87: Chapter 87 The Chamber of Commerce Makes Things Difficult, the Jade Slip Shines Again

The veteran who came to see Lu Changyuan was taken by Lu Hu to an empty tent on the east side of the Outer Port.

It was still noisy outside the tent.

The newly arrived quota population needed to be assigned tents, the old cargo ships needed to be dismantled, and that spirit boat from Jubao Pavilion, which was too clean to be a wartime naval vessel, was still docked in the outer mooring lane.

The air in the port was a thick mixture of porridge, medicine, and the salty stench of the sea; even through the cloth curtain, one could hear the sounds of children crying, shipwrights cursing, and Dao soldiers shouting at people fighting for water.

Inside the tent, however, it was very quiet.

The veteran sat on a low stool, his back severely hunched, and from the knee down, his right leg was a prosthetic made of old whale bone and copper nails, the edges already worn to a shine.

He wore no armor, only an old, white-washed Zhenhai uniform with the cuffs mended three times and an old saber scar pressed across his chest.

Seeing Lu Changyuan enter, he stood up first.

He didn't stand steadily, and his whole body swayed.

Lu Hu reached out to help, but he avoided it.

"Blue Moon Island Lord, Lu Changyuan?"

His voice was very hoarse.

Lu Changyuan looked at him: "It is me."

"Patriarch Lu Yunshen's son?"

"Yes."

The veteran stared at him for a long time.

That gaze wasn't like someone clinging to old sentiments, nor was it like someone recognizing a master.

It was more like a person who had carried a bad debt for many years, finally seeing an old Seal that could match the imprint.

"This little one is Xu Sanlan."

He slowly clasped his hands: "I was a cable hand on the formation ship in the outer ring of the Zhenhai Fortress, and later I was assigned to the Sealed Fleet. The Patriarch saved my life once."

Lu Changyuan did not reply immediately.

As soon as the words "Sealed Fleet" were spoken, Su Qingli raised her eyes.

Lu Hu placed his hand on the hilt of his saber.

The veteran acted as if he didn't see it and just continued: "I came today not to beg for old favors, nor to ask for an extra bowl of porridge. Blue Moon Island is willing to accept the quota population, and I have seen the rules; it is cleaner than many large camps."

"But among the next two batches of people, there might be those mixed in from the Old Seal Bid Case."

Lu Changyuan asked: "What is meant by people from the Old Seal Bid Case?"

The veteran's lips moved.

At this moment, footsteps came from outside.

Manager Zhou's voice sounded through the cloth curtain: "Island Lord Lu, this old man brought back the sample bottle yesterday and had the pavilion's apothecary examine it overnight. This purification liquid from Blue Moon Island is indeed quite interesting."

He didn't wait to be announced and smiled as he lifted the curtain to enter.

As soon as he entered, he saw the veteran in the tent, and his footsteps paused for half an inch.

That half-inch was very light.

If Lu Changyuan hadn't been watching him the whole time, he would hardly have noticed.

Manager Zhou quickly resumed his smile and bowed to Lu Changyuan: "It is quite a coincidence, is Island Lord Lu handling family matters?"

"Discussing business is also a family matter."

Lu Changyuan pointed to another stool, "Manager Zhou, please sit."

The veteran lowered his head to retreat, but Lu Changyuan said: "You sit too."

The smile in Manager Zhou's eyes deepened: "Island Lord Lu truly uses people in an unconventional way, even allowing an old veteran of the quota population to sit and listen to business."

"Blue Moon Island is short of people."

Lu Changyuan said, "We are even shorter on people who can tell the truth."

When this sentence fell, it became a bit colder in the tent.

Manager Zhou acted as if he didn't hear the thorn, took a thin contract from his sleeve, and pushed it onto the table.

"The price I reported yesterday was indeed a bit rough."

"After the apothecary in the pavilion looked at it, they believed that although the quantity is small, it can enter the Eastern Route's clearing market. Jubao Pavilion is willing to change the method; instead of buying out the formula, we will switch to exclusive distribution."

Su Qingli took the thin contract, glanced at it, and her brows pressed down slightly.

"Three years of exclusive sales."

"Pricing determined by Jubao Pavilion."

"Blue Moon Island is not allowed to privately sell similar purification liquid."

"Raw materials, heat, and ratios must be reported."

She read them out one by one, her voice very flat.

Manager Zhou smiled: "Business routes are not paved for free. Blue Moon Island is making a new product; without the endorsement of Jubao Pavilion, who outside would dare to trust it? We bear the reputation, the after-sales service, and the risks on the road, so the pricing power naturally must be with the pavilion."

Chen Mo happened to enter from outside to deliver the second batch of test samples, and upon hearing this, his old face darkened on the spot.

"Isn't that still putting a noose around our necks?"

Manager Zhou glanced at him, his smile unchanged: "The old gentleman is a talisman master, so it is normal not to understand business routes."

"No matter how good the item is, if it cannot be sold, it is dead stock."

"What Blue Moon Island lacks most right now is quick money, food, and peace of mind. Three years of exclusive sales in exchange for stable income."

He turned to look at Lu Changyuan: "Island Lord Lu, you have just accepted 6,400 in quota population; food, drink, housing, medicine, shipyards, and security—which one doesn't require Spirit Stones? It may not be worth it to butt heads with Jubao Pavilion for a pot that is not yet stable."

These words were very accurate.

And also very poisonous.

He didn't mention blocking the business route again.

He just pointed out every painful spot of Blue Moon Island one by one.

Su Qingli did not immediately refute.

Because these were indeed all debts.

Blue Moon Island's books looked thick now, but as soon as people came in, Spirit Stones were like water poured into sand. Rice, salt, medicine, wood, cloth, ship materials, formation materials—the prices changed daily. If the purification liquid could immediately become a stable income, it could indeed provide some breathing room.

But three years of exclusive sales, plus pricing power, plus formula reporting.

This was not selling goods.

This was handing over a newly grown hand to someone else to hold down.

Lu Changyuan picked up the thin contract, finished reading it, and put it back on the table.

"Manager Zhou."

"Island Lord Lu, please speak."

"I will give you two choices."

Manager Zhou's smile remained unchanged: "I would like to hear the details."

"First, Jubao Pavilion acts as an agent. Blue Moon Island supplies goods by batch, and you take 30% of the sales profit. The price is renegotiated by both parties according to the monthly market price, the formula is not reported, the raw materials are not registered, and the sales route is not exclusive."

"Second, Jubao Pavilion only acts as an inspection and endorsement service. Blue Moon Island pays for your endorsement, and you do not touch the goods."

Manager Zhou was silent for a breath.

Then he laughed softly.

"Island Lord Lu, this is not the tone for doing business."

"And that contract of yours just now was not the hand for discussing a deal."

Lu Changyuan's tone remained very flat, "The purification liquid is low in quantity, the formula is unstable, and the raw materials are difficult to sustain—you can say all of these."

"But precisely because the quantity is small, it is not in a hurry to flood the Eastern Route."

"Precisely because the formula is unstable, it cannot hand over the heat and raw materials to others to evaluate."

"Precisely because the raw materials are difficult to sustain, whoever holds the formula first will be able to hold down the Thunder Bamboo Garden of Blue Moon Island in the future."

The corners of Manager Zhou's eyes twitched very slightly.

Su Qingli looked up at this.

The four words "Thunder Bamboo Garden" were spoken by Lu Changyuan specifically for Manager Zhou to hear.

But he said the garden, not the living root.

It was a bait, and also a boundary.

Manager Zhou was silent for a moment, and his smile finally faded a little: "Island Lord Lu is young, but has a large appetite. However, the Eastern Route business route cannot be opened up just by one or two battle achievements."

"If Blue Moon Island is unwilling to concede profit, Jubao Pavilion will not force it."

"But in the future, when similar goods enter the Eastern Route, every step of inspection, listing, price protection, and port passage must be done according to the rules."

Lu Hu's eyes turned cold.

But Lu Changyuan raised his hand to stop him.

"Following the rules is best."

He pushed the thin contract back, "Blue Moon Island likes rules the most."

Manager Zhou looked at the contract that had been pushed back and nodded slowly.

"Good."

"Then this old man will take his leave today."

He got up, and before leaving, he looked at Xu Sanlan again.

This time, he did not hide it.

In that gaze, there was suspicion, and also a hint of vigilance that should not appear on the face of an ordinary merchant.

After he left the tent, Lu Hu immediately lifted the curtain gap to look outside. Jubao Pavilion's attendants quickly escorted Manager Zhou onto the ship, but the ship did not leave the port immediately; it just retreated half a mile to the outer mooring lane, like an eye parked on the water surface.

Lu Changyuan withdrew his gaze: "Continue."

Xu Sanlan's fingers clutched the old robe on his knees, his knuckles turning white.

"That person just now recognized the mark of the Sealed Fleet."

Lu Changyuan asked: "How do you know?"

"He looked at my right leg."

Xu Sanlan lowered his head and patted the piece of whale bone prosthetic, "When the Sealed Fleet had an accident back then, most of the people who survived had injuries on their right legs. It wasn't a coincidence; that night, the stern Seal cables exploded, and everyone running outwards had their legs sliced off by the back-coiling copper cables."

Lu Hu frowned: "What ship?"

Xu Sanlan shook his head: "I cannot tell you everything."

The look in Lu Hu's eyes sharpened.

But the veteran did not dodge, only looking at Lu Changyuan: "It is not that I am unwilling, but that I cannot say it all. We were just low-level cable hands back then; we only knew that what we were escorting was a batch of formation materials and a sea chart box that had been sealed. On the Seal, there were the marks of the Zhenhai Military Warehouse, the old Lu family Seal, and also a secret mark of a merchant house."

"Later, the fleet was lost outside the old route of Blue Moon Island."

"The higher-ups said it was an attack by the vanguard of the devil tide, the dead were registered, and the cargo was reported as destroyed."

"But I later heard the escorting commander curse before he died."

"It wasn't the devils who made the first move."

The tent became quiet again.

Su Qingli asked: "The merchant house's secret mark, was it Jubao Pavilion?"

"I didn't see it clearly."

Xu Sanlan said, "I only remember it looked like a stack of golden coin eyes."

The emblem of Jubao Pavilion was indeed three overlapping golden coin patterns.

But looking like it did not mean it was.

Lu Changyuan did not jump to a conclusion.

He asked: "Why are you saying this now?"

"Because in the next two batches of quota population, there are a few familiar names."

Xu Sanlan took out a crumpled, soft piece of paper from his bosom and placed it on the table, "I saw them when I was assigning tents at the Outer Port. They are not criminals, but family members. After the Sealed Fleet died out, several families of the survivors were oppressed into stateless scattered households and have been drifting back and forth for more than a dozen years. This time, I don't know how, but they were all assigned into the Blue Moon Island quota."

"If it is just a coincidence, so be it."

"If it is not a coincidence, then Blue Moon Island is accepting more than just people."

"There is also the debt from back then that wasn't sealed off."

Lu Changyuan picked up the piece of paper.

There were only seven names on the paper.

Three old, four young.

Two of them had already appeared in the first batch of the quota registration today.

Su Qingli glanced at it and immediately said: "I will go investigate."

"Do not be in a hurry to move."

Lu Changyuan pressed the paper under his palm, "Settle them as ordinary quota population first, do not interrogate them separately, and do not alert Jubao Pavilion."

"Lu Hu."

"Here."

"Take two people and secretly watch Jubao Pavilion's ship. Only watch, do not touch."

"Yes."

"Chen Mo."

Chen Mo was startled: "Young Lord?"

"Ask Li Heng for a copy of the common markings for the old Sealed Fleet formation materials; don't ask about the case, just ask about the talisman patterns. Then Seal two copies of the trial production records for today's three pots of purification liquid; give one to Su Qingli for filing, and put one in my private box."

Chen Mo immediately understood.

This was not to check the purification liquid.

It was to prevent someone from deducing Blue Moon Island's current core trump card from the purification liquid and the Thunder Bamboo Garden.

"This old man understands."

Lu Changyuan finally looked at Xu Sanlan.

"I don't fully believe what you said today."

Xu Sanlan said in a low voice: "As you should."

"But I will investigate."

"This little one only asks for one thing."

"Speak."

"If those survivors come later, please don't let them be seen by people from Jubao Pavilion."

Lu Changyuan nodded.

"Su Qingli, assign them to the third row of the West Slope Tents, temporarily mark them as pending verification, and do not put them on the Outer Port work registration list."

Su Qingli agreed.

Xu Sanlan seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, his whole body almost collapsing back onto the low stool.

Outside the tent, Jubao Pavilion's ship finally moved.

It slowly left the port along the outer mooring lane, but released an extremely thin cyan signal talisman before turning into the Outer Sea. The signal talisman flew close to the sea surface and quickly disappeared into the water mist of the Eastern Route.

Lu Hu was just about to chase, but the voice transmission talisman in his sleeve rang first.

"Master, the signal talisman moved too fast; it looks like an urgent report from inside Jubao Pavilion."

Lu Changyuan did not let him chase.

The line of Jubao Pavilion was no longer something that could be solved by a business contract.

Whether there was a real hook between it and the Old Seal Bid Case could not yet be determined.

But at least, Manager Zhou's vigilance was real.

Lu Changyuan returned to the secret room of the Lords Mansion, it was already dark.

The lights in the Outer Port were lit one by one.

On the side of the West Slope Tents, the three squads of old Dao soldiers temporarily added by Lu Hu began their shift rotation. People were still queuing in front of the porridge tent, and the sound of nails being hammered echoed from the direction of the shipyard. Blue Moon Island was like a beast that had just swallowed a large piece of flesh and blood, slowly sorting out its bones and tendons again.

Su Qingli sent over the first batch of registration records she had found.

"Among the seven names, two arrived today. An old woman and a twelve-year-old boy. Neither knows about the Seal Bid Case; they only know that their ancestors were miscellaneous servants for the Zhenhai fleet."

"What about Jubao Pavilion?"

"They didn't go far after leaving the port; they stopped in the shadow of a small reef twenty miles to the southeast. Leng Feng has already sent patrols to keep an eye on them."

Lu Changyuan nodded.

"What about the second pot of purification liquid?"

"The stability is a little better than the first pot, but the yield is even lower."

Su Qingli said, "Manager Zhou was blocked by you today; he might not talk softly tomorrow. He will have the Eastern Route inspection port block us."

"Let him block."

"We don't have enough goods for him to block yet."

Su Qingli was silent for a rare moment.

This was harsh to hear, but it was the truth.

What Blue Moon Island truly lacked right now was the underlying foundation to turn this pot from a sample into an industry.

There was only a small garden of devil-cleansing thunder bamboo.

There were only three trial pots of purification liquid.

The war-loss quota population had not yet been digested.

The Old Seal Bid Case had popped up from among the population again.

Lu Changyuan sat in the secret room, his knuckles tapping gently on the tabletop.

For the first time, he clearly felt that Blue Moon Island was no longer a small island that could continue to charge forward by relying on a few hard battles and a few bottom-fishing raids.

There was money.

There were people.

Ships, warehouses, berths, reputation, and battle achievements were also beginning to exist.

But what could truly stabilize the business route, suppress the old debts, and support a century of output was still not enough.

The heavenly secret jade slip suddenly vibrated—not the scorching heat of the blood-red characters appearing as usual, but a kind of humming he had never felt before, more like being "tugged" by something in the distance. Immediately afterwards, a dark golden thin line appeared in his Sea of Consciousness, pointing straight to the northwest. At the end of the line was a countdown: three hours.

Lu Changyuan was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood.

After the Jade Slip was triggered by the gray bone fragment, it seemed to have activated a deeper level of detection mechanism—as if a Seal that was originally only half-opened had been pried open by another crack by the fragment of the Star-Falling Sea Eye. Previously, it could "see" intelligence, but now it could even capture the spatial fluctuations of high-level existences.

But the cost of this dark golden line appearing was also very obvious—the original blood-red patterns on the surface of the Jade Slip had dimmed by three points. Obviously, this deep-level detection consumed much more than ordinary intelligence.

Lu Changyuan raised his eyes sharply.

On the Jade Slip, lines of words unfolded silently.

[High-level spatial tide detected.]

[Star Sea Merchant "Elder Tianji" will stay for half a day at an unnamed reef 800 miles northwest of Blue Moon Island in three hours.]

[His personal treasure vault contains various types of High-Grade spiritual plants, sea beast cubs, purification-type spiritual items, and earth vein modification items.]

[Recommendation: Bring the incomplete bone fragment of the Star-Falling Sea Eye.]

[Countdown: 2 hours 59 minutes.]

Lu Changyuan's heart jumped heavily.

Star Sea Merchant.

Elder Tianji.

High-Grade spiritual plants, sea beast cubs, purification-type spiritual items, earth vein modification items.

Every word seemed to fall precisely on the places Blue Moon Island lacked the most right now.

Su Qingli immediately noticed that his expression was wrong: "Something happened?"

Lu Changyuan did not explain the Jade Slip.

He just stood up and opened the innermost secret compartment of his private treasury.

The incomplete bone fragment of the Star-Falling Sea Eye, which had been pulled out from the gray bone fragment of the Black Tortoise North Vein, was pressed in a jade box by him with three layers of sealing talismans. As soon as the bone fragment was in hand, it was ice-cold and bone-piercing, and half a breath of residual patterns seemed to float on the surface.

He also took out two bags of High-Grade Spirit Stones, three bottles of the most stable purification liquid samples, a scroll of the Blue Moon Island terrain map, and the total quota population register that Su Qingli had just organized.

Su Qingli frowned slightly as she watched, but did not ask further.

"Are you leaving the island?"

"Within three hours, 800 miles to the northwest."

"Who are you taking?"

"Lu Hu."

"Leng Feng is more suitable for tracking."

"This time it is not tracking, it is to meet someone."

Su Qingli understood.

It could not be a small matter to make Lu Changyuan leave the island immediately when Jubao Pavilion, the Old Seal Bid Case, and the quota population were all pressing down at the same time.

She only said: "I will take over on the island."

"What if Jubao Pavilion comes again?"

"Stall them."

"What about those people from the Old Seal Bid Case?"

"Hide them within the rules."

Lu Changyuan looked at her and nodded.

A quarter of an hour later, he pushed open the door of the secret room.

Lu Hu had already been called to the front of the mansion by a message; he hadn't changed his armor, and his saber still carried the porridge smell from the West Slope Tents.

"Master?"

Lu Changyuan threw a Storage Pouch to him.

"Prepare the fastest stealth spirit boat."

"Bring the most valuable things on the island that best represent Blue Moon Island's predicament."

"Follow me."

Lu Hu did not ask where they were going.

He just clasped his hands, turned around, and rushed towards the Outer Port.

In the night, the lights of the Outer Port of Blue Moon Island were as bright as day.

And 800 miles to the northwest, an opportunity higher than Jubao Pavilion, the Old Seal Bid Case, and the purification liquid was counting down.