Ye Wanzhou froze at those words, holding the punting pole.
"Dark skin, even the backs of your fingers have a few calluses. You've been making a living by the river since you were very young, haven't you? All alone in the world?" Zhang Miaoyu's gaze swept over Ye Wanzhou. "I was like that too, before I became an immortal. Only later did a convergence of fate and chance make me one."
Ye Wanzhou lowered her eyes and gripped the pole, so nervous she did not know where to put her hands.
Zhang Miaoyu studied Ye Wanzhou a little longer, as though confirming something, before slowly speaking:
"If you truly don't want to take me over, I certainly won't force you."
Her words fell into silence.
A trace of regret appeared on Zhang Miaoyu's face.
She had not just arrived today; she had already been here for two days. Zhang Miaoyu had accompanied Li Yingling on many assignments. Even when she did not understand why something was done, she would subconsciously follow Li Yingling's methods.
Gather intelligence first, observe the specific circumstances, screen for suspicious individuals, and prepare for the worst.
It was during this series of preparations that Zhang Miaoyu had noticed Ye Wanzhou.
In fact, the rather dilapidated boat beneath Ye Wanzhou's feet was not her own. She had rented it from the Boat Boss. Only the tattered net, patched over and over, belonged to her.
Boats were not cheap things, but genuinely valuable possessions-both expensive and heavy.
Most ordinary families had to smash their pots and sell their iron, then borrow money besides, to own a small boat. Their future livelihood would also come to depend entirely on that boat.
Clearly, Ye Wanzhou, dark-skinned and already working a boat at such a young age, could not afford one.