(Sorry to keep you waiting. 14,000-character chapter.)

The journey from the Great Sui capital back to Longquan County in Great Li was utterly familiar to Chen Pingan.

He still chose mountain paths whenever possible, deserted and quiet. Besides practicing the Heaven and Earth Stance, he had Zhu Lian help him refine his martial arts every day. Zhu Lian became increasingly serious, progressing from the sixth realm to the pinnacle of the seventh. The scale of their sparring grew larger and larger, causing Pei Qian much concern. If her Shifu wasn’t wearing the golden brocade robe, how much more money would they have to spend on clothes? During their first exchange, Chen Pingan called a halt halfway through, realizing his boot had split. He had no choice but to take them off and continue barefoot against Zhu Lian.

After leaving the Great Sui border, Chen Pingan switched to straw sandals, much to Pei Qian’s amusement. Chen Pingan then made a pair for her, and the little black charcoal face could no longer laugh. Straw sandals were sturdy and often more reliable than regular boots when traveling up mountains and wading through water, but they still chafed. Fortunately, Chen Pingan didn’t insist that Pei Qian wear them all the time. When Pei Qian was pricking the blisters on her feet, Zhu Lian made a sarcastic comment from the sidelines. The old and young man were used to verbally sparring every day.

Chen Pingan sat beside a stream, took off his straw sandals, and put his feet in the water, his thoughts drifting far away.

It wasn’t quite homesickness, but compared to his first journey, he had many more concerns: the ancestral home in Mud Bottle Alley, the bamboo building on Fallen Mountain, Wei Bo’s talk of buying the mountain, the business of the two shops in Riding Dragon Lane, the repair of the clay bodhisattvas and celestial official statues in the God’s Graveyard, and many other things that Chen Pingan hadn’t thought of before. He often thought about them. As for returning to Longquan County, after that, he would first visit Gu Can at Shujian Lake, then visit the couple and the old nanny who cooked excellent home-style dishes in Caiyi Country. He also needed to see the old Sword Saint Song Yushao of Shushui Country. He still owed the old senior a hotpot meal, and Chen Pingan also wanted to show off to the old man that his beloved girl also liked him and wasn’t as terrible as Old Senior Song had said.

Chen Pingan naturally admired the refined elegance of Cui Dongshan, Lu Tai, and even Liu Qingshan of Lion Garden, but it wouldn’t lead him to blindly emulate them.

He called it liking the new without abandoning the old, so his possessions kept accumulating.

Chen Pingan thought this was a good habit, like his talent for naming things, one of the few “special skills” that made Chen Pingan feel a little proud.

Chen Pingan suddenly turned to Pei Qian and said, “In the future, when you travel the world with Li Huai and the others, don’t be too restrained, and don’t try to learn everything from me.”

Pei Qian said shyly, “I want to learn from Shifu, but I can’t.”

Zhu Lian laughed, “Pei Qian, I’ll write a bootlicking bible in the future. It’ll definitely sell well in the world, and I’ll split the money with you.”

Pei Qian said seriously, “Don’t go back on your word. We’ll split it fifty-fifty!”

Zhu Lian reached out and tapped Pei Qian, “You, you’ll never get out of the money pit in this life.”

Pei Qian imitated Li Huai, shaking his head and making a face, “Blah, blah, blah, nonsense.”

Chen Pingan smiled knowingly, “Li Huai told me you decided to go treasure hunting together in the future?”

Zhu Lian joked, “Oh, divine couple, you’ve already eloped at such a young age?”

Pei Qian said angrily, “Li Huai and I are kindred spirits, just friends. Don’t talk such nonsense, old cook!”

Then Pei Qian immediately changed her face and smiled at Chen Pingan, “Shifu, you don’t have to worry about me being ungrateful in the future. I’m not like those lovestruck girls in books. I’ve agreed with Li Huai that all the treasures we find will be split equally, and my share will definitely go into Shifu’s pocket.”

Chen Pingan smiled without committing himself.

After that, the group smoothly arrived at the county city of the Yellow Court Kingdom, located on the Yu River. Back then, Chen Pingan and Cui Dongshan had traveled here together and saw several sword cultivators flying across the streets, causing chaos. Chen Pingan didn’t stop them at the time. With his strength, he couldn’t manage it and could only watch coldly.

It was like the old saying, “A small temple has strong winds.”

Not to mention the southern territory of Great Li, even in the Great Sui and the capital of Qingluan Country, it seemed that Qi refiners didn’t dare to be so reckless.

But in these vassal states, the registered immortals and wild cultivators were very indulgent. Even if ordinary people were affected by the disaster, they accepted their bad luck because they had nowhere to seek justice. The imperial court was unwilling to intervene, as it would be a thankless task. The local government didn’t dare to intervene, and even those with chivalrous hearts were powerless.

It was in this county that Cui Dongshan subdued the pink-skirted girl, whose true form was a fire python nurtured by the literary spirit of the books in the Zhilan Cao family’s library, and the green-clad boy who wreaked havoc in the Yu River Water God’s domain.

The pink-skirted girl belonged to the “literary spirits” born from famous articles and popular poems and songs. As for the green-clad boy, according to Wei Bo’s letter, he seemed to have some connection with Lu Chen, to the point where the Taoist leader now in charge of the White Jade Capital wanted to take the green-clad boy to the Azure Nether World. But the green-clad boy didn’t agree, so Lu Chen left the golden lotus seed and asked Chen Pingan to help the water snake turn into a dragon in the Northern Ju Luzhou in the future.

Chen Pingan had no objection or much doubt about this.

The county city was still bustling. It seemed that the transition from the Great Sui’s Gao family to the Great Li’s Song family as the tributary nation didn’t affect the people of the Yellow Court Kingdom much. Life was still leisurely.

However, it was said that when the Great Li iron cavalry marched south, one of the cavalry units went south along the border of the Great Sui and the Yellow Court Kingdom.

It couldn’t be said that they didn’t violate the people, but it didn’t cause much of a stir in the Yellow Court Kingdom’s court and among the people.

As they went deeper into the Yellow Court Kingdom, they often heard discussions in the streets and alleys. They showed a sense of pride as citizens of Great Li for the Great Li iron cavalry’s invincibility and praised the Yellow Court Kingdom emperor’s wise decision. The initial suspicion and wait-and-see attitude had turned into unanimous recognition and praise.

At the same time, the Ziyang Prefecture, Yu River, Cold Food River, and the Five Mountains of the Yellow Court Kingdom were the first immortal residences and mountain and water deities recognized by the Great Li imperial court, and they were in the limelight for a while.

As dusk approached, they entered the city. Pei Qian was undoubtedly the happiest. Although there was still a long way to go to the Great Li border, they were getting closer and closer to Longquan County. It seemed that every step she took was towards home, and she was radiating a cheerful atmosphere.
Zhu Lian didn’t feel much, still seeing himself as a rootless duckweed, drifting about, never truly settled, simply changing the scenery he looked upon. However, regarding Dragon Spring County, once a small blessed land, Zhu Lian was curious, especially after learning that Falling Mountain possessed a Grandmaster of the Realm of Stillness. Zhu Lian was eager to meet such an individual.

Only Shi Rou was filled with apprehension.

Chen Ping An’s intermittent chatter, coupled with Cui Dongshan’s descriptions of Dragon Spring County as a place of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, made Shi Rou feel like she was leading a lamb into a tiger’s den with her discarded immortal remains.

Especially when Cui Dongshan jokingly quipped, “Living with immortal remains is not easy,” Shi Rou’s heart clenched.

Chen Ping An entered the city, first buying some odds and ends, then chose a bustling downtown restaurant, where he shared a few cups of wine with Zhu Lian and bought two jars of liquor. Then, he set out to find a suitable inn.

As Chen Ping An walked the prosperous streets of the county city once more, he didn’t encounter the “carefree” sword cultivator who played among mortals.

Otherwise, Chen Ping An wouldn’t mind directly knocking him off his flying sword with a punch when he was wantonly harming people.

As for any subsequent repercussions, even if it involved several ancestral masters from the mountains, Chen Ping An wouldn’t care.

Having traversed the Upside-Down Mountain and the two continents, one would know that in tributary states like the Yellow Court Kingdom, Golden Core Earth Immortals were generally the leading figures, unreachably high. Moreover, if they really encountered a Nascent Soul cultivator, Chen Ping An wouldn’t dare claim victory in a single battle. But with Zhu Lian, a martial artist of the Distant Roaming Realm, holding the line, and Shi Rou, who could swallow a Nascent Soul sword cultivator’s natal flying sword unscathed, escape wouldn’t be too difficult.

For example, there was the group of people who, years ago, stayed at the private residence hidden in the mountains of the Yellow Court Kingdom’s old Minister of Revenue, Old Servant Cheng. He was a great Confucian scholar of the Yellow Court Kingdom, author of the renowned *Collection of Lightly Plucked Iron Swords* in the northern literary world of Treasure Bottle洲.

Chen Ping An learned afterward that the old minister had actually traveled the world in the history of the Yellow Court Kingdom with different identities and appearances. At the time, the old minister had warmly entertained Chen Ping An and his party, who had passed by by chance.

Near the elegant residence was a large cliff, a strategic location with a constant stream of tourists and extraordinary scenery.

Later, Cui Dongshan revealed a secret of Heaven. The old minister was actually a lingering dragon seed from the ancient Shu Kingdom that had been dormant for a long time. He had been personally recommended by his student and recruited by the Great Li Dynasty as the Vice-President of the Cloud-Shrouded Mountain Forest Deer Academy. The old dragon’s eldest daughter was the founding ancestor of the Yellow Court Kingdom’s largest mountain sect, the Purple Sun Palace, and his youngest son was the River God of the Cold Food River. Among them, the old dragon’s eldest daughter was a Golden Core female dragon. Limited by her own aptitude, she attempted to break through the Golden Core bottleneck and ascend to the Nascent Soul realm through unorthodox methods of cultivation, but unfortunately, she was still a bit short. Within a century, she couldn’t hope to advance further.

The dragon race was naturally blessed on the path of cultivation, but after forming the Core, it became as difficult as ascending to heaven.

The five greatest opportunities of the Carp Pearl Paradise that year – the golden carp of the Sui Dynasty’s Prince Gao Xuan, the four-legged snake that refused to stay in Chen Ping An’s ancestral home, the fire dragon that transformed into a bracelet coiled around Ruan Xiu’s wrist, Zhao Yao’s temporarily dormant wood-carved dragon town paperweight, and the loach that Chen Ping An personally fished out but gifted to Gu Can – were coveted because they would ascend to the Nascent Soul realm without any hindrance. Whoever could raise one of them was bound to have a follower whose combat power was equivalent to a Jade Purity cultivator.

On the Treasure Bottle Continent, where fifth-realm cultivators were few and far between, which cultivator wouldn’t be envious?

Moreover, these five dragon species, which were very close to the true dragon lineage, once they recognized a master and their souls were connected, they could continuously nourish the master’s body. In effect, they would ultimately grant the master a robust physique equivalent to that of a pure martial artist of the Golden Body realm.

Just as Chen Ping An was about to lead the way into an inn, he and Zhu Lian turned to look at the street.

A tall woman with a cold face came slowly, walked up to Chen Ping An and his group, revealed a smile, and said in standard Great Li Mandarin, “Young Master Chen, my father is a friend of the Great Li North Mountain God Wei Bo. He now serves as the Vice-President of the Forest Deer Academy and once entertained Young Master Chen. Before leaving the Yellow Court Kingdom, my father instructed me that if Young Master Chen ever passed by this place, I must fulfill my duty as a host and not neglect him. Not long ago, I received a letter from Cloud-Shrouded Mountain, so I have been waiting in this area for a long time. If these inquiries have offended Young Master Chen, I hope you will forgive me. Here, I sincerely invite Young Master Chen to be a guest at my Purple Sun Palace for a few days.”

Chen Ping An asked, “Because I’m in a hurry to get on the road, will my refusal today cause trouble for you, Senior?”

The tall woman, who was the eldest daughter of the old dragon and the founding ancestor of the Purple Sun Palace, smiled and said, “Naturally not, but I truly hope that Young Master Chen can stay at the Purple Sun Palace for a day or two. The scenery there is not bad, and some local specialties are still presentable. If Young Master Chen doesn’t agree, I won’t be blamed by my father and the Mountain God, but if Young Master Chen is willing to give me this face, I will definitely be remembered by my fair father and Wei Zheng神 for this small achievement.”

Chen Ping An hesitated slightly, nodded, and smiled, “Okay, then we’ll trouble you for a day or two, Senior?”

The tall woman, a remnant of the ancient Shu Kingdom’s dragon species, took out a miniature boat the size of a woman’s finger, carved from a peach pit. She threw it to the ground, and amidst the swirling mist, it suddenly transformed into a miniature ship with carved railings and painted buildings, three stories high, capable of carrying forty or fifty people. Fortunately, when throwing this peach pit magic treasure, the woman had silently waved her sleeve, lightly pulling the pedestrians on the street to both sides.

At the same time, she pinched a stack of colorful paper talismans from her sleeve. After releasing them, the paper talismans floated to the ground, revealing graceful and beautiful young women.

Their eyes sparkled, and it was impossible to recognize that they were just a stack of paper talismans a moment ago.

They were quick and nimble, quickly moving a boarding plank from the ship.

The tall woman smiled, “Please board, Young Master.”

Pei Qian watched with rapt attention, thinking that she must have a ship and talismans like these in the future, even if she had to sell everything she owned, because they were just too impressive!

Chen Ping An patted Pei Qian’s head and followed the tall female cultivator onto the ship with her.

In full view of the public, the ship slowly rose into the air, traveling far and wide with the wind at an extremely fast speed, instantly covering tens of miles.

Standing on this immortal ferry of the Purple Sun Palace’s founding ancestor, beneath their feet was the Yu River, winding nearly a thousand miles.

Chen Ping An stood by the railing with Pei Qian, gazing at the picturesque mountains and rivers on the ground.
Chen Ping’an inexplicably thought of his hometown, and the counties and market towns he had passed on his way to Longquan County, those majestic mountains and beautiful rivers that Chen Ping’an had walked through and remembered firmly in his heart.

He also thought of some people from his hometown.

Among the classmates who had left the Lilzhu Grotto-Heaven with Ma Fuzi, the tutor, Li Huai and Lin Shouyi had eventually caught up with Chen Ping’an.

Dong Shuijing and Shi Chunjia, one chose to stay in their hometown, and the other followed their family to the Dali capital.

In fact, Chen Ping’an had a good impression of them, one was simple and honest, probably due to their similar backgrounds, making Chen Ping’an feel close to him back then, and the other had pigtails, lively and cute, looking intelligent and clever.

Chen Ping’an didn’t think their choices were wrong.

Deep down, Chen Ping’an hoped that the mountains and rivers of his hometown would remain the same, and whether it was Dong Shuijing and Shi Chunjia who stayed in their hometown, or Liu Xianyang, Gu Can, and Zhao Yao who had already left their hometown, the green hills and clear waters of their homeland would remain in their hearts.

Of course, on this return journey, Chen Ping’an also had to visit the mansion of the vengeful spirit dressed in bridal gown, hanging high above the picturesque scenery.

Some words he had kept in his heart back then, he had to tell her.

In the twilight, Dong Shuijing hung up the “Closed” sign on his wonton shop, but didn’t rush to close the door panels. After doing business for a long time, he knew that there were always pilgrims who had agreed with the shop when going up the mountain to buy a bowl of wontons after coming down, and they might be a little late. So, even if Dong Shuijing hung up the “Closed” sign, he would wait for about half an hour. However, Dong Shuijing wouldn’t let the two newly hired helpers wait with him. When customers came, Dong Shuijing would personally cook. Even if the two helpers, born into poverty, wanted to share the joys and sorrows with the boss, Dong Shuijing wouldn’t allow it.

Dong Shuijing’s wonton shop became more and more famous. Many wealthy people in the newly built Longquan County town invited Dong Shuijing to open two more shops there, but Dong Shuijing politely declined them all.

Besides this wonton shop on the mountainside with the mountain god temple on the summit, Dong Shuijing had long bought half a street of houses in the new county town with the large sum of money he had earned from selling one of the ancestral houses in the small town, leaving one house for himself and renting out the rest.

Dong Shuijing was also among the earliest locals to pick up bargains everywhere. Among the neighbors of the two ancestral houses, there were many lonely old people who had grown up in the small town, stubborn in nature, who would refuse to sell their ancestral possessions even if outsiders offered sky-high prices, saying, “Can I sleep on a pile of silver at night? Can I take it to the next life if I fill my coffin after death?” Those immortal disciples from the mountains patiently argued with the old folks, who would probably be a pile of white bones in the soil in a few years, feeling that it was incomprehensible, but they didn’t dare to force them to buy, so they had to leave disappointed with a large sum of immortal money.

But after Dong Shuijing visited, whether it was because the old people were nostalgic for the young man they had watched grow up, or because Dong Shuijing was eloquent, in short, the old people sold them to Dong Shuijing at prices far below those offered by outsiders, half-selling and half-giving. Dong Shuijing ran a few trips to the Baofu Zhai in Niujiao Mountain, and that was another immeasurable income. Adding to that some unexpected gains from his own diligent climbing up and down the mountain, Dong Shuijing found Prefect Wu, Magistrate Yuan, and Supervisor Cao, who had successively visited the wonton shop, and silently bought many pieces of land. Before he knew it, Dong Shuijing had become one of the few wealthy households in the new Longquan County town. Rumors had it that Dong Shuijing was known as “Half-City Dong,” a fearsome saying on the mountains of Longquan County.

Today, after Dong Shuijing finished chatting with the two young helpers, the shopkeeper, who had grown into a tall young man, stayed alone in the shop and made himself a bowl of hot wontons as a reward. As dusk fell, the autumn chill deepened. Dong Shuijing ate the wontons, cleaned up the dishes, came outside the shop, glanced at the path to the mountain temple, didn’t see any pilgrims, and was about to close the shop. Unexpectedly, there were no pilgrims returning from the mountain, but a young gentleman in Confucian robes came from the foot of the mountain. Dong Shuijing was familiar with him, so he smiled and led him in, made another bowl of wontons, and brought out a pot of homemade rice wine. The two deliberately spoke in the Longquan dialect from beginning to end. Dong Shuijing spoke slowly, because he was afraid that the other party wouldn’t understand.

The guest was a strange person named Gao Xuan, who claimed to be a traveler from another place seeking to study at the Linlu Academy on Piyun Mountain. He didn’t speak the Dali official language fluently, but he still wanted to learn the Longquan dialect from Dong Shuijing.

After Gao Xuan finished eating the wontons, Dong Shuijing poured two bowls of rice wine. If rice wine was to be mellow, water and glutinous rice were key. Longquan County wasn’t short of good water, and the glutinous rice was obtained by Dong Shuijing from Supervisor Cao of the Kiln Affairs, transported from a land of rice and fish in Dali to Longquan, far below the market price. A small rice wine brewing facility appeared in Longquan County town. Now, it had begun to be sold far and wide to the Dali capital. It couldn’t yet be said to be raking in money every day, but the prospects and financial potential were still quite good. The restaurants and taverns in the Dali capital had gradually recognized Longquan rice wine. The existence of the Lilzhu Grotto-Heaven and various immortal legends added to the aroma of the wine. The matter of rice wine sales involved Yuan County Magistrate’s efforts, Prefect Wu’s nod, Yuan County Magistrate’s opening of the capital’s gates, and Cao Supervisor’s glutinous rice transportation.

Among Prefect Wu Yuan, Magistrate Yuan, and Supervisor Cao, Wu Yuan had the highest rank.

Although the official position of a fourth-rank prefect wasn’t a veritable regional governor, as the youngest of the current prefects in Dali, Wu Yuan was someone that the Dali court wasn’t willing to underestimate. After all, Wu Yuan’s teacher was none other than Cui Chan, the Dali National Preceptor. It was a pity that Wu Yuan’s reputation had become much worse after he was promoted, because it was said that during the period before Longquan was upgraded from a county to a prefecture, this Wu County Magistrate, who was sent here by the National Preceptor with high hopes, was squeezed by the local clans to the point of near death, stumbling and bumping into a wall.

But Wu Yuan had a good teacher, something that others couldn’t envy.

However, Wu Yuan was already a small joke in the Dali court.

On the contrary, the latter two, Magistrate Yuan and Supervisor Cao, were more favored by the Dali officialdom. It wasn’t just that the two young talents were direct descendants of the two Shangzhu Kingdom surnames, but that they were thriving in their respective fields in Longquan County. Magistrate Yuan was responsible for the construction of some immortal cave dwellings on the western mountains. The smooth start and completion of the Divine Immortal Tomb and the Civil and Military Temple on Lao Ci Mountain were also his achievements. The prominent families who remained in Longquan County didn’t recognize Wu Yuan as the prefect, but they were willing to recognize this county magistrate with a smaller official hat.
As for the Office of Supervising Kilns where Supervisor Cao resided, it outwardly managed the pure and simple government yamen responsible for firing imperial porcelain in the dragon kilns. In reality, it bore the secret mission of overseeing all the forces on the mountains of Longquan County.

The two most esteemed surnames of Great Li, Yuan and Cao, were at odds with each other. Behind the Great Li iron cavalry’s southward deployment, dividing into three routes, stood the figures of these two top-tier surnames.

It could not be denied that Dong Shui-jing’s ability to simultaneously court the favor of these three individuals through a seemingly insignificant small business was a feat achieved by “chance.”

In truth, the idea for this rice wine business was indeed Dong Shui-jing’s. However, the specific planning, the interlocking steps, were all devised for Dong Shui-jing by another.

Dong Shui-jing later inquired of that person why even scions of prominent families like Magistrate Yuan and Supervisor Cao did not reject such paltry profits. For example, at the end of last year, the three-way profit sharing saw Dong Shui-jing earning 70,000 taels of silver, while Yuan and Cao together earned only 140,000 taels of silver. This could be considered exorbitant profit compared to ordinary merchants. Future profit sharing would indeed steadily increase, but after learning about the approximate wealth of the Yuan and Cao families, Dong Shui-jing genuinely could not understand it.

That person then told Dong Shui-jing that the world’s business, besides being divided into large and small, noble and humble, was also divided into dirty money and clean trades.

Making big money in some head-chopping business was skill, and earning a steady stream of silver in clean small trades was also ability. Moreover, many small businesses, when taken to the extreme, had the opportunity to become a genuine road to wealth, becoming a centuries-old enterprise that could solidify the foundation of powerful families.

Finally, that person took out an ordinary copper coin, placed it on the table, and pushed it towards Dong Shui-jing, who was sincerely seeking guidance, saying, “Even the God of Wealth in the vast world, the Liu Clan of Aihai Continent, started with the first copper coin. Think about it carefully.”

That fellow, still carrying his sword across his back, strode away, saying he was going to the capital of Great Sui. If he was lucky, he might even see the founder of the Merchants, that seemingly young old gentleman, who once used the great divine power of landing a Tongtian Wood to gain the trust of the world and was ultimately recognized by the Sage of Rites.

Dong Shui-jing pondered for a long time, only then remembering that the person had eaten two large bowls of wontons, drunk a pot of rice wine, and finally settled the bill with a single copper coin.

However, Dong Shui-jing, who had become accustomed to haggling over every penny in his business dealings, did not feel he had lost out; on the contrary, he had profited.

Gao Xuan saw that Dong Shui-jing was drinking wine and seemed to be lost in thought, and asked with a smile, “Do you have something on your mind? You might as well say it. I can’t help you, but I can still listen to Shopkeeper Dong grumbling a few words.”

Dong Shui-jing shook his head and joked, “I was just thinking about the future, nothing to complain about. Every day when I return to my house in the county city, I’m so exhausted I’m half-dead. After counting the money, I can fall asleep immediately. When I open my eyes, it’s a new day. I’m busy and fulfilled.”

Gao Xuan sighed, “I really envy you.”

Dong Shui-jing was speechless. He didn’t think Gao Xuan was just trying to be melancholy. Every family has its own problems, and it doesn’t have much to do with how much money they have. Dong Shui-jing didn’t respond, took a sip of his homemade rice wine. On the wine pots in the wonton shop, the red paper of Dong Family Workshop had been torn off, otherwise it would easily cause trouble, making a simple shop used for cultivating the mind quickly become chaotic. Even now, the number of people in the mixed-up Longquan County who know exactly how much wealth Dong Shui-jing has is still very few.

After Gao Xuan paid the bill, he said he was going back up the mountain to spend the night at the Mountain God Temple, and would watch the sunrise on the summit tomorrow. Dong Shui-jing then gave the shop key to Gao Xuan, saying that if he changed his mind, he could stay in the shop, which was at least a place to shelter from the wind and rain. Gao Xuan refused this kind offer and went up the mountain alone.

Dong Shui-jing then went down the mountain, only to encounter Xu Ruo, who had just returned from the capital of Great Sui. He said he wanted to eat a bowl of wontons to fill his stomach before continuing on to the Niujiao Mountain ferry to travel to the Great Li capital. Dong Shui-jing had no choice but to return, open the shop door, and directly made two large bowls for this Mohist hero, not offering rice wine, as he was too lazy to be polite with this person. Dong Shui-jing sat opposite him, watching Xu Ruo wolf down the food.

Xu Ruo said vaguely, “Guess who that young man was just now.”

Dong Shui-jing hadn’t thought much about it originally. In his interactions with Gao Xuan, he hadn’t mixed in too many interests. Dong Shui-jing also liked this kind of interaction. He was born to like doing business, but business was not all of life. However, since Xu Ruo would ask this, Dong Shui-jing was not stupid, and the answer naturally became clear, “The Sui Dynasty prince from the Gao Clan of Geyang? Is he here in our Great Li as a hostage?”

Xu Ruo nodded.

Dong Shui-jing hesitated for a moment and asked, “Can you not do business on Gao Xuan?”

Xu Ruo smiled, “Why not? The reason I’m saying this is to hope you understand a principle.”

Dong Shui-jing said solemnly, “Please speak, sir.”

Only at times like this was Dong Shui-jing willing to address Xu Ruo as “sir.”

Xu Ruo glanced at the shop counter. Dong Shui-jing immediately went to get a pot of rice wine and placed it on Xu Ruo’s table.