Accompanying maid (4)

Just like the area outside the west gate, there was a huge market outside the east gate, with horse-drawn carts carrying goods coming and going frequently. However, no goods were sold there. Outside the east gate, various boxes, sacks, and rattan baskets were piled up like small mountains, and tall, muscular men constantly walked past, unloading goods from the carts. During the day, horse-drawn carts carrying goods were not allowed to enter Taiyang City; more accurately, only noble carriages were permitted to pass through Taiyang City during the day. Goods could only be transported into Taiyang City by horse-drawn or oxcart after sunset. These goods were piled up into different mountains; agricultural products were packed in rattan baskets, including potatoes, cabbages, carrots, as well as apples, lemons, and enormous melons.

Herds of cattle and sheep were also stopped at the corner of the wall outside the east gate: "These are all sent up from the noble fiefdoms. Some are going to the slaughterhouse, and some are going to the Earl's mansion." Fried pointed to several particularly fat cattle and sheep and said, "Look, they have tags around their necks. These are the best cattle and sheep that will not be sent to the slaughterhouse."

"Where did all these come from?"

“By boat,” Fried said, pointing in the direction the oxcart had come from. “There’s the biggest dock in Sun City there. Want to go check it out?”

Mi looked up at the sky. Tonight she was going to visit Beatrice: "Let's go to the docks tomorrow."

Mi and Fried returned to the Flower Inn. Anna left a message saying she was going home for two days, and Mi secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Now Anna was Mi's biggest creditor, and Mi didn't know how many days he would owe Anna's wages until he found a job.

Mi took out her lunchbox; she was going to make some calming water for Betty. Opening the lunchbox, a handful of marigold coins lay quietly on top of the mud lump. Mi looked towards the Adventurers' Guild, smiling as she grabbed the marigold coins. This world has good and bad; there are bad people, but there are also many good people—that's what makes it a real world. The mud lump simmered in the pot, the murky water gradually becoming clear. Mi looked at everything before her in amazement. This was a magical world, where the fates of ordinary people and magical creatures were intertwined.

That evening, Mi went to visit Beatrice. Beatrice was now sleeping alone in her room. Each floor of the Twin Towers had an extra servant's room. Beatrice could pull a rope in her room and a maid would come over. There would never be a maid like Lily who followed her around all day again.

When Beatrice saw Mi, her eyes widened in surprise. She scrambled out of bed, her lips trembling as she tried to speak, but tears blurred her vision, and she sobbed, "I thought, I thought..."

Peggy looked haggard, with dark circles under her eyes and bloodshot eyes. Mi hugged her and wiped away her tears: "I should have come to see you sooner."

"Are you alright?" Beatrice stared intently at Mi's face, crying and laughing at the same time. "I've been worried about you just like Mom."

"I'm fine, I'm great." Mi hugged Bai Cuisi and wrapped her even tighter in the blanket. "Oh, little darling, be careful not to catch a cold." Mi took out a lunchbox. "Here, have some water, drink slowly." Bai Cuisi took the lunchbox without hesitation, lowered her head and took a couple of sips, then couldn't help but yawn, starting to feel sleepy. Mi closed the lunchbox. "Okay, go to sleep."

Patricia held onto Mi's hand, refusing to close her eyes. She mumbled, "Are you really sent by my mother?" Mi took out the wooden plaque Di had given her. Patricia stared at the plaque and soon fell asleep. Mi looked at Patricia's sleeping face; she was a strong child. Mi sat by Patricia's bedside until midnight. Patricia didn't sleep well; her brows were furrowed in her sleep, and she would occasionally struggle. Fortunately, she didn't wake up. It seemed she had been living in fear these past few days and hadn't had a proper night's sleep. There was still plenty of water in the lunchbox, enough for Patricia to drink for a month. Mi decided she would come and keep Patricia company every day until she fell asleep.

The next day, Mi decided to go to the docks. She desperately needed a job, but she hadn't decided what kind. The east gate was deserted, and the goods piled up at the foot of the city wall were long gone. Only a few carriages with different flags were parked there.

Fried looked around and said, "Please wait a moment, sir, I'll go find a carriage." Soon Fried brought back an open carriage, driven by a dark-skinned boy. This was the first time Mi had seen a black man since entering the Flower Kingdom. Mi stared at the driver for a while before turning away. The Flower Kingdom had people of all races, Mi thought, wondering if he'd see any yellow-skinned people by the river.

The carriage began its slow journey towards Huajiang. Along the way, almost all the carriages were oxen pulling flatbed carts laden with goods, making Mi's carriage stand out starkly. Fortunately, every now and then, a few open carriages like these could be seen on the road. Fried explained that many nobles enjoyed riding in such carriages. Mi looked around. The area outside the eastern city was particularly open, with many wide roads, each separate for coming and going, and carriages and oxcarts traveling on different routes. Tall deciduous trees lined both sides of the road, their trunks straight, with tiny, tender green buds peeking out – spring had arrived.

The sun was particularly bright today, perhaps because of the riverside. Mi got off the carriage and looked into the distance. Boats of all sizes were lined up along the riverbank, and the water shimmered in the distance. Perhaps because they grew on the riverbank, the grass had sprouted new shoots early, a fresh green, and the tender green leaves on the trees on the bank were also growing better than in other places.

The Huajiang River is very wide, its surface shimmering gold under the red sun. The river is several tens of meters wide, with docks built at intervals along its banks, where small boats ply the waters.

In the open space in front of these docks stands a row of huge stone sculptures, engraved with three large characters—"Landing Ship." The Landing Ship refers to the ships that outsiders used to travel to the Flower Kingdom. The Landing Ship wasn't a single ship, but a fleet. This place is also known as the Landing Point. The small dock where people landed back then has been fenced off and is no longer in use.

Mi stared at the sculptures. The ships were no longer recognizable; only their blurry outlines revealed their massive hulls, and their tall, wide masts resembled launchers. Where did these people come from? Mi recalled the history books Yana had shown her; the Flower Kingdom was a name given after these outsiders arrived.

Mi turned to look at the sky. The sky above the river was bluer and deeper than that of Sun City, and the red sun showed a remarkably clear outline. What kind of people drifted here from where? Long-lived beings lived here since the beginning of time, the boundaries between the sand people and the fishermen were clear. When outsiders arrived, the long-lived beings didn't even tell them that a gigantic, man-eating monster lived here. They lived peacefully in their respective territories, like different animals having different domains. The arrival of outsiders disrupted this balance.

"Did you let these outsiders in?" Mi asked, staring into the distant void. "You put cells into a lifeless blue planet, and then you let a whole bunch of people into a place inhabited by life. Is breaking the existing balance your goal? Or do you want to establish a new order?" Mi felt this place was more like a completely different experimental box, repeating the lives of humanity for thousands of years, the existing order destroyed, and new rules established. But these outsiders were too weak to resist the enormous sand people, and the place was riddled with holes. One after another, alien races from unknown origins treated this place as an adventurer's paradise. Mi thought she could just take a look like a tourist and leave, but these living people, these lives she interacted with, bound her deeper and deeper to the Flower Kingdom.

Mi avoided the dock and walked further away. Several rows of small boats were lined up on the dock, and further away, a large ship, almost three stories high, was moored. The small boats busily moved between the dock and the large ship, while dark-skinned, muscular sailors stood on rope ladders lowered from the large ship, passing crates of cargo between them to the small boats. Mi watched nervously for a while, constantly worried that one of the sailors pulling the rope with one hand might accidentally slip, causing a crate to fall and hit those below.

"Are all these cargo ships?" Mi asked after looking around for a while.

“These ships also carry passengers,” Fried said, pointing to the flags on the bow and mast. “These ships with the Adventurers’ Guild flags carry people, mostly heading to the Snow Region for adventures.” Fried then pointed to a small, grass-like flag and said, “These ships go to Mai City. You can take these ships to both Star City and Mai City; the journey only takes a month. However, few people from Sun City go out; apart from adventurers, most people come to Sun City.”

"Besides the snowy region," Mi asked, looking at the many bare masts, "are there any other places they venture to for adventure?"

“Not now.” Fried shook his head. “There used to be ships from the Sea Kingdom coming and going here frequently. I heard that the Sea Kingdom’s queen ran away, and the Sea Kingdom’s king sealed off the entire territory to search for the queen. It’s been a long time since any ships from the Sea Kingdom have come to Sun City.”

"What do ships from the Sea Kingdom look like?" Ms. Mi felt that the name Sea Kingdom sounded familiar. Where had she heard it before?

“The ships of the Sea Kingdom are particularly strange,” Fried said, glancing around. “The flags of the Sea Kingdom’s ships are black, embroidered with bizarre monsters with many claws or tentacles.” Fried gestured, trying to explain the creatures he had never seen before. But from Fried’s few words, Mi understood what they were.

On the way back to the city, Mi noticed that there wasn't a single shop along the way, only busy workers and mountains of goods waiting to be delivered, completely different from the west side of the city.

"What do they eat?" Mi asked.

“These people all have union offices,” Fried said, pointing to the various union flags along the city wall. “The union offices provide meals, all free of charge. Who would pay for a free lunch?” Fried thought to himself, wouldn’t it be better to save up some money to take home?

A short distance from the main road along the city wall, horse-drawn carriages adorned with various flags were parked. Several buckets filled with steaming soup and baskets of wheat cakes were on each carriage. Every now and then, a worker would walk over, exchange a few words with the people by the carriage, then take a bowl of soup and a couple of cakes to eat. Mi was once again bewildered by the practices of Tai*Yang*City: “What is the Trade Union Office?”

“These union offices are branches of the Adventurers’ Guild,” Fried said. “Everyone who works has to register with the union, which guarantees you a minimum wage and ensures that businesses don’t delay paying wages. The union offices also provide workers with free meals.”

Where does the union's money come from?

“These are all the merchants,” Fried pointed around. “These merchants can only hire people from the guild; they can’t hire residents of Sun City privately.” Mi nodded. So it was a monopoly business; these were just like the various canal gangs.

Fried was also a bit troubled. This adventurer seemed easy to talk to, but she was poor, using her marigolds to pay rent at Sheila's place. Anna's salary was calculated in gold darts, and the adventurer could bring back several hundred gold darts from a trip, so Fried wasn't worried that Mi wouldn't be able to pay the bill. However, this adventurer wanted to find work in Sun City, and she didn't want to collect protection money. Work was easier to find in the west of the city, but the people there were complicated, the pay was low, and the working hours were long. Mi had marigold gold coins and was a noble adventurer who had just arrived from out of town; Fried dared not recommend work in the west of the city to her.