Chapter 140: The Prelude to Reconstruction, Using Every Measure...

"What did you say? Who do you think you are! You dare ask me to clean the latrines? You're tired of living!" The young woman was so angry that she rolled up her sleeves and was about to rush over to fight her. Her companions were so frightened that they quickly grabbed her waist.

"Oh dear! Zhang Cun San, this is our county's great-grandmother! If you're so foolish, we still want to live!"

"Village Three, Village Three, calm down, calm down!"

He hugged Zhang Cun San and gave Zhang Ting a fawning smile, "County Magistrate's wife, when she's delirious, she's just a simpleton. We're honest and law-abiding, we'd love to do it!"

Zhang Ting was surrounded by a group of soldiers. Within a day, she had counted all the soldiers in the county, totaling 214, and reorganized them into the ranks. Now they were following her as she inspected the areas where the county residents were active.

The two hundred-plus men were all trained young men. Although they had no knives, they carried sticks. The procession was large and imposing, and compared to the thirty or so thugs in Zhang Village, they were nothing.

Zhang Ting slowly walked to the front, raised her hand to signal the person opposite to release Zhang Cun San, "Let her go."

The two people opposite each other stared at each other, completely bewildered, their eyes filled with confusion. Even Zhang Cun San was stunned and forgot to struggle. What was she trying to do? Wasn't she afraid that Cun San would go up and beat her up?

Although they didn't understand the county magistrate's intentions, everyone subconsciously obeyed her and let go of her hands.

A meaningful smile appeared in Zhang Ting's eyes as he beckoned Zhang Cun San over.

Zhang Cun San became wary. "What do you want me to do? And you call me 'County Magistrate's Wife'? Do you think you can take advantage of your numbers and start a fight with me?"

At this moment, Zhang Ting pointed behind him and said, "Do you want to come over by yourself, or have the soldiers of this county invite you over?"

Zhang Cun San was covered in sharp quills, but fearing the soldiers behind her, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and walk over.

She walked up to Zhang Ting, her neck stiff and eyes tightly shut, and said, "Kill me or torture me, it's all up to you!"

Zhang Ting walked around Zhang Village Three once, "Hey, weren't you just shouting about who I am? Why aren't you yelling anymore?"

Zhang Cun San turned his head away and remained silent.

Zhang Ting told her to act like a strong woman, to open her eyes and look up at her.

Zhang Cun San was furious. How dare she say she wasn't like a real woman?! How dare she insult her like that! He immediately widened his eyes and stared intently at Zhang Ting.

"What else can you say now! Although I, Zhang Cun San, am mediocre and unambitious, I am a well-known and respected woman in the surrounding villages."

Zhang Ting straightened her face and said, "Since you're a woman, then be more assertive and decisive with me, and stop being so timid and hesitant like men!"

"You!" Zhang Cun San's chest heaved with rage, his eyes burning with fury as if he wanted to incinerate her.

This is incredibly insulting! Absolutely incredibly insulting!!

Those watching or the soldiers guarding behind Zhang Ting couldn't help but show pity, seeing how angry Zhang Ting was.

She could have died with dignity and honor, but the county magistrate made her die without dignity or face. Everyone couldn't help but shudder. This move was really too cruel!

Zhang Ting stood with her hands behind her back, relaxed and at ease. "If you feel unconvinced, then prove it to me." She pointed to the people opposite her. "I hereby appoint you as the captain of the first team of the Construction Department. You will be in charge of supervising the construction of latrines and the retrieval of corpses in the southeast region."

Huh? Everyone was incredulous, unable to comprehend this earth-shattering change. Just a moment ago, they were saying that the county magistrate was going to kill Village Three, and now she's been given an official position?

Zhang Cunsan was stunned for a moment, then she came to her senses and sneered: "What kind of lousy captain? You think I care!"

Zhang Ting smiled contemptuously. "What's so rare about it? Are you scared? You call yourself a strong woman? In my opinion, you're nothing more than a little..." She didn't finish her sentence, but Zhang Cun San understood.

She was furious, her body flushed and burning. She glared at Zhang Ting and gritted her teeth, saying, "So what if I'm the team leader? I'll do it! You show me what a real woman is!"

Zhang Cun swayed his legs on the rock, mimicking her haughty and disdainful demeanor, "Ha, building a latrine? A piece of cake, we can finish it in a day." But the hooligan's imitation only made him look more like a nonchalant scoundrel.

Her companions behind her were stunned. What was the village elder saying? Five latrines in the southeast corner. Normally, it takes three to five days to prepare for digging a dry latrine at home. You want us to do five in one day? Do you want us to be exhausted to death?

But it didn't end there. Zhang Cun San scoffed, "Retrieving floating corpses? A few measly dead bodies? I'll bring my men and lay them out in front of you first thing tomorrow morning! You just wait!"

The companions behind them felt a sudden darkness before their eyes and were about to faint. Oh God, were they even going to live?

Zhang Ting took in the commotion behind her and said nonchalantly, "Then we'll wait and see."

"Zhang Cun San, shut up!"

However, once Zhang Cun San made eye contact with her, he couldn't listen to anything else and kept spouting coded language.

Little did she know, the more Zhang Cun San talked, the deeper Zhang Ting's smile became, until it became so much that even she couldn't stand it anymore and interrupted him.

"I definitely want to see you tomorrow morning, you big woman." With that, she turned and left with her troops.

What a fruitful day! Time to find the next victim... oh no, the selfless benefactor.

Zhang Cun San tried to call out to her, but was surrounded by the crowd like vengeful spirits.

"Village Three, you've really put us in a terrible situation! A mule couldn't finish the work in ten days and ten nights, and you expect us to finish it by tomorrow morning!"

"Let's see if we still want to live!"

Zhang Cun San's determination to be a strong woman was unwavering: "With so many of us, do you still think we're inferior to mules? As long as we work together, we're more effective than ten mules!"

"Besides, don't you want to be recognized as powerful women by the county magistrate's wife?"

The crowd should have refused outright, but after exchanging glances, they fell into an unusual silence.

The heavy and oppressive tasks and the exciting honors were locked in a battle in his heart, the scales swaying precariously and easily tipping to the other side.

They gritted their teeth; of course they wanted to be strong women!

Eight hours later...

The group carried the corpses on their backs and dragged them to the entrance of Zhang Ting's Black Bear Cave. Some people collapsed from exhaustion but were helped up to continue.

They worked for eight hours straight without sleep, food, or water, and they still hadn't finished retrieving all the floating corpses in the southeast corner.

Zhang Cun San fainted from exhaustion, but her companion, panting, choked her awake, saying, "Cun San, get up and get back to work. We can't abandon any of our companions who want to be strong women."

Zhang Cun San stood up limply, and mumbled, "Yes, I want to be a strong woman!" He opened his eyes and closed them again, then collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Her companion, panting heavily, poked her awake, "Cun San, get up quickly, we'll really die of exhaustion if one of you is missing."

Someone in the crowd cried from exhaustion, saying, "I don't want to be a strong woman anymore, it's so tiring."

Zhang Cunsan, who had just woken up, perked up upon hearing this and forcefully pulled her up. "We can't have a single coward in our team!" She turned around and counted the number of bodies along the riverbank. "Thirty left. If we keep pushing, we'll win! Let's give that new little magistrate a real shock as a strong woman!"

So, after a lot of hard work, the group finally managed to move all the corpses from the southeast corner to the front of the Black Bear Cave before dawn.

They looked even more lifeless than corpses, so exhausted that their eyes rolled back as if they were about to ascend to heaven.

Suddenly someone asked, "Do you...remember what we were supposed to do tonight?"

Someone, dizzy and disoriented, said, "We went to move corpses, hehe, so much fun, so tiring, why aren't they dead yet?"

Zhang Cun San pushed her head away, thinking, "What an unlucky woman!" But he was too tired to move her, and her head remained in place.

Zhang Cun San said weakly, "We're planning to have a bigger meal at the granary, there's lots of meat inside."

The last man, slightly more lucid, weakly said, "You're all wrong. That widow in the county likes to bathe behind the cave. We were going to sneak over and watch him bathe."

"Now that the bodies have been moved, should we still go?"

What are they going to do? After finishing their work, their hearts are harder and colder than corpses; they are utterly devoid of desire and ambition.

Everyone looked up at the sky and drifted off to sleep.

Inside the black bear's den, torches flickered, elongating two figures.

Zong Suyi yawned and leaned on Zhang Ting's shoulder, still sleepy-eyed. "Did these people really bring a corpse here in the middle of the night?"

Zhang Ting gave a soft "hmm" and adjusted his cloak. "Go get some more sleep. It's still early. They're exhausted and won't cause any trouble for now."

He nodded like a chick pecking at rice, squinting his eyes as he asked, "Want to come along?"

It wasn't fully light yet, and there wasn't much to do, so Zhang Ting put her arm around him and led him into the inner room, thinking she'd keep him company while he slept.

The Black Bear Cave was divided into four areas by Zong Suyi. The inner room was where he and his wife rested, the outer room was where Zheng Er and the five women, including the cart driver, rested, and there was a storage room and a hall in the middle. Although it was rough, it was not a place to live for a long time, so they would make do with it for now.

Zong Suyi was exhausted outside, but now that he was under the covers, he couldn't fall asleep.

His eyes were clear and bright as he stared at the stone ceiling above. A sense of novelty and unfamiliarity suddenly arose within him.

Turning to Zhang Ting, he said, "We're actually living in a cave. This is the first time in my life I've ever lived in a cave."

He's doing something silly again.

Zong Suyi's drowsiness seemed to transfer to Zhang Ting; she had just lain down when her eyes were too sleepy to keep open. Hearing his words, she responded drowsily.

Zong Suyi pouted in dissatisfaction and turned her head to look at her.

It's very dangerous when you're exhausted but your partner is too bored to sleep.

Because at this time, your partner will use every trick in the book to wake you up—kissing, pinching, biting, nibbling, or hugging—and finally, seeing that you're awake, they'll innocently blink their eyes and say to you—

"My lady, you're awake? Why didn't you sleep a little longer?"

Zhang Ting rolled up her sleeve and saw that her fair forearm was covered with dense bite marks and red marks. The same was true when she lifted the other side of her clothes. Oh, and her neck and face were also covered in them.

Zong Suyi exclaimed "Oh!" and tenderly took her hands in his arms and blew on them. "How did you get like this? Does it hurt, my wife?" He seemed to have lost his memory.

It doesn't hurt, but her sleep is disturbed; Zhang Ting is grumpy when she wakes up.

She bent her knees and glanced at him sideways with a blank expression.

"come over."