Gu Kaiyuan received the letter from the capital and tossed it straight to the side. He was happy to hear that Rong Ruiyuan was living miserably. It seemed that without the Gu Family’s support, he was nothing at all.

In this life, he had ruined his own chess pieces. It wouldn’t be so easy for him to gather people’s loyalty again.

Now, he could just sit back and watch the royal family fight amongst themselves. After all, the royal court would remain in this state for many years to come, so there was no need to pay much attention to it anymore.

The Gu Family was already on the fringes. No matter which prince ascended the throne in the future, they would not remember small fry like them.

In a cheerful mood, Gu Kaiyuan prepared to go see his wife and brother-in-law beachcombing.

Today happened to coincide with a massive low tide, and anyone with free time had gathered at the seaside. In his wife’s words, it would be a crime against heaven to turn down free things.

He walked all the way to the beach. The tide had receded for miles, and though he could only see silhouettes from afar and couldn’t tell who was who, he knew Bai Suihe and the others were definitely among them.

He tucked in his long robe, stepped onto the reefs, and waded into the shallows.

Before he even got close, he heard sounds of laughter, instantly making him feel that all was right with the world.

“Sister, hurry up and save me! I can’t shake it off!”

Bai Suihe opened her mouth wide, only to see an octopus tightly clinging to Bai Jianbei’s hand.

However, the octopus was not large—not even the size of his fist. She couldn’t help but look at him with disdain. “You can’t even handle a little thing like this?”

“It’s not that I can’t handle it. It’s just that when I pull off one tentacle, the others suck on even tighter,” Bai Jianbei felt very wronged. It tasted pretty good when he ate it before. Who knew this guy was so tough to deal with?

Bai Suihe walked over and helped him pull it off. “Is it fun?”

“Not really,” Bai Jianbei said. “Although this stuff is free, it’s quite time-consuming.

“Fortunately, the sun isn’t too hot today, otherwise it wouldn’t be worth it. With this much time, we might as well think about where to open another shop…”

“That’s just your perspective,” Bai Suihe replied. “It’s because you have the capability. But look at these ordinary commoners. Look at the joy on their faces when they harvest.

“Only those who have experienced hardship know how to cherish the fruits of their labor. I think this is what you lack.

“Your life has been too smooth. In your eyes, everything is within reach, so you don’t care about anything and just think everything is about having fun…”

Bai Suihe had been observing him these past few days. The fact that Bai Jianbei hadn’t become a spoiled dandy was all thanks to Mrs. Bai’s strict supervision. But now that the family had separated, this boy was getting a little big for his boots.

Although the wealth in his hands was enough for him to squander for a lifetime, what was the meaning of living like that?

“Sister, that’s going too far,” Bai Jianbei protested. “Aren’t I learning by my brother-in-law’s side? Look, I have a share in our eldest brother’s business. Even if I don’t study for the rest of my life, I won’t be poor.

“And on brother-in-law’s side, I’m sailing with you guys. Isn’t this all building a career…” Bai Jianbei felt wronged. It wasn’t like he was doing absolutely nothing.

“Well then, your sister has a new idea now. What do you think? Do you want to go big?” Bai Suihe took a sharp turn in the conversation.

Bai Jianbei chuckled. “Sister, just speak your mind between us siblings. Did you have to beat around the bush like this? Tell me, do you think your younger brother is too idle and want to find something for me to do?

“But don’t come to me with anything too exhausting. I don’t want to become a second version of our eldest brother.”

Making a little money and going out to broaden his horizons, just like his sister said about conquering the sea of stars—he had to lay down his boundaries first.

“Look at how booming our eldest brother’s business is. The restaurants under the Bai Family’s name are coming out with new dishes every day, and business is surging. They even opened a new one right here in our county. Don’t you want to make a big splash yourself?”

Bai Jianbei looked at Bai Suihe with a vigilant expression. “I don’t have such grand ambitions. I’m fine with just picking up the scraps behind you and our eldest brother.”

Joke’s on her! It looked glorious now, but he knew exactly how much their eldest brother had sacrificed for all this. He heard that he had been working non-stop these past few days, getting only a tiny bit of sleep each night, spinning endlessly like a top.

They were currently in Lingnan, so naturally, they were developing this area first. Yesterday, they received a letter from their eldest brother saying he was rushing off to the north. Traveling all over the country next—how much suffering would that entail?

He had reason to suspect that his sister, having finished scamming their eldest brother, was now preparing to target him.

“This is a good thing,” Bai Suihe said. “If you weren’t my biological brother, I wouldn’t have even thought of you.”

This kid was a bit too shrewd, as if he had seen right through her thoughts.

No, she didn’t have any bad intentions. She just wanted to help her younger brother get rich.

Jiannan had already started working hard for their future lives. It was high time to whip Jianbei into shape as well.

“Then tell me, what exactly is it? Let me tell you, if it’s too difficult, I won’t do it.” Under Bai Suihe’s expectant gaze, Bai Jianbei folded.

Indeed, every time his sister gave an idea or a recipe, it was excellent and helped them a lot. His current attitude made him seem a bit ungrateful.

“How do you feel about the seafood you’ve been eating these past few days?” she asked.

“Not bad, especially the ones we caught ourselves.” His eyes glanced at the bamboo basket set aside. Just as his sister said, when the tide receded, coming here was like picking up money from the ground. When they returned from this trip, everyone could stuff their bellies again today.

No wonder people said that those living by the mountain live off the mountain, and those living by the sea live off the sea. Honestly, living by the sea seemed to have more advantages.

“Then wouldn’t you say it’s a great pity if the people inland can’t eat such delicious, fresh seafood?”

“What can be done about it? It’s their own fault for not living by the sea,” Bai Jianbei said nonchalantly. “Back when we were in the capital, wasn’t it the same for us? Even with silver, we couldn’t eat such fresh food.”

There were plenty of dried goods, but they couldn’t compare to these fresh ones.

However, even so, the delicacies made by those chefs were very tasty, which could somewhat make up for the shortcoming.

“What do you think if we were to open a fresh seafood shop in the capital?”

“Sister, are you joking? This stuff would go bad long before it got there, unless it was dried goods.

“But there are many dried goods stores in the capital, and they’re monopolized by those few major families. Even if we had the heart, we wouldn’t have the power. Not a single one of them is someone we can afford to provoke.”

“We wouldn’t sell dried goods, so we wouldn’t clash with them. Moreover, you won’t be fighting alone. Relying on the Bai Family’s network, we can definitely protect a small shop.”

As Bai Suihe tried to persuade him, Bai Jianbei felt somewhat tempted. An exclusive monopoly business was easy to run and the easiest way to make a fortune.

“But the transportation and preservation… it’s simply too difficult to meet the requirements.” Bai Jianbei still shook his head and refused.

“You’ve been here for so long, what do you think of my place? Have you been sleeping well at night?”

Bai Jianbei finally realized what was out of the ordinary. Even out at sea, it seemed they had never run out of ice.

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