Dinner was a blur for Third Yang. He was usually the first to finish, but today he was the last.

Zhou Xiaodi and Yan Bing were incredibly curious. Zhou Xiaodi asked, “What are you thinking about so intently?”

Third Yang finished his last bite, handed the bowl to Sun Liu, stared at Zhou Xiaodi for a while, and then said enviously, “Of the three of us, you’re the luckiest!”

Zhou Xiaodi, “???”

What nonsense was this? How was he lucky? His father was dead, and his whole family was forced to live in anonymity!

Yan Bing nodded in agreement, “Indeed, lucky.”

Zhou Xiaodi looked at them as if they were crazy, “Our family has enemies, and now we’re forced to live in anonymity. You think that’s lucky?”

If he were lucky, his father would have been alive, and his whole family would have been together!

Third Yang, “You have a brother protecting you, a brother who holds up the sky for you!”

Yan Bing snorted, “We two have no family left.”

Zhou Xiaodi, “…”

If happiness was relative, then he was indeed lucky. He thought this in his heart, and it showed on his face.

Then he was ganged up on and beaten by Third Yang and Yan Bing.

Yang Xi watched the whole thing, “…”

So young indeed!

Zhou Yu cleared his throat while holding his teacup, and the three opposite him instantly fell silent, behaving themselves.

Yang Xi chuckled, and after a while, the hot water in her hand cooled down. She drank some hot water, feeling warm all over.

Third Yang, being stared at by his Jiefu, couldn’t help but sit up straight and tentatively asked, “Jiefu, you said that training them personally is too slow. You asked me to think of something, and I thought of pirates. From the village where we stayed, the pirates are both good and bad. They have been fighting the garrison for many years, and they are quite good at both escaping and in terms of ability.”

He paused and continued, “But you said that the place you settled in is safe. If it’s safe, where are the pirates?”

Zhou Yu scoffed, “Where is there absolute safety? What I mean by safety is safety as long as it’s within a controllable range.”

Yang Xi chimed in, “We chose to settle in Ruizhou. Although it’s also a coastal prefecture, because of its different geographical location from Haizhou, there are no pirates or bandits…”

“They’re so rampant. If you think there are no pirates in Ruizhou, you’re wrong. Every prefecture near the coast has pirates; Ruizhou just has relatively fewer because of its geographical location.”

Yan Bing became puzzled. “Has xiānshēng and Madam ever been to Ruizhou?”

Zhou Yu shook his head, “No, we haven’t.”

Yan Bing asked, “Then how do you determine that there are fewer pirates in Ruizhou than in other coastal prefectures?”

Zhou Yu smiled; he liked children who asked questions. “Because of tax revenue. There are over a dozen coastal prefectures, and Ruizhou’s tax revenue ranks in the middle. Isn’t that a good position?”

He thanked his father again for his attention to the coastal prefectures; by checking the other coastal prefectures, he was able to know so clearly.

Yan Bing was a smart man and smiled, saying, “Ruizhou is indeed safe.”

High tax revenue meant money and provisions, so the court would definitely pay close attention. That place would become a battleground if chaos breaks out in the future. Being in the middle was good; having tax revenue meant that Ruizhou had a good living environment and wouldn’t attract extra attention from the court.

Although he was still far from Ruizhou, he was already looking forward to life there.

After listening, Third Yang was already thinking about how to subdue the pirates with a conscience, but it was very difficult. He was indeed very skilled, but he was still young, which was a major disadvantage!

However, challenges make things interesting, Third Yang thought to himself.

Zhou Yu’s smile deepened; this kid’s mind was sharper than his!

The next day, luck was on their side. They arrived in the county town in the afternoon. Haizhou was truly poor; the county town was desolate, and the people there were struggling, most wearing patched clothes.

Worried about food shortages in Haizhou, Third Yang went straight to the grain store. The store had grain, but not much. The manager said the owner would only deliver seven days’ worth, and the daily supply was limited; today’s supply was already sold out.

Yang Xi wanted to curse. These grain store owners were doing this on purpose; the price wasn’t unreasonable, but they were hoarding supplies. She immediately guessed their intentions.

Taking a deep breath, Yang Xi pulled Zhou Yu out of the grain store.

Yang Xi stood at the entrance and looked around, then glanced at the group of people squatting against the wall. These people had huddled together ever since they entered the grain store.

Yang Xi pulled Zhou Yu over. “We want to buy grain, but the grain store is sold out. You guys seem to have connections. Do you have any ideas?”

The three men looked at each other, and a man in his thirties stood up, lowering his voice, “The grain store’s supply is fixed. Even if you queue up tomorrow, you won’t be able to buy any.”

He paused and said, “Madam, you have good eyes. We brothers do have some connections, but Haizhou is short of grain, so the price is much higher than at the grain store.”

Yang Xi sneered inwardly. Bah, connections! It was just the grain store owner’s scheme. These men were also from the grain store; the owner was unhappy with the current grain price and wanted to make more money.

Zhou Yu asked, “Do you have any fine grains?”

The man’s eyes lit up even more. “Yes, we do.”

Just a moment ago, they had discussed going over to the caravan after a while, but they hadn’t expected the Madam of the caravan to come over first.

The other two men left briefly and quickly returned carrying two bags of grain, each weighing fifty jin (25 kg), one bag of sorghum and one bag of rice.

The price was two and a half times that of the grain store!

The price made Wu Shan and his family gasp. Wu Shan muttered, “This, this is too expensive.”

The man wasn’t annoyed. “Our prices are fair. Go to the next county, and you won’t think it’s expensive.”

Yang Xi was speechless.

Zhou Yu spoke up, “We’ll take all this grain. Do you have any flour? If so, we’ll take another fifty catties.”

They had both horse-drawn carts and donkey carts, and their caravan was quite large. Buying this much grain was within their means and wouldn’t attract attention.

The man rarely encountered such a wealthy family, so he quickly replied, “Yes, yes.”

They weren’t afraid of being targeted. This caravan was clearly heading south; if they really tried to take advantage of them, they’d be doomed even faster!

Wu Shan opened his mouth, but in the end, it turned into a sigh. They would buy it; it would still take seven or eight days to leave Haizhou.

After buying the grain from the man and some seasonings, they found an inn to rest for the day.

The next day, the group set off at dawn. They were in a hurry, having faced pirates and grain first, and they were eager to leave Haizhou.

For three consecutive days, the caravan traveled at full speed with little rest, covering more than half of the eight-day journey in three days, finally reaching the capital of Haizhou.

Haizhou had once been prosperous, but now, due to insufficient funds for city wall repairs, it appeared somewhat dilapidated.

Haizhou was, after all, the capital, the most prosperous place in the entire region; the streets were bustling with people, and the residents seemed more energetic than those in the county towns.

They found a mid-range inn to rest. Most of the inn’s guests were merchants, and Yang Xi could hear them discussing pirates.

The group went upstairs, and after a quick wash, Yang Xi was starving.

After Zhou Yu finished washing, Yang Xi said, “Shall we go downstairs and order some food? I want roast chicken and braised pork knuckle.”

Zhou Yu was also craving it. “Okay.”

Yang Xi sniffed. “Come on, come on.”

Zhou Yu, holding their son, said, “Slow down, don’t rush.”

​​Yang Xi couldn’t slow down; she was getting hungry easily lately, as the baby in her belly was absorbing more nutrients, and she was eating for two.

The two left their room and went next door to confirm that their mother-in-law was eating there, and that their younger sister decided to stay in the room to keep her company. Finally, Zhou Xiaodi and Third Yang and the others followed them downstairs for dinner.

The inn was large, and there were many empty tables downstairs. They gestured to the waiter to push two tables together to avoid crowding.

Yang Xi listened to the waiter announce the menu, her gaze sweeping towards the door, and she blinked to make sure she wasn’t mistaken!

(End of Chapter)

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