Xu Quan nodded and said: “Following Your Majesty’s instructions, I have arranged everything. Now we just wait for Qi Yan to enter the city, then we’ll begin our operation.”

“Good,” Chu Li nodded and said in a deep voice: “Don’t make too much of a commotion. Hai City’s commerce is prosperous, and I don’t want to rebuild the city walls on a pile of ruins. Just limit it to the inner city.”

“Yes!”

Just then, with a loud bang, the ground beneath their feet suddenly shook violently. Everyone alertly turned to look, only to see a massive sea vessel of enormous construction, built entirely of green wood, accidentally collide with the stern of their small boat while turning. The great ship remained completely motionless, but the small boat rocked violently, nearly capsizing. The Southern Chu black-clad guards immediately became furious, their faces dark with anger.

At that moment, a blue-eyed, yellow-haired foreigner suddenly rushed out of the cabin door, stood at the bow, removed his hat in salute to everyone, and continuously apologized in broken Chinese.

Le Song raised an eyebrow, about to lose his temper, when Xu Quan said: “Le Song, we have important matters at hand. Don’t stoop to their level – it’s just a foreign ocean-going vessel.”

Le Song frowned, clearly very unwilling, but then heard Chu Li suddenly say in a low voice: “Forget it, don’t cause trouble. Let them go.”

Hearing this, Le Song turned his head and gestured twice at the foreigners on the great ship, signaling for them to leave.

Peter was overjoyed, continuously bowing and saluting them, then turned to call the sailors to carefully sail the ship away.

At this moment, Qing Xia was sitting in the inner cabin. Hearing the commotion outside, she was about to go out when Peter’s brother John suddenly entered and said to Qing Xia: “Ah Xia, worry not need, Peter handled already good, but can go now.”

Qing Xia immediately laughed and said: “With your level of Chinese, you still want to preach in China? It’s ‘don’t need to worry, already handled well,’ and ‘can go now,’ not ‘but can go now.’ I think you’d better be a good explorer and give up that mission of spreading God’s gospel.”

John was stunned, repeatedly reciting the phrases Qing Xia had said with a very serious expression.

Qing Xia smiled and walked out of the cabin. At this time, the great ship had just turned its rudder and was facing directly toward Chu Li’s small boat. A large pale green flag with white Siyuan flowers painted on it blocked Qing Xia’s face. From afar, one could only see the hem of a blue-green long dress.

Le Song was more cheerful than Xu Quan. He suddenly pointed at the Siyuan ship and shouted loudly: “Look quickly, there’s a woman on the ship!”

Xu Quan frowned and said: “Keep your voice down. Haven’t you ever seen a woman before?”

Xu Quan was much older than him, steady and mature in character. As soon as he spoke, Le Song turned his head sullenly and said: “I’m just curious how there could be a woman going to sea.”

“What’s so strange about a woman going to sea? Doesn’t Northern Qin even have an Empress? Women can do many things.”

“That’s true,” Le Song nodded and said: “If it were a woman like that young lady, she could probably do whatever she wanted.”

Hearing this, Xu Quan frowned. Le Song immediately realized he had misspoken and covered his mouth, saying nothing. Chu Li remained expressionless, only saying in a deep voice: “Let’s go ashore. Mingyuan’s people should have arrived.”

The black-clad guards’ subordinates efficiently set up the gangplank, and several men stepped onto it and walked ashore.

At that moment, a cheer suddenly came from behind them. The great ship had finally successfully sailed out of the bay, and the foreign sailors on board cheered exaggeratedly. Chu Li and his companions couldn’t help but stop and turn to look.

The great ship turned its rudder, and they could only see a golden silhouette in the sunlight and a woman’s slender, ethereal figure from behind.

Looking at that silhouette, Chu Li suddenly felt it was so familiar. His heart immediately tightened, but in the next instant his brow furrowed slightly. In the distance, he saw a foreigner suddenly spread his arms wide and embrace the woman’s shoulders in what appeared to be a very intimate gesture.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”

Xu Quan frowned suspiciously and called softly: “What’s wrong?”

Chu Li turned his head and shook it gently, saying: “Nothing. Let’s go.”

Several men nodded and followed behind Chu Li. In the distance, several pitch-black war horses stood quietly waiting.

Qing Xia finally managed to break free from Peter and the others’ embraces. These fellows had been idle in China for so many years, and now that they were finally returning to their homeland, they were this excited.

At that moment, for some unknown reason, her heart suddenly began beating violently – it was such a familiar feeling. She unconsciously turned her head to look toward the bay with a frown, but could only see flying dust and galloping hooves.

“Ah Xia!” Peter called out with joy all over his face: “We can set sail!”

Qing Xia immediately came back to her senses, smiled and nodded: “Set sail!”

“Oh!”

Several foreigners immediately cheered and shouted: “Set sail!”

The great ship sailed through the water, followed by countless snow-white seabirds, heading forward against the fiery red sunrise at the horizon.

In the humid air, only that swaying small boat still remained quietly in the harbor, slowly drifting.

One going east, one going west – two stars with originally different directional trajectories finally brushed past each other so quickly on the celestial star chart that there wasn’t even time for a single glance before they roared away in their respective directions.

However, the earth is round after all. As long as one keeps walking in one direction, one will always return to the starting point.

Always!

The Siyuan had been sailing for more than ten days.

The sea had been calm and peaceful, with no major storms encountered. Qing Xia knew they were still only in shallow waters, so she wasn’t too worried. In her previous life, she had also taken ships to sea many times – warships, submarines, and even torpedo boats to infiltrate other countries for missions without leaving immigration records, traveling through the deep sea like cannonballs. So she could be considered half a navigation expert. With the advanced sea vessel personally crafted by people sent by Zhu Yuanqing, abundant preparations, Zheng He’s navigation chart, plus four experienced navigation experts, this sea voyage was almost foolproof.

Therefore, Qing Xia relaxed and let her guard down. Five years of rushing about had truly exhausted her body and mind. Now she spent her days lying on the deck in the sun, watching the seabirds circling in the sky, gazing at the azure sea and white foam – life seemed to suddenly become peaceful.

Although her heart was still empty, she had learned to face it calmly. She firmly believed that she was getting closer to Qin Zhiyan bit by bit, that the man she thought of constantly was not far ahead – perhaps reading on a beach, perhaps drinking tea in a bamboo forest, perhaps playing chess with Lian Zhou, perhaps playing the flute. His illness must have been cured; it was just that something was holding back his steps, preventing him from returning, so she had to go find him. She knew that no matter where he was, he must be missing her just as she missed him. As long as this was true, it was enough.

“Ah! Ah Xia! Help save life! Save life!”

Qing Xia turned her head to see Erix running toward her screaming, with Da Huang, white as a snowball, roaring ferociously at him from behind with a vicious and malicious expression.

Qing Xia couldn’t help but find it somewhat amusing. Erix was Portuguese, only eighteen years old this year. When he was seven, he had boarded a sailing ship with his father, but when the fleet was in India, they had a conflict with local residents, and his father was burned alive by the locals. So he ended up following the fleet to China. This was a very cute Western boy with deep Western features, blue eyes and brown hair, thick lips that he thought were very sexy, but he was naturally afraid of dogs. It was said to be because he had once been attacked by wild dogs, so now he was also afraid of Da Huang, who wasn’t even as big as one leg of a wild dog. Every day, the man and dog were like enemies, causing chaos.

“Erix, I’ve told you many times – it’s ‘save life,’ not ‘help save life,'” Qing Xia said seriously, beckoning to Da Huang: “You, come here.”

On the ship, Qing Xia was the absolute authority. Da Huang, this bully who picked on the weak and feared the strong, immediately wagged his increasingly fat bottom and twisted his way over to Qing Xia’s feet, even coquettishly rubbing against her leg.

“I told you not to bully him anymore!” Qing Xia frowned and said: “Next time you dare do it again, I’ll throw you into the sea to feed the sharks. I mean what I say.”

Da Huang’s imposing manner immediately disappeared. He blinked his bright green eyes dejectedly and rubbed his eyes with his fat, short little paws, looking as if he were crying.

When Qin Zhiyan left Xianyang, he had taken Da Huang with him, but when he left, he left it with Qing Xia. After Qing Xia learned he was gone, she left Pengyang City in a daze. After Da Huang was hungry at home for several days, he found his way to Ruyun Tower and latched onto Cheng Xiao, becoming a long-term diner for five years. It wasn’t until Qing Xia returned this time that, after getting fat by a whole size, he once again embarked on his wandering career.

“Ah Xia, Ah Xia! There are ships ahead!”

Suddenly there was a loud bang, and huge waves immediately erupted. Qing Xia quickly stood up and, following Peter’s pointing finger, saw three large ships chasing each other on the sea. The one in front had been hit multiple times and was swaying precariously, while the two behind continued their relentless pursuit, constantly firing cannons in this direction.

The naval cannons of this era were all crude firearms made with saltpeter and sulfur, with very short range and little power. They could only be used in naval battles – on land, they weren’t even as powerful as catapults.

Qing Xia put down her telescope and frowned: “John, signal with flags, tell them we’re just passersby and ask them not to approach. Peter, turn the rudder and get away from them. Erix, raise the second mainsail and quickly proceed west with the wind.”

Several men went to carry out orders, but the Siyuan was too large – even turning the rudder required time. Although Peter had already signaled with flags, the three ships continued to approach rapidly and kept firing cannons, several times nearly breaking Qing Xia’s mast. She couldn’t help but frown and say in a deep voice: “John, tell them that if they come any closer, we’ll attack.”