Chapter 46 – Don’t Blame Me for Making You Dig Mines With Me

“They’re really mine to deal with?”

Shen Qian’s eyes sparkled, and the odd thrill washed away her nervousness and fear.

Xu Wei raised an eyebrow and smiled lightly. “Of course. I’m the future village head, after all.”

He was confident. Once all the mines were excavated, they could enjoy the good life, essentially becoming the local overlords.

“Thank you, Brother Xu. Back then, Jiang Wan used to love bullying me. With what you just said, I can finally let out some of that pent-up frustration.”

Shen Qian’s voice softened. “You’re really the best person to me. Even my former husband only ever bullied me.”

“If you really think I’m that good, then give me a chubby little son in the future.”

Xu Wei let his fingers run over her body with satisfaction. Shen Qian felt very uncomfortable, but she still put on a sweet, delicate act.

“Brother Xu, you’re so bad~”

Her tone was pure green tea-level flirtation. Jiang Wan listened in speechless silence, while Song Jiuli’s explosive temper almost erupted.

Luckily, everyone remembered Jiang Wan’s instructions and didn’t act impulsively. They just listened as Shen Qian shamelessly agreed to become Xu Wei’s woman.

The ox cart rumbled as the last group of people were unloaded. Village Head Xu stood before a stone wall at the foot of the mountain, his expression serious as he instructed the crowd:

“This time we’re taking a bit of a risk, but if we succeed, none of you will ever have to worry about food or clothing again.”

“What’s so risky about it, Village Head? Whether it’s a lot of people or a few, it’s just a matter of one bag of knockout powder.”

“That’s right. Anyway, the few we caught earlier couldn’t take it and already dropped dead. That place can hold quite a few people.”

“As long as we lock them up without food for a few days, they’ll behave. Don’t worry, Village Head.”

“Yeah, just mix some drugs into their meals. Who’ll have the strength to run then?”

“……”

“Alright, enough chatter. Get them inside first.”

Village Head Xu felt uneasy. Something didn’t seem right—he’d never had this feeling before.

But he didn’t have time to think it through. His aged hands pressed several times against the stone wall. With a rumble, the wall began to shift.

A large door slowly revealed itself in front of everyone, pitch-black inside, seemingly bottomless and a bit unsettling.

“You stay here and be good. I have work to do.”

Xu Wei pinched Shen Qian’s cheek. “If you dare run, don’t blame me for making you dig in the mines with them.”

“I won’t! I’ll definitely behave!”

Shen Qian shook her head wildly. She had enough self-awareness to know that, as a woman, there was no way she could outrun these strong men.

Strangely, she even felt a little relieved. If she truly didn’t have to be exiled, perhaps that wasn’t such a bad thing.

As for Song Chen and the Song family, she never cared much. Their life or death had nothing to do with her.

But before Shen Qian could finish her thoughts, the dozen unconscious officers suddenly sprang to their feet.

And they were all holding large blades, looking fierce and menacing, frightening the dozen or so villagers from Xu’s village out of their wits.

Village Head Xu’s eyelid twitched. “Wang Mazi! Didn’t I tell you to confiscate their weapons?!”

His grip on his cane tightened as a bad feeling rose in his gut. He knew very well the limits of the villagers’ strength.

“I… I forgot.”

Wang Mazi’s head buzzed with fear. Earlier, he had been preoccupied with thoughts of getting a wife—he didn’t even have one yet.

There were a lot of women captured this time, and he’d been thinking of asking the village head for a girl, but he was too tangled up to figure out how to ask. In the end, he forgot his duties.

“You—can’t even handle a simple task and still dream of getting a wife?!”

Village Head Xu scolded him guiltily, already taking several steps back, clearly planning to flee.

As he scolded, he also threw Xu Wei a look, but Xu Wei’s low intelligence didn’t catch on.

He kept a straight face and even tried to get tough with the officers. “You lot better behave and get in there quietly.”

He pointed at the dark cave entrance—presumably the mine they were all talking about.

Even at this point, Xu Wei was still that confident. Jiang Wan couldn’t help but laugh out loud. As soon as she stood up, Song Jiuyuan and the others stopped pretending as well.

“Jiang Wan! You were faking it?!”

Shen Qian was furious. Just moments ago, she thought Jiang Wan was a fool destined to spend her life digging in the mines.

Now she realized Jiang Wan had probably known all along what Xu’s villagers were planning.

Jiang Wan glanced at Xu Wei and the others, whose faces had gone pale. Smiling, she clapped her hands. “I really have to thank you.”

“If you hadn’t purposely given me only a tiny bit of porridge, I wouldn’t have woken up so quickly.”

“Yeah, just a spoonful. Who would’ve thought it’d save my life?”

Song Jiuli sneered at Shen Qian with schadenfreude. Inwardly, she was disgusted—she’d heard every single word between her and Xu Wei just now.

“Bitch!”

Xu Wei, enraged, kicked Shen Qian. He had thought about the possibility of things going wrong earlier, but didn’t think it’d be serious.

Looking back now, he wanted to kill Shen Qian—and he hated himself for being blinded by lust. He gave her a vicious beating.

“Ah! I didn’t mean to!”

Shen Qian, already not fully recovered from old injuries, was beaten again by Xu Wei. It was truly pitiful, but no one felt sorry for her.

After all, while pretending to be unconscious, the officers had already seen how flirtatious and disgusting she could be.

Ren Bang held a large blade in his hand and coldly repeated Xu Wei’s words:

“If you know what’s good for you, sit down and stay quiet. Otherwise, blades don’t have eyes. Don’t blame me for being ruthless!”

Behind him, all the officers held large knives. Xu Wei was too scared to hit Shen Qian again. He turned and ran toward Village Head Xu.

“Grandpa!!”

He was so scared he nearly peed himself—a total coward. Let alone protecting others, Shen Qian was filled with regret. If she had known this would happen, she wouldn’t have agreed.

“Officers! It’s a misunderstanding! Just a misunderstanding!”

Village Head Xu wiped the sweat from his forehead and still tried to salvage the situation. But Ren Bang wasn’t having it.

“Save your breath. All of you, behave.”

“Village Head, what are we afraid of? They have blades, so do we! Worst case, we die!”

“Yeah, Village Head! Nothing ventured, nothing gained—we can’t back down!”

“……”

They were still young and full of dreams for a bright future, completely unaware of how serious the situation was.

Village Head Xu felt dizzy as conflicting thoughts battled in his mind. Finally, he gritted his teeth and shouted:

“Fine! Let’s fight!”

With that, he waved his hand. Over a dozen young men charged at Ren Bang and the others like madmen. They also had weapons, though they were rough and crude.

Ren Bang sneered and swung his massive blade. “Overestimating yourselves!”

“Jiu Chi, watch over your husband.”

Jiang Wan sprinted toward Ren Bang and shouted loudly, “Brother Ren, I’m going in first to check it out!”

“Stop!”

Village Head Xu saw Jiang Wan running toward the stone gate and rushed to stop her. But before he could reach her, Xiao Deng grabbed him and dragged him back.

Jiang Wan ignored everything else. Once she entered the stone door, hidden from sight, she sped off quickly and ran a good distance ahead.