Baili Bingyun wanted to follow in the footsteps of the first generation of embroiderers, hoping to lead the embroidery house on the right path, even if it meant opening those kinds of "entertainment" venues.

She also wanted to give these women a little dignity as human beings.

Some things can’t be fought against with human nature or the larger environment, but at least don’t go overboard. For the sake of making money, if you forsake humanity, then what’s the point of having immense wealth and power?

Actually, Lin Miao, as an observer, saw more clearly that without changing the external environment, merely changing oneself wouldn’t solve the problem.

If the embroidery house remained in Li Hen City, a place filled with desire and sin, any changes it made would be futile.

Maybe hold on for a few years, ten years, decades; one generation passes, will the next continue to persevere?

If everyone is doing that except you, you won’t be able to compete, leading to closure, failure, and then complete disappearance...

Without a good external environment, everything is in vain.

Better to be a dog in peace than a person in chaos.

The truth is clear: those living in chaotic times live worse than a dog.

In Li Hen City, you could kill, set fires, do whatever you wanted, and no one would stop you as long as you had the ability to avoid being killed by victims or face revenge from the victims’ allies and family.

No public authority would cause you trouble; only if you encountered a righteous avenger would you be unlucky.

Killing or being killed is your own choice.

But one must be cautious about crime; if you lose your life before even enjoying yourself, then it’s not worth it.

"I must return, or my elder sister will worry."

"Aren’t you going to stay for dinner? I even asked Mrs. Zhen to make your favorite rice wine dumplings," Si Miaoxue pouted.

"No, I’ll eat next time. I’m not leaving tomorrow."

"Alright, I’ll see you off."

...

Lin Miao promised Sun Youwei he’d take her around the night market in the evening. He couldn’t break this promise. After a simple dinner back at Snow Mountain Residence,

Lin Miao took Sun Youwei and the others to the North City night market.

The night market in North City is the territory of the Skull Association. Originally a barter market, it gradually grew into a massive market as more people gathered.

It’s also open during the day, but not as bustling as at night. At night, there are various food stalls and black market businesses.

Some people prefer setting up stalls at night because the goods they sell come from unclear origins, many being unearthed from graves, heavy with yin energy, considered burial items.

There are also all sorts of strange and unusual artifacts, only encounterable at night.

It’s indeed a great place to find bargains, with people occasionally discovering something valuable, naturally attracting more people to come treasure hunting.

Women shopping buy what they like as long as they have silver, seldom leaving empty-handed. Men, on the other hand, rationally assess what’s useful to them before buying. Of course, if their woman likes something, there’s no second thought.

But Sun Youwei has been very sensible from a young age, developing a habit of being very frugal. In Qingping Town, a small place like that, there’s nothing good to buy, only daily necessities. Usually, she stayed at home without venturing out.

Her health didn’t allow her to go out.

Now it’s different. Her health is fully restored, and she’s far surpassing ordinary people, especially with an abundant internal energy.

Though she hasn’t yet figured out how to use this abundant energy, at least she’s no longer the weak girl unable to truss a chicken.

"Elder sister, this hairpin is nice, try it on?"

"This old jade, though made of ordinary stone, has decent carving, buying it as a paperweight wouldn’t be bad..."

"This doesn’t work, it’s made from animal bone..."

"Junior brother, how about this one?"

"Put it down, elder sister, it’s not suitable for you."

"Junior brother, I meant it for you," Sun Youwei asked.

Lin Miao shook his head and said, "I don’t want it either." He recognized it; this item was made from human bone. As a doctor for so long, he could tell human bones from animal bones.

Sun Youwei somewhat disappointedly set it down. She truly wanted to buy a small gift for Lin Miao, as he had been caring for her for so long, buying her things, yet she hadn’t once bought him a gift.

Lin Miao could see that his elder sister wanted to give him a gift, so he couldn’t disappoint her. He led her to continue walking forward.

"Fried cake, fried cake..."

"Junior brother, fried cake!"

"Let’s go over," Lin Miao reminisced that his elder sister loved fried cakes since childhood. However, her body struggled to digest such food, so Master was unwilling to let her eat it. But now it’s okay; she can eat freely.

"Two pieces of fried cake!" Lin Miao called out. For the evening outing, he exchanged some loose silver coins.

"Alright."

Six people shopping was a large group; Lin Miao let Lianxin and Liansuo each take Lin Mao and Ling Yu’Er, splitting into three groups for more freedom.

Chewing a bite with oil oozing, Lin Miao quickly used a prepared handkerchief to wipe the oil trickling from Sun Youwei’s lip corner.

Sun Youwei blushed shyly; she seemed too gluttonous just now, which didn’t align with her usual ladylike demeanor.

"Is it tasty?"

"Hmm."

"Let’s go, I need to find my foodie senior sister..."

"This is stinky tofu..." Unexpectedly, even the stinky tofu from Dongshan is being sold in Li Hen City, and it’s become a famous snack here.

It smells bad but tastes good, and there’s a long line of people waiting to buy it.

They’re quite tired of it, so naturally, they wouldn’t buy it. But they were curious about where the stinky tofu was sourced from.

Their own tofu workshop has reached this far, but with the current low temperature, storage and transport aren’t an issue.

Otherwise, it would take at least two or three days to transport from Dongshan to Li Hen City, which isn’t cost-effective; local production would be cheaper.

Going back to discuss with Mrs. Yun, expanding this business nationwide could accumulate small profits into a considerable wealth.

Although farming can’t be done in Longchuan Canyon, as most areas don’t see sunlight year-round, and even sunny areas lack soil, unsuitable for large-scale farming.

Here, it’s not feasible to form large-scale towns. Longchuan Canyon produces many good things, various minerals, and raw jade, various natural herbs, spiritual medicine, and plenty of fish in the underground rivers — fresh and nutritious, unique to this hydrological environment. There are also fierce wild and exotic beasts, becoming more dangerous the deeper you go...

The reason why a stone-built city was established here is due to the mining of raw jade, but the resources eventually depleted.

Without finding new veins, the area once fell silent until Mr. Wuhen revitalized the city.

Now, small jade veins can still be found occasionally, though the quality isn’t as good as before, and fewer people are mining...

But gambling on stones has persisted.

In fact, most of the stones for betting aren’t from Longchuan Canyon anymore; they’re brought in from outside, even deliberately faked to trick people.

The night market’s stone gambling is for scamming outsiders. Nine out of ten will lose, and the remaining one is likely a plant.

If no one wins at the night market, who would come to gamble at all?

The schemes are deep, and they even change actors to avoid getting caught.

Of course, when doing business here, the rule is "buyers beware." If you’re fooled, you can only blame yourself, not the seller.

Lin Miao and the others just came for the spectacle and to soak up the atmosphere.

"Oh my..." Lin Miao saw someone rushing toward Sun Youwei with a box, quickly pulling her aside.

The person cried out in pain, falling to the ground, the box slipping from his hands, and its contents — a piece of raw jade — tumbled out, hitting the ground and chipping a piece of the stone’s skin!

"Oh no, my raw stone, how could this happen..." The man crawled over, picked up the stone, saw the chipped piece, and started yelling loudly.

"A window opened, such a big piece of green!"

"What are you doing, this stone is mine..."

"Hey buddy, where did you buy your raw stone?"

"Why should I tell you..." The man looked around warily, packing up the stone to leave but was blocked by the crowd.

The crowd clamored, eager to find out which store he bought the "raw stone" from.

Lin Miao thought it was a scam to extort money by faking an accident, only to find it was a ploy to lure people into gambling on stones — such an old trick. A veteran would likely see through it right away.

But targeting him was likely due to his youth and unfamiliar face...

Among the crowd, some were probably his accomplices.

As long as they "forced" him to reveal the store’s location and name, the show would be deemed a success.

"Senior sister, let’s go." Lin Miao took Sun Youwei’s hand and left decisively.

He never intended to gamble on stones.

Although he was financially secure and had strong willpower, he remained cautious about addictive things.

He couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t get hooked — human nature is vulnerable to temptation.

"Junior brother, that stone didn’t seem to be chipped; it was already damaged in the box..." Sun Youwei whispered.

Instantly, the surroundings fell silent!

Although Sun Youwei’s voice was small, it was quite clear, and those nearby heard her.

"Sorry, my senior sister made a mistake." Lin Miao quickly exchanged glances with Sun Youwei, then hastily apologized.

"Mistaken? Young lady, you’re accusing me. You hit me, and I didn’t hold it against you, yet you claim I deliberately used a fake stone to deceive others. Is that so?" The man holding the stone immediately changed his expression.

When their scheme is exposed, they just change the script.

"Brother, we didn’t mean that. You misunderstood. My senior sister just saw wrong. We’re leaving now." Lin Miao didn’t want them to ruin his senior sister’s good mood. They could continue their act but didn’t need to involve him.

"Since you think it’s your mistake, and this stone was damaged because of the young lady, buy it from me, and I won’t hold it against you!" The man insisted.

Lin Miao clearly felt some people among the crowd moving closer to them.

Apparently, these people really targeted him and Sun Youwei, treating them like fat sheep.