Lin Yuchan regretted it deeply. She had been too eager to take on the task and actually forgot to ask such important information!

But it wasn’t entirely her fault. When the shopkeeper assigned the task, he had no intention of telling her.

However, she couldn’t blame Wang Quan either. When Su Minguan came to visit last time, he specifically asked Lin Yuchan to accompany him to see the warehouse. Wang Quan probably thought the two had some old connection, thus assuming Lin Yuchan knew where Young Master Su’s residence was located.

There was indeed an old connection. When Su Minguan kindly buried that unidentified corpse, he certainly wouldn’t have left his address.

But Lin Yuchan wasn’t planning to go back and ask.

Wang Quan was a businessman. Businessmen pursued profit and sought to maximize benefits.

She had to appear as useful as possible to the tea shop, avoiding dawdling and being overly cautious, to avoid the fate of being swept out the door.

Thinking this way, she had quite a bit in common with the urban office workers embracing the 996 work schedule over a hundred years later. It’s just that 996 office workers who lost their boss’s favor would at most get a layoff notice and start over; if she was kicked out of the tea shop by Wang Quan, by this time next year she wouldn’t know in which mountain valley she’d be giving birth.

Lin Yuchan turned on her heels and headed straight for the wharf.

Finding Aunt Hong would be the right choice.

But the wharf was livelier than usual. Originally, the wharf was already a densely populated place, with fishing boats lined up like fish scales, travel-worn merchants everywhere on the streets, plus small inns for merchants to rest their feet. Every night, ambiguous red lanterns would light up there.

But today’s liveliness was different from usual. A large crowd had gathered by the seaside, everyone bending forward, craning their necks to look ahead. If not for a row of boat-mooring posts blocking them, these hundreds of people would probably all have fallen into the water with splashes.

Several government officers were beating gongs to maintain order, futilely shouting for the crowd to disperse.

Lin Yuchan found a step and glanced toward the distance, her gaze freezing.

On the vast Pearl River, a string of warships floated majestically!

They were very modern warships. With large smokestacks, cannons, iron hulls reflecting sunlight, flanked by escort ships.

The Pearl River was wide, but occupied by these warships, the waterway also seemed narrow. In comparison, the nearby Chinese sailboats and sampans were completely left behind by the times.

Onlookers whispered: “The foreigners’ fleet, going to help His Majesty suppress the Long Hair bandits! They can reach Nanjing in three days!”

Someone said, “Are the foreigners so kind-hearted, helping our Qing fight wars?”

Another spat: “Foreign devils only pursue profit—as long as you give them silver, what won’t they do! Why are you frowning? Our Qing treasury is abundant, we’re not short of silver!”

A gleaming landing craft slowly approached. The flag it flew was somewhat incongruous: green background with yellow diagonal crosses, a yellow dragon in the center.

Seeing the small boat rushing toward them, the onlooking people scattered like birds and beasts.

Several foreign military officers disembarked, wearing crisp uniforms. The officers maintaining order quickly greeted them, surrounding a high-ranking official with ceremonial hat who respectfully exchanged pleasantries, then invited those foreign officers into sedan chairs and carried them away to rest.

Lin Yuchan also quickly dispersed with the crowd. She had almost forgotten that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was still “causing trouble” in Nanjing. But in her memory, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was destroyed by Zeng Guofan’s Hunan Army—it had nothing to do with foreigners.

Aunt Hong had gone out to sell fish in the morning, so Lin Yuchan went to the fish market first. She searched around the smelly market but didn’t find her. A neighboring vendor hesitantly told her, “Aunt Hong had business and went home.”

Errand runners weren’t afraid of hard work. Lin Yuchan hugged the tea canister, turned around, and headed for Aunt Hong’s small courtyard.

From half a street away, she could hear Aunt Hong’s loud voice, sounding panicked.

“This gentleman has followed me all the way—haven’t you had enough fun by now? This is my home, don’t come in.”

A uniformed foreign sailor was giggling, walking with obvious drunken steps, pushing Aunt Hong to the courtyard gate, reaching out to touch her chest.

Several months at sea had driven him stir-crazy. Following the custom of every landing, he came ashore first to seek a day’s pleasure.

But the girl he encountered this time wasn’t very cooperative. Aunt Hong was still carrying her fish-selling pole. She turned her shoulder and used the carrying pole to knock away that hairy hand: “Sir, please conduct yourself properly!”

The foreign sailor took the opportunity to grab her shoulder and kiss her face.

Aunt Hong was furious, her face flushed red: “Get away! Someone come! There’s a foreign devil causing trouble here!”

The foreign sailor was unconcerned, using broken Chinese: “Pretty girl, how much for one night? I have silver!”

Several doors opened from neighboring houses, with several heads poking out to watch.

Everyone had different expressions—some disgusted, some afraid, but there were also a few watching greedily.

A hunched old man with a walking stick shook his head and muttered: “The world is going to ruin… foreigners are lawless… go away, go away, don’t do business here!”

But his muttering voice was as small as possible, more like talking to himself, completely lacking any deterrent effect.

When the foreigner looked in that direction, the old man was so frightened that his face turned pale. He nimbly flashed back into his house and shut the door tightly.

The foreign sailor became even more brazen, restraining Aunt Hong, feeling around her waist for keys, opening the door in a few moves, stretching out his thick arm, grabbed the constantly roaring Aunt Hong, and pushed her into the courtyard.

Aunt Hong hooked her foot on the threshold and shouted in desperation: “I… I’ve already called someone! I have a ‘shrimp cake,’ my ‘shrimp cake’ is coming soon! Let me go!”

The foreign sailor hesitated: “Husband?”

He had originally thought Aunt Hong was alone, which was why he had brazenly pursued and molested her. If she had a husband, that would indeed be troublesome.

“Woof woof! Woof woof woof!”

Suddenly, several dog barks came from behind his heels. The foreign sailor turned his head to see a stray dog with fierce eyes barking wildly.

Lin Yuchan rushed to the alley in a few steps and shouted: “Mulan! Bite him! Bite him!”

The stray dog was female. Lin Yuchan was surprised by its fighting ability and named it Mulan.

She had heard the foreign sailor harassing Aunt Hong from afar and had hesitated for several seconds—if she rashly intervened, would she end up damaging foreign relations or something…

So many neighbors were watching the excitement, but not one came to help.

But instinct prevailed. At this moment, just watching the show would make her unworthy of being a woman.

She rushed forward in fury, knowing she couldn’t physically overpower him, so she let Mulan take the lead.

Sure enough, the foreign sailor was intimidated by Mulan’s fierce appearance for a while, kicking frantically and shouting “Shoo! Shoo!” with false bravado.

The foreigner was tall and large. The sun cast his shadow in front of him, a shadow that could completely envelop Lin Yuchan.

Lin Yuchan picked up a broken brick from the ground and roared: “Go back where you came from! I’ve already called the fighters! They’re coming soon!”

Foreigners considered themselves superior; government laws and such couldn’t intimidate them. She could only fight violence with violence.

The foreigner was surprised. This was the “husband”?

Aunt Hong took the opportunity to struggle desperately. Lin Yuchan, being short, ducked under the foreign sailor’s arm, pushed her into the courtyard, squeezed in herself, and forcefully closed the door.

But although Mulan looked fierce, after being a stray dog for several years, fear of humans was deeply rooted in her bones. At first she barked a couple times riding on Lin Yuchan’s momentum, but suddenly the foreign sailor kicked her in the stomach. She immediately let out a wail and fled with her tail between her legs!

The courtyard gate didn’t close. A gleaming saber suddenly thrust in and pried the courtyard gate open again.

Seeing the blade’s gleam, Lin Yuchan’s heart chilled, inexplicably thinking of Hero Jin Lanhe’s severed head.

She had almost forgotten this was a society with chaotic law and order. Foreigners had extraterritorial rights—killing a few Chinese people probably wouldn’t result in sentencing, right?

The surrounding noise suddenly seemed inaudible. Her first reaction was to turn around and shrink under the fish-drying rack.

The foreign sailor swaggered in, kicked the door shut, and poked Aunt Hong’s stomach with the knife handle.

He hadn’t planned to kill anyone, so he didn’t use the blade. But he had evolved from his initial fun-seeking attitude to angry retaliation. These blows, though not fatal, were unusually forceful. Aunt Hong cried out in pain, clutched her shoulder, unable to move, desperately covering the front of her clothes.

The foreign sailor tore at her clothes like a cat playing with a mouse, greedy light flashing in his blue-green eyes.

“I am an honored guest invited by your emperor. You should feel honored!”

“First, let me see your feet. I heard Chinese women’s feet…”

Lin Yuchan charged out from a pile of stinking fish and shrimp, swinging a carrying pole and striking the foreign sailor’s back.

“Damn your mother! If you want to run wild, go back to your own country! This isn’t a colony yet!”

She had thrown caution to the wind. Anyway, she hadn’t wanted to travel to this world in the first place—why cower? Better to die early and be reborn early!

The foreign sailor hadn’t expected this little girl to dare resist. Caught off guard, he was hit several times on the head and face.

“Damn!” He hadn’t expected these two women to be so difficult, and said furiously: “Next, it’s your turn!”

Lin Yuchan’s vision darkened. A big foot in oil boots kicked toward her head.

This kick had enough force to send the stray dog Mulan howling through the streets. Lin Yuchan nimbly dodged the first kick but couldn’t dodge the second.

She rolled to the ground, closed her eyes, and prepared to receive “society’s beating.”

That foot didn’t kick her stomach. Lin Yuchan lay with half her face on the ground and saw a hand pick up the carrying pole and deflect it. The end of the pole struck that foot’s shinbone.

The foreign sailor howled and fell, but quickly got up and turned to grab Aunt Hong with both hands.

Su Minguan took off his hat, wiped the sweat from his forehead, saw Lin Yuchan and the brick clutched tightly in her hand, his expression complex.

Then he glanced at Aunt Hong and nodded apologetically to her.

“Someone told me you encountered foreign soldiers. I went to the fish market to find you first, but you weren’t there…”

Aunt Hong lay on the ground frantically kicking at the foreigner, her voice urgent with panic: “I left early to shake him off! Young master, don’t just watch! Help me beat him up!”

Only then did Su Minguan confirm the situation. He picked up the carrying pole again and suddenly gathered strength to swing it at the foreign sailor’s head.

The foreign sailor could only release Aunt Hong and grab a water bucket to block with his backhand.

Crack! The carrying pole, old and poorly maintained, actually broke. Fragments are scattered everywhere.

Lin Yuchan rolled and got up, optimistically calling out: “Little White… Young Master Minguan, the three of us plus one dog can drive him out!”

Mulan had wisely run back and was roaring at Su Minguan’s feet.

Su Minguan shook off the fragments in his hand, dodging two fists while looking for a weapon, and amid the chaos, frowned and asked her: “What are you doing here?”

The foreign sailor, seeing a man had arrived, was also somewhat intimidated. After all, this was just a spur-of-the-moment pleasure-seeking.

But to have him slink away in defeat like this—he wasn’t willing. When did it become the turn of Chinese people to teach them lessons?

Just as they were at a standstill, suddenly there was commotion at the gate, and someone kicked the door open with a bang.

Six or seven foreign sailors in identical uniforms charged in!

“This is the place—Chinese people are causing trouble here!”