After getting the eggs, Xiang Qian rushed toward the west of town at his fastest speed.
The process of finding eggs had taken too much time, and he wondered if the little boy had already grown disappointed from waiting.
The world he saw was terrible, filling him with despair. But it was enough for him to be despairing—children shouldn't be disappointed with this world.
Just like those unnamed parents, adults were all using their own unique ways to make the beautiful world of children last a little longer.
This itself was one of the beauties of this world.
Fortunately, when he arrived, the little boy was still at the window. From afar, he had been staring at him the whole time, his eyes bright.
Xiang Qian stood downstairs, holding up two eggs that he had cooked with Dao essence during the journey, and said, "Look!"
The smile immediately bloomed on the little boy's sickly, thin face. "Eggs!"
"I'll bring them up to you," Xiang Qian called out.
"Don't!" The little boy hurriedly stopped him.
"What's wrong?" Xiang Qian was puzzled.
"My mother says there's poison in my body, and I can't get too close to others—it might be contagious." At this point, the little boy seemed a bit sad, and his voice lowered. "Can you leave them at the door for me? I'll come out to get them after you leave."
Xiang Qian suddenly felt a pang of bitterness, but he smiled instead. "No need for that trouble."
With that, he leaped up from the ground, directly jumping to a position level with the little boy. One hand gripped the window ledge steadily, while the other handed over the two cooked eggs.
The temperature of the eggs was just right.
"I'm not afraid of the plague ghosts!" he said with a smile.
"Are you really a Bodhisattva?" The little boy held the two eggs in his hands and looked at Xiang Qian, who was hanging in the air with a normal expression, and said with some surprise.
This time, Xiang Qian deliberately didn't deny it, only urging, "Eat quickly. They're cooked!"
"Oh." The little boy was tempted after all, and cracked one open right away. In just a few strokes, he peeled the shell off, his small hands quite nimble.
Then he put the egg in his mouth and took a satisfied bite, followed by another.
In just a few bites, he finished the entire egg, his little cheeks puffing out.
Seeing him eat so happily, Xiang Qian also felt warmth in his heart and asked, "Do you want to eat anything else?"
The little boy shook his head vigorously while eating the egg, mumbling, "No more."
He swallowed all the egg in his mouth, paused for a moment, and then said, "My mother says that we can still have food now thanks to Bodhisattva Jiang's kindness. But we need to control our appetites and not eat too much, because everyone else is waiting to eat too."
"Your mother is truly a good person."
Xiang Qian had grown up with his master since childhood and had never seen his parents. But he thought that a mother should be such a gentle and great figure.
"Of course!" The little boy's pale face gained a touch of color, and he smiled proudly, as if this made him happier than being praised himself.
He held the second egg in his palm, warming it again and again, and finally couldn't bear to eat it. He said to Xiang Qian, "Bodhisattva, can you give this egg... to my mother?"
Xiang Qian hadn't smiled this long in a very long time. But if he didn't smile, he couldn't conceal those inexplicable emotions.
He couldn't possibly... cry in front of a child, could he?
He asked with a smile, "What about your father's share?"
"My father hates eating eggs the most. Every time the family cooks eggs, he never eats them. It's always my mother and me who eat them."
Truly a pair of great parents.
Xiang Qian thought to himself and replied, "Alright, I'll help you deliver it."
"Then Bodhisattva, go help other children." The boy waved his hand and said with great spirit, "I'm already seven years old and can take care of myself!"
Xiang Qian leaped down from the building and answered loudly, "Alright!"
If at first, rushing back and forth in his extraordinary body to save people was more because of the agreement with Jiang Wang, something he had no choice but to do...
Later on, he didn't know why he had become so invested in it.
Perhaps the reason he had temporarily escaped his nightmares wasn't just because of the exhaustion and hardship.
He didn't ask this little boy's name, because these were the children of Qingyang Town.
He wanted to help all the children of Qingyang Town.
No matter what their surname was, what their name was, boy or girl.
Walking on the street where no pedestrians could be seen anymore, Xiang Qian popped the entire egg into his mouth and chewed as he walked.
He hadn't eaten these things in a very long time.
But it tasted truly delicious!
...
When he received the sternly worded inquiry from the Four Seas Merchant Alliance, Jiang Wang was momentarily bewildered.
He couldn't imagine that the Four Seas Merchant Alliance's warehouse in Qingyang Town had actually been robbed.
Was there any other supernatural force in the whole of Qingyang Town besides him? And he had actually overlooked it?
What baffled him the most was—what was the point of robbing such a small amount of supplies?
When he learned that the person who had raided the warehouse was Xiang Qian, he was even more confused.
It made absolutely no sense.
Even if someone said Zhang Hai had raided those supplies to refine some messy pills, making a big pot of stew, that would make more sense logically.
With Xiang Qian's world-weary attitude, he wouldn't even move if whipped—where did he get the energy to raid a warehouse?
But regardless, since the Four Seas Merchant Alliance had sent someone, there was no way he could avoid meeting them.
This was the Four Seas Merchant Alliance!
After getting a preliminary understanding of the matter, Jiang Wang called Xiang Qian to the town hall to face the Four Seas Merchant Alliance representatives.
"I only took two eggs."
Faced with the stern accusations from the Four Seas Merchant Alliance's steward, Xiang Qian said only this and then remained silent.
"Ask yourself—a supernatural cultivator beats another supernatural cultivator severely, then breaks into the warehouse, and in the end only takes two eggs!" The bald guard commander looked indignant, possibly convincing even himself, very engaged: "Can you believe it yourself?"
Jiang Wang glanced at Xiang Qian. Seeing that he had no intention of explaining further, he turned directly to the Four Seas Merchant Alliance's steward and asked, "What does the steward think of this matter?"
With someone backing him up, the bald guard commander felt very confident and couldn't help but shout upon hearing this, "The facts are right here, what else is there to see?"
This kind of person's voice was like a dog's barking. Jiang Wang ignored him completely, only looking at the Four Seas Merchant Alliance's steward, waiting for his response.
This steward of the Four Seas Merchant Alliance was a refined middle-aged man. Compared to a businessman, he looked more like a scholar.
Compared to his subordinate's impatience, he was much more composed and calm.
Even knowing that the person before him was an important retainer of the rising Chongxuan Sheng of the Chongxuan family couldn't move his expression.
The Four Seas Merchant Alliance, which traded across the world, gave him the confidence to face powers from all sides.
Regarding Jiang Wang's inquiry, he merely said in a calm voice, "Old Chen has been with the Four Seas for some years. I trust his words."
Just this one sentence, without further elaboration, but the attitude was already very clear.
Since my people can't be wrong, then your people must be the problem!
And Jiang Wang understood perfectly.
Xiang Qian didn't speak again—not because he refused to explain, but because he had already explained. Asking again meant not trusting him.
"You lost a total of four thousand gold?" Jiang Wang asked directly.
This was showing his attitude, agreeing to compensation.
Regardless, Xiang Qian had indeed raided the Four Seas Merchant Alliance's warehouse and fought with the warehouse guards.
The Chongxuan family certainly wasn't afraid of the Four Seas Merchant Alliance, and Jiang Wang himself wouldn't fear these small fry in front of him.
But there was no need for him to make enemies for Chongxuan Sheng for no reason. Precisely because they were friends, he had to consider Chongxuan Sheng's development even more.
Chongxuan Sheng had given him trust, hoping to get help from him, not for him to cause trouble everywhere.
Offending the Four Seas Merchant Alliance wasn't impossible, but only if the gains far outweighed the costs.
"I won't hide it from you either." The Four Seas Merchant Alliance steward said with a very frank expression, "Originally it was only a loss of two thousand gold, but since I personally came here, it naturally can't be just that."
Only two eggs were missing, but the bald guard commander had reported it as one thousand gold. After passing through this steward's mouth, it became four thousand gold!
And he wanted to appear honest in front of Jiang Wang, showing that he was speaking plainly and would never let you suffer a hidden loss!
How could Jiang Wang not know the trickery?
But he only nodded. "That is only reasonable."
"In that case, my people raided two thousand gold from you, and I'll compensate you with two hundred Dao Essence Stones!" Jiang Wang asked, "Is this fair?"
As currency in the cultivation world, Dao Essence Stones were generally only circulated among supernatural cultivators, and a thousand gold couldn't easily be exchanged for them.
Two hundred Dao Essence Stones—forget about two eggs, they'd probably be enough to compensate for killing this guard commander.
So, this steward of the Four Seas Merchant Alliance was naturally satisfied, couldn't be more satisfied.
"Rather reasonable." His eyes brightened immediately, but he quickly restrained himself and nodded reservedly. "However..."
This was the insatiability of human nature. Seeing Jiang Wang so easy to talk to, he was probably getting greedy.
"However," Jiang Wang took over the conversation. "There happens to be something I want to ask the Alliance's senior. I recently killed the city lord of Jiacheng, Xi Munan. Your Alliance has better information—do you know what the Yang Court's attitude is now? Are they willing to let it go?"
This Alliance steward had only arrived in Jiacheng recently and knew the former city lord had been killed, but didn't know by whom.
Hearing this, he couldn't help but be startled inwardly.
Someone who dared to kill even a city lord—if pushed to the edge, would he really not dare to kill a Four Seas Merchant Alliance steward?
"He covered up the truth and concealed the situation. His crimes were against heaven and reason. His evil was great and extreme, and anyone had the right to execute him. What was wrong with you killing him?"
The Alliance steward said with righteous indignation, "This is something any righteous person would do. The Yang Court also has to respect public opinion. Our Four Seas Merchant Alliance will also mediate for you, sir!"
"There's no need for mediation. The Yang Court hasn't sent anyone to question me yet, so justice must be in people's hearts!" Jiang Wang finished and changed the subject. "Actually, I have a favor to ask."
"Please speak, sir!"
"The people of Qingyang Town are suffering unspeakably. I can't do much, but I only hope that their daily necessities—some medicine, meat, fresh vegetables—won't be in short supply." Jiang Wang said, "I know conditions are tough now, and this request isn't entirely reasonable. I just hope you can do your best!"
To put it bluntly, the two hundred Dao Essence Stones were buying both a peaceful coexistence and the Four Seas Merchant Alliance's dedicated service.
Jiang Wang had spent the money, and he wanted to hear the results!
"You are truly one of the rare people who care for the common folk!"
Seeing that it was such a simple request, this Alliance steward thumped his chest loudly. "Leave this matter to me, Qian! I guarantee all kinds of supplies will be complete. As long as I, Qian, have something to eat, I will never let the people of Qingyang Town go hungry!"