Chapter 69: Learning Slowly; Dad, Mom, We’re Back

“Xiao Xi, did something happen on the island?”

“It’s fine. At least Miao Miao and the others are safe. As for the people attacking the island, I can’t say the same for them,” Bai Xi looked at the flag raised at the highest point of the island and pointed it out to her eldest and second brothers. “That’s our signal. As long as that flag is hanging there, it means the island is safe. However, I don’t recommend landing immediately, or we might interfere with Miao Miao’s plan.”

“Is she really alright? Miao Miao is still so young,” Bai Qiao looked at the ships surrounding them. “Are all those ships without the character ‘Bai’ on them belonging to the attackers?”

“Yes,” Bai Xi glanced over and nodded. “All of our ships fly a flag with the ‘Bai’ character to avoid friendly fire when we go out. It also serves as a warning to outsiders so they don’t dare approach lightly. Of course, if someone wants to trade, they can relay that message to any ship flying the ‘Bai’ flag.”

“Are you all really this powerful now?”

“Once you and Second Brother have rested, you can head out with the fleet. You’ll see for yourselves then.” As Bai Xi spoke, she began directing her people to round up the ships lingering on the outskirts.

With Bai Miao on the island, they couldn’t easily enter without affecting her plan, but they could deal with these ships outside.

There were still people left on the ships outside the island, but facing the overwhelming combat strength of Bai Xi, they had almost no chance to resist.

Meanwhile, the attackers on the island were gradually realizing something was wrong. Not only were their numbers dwindling, but the surrounding environment was becoming increasingly eerie. It didn’t feel like they were attacking the island anymore; instead, they had become like turtles trapped in a jar.

It was at this moment that more bad news arrived.

“People have arrived outside the island and captured our men!”

“It must be the Second Young Lady of the Bai Family. She’s back.”

“How could she return so quickly?!”

“What do we do now?”

“Retreat! Retreat quickly!!!”

Just as the words left his mouth, people began standing up one after another in the distance, holding torches. In the center of the torches stood a young child. Judging by the way everyone surrounded her like stars orbiting the moon, it was clear she was the center of authority.

“That’s the youngest sister of the Bai Family. No wonder the Second Young Lady dared to leave so freely.”

“How can one Bai Family produce so many monsters?”

The surrounded men muttered under their breaths, certain at this moment that the tide had turned against them.

Amidst shouts of “Drop your weapons and your lives will be spared,” they threw down their arms one after another.

On the other side, Uncle Bai heard that Bai Xi had returned and immediately led a group of people to the pier. As soon as he arrived, he saw people holding torches on the ships. Through the flickering light, he saw the figures standing on deck and burst into tears instantly.

“Dad, Mom, we’re back!”

“We’re back!!!”

As the ships drew close, Bai Qiao and Bai Yang couldn’t wait and jumped off, ignoring the water splashing on their feet. They ran forward and tightly embraced their elderly parents.

“It’s good that you’re safe.”

“It’s good that you’re all alright.”

Both sides looked at each other’s relatively healthy appearances and spoke with relief almost simultaneously.

After everyone calmed down, they began to talk about their experiences over the past few years.

Compared to the young Bai Qiao and Bai Yang, Uncle Bai and the others had been found earlier. Although they had encountered many hardships, their lives on this island had been relatively stable afterward. In contrast, Bai Qiao and Bai Yang had been drifting for years, always living in fear. Though young, they looked haggard, appearing at least ten years older than their actual age at first glance.

But they all knew that being able to reunite as a family was a stroke of immense luck.

“We have to thank Xiao Xi and Xiao Yu. If not for them, we would never have had the chance to meet again in this lifetime,” Uncle Bai pointed at Bai Xi. “They spent a great deal of effort trying to find you these past few years.”

Hearing this, Bai Qiao and Bai Yang immediately bowed deeply to Bai Xi.

“We’re family, there’s no need for this,” Bai Xi helped them up. “Eldest Sister went out this time because she heard news of Sister He and the others. If luck is on our side and she brings them back, our whole family will truly be reunited.”

“Yes, if we can find them too, then we’ll truly be whole.” Uncle Bai nodded repeatedly, yet his eyes remained fixed excitedly on his returned sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren.

Knowing they must have much to say to each other, Bai Xi didn’t keep them talking. She took the initiative to say, “The situation on the island is temporarily resolved, but there’s still much to be done. I’m going to find Miao Miao. You all go back and rest first. Things have been chaotic these past few days, so your living quarters will need some tidying up.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine, we can make do for now,” Uncle Bai said immediately. “Xiao Xi, go find Miao Miao. She’s worked so hard these days. If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t be living so peacefully. But don’t worry, although resolving this took many days, we didn’t have any casualties after the initial surprise attack.”

“That’s good,” Bai Xi nodded and continued, “Go rest, I’m heading off.”

With that, she immediately went to find Bai Miao.

Bai Miao was delighted to see her and approached with a smile. “Second Sister, I’ve completed the task. I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Bai Xi reached out and patted her head. “You’ve worked hard. These people likely waited specifically for us to be away before attacking. They must have a purpose. But it’s very late today; we’ll settle this tomorrow.”

“Mhm, but I have a general idea of their goal,” Bai Miao told her the basic situation. “We’ve captured many people over these past few days and they’re all locked in the dungeon. According to them, their goal for coming to the island was a cache of weapons stored here. It’s the same batch of weapons we transported out back then. At that time, they conspired with the Pirates, spreading rumors to make unsuspecting Pirates believe other islands held vast amounts of silver. This lured groups of Pirates away from the island. Then, they stored a portion of the weapons near this island, sinking them into the deep sea using ropes. That way, neither Pirates nor outsiders would ever guess the weapons were right here.”

“No wonder these people went to such lengths to occupy the island,” Bai Xi realized. “Tomorrow, I’ll organize the fleet to salvage the weapons. Miao Miao, you should question them further about where they came from. To catch a bandit, you must catch the leader, and every debt has its debtor. The ones who left us stranded were their masters behind the scenes. We absolutely cannot let them go.”

“Mhm!”

With Bai Xi back, Bai Miao stopped worrying about the trivial matters of the island, handing full authority over to her.

Bai Xi quickly organized the people on the island. One group continued patrolling, another stayed to clean up the aftermath on the island, and the rest followed her out to sea to salvage the weapons.

With someone pointing out the location, they soon found crate after crate in the deep waters not far from the island.

To their surprise, these crates didn’t just contain weapons; there was also a massive amount of gold and silver.

“Millions of taels of gold and silver. This is worth far more than the weapons and much more worth the risk for them,” Bai Xi frowned slightly as she looked at a crate full of gold. “But those people were adamant that these were weapons. What was the purpose of that?”

“Probably to deceive people. If it were just weapons, these people might not dare take such a risk. But if they said outright that these crates contained gold and silver, someone would surely get greedy,” Bai Miao weighed a piece of silver in her hand. “I felt something was wrong before; it didn’t feel like the weight of weapons. But if it’s silver, the weight on our ships back then makes sense. It’s even possible that the items placed on our ships were only gathered at the last minute.”

“So the number of ships prepared at the start wasn’t enough?” Bai Xi realized. Once she fully understood, she became furious. “Is silver more important than human lives? To transport this silver, they disregarded our lives and left us to fend for ourselves at sea. If we didn’t have enough survival skills on the water, we definitely would have perished out there!”

After speaking, Bai Xi slapped the table. “Even if we didn’t suffer any accidents, Eldest Brother and Second Brother have aged so much, and Sister He and the others are still missing. Their lives have been miserable all these years. If we were still on the mainland, our lives certainly wouldn’t be this bad. Miao Miao, we absolutely cannot let them get away with this.”

“Yes, we definitely can’t let them go,” Bai Miao said, clenching her fists.

“When Eldest Sister’s fleet returns, we’ll go back to the country,” Bai Xi said, looking at Bai Miao. “The people behind this are so lawless. If they really win and take control of the entire country, life won’t be good for anyone. we must stand against them and support the opposing side.”

Bai Miao nodded immediately. “Mm, this person is our enemy.”

…

“Eldest Brother, what are you thinking about?”

“I just still feel a bit dazed. I’ve woken up startled several times at night, thinking I was still on that ship. Have we really reunited with everyone? This isn’t a dream, is it? Are Mom and Dad really doing well?”

“Of course they are. You saw them with your own eyes, what’s there to doubt?”

“Since you’re asking that, do you truly believe it in your heart?”

“I… I think so. It’s happier to believe it. To be honest, Eldest Brother, there was a time when I felt like living these past few years was no different from being dead. But for the sake of my wife, children, and family, I kept persevering. Now that I’ve suddenly relaxed, I’m really not used to it.”

“I felt the same way. I almost didn’t make it through,” Bai Qiao said, looking into the distance. “Xiao Xi has become so capable. Unlike us, whose lives only got worse as the years passed.”

“It’s not just Xiao Xi; Xiao Yu and Miao Miao are both very impressive,” Bai Yang said enthusiastically. “Eldest Brother, did you know? Miao Miao can understand what anyone says. No matter who comes to this island, she can communicate with them and then teach them to speak our language. The fact that people on the island can communicate freely now is mainly because of Miao Miao. All three of them are incredible now, so Eldest Brother, we can’t hold them back.”

“But… but I don’t know how to do anything. What can I do?”

“There are fishermen on the island, people who specifically go out to sea to catch fish. Why don’t we sign up too?” Bai Yang revealed his purpose for seeking out Bai Qiao. “We can live here for now and slowly learn other skills from everyone. We can raise chickens and ducks, grow rice and vegetables, or even build houses and pave roads. There’s a lot to do on the island. Everyone learned slowly, and we can learn slowly too.”

Listening to his words, the dazed look in Bai Qiao’s eyes gradually turned into determination. He then gave a solemn nod. “Alright, then let’s start with fishing.”