Chapter 24: Knocked Out Cold

“How much can your medicine even be worth?”

“And what if your medicine ends up killing all the pigs at the pig farm? That’d be a huge problem!”

“What are you afraid of? Anyway, that fat educated youth will take the blame. Just push everything on her—who’s going to know it was you?”

Hearing this, Li Hongmei was tempted. She thought about it and realized—it made sense.

Everything could be blamed on that damn fatty. What did she have to be scared of?

Thinking that way, she simply agreed.

“Fine. Give me the stuff, and I’ll find a chance to slip it into Jiang the educated youth’s pig feed.”

“That Zhou Ye—how are you planning to deal with him?”

“Don’t blame me for not warning you. He used to be a soldier, you know. I heard he only came here after being discharged due to an injury, but his skills probably haven’t dulled. You guys better be careful.

If you mess this up and get caught by him instead, don’t expect me to admit that I had anything to do with it.”

Er Zhu said impatiently:

“Don’t worry. Us brothers aren’t new to this game. Even strong men fear a sneak attack—and we’ve got the drugs.

As long as we catch him off guard, he’ll still be at our mercy.

We’ll dump him in the mountains and let the wild animals handle it. Just say he got eaten by a beast—problem solved.

Relax. Here’s the stuff, keep it safe.”

Hearing this, Li Hongmei hesitated for a moment.

“So when exactly?”

“No time like the present. I heard you’re about to be sent to the farm, so the sooner the better. Let’s just—”

Their sneaky voices faded as they headed down the mountain. Jiang Manman waited until she could no longer hear them before stepping out from her space.

Damn. This was almost like a hundred-episode palace drama.

Poisoning, kidnapping—the original host really had it rough.

Even here, people were still trying to sell her off.

What was up with this author? Did they have a grudge against the original daughter or something?

Now that she knew, she couldn’t just sit back and wait to die. She immediately carried the basket of pigweed down the mountain.

When she reached the foot of the hill, she spotted Li Hongmei heading toward the pig farm entrance.

Her combat power was off the charts.

Too bad she didn’t have a phone. She couldn’t even call Zhou Ye.

Communication really sucked here.

Suddenly, she came up with a plan.

Wasn’t Li Hongmei going to sprinkle something onto her pig feed?

Then she’d just boldly carry it right past her.

If Li Hongmei wanted to sprinkle something on the pigweed, she’d have to touch it.

And as long as Jiang Manman didn’t touch the feed herself, there’d be no residue on her hands.

Perfect plan.

She carried the pigweed basket down the mountain.

Sure enough, she spotted Li Hongmei already waiting at the bottom.

When Li Hongmei saw her, she narrowed her eyes and walked up.

Jiang Manman quickly made a show of avoiding her, eyeing her defensively.

“Li Hongmei, what do you want?”

Li Hongmei’s gaze lingered on the pigweed basket as she forced a smile.

“Educated Youth Jiang, I know I was wrong. Can you please talk to the team leader and ask them not to send me to the farm?

I heard the work there is enough to kill someone. Please, I’m begging you.”

Jiang Manman frowned, watching her cling to the basket, and deliberately turned her head to give her room to act.

“This was a team decision. Asking me won’t help. You’re better off pleading with the team leader. That might work.

Let go already—I need to bring this feed back.”

She tugged at the basket. Then her eyes flickered, and a new idea popped into her mind.

She quickly struck the back of Li Hongmei’s neck. Li Hongmei’s eyes flew open in shock, then shut as she fainted.

Just in time—Zhou Ye and Ge Mazi saw the whole thing.

Ge Mazi gawked, eyes wide and mouth agape, and swallowed hard.

“T-this…”

“What ‘this’? Hurry to the county and bring the public security!”

Ge Mazi was stunned.

“You’re turning yourself in?!”

Jiang Manman rolled her eyes at him and pointed at the unconscious Li Hongmei and the pigweed she was carrying:

“Turn myself in for what?

Li Hongmei tampered with my pig feed. If the pigs had eaten this…

They’d all be dead by now.”

“What?! How could she dare?! Zhou-ge, what do we do?”

Zhou Ye gave Jiang Manman a long, meaningful look, then said to Ge Mazi:

“Do as she says—go to the county and bring the police. Just say someone tried to poison the pigs at our farm.”

Jiang Manman added,

“That’s not all. They also planned to sell me off, and even wanted to kill Zhou Ye and dump his body in the mountains to feed the wolves.

I overheard their conversation while gathering pigweed in the mountains. Otherwise, how could I be so well-prepared?”

Zhou Ye’s face darkened immediately upon hearing this.

“Borrow a bicycle from the team leader and rush to the county. On the way, let the team leader know what’s going on here. Tell him not to alert the enemy.”

Ge Mazi realized how serious things were and quickly nodded before leaving in haste.

Zhou Ye looked down at the unconscious Li Hongmei, then at the pigweed in Jiang Manman’s basket.

“You’re sure she put something in the feed?”

“Don’t touch it!”

Jiang Manman stopped him just as he was about to reach for it.

“She sprinkled powder on the feed—look, she’s still holding the packet in her hand.

Once the police get here, we can use that to accuse her.

I don’t know what the drug is, but it’s definitely not something good.

From what I heard in the mountains, the guy who gave her the drug is no good either.

They said, ‘If the pigs die, we’ll just blame her [Jiang Manman].’

You think a drug with that purpose could possibly be harmless?

Neither of us touched the feed. Only her hands have the residue—that’s solid evidence.

If you touch it now, you’ll contaminate the scene.”

Zhou Ye nodded in agreement.

“You’re right. Did you hear anything else?”

Jiang Manman repeated everything she had overheard.

“That’s everything. I figure they’ll come after me once I head back.

So I’m going to wait until the police come, then head back and let them try—then we’ll catch them in the act.”

Zhou Ye paused, then shook his head.

“No need to take that risk. Once Mazi gets the police here, we’ll interrogate her directly. You don’t need to put yourself in danger.”

“But if we don’t catch them in the act, won’t their punishment be lighter?

Planning to abduct someone and actually doing it aren’t the same, right?”

Zhou Ye looked at her with an unreadable expression.

“You don’t have to worry about that. Just giving Li Hongmei the drug, and her poisoning your pig feed—those two things alone are enough to ruin them for life.

You don’t need to get involved any further.”

Jiang Manman thought it over and agreed.

“Alright then.

Good thing I overheard them—otherwise I really would’ve fallen into their trap.”

Zhou Ye looked at her.

“Seems like you’ve got good luck.”

Jiang Manman grinned.

“Of course. People who smile a lot always have good luck.

So you should smile more often too.”

To her surprise, the man actually did smile back.

That smile…