It had been a long time since Feng Jiu’er and Zhao Yusheng had discussed this topic; she hadn’t expected that bringing it up again, the two of them could still be so relaxed about it.

She glanced at the person walking ahead and stepped forward to catch up.

“Zhao Yusheng, don’t even think about setting your sights on my daughter!”

“If you want to find someone, hurry up and find one — letting your son marry my daughter would work too. If you want to be my son-in-law, don’t rush to reincarnate in your next life!”

This fellow had grown much steadier.

She wondered — after going through so much, had his original fiery passion been worn down at all?

Indeed, a person truly needs to go through experiences in order to grow.

If this young master had stayed living in the mountain stronghold his whole life, he definitely wouldn’t have changed this much.

Steadier now, more restrained — he would surely make a good husband in the future.

“That works too!” Zhao Yusheng didn’t turn back.

“That works, but you’ll need to have a son first.” Feng Jiu’er glanced at him and stopped walking.

“Hurry up and find a suitable person to marry — you’re not young anymore!”

“Jiu’er.” Xiao Yingtao strode over.

“Over at Xing Zizhou’s spot, they found traces of sulfur — real sulfur, you guessed right!”

Feng Jiu’er turned back to meet her gaze, and before she could even respond, she had already dashed off like the wind toward Xing Zizhou.

Such a quick discovery — it really was beyond her expectation.

But what was going on with that snake — how could it dare linger in a place with sulfur?

Feng Jiu’er suddenly thought of something and turned to head back.

“Zhao Yusheng, take the brothers over to help Xing Zizhou, he’s found something.”

Here, there were snakes — either there was no sulfur, or the sulfur was buried too deep.

For now, they had to dig where they could actually see.

“Alright.” Zhao Yusheng replied softly.

Soon, the brothers on the right side headed toward the left.

With a discovery made, there was real motivation now.

Dozens of brothers, at the spot where the sulfur was found, worked together to dig inward and to both sides.

The sounds of delighted surprise grew more and more frequent, and Feng Jiu’er too became swamped with work.

No one had expected that while taking a break, they would end up digging up gold.

Sulfur was valuable, just like gold.

Watching more and more sulfur get dug up, Feng Jiu’er had a brother go call for more people.

More and more brothers entered the mountain.

This night was destined to be an extraordinary one.

It wasn’t until near dawn that the busy brothers were finally willing to stop, swapping places with a fresh batch who had just entered the mountain.

In the early spring dawn, there wasn’t much dew, and the air was fresh and clean.

The brothers laid blankets on the grass and sat down, everyone holding food that the brothers who’d just entered had brought in.

Around them, several bonfires had been lit; everyone gathered around the fires, quite warm.

“Xiao Yingtao, drink some porridge, it’ll do you good.” Xing Zizhou held out a bowl of porridge while gnawing on a steamed bun himself.

“Qinchun, you should head back in a bit, we’ve got things covered here.” Feng Yinan had arrived too.

He’d gone back in the middle of the night and only found out this morning that a few of the women and brothers had gone into the mountain to mine sulfur, so he’d followed in.

“Xuepiao, you go back too.” Yu Jingfeng looked at his girl with heartache.

He hadn’t had time to rest — he’d accompanied the prince for most of the night and had fallen asleep the moment he lay down.

Yu Jingfeng had probably only slept for about two hours; hearing a team was heading into the mountain, he’d immediately followed.

His girl was so stubborn about her work that he’d worried about her the whole night.

It was all his fault — how could he have fallen asleep? Truly useless!

Aside from Di Wu Ya and Feng Jiang, everyone else had entered the mountain — even Long Shiyi and Long Qi were still among the sulfur-mining crew.

Time was tight, they had to race against every minute.

“Liuyang, head back in a while too, I’ll see you all out.” Zhao Yusheng scooped a bowl of porridge and handed it to Duan Liuyang.

Looking around the circle, aside from Feng Jiu’er and Qiao Mu, everyone else was paired up.

No — there was also Shen Rong’er.

Last night had been her first time staying up all night through to dawn, yet she didn’t feel tired at all.

The longer she spent with these people, the more she hoped she too could have a chance to accomplish great things alongside them.

By the time Yang Sheng arrived, everyone had already been eating for a while.

He went over, washed his hands in the wooden bucket, wiped them on the hem of his robe, and continued forward.

“Yang Sheng, come, have breakfast.” Feng Jiu’er waved him over.

Hearing this, Shen Rong’er scooted over toward Duan Liuyang, making room.

Yang Sheng strode over and sat down between Feng Jiu’er and Shen Rong’er.

“Here, Yang Sheng, this is yours.” Qiao Mu reached across Feng Jiu’er to hand Yang Sheng a piece of flatbread.

“Thanks.” Yang Sheng took it with his bare hand.

Out on the road, they’d long since stopped worrying about such small formalities — dirt was dirt at worst, and he’d just washed his hands anyway, so it didn’t matter!

Yang Sheng was very tall; with him sitting nearby, a good deal of Shen Rong’er’s light was blocked.

Feeling the man’s formidable presence, this girl who had never been close to a man before found her face and neck instantly flushing a deep red, like pig liver.

“Zhao Yusheng, once we’re done, you’re in charge of taking them out. Everyone’s been busy the whole night — it’s time to head back and rest properly.” Feng Jiu’er said after finishing a bowl of porridge.

“Yang Sheng, you head back too. Xing Zizhou, take your Xiao Yingtao back as well.”

“Oh, right.” She turned her head to look at Shen Rong’er, who was mostly blocked from view by Yang Sheng.

“Yang Sheng, you’re in charge of safely escorting Rong’er home this time — if it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t have found this place.”

“By the way.” Feng Jiu’er kept looking in Shen Rong’er’s direction.

Shen Rong’er, upon hearing Feng Jiu’er say that a man would be escorting her home, froze completely, unable to react.

“Rong’er.” Duan Liuyang gently nudged Shen Rong’er.

“Rong’er, why is your face so red?” She frowned and reached out to touch Shen Rong’er’s forehead.

“Whoa! You’re burning up!”

Yang Sheng turned his head, brows furrowing. “Could it be she’s caught a chill?”

He didn’t know Shen Rong’er — he’d only heard she was the one who’d led everyone to discover this place, and Yang Sheng had remembered this girl for that.

Yang Sheng set down the food in his hand, stood up, took off his own robe, and draped it over Shen Rong’er.

“Been busy all night, my clothes are a bit dirty, don’t mind it! I’ll take you home in a bit.”

Shen Rong’er felt the warmth left in the robe, and her face flushed even redder.

“I…” She swallowed hard, not even having the courage to look up.

Seeing this, Feng Jiu’er asked gently, “Rong’er, did you catch a chill?”

“If you’re really not feeling well, I’ll write you a prescription in a bit, and Yang Sheng can pick up the herbs on the way when he takes you back.”

“You really can’t keep skimping and avoiding the doctor like this.” Feng Jiu’er shook her head helplessly.

“Right.” Xiao Yingtao quickly swallowed what was in her mouth.

She took another sip of the porridge Xing Zizhou had brought her before looking at Shen Rong’er.

“Good thing you ran into Jiu’er this time — otherwise even if your foot healed, there’d have been lasting aftereffects.”

“From now on, you need to learn to take better care of yourself, and stop making everyone worry!”

In just a few hours, they’d practically become close enough to talk about anything, treating each other as friends.

This was nice — relaxed and at ease.

—