Wen Yan brought the carriage to a halt beside the docks, but did not allow Miss Player to get down.
"If there is anything you wish to handle, Miss, give me your instructions," he said. "The docks are not like other places. Aside from laborers, there are all kinds of gangs. In a small place like Cuixi County’s docks alone, there are the Wanhang Gang, the Liyi Gang, the Accounting House Gang, and the Water Snake Gang, all locked in constant struggle for profit. In such a mixed and unruly place, if you appear rashly, I fear someone blind to danger may offend you."
Miss Player knew his words were reasonable. She did not insist on getting down and instead asked, "What is the relationship between the Wanhang Gang and the shipping magnate Sun Wanhang?"
"The gang leader is Sun Wanhang himself. He owns a shipyard capable of building large vessels," Wen Yan said. Though not a native of Cuixi County, he had already gathered considerable information about it.
"And not just in Cuixi County—across the entire Jialing Prefecture, over seventy percent of passenger and cargo ships belong to him. The Wanhang Gang has nearly monopolized the transport of high-value goods such as tea, inkstones, and silk. It is said he also has official backing and can mobilize river defense troops to escort ships and guard against water bandits."
"As for the remaining three gangs combined, they can only barely contend with the Wanhang Gang. The Liyi Gang is made up of dock laborers at the lowest level, controlling short-distance transport and loading along the docks. It is the largest gang in terms of manpower."
"The Water Snake Gang has a mixed membership—fishermen, former river bandits who have washed their hands clean, civilian corpse retrievers, and the like. They control inland river transport and underwater salvage around the docks."
"The Accounting House Gang, as the name suggests, is composed of former shop managers and accountants. It has the fewest members and does not engage in manual labor, but it controls accounting, pricing negotiations, guarantees, and dispute mediation. Even the Wanhang Gang gives them some face and avoids clashing with them lightly."
Everything Wen Yan described was information Miss Player had not known in her previous run. As for Sun Wanhang, she had only come to know him because, during that run, she and her former husband had traveled to take the examinations aboard one of his merchant ships.
At the time, her former husband had ranked first in the Autumn Examination, becoming the Provincial Top Scholar. In the entire Jialing Prefecture, he had been a figure in great demand.
Upon hearing the news, Sun Wanhang had come personally to visit them.
He was a remarkable man. With the intention of forming ties, he had escorted the couple all the way out of Shu Province before returning home.
They had thus formed a faint connection. Since she had settled in Cuixi County, Miss Player had considered him when the game issued Growth Task Two.
Thinking of this, she asked, "If I want merchants to transport ripe Yongzhou lychees for me, can I ask him to make the arrangements?"
Wen Yan replied, "For such a small transaction, if Miss seeks him as an intermediary, you would need to reveal your identity. The advantage is that you would not need to spend money. The disadvantage is that you would owe him a favor."
Miss Player shook her head. The trade was not worth it.
Finding someone else to transport the lychees was merely a fallback plan for completing the side task. If the group of boys led by Zhang Kang failed to reach Yongzhou altogether, the hard-earned opportunity to trigger the side task would be lost.
Miss Player would not allow that to happen.
Still, at the farewell, she had already done everything she could to increase their chances of survival.
Waiting passively for results was not an option. A backup plan was necessary.
And since it was a backup, it could not be the optimal solution. One could imagine that completing the task in such an ordinary way would yield a low completion rate.
Given Sun Wanhang’s way of doing things, once he deemed a relationship worth forming, he would never allow others to bypass him and approach her directly.
That would restrict her freedom.
"We’ll find someone ourselves," Miss Player said.
After a moment’s thought, Wen Yan drove the carriage to a restaurant by the docks. He had Miss Player put on a veiled hat and carried her inside, following a waiter up to a private room on the second floor.
The waiter brought tea.
Miss Player had assumed Wen Yan would leave alone to find a suitable merchant, but he did not. Instead, he took out one tael of silver, handed it to the waiter, and instructed, "Go. Bring in a few merchants who travel to Lingnan."
Half an hour later, three merchants entered one after another.
The first was short and sturdy, with a broad forehead and smooth brow ridge, bearing the features of the local Lingnan peoples. As soon as he spoke, Wen Yan leaned close and said quietly, "This is a Baiyue man. The waiter didn’t try to fool me by bringing random people."
Miss Player asked whether he could bring White Sugar Ying lychees. He agreed at once, though his price was high and required signing a contract.
Cuixi County was not far from Lingnan. Compared to transporting lychees all the way to the Imperial Capital, bringing them here was far easier.
Lychees were rare, but when they ripened in Lingnan, they were not entirely absent in Cuixi County. However, to specify a particular variety required some effort.
Miss Player agreed to sign a contract. Wen Yan immediately called the waiter again and had him fetch someone from the Accounting House Gang to draft the agreement. In dock commerce, having the Accounting House Gang act as intermediaries held more weight than signing contracts at the county yamen.
While the waiter went to fetch someone, Miss Player began telling a story.
This was a method she had devised in her previous run to increase the completion rate of side tasks.
Completing a side task was like answering a reading comprehension question—the key was not the lychees, but Lingnan.
In her previous run—
Separated by a screen, the Lingnan merchant could only judge from her silhouette and voice that the speaker was a young girl. It was… strange.
This transaction concerned lychees, and so the merchant spoke at length about White Sugar Ying.
"It comes from one of the oldest lychee orchards in Lingnan. More than thirty trees are over five hundred years old. When the White Sugar Ying ripens, I—"
Whenever Miss Player occasionally spoke, the merchant reacted like a man who had not drunk water for days suddenly receiving sweet rain, continuing without pause.
The entire afternoon passed as Miss Player listened to the merchant’s stories.
The task progress bar crept forward like a turtle, slowly changing from 0% to 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%… until it finally stopped at 2.1%.
It no longer increased, but it proved that her approach was correct.
Wen Yan had long since told the other two merchants waiting outside that they could leave. Yet neither was willing to go. They wanted to know what kind of deal could keep a Lingnan merchant inside for so long.
Voices continued to drift out from within. Both men strained their ears to listen.
Summer was approaching; night fell later and later. But no matter how late, the sun would still set.
Miss Player put on her veiled hat again. Wen Yan carried her out of the private room.
The two merchants waiting outside immediately crowded around. One of them, seeing her exquisite clothing—finer than anything even found in the Capital—and her delicate, jade-like hands exposed from her sleeves, instantly judged her to be a person of status and eagerly began to promote his goods.
"Anything the Lingnan merchant has, I have as well. Please consider doing business with me. I have fine fabrics, rare gemstones, life-saving medicines, as well as precious spices and the finest tea."
The other merchant, seeing her attention entirely captured by his rival, grew anxious. In a moment of panic, he blurted out loudly, "I have salt and iron!"
Miss Player turned her head and looked at him through her veil.
Bold of you.
Salt and iron were state-controlled in Great Xi. Private trade carried a minimum sentence of one year, with no upper limit.
Seeing everyone fall silent and stare at him, the merchant stammered, "I—I have a salt license approved by the authorities. The iron is… iron pots, iron ploughs…"
He looked as if he might cry, unable to understand why he had spoken so rashly.
Miss Player did not bother verifying whether he spoke the truth. She leaned close and whispered a few words to Wen Yan.
Wen Yan spoke aloud, "Our Miss will return here tomorrow. If you have confidence in your goods, you may wait here for her arrival."
The two merchants exchanged a glance. In each other’s eyes, they saw the same thought—
This would surely be a major transaction.
For no particular reason, they were both convinced of it.
Even as they watched Miss Player depart, they did not understand that what had influenced their judgment was not logic—but the faint sound of her voice drifting from behind the screen.
With an Appearance of 18, not only had her beauty surpassed imagination itself, but her voice was equally captivating.
Every part of her was perfect.
…
By the time the carriage returned to the county yamen, night had fully fallen.
Even a carriage bearing the yamen’s insignia had to be inspected.
Wen Yan lifted the curtain. A soldier raised a lantern, illuminating the narrow carriage. Inside, a small girl slept soundly in a maid’s arms, only half her face visible.
After seeing her face, the soldier—who had already been moving quietly—grew so careful that even his breathing became nearly imperceptible. When he stepped back, his feet made no sound at all.
Who could bear to disturb Miss Player while she slept?
Yet the sound of another carriage arriving still woke her. She yawned, her eyes heavy with sleep, and looked outside. On either side of the vermilion gate were two lines of writing:
"See the green grass and moss before the steps—there is life in all things."
"Hear the crows and sparrows beyond the wall—there may be hidden injustice."
They had arrived home.
Miss Player reached out to be carried down. Holding Taozi’s hand, she walked inside.
The occupants of the other carriage stepped down to be inspected—it was Qian Yuanyuan with her attendants.
The two groups walked one after the other. With her short legs, Miss Player fell behind Qian Yuanyuan as they entered.
Mother and daughter both passed through the rear gate into the inner residence. In these special times, it was the only entrance open.
Miss Player walked past Qian Yuanyuan without so much as a glance.
"Yoyou…" Qian Yuanyuan called.
Miss Player ignored her completely, walking straight through the corridor and into Yinian Hall.
The wind stirred the hanging bells along the corridor, their chimes ringing softly. Once, she would always stop to listen.
Now, she no longer liked their sound.
Qian Yuanyuan stood there in a daze, watching her daughter’s back disappear.
I am your mother…
The thought had just formed when another voice—one she could never forget—rang in her mind.
It was her daughter’s voice.
"I do not have a mother like you."
Qian Yuanyuan stood frozen, clutching her chest.
It hurt.
To lose something one once possessed—
that was the deepest pain of all.