Chapter 49: Miao Tribe Takes Action
Liao Ji held the plaster and glanced at Liao Cheng’s legitimate wife. “200 wen for one course of treatment. I’ve made it very clear just now.”
The legitimate wife squinted her eyes, unsure if she had misheard.
Had she just been looked down upon by a child who wasn’t even two years old?
“One course of treatment? Isn’t that just applying the medicine once? You people are so heartless!”
She was about to argue further when Liao Cheng, in agony, yelled, “I’ll pay whatever it takes! Dabao! Hurry and apply the medicine! Do you really want your father to die?”
Liao Ji calmly applied the medicine to Liao Cheng.
Jiang Lili, having collected the money, watched the drama unfold with amusement. “Oh, Sir Liao, Dabao is just a one-and-a-half-year-old child. How could he have bad intentions?”
“It’s your wife over here, talking nonstop and distracting the child. Maybe she’s waiting for you to pass away so she can claim your remaining money for herself~~”
Hearing this, Liao Cheng’s legitimate wife turned green with anger, but she couldn’t outwit Jiang Lili logically.
Yin Zhen, who had suffered from the legitimate wife’s b*llying in the past, felt a sense of satisfaction seeing her in distress.
Yin Zhen looked at Jiang Lili with admiration. With Jiang Lili guiding her on the road with Dabao, it was bound to be the right path!
After Liao Cheng became the perfect negative example, more and more people came to Jiang Lili to buy mosquito repellent bracelets.
Jiang Lili and Little Xin Yan, handled the shipments, while her sister-in-law, Chen Fulan, kept the accounts. Xin Che and Xin Cheng maintained order. Everyone had their role, and together they turned the dangers on the road into business opportunities.
Many exiles, having no money, bought on credit, and some tried to take advantage of Sister-in-law Chen’s bookkeeping skills and skip out on paying.
However, Sister-in-law Chen took out the elegant calligraphy pens, ink, and note pads that Jiang Lili had prepared in advance, and made those who bought on credit sign a promissory note. With black-and-white writing, they couldn’t escape.
Jiang Lili also taught Sister-in-law Chen a trick: she set a fluctuating interest rate on the promissory notes. Combined with the cold, deadly stare from Xin Che, those people didn’t dare to entertain any crooked thoughts.
As a result, Jiang Lili nearly became the “creditor” for most of the exiled group.
In this round of selling mosquito repellent bracelets, she earned 2,200 wen in cash, and in addition, she had nine promissory notes.
By noon, as the group ventured deeper into the mountains, the situation on the mountain grew increasingly complicated.
Jiang Lili looked up; above her, layers of green leaves formed a dense canopy, and green vines hanging from the treetops swayed slightly in the wind. For a moment, it was hard to tell whether they were vines or snakes.
Master Cen, familiar with the situation in Qinglin Mountain, led the group from the front, already guiding them to avoid several swamps.
Because they had to constantly watch out for the slippery moss underfoot, the group moved cautiously.
After reaching a relatively open slope, Captain Wang signaled the exiled group to stop and rest.
Despite the break, the atmosphere among the group was unusually silent. Everyone was on edge, constantly watching for scorpions, centipedes, or other small creatures that might emerge from the dark holes.
The people from the Marquis household had discussed the formation earlier. At this point, Jiang Lili had spread out a waterproof mat on the ground, and everyone sat in the positions they had previously agreed upon, forming an octagonal formation. Each person was assigned to observe one direction, ensuring there were no blind spots.
Liao Ji and Xin Yan, sat in the center of the octagonal formation, occasionally glancing up at the sky.
The group had barely rested for fifteen minutes when Xin Yan suddenly looked up and noticed a black cloud descending from the sky!
“Aunt, there are flying insects in the sky!”
Jiang Lili looked up, her pupils widening instantly. “It’s a type of beetle called a hidden-winged insect. Why are there so many?”
“Never swat these insects. The only way to deal with them is to blow them away.”
The hidden-winged beetles were a pest even in modern times, a venomous insect that resembled ants but with a segmented body made up of four parts, alternating between black and amber. Each segment was toxic, earning them the nickname “flying sulfuric acid.”
Jiang Lili had heard of incidents where people had swatted hidden-winged beetles off their faces, only to end up disfigured.
The swarm of hidden-winged beetles descended like a dark cloud, creating a creepy and unsettling scene. The exiled group quickly scrambled to avoid them.
However, when they realized that the beetles were only heading towards the people from the Marquis family, they stopped and watched from a distance.
Liao Cheng and his wife gloated, “This is why people should be kind, or they’ll bring misfortune upon themselves!”
Yang Yunzhao’s family also kept their distance.
Captain Wang and the others were still debating whether to help shoo away the beetles.
Meanwhile, the people from the Marquis family were already prepared, each holding a bottle of powerful insecticide.
“Cover your mouths and noses!” Jiang Lili called out.
The group quickly pressed the insecticide nozzles, and a continuous “hiss” filled the air as the hidden-winged beetles fell in waves from the sky. They were no match for the combined efforts of the Marquis family, and within moments, they were all wiped out.
Jiang Lili and the others moved a bit farther away, finding a spot where the smell of the insecticide didn’t linger, and resumed resting as if nothing had happened.
Liao Cheng’s gleeful smile froze on his face, and the others were still in disbelief.
That massive, dark cloud of insects… just disappeared like that?
It was terrifying!
“Is this the level of Miao tribes?” Jiang Lili muttered, still baffled as she wiped her hands with hand sanitizer and chewed on a piece of beef jerky, looking toward Xin Che.
Xin Che, with a smile of indulgence, replied, “Hmm, you’re like a little fairy, nothing can trouble you.”
As he spoke, his gaze drifted skyward. He had noticed early on that a hawk had been circling high above for quite some time.
Jiang Lili followed Xin Che’s gaze and looked up at the sky. “That eagle seems to be watching us.”
“It’s probably a scout from the Miao tribe.”
Seeing that Jiang Lili was interested, Xin Che explained, “The prairie tribes have falconers who train eagles to act as reconnaissance for battlefields. I didn’t expect the Miao tribe to have falconers as well.”
Jiang Lili propped her chin in her hand. “Are we just going to let it fly around like that?”
“Of course not.”
With that, Xin Che borrowed a bow and quiver of arrows from Escort Cen.
He drew an arrow from the quiver and nocked it on the string, his fingers long and strong as they pulled the bow back.
His nose was high, his lips curled slightly upward, exuding a hint of rebellious pride.
In that instant, the bowstring snapped, and the arrow flew like a shooting star, whistling sharply through the air.
The eagle sensed the danger, but the fierce arrow was faster, piercing through its flapping wings.
The eagle lost its balance, desperately flapping its other wing, but it wobbled and plummeted toward the ground.
Anticipating the fall, Xin Che was already at the location where the eagle would land.
He grabbed the eagle by its neck, triumphantly returning with the bird in hand.
His pace was calm and unhurried, his tied-back hair fluttering in the wind, a picture of confidence and grace.
Xin Che had always been reserved, but at this moment, Jiang Lili saw the untamed, rebellious spirit that could no longer be hidden.
The eagle in his hand was about a foot and a half in height, its beak curved and sharp, like a deadly knife. It looked quite intimidating.
Jiang Lili took a step back, and seeing her fear, Xin Che paused.
Just then, her message reminder rang “dididi”.
[Hou Xiaoxiao: Lili, it’s bad! My house has been robbed!!]