Looking along the streets of Great Wilderness Island, shops hung with all manner of signs and banners were everywhere. There was practically everything one could want.
Butchers, silk sellers, donkey rentals... wine shops.
Restaurants were especially numerous. These were all shops one could spot at a glance along the main street.
Of course, to some people, these shops were a dime a dozen.
The truly good places were little establishments tucked away in unassuming corners.
Never underestimate these little shops. Small as a sparrow might be, it had all its vital organs.
These hole-in-the-wall eateries were where the real delicacies lay.
A few simple dishes, a pot of aged wine.
Old acquaintances who had known each other for years reunited after a long separation, ten thousand miles from home.
Though this was a hole-in-the-wall eatery, a beggar sitting there in ragged clothes, his whole body giving off an odor, still drew a few eyes.
"I've made a fool of myself before you, sir." Yan Shisan smiled awkwardly.
"It's all right," Li Ping'an said. "A great deal must have happened over the years."
Yan Shisan lowered his eyes and remained silent for a long time.
Li Ping'an's thoughts, too, returned to decades ago, to the Yan estate of the Duke of Southern State in Guangling Prefecture.
That son of a concubine, brimming with ambition, with light in his eyes.
It had been after he traveled south to escort Aliya and the others to Huailu Academy.
Entrusted with returning the Fusang Tree seed to Guangling Prefecture, Li Ping'an had stayed at the Duke of Southern State's Residence in Guangling for a time, and thus became acquainted with this son of a concubine of the Yan Clan.
Back then, Yan Shisan had been betrothed before birth, his cultivation was stalled, and he had