CHAPTER 430: CHAPTER 427 RELY ON YOURSELF

The goods are all set, Li Tao ordered the ship to advance.

"What are those people who used to follow Liu Xi doing?" Li Tao asked Pu Shou.

Pu Shou replied, "After handling Liu Xi’s funeral, there hasn’t been any movement from them, and their ships haven’t sailed out again."

Without Liu Xi, they are just a scattered group. Even if their ships sail again in the future, they can’t go far. Without a helmsman, the others need not be concerned.

Li Tao said, "Even if we need to catch people this time, it should be done at sea to prevent leaving too many clues for the government office."

Pu Shou replied, "I’ll have someone keep an eye on their movements."

Li Tao pondered for a moment: "The situation is different now, don’t act rashly. Inform me first if there’s any movement."

After speaking, Li Tao went again to inspect the goods, picking up the thread tassel and carefully examining it: "These threads look better than last year’s, finely spun and uniform."

Pu Shou smiled and said, "I heard the wool is good, and the spinning wheel used is good too."

Hearing about the spinning wheel, Li Tao’s eyes lit up; he liked these kinds of things, just as he liked the compass made by Liu Xi.

He always had to find a way to get them.

Li Tao and Pu Shou took the goods to the small island, where Zheng and others were already waiting to unload the goods and report on the island’s situation.

Six more people died on the island, all laborers from the mine, with little food provided and overly exhausted. Once sick, the island couldn’t find enough medicine to treat them, and some were carried out to be buried before they completely stopped breathing.

But what does it matter if people die? Those who couldn’t survive mostly had their bodies worn out on the island; keeping them wouldn’t make them capable of much work and would require feeding them, which was not cost-effective for Li Tao. It was better to catch some more people and bring them over.

After Sister Chen talked with Zheng last time, Zheng intended to gather information.

"Such fine goods must be made in the South, right?" Zheng asked Pu Shou, seemingly stunned by the threads.

Pu Shou did not confirm but simply said, "You don’t know about the outside matters."

Even if someone is very familiar with another person, they may not give a clear answer, but Sister Chen had a sense that this wasn’t bought from the South.

Could it possibly be made in the North? Where in the North could produce such good thread tassels?

Zheng said, "If you give us a spinning wheel, we can definitely find a way to make them."

"Maybe one day you’ll get new spinning wheels," Pu Shou said. "If you truly make them, naturally you’ll be rewarded."

Zheng said, "I don’t dare ask for any other rewards; if I can return to Yan Country in my lifetime, I’ll be satisfied."

Pu Shou seemed to understand Zheng’s thoughts very well, knowing that those with desires are easier to control: "Then you should wish for Prince Lu to achieve big things soon."

Zheng nodded, she had already received quite a bit of information.

At night, she returned to the village, where Sister Chen was waiting in the house.

"How did it go today?" Zheng asked.

Sister Chen said, "The gathered herbs were of some use, the illness has temporarily stabilized." The women in the house were also enslaved, and illness was common; thanks to Sister Chen’s help, otherwise, who knows how many would have died.

Zheng said, "All the herbs that could be found on the island were brought over, you’ve done your best, whether they survive or not depends on fate."

Sister Chen said nothing.

Zheng extinguished the lamp, and the two talked quietly in the dark.

Zheng said, "I gathered some information. These goods should be made in the North; they used newly made spinning wheels, such spinning wheels are rare even in Daqi, and they can’t be obtained easily in a short time. It’s been a long time since they last came to the island to deliver goods, but the goods brought were not plentiful. It can be imagined that these goods are hard to buy, and they are very cautious in their manufacturing."

Sister Chen didn’t speak for a long time after hearing this.

Zheng said, "Did you understand?"

Sister Chen said, "Spinning wheels weren’t made by the court; otherwise, with Prince Lu’s connections there, he should be able to obtain a few spinning wheels. You mentioned the North... Before I left, there wasn’t anything like this; it’s been so many years, perhaps a formidable person has come to manage the Northern States?"

"Prince Lu is so cautious because he fears this person,"

Sister Chen truly couldn’t figure out who this person was, but she knew: "What you said was wrong."

Zheng was surprised, not knowing which sentence Sister Chen was referring to.

Sister Chen said, "Whether you survive has never depended on fate, but on ourselves. Had you not soft-heartedly saved me back then, had I not disfigured myself, I would have died long ago, doing nothing is just waiting for death."

Zheng didn’t speak for a long time, making it seem as if she had already fallen asleep.

Finally, after a long time, Zheng spoke: "You know there’s no chance to leave."

"There is," Sister Chen stated affirmatively, "Prince Lu has an enemy besides the Emperor; whether that person is Prince Qi or someone else, once they have a conflict with Prince Lu, we’ll be able to leave amidst the chaos, but as I said earlier, we have to be prepared."

Secretly prepare the ships, know the whereabouts of every guard on the island, persuade the people on the island, and when the time comes, rise together.

Zheng understood Sister Chen’s intention; she drew a breath of cold air: "You’re seeking a path of death."

"No one wants to live more than I do," Sister Chen said decisively again, "I want to survive because I know there are people wishing for my return, regardless of how I change or what I’ve been through, they wish for my return just as I wish for their well-being."

Zheng said, "We can try to persuade people, starting with those we trust the most."

Sister Chen said, "We also need to gather information from Pu Shou, to know as much as possible about the person Prince Lu fears and what those people intend to do."

The more we know, the more accurately we can seize opportunities, since many of Prince Lu’s troops are on this island, success is impossible without external aid.

...

Spring farming gradually concluded.

Chen Yongyi came to the Xinzhou Paper Workshop with his men to help.

Xie Shao Yuan and Liu Ji also gathered information before returning to Dai State.

This trip they gained some insights, learning that before Liu Xi got into trouble, someone sought Liu Xi regarding the compass, mentioning an interest in buying it.

Of course, Liu Xi refused to sell; that person showed Liu Xi some gemstones obtained at sea and promised to give Liu Xi a big ship. If Liu Xi was willing, he could bring people to do business with them at sea.

Liu Xi inquired about the person’s origins, but they only said their ancestors traded on the sea and visited very distant places, able to buy the finest goods.

Crucial details were mysteriously hidden and not easily disclosed, promising to tell Liu Xi the truth if he joined them.

Liu Xi was always cautious, never risking the lives of himself and those around him, so he rejected that person.

After that, that person didn’t visit again.

Liu Xi’s apprentice remembered clearly: "The gemstones that person brought were all very nice, not easily bought at sea."

Xie Liangchen looked at Xie Shao Yuan: "If those people can buy the finest goods, what are currently the best-selling goods in Daqi?"

"Do our thread tassels count among them?"