The Return of Stars to the Jianghu

After breakfast, it was still early. So the group decided to go and take a look at the old site of Bi Li and Ji Qingwei's shop.

That is, the shops owned by the Bi and Ji families.

Bi Li and Ji Mi are the sons of Bi Mo and Ji Liang, respectively. There's a popular saying in Freedom City: "Bi Mo in the South, Ji Liang in the North." They are the two largest merchants in the city, one a rice merchant and the other a salt merchant.

Liberty City is located at the crossroads of the eastern and western continents.

This woman, surnamed Ji, grew up with her mother at the Dongwu branch store. Three years ago, her father, Ji Liang, brought her from Dongwu to Ziyou City, and she has indeed left Ziyou City. However, she doesn't know the old address of the Nanhan branch store.

Fortunately, Bili had traveled with his father to various vassal states in the Eastern Continent since he was a child, so he naturally knew where the addresses were.

Four months ago, Free City was besieged by the State of Chu. Bi Mo and Ji Liang arranged for their son to leave the city ahead of time to go to the branch store to collect food, actually so that their own family members would not be trapped in Free City.

The group stood in front of the former sites of the Ji and Bi families' shops, which used to be right next to each other, but were now being run by officials and merchants of the Southern Han Dynasty.

The group stood at the door without going in. The rice shop's waiter, finding it strange, beckoned them to come in and take a look.

Qi Yuan glanced at Bi Li and Qing Wei and asked, "Shall we go in and take a look?"

“I won’t go in. It’s changed so much now. We’re not buying rice anyway, so there’s no point in going in,” Bili replied.

“I’m not going in either. I grew up in Dongwu with my mother, and I’m not very clear about my family’s businesses. We’re not going to buy anything, so there’s really no point in going in,” Qingwei replied to Qi Yuan’s question.

"What are some places to visit in Beihai County?" Luo Yifei wondered, thinking about exploring other areas.

“There’s not much to do, how about we go to the beach?” Bili said to Luo Yifei.

So the group discussed going to the beach to check out the boat they would be taking the next day.

"Shouldn't this ship be equipped with a compass as standard? Why do we need to bring our own compass?" Luo Yifei asked the question that had been bothering him ever since he gave the compass to Qi Yuan.

“Yes, there is, but the compass on this ship is for the captain's use only. Our compasses are for our own use. They're different,” Qi Yuan answered Luo Yifei’s question.

"I don't quite understand." Luo Yifei still didn't understand after hearing Qi Yuan's words. The difficulty was whether they could still take a detour or not, and whether he had to bring a compass to guard against the captain.

"Some things are still hard to explain clearly. The world is always dangerous, so one should always be wary of others, but never have the intention to harm them." Qi Yuan did not offer any further explanation.

……

Inside Freedom City, Ji Liang and Bi Mo sat together discussing something.

"The children should have arrived in Nanhan by now," Ji Liang said to himself, without looking at Bi Mo.

“That should be the case. Han Yue’s letter said that their plan is to eventually reach An Island in Nan Han. Judging by the time, they should be there soon,” Bi Mo replied to Ji Liang.

"There aren't many branches in Western Shu, Qi, and Southern Han, so it must be difficult for them to deliver a message. I wonder how my little girl is doing? Has she suffered any hardship? Has she encountered any more bandits on the road?" Ji Liang was very worried about Qingwei's safety.

"Don't worry, Qi Yuan is here. There won't be any problems," Bi Mo comforted Ji Liang, the old father.

"Then we can only wait for them to send a letter when they arrive at An Island. But the world is starting to fall into chaos, and we don't know if the letter will even be delivered," Ji Liang said, still worried.

"If it doesn't work out, let's find a security escort agency to go to An Island and wait for news. Even though it takes a long time to travel there and back, it's still better than you worrying about it here." Bi Mo wasn't worried about his brat at all.

Inside Free City, the soldiers had already changed shifts. Only the Sleepless Ones were still working tirelessly in the western mines. A boy of about seventeen or eighteen stood there, holding tools, motionless. Everyone else was working in the mines, and no one noticed him.

The overseer woke up, stood up, and saw him. "Get inside and get to work, or you'll die," the overseer said, moving his fat body toward the little boy.

The little boy handed the thing he had dug up to the overseer, but to his surprise, the overseer was burned by the stone-like object.

This thing looks like a multicolored stone, but it doesn't have the colors; it's just similar in texture.

The little boy pointed to a spot on the ground and said, "There are a lot of stones down there."

The foreman, furious at being burned, ordered the little boy locked up. He then sent several members of the Sleepless Tribe to retrieve the colorless, multicolored stone, and they too were burned.

The foreman realized the child wasn't burned and sensed something strange about it. He immediately sent someone to the front lines to report to Shi Qingfeng, the elder of the Shi family.

Using the pretext that his grandson Shi Hao had been assassinated by the Qi royal family, Shi Qingfeng is now waging war to gradually encroach on the territory of the northwestern region of Qi.

For the past month, we have been occupying the area that we had previously agreed to divide with the other old guys, as planned.

He found it strange that the old man from Western Shu hadn't made a move.