At the border, after a night of fierce fighting, the Northern Qi suffered a major defeat.

Looking at Qi Heng, the Crown Prince of Northern Qi, who was trapped like a dumpling, Ling Zhi asked Gu Qian beside him, "General, what should we do?"

The reason only the Crown Prince was mentioned is because General Chu vanished into thin air last night…

Ling Zhi felt somewhat guilty. He and Gu Qian each fought against the Crown Prince of Northern Qi and General Chu, but Gu Qian captured the Crown Prince alive while he allowed General Chu to escape.

Last night, no matter how hard they dug, they couldn't find him.

Gu Qian had always known that General Chu was a fierce general with exceptional skills. Therefore, he did not blame Ling Zhi.

Gu Qian has now blocked all of General Chu's escape routes back to Northern Qi; he cannot return.

The Crown Prince of Northern Qi looked pale and sickly. He hadn't slept well to begin with, and last night Gu Qian had taken advantage of him. He regretted his actions.

He could fall asleep standing up at this moment. "Gu Qian, if you dare to harm me in the slightest, my father will surely send a general from Northern Qi with tens of thousands of troops to raze Dongjin to the ground!"

"What arrogance!" Ling Zhi punched the prince in the chest, forcing him to fall to the ground.

Gu Qian snorted coldly and said indifferently, "Now that you are in my hands, do you think he would do that?"

Although it is not advisable to go to war now, we must make use of this crown prince who has come to us for help.

Gu Qian wanted to take him to Dongjin as a hostage. With a hostage, he wouldn't have to worry about a rebellion on the border for the time being.

A few days later, Xingyuelou's business stabilized.

The weather has been a bit unstable lately, especially today, it's gloomy and looks like it could rain at any moment.

The Wu family sent another batch of mountain products, this time including Sichuan peppercorns, nuts, and other items.

This time, Qiu Yan did not return to the village. Her second uncle and Qiu Xu delivered the mountain produce to her wonton shop early in the morning.

Because the Wu family brought fresh mushrooms among their mountain goods, the second uncle was worried that Qiu Yan and the others would have even less time to go home after the rain, so he simply delivered them early in the morning.

After breakfast, Qiu Yan took the mountain goods and went to Bihushan Villa together.

She looked up at the sky and, fearing it might rain, decided to deliver the mountain goods as soon as possible to avoid them getting wet.

Upon arriving at Bihu Inn, Qiu Yan called out to the inn's servants to help unload the goods.

Qi Tiansheng was at the inn when he saw Qiu Yan arrive, and immediately went out to greet her.

"Miss Qiu, you're so busy, yet you still personally deliver the goods every time. It must be really hard work for you."

Just then, a middle-aged man walked out of the inn.

Qiu Yan recognized the man; he was the same man who had been quite hostile towards her at Xingyue Tower a few days ago.

"Miss Qiu, could I have half of these mountain products?" He had businesses in other prefectures and counties, and now that he saw that the mountain products Qiu Yan had given him were of good quality and reasonably priced, he naturally wanted to get some.

Upon hearing this, Qi Tiansheng quickly shook his head, "Zhou Shao, Miss Qiu and I signed a contract."

Qiu Yan was somewhat surprised. Only then did she realize that the person opposite her was Zhou Zifang's father.

She felt that Zhou Zifang must look like his mother.

No wonder Zhou Zifang has been staying in her little courtyard lately; he's hiding from his father.

This week, Shao came without revealing his identity first, but instead examined me first. He really is a businessman.

Fortunately, Shuangxilou was able to stop the losses in time; otherwise, Xingyuelou's business would have been affected.

Qiu Yan smiled and nodded at Zhou Shao: "So it's Boss Zhou."

Zhou Shao nodded to her, "Miss Qiu, don't forget, you are now the manager of Xingyue Tower. Anything you have should go to Xingyue Tower first."

Qi Tiansheng: "Miss Qiu, one cannot be without integrity."

Qiu Yan... Are these two really friends?

"Master Zhou, Uncle Qi already ordered these mountain goods. If you want them, go and buy them from him."

I also have Sichuan peppercorns for seasoning, and some nuts..."

Just as Qiu Yan finished speaking, the servants unloaded the peppercorns and a sack of nuts, including pine nuts and walnuts.

Qiu Yan brought these over with a try-it-out attitude.

Perhaps it was because the mountain produce she brought was of good quality, but the two men bought all of her Sichuan peppercorns and nuts.

Of course, she didn't forget to leave some for herself and Xingyuelou respectively.

With the money and goods exchanged, Qiu Yan earned more than twenty taels of silver from this deal.

"Please continue with your business. If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving now."

"Wait!" Qiu Yan was about to leave when Zhou Shao called out to her.

"After observing for a few days, Mr. Zhou has found that Miss Qiu has a good business sense. Our main store is in need of a manager. I wonder if Miss Qiu would be interested in coming to Shangjin City with me?"

Zhou Shao said this because he felt that Zhou Zifang stayed in Baiyang and refused to leave because of Qiu Yan.

What is unknown is that Zhou Zifang not only dislikes reading, but also cannot stand his discipline.

Qiu Yan refused, saying, "I'm sorry, I only want to stay in Baiyang."

Although she enjoys making money, she also knows that money is never enough. Her younger siblings, her little glutton, her aunt and uncle are all here; she won't, and can't, leave.

Qiu Yan disagreed, which displeased Zhou Shao. He immediately put on a stern face and stormed into the inn.

Qi Tiansheng saw Qiu Yan out of the inn, only telling her not to worry about it.

Qiu Yan didn't take the matter to heart at all. But as soon as she left the Bihu Inn, the weather turned bad, and a light autumn rain began to fall.

And the rain was getting heavier and heavier...

Qiu Yan looked at the muddy ground and slowly drove the carriage.

As soon as she returned to the courtyard, she saw Qiu Xu and Old Mu squatting down in front of the courtyard gate.

It turns out it was already noon.

"Ah Xu, Grandpa Mu, why aren't you coming into the yard?"

"Sister, I forgot my keys." Qiu Xu saw his sister, quickly took the keys from her, and went to open the door.

Qiu Yan: "Remember to bring your keys from now on, don't forget them again."

As the autumn wind blew by, Old Mu sneezed twice, looking rather listless.

None of his descendants lived in Baiyang; he was the only one living in the courtyard.

He and Qiu Xu were in the same boat; they couldn't get into the courtyard because they had lost their keys.

"Come on, come into the courtyard." Qiu Yan helped Old Man Mu into the courtyard.

"Miss Qiu, I see you know a bit about medicine, could you prescribe some medicine for me? My chronic stomach ailment has been really bothering me lately."

Old Mu clutched his stomach, clearly suffering from a stomach ailment.

Qiu Yan poured him a cup of hot water, and then wrote a prescription based on his symptoms. "Grandpa Mu, your stomach needs care. Just taking medicine may not be enough. You need to pay attention to your diet."

Qiu Xu took the prescription, looked at it carefully, and said to Old Master Mu, "Sir, please lie down for a while, I'll go get the medicine."

Old Mu grabbed Qiu Xu's arm, saying, "No need, it's still raining outside. I'll be fine after a while."

Qiu Yan also said, "Ah Xu, let's cook some rice porridge for Grandpa Mu first, it will help relieve the pain."

Qiu Xu nodded, turned around and went to the kitchen to start a fire and cook porridge.

With a creak, Zhao Yuanyuan pushed open the door and entered the small courtyard.

Qiu Yan found it strange, as Zhao Yuanyuan usually didn't return to the courtyard at noon.

Before she could even ask, Zhao Yuanyuan said:

"Xiaoyan, Madam's clothing shop... is leaking, and many clothes are soaked... We have nowhere to go, and Madam told us to go home this noon."

At the clothing shop, Qiu Dafu stood in front of the shop, looking at the mess inside. He stood there for a moment, and after much hesitation, he finally went in.