclaimed and asked, “Is the whale delicious?

Why do people want to catch it?” Just as Andre was about to answer, one of the two identical children suddenly shouted excitedly, “Pirates!

It’s pirates!

We’ve encountered pirates!” Andre shivered and quickly turned to look at the sea, even accidentally twisting his neck because of his violent movements.

The three children, who had already stopped paying attention to the sea, immediately ran to the bow of the ship when they heard Tiger Head’s shout.

When they saw a flag with a skeleton emblem in the distance, they immediately shouted excitedly, “It’s really pirates!” “Pirates with warships!” “Forward!

Forward!

We’re going to defeat the pirates—” Little Bear shouted excitedly, wishing he could rush to the pirate ship immediately.

The soldiers on the ship also discovered the pirate ship and immediately became vigilant.

They prepared their weapons one after another.

Some even wanted to come up and carry the young masters back to the cabin to prevent them from accidentally sustaining injuries here.

However, Tiger Head and Little Lion were unwilling to go back.

They even helped the weak Little An push back the soldiers who came to carry him.

Meanwhile, after Little Bear expressed that he was unwilling to leave, no one dared to go forward and forcefully carry him away for they knew that he was very strong.

If Little Bear didn’t control his strength, he could easily slap them down the ship.

Just as the soldiers were looking at them anxiously, Qi Haoran strode out and suppressed the four brats with a look.

However, he did not request to send them back to the cabin.

What was there to be afraid of when they were still far from the pirate ship?

Since their eyes were barely able to see the pirate ship from this distance, it would take a long time for them to reach it or for it to catch up.

As Qi Haoran did not intend to raise the four brats into cowards, he reckoned it was fine to take a look at the pirate ship.

In any case, he did not intend to rush up to the pirates and get beaten up.

Qi Haoran ordered the lieutenant, “Go forward a little and let them see the pirate ship clearly.

After that, we’ll set sail back.” After the lieutenant agreed with a frown, he turned the rudder with the crew and sailed forward for about 15 minutes before everyone could see the situation clearly.

Someone shouted, “The pirate ship seems to be robbing merchant ships.” “No wonder they hung the skeleton flag.

They usually keep it so that they can confuse the merchant ships.” “Then should we go over and save them?” “Are you stupid?

How can we save them with so few people?

His Highness and the young masters are still on the ship.

We might end up getting implicated instead.” “These pirates are too arrogant to dare to rob so close to the port.

Didn’t His Highness exterminate many pirates previously?

Aren’t they afraid of encountering our warships?” “Actually, it’s not that close.

We’ve been sailing for almost four hours since we left the port…” The four children heard the soldiers’ whispers and pounced forward to pester Qi Haoran to eliminate the bandits.

Little Bear even took the initiative to volunteer.

“Father, can you let us capture them personally?” Qi Haoran glared at him and was about to lecture him when he heard a veteran shout, “Why does that merchant ship look so familiar?

Isn’t that the Zhou family’s mark on the ship?” “Sigh, it’s really the mark of Assistant Commander Zhou’s family’s ship.” Zhou Zhou had just been promoted from a lieutenant to an assistant commander because of his contribution to suppressing the pirates.

Qi Haoran and the four children immediately straightened their bodies and widened their eyes to look at the merchant ship.

The Zhou family’s merchant ship was considered Zijin’s ship… which meant it was their ship.

Their merchant ship had been hijacked!

The first to react, Tiger Head yelled, “That belongs to our family!”

If you find any errors ( Ads popup, ads redirect, broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.