Ke Bina, almost dizzy from the names, shook his head and refocused his attention on Su Muqing and the others. It was nearly noon (eleven o'clock), and everyone decided to enter the city first, then wander around and find a distinctive restaurant for lunch.
Although they said they were going to buy supplies, Ke Bin Na and his group had already sent people to reserve some major supplies in the city when they first landed last night. They just needed to pick them up and move them onto the ship before departure.
What they needed to do now was to buy their own food, or some unique items as souvenirs. Su Muqing and her group already knew the whereabouts of the Huoyan Zhi, so all they had to do was follow this young prince closely.
After a brief conversation along the way, Ke Bin Na learned that they did not have a ship and had traveled by horse-drawn carriage. So, the group first went to the largest shipping company in the city to rent a ship.
Su Muqing interrupted the lengthy introduction from the shipping company and directly requested the largest and best ship. If the space was too small, she worried it might not be enough to fit the black bear. Ancient large ships mainly relied on wind, water, and human power for travel; these three were indispensable. When the wind direction was unfavorable or when turning was necessary, human power was required to steer. Su Muqing did not lack wind power, so they spent money to hire more sailors.
From Wites City to the Tianzhao Kingdom's dock, if the journey was smooth, it would take about a month and a half one way. The round trip would take over three months. Running a ship was a relatively dangerous profession, so sailors' wages were much higher than those of ordinary jobs.
Su Muqing's group hired a total of 35 people this time. Thirty ordinary sailors were paid 2 taels each. Four first mates were paid 3 taels each, and the most experienced old captain received the highest wage, earning 4 taels of silver per trip.
The food and drink during the journey were usually provided by the employer. Whether the food was good or not depended on the employer's willingness to spend. Relative to the size of the ship, 35 people was considered a high-end configuration.
The ship workers waiting outside, upon hearing that a large single trip charter had arrived, all waited outside. For charters like this, they could usually pick up some work on the return trip, meaning they could earn double the pay. Seeing Su Muqing and her group come out, they pushed forward, wanting to recommend themselves.
Ke Bin Na, seeing that they had made a decision, eagerly offered to pay for them. Su Muqing refused. This child was so honest; she couldn't always exploit him as a cash cow.
Lu Yuzhi paid a deposit of 200 taels and asked Leng Ren and the others to go pick people first, then go to the dock to identify the ship. The selected ship workers also had to notify their families and pack some simple clothes.
After giving the instructions, the group left through another door. It was now past twelve noon, and they went directly to Wites City's largest restaurant, the Fuyun Tower.
The waiter, seeing their extraordinary attire, quickly approached them. "Your excellencies, please... I will arrange the best private room for you."
Everyone nodded and followed the waiter to a private room on the second floor.
"Miss Su, Brother Lu, please order whatever you like. No one is allowed to snatch it from me! I must treat you to lunch today. Waiter, what special delicacies do you have? Announce them to my esteemed guests." As soon as Ke Bin Na sat down, he settled the matter of payment. This young prince was enthusiastic and hospitable, and Su Muqing and her group did not refuse him.
After hearing the waiter announce the dish names, the two casually ordered a few dishes. Ke Bin Na waved his hand and added many expensive dishes. All they needed to do now was sit in the room and wait for the food to be served.
Lu Yuzhi held the little milk bun and chatted with Ke Bin Na. Su Muqing stood by the window, watching the people coming and going on the street.
Wites City was large and prosperous, with people from different countries coming and going every day. She had seen many people with golden hair and blue eyes, or dark skin, on the street earlier. She assumed these were people from even farther countries.
As she watched, Su Muqing thought of Su Minghui and the others. She wondered how her uncle and the others were doing on Zhengyi Mountain.
On the other side, Su Minghui, whom Su Muqing was thinking about, was accompanying the Huo family army to Songlin County. One purpose was to purchase some other items, and the second was to gather information on how the government was arranging for the refugees.
The weather was getting colder and colder, but the sky still showed no signs of rain. When they had fled here, faint traces of grass could still be seen on the roadside. Now, however, only refugees or the bodies of refugees could be seen everywhere.
The group rode on horseback, looking at the refugees leaning by the roadside. These people were so dirty that their original colors could no longer be seen, and their hair was matted. Their faces were blackened, and their lips were so dry that they were peeling.
Recalling that they had come the same way just a few months ago, they were far luckier because they had met Qing Yatou. Although they were fleeing famine, they had not suffered much.
Su Minghui saw a child digging something on the ground and stuffing it into his mouth, then into the mouth of another child beside him. The two adults lying beside them were motionless, as if asleep.
Perhaps unable to bear it, Su Minghui, who had already ridden far away, eventually returned to their side. Upon approaching, he discovered that something was amiss.
"Let go of me, let go of my sister... Don't take us..."
"Wuwuwu... Brother... Brother..."
As Su Minghui and the Huo family army rushed back, they saw two children being held by a group of refugees. The two adults lying down were motionless, likely having met a grim fate.
The others who were resting on the ground, upon seeing this group of refugees, scrambled to their feet in fear and ran forward frantically. It seemed they knew that this group was not to be trifled with.
"Hahaha! What good luck today! I'm starving to death, and I didn't expect to run into two little lambs today. Finally, we can have a good meal!"
"Haha! Yes! Stop talking nonsense. Let's find firewood and roast them to eat."
"This little one seems to have wet his pants. He smells of urine. Why don't we skin them before eating?"
"Do you have plenty of grain? You want to skin them? The skin tastes better when roasted. We have no food, and you're still complaining about the smell of urine. The water you drank yesterday, wasn't it your own dog's urine?"
The refugees chatted as they dragged the two children towards the nearby mountain. After a short while, Su Minghui and the Huo family army caught up on horseback.
Su Minghui dismounted and quickly ran over. "Let go of those two children!"
The refugees, who were excitedly heading up the mountain, heard the sound and turned to look. They saw five people dressed in ordinary clothes standing behind them. The five were not very tall, and although their bodies were clean, their clothes were the cheapest coarse cloth. It seemed they were villagers from Songlin County, and the fact that they were riding horses indicated that their families were well-off. All this was just a disguise.
The leader of the refugees rolled his eyes and had a wicked idea. The people of Songlin County were not good people; they drove refugees away everywhere. The government was also a bunch of incompetent fools who didn't care about their lives. It would be better to capture these people and use them to control their families. This way, they might be able to eat their fill for a few days.
So, the leader threw the little boy he was holding to someone behind him. Then, he stepped forward and looked at Su Minghui and the others with disdain. "Which village are you from? Do you understand first come, first served? If you want to eat, go catch them yourselves. We brothers finally found two, and you expect us to let them go?"
These refugees were already struggling to survive and had only managed to live by fighting and snatching. People who had crawled out of piles of dead bodies had little reverence.
Furthermore, there were fifteen brothers on their side, while Su Minghui's group had only five people. With such a huge disparity in strength, these refugees dared to act so brazenly.
Huo Xiao, the small captain of the Huo family army, stared fiercely at the leader of the refugees. "Either leave these two children, or leave all your lives."
The leader clearly felt killing intent from him, indicating that this person had blood on his hands. However, he was unwilling to give up the food that could save his life.
"Brothers, look how clean they are dressed. Their families must not be lacking in food and drink. Let's do something big! Tie them up and then go to their village to live a comfortable life for a few days? What do you say?" The leader stared at Huo Xiao without blinking and then shouted to the people behind him.
"Tie them! Tie them! Tie them!" The refugees behind him immediately echoed excitedly at the leader's words.
One refugee tied the two children together, then drew the woodcutting knife at his waist and returned to the formation.
"Charge!" The leader, holding a large knife with a small piece broken off, rushed out first, followed by the other refugees with high morale.
The dozen or so people surrounded Su Minghui and the others. Huo Xiao made a gesture to his subordinates, and before the refugees could react, they swiftly drew the short knives from their sleeves and quickly advanced, striking with precision.
"Clang, clang..." With a few sounds, the weapons in the hands of four refugees fell to the ground simultaneously.
They instinctively covered their necks with their dirty hands. Some took two steps forward and then fell to the ground with a thud. Huo Xiao struck the hardest, and the person he killed had their neck almost severed, with only some flesh and skin still connected.
The remaining eleven refugees looked at the scene with some fear, then revealed fierce expressions and rushed towards them with their knives. The reason these people had survived until now was mainly their fearlessness of death. And the people they robbed were afraid of death and dared not resist, so they had developed a delusion that they were invincible.
Who knew that today they had kicked a steel plate. Such rabble was not even enough for Huo Xiao and his men to warm up. In just a few moves, they had dealt with fourteen people. Now only the leader remained. He stood there, holding his broken large knife, his legs trembling, and a yellow liquid flowing between his legs.
Huo Xiao frowned in disgust, then quickly threw a knife, which landed precisely between the man's legs.
"Ah...!" The man dropped the knife in his hand and let out a heart-wrenching scream, clutching his crotch.
Su Minghui saw the two children staring at them with wide, terrified eyes. He quickly stepped forward, untied the ropes binding them, and then took them down the mountain.
He didn't ask how Huo Xiao dealt with the man. After they descended the mountain, they could still hear screams, indicating that he would not die painlessly. However, it was deserved for the refugees to suffer such consequences!
When Su Minghui returned to where they had been with the two children, he discovered that the two adults lying there had likely been dead for a long time. In such cold weather, the bodies had already rotted and stank.
It was a pity for these two children, who had survived by digging mud and grass roots beside their parents. Su Minghui pulled a few handfuls of weeds and covered the faces of the two dead people. Along the way, there were starving refugees everywhere. If he were to dig graves and bury them one by one, he would probably break his hands before he could finish. This was all he could do.
Su Minghui took off his satchel, took out a large flatbread, and tore it in half, giving it to the two children. As soon as the children saw him tearing the flatbread, they couldn't help but swallow their saliva madly.
The little girl seemed to be about six or seven years old. She was so hungry that before Su Minghui could reach out, she snatched the smaller half and began to wolf it down.
The little boy was quite polite. He first said thank you before taking the larger piece of flatbread. He then tore it into two halves, holding the larger half in his hand and slowly chewing and eating the smaller half.
The little girl finished the half flatbread in her hand and was clearly still hungry. She turned to look at the flatbread in her brother's hand. The little boy handed her the other half again. The little girl shook her head, pushed the flatbread back, and let her brother eat it. Seeing this, Su Minghui took out another one and divided it into two halves, handing them to them.
After the two finished eating the flatbread, Huo Xiao and the others also came down after dealing with those people. Fortunately, it was not far from Zhengyi Mountain. Huo Xiao sent someone to escort the two children back. Then the four of them continued towards Songlin County.
Lao San had set off two days earlier than Su Muqing and the others. He was hurrying back to Songlin County to inform Su Minghui and the others. He had traveled at full speed and had only covered half the distance. He occasionally had to deal with petty thieves on the road who wanted to rob or bully him, which caused some delay.
After receiving Lu Yuzhi's first carrier pigeon message, Xu Fu immediately sent people to the south city to arrange financial and military matters. However, before the dispatched personnel could reach their destination, the second carrier pigeon message arrived.
Looking at the content of the letter, Xu Fu subconsciously frowned. What did the young master mean? He said he would assist Miss Su with all his might to establish Huaxia City. He also intended to hand over all the remaining wealth of the Huo family to her.
The letter stated that once Huaxia City was built, the first step would be to gather troops and coordinate with them from the inside and outside to capture Changning Prefecture in one fell swoop. Then, they would break down the surrounding prefectural cities one by one... Looking at the plan in the letter and the subsequent arrangements, Xu Fu couldn't help but be startled. Did the young master intend to make Miss Su a queen?
On the other side, Su Cuiping and the others were in Huaxia City, busily building a huge factory. In the initial phase, it would be used to house and accommodate those who came to Huaxia City. Once the houses were gradually built and those people moved out, it would be converted into a factory.
On the second day after Lu Yuzhi and his group left, Leng Si gathered the over one hundred named individuals from the no-man's-land and took out the loyalty pills that Su Muqing had given him before she left.
Those people heard that these pills had peculiar effects. As long as they did not harbor any intention of betraying Huaxia City, these pills could help them improve their cultivation. Seeing that Tianji Laoren and the sect leaders of the Three Saints Palace did not hesitate, they also took them without question.
Although they might not betray themselves, this was an additional layer of security. After all, there were too many people, and without some extraordinary measures, it would be very difficult to manage them.
On the other side, the dishes ordered by Su Muqing and her group were being served one after another. In the meantime, Ha Ke led people to the dock and brought Leng Ren and the others, who had finished their tasks, over.
It turned out that not long after they left, there had been a minor incident when they went to the dock to select people. A broker from the shipping company, seeing their generous spending and high wages, kept pushing his own people.
The selected old captain frowned with displeasure as he looked at the people chosen by the broker. However, due to the broker being a relative of the boss, he couldn't say much. But he knew very well that the employers this time, though appearing amiable, were definitely not people to be trifled with. If any accidents occurred during the journey, wouldn't the gains outweigh the losses?
So, he asked Leng Ren and the others to inspect the ship first, and then quietly told them his opinion. He pointed out that most of the people in those teams were not suitable for running ships and were not skilled helmsmen. Many were there to cheat for money through connections. Sailing on the boundless sea with such inexperienced or unmanageable people was a very risky endeavor.
The two understood the worry in the old captain's tone. Seeing his expression of not wanting to cause trouble, they thought he genuinely felt that those people were not good enough. So, after returning, they declined the broker's recommendations and selected people from the group of ship workers themselves. Finally, they selected two teams. Leng Ren subtly glanced at the old captain and saw him nod slightly. They knew that these two teams were qualified, and thus the matter was settled.
However, when those people saw that Leng Ren had not chosen them, they became unhappy and were on the verge of a fight. Some even threatened Leng Ren and the others, forcing the two to draw their weapons.
Just as the situation reached a stalemate, Ha Ke arrived with a group of people and also called the shopkeeper of the shipping company. He directly took out the royal token of the Tianzhao Kingdom and handed it to the shopkeeper.
Upon seeing that these people were from his royal family, the shopkeeper knew that they were not people he could afford to offend. So, he turned around and scolded the brokers and the ship workers thoroughly. He also stated that everything would be done according to Leng Ren's choices, and thus the matter was suppressed.
Ke Bin Na was a bit annoyed upon hearing Ha Ke's report. He told Lu Yuzhi and the others not to rent a ship but to ride on their ship instead, as it would be more lively. Ha Ke tactfully mentioned that their ship alone had seventy to eighty patrolling guards, not including those who died yesterday. Where would there be extra space?
Su Muqing smiled and refused. "No need! I have three more companions. They prefer spacious places. Your ship is a bit small for them."
Seeing their persistent refusal, Ke Bin Na didn't mention it anymore. He quickly called them to the table to eat. Seeing that there were no outsiders, and everyone was uninhibited, they also called Ha Ke and Leng Ren to the table to eat together.
The group enjoyed a pleasant lunch. After eating and drinking their fill, they had a cup of tea in the room to refresh themselves and rest, then went downstairs together to visit other places.
One advantage of a port city was that people were boarding and disembarking ships all day long, so the streets were always lively. Basically, as long as it wasn't raining, the roadside stalls were open all day.
Su Muqing looked at a distinctive stall by the roadside, selling hair accessories for girls. The stall owner was a middle-aged man. Although the items sold were not very valuable, they were exquisite and unique.
She picked out several sets of colors and styles suitable for young girls, and then picked out several sets suitable for older women. She bought almost everything on the stall. The large bag in the end only cost over three hundred wen.
Su Muqing felt it was quite cheap, as she usually used gold and silver ingots when exchanging in her space. When shopping in the mall, she usually paid tens of thousands or even millions.
Unbeknownst to her, the shopkeeper, who had made such a large sale, was almost overjoyed. This was over three hundred wen! After deducting the cost, he could still make a profit of more than half. So, he generously gave Su Muqing two small pink flowers and saw them off with obsequious bows.
Su Muqing pinned the small flowers onto the little milk bun's pigtails. They were indeed tender and pink, and looked very cute. She couldn't help but kiss his chubby little face, making someone beside her extremely envious...
The little milk bun tickled by the kiss giggled non-stop, and clear saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth. Lu Yuzhi took out a handkerchief and gently wiped the saliva from Su Muqing's face. Then he wiped the saliva from the corner of the little milk bun's mouth.
Seeing Lu Yuzhi reach out, the little milk bun thought he was going to pick him up, so he leaned into his arms and drooled on him again...
Lu Yuzhi took the little milk bun, and the group continued to stroll. Along the way, it was basically Su Muqing who was doing all the shopping. She casually bought some food for the ship workers, and the rest were super beautiful clothes, pure handmade embroidery, fragrant and distinctive spices, and various small trinkets...
In the end, Leng Ren and the others couldn't carry any more of the things they bought. Even Ke Bin Na, his servants, and his retinue became her temporary porters. Lu Yuzhi asked Leng Ren and the others to rent a cart and send the purchased items back to the ship they had rented.
Leng Feng reported the situation to Lu Yuzhi and the others. "When we just returned, those people were already making preparations. Your subordinate has confirmed the time with them. They will depart at the end of Xushi (9 PM), and they said there were no problems."
Su Muqing asked while feeding the little milk bun soup, "Then haven't they had dinner tonight?"
Leng Ren put down his chopsticks and replied, "They probably haven't. They boarded the ship in the afternoon and have been busy until now. Starting tonight, they should be expecting us to provide meals. Your subordinate has already handed over the purchased grain and ingredients to the old captain. They should arrange for cooking."
Su Muqing nodded. "That's good. After eating, we'll go shopping again and see if there's anything else we've missed buying."
The rest: Still buying? Missed? With your buying habits, are there things you could miss? Women shopping are truly terrifying...