Yu Jiao calculated the days and guessed that Gu Yun must have gone to Lingnan after leaving Beijing. With him in charge of Lingnan, the people of Lingnan would be protected.

"The Marquis of Annan and the Lingnan Army will not sit idly by and watch Baiyue harm the people of Taiyan." Yu Jiao was reluctant to reveal Gu Yun's whereabouts, and only said, "The Lingnan Army can save you, and they will also save the people of Lingnan."

Chen Yu wanted to say that the court was unkind and the emperor was incompetent. After he had been to the northwest and Lingnan with the caravan, he had seen too many sufferings of the people, and his state of mind was very different from before. The world seemed stable at the moment, but it was all glitz and glamour. Emperor Mingzheng sat alone on the high platform, obsessed with worshipping Taoism and taking elixirs. The court increased taxes and labor service every year, and the people had long been complaining.

Shen Yu swallowed the words when they came to his lips. After all, Yu Qizhe was now a popular minister close to the emperor, and Yu Jiao was already one with him.

Seeing the dishes coming up, Chen Yu said, "Let's not talk about this anymore. Fortunately, our Qingzhou is neither a border nor a fortress, and there is nothing wrong here. You must be tired after the long journey, so let's eat first."

Yu Jiao picked up the chopsticks, feeling quite emotional. In just one year, the rich young man who used to be a dissolute playboy had become someone who was concerned about the hardships of the people's lives. The officials and those in high positions in the court were too far away from the people and only cared about the power and wealth in their hands.

"People should go out more often." Yu Jiao also wanted to go around and have a look like Chen Yu. People should not be confined to a small space throughout their lives.

Chen Yu smiled and said, "Then let me tell you about what I have seen and heard during these trips. There are many merchants in the northwest border area. There is yellow sand everywhere. Beyond Yuyang Pass is a desert with few people. It is very difficult to find water. However, there is a kind of Haloxylon ammodendron there, and Cistanche deserticola grows at the root of the Haloxylon ammodendron..."

Yu Jiao smiled. To be precise, Cistanche deserticola is parasitic on the roots of the Haloxylon ammodendron, absorbing nutrients from the tree to grow.

Chen Yu spoke eloquently, constantly talking about what he had seen and heard. He described the camels in the desert as treasures that could carry two mountains, the red saline lake as a pool of blood, and the mirage in the desert as the Penglai Palace.

Yu Jiao listened with great interest and occasionally couldn't help laughing.

She thought it was no wonder that Emperor Mingzheng was obsessed with the pursuit of immortality. Many natural phenomena could not be explained by science, and could only be attributed to ghosts and gods through word of mouth.

"There are countless pearls and corals in the sea in Lingnan. I heard from an old man in a local fishing village that one day his ancestor came across a strange fish lying on the beach. It was as big as a house. The man was very brave. When he saw that the strange fish was dead, he wanted to taste its meat to see if it was delicious. After he cut open the belly of the strange fish with an axe, he found a waxy stone hidden in the belly of the strange fish. It smelled so good! His ancestor presented the precious stone to the local county magistrate, who ordered someone to rush the fragrant stone to the capital. Can you guess what the precious fragrant stone is?"

Shen Yu asked Yu Jiao proudly, with a look of showing off.

Yu Jiao put down the spoon and smiled slightly, "Ambergris?"

Shen Yu failed to show off, and was speechless for a moment, then asked curiously: "How did you know?"

Yu Jiao pursed her lips, "I can make perfume pills, so I naturally know something about various spices. The strange fish you mentioned is called sperm whale, and the so-called ambergris is actually the feces and vomit of sperm whales."

Chen Yu had a complicated expression: "The old man in the fishing village said that someone later fished up a fragrant stone from the sea. His ancestors thought that the strange fish had swallowed the ambergris by mistake. According to you, the ambergris is actually the excrement of the strange fish...?"

When Shen Yu thought about those nobles who used fish feces to fumigate their clothes and burn incense to compete with him, his expression became a little distorted. He would never use ambergris again.