Chapter 36: Another Great Harvest
Zhang Xiaopang came out of the warehouse and stood before a row of different brands of formula milk, deep in thought.
[Zhang Xiaopang: Which brand of formula should I pick?]
Jiang Lili, not particularly knowledgeable on the subject, replied: [Any brand from Australia or New Zealand will do. Just make sure you don’t buy Three No!]
A minute later, Zhang Xiaopang sent over a prepared bottle of milk!
The speed was so fast that Jiang Lili was stunned. [Did you grow eight hands? How did you go from picking a brand to preparing the milk in just one minute?]
Opening the formula can wasn’t exactly easy. It shouldn’t take less than a minute, right?
[Zhang Xiaopang: No, my grandpa was holding my niece and was about to feed her formula, so I grabbed the bottle from him.]
Jiang Lili: 6
What a model Chinese uncle!
Jiang Lili handed the bottle to Liao Dabao. Upon seeing it in her hands, his previously calm expression finally faltered.
He took the bottle seriously and said, “I’ll go out and check the situation for you.”
It wasn’t clear whether he was embarrassed to hold the bottle in front of a familiar face, so he made an excuse to leave.
Jiang Lili thought for a moment and handed him a stun baton that she had hidden up her sleeve. “Take this for self-defense.”
Liao Dabao nodded.
“Should we let him go out alone?” Xin Che asked, sounding a little worried.
Jiang Lili didn’t want to tell Xin Che that she could stay in real-time contact with Liao Dabao, so she simply said, “This child is very clever.”
Master Liao slipped out of the room, holding the bottle.
Soon, noises could be heard from outside the door, and Jiang Lili faintly made out the voices of Madam Yuan and several unfamiliar people.
“Where are the people from these two rooms? Where did they go?”
“This is bad, the cook’s key has been stolen!”
“Wait, Jiang girl’s door is still closed.”
At this moment, Jiang Lili received a report from Master Liao: Madam Yuan had brought six strong-looking men dressed in black with masks.
Jiang Lili instructed Zhang Xiaopang to send over the crossbow bolts and distributed them to Xin Che, Xin Cheng, and Marquis of Zhaoping.
She whispered, “Madam Yuan is bringing six people toward our room.”
Xin Che signaled to his brother and father, signaling a well-practiced coordination from their time at the border. The three of them quickly divided their tasks.
Xin Cheng protected the women of Marquis of Zhaoping’s household, while the Marquis hid behind the door. Xin Che pushed open the window and slipped outside.
“Creeeak—”
The door was pushed open.
Jiang Lili covered her mouth, trying not to make a sound.
“This is bad, it’s a trap!”
Madam Yuan and the men in black pushed open the door, their attention focused entirely on the inside of the room, unaware of what was happening behind them.
The four men trailing them fell one by one, and Madam Yuan’s surprised scream was cut off halfway, as someone swiftly silenced her.
With the coordinated efforts of the Xin family, Madam Yuan and her group were quickly subdued.
The seamless coordination left Jiang Lili in awe.
Madam Yuan and her group were tied up with their hands behind their backs.
Xin Che looked down at Madam Yuan from above. “How many more people are there?”
Madam Yuan’s face was filled with panic. She knew the entire family had been dr*gged with a soporific powder, yet they were still unharmed. Why?
She lowered her head, remaining silent for a while, trying to buy time. She hoped that the person she had arranged to meet them would come to the Ning family’s mansion and knock on the door.
If the door was knocked five times without response, it would mean something was wrong.
This was their secret signal.
In case of a problem, the person delivering the goods would light a signal fire to alert their backup in Langyan Village.
At that moment, Jiang Lili received a message from Master Liao.
[Liao Ji: Someone is knocking on the door. The knocks are evenly spaced and rhythmic. It might be a signal, like something I’ve read in martial arts novels.]
Without hesitation, Jiang Lili passed the message along to Xin Che.
Xin Che reacted quickly and immediately pressed Madam Yuan. “What’s the response to the signal from the contact?”
“How many knocks?”
Madam Yuan raised her head in shock. How could he have heard the knocks? They were in a side room!
As she was still stunned, Xin Che’s cold gaze flickered. He activated the mechanism on his crossbow, and an arrow shot past Madam Yuan’s ear with deadly accuracy.
“If you dare lie to me, I’ll k*ll you first.”
Madam Yuan nearly collapsed from fear. Her voice trembled as she replied, “Two knocks, three knocks each time, then open the door.”
Oh heavens, what kind of ruthless god had she provoked?
Jiang Lili quickly passed the response signal to Master Liao, but her mind was filled with concern.
Just then, a man’s voice came from outside the room. “I didn’t expect Yuan Siniang to hire a child to run errands!”
“Clever move! Kids are less likely to arouse suspicion.”
“Alright, here’s a piece of candy for you. Go and play now.”
The response came from Master Liao’s innocent and pure voice: “Thank you, Uncle.”
The soft, childish tone was a stark contrast to the composed Master Liao from earlier. Jiang Lili immediately recognized that Master Liao was trying his best to act cute, and she couldn’t help but chuckle.
His appearance as a child was so deceptive!
She had a feeling that Master Liao would continue to contribute many assists using this child-like persona in the future.
As soon as the man outside pushed the door open, saw the group of burly men kneeling inside, and realized something was wrong, he turned to flee. But before he could move, everything went dark.
The last glimmer of hope was quickly extinguished. Furthermore, Xin Che’s interrogation techniques, honed from his time at the border, were extremely effective. Madam Yuan and her group had no means of resistance and honestly confessed everything about the situation in Langyan Village.
About a year and a half ago, the richest family in Langyan Village had held a celebration for their newborn son’s full moon, inviting the entire village to the feast. During the banquet, Madam Yuan and her group had kidn*pped the children of the village and sent them to a school in the city.
They claimed it was for the children’s education, but in reality, it was a form of kidn*pping. They used the children to coerce the villagers into cooperating with them, while also robbing passersby.
The richest man in Langyan Village was also complicit, working with the group to set up the villagers.
These people were extremely arrogant because they had backing in Nanzhao and connections with the He family, a prominent family in Linzhou. With such influence in this desolate and remote part of Linzhou, they felt invincible.
Having uncovered the truth, Xin Che locked up the entire group in the woodshed. Jiang Lili informed him that she had sent a message via carrier pigeon to her friend Li Sicong, and that the local magistrate’s men would arrive early the next morning to take these people away.
Xin Che wasn’t particularly concerned about whether Jiang Lili’s words made sense or not. He looked at her slender frame and urged her to rest. “It’s getting late. You should rest. Today, we owe a lot to you and Dabao. Let me handle the rest.”
Jiang Lili yawned and was about to go back to sleep, but suddenly, she jolted awake!
“Wait, this is the richest family in Langyan Village, and their base is right here.”
Jiang Lili’s eyes suddenly sparkled. “There are still many rooms in the backyard. I wonder what’s inside!”
Seeing the greedy look on her face, Xin Che couldn’t help but chuckle. “Shall we check tomorrow?”
Jiang Lili shook her head. “If we wait until tomorrow, the officials will arrive, and we won’t even get a taste of the soup!”
With someone like Li Sicong, a master of wealth extraction, they’d likely take everything they could!
**TN
Three No – “Three No” products are products that have no Chinese name, no manufacturer or registrant name, and no expiration date.
6 – means awesome or cool