After the eldest grandson returned home, he did not immediately arrange for Chu Li to pack up and prepare to leave. Instead, he ran to the yard to enjoy the shade after eating as usual. When he saw Siqin, he kept silent about taking her away.
Siqin acted like a normal person. After dinner, while watching Chu Li clean up, he chatted with Chu Li wordlessly.
Chu Li was busy every day, and soon became sleepy and went to rest early.
The eldest grandson unexpectedly did not go back to his room to meditate today. Instead, he continued to sit in the yard and stared at the sky in a daze.
Si Qin came to the yard, walked to Changsun and sat down.
After a while, he spoke softly, and the soft voice blew gently into Changsun's ears like the night wind.
"I'm always curious, what is it in the night sky that makes you so fascinated?"
When the grandson heard Si Qin talking, he closed his eyes instead, as if he was listening to a concert, showing an expression of enjoyment.
The eldest grandson opened his eyes and said, "There is a saying in my hometown that dead people will become stars in the sky. I want to find those stars that I am familiar with."
When Siqin heard Changsun's words, he seemed to be stimulated by something. He suddenly stood still for a moment, then slowly raised his head and stared at the night sky, his voice was a little dry.
"That's unfair. Why can we only see them at night?"
"Because we still have to look forward when the sun comes up." Changsun said softly.
Siqin remained silent.
The eldest grandson did not see that behind her beautiful profile, a drop of tear streaked across her face, like a meteor flashing past in the night sky, but it still left a beautiful trail.
After a while, Siqin opened his mouth to break the silence.
"Where is the front of the young master?"
The eldest grandson pointed to the north: "Outside."
Si Qin knew that Changsun was referring to the outside world, so he continued, "Then it seems we can travel together."
Only now did the eldest grandson turn his head and look at Siqin, his expression half-smiling.
Siqin saw from the corner of his eye that his eldest grandson had been looking at him, and he felt a little embarrassed and said, "Master, why do you keep looking at me like this?"
After hearing this, the eldest grandson turned around, smiled and said, "It's too dangerous to go with the girl. I'm not strong enough, so I won't cause trouble for the girl."
Siqin turned around and asked doubtfully: "What's the danger of traveling with me?"
"The girl is so beautiful. If I am traveling with you, if someone misunderstands me as a flower protector, I'm afraid my life will be in trouble, haha."
After the eldest grandson finished speaking, he laughed.
Si Qin heard that the eldest grandson was making fun of him, and he felt a little annoyed. He snorted and turned away and ignored the eldest grandson.
The eldest grandson smiled for a while and then put away his smile. His expression suddenly became serious and he said: "The girl has helped me in times of need in Lishan City, and I will keep it in my heart. However, this trip is really dangerous, and I am not sure that I can do it." I want to keep the girl safe, so I really don’t dare to brag about Haikou and agree to the girl.”
Si Qin was still a little angry about his grandson, so he said, "Humph, if you are afraid of danger, you can paint my face with flowers. Then it will be safe."
The eldest grandson did not laugh, but still said seriously: "I just made a joke. Please don't worry, girl. You should know what danger I am talking about."
Seeing that the eldest grandson was still serious, Si Qin said seriously: "Master, what danger do you think there is?"
"Although it's just a guess. Recently, a lot of mercenaries from outside have come to Qingshan Town. They are not exploring or hunting for treasures, but more like searching for people. I think this must be related to the girl." Changsun said affirmatively.
Siqin didn't admit it, but he didn't deny it either.
Changsun continued: "The strength of these people may be high or low, but the most important thing is that there are many people. People's hearts are apart, and I don't know if any of this group of people want to take advantage of the fire. If I just take you out of Qingshan Town, then that's it." It’s simple, but with so many people here who are hard to distinguish between good and bad, it’s not that easy.”
After Changsun finished speaking, he did not continue to speak, but looked at Siqin.
Siqin suddenly calmed down, and it was impossible to tell from her expression what she was thinking at the moment.
"Young master has said so much, now you can make an offer." Siqin suddenly said.
After hearing this, the eldest grandson was not unhappy at all, and said: "The girl is still as smart as she was in Lishan. I want a hundred soul-building pills."
"One hundred soul-building pills! Why don't you go and grab it?" Siqin said angrily.
"That's too much, so just twenty pills." Changsun didn't feel embarrassed at all and immediately reduced the number from one hundred pills to twenty pills.
Si Qin still felt very angry and said, "Do you know how precious the soul-building pill is, and you are so open-mouthed?"
Changsun suddenly said with an embarrassed look on his face: "How do country people know how precious the soul-building pill is."
The soul-building pill has the effect of strengthening the soul and stabilizing the soul. Generally, when the magician breaks through to the charioteer realm, the warrior will be willing to use one pill to stabilize the realm during the breakthrough.
The eldest grandson wanted so many soul-building pills not for himself, but for Chu Li.
However, because the eldest grandson didn't know how to refine medicine, he really didn't understand how precious the soul-building pill was.
Si Qin was furious when he saw the eldest grandson's appearance and said, "Forget it, I'm too lazy to tell you more. Three pills. I'll give you three pills at most."
Changsun hesitated for a moment and shook his head.
"Three pills are too few, no way."
"Did you know that with three soul-building pills, there is a rush for someone willing to escort me out of Qingshan Town."
"But you can't tell who is the good guy and who is the bad guy." Changsun said.
"You! How do I know if you are a bad person?" Changsun's words made Siqin very angry.
"Of course I am not a bad person, sir, I have promised you this, and you also heard the conversation between me and sir this afternoon. In terms of understanding of Qingshan, no one in this town can match me."
Changsun lightly pointed out that Si Qin eavesdropped on his conversation with his husband in the afternoon.
Si Qin was a little shocked. With Changsun's strength, he shouldn't have been able to find him. It seems that he still underestimated his eldest grandson.
Siqin gradually regained his composure and began to seriously think about the eldest grandson's conditions. It seemed that he accepted his husband's arrangement.
"Five!" Siqin stretched out his five fingers and said.
The eldest grandson didn't say anything, and Si Qin suddenly became a little unhappy. Five pills were already a sky-high price for the eldest grandson, but the eldest grandson was still hesitating.
Changsun silently calculated in his heart how long the five pills could last based on Chu Li's current situation.
Changsun must give himself time to become stronger so that he can raise more medicinal materials to stabilize Chuli's condition.
The eldest grandson shook his head and said: "Miss Siqin, I know that with my current strength, five soul-building pills are already a very high reward, but the journey of escorting the girl to Lieyang City is full of dangers, and I may not be able to protect myself. Five One soul-building pill is enough to buy my life, but if I die, Chuli will not live long. So I kindly ask the girl to give you five more soul-building pills."
Siqin didn't expect the eldest grandson to say such a thing, but the eldest grandson's eyes were sincere, and Siqin couldn't say anything to retort.
"These ten pills are for Chu Li's sake, otherwise you wouldn't be able to get even one."
After the two discussed it, they went back to their houses to rest.
The next day, the eldest grandson called Siqin to his room early in the morning.
Just when Si Qin felt confused, he entered the room and saw a table in the middle of the room. There was a sand table on the table, and a hand-drawn map hung on the wall.
Siqin was a little surprised, and when he got closer and looked at the sand table and map, he discovered that it was actually the topographic map of Qingshan Town.
Before Si Qin could ask the question, the eldest grandson spoke first.
"Conditions and time are limited, so the sand table is relatively simple, and I have been drawing maps before. The situation in Qingshan Town is more detailed. I can only draw the surrounding inland based on what I have read in books before, plus listening to it. The painting is based on human description, so there may be deviations in accuracy.”
Siqin looked at the map in front of him. It was half the size of a wall. The topography of Qingshan Town was drawn in great detail.
It's just that there are some circles and lines in the picture that I can't understand.
Relatively speaking, the inland surrounding Qingshan Town is indeed much simpler to draw, but at least it shows the relative position of Qingshan Town and the surrounding inland.
Despite this, Siqin still heard a hint of dissatisfaction in Changsun's words just now.
Changsun is indeed a little dissatisfied with the map he drew by hand. The topography of Qingshan Town was drawn by Changsun during field trips, and the accuracy is beyond doubt. However, the surrounding inland eldest grandsons cannot guarantee the accuracy.
Because Changsun had military experience in his previous life, Changsun knew the importance of map accuracy for every operation, so Changsun was not very satisfied with his map.
Changsun did not dwell too much on the imperfection of the map. He pointed at the map and said: "Qingshan Town is only connected to an inland area. If you take the land route, you can only go to this inland area."
As he spoke, Changsun pointed to a larger inland area located north of Qingshan Town on the map, called Qinling Island.
The origin of Qinling Island dates back to before the Doomsday War.
Before the apocalyptic war, Qinling Island was an island on the edge of the mainland.
At that time, Qinling Island was the territory of the powerful Xuan Dynasty. The emperor of the Xuan Dynasty, Xuan Wuji, was a famous and powerful man in the mainland at that time. Qinling Island was the hereditary fiefdom of a minister in the Xuan Dynasty, because the minister's surname was Qin. This is where Qinling Island comes from.
After the apocalyptic war, Qinling Island was not spared and was eventually divided into several inland parts. In fact, Qingshan Town was one of them.
Siqin looked at the map and frowned, and said, "Why can't we take the aerospace boat?"
"I have considered the issue of aerostats, but the key issue is that there is no aerostat in Qingshan Town. If you want to take an aerostat, you can only wait for the passing merchant ship to take it. Qingshan Town is a remote place, when will the merchant ship It's hard to say whether it will happen. Or it could be through the mercenary station to send out the demand for an aerostat and specially mobilize an aerostat from the upper inland. But this would not only cost too much, but also be too ostentatious, and it would be very difficult for those who are interested. It's easy to find something unusual in it, which is detrimental to your safety." Changsun analyzed.
Although Siqin also had speculations in his mind, the key issue raised by Changsun still made Siqin have to give up the idea of taking the aerospace boat.
Seeing that he had convinced Siqin, Changsun continued: "On the map are several routes I planned. After repeated consideration, this route is the safest." Changsun pointed to a route in the middle of the map, which ran horizontally. Cross the map up and down, cross the green mountains, and go to Qinling Island.
Siqin frowned again and asked, "Then how many people do you plan to arrange?"
The eldest grandson looked at Si Qin, paused, and said, "It's just you and me."
"What? Just the two of us?" Siqin asked in surprise.
"Yes, you heard it right, it's the two of us." Changsun said affirmatively.
"Why? You chose the most difficult path, and there are only two of us?" Siqin asked.
"Because only this route can give full play to my advantages. I am most familiar with Qingshan. First of all, in such depths, there are few people, and the possibility of us encountering other mercenaries will be greatly reduced. Secondly, if we encounter the enemy, With my strength, I can only deal with the enemy by taking advantage of the geographical advantages here. And when choosing this route, the fewer people accompanying me, the better." Changsun answered.
After hearing this, Siqin still frowned and looked a little dissatisfied, but he did not continue to ask, and instead asked: "What are the feasibility of other routes?"
Changsun continued to answer: "The other routes are relatively easy to travel. They are the routes that mercenaries often take when leaving Qingshan Town. If you hire more people and disguise yourself well, it is also feasible. However, such a road is difficult to encounter. The chances of finding people with ulterior motives will also increase, and it will be easier for enemies to set up checkpoints. By then, no matter how good your disguise is, it will be difficult to get through."
After the eldest grandson finished speaking, he remained silent and left Si Qin to make a choice.
Siqin was not asking questions, but looked at the map and the sand table carefully.
The eldest grandson was waiting patiently beside him at first, but finally seeing that Siqin couldn't make a decision, he simply sat in a chair and fell asleep. It looked like he might not have slept a wink all night yesterday.
Si Qin repeatedly considered the eldest grandson's proposal, and he thought about it for most of the day. When Si Qin called the eldest grandson up, it was already noon.
The eldest grandson stretched, yawned and said, "Ah... has Miss Siqin made a decision?"
"Huh, you slept soundly. You threw such a big problem to me so casually." Siqin said with a snort.
The eldest grandson didn't take it seriously and said, "I have already given my opinion."
Seeing Changsun's appearance, Siqin was so angry that he finally held back and said, "I'll do as you say, but remember your promise to me, otherwise you won't be able to get even one soul-building pill." .”
"This girl can rest assured. I promise you the most. Does the girl have any questions at the end?" Zhangsun asked.
"Well... I have another question. What are the mountains with many circles on your map?" Siqin asked.
"Oh, you said this, it's called a contour line."
"Contour lines? What are contour lines?"
