Zhong Baiye first found a dockworker taking a break, handed him a cup of hot water, and asked him about Zhang Yi.
The dockworker was quite friendly at first, but his expression immediately changed when he heard they were asking about Zhang Yi.
Instead of answering Zhong Baiye's question directly, the worker sized up the group suspiciously before speaking.
"You weren't sent by those greedy merchants to bring down Brother Zhang Yi, were you?"
Zhong Baiye and the others immediately realized the man had misunderstood something. They shook their heads and explained.
"Do we look like we've been sent by someone? We just heard Brother Zhang Yi is really impressive and wanted to ask about him."
After hearing Zhong Baiye's explanation, the man looked over their group again. They really didn't look like people sent by those greedy merchants.
Only after assuring himself that Zhong Baiye and the others weren't bad people did he smile and apologize to them.
"I'm really sorry, young man. You can't blame us for being nervous. Those greedy merchants were just too awful. Without Brother Zhang Yi, I honestly can't imagine what our lives would be like."
As he spoke, he drifted into his memories, and a few tears even trickled from the corners of his eyes.
Zhong Baiye hurriedly handed him a few packs of tissues. He took them, wiped his tears, and continued.
"My name is Gong Yi. As you can see, I'm a dockworker. Before Brother Zhang Yi came along, dockworkers like us had to work at least sixteen hours a day just to keep from starving."
Zhong Baiye and the others found this hard to believe. Liyue Harbor was governed by law. How could something like that happen?
"Couldn't you report them to the Liyue Qixing? They'd definitely deal with something like this, wouldn't they?"
Lumine immediately voiced her doubts to Gong Yi.
Gong Yi sighed and continued, "We tried that long ago. But whenever someone came to inspect the place, they'd put on an act and treat us to good food and drink."
"Once the inspectors left, they'd treat us even worse. Most importantly, whoever reported them would suffer a fate worse than death. That lasted until Brother Zhang Yi appeared..."
Zhong Baiye noticed that when Gong Yi mentioned Zhang Yi, hope actually lit up his face. Clearly, Zhang Yi had made a profound difference to their lives.
Gong Yi took a breath and gazed out at the distant sea.
"Brother Zhang Yi was an ordinary dockworker too, but he led the resistance against those greedy merchants..."
Gong Yi went on recounting Zhang Yi's glorious deeds, speaking for nearly an hour before finally showing signs of wrapping up.
"Under his leadership, we finally drove those greedy merchants out of the docks."
Although Zhong Baiye and the others were growing drowsy, they still listened carefully to Gong Yi's entire story.
In short, Zhang Yi truly deserved to be called their big brother. Not only had he driven away the greedy merchants, but he also treated every fellow worker equally.
These deeds had earned Zhang Yi immense respect among the dockworkers. Fortunately, Zhong Baiye and the others had never considered using force against him, or they would have faced hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of dockworkers.
After finishing, Gong Yi took a sip of water. Seeing that they had actually listened attentively to Zhang Yi's story, he finally let down his guard completely.
Otherwise, he certainly wouldn't have drunk the hot water Zhong Baiye and the others had offered him.
"If there's anything else you want to know about Brother Zhang Yi, just ask me. I'm his number-one fan. I know everything about him."
Hearing Gong Yi's words, Zhong Baiye and the others immediately perked up. Their earlier effort hadn't been wasted.
Zhong Baiye gathered his thoughts and asked.
"Brother, do you know if Brother Zhang Yi has someone he likes?"
Gong Yi immediately became interested in the question. After all, everyone loved gossip.
Gong Yi patted his chest and answered.
"You've asked the right person. Anyone else might not know. I heard Brother Zhang Yi recently fell for a young lady named Ying'er. He's so lovesick he can barely eat or drink."
Hearing Gong Yi's answer, Paimon whispered helplessly to Zhong Baiye.
"Why don't we just get them together? This Zhang Yi doesn't seem like a bad person."
Taking Gong Yi's account and Zhang Yi's behavior yesterday into consideration, Zhong Baiye was inclined to agree with Paimon. But this involved two people, and Ying'er was currently very troubled by Zhang Yi's behavior.
Zhong Baiye thought for a moment, then continued asking Gong Yi, "Brother, do you know what hobbies and habits Brother Zhang Yi has? We're planning to give him something so he'll look out for us."
Gong Yi laughed heartily a few times before answering Zhong Baiye's question.
"There's no need for that. Brother Zhang Yi looks out for every brother equally, even without gifts. You can rest assured."
Gong Yi thought for a moment, then continued.
"If you really want to know, I'll tell you. Brother Zhang Yi's favorite thing is fortune-telling. I heard he goes to have his fortune told every few days."
Hearing Gong Yi's answer, Zhong Baiye suddenly thought of a plan and immediately thanked him.
"Thank you so much for telling us all this, brother. I just remembered there's something urgent we haven't dealt with. We'll go take care of it now."
Gong Yi had a rather good impression of Zhong Baiye and the others. Before Zhong Baiye left, he offered an even more important piece of information.
"Have a good day. Oh, right, Brother Zhang Yi seems to only visit one particular fortune-teller. I think the name was Fateweaver or something."
Gong Yi's final remark gave Zhong Baiye a little more confidence in the plan he had just thought of.
Lumine and Paimon were still puzzled. What sort of plan could he come up with from that little bit of information? Paimon immediately voiced her question to Zhong Baiye.
"What plan did you come up with? You're not really trying to get those two together, are you?"
Although Lumine was puzzled, she chose to trust Zhong Baiye and didn't ask him as Paimon had.
Rather than answer Paimon's question directly, Zhong Baiye gave a mysterious smile.
There was still something he needed to check. If things really were as he suspected, this whole affair would be only a minor problem.
Zhong Baiye led his puzzled companions to another worker.
Using the same approach, he struck up a friendly conversation with this worker, whose name was Yu Jia. Only after seeing that Yu Jia was in a very good mood did he ask the question he had come for.
"Brother Yu, do you know that our Brother Zhang Yi really likes fortune-telling?"
Yu Jia answered Zhong Baiye without hesitation.
"Of course. I even heard that when Brother Zhang Yi had his fortune told yesterday, the result said today wasn't a good day to go out. So Brother Zhang Yi isn't going out today."
Zhong Baiye's eyes lit up at that answer. It was just as he had suspected.
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