Song of Adolescence

Chapter 199 Mu Family of Qingzhou

Qingzhou was a general name. It’s correct name was actually the Nine Cities of Qingzhou, which were: Fuze, Herui, Linyuan, Changxing, Jinxiu, Yunjian, Xiuning, Muye and Bai City. These nine cities were independently self-governed, so there was no provincial government and they reported directly to Heavenly Revelations. That was because these nine cities represented the wealth of the entire Heavenly Revelations. All nine cities were merchant cities and they represented nearly 80% of Beili\'s commerce. They were the economic centre of the whole of Beili.

Among the Nine Cities of Qingzhou, the Mu family in Yunjian City was known as the wealthiest family in Qingzhou, but no one knows how much money the Mu family actually had, nor whether they were truly the wealthiest family in Qingzhou. But the Mu family sat at the helm of the Qingzhou Chamber of Commerce, so they were thus the wealthiest family in Qingzhou by title. There were numerous businesses under the Mu family. Among them, they made a large part of their fortune from the manufacture of medicinal ingredients. Now, they were the largest supplier of medicinal ingredients in Beili.

"Why would a merchant ship from the Qingzhou Mu family come here?" Tang Lian frowned slightly. "This is not a big city. Forget about the Mu family of Yunjian. Any large family in any of the Nine Cities of Qingzhou wouldn’t come to a place like this."

"There’s only one possibility." Xiao Se thought for a while and said, "They are here to set sail."

"Set sail?" Tang Lian and Lei Wujie exchanged a glance.

"There are rare living things in the sea which have no equivalent on land. The Mu family is the largest supplier of medicinal ingredients in Beili. Since they’re using such a large merchant ship, there must be some medicinal ingredients in the sea precious enough to be worthy of their dispatch," Xiao Se said.

"So, we can hitch a ride on their boat?" Lei Wujie asked in a low voice.

"Let\'s see how it goes tomorrow." Xiao Se picked up another crab. "Let’s eat up first."

Tang Lian agreed, "Let’s eat up first."

On the second day, the three of them left Tidal View Inn. Xiao Se whispered, "This inn is called Tidal View, but it’s so far from the sea and the inn is too low. Not only can you not see the tide, you can’t even hear the tide. It’s really a misnomer."

Lei Wujie sneered on the side. "Your Fallen Snow Villa was leaking everywhere and the roof was full of holes. When there’s heavy snow outside, there’ll be a snow flurry inside. It’s actually true to its name!"

Tang Lian laughed and said, "Compared to the Lei-xiong I saw half a year ago, not only has your sword skills improved, your mouth has also become more and more skillful."

"Collude with ink and you turn black." Lei Wujie shrugged.

"I kind of miss Fallen Snow Villa now." Xiao Se gathered his sleeves.

"I wonder if it went bankrupt," Lei Wujie added quietly.

Xiao Se didn\'t reply and stepped out first. They were already into the cooler period of autumn and in this small seaside town, the strong winds were bitingly cold, lowering the temperature even more. Xiao Se was still weak and he wore a large black cloak with a hood pulled low, covering most of his face. Tang Lian was dressed in long black robes, handsome and suave, looking like he was an heir of a prestigious family. Only Lei Wujie, who wore his red phoenix shirt throughout all four seasons, looked extremely flirtatious with his muscles on display, but he said it was for cultivating his internal strength. These three people walking together in this small seaside fishing town undoubtedly attracted a lot of attention. The three of them followed Lei Wujie slowly and came to a noisy fish market full of people yelling.

"That\'s it." Lei Wujie smiled.

"You’re here!" A voice shouted happily, and a dark-skinned, bright-eyed girl stood up at a fish-selling stall in the distance. She jumped up and waved at Lei Wujie.

"Good taste," Xiao Se said softly.

Tang Lian nodded. "You said it."

"Shut up." Lei Wujie scolded the other two in a low voice, then smiled and waved at Zhenzhu. "Miss Zhenzhu, we’re here."

Zhenzhu put down the fish stall, and ran over. "You’re really trustworthy. You said you’d come and you’re really here. You’re even earlier than yesterday."

"Why are you selling fish in the fish market today?" Lei Wujie asked.

"I’m helping my brother to sell fish," Zhenzhu said with a smile. "Today I specially kept one of the best blue-spotted groupers for you. You can bring it back later. Free of charge."

Tang Lian heard the words and laughed before he looked at Xiao Se, "Finally, we don\'t have to eat more crabs today."

Xiao Se pulled down his hood. "Better we stick to crabs. I bet ten taels of silver that Lei Wujie can\'t cook fish."

The corner of Tang Lian\'s mouth rose slightly. "I can."

Zhenzhu looked at the other two from head to toe, and asked curiously, "Lei Wujie, are these two your friends?"

"Yes, this is Tang Lian, my shixiong. This is Xiao Se, my…" Lei Wujie paused.

"Debt collector," Xiao Se coldly added for him.

"Anyway, they’re my good brothers. Our families go way back. This time we’ve travelled far from home to see the magnificent sceneries of the world. Oh, yes." Lei Wujie took out a silver mirror from his sleeves and handed it over. "This is the mirror I promised to give you yesterday."

"Wow." Zhenzhu took it excitedly. "What a delicate mirror."

Xiao Se smirked and smiled slightly.

"It\'s just a little small," Zhenzhu added softly.

Xiao Se felt his knees go weak.

"After we come back from the sea, I will buy you a larger one," Lei Wujie said, turning his head to look at the large ship that was docked nearby. "By the way, Miss Zhenzhu, have you figured out what’s the story behind that ship?"

Xiao Se observed the ship carefully and said softly, "The ship is 44 zhang long and 18 zhang wide. It has four decks and nine masts to hang twelve sails, and its anchor weighs several thousand jin. The ship requires at least two hundred people on board to set sail. There’s no mistake, it’s a cedar longboat. Also, that flag is indeed the Phoenix Takes Flight banner."

"Hey, Lei Wujie, this friend of yours knows a lot about boats too?" Zhenzhu gave Xiao Se a curious look.

"He’s all theory only, never seen a real one. He just sounds impressive, but he’s as much a landlubber." Lei Wujie undermined him immediately. "Has anyone come down from that ship?"

"Someone came down. Said they’re a large merchant ship from Qingzhou, and they have a travel pass to go to the open sea to harvest medicinal ingredients. They’re here for the next few days to recruit fishermen. They said they’ll hire a total of 60 people, and that the trip will take four months. At first, everyone was reluctant to go. But one person said that the twenty taels of gold was equivalent to more than ten years worth of income for us ordinary fishermen. Moreover, they’re giving us the gold first before boarding the ship. Once they heard that, everyone went crazy,” Zhenzhu said. "So you see, all the young and strong men in the fish market are not around today. My brother has also gone to the recruitment trial."

Lei Wujie looked around, and indeed, there were no young men selling fish. Xiao Se gathered his sleeves. "Twenty taels of gold. I\'m afraid this job will not be easy."

"Yeah. I heard this morning, only two or three people passed the recruitment trial. It’s going to take a while to finish recruiting all sixty people. I also heard that the fishermen in the big harbours nearby also heard about this and are rushing here too," Zhenzhu said.

"What kind of recruitment trial is it? Are they testing their abilities in swimming and catching fish?" Tang Lian asked.

"That I don\'t know. How about we go and see?" Zhenzhu said excitedly.

"Okay. Of course we’ll join in the fun when it comes to such interesting things," Lei Wujie said.

"Alright! Xiaocui, help me look after the stall for a while. I’ll be right back." Zhenzhu turned around, and spoke to a little girl sitting in the stall next to hers. Then, she bounded off with the three of them towards the large ship.

The four of them arrived near the harbour where the large ship was docked. There was a large crowd of people forming a large ring. In the middle of the ring, a big shirtless man held a long pole in his hand, and on the tip of the pole was a silver loop. He was currently pacing slowly around the ring. The four of them were curious and continued walking forward a few steps, and realised that the area surrounded by the crowd was blocked off by wooden boards. And the brawny man standing inside the ring was facing a thin golden snake.

"Snake!" Zhenzhu exclaimed.