It's called a dinner party, but in fact it's just a gathering of old friends, because Guru is also very familiar with Ye Renwu and Helen. Although they don't interact much, don't forget that Loli Kochi is Guru's twin sister.

"Our civilian tribune Baker originally wanted to come and ask for a drink, but I drove him away. This guy has been sticking to me recently." Wu Lai said this as he sat down, making everyone laugh.

"Wu Lai, oh, it seems that I should call you Lord Wu Lai now. Well, okay, Lord Wu Lai, tell me, how does it feel to be the number one in this Salt Marsh Town?" Ye Renwu asked with a giggle.

"You won't understand this feeling even if I tell you." Wu Lai answered while gently holding Helen's hand. Before he could tickle her palm as he did in the past, Ye Renwu suddenly moved his body and "caught" the two's small movements with his eyes.

"You two, why do you have to do this?" Ye Renwu looked at Wu Lai with a playful expression.

"Night Blade Dance." Helen's cheeks turned red, and she immediately gave Night Blade Dance a look. Night Blade Dance giggled and sat back on the chair, but stretched out her hand to hook Guru and said, "I haven't seen you for a while. Why do you grow a beard? Are you in a hurry to get old?"

"Not really..." Gulu was about to say something perfunctorily when El came in with the cooks and servants, carrying cups, plates and bowls. The cook at the end was even holding a jar of wine.

"Great, we can have hotpot again. You know what, Lord Wu Lai, the hotpot we eat has lost a lot of flavor since you left Assyria." Ye Renwu clapped his hands and said.

"You're the only one who's greedy." Wu Lai pretended to glare at Ye Renwu, then turned his head to Helen and said in a low voice, "You've worked hard on the journey. You'll have to eat more later. The venison in this hot pot today was hunted by me personally. It's especially delicious..."

"Is there a place to hunt deer nearby?" Ye Renwu interrupted.

"Yes." Seeing Wu Lai's expression suddenly stiffen, Guru quickly drew Night Blade Dance's attention to himself, "I just don't know how long you will stay in the town this time. How about I take you there one day when I have time?"

"You? You can also hunt deer?" Ye Renwu asked, covering his mouth with his hands and smiling.

"Why can't I hunt deer?" Guru was stunned and thought, am I just this bad?

"How do you know how to hunt deer?" Ye Renwu asked back.

Seeing that Guru and Ye Jianwu seemed to be in a dispute, Wu Lai was happy to ignore Ye Jianwu and didn't even want to say much. He just held Helen's hand in his palm and looked at her lovingly.

"Master, it's snowing outside, and it's quite heavy. They all said that Saltmarsh Town has never seen a snowfall as heavy and fast as today." After the cooks and servants put away the dishes, El waved his hand to send them away and said to Wu Lai, "In the blink of an eye, a thick layer of snow accumulated on the ground. The snow was so dense that I couldn't even see the door of the mansion clearly when I stood in the corridor."

After a moment of shock, Wu Lai let go of Helen's hand, stood up from his chair, walked quickly to the window and pulled open the thick felt curtain. As soon as he pushed the window open, a gust of cold wind blew in from outside, instantly blowing out most of the candles in the restaurant.

Wu Lai shivered violently at the sudden blow of the cold wind. He glanced around and saw that the snowflakes outside the window were shining brightly by the candlelight, so dense and fast that it was almost impossible to tell whether they were continuous or intermittent.

"Master." El was very close to Wu Lai. Seeing that Wu Lai opened the window and looked out but stood there without moving, he thought that he was just looking at the snow, so he quickly took over the wolfskin coat that Wu Lai had taken off when he entered the restaurant.

Wu Lai nodded and took it. As he put it on, he shouted out the window: "Lauren! Lauren!"

"Lord Wu Lai! I'm here!" Lauren's voice came from the snow shadow.

"Gather all the people who are still here immediately, and send someone to notify Elaite, Baker and Tours immediately, and ask Baker to bring the town manager with him." Wu Lai ordered loudly.

"yes!"

"Wu Lai." Helen stood up. As smart as she was, how could she not see the intention of Wu Lai's movement? "If you want to go somewhere, I will go with you."

"And me." Ye Renwu raised his hand with a smile.

"No need. You two haven't had a good rest along the way. Just stay here and eat the venison. I'll let El accompany you." Wu Lai said as he tied his belt. "There are many migrant workers in Salt Marsh Town. Many of them live in tents. There are also many people in the slave camp. There are few clothes and blankets. It's snowing so heavily. I'm a little worried. You guys eat first. I'll be back after I'm done."

"Slave, why do you care so much..." Ye Renwu just caught Helen's anxious look as soon as she said this, and quickly changed her words, "...Well, the people who work for you are really lucky."

"I didn't think that much." Wu Lai smiled faintly and led Guru out of the restaurant quickly.

As soon as the two of them walked to the corridor in front of the courtyard, two servicemen came to meet them with torches in their hands. The torches were swaying in the wind. Fortunately, the torch heads were soaked with enough oil, otherwise they would not be able to withstand such a wind.

"The snow is so heavy." Guru frowned and shrank his neck involuntarily.

"Gather! Gather!" Lauren's urging voice came over.

Whenever he encountered such a scene as the howling north wind and heavy snow, Wu Lai's heart would always grow passionate. Just imagine what it would be like to stand with your clothes open to face the cold wind and look up at the sky while snowflakes are flying everywhere.

But this was only his past self. Now, there are too many people and things in his heart that he needs to worry about. It seems that there are so many that even his youthful feelings have disappeared.

At this moment, he was standing on the steps in front of the porch, facing the wind as before, but his eyes were full of worry.

At this moment, the wind was blowing the snowflakes, roaring and snarling in the sky above him. The wind was sometimes strong and sometimes weak, and the snowflakes were as violent as flying sand and rocks. There was no trace of the pleasant image of the gentle fluttering snowflakes...

The eleven servicemen who were still in the official residence quickly lined up in two rows in the yard. After Lauren finished her quick report, she returned to the queue.

"The sudden snowstorm is a great test for the town's defense. Laurent will stay with one person, and the other nine people will go to the three gates in groups of three to assist in guarding. After arriving at the three gates, immediately send a fire signal to notify the secret sentry in the wild to come back. If the secret sentry does not respond, immediately send someone on horseback to find it. Except for the secret sentry coming back, the three gates will be closed tonight. Any entry and exit must be approved by me personally! Do you understand?!"

"I understand!" the servants answered loudly.

"Let's set off immediately!" As soon as Wu Lai finished speaking, except for Lauren and another service member who stayed behind, the rest of the people immediately rushed into the wind and snow with torches in hand.

"Lauren, you two go to the storage area right now and ask the warehouse manager to open the clothing and wood warehouses. Each of you will be responsible for one. Baker will bring people to move the materials soon. No matter how many people there are, you must count them accurately for me. Do you understand?"

"I understand!"

"Let's go." said Wu Lai.

"Yes!" Lauren answered loudly, took two steps forward and handed the torch in his hand to Guru, then he and the other servant walked out of the gate of the official residence in three steps.

After waiting for a long time, the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard faintly in the wind and snow. Wu Lai just concentrated and listened carefully when Baker's voice came from outside the mansion: "Master Wu Lai, I'm coming, Master Wu Lai, I'm coming..."

"Wulai, he came pretty quickly." Guru said with a smile.

"He has reasons to be fast." Wu Lai said, and put his hand on Gulu's shoulder. "We have to be fast too, faster than our opponents, both openly and covertly. We should be so fast that as soon as they raise their fists, we'll already make their noses burst..."

In the restaurant, Helen sat quietly, without moving the cups and plates in front of her, with a hint of worry between her brows.

Ye Renwu was feasting on the food, and while eating he said vaguely, "You should eat something first. In my opinion, your Lord Wu Lai will be very busy tonight. In addition to the business between you and him, he is also thinking about the people of the whole town."

"Really?" Helen suddenly felt a little lost.

"Miss Ye Renwu, our young master said that a man should have the whole world in his mind, so I'm afraid it's people from more than one town." El on the side said with a smile.

Finally, the snow fell all night, and Wu Lai was busy all night. All the supplies in the Yanma Town clothing warehouse were distributed, and more than half of the wood warehouse was empty...

Finally, bonfires were lit in the resting areas of the tents of craftsmen, helpers, and slaves throughout the Salt Marsh Town. Those who were short of clothes and quilts received clothes or quilts from the town manager. Many people did not even dare to believe that what they had experienced was real at first. However, when they were sure that they were not dreaming, they praised the god Amon and called out Wulai's name.

Many slaves were so excited after receiving their clothes and bedding that they could not fall asleep. So they simply sat around the bonfire that the town manager had lit in the open space of the tent area, warming themselves by the fire while chatting about the construction of Salt Marsh Town and Wulai. As they chatted, someone took the lead in singing. Gradually, more and more people joined in the singing, and even the supervisor who was supervising them started singing...

So, on a snowy night, the singing of Salt Marsh Town rang out all night long...

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

"This is the song of the slaves. The song is full of joy." Helen sighed softly and asked Ye Renwu who was also listening, "Wu Lai, it is indeed Wu Lai..."

…

It seemed that the heavens wanted to let Salt Marsh Town have a white winter festival, so there was a snowfall every night of the festival, but it was never as heavy as the first night, and the wind was not as strong...

According to convention, the Winter Festival is a legal holiday for Assyrian officials, but the officials and servants in the Salt Marsh Town worked as usual because they knew that Wulai did not stop to rest. No, everyone in the town knew that their governor Wulai Glindo worked every day during this White Winter Festival.

Night was the time to accompany Helen. She asked Wu Lei to tell her stories, just like when they were in Assyrian City. During the day, she would occasionally go out with Ye Renwu, but most of the time, she would stay in Wu Lei's office or room, helping him clean the house, or reading Wu Lei's books and notes to pass the time.

Compared to her, Ye Renwu was much more lively. She would wander around the town most of the day and even visited the salt field. It was because of her liveliness that she discovered that there were "hidden secrets" in the wine jars sent by Wright - this guy actually stuffed a full 200,000 gold coins in the wine jars, which was the purchase money for the bonds. Fortunately, there was no greedy drinker among the guards, otherwise something might have gone wrong halfway.

In response to Wright's behavior, Wu Lai could only smile bitterly and shake his head to express his helplessness, thinking to himself, why didn't you just say something.

As soon as the Winter Festival was over, Helen and Ye Renwu returned to Assyria. Originally, Wu Lai wanted to keep them for a few more days, but considering that it would undoubtedly be much safer for them to return to Assyria with their guards, he expressed this idea directly.

At the moment of parting, Helen suddenly burst into tears. When he saw her tears, Wu Lai almost pulled her out of the car, but he finally held back.

"I'll be back in a few months," Wu Lai said, waving his hand.

Helen nodded and lowered the curtain.

In the carriage, when Ye Renwu saw the tears on Helen's face, she was startled at first, and then she sighed heavily...

"Helen, you shouldn't do this." Ye Renwu said softly.

…

Job's life was not very peaceful recently. Ever since he received the news that the Fox and Wolf bandit gang was annihilated by Wu Lailindo, he was always worried that Wu Lai would come looking for him. He also knew that Wu Lai was very strong and had many skilled men under his command, so he not only increased the number of guards in the courtyard and the number of escorts when he went out on weekdays, but he also never showed up in public except for necessary official business. He spent a long time in such anxiety, and when he saw that there was nothing unusual, he slowly put his mind at ease and spent the Winter Festival peacefully.

However, as soon as the festival was over, he became nervous because a salt shop suddenly appeared in the city of Lovington - the big sign on the street clearly read "Salt Marsh Pure Salt Shop".

It would not be a big deal to have one more salt shop. You have to know that in the city of Rovington, public and private salt shops are everywhere on the streets. Someone roughly counted them and finally came to the conclusion that there are more salt shops, taverns and hotels in Rovington than salt shops combined.

However, this "Salt Marsh Pure Salt Shop" attracted everyone's attention as soon as it opened. The first was its sign. There was no flag or streamer, but a whole piece of wood that was fifteen cubits long and six cubits high. The name of the store was not written but engraved. The words were also foiled in gold and placed on the lintel of the door. In addition, the shop was located at a busy intersection, with a row of green plants on each side of the door and a bright red wool blanket on the ground. It looked eye-catching and upscale no matter how you looked at it.

Anyone with a little curiosity would stop when seeing this sign. The word "Salt Marsh" is easy to understand. As for the place of origin, it can also be understood as a shop opened in Salt Marsh Town. But the "pure salt" is a bit confusing. What does it mean? Could it be that... other salts are not pure? With this in mind, I naturally want to go to the shop to take a look. As soon as I lifted the curtain and entered the door, I was surprised by the new things. Other salt shops are like flour shops. The shelves are rough, and the salt is stacked in sacks. The walls are always grayish white, and there is always a long platform five cubits high, with black scales and weights placed in a mess.

It is not the case here. Although the store is not big, its walls are painted white and the shelves are exquisitely made, with a row on each side, standing firmly against the wall. There is no long table. There are only four large chairs placed along the wall where there are no shelves, two on each side, and a half-high square wooden table in the middle. There is a pot of small green plants with a peculiar shape on the table, which is quite charming.

But the most refreshing thing is the salt here. It is not placed in sacks like elsewhere, but is divided into small packages in light yellow thick paper bags and neatly stacked on the shelves.

There were not many people in the shop. There were two receptionists, a man and a woman, and an accountant who collected money and kept accounts. The two receptionists were about twenty years old, the man was handsome and the woman was pretty, and they were dressed simply and cleanly. When they saw someone coming in, they would come forward with a smile and greet them. No matter whether you were a citizen or a commoner, or whether you came to buy salt or just to watch the fun, their respectful attitude was the same. They were much more pleasing to the eye than the guys in other salt shops who would bow and nod to citizens, but would look up and talk to commoners with their noses in the air.

With a curious mind, I naturally wanted to see what this "pure salt" looked like as soon as I entered the door. The receptionist was very straightforward. He first took out a white porcelain plate the size of a wine cup from a corner of the shelf, and then randomly took a bag from the shelf, tore open the bag and poured it into the porcelain plate. Then, the salt powder that was as white as snowflakes, as crystal-clear as crystal, and as fine as flour appeared in front of my eyes...

When I asked about the price, my goodness, it was only one silver coin and one shekel. Just based on the appearance, it should be worth more than that.

At this point, one naturally wants to know why this pure salt is so cheap, because it is obviously much better than the goods in other salt shops.

As if knowing that you would think this way, the receptionist would smile and take out a half-palm-sized cardboard and hand it to you. The cardboard was printed with information about pure salt and what real pure salt should look like. But it would be better if you didn't read the cardboard. After reading it, you would be really scared. It turns out that the salt you used to eat had so many bad impurities in it...

After understanding, I naturally thought about buying a pack to try it out, but the two receptionists smiled and said there was no need to rush to buy. When I was about to ask why they didn't sell it anymore, the receptionists explained -

"Today is the first day of opening. Our boss said that everyone who comes on the first day will receive a small gift bag of salt. Although six small gift bags of salt only weigh one shekel, you can go back and try whether the salt is as good as we say. If you are satisfied, you are welcome to come again next time."

Therefore, people who entered the salt shop left with a little more joy in their hearts...

But they could not have imagined that while they were happily receiving the gift salt packages, the same thing was happening in more than half of the cities in the Assyrian territory, including Assyria City. However, the person in charge of the "Salt Marsh Pure Salt Shop" in Assyria City was not an ordinary accountant, but Loli Kochi, because this salt shop had the most rivals...

This day, in Job's words, was when "Wooleglindal actually put his black hand into the salt industry..."

Would Woolley care about such an interpretation? The answer, of course, is no.