Warning: Some mild sexual content
Feng MuLing stood by a glimmering river that stretched wide towards no eye could see. The water flowed slowly, the surface almost unmoving if not for the boats that carried rice and other tradable goods across the borders between Jin and Qiu.
A battered bamboo boat on a brink of sinking drifted over the water, coming to a slow halt before Feng MuLing. It was wide and long enough to carry three people across the river, but any more and it would sink to the bottom of no return. At least there was a bamboo cote that hid half of the boat within, so no sun could scorch the sensitive skin, and no prying eye could see inside.
"Hop on, youngster, the wind is on our side today," A hunched back boat driver said, leaning into his paddle. He raised his bamboo hat, scratching at his uneven beard before spitting the straw he was chewing into the lake. "Come one now, or are you waiting for me to carry your ass on the boat, bunk?"