Preparing to Set Off

Preparing to Set Off

Early the next morning, sunlight streamed through the window onto Li Xuan. He slowly opened his eyes. Getting up early had already become a habit for him.

"Today is another day full of hope." Li Xuan was unusually happy so early in the morning.

After climbing out of bed and washing up, Li Xuan suddenly noticed that the place where he had slept last night was filthy.

"Oh no! I forgot—this is the Supervisor Mansion, not a pile of straw in the North District. I slept in my clothes all night, and all that dust and dirt rubbed off onto the bedding!" Li Xuan slapped his forehead in annoyance.

In the North District, everyone only had one set of clothes. To avoid freezing to death, nearly everyone slept in their outerwear. Li Xuan had grown used to it as well.

"Forget it. I'll have the servants wash it later. I need to buy some new clothes when I go out today anyway." Li Xuan looked at the bloodstained clothes he was wearing and shook his head helplessly.

Life in the North District was hard!

Li Xuan gathered his thoughts and stepped out of his room.

"Master!" The two servants standing at the door respectfully bowed to Li Xuan.

"Go wash the bedding." Li Xuan waved a hand.

"Yes, Master." Upon receiving Li Xuan's order, the servants immediately entered his room and began cleaning up the bedding.

At that moment, the other servant spoke to Li Xuan.

"Master, half an hour ago, a man calling himself Liu Li came to see you. You were still asleep, so I didn't wake you. He is waiting outside the Supervisor Mansion. What should we do...?" the servant asked cautiously.

"Bring him in at once. In the future, if Liu Li or Bai Wen comes to the Supervisor Mansion, immediately arrange the best food and wine for them!" Li Xuan said without hesitation, walking toward the courtyard entrance alongside the servant.

A few minutes later, Li Xuan received Liu Li at the gate, and the two headed to the reception hall together.

"Uncle Liu, why did you come so early?" Li Xuan asked with concern.

"Hehe, the four of us brothers stayed up all night and finished the blueprints. We wanted to deliver them to you as soon as possible." Liu Li did not mind waiting outside for half an hour and still wore a smile.

"Uncle Liu, you're incredibly fast. Thank you so much." Li Xuan said happily.

Seeing Li Xuan's expression, Liu Li smiled faintly and pulled a stack of blueprints from his robes, handing them to Li Xuan.

Li Xuan unfolded the drawings one by one and studied them carefully.

Liu Li and his three brothers truly were capable. The plans they had designed were exceptionally detailed.

It was a four-courtyard residence covering three mu of land. The main house was a three-story building, with eight guest rooms, one kitchen, two storage rooms, and several other miscellaneous rooms. All in all, the design was quite grand. Though it could not compare to the ornate splendor of the Supervisor Mansion, it was already impressive.

However, Li Xuan did not care much about whether the houses looked good. What he cared about more was how many materials the plans required. If they needed a large quantity of materials, he could conveniently buy extra. That would be perfectly reasonable, since his true purpose was to obtain more materials for digging the tunnel.

The residence designed by Liu Li and his brothers was now large enough. As long as he stockpiled an additional twenty to thirty percent of building materials, it would be enough to dig through a tunnel.

Li Xuan thought for a moment and hesitated. Should he build the tunnel alongside the house? That way, the tunnel could be dug through a day sooner.

But that would mean Bai Wen had to remain in the tunnel the entire time. Those days would likely be extremely difficult for him.

Li Xuan quickly shook his head. This was not the time to pity others. The tunnel had to be dug as soon as possible. Otherwise, if Chrysanthemum Douluo came for another surprise inspection, things would become troublesome.

For his own safety, Li Xuan ultimately decided to carry out both projects at once. At worst, he could give Bai Wen more compensation.

"Uncle Liu, build the house according to these blueprints. Give me a list of the required supplies. I'll try to make a trip out later and purchase materials from a nearby city," Li Xuan said seriously after making up his mind.

"Don't worry, Xuan Ge'er. I've already prepared a list of all the materials we need." Liu Li pulled another sheet of paper from his robes and handed it to Li Xuan.

"Alright, Uncle Liu. Go back and rest first. Have Bai Wen come to the Supervisor Mansion tomorrow or the day after. I have something to discuss with him." Li Xuan thought for a moment before speaking.

"Understood, Xuan Ge'er." Liu Li nodded, stood up, respectfully bowed to Li Xuan, then turned and left.

Next came digging the foundation. Building such a large house would take several days just to lay the foundation, so Liu Li was not in a hurry for the construction materials.

"Take care, Uncle Liu!" Li Xuan packed some pastries and food from the table for Liu Li, then personally saw him out of the Supervisor Mansion before returning.

Just then, Lin Mo had also awakened.

He ran straight into Li Xuan, who was heading back to his room.

"Xuan Ge'er, you're up so early." Lin Mo gave Li Xuan a salute, his face full of exhaustion.

Li Xuan said nothing, merely looking Lin Mo up and down.

Lin Mo looked utterly drained. The massive dark circles under his eyes nearly covered half his face. His state was truly pitiful.

Presumably, Lin Mo had been drained by wine and women during the first half of the night, then inhaled the smoke from the extremely yin Dark Domain Ghost Orchid during the latter half.

Lin Mo would not recover from this without at least half a year to a year.

"Brother Lin Mo, I want to go out and buy some things. Now that I'm the Supervisor, I should be allowed to leave the Flower Sea, right?" Li Xuan asked with a smile.

Lin Mo was clearly stunned upon hearing Li Xuan's words. His depleted body had even made his reactions sluggish.

"Of course. I'll arrange a carriage right away and take you to nearby Sala City. Sala City is the largest city near the Flower Sea. Since you've been in the Flower Sea for so long, I'll take you around Sala City properly!" Lin Mo came back to his senses and spoke in a fawning tone.

Li Xuan was also taken aback when he heard that. He had assumed he would need to put in some effort before he could leave the Flower Sea. Who would have thought Lin Mo would agree with just one sentence?

Though Li Xuan was puzzled, he still nodded.

"Brother Lin Mo, how long do we need to prepare?" Li Xuan asked.

"Chrysanthemum Douluo knew you wouldn't be able to sit still, so he gave orders long ago for me to prepare a carriage and accompany you to see the cities outside." Lin Mo forced a smile onto his weak face as he looked at Li Xuan.

Hearing Lin Mo's words, Li Xuan understood a little more. It seemed his attendants had long since been arranged. If he wanted to escape, he would not have any chance at all.

With that thought, Li Xuan felt reassured. Since Chrysanthemum Douluo had arranged it this way, he was probably only being allowed to look around within a designated range.

"Let's set off now." Lin Mo bowed and gestured for Li Xuan to proceed.

Li Xuan then followed Lin Mo to a carriage in the rear courtyard.

Wishing all you esteemed readers a happy weekend.

Thank you all for your support. I've been truly busy lately, and I'm sorry for failing to live up to your kindness.

I kneel here to thank you all for your great generosity. Thank you.

(End of Chapter)