Mi Li'er quickly shook her head, "I'm not lying. We've already started working today. We two never earn work points, so we have time to come to the county town to gamble."

The door of the room was pushed open from the outside, and Shan Mo, wearing a gray suit, walked in. "Then on the 30th of the month, if you don't bring anyone, I don't need to tell you what will happen to you two."

Mi Li'er's eyes widened. They didn't know Shan Mo, but the way Wang Tuzi pulled out the chair and helped him sit down made it clear that this was a being even more terrifying than Wang Tuzi. "Okay... okay."

"Go away." Wang Tuzi felt uneasy. Why would Brother Mo come in person to do something that was entrusted to him?

Mi Li'er and He Bingjie quickly got up and were about to leave.

Shanmo kicked the money on the ground in front of the two people and said, "Take the money."

The two men nodded, picked up the money on the ground, and crawled away with their backs hunched.

Wang Tuzi looked at Shan Mo, "Brother Mo, why are you here? I can handle this matter."

Shan Mo glanced at him and warned him, "I'm going to the city tomorrow. Please keep a close eye on Chaoyang County for me and make sure there's no trouble."

Wang Tuzi answered firmly: "Don't worry, Brother Mo, no one in Chaoyang County dares to go against us."

Shan Mo left the room without saying a word. Everything went wrong today.

Mi Li'er and He Bingjie ran all the way back to Yihe Town, and only stopped to rest when they reached the road leading from Dafeng Village to Yihe Town.

He sat on the ground and didn't care that his clothes were dirty.

Mi Lier looked at He Bingjie in embarrassment and complained, "Why did you agree to Wang Tuzi's request just now? If you take Guo Jingyi over, something will definitely happen. What if the villagers find out?"

He Bingjie covered his chest. He ran too fast for too long and couldn't breathe. His throat was dry and painful. "What can I do? If you don't agree, we can't leave at all."

Mi Li took out the money from her pocket and said, "This money is hot to hold. Is that man Shan Mo, the backer behind Wang Tuzi?"

He Bingjie nodded, "I guess so, otherwise why would Wang Tuzi be so respectful to him and even move a chair for him."

After a while, the two had rested enough and walked slowly towards the village.

As for how they tricked Guo Jingyi into coming to town, the two of them tacitly did not mention it.

Today is only the 18th, and there are still more than ten days until the 30th. It is not a glorious thing to push the female educated youth into the fire pit, so the longer it can be delayed, the better.

The two men returned home and had no appetite for dinner at night. They had nightmares in the middle of the night. They either dreamed that Guo Jingyi was tortured to death and came back as a ghost to seek revenge on them, or they dreamed that Shanmo and Wang Tuzi brought a group of younger brothers to chop off their hands and feet.

I was woken up in the early morning with a cold sweat and couldn't fall asleep. Even with my eyes open I always felt the room was eerie.

He Bingjie didn't know when he fell asleep. When he woke up, it was already the next afternoon. His father had gone out to work, and he was the only one left at home.

He Bingjie, exhausted all over, had no way of forgetting the troubles he would encounter in a dozen days. He immediately ran to Mi Li'er's house to discuss things with him, but found that there was no one at home.

He Bingjie frowned. Could it be that he went to work?

So he hurried to the field to look for someone.

The villagers who were weeding in the fields looked at him and felt angry.

Everyone is working hard to earn work points, but He Bingjie, a man with hands and feet, does nothing all day and just sits at home and relies on his parents for support. It is really unbearable.

When He Xianfeng saw He Bingjie running over and calling Mi Li'er, he put his hands on his hips and rolled his eyes, "Mi Li is not here. Your hair is so messy. Did you just get out of bed?"

He Bingjie was speechless for a moment, "I took a nap at noon."

He Xianfeng curled his lips and said, “Only a fool would believe that.”

Mi Li'er's mother came over holding a handful of grass. "Mi Li went to his sister's house to play. This morning he carried his luggage to City D to queue up to buy a train ticket. He is probably on his way to Fuping City now."

Mi Li'er was awakened in the middle of the night and immediately ran to his parents' room to wake them up. He said he missed his sister and wanted to go to his brother-in-law's house to play, so he went to the village chief early in the morning to get a letter of introduction.

A bolt from the blue struck, He Bingjie's mouth was so wide that two eggs could fit in it. He was going to Fuping City. Was he running away?

"Did he say when he would be back?"

"He said he would have to stay for at least two or three months, but the time was uncertain."

He Bingjie's legs went weak and he fell to the ground, unable to hold back his tears.

Everyone was surprised and confused. What happened?

He Bingjie's father, He Taobo, heard the noise and ran over from another field. "What happened? Who bullied you?"

Everyone present frowned. Whoever bullied your son might as well be bullying others.

He Bingjie hugged his father and cried, "Dad, I'm so unlucky. I'm done. I'm finished."

"What's going on? Son, what happened?"

Zhao Heping and Guo Jingyi stood in the field watching the excitement. The whole thing had no beginning or end, and nothing was clear.

The first production team was working in a field far away. They could hear faint sounds but they couldn't make them clearly, so everyone looked up and then bent down to continue with their work.

He Taobo brought He Bingjie home, his heart filled with confusion. He looked fine, able to walk and jump, so why was he crying?

"Son, what happened to you?"

He Bingjie didn't know how to tell his father. Mi Li'er had escaped and he was the only one left. Should he really capture Guo Jingyi and take her to the town to hand her over to Wang the Butcher?

No, he doesn't have the guts!

He is scared!

"dad."

"dad……"

Overwhelmed with grief, He Bingjie burst into tears, and all his snot and tears fell on his father's rough clothes.

"Son, what's going on? Tell me." He Taobo stroked his son's back, trying to calm him down.

He Bingjie knelt on the ground and lifted the quilt on the bed, then took out a stack of money from under the pillow. "Yesterday, Mi Li'er and I went to the county town, but we were locked up and threatened by Wang Tuzi. He gave us money and asked me and Mi Li'er to take Guo Jingyi, a female educated youth from the village, to the alley behind the state-owned restaurant in the town. He wouldn't let us go if we didn't agree, and even beat us with a stick."

He Taobo's eyes widened in shock, his eyeballs almost fell out of their sockets, and he was completely stunned.

He Bingjie looked at his father like this and felt like the sky was falling. His father had no idea what to do. "Dad, why don't I run away too?" Mi Li'er ran to his brother-in-law's house.

He Taobo supported himself on the ground with one hand, "We don't have any relatives outside, where can you escape to?"

If you don't have any relatives and no certificate from your employer, the village can't even issue a letter of introduction.

"Come on, I'll take you to see the village chief and ask the villagers for a solution." He Taobo pulled his son up and ran out in a hurry.

Looking at the father and son who came back, everyone was confused. There was only one crying just now, why did there become two now?

He Bingjie happened to meet Guo Jingyi's gaze and quickly lowered his head guiltily.

The village chief looked at the old man and the young, what happened?