Scientific Travel

Soon, New Year's Day arrived.

Deng Yin bought new clothes for each of them. They were all good-looking, and with the expensive clothes on, they didn't look like servants at all.

"Here, New Year's money."

Deng Yin gave each person a pouch containing twenty silver coins.

Since the group started following her, Deng Yin hadn't given them a single penny. Taking advantage of the holiday, she simply gave them all the money she had earned in the previous months.

When the group went out, the sun had already set. New Year's Day is the only day of the year without a curfew, and the streetlights flickered, trying to replace the sun's presence.

Although it wasn't as bright as daytime, the light shone on people's faces as if a filter had been applied.

The four walked in a row, with Deng Yin and Fei Fei in the middle, Gao Ruizhe standing next to Deng Yin, and Qiu Qingyu standing next to Fei Fei.

Throughout the journey, Feifei clung to Qiu Qingyu, standing between Deng Yin and her, cutting off their contact. In the end, taking advantage of the crowd, she deliberately pulled Qiu Qingyu along slowly, separating herself from Deng Yin and Qiu Qingyu.

Qiu Qingyu saw through Feifei's little scheme and said disdainfully, "Don't waste your energy. Gao Ruizhe had a month more time to get to know her than I did, and he still didn't win her heart. Besides, it was only one night."

Feifei looked in the direction the two had left and laughed, "Didn't you claim you could take down anyone within a month? What? It's been over a month and you still haven't made any progress?"

Qiu Qingyu wasn't angry and laughed, "Likewise, haven't you two never failed before? Everyone has to have a first time. Compared to me not being able to win her heart within a month, it seems more gratifying for me to see you two fail once."

"Don't get too excited yet." The wind was strong at night, and their clothes fluttered in the wind. "I don't know what your progress is, but I do know that after tonight, Gao Ruizhe's progress will be far ahead of yours."

“That makes sense.” Qiu Qingyu nodded seriously at Feifei. “After all, they’re far behind, which means they’ve left me far behind.”

The two walked side-by-side, constantly at odds, as they were not on the same side, and could even be considered enemies. Although they had encountered each other a few times at the lantern festival, their exchanges were limited to eye contact. This was the first time they had strolled through the lantern festival together.

Although Qiu Qingyu said she didn't care, she walked in the direction where the lanterns were being released.

With Deng Yin absent, Qiu Qingyu no longer needed to consider the relationship between the performance and Fei Fei, nor did she care whether he followed or not, and walked straight towards the place where the lanterns were being released.

Feifei saw through Qiu Qingyu's intentions, but he also knew that Deng Yin was not there and he could not stop Qiu Qingyu, so he went with her.

Passing by a stall selling candied hawthorns, Qiu Qingyu bought herself a skewer of candied hawthorns. Seeing that Feifei kept glancing at the candied hawthorns in her hand but showed no intention of buying any, she rolled her eyes at him and bought him one instead.

Feifei wasn't embarrassed at all; she thanked her and took the candied hawthorn from her hand.

The hawthorns have no pits and are coated with a crisp, sweet sugar coating, making them crunchy with every bite. The sweetness of the sugar blends perfectly with the tartness of the hawthorns, resulting in a delightfully sweet and sour taste.

"Deng Yin gave you so much money today, enough to buy 4000 candied hawthorns, why are you still so stingy?"

Feifei didn't say anything, she just quietly ate the candied hawthorn in her hand.

Qiu Qingyu then asked, "Besides, you two completed so many tasks together, what, didn't Gao Ruizhe give you a share of the money?" Qiu Qingyu put her arm around Feifei with the hand holding the candied hawthorn and said casually, "Why don't you just come with me? We can split the money we earn fifty-fifty."

Feifei pushed Qiu Qingyu's hand away and said, "He split the money with me, it was 50/50."

"Then why won't you even buy a candied hawthorn?" Qiu Qingyu asked with a gossipy expression. "Oh, I know, you're saving up to get married, aren't you? I didn't expect you to be saving up for your future wife at such a young age."

Seeing that she was going off on a tangent, Feifei quickly explained, "No, it's not that. Haven't you noticed that prices are getting higher and higher? Although they've come down recently, they might go up again in the future. If you don't save money, you won't even be able to afford food in the future."

Qiu Qingyu is very rich. Gao Ruizhe and Qiu Qingyu split their earnings in half, but Qiu Qingyu keeps all her earnings for herself.

She wouldn't be considered incredibly wealthy, but in the Hundred Beginnings Kingdom, she had more money than most people.

Wealthy people have a common problem: they don't care about small amounts of money. She never asks the price when she buys things, and sometimes when she's in a good mood, she doesn't even ask for change.

Feifei has always been more mature than his peers. Everything he says reveals a maturity beyond his years.

But Qiu Qingyu absolutely refused to believe that she couldn't afford to eat. "I can't afford to eat?" Qiu Qingyu touched Feifei's forehead, then her own. "She doesn't have a fever, so why is she talking nonsense?"

“If even I can’t get enough to eat, then nobody in this whole city will be able to get enough to eat.”

There are people in Baichu Kingdom who are richer than her, but in Xiye City, there is not one.

Xiye City is a small border town. Mei Shengke and Wei Wujiang's camps are close to here, but they don't live here most of the time, so to be precise, neither of them are from here.

Therefore, Qiu Qingyu said this with great confidence. Although Feifei did not know exactly how much wealth Qiu Qingyu had, he knew that Qiu Qingyu was the richest person in the entire organization besides the leader.

"In times of chaos, the first to suffer are those who have money but no ability to protect themselves."

That makes sense, but no one would feel good if they were told such unlucky things during the Lunar New Year.

"Give me back the money, five copper coins."

Feifei quickened her pace, stuffing candied hawthorns into her mouth as she walked. "You offered to buy them for me, not the other way around, so why should I pay you back?"

"I gave it to you just so you could take it, I didn't say you could eat it, give me back the money!"

Feifei turned around, and there was no trace of the candied hawthorn on her hand. "What money?"

Qiu Qingyu was just joking and didn't intend for him to actually pay her back.

I never expected this kid to be so greedy. There was only half a candied hawthorn left, and in the blink of an eye, even the stick was gone.

"Seriously, you really don't plan to partner with me? Even though it's a 50/50 split, it'll still be more than what you earn with Gao Ruizhe."

What kind of bad intentions could a child who can eat so much have? He can eat this much from a candied hawthorn, he must be so easy to raise.

"Besides the 50/50 split, I'll give you an extra 20 silver coins a month for candied hawthorns. How about it? Want to come?"

Feifei didn't even consider it. "Forget it, even without me, the money you earn might be enough for you to have enough to eat in the future. If Gao Ruizhe didn't have me, he definitely wouldn't have enough to eat in the future."

The protagonist of the story, Gao Ruizhe, walked towards the two of them looking completely lost.

Feifei saw that he was all alone and asked, "Where's Deng Yin?"