If Li Jin had been the one asking this, Li Jiangyu definitely wouldn't have bothered to answer.
But as it happened, the one asking was Duoduo.
"Today, if you were to rent any of the boats at this dock, it wouldn't end well for you."
Li Jiangyu cast a provocative glance at Li Jin.
"Because someone put the word out: no one is allowed to take any passengers heading to the capital."
"If anyone wants to take the job, they have to swap their crew for those people's men."
Duoduo's gaze toward Li Jiangyu turned wary.
Li Jiangyu waved his hand. "Don't worry, I'm different!"
"On this dock, I, Li Jiangyu, have never been afraid of anyone."
"My fishing boat is my life. Whoever wants my boat wants my life!"
"So, when those people came looking for me, I flat out refused."
"They weren't happy about it, so I even got into a fight with them."
Duoduo's eyes lit up. "Then you must have won!"
Li Jiangyu blushed, though his skin was so dark that it couldn't be seen.
He looked a bit embarrassed.
"I didn't win, but they didn't win either!"
Duoduo didn't understand.
"He couldn't beat them, so he ran away!" Li Jin teased from the side. "Isn't he the White Stripe in the Waves? Once he jumps into the water, those people can't do anything to him."
Li Jiangyu didn't deny it. "A wise man submits to circumstances! This was just one of the Thirty-Six Stratagems."
"Besides, if I hadn't run, would you have a boat to sit in now?"
Li Jiangyu's words left Li Jin unable to retort.
"But how did you end up choosing my boat?" This was something Li Jiangyu still couldn't understand.
There were so many boats at the dock, both big and small!
Duoduo blinked. "Because you were sunbathing at the time!"
"Just because of that?" Li Jiangyu found it hard to grasp a child's logic.
"Yes! Weren't you going to take me to see your treasures?" Duoduo urged.
"Right, right, right! Come on, I'll take you to have a look!" Speaking of his treasures immediately shifted Li Jiangyu's attention.
Li Jin wasn't comfortable letting Duoduo follow Li Jiangyu alone, so he went after them.
Even though Li Jiangyu had just explained so much, Li Jin still didn't completely trust the man.
Especially after what Li Jiangyu had just said about someone coming to the dock to give those warnings.
What if this Li Jiangyu was deliberately playing hard to get, using retreat as an advance?
They were out on the river, which was Li Jiangyu's main battlefield.
If Li Jiangyu harbored malicious intentions, wouldn't they just be lambs waiting to be slaughtered?
Li Jiangyu led Duoduo down into the cabin below.
Down here was the resting area for the boatmen.
Li Jiangyu pushed open one of the doors. "Come in and take a look, but don't mind the mess."
Li Jin held Duoduo back and cautiously stepped inside first.
Duoduo then followed behind Li Jin and walked in.
The room was, just as Li Jiangyu had warned, a bit messy.
"Right here, watch your step," Li Jiangyu reminded Duoduo.
Duoduo walked up to Li Jiangyu, and he pulled back a covering cloth.
Li Jin reflexively pulled Duoduo back, shielding her behind him.
Once the cloth was pulled away, several large chests were revealed.
Seeing Li Jin's reaction, a look of disdain appeared on Li Jiangyu's face.
Li Jin pretended not to notice.
Li Jiangyu opened the chest closest to them, revealing a piece of coral inside.
"Wow! So pretty!"
Duoduo fell in love with the coral in the chest at first sight.
"Pretty, isn't it? I have a few more pieces, but this one is the largest and most intact, so I put it here."
Seeing Duoduo's expression, Li Jiangyu looked very proud.
"Did you fish this out of the water too?" Duoduo asked, curiously stroking the coral.
"That's right! And not just this, look at these too!"
Li Jiangyu opened the other chests one by one for Duoduo to see.
"What kind of beads are these?" Duoduo asked, curiously eyeing a half-filled chest of various beads.
"Those are pearls. We fished them out of the sea when we were transporting goods down south before."
"I dove for some of them, and the other boatmen got the rest."
"I plan to sell them on this trip to the capital!"
Li Jiangyu had originally planned to make a trip to the capital anyway, which was why he had taken on the job for Xiao Yi and his group.
"And what about this one?" Duoduo picked up the largest, dustiest-looking bead of the bunch.
Just as Duoduo had reached out to touch the pearls, words suddenly began scrolling before her eyes.
[So many pearls! So pretty!]
[Huh? Isn't that a luminous pearl? One the size of a pigeon's egg is so rare to see!]
[That coral from earlier is also worth a lot of money!]
[Isn't the Prince of Pingyang preparing a birthday gift? Picking anything from here at random would be enough to dazzle anyone!]
[Even with those pearls, Li Jiangyu specifically picked ones of roughly the same size. The value for money is incredibly high.]
[The same goes for that coral. Being this large, completely intact, and red to boot—he's probably the only one who has something like it.]
[The birthday gift Prince Ling prepared is also a piece of coral, but it's only a third of this size, and its color is quite ordinary.]
......
"That's not a pearl, it's just a rock. It looks like a bead, so I mixed it in to sell together to earn a little extra for the trouble."
Li Jiangyu glanced at it; one of the boatmen had tossed it in there.
Duoduo's eyes flickered. "Since you're going to sell it anyway, can you sell it to me?"
Li Jiangyu waved his hand. "You want this rock? If you want it, I'll just give it to you. Why talk about selling it?"
Duoduo gripped the bead tightly. "No, name a price and I'll give you silver. I have money!"
As Duoduo spoke, she untied the purse at her waist and dug out some silver.
A displeased expression appeared on Li Jiangyu's face.
"I said I don't want any silver! It's just a broken rock. If I took your silver for it, what kind of person would that make me, Li Jiangyu!"
Duoduo bit her lip. She wouldn't feel at ease if she didn't pay for it.
However, she couldn't bear the thought of giving up this treasure.
Standing to the side, Li Jin found it a bit strange why Duoduo had suddenly taken such a liking to this rock. But he could tell that she really wanted it.
"How about this: how much are you selling this entire chest of beads for? We'll buy it with silver."
Li Jin proposed a compromise.
Duoduo's eyes lit up. "Yes, Li Jiangyu, name a price, and I'll buy all of them together."
Li Jiangyu scratched the back of his head.
"If I had fished up all these beads myself, I'd just give them to you."
"But some of them were gathered by the other boatmen. It wouldn't be right not to give them some silver for it."
"Tell you what, since I gathered most of these, just give me fifty taels as a token amount and we'll call it good!"
Duoduo looked at Li Jin, and Li Jin stared at the chest on the floor, unable to believe his ears.
Seeing that Li Jin remained silent, Li Jiangyu felt a bit annoyed.
"Don't go thinking I'm quoting a high price to rip you off! I'm only offering this price for Duoduo's sake."
"If you were the one asking to buy them, I wouldn't sell them to you even for double the price!"
Li Jin gave Duoduo a complicated look, then looked back at Li Jiangyu.
