Firefly Journey

The group set off in a mighty procession.

The target is villages that raise large numbers of Angora rabbits.

Charlie Johnson was indeed carefully selected; he was practically a living map, knowing the surrounding terrain perfectly, which saved a lot of time.

The temporary caravan traversed mountains and valleys, arriving at a village of moderate size nestled deep in the mountains, called Shisenafu.

The mountains were towering into the clouds, the water was rushing, and the roads were muddy, making it difficult for the convoy to travel. In some places, they even had to clear the road manually.

The villagers of Ssenaf attach great importance to the annual rabbit fur harvest season, as it is the most important time of the year, affecting their livelihood for the coming year, and cannot be taken lightly.

To ensure unimpeded passage for rabbit fur buyers, villagers spontaneously organized themselves, clearing roads through mountains and building bridges over rivers. After years of hard work, they have created this muddy road we see today. Otherwise, they would have had to rely solely on foot to get around.

Even so, the mountain road was still difficult to travel due to the limited conditions, and even the mixed-breed horses could not run fast, so the group did not move very fast.

At the very front of the carriage caravan was Piero's own original carriage, with him and Lin Yuanran in the driver's seat, enjoying the magnificent scenery along the way.

Lin Yuanran held up the map and said, "We'll arrive once we cross the mountain ahead."

Piero, driving the car, said, "When we get to the village, keep your mouth shut. They all want to get a good price for the rabbit fur. They'll definitely ask for exorbitant prices at first. Watch my performance."

Lin Yuanran thought to himself, "That's great, it just so happens that I'm not good at this kind of thing."

"Okay, I'll take care to act profound and like an old businessman."

"Ah."

After crossing the last lush mountain, Scenav comes into view. From a distance, the entire village is nestled among the mountains, as if it were surrounded by them, so tightly packed that it's no wonder it couldn't prosper due to such inconvenient transportation.

Before they even reached the village gate, some children playing nearby spotted them and their eyes widened in surprise, because even a rented carriage was a rare sight in Shisenaf.

The convoy slowly drove in. The adults knew what was going on. Every year at this time, a convoy would come in to buy a large amount of rabbit fur. This was also the most important day of the year for them.

As the convoy moved along, Piero loudly tried to communicate with the surrounding villagers, asking in the official language of Bema who had rabbit fur.

Word of mouth quickly attracted sellers.

The small village had only a few households to begin with. An elderly man with a cane, surrounded by a group of villagers, walked up to the lead carriage, and Piero stopped in time.

"Greetings, guests from afar. I am the village chief." The old man said in a pale voice.

When he spoke, the surrounding crowd remained silent, clearly indicating that this elder was highly respected.

Piero smiled in response: "Hello, I believe you know why we're here. I'll be frank, we'll take care of all the rabbit fur that Sciennev has!"

"Yes, the price is absolutely fair." To make himself seem less insignificant, Lin Yuanran added.

"That's right," the old village chief said. "In previous years, the merchants who came to buy things here didn't arrive this early. They would come in June or July, so we haven't started collecting rabbit fur yet."

Upon hearing this, Piero and Lin Yuanran seemed to be deep in thought.

The harvest season for Angora rabbit fur begins in early May and lasts until mid-June. Logically, now is the perfect time for them to come, while the merchants who came earlier waited until July; there's a reason for that.

The reason is easy to guess.

Because of its remote location, poor communication channels, and limited information resources, Seneca was easily exploited by merchants.

Think about it: after June, the rabbit fur must be sheared, otherwise it will affect the growth of the Angora rabbits. When it piles up like mountains, outside merchants tell you that there is plenty of supply now and they don't need your little bit, and then they try to drive down the price, and the villagers have no way to do anything about it.

It's true that there's an ample supply of rabbit fur during the harvest season, but it's impossible to say that it's unsaleable, because its consumption is also astonishing every year.

Don't the villagers of Shisenafu know this?

know.

But even knowing this, there was nothing they could do. It was as if the local merchants had conspired together. In villages like Sisenafu, they banded together to collectively drive down prices in order to gain more profit.

Isolated villages with poor transportation lack the ability to find their own sales channels, and the surrounding areas are monopolized by merchants, so they eventually have to compromise.

What about open conspiracy? When you have no ability to resist, even if you know the inside story, you can't avoid it. This is the tragedy of being a vulnerable group.

Therefore, the arrival of Lin Yuanran's team a month early gave Senna a glimmer of hope this year, a glimmer of hope for fair trade.

How ironic, injustice is everywhere in the duchy.

Piero said, "No rush, we can stay for a few days until you've collected the rabbit fur."

"Yes, we are happy to stay, provided that the quality of the goods meets the requirements."

The old village chief seemed relieved and said, "That's great, guest. Then allow us a few more days to prepare, and we'll deliver the goods together then."

As for where you're staying..."

Ssenap is so dilapidated that there are no decent guest rooms at all, and some villagers can only live in leaky wooden houses.

Lin Yuanran smiled and said, "It's alright. We traveling merchants are used to sleeping in carriages. There's no need to worry."

Rather than living in a dilapidated house, it's better to stay in a carriage; it may be small, but it's much more comfortable.

After exchanging details, the villagers surrounded the old village chief and left, their faces beaming with smiles, whether they were adults or children.

The smile, however, carried an inexplicable sadness in Lin Yuanran's eyes.

So this is what the bottom of the world looks like.

……

……

Ibiza, the ballroom of pleasure.

The gramophone played ambiguous music, the lights shone, and people danced gracefully, swaying their bodies boldly.

The scantily clad women pressed their bodies against their male dance partners, creating an irresistible and decadent atmosphere throughout the ballroom.

In the center of the dance hall, a boy who looked about sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing a hoodie, was dancing wildly, deliberately touching his body with his female dance partner, and laughing out loud from time to time.

"I'm tired, want to go for a drink?" The boy stopped wriggling and invited the girl.

The young woman raised an eyebrow: "Sure, my name is Elsa, and yours is Elsa."

The boy had no intention of telling the woman he had only met twenty minutes ago her real name: "Fever Marley".

As he spoke, he took Elsa's hand and gracefully led her to the ballroom's drinks area.

"Lu Jianming, are you fucking crazy?!"

Just as the two were about to sit down, a gust of wind swept through the crowd, blowing the boy's hair into disarray and splashing the drink onto his handsome face.

The boy touched his face, stood up angrily, and saw a man and a woman walking towards him from the opposite direction.

It was none other than the main character, Favier Marley, and the class monitor, Sabrina Broan.

"You guys... what brings you here? Want to have a drink together? My treat!" Lü Jianming said, a little guilty.

"Your teacher is looking for you," Sabrina said, glancing at Elsa.

Lu Jianming, who fears neither heaven nor earth, neither his father nor his mother, but is only afraid of his teacher, immediately stood up.

He whispered something to the scantily clad woman, then obediently followed his classmate out. At the same time, several men who were dancing or drinking in the dance hall got up and followed him.

These were all his guards, or bodyguards.

"What did you say to that woman?" Fway asked curiously.

“I told her that if she wanted money, she should wash herself clean and wait for me at a private hotel tomorrow night.”

Fway was unfazed, while Sabrina spat out a curse.

"How disgusting! Are all people from Chu like this?"

“No, only me,” Lü Jianming said casually.