I served as Li Bai's page.

After saying goodbye to Zhang Shuming and the others, Li Bai and I returned home. Xu Ziyan asked:

"Have your friend settled in? They are guests, so we must be considerate."

"What Madam said is true. They went to the inn at the east gate of the city. You don't need to worry about them anymore. Just focus on recovering."

The next morning, Li Bai led me to the inn at the east gate of the city as agreed. There were still two people who hadn't gotten up yet. I said to Li Bai:

"Young Master, I'll go to the dock and find a boat first. Once you've all gathered, come find me at the dock."

"Alright, go ahead and find Uncle Sun's boat."

I arrived at Dongmenli Wharf. It was still early, but the wharf was already bustling with activity. Cargo ships and passenger ships were docked at their respective wharves, and people were coming and going.

I arrived at the passenger ship dock, and as soon as I stopped, I heard someone shout:

"Uncle Yuehua"

I looked in the direction of the sound and saw Sun Fan rowing a newly decorated pleasure boat towards me. When the boat stopped in front of me, Sun Fan jumped off and walked up to me, saying, "Uncle, are you looking for a boat?"

"Hey kid, you've grown taller. Why are you rowing the boat? Where's Grandpa?"

"Is Grandpa home? Ever since Mr. Li bought that little house for us, Grandpa and I only come to the boat during the day and go home to sleep at night. Later, I started rowing independently, and sometimes Grandpa didn't come to the boat anymore," Sun Fan said.

I went aboard the boat and looked around, then asked, "How's your business been these past two years? Did you get a new boat?"

"It's alright. The old boat was too small and couldn't hold many people, so we just got a bigger one last month."

"I'll charter this boat for today and tomorrow. Mr. Li's friend wants to cruise the North Tide. Can you row for us? We'll stay on the North Lake tonight," I said.

"Okay, Uncle, I'll take a message back to my grandpa. I won't be coming back tonight." After saying that, Sun Fan got off the boat and found a snack vendor nearby to ask him to take the message back.

Sun Fan and I tidied up the cruise ship again. Sun Fan was busy replenishing supplies on the ship, while I sat on the deck waiting for Li Bai and the others.

About half an hour later, Li Bai and his group of six arrived at the dock. I stood on the deck and waved to them:

"Young master, over here."

Li Bai led Zhang Shuming and the others aboard the boat. Sun Fan greeted them shyly, "Greetings, Master Li; greetings, gentlemen."

Zhang Shuming looked at Sun Fan and asked, "This child is quite polite. Where are your parents?"

"Mr. Zhang, he's the one rowing for us today. Poor kids learn to be independent early, don't they?" I said.

Zhang Shuming said, "Yuehua, you're just being cheeky. It doesn't matter who rows the boat, I can do it too."

"That's even better, I can do that too. I've rowed in the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake, you know," I said.

Kong Chaofu said, "Yuehua, tell me what happened."

I gave them a brief overview of Li Bai's journeys, including leaving his family behind, crossing the Yangtze River, and visiting Dongting Lake. Pei Zheng said, "Brother Taibai, you truly have traveled ten thousand miles and read ten thousand books. I would also like to become your page; would you accept me?"

"Brother Pei, you jest. I can't possibly afford to invite you."

"We don't want wages, just food and lodging," the group said in unison.

As we chatted and laughed on the boat, it had already left the Dongmenli Wharf far behind and sped towards Beihu Lake.

I quickly told Sun Fan, "No need to rush to row; these gentlemen are just enjoying the pleasure of boating on the water."

Sun Fan slowed down, sitting on the boat and gently rowing. Li Bai and the others sang and recited poems loudly in the cabin. I sat on the deck, took out my bamboo flute, and played "Spring River Flower Moon Night" towards the reeds flowing between the two banks. Li Bai was immediately inspired and sang "Spring River Flower Moon Night" in return. The whole boat fell silent, and even the surrounding boats slowed down. Some tour boats even turned back to sail alongside me.

When we arrived at Beihu Lake, our fleet was already quite large. Centered around us, the sounds of singing and poetry recitation rose and fell from the surrounding boats. Especially when they learned that Li Bai himself was on the boat, the tourists recited Li Bai's poems again and again.

Zhang Shuming exclaimed, "I thought it was a bit unusual for someone my age to like Li Bai, but I never imagined that liking Li Bai transcends gender and age. Look at all these tourists at Beihu Lake, reciting Li Bai's poems off the cuff. Is there anything more worthy of pride? Brother Taibai, please accept my bow."

Han Zhun and the others also stood up and bowed to Li Bai. The boat lost its balance and rocked quite a bit. The boats traveling alongside us quickly used their oars to steady our boat.

I entered the cabin and said, "Gentlemen, please don't get too agitated. Our primary task now is to maintain the boat's balance. We, the prominent figures of Donglu, mustn't capsize on this North Lake."

Li Bai said, "The page is right. We'll have many more days to meet in the future. I'll pay my respects again another day."

Li Bai, along with Zhang Shuming and four others, spent two days and one night touring Beihu Lake, singing and drinking merrily, which greatly impressed the entire Rencheng, Wenshang, and Yanzhou areas. When we returned to Rencheng from Beihu Lake on the afternoon of the second day, as soon as we stepped ashore, a large crowd gathered. Fortunately, Lu, the registrar, had already arranged for two carriages to be waiting at the dock. We pushed through the crowd, boarded the carriages, and hurriedly left the dock.

We were originally going to the grand restaurant at the east gate of the city for drinks. The carriage had just stopped in front of the restaurant, and before Li Bai could even get out, a crowd had already gathered again. Lu, the registrar, got back into the carriage and said to me:

"Yuehua, let's go to Helan's Restaurant. Everyone there knows us, so we shouldn't attract any attention."

"Okay." I sat down next to the driver and said to him:

"Master, to Helan's Restaurant."

Our two carriages circled around Rencheng before finally arriving at the Helan Family Restaurant. Everyone gathered around Li Bai and led him into a private room before finally letting out a sigh of relief. After we were seated, Zhang Shuming said:

"Brother Lu, you had foresight. If you hadn't prepared the carriage beforehand, we don't know how long we would have been trapped at the dock."

"How could I not know about the commotion you've caused on North Lake? Look at the number of boats on North Lake now; it exceeds all previous records," said Registrar Lu.

Li Bai said, "We've gone a bit too far. From now on, everyone should be more low-key. Remember that! Remember that!"

After Li Bai finished speaking, the six famous figures from Donglu couldn't help but laugh.

Registrar Lu said, "Even if we want to keep a low profile, we still need to eat and drink. Tonight, it's my treat, so everyone can drink to their heart's content. Don't worry about saving money for me."

After finishing our meal and drinks at Helan's Restaurant, it was already midnight. Except for myself and Uncle Wu, Lu Zhubu's attendant, everyone else was completely drunk. Uncle Wu and I helped them into the carriage and headed towards the inn at the east gate of the city.

Upon arriving at the inn, I found the innkeeper, opened the door to Zhang Shuming and the others' room, helped them inside, and said to Uncle Wu:

"Uncle Wu, let's just stay here for the night. It's too late to go back now, and it will disturb our families' sleep."

"Okay, we'll each take care of one room and make sure they're safe."

"Uncle Wu is very thoughtful."

Uncle Wu and I each went into a room. I found a chair by the window and sat down. Seeing the snoring men on the bed, I couldn't fall asleep no matter what.