Yang Xi slowly turned her head and saw a young man, barely twenty years old, wearing a mink cloak and a jade crown. In short, he was rich!

The man felt uncomfortable being stared at, frowned, took a step back, and snorted, “Ignorant woman.”

Zhou Yu’s eyes were indifferent. “Judging from your words, young master, you must be very knowledgeable.”

The man raised his chin, his face full of arrogance. “My family’s learning is indeed profound.”

Zhou Yu pointed to the water. “In that case, young master, could you calculate the downstream speed?”

The man was stunned and frowned as he stared at the water.

Zhou Yu continued to smile. “And please calculate the upstream speed.”

The man took a deep breath and looked at Zhou Yu intently. “You can?”

Zhou Yu turned to his wife. “My wife can.”

Yang Xi blinked and smiled. “I can tell you, young master.”

The man’s face stiffened. He didn’t believe her, but he was afraid she would say it. He flicked his sleeves and turned to leave.

Zhou Yu said sullenly, “Ignorant.”

The man paused, turned back, and glared at them fiercely, then quickly left.

Third Yang, seeing him gone, had long since replaced his anger with a smile and humbly asked, “Jiejie, you’re really good at calculations!”

Yang Xi snorted, “Yes.”

Third Yang gave a thumbs up, “Jiejie, you’re amazing.”

Yang Xi thought to herself, “I learned it in modern times.” “Want to learn?”

Third Yang’s scalp tingled; his intuition told him he shouldn’t agree. “No, no, I still have much to learn.”

Yang Xi’s tone was regretful. “What I teach is very useful.”

Third Yang firmly shook his head. “I’m busy enough now.”

Yang Xi looked at the river; once the world was at peace, building a bridge would be much more convenient.

The group didn’t wait long before the boat arrived. It was a large cargo ship, and they, along with their carriage, didn’t take up much space.

The boat moved slowly, taking about half an hour to reach the other side. Upon disembarking, they saw the arrogant man again. The man stood beside Zhou Yu, snorted heavily, and contemptuously glanced at Yang Xi and her group as they drove away in their carriage.

Zhou Yu, “…”

Yang Xi blinked. “This guy practically wears his wealth on his sleeve, yet he only has four guards and two servants with him?”

Zhou Xiaomei, “Does that mean there are few bandits here?”

Third Yang pointed to the other caravans, “I actually think bandits are rampant here.”

Zhou Xiaomei stared dumbfounded at the rows of guards. “Are you afraid for that peacock from earlier?”

Zhou Xiaodi repeated “peacock” blankly, then laughed, “It really was a peacock.”

Wu Shan waited until Zhou Xiaodi had finished laughing before speaking, “This place isn’t safe. Should we find a caravan to travel with?”

Zhou Yu looked at the sky. “Let’s go to the county to rest first and see if we can find a security escort agency to travel with tomorrow.”

He had noticed a security escort agency transporting goods earlier; between caravans and security escort agencies, he preferred to travel with the latter.

The group drove towards the county town. The dock was built on the edge of the town, and they entered the town in less than half an hour. He County was a supply point for north-south trade, and the town was very prosperous. They searched for a long time before finding an inn to stay at.

The inn was expensive, causing the Wu family considerable distress.

Among the families following the Zhou family, the Wu family was the poorest.

It was still early, and Yang Xi wanted to go for a stroll. Zhou Yu accompanied her, while Ye Shi wanted to rest, and Zhou Xiaomei didn’t want to go out either. Zhou Xiaodi stayed behind to look after them.

Third Yang, always restless, also went out.

Yang Xi and her group clearly weren’t locals. The children selling river delicacies on the street, seeing that Yang Xi was pregnant, became bolder.

Two teenage boys carrying baskets said, “Madam, we dug up some river clams. You may not know, but a few days ago, someone bought river clams and found pearls inside. Would you like to try your luck?”

Yang Xi stared at the large river clams in the basket. Although the river wasn’t frozen, the water was still bitterly cold; digging for clams at this time of year could freeze a person. “You dug these?”

The boy shook his head. “Our dad dug them. We won’t lie to you, wife. You’ll know if you ask around, and you’ll find out the clams really did produce pearls.”

They weren’t lying. After the clams started producing pearls, the people in the county went crazy; every family went to dig for clams. But there weren’t any large pearls, only a few tiny ones the size of grains of rice. After the people calmed down, nobody wanted the clams anymore.

Their dad had dug a lot, and their family had sold many clams to outsiders, earning more in the last few days than they would in a year.

Yang Xi and Zhou Yu knew the two children weren’t telling the truth. If they had found so many pearls, they wouldn’t have been willing to sell them; it would have been much more profitable for them to keep them for themselves.

Third Yang asked, “How much silver would it cost to buy all the river clams in your baskets?”

The two boys were a little excited. One of them said, “We have ten clams left. We’ll sell them for two qian of silver.”

Third Yang sneered, “Too expensive. I’m not a fool to gamble on such a slim chance.”

The boy got anxious as the group left. River clams had been getting harder to sell lately. “One qian of silver is the lowest I can offer.”

Third Yang turned around, “Fifty wen.”

He had already overpaid.

The boy pursed his lips but finally sold them anyway. It was getting late, and they needed to hurry home.

Third Yang happily carried the two baskets. “Jiejie, why don’t you try your luck too?”

Yang Xi really wanted to try. “Give me half when we get back.”

Third Yang agreed.

They strolled around for a while longer before returning to the inn. Several families had heard the news and came to see the clams being opened.

Yang Xi picked out five, and the rest were for Third Yang. Zhou Yu sat and opened two clams but got nothing. Third Yang opened two and got no pearls either.

When they opened the third one together, Third Yang’s clam produced something—a pearl the size of a little fingernail!

Zhou Yu was speechless.

After all the pearls had been unearthed, everyone stared at Third Yang. Zhou Yu’s five clams yielded nothing, while Third Yang got pearls from two river mussels. The last river mussel was amazing, producing five or six pearls, though their shapes weren’t great—they were still pearls!

Third Yang was dumbfounded. “Is my luck so good?”

Yang Xi clutched her chest. So, their luck wasn’t mutually beneficial!

In ancient times, pearls were valuable. News of Third Yang’s pearl finds spread quickly through the inn, making river mussels even more popular. Third Yang’s pearls sold for a couple of taels of silver, breaking even!

Wu Shan and the others were tempted, but their gazes fell on Zhou Yu before they calmed down. The Zhou family hadn’t even found any pearls; they might as well just go to sleep.

The next day, Zhou Yu went to the escort agency. The agency refused to take them; they had been scammed before and didn’t want to cause trouble.

Zhou Yu told the Head Escort Master (Tóu Biāoshī), “We don’t need the agency’s protection. We only ask to follow along. We have horse-drawn carriages and donkey carts; we won’t delay your journey or cause any trouble.”

As he spoke, he presented the prepared silver—ten taels in total.

Zhou Yu smiled. “We probably won’t be able to keep up. The Biāoháng travels fast—don’t worry about us.”

The Tóu Biāoshī laughed when he heard this. He took the money and said, “Let’s draw up a contract.”

Zhou Yu said, “Okay.”

Zhou Yu took the contract and left. The Biāoháng would set off early the next morning, and they needed to be at the city gate early to wait.

Third Yang didn’t care about the money but just sighed, “The journey is hard!”

Zhou Yu was satisfied that the ten taels of silver were pooled together by several families, and he didn’t make his own family pay. He had a good eye for people.

The next day, they set off from the county town. The Biāoháng’s speed was indeed fast. Zhou Yu’s group of horses and donkeys were already used to traveling and kept up with the Biāoháng. The Tóu Biāoshī was surprised but continued on his way.

They only had a short rest all day, and the rest of the time was spent traveling. After traveling for two days, they had only traveled for less than an hour when the Tóu Biāoshī signaled the group to stop.

Zhou Yu went to inquire about the situation and saw dead bodies and damaged carriages ahead.

(End of this chapter)

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