Jiang Yimian left Yuanlin Lane in the afternoon and was about to return to Qingshi Village when she ran into Lin Zhaozhao.
The other person was overjoyed to see her and pulled her toward the Lin residence.
"Sister Jiang, my brother and I are going to a banquet tomorrow. Would you like to come with us? The host of the banquet really wants to see you."
Lin Zhaozhao looked at the person beside her with a smile.
She silently gave her silly older brother a thumbs up in her heart.
Her brother's best decision was meeting Sister Jiang; she's practically a lucky charm.
The esteemed person had not originally planned to meet them, but upon hearing that the soap maker was acquainted with the Lin family, he became interested and decided to hold a banquet to invite them to admire the flowers.
Jiang Yimian, however, seemed rather uninterested, and casually said, "I won't go. I've been busy these past few days. Oh, and remember to tell your brother to give me the shop's profits as soon as possible."
Her mind was completely focused on how to deal with Jiang Yaoguang and the second wife's family; she had no time to think about anything else.
If her calculations are correct, she'll be very busy tonight.
Although Lin Zhaozhao regretted that Jiang Yimian didn't go, she didn't try to persuade her any further. Instead, she smiled and said, "Sister Jiang, don't worry. If my brother hadn't been preparing to meet that important person during his stay in Qinghe Town, he would have gone to Qingshi Village to find you long ago."
Her brother has been asking her every day for the past few days if Sister Jiang has come to see him; she's practically tired of hearing it.
Knowing her brother's personality, the first thing he would do after finishing his work would definitely be to go see Sister Jiang.
Jiang Yimian raised an eyebrow, smiled, said goodbye to Lin Zhaozhao, and left directly.
*
Night falls.
Qingshi Village was quiet, with only the moonlight casting a cool glow on the road.
The pitch-black night shrouded the entire village in a veil. Apart from the occasional barking of dogs, there were only a few scattered chirping of insects, which were particularly noticeable in the quiet night.
The three people at the village entrance exchanged a glance and headed straight for the foot of the mountain.
The three of them ran all the way and finally, by the moonlight, they could vaguely see the newly built house.
The man in the lead pointed to the courtyard, then looked at the factory not far away, and said in a low voice, "You go and set fire to that factory, and we'll sneak in and kill them in the dark."
The short man responded, then hesitated and said, "Boss, this house is so big, the owner must be quite wealthy. We might run into some people we shouldn't be dealing with, which would make it harder to escape later."
The leader of the group just sneered, "What's so bad about a farmer? He's killed people before, so what's there to be afraid of? This time, if we succeed, that guy will give us five hundred taels of silver!"
With these five hundred taels, we don't need to take any more jobs for now. We can move to another county without worry. The government officials are all good-for-nothings; they won't catch us easily.
"Then we'll go directly to the master and ask for the money; we can get out of Qingshui County within a day."
They had been wandering around Jincheng Prefecture for quite some time, robbing and killing many people, but all of it was done in the mountains. This was the first time they had entered a village to kill someone.
Although it's somewhat risky, the money is too much to pass up.
Hearing this, the short man breathed a sigh of relief, but still hesitated and asked, "What about the others who went into the mountains?"
If those people fail in their scheme, they'll just give themselves away, and that would be the end of it.
Another man said irritably, "They naturally know that if they run away after the deed is done, they'll be caught by the authorities. By then, we'll have already escaped, and the authorities won't have time to catch us."
They are the local bullies of Qinghe Town, why should we worry about them?
"When did you start talking so much nonsense? Hurry up and set it on fire!"
The short man then responded and headed straight for the factory building not far away.
The man in the lead drew a sharp machete from his waist, exchanged a glance with the man beside him, and then carefully climbed over the wall into the house.
As soon as they landed, the two headed straight for the main courtyard.
However, before his hands could even touch the closed door, he was struck hard on the back of the head.
The man cried out in pain from the immense force of the blow, but he didn't immediately faint. Instead, he quickly turned around and swung his machete at the person behind him.
Hearing the commotion, another person rushed over to help.
Jiang Yimian was somewhat surprised by the quick reactions of the two people in front of her. She had thought they were just a few thugs, but she hadn't expected them to be seasoned killers who knew to avoid vital organs just now.
Jiang Yimian immediately stopped testing them and attacked the two with all her might.
The sounds of the fight instantly woke everyone inside the house.
Wang Fengqin was still a little dazed. She had just gotten up and walked to the door when she saw the scene outside. She was so frightened that she instantly snapped out of it and rushed out, shouting, "Help! There's a thief! Someone's killing someone!"
The shout instantly woke Zhao Dashu and the others who were still asleep.
The three of them put on an overcoat, grabbed some farm tools from the house, and rushed over.
When they saw the two people in the courtyard who had completely fainted, they were still somewhat panicked.
"What's going on? Where did these people come from?" Wang Xiaohei stared wide-eyed in shock at the two people on the ground, whose fate was unknown.
I felt both annoyed and worried.
If he hadn't heard Aunt Wang's scream, he probably would have slept soundly until dawn, unaware that his house had been burgled.
Jiang Yimian waved her hand, about to speak, when another somewhat aged scream came from outside, "Fire! Everyone, hurry and put out the fire!"
She was startled, thinking that some powerful figure had come from Lu Cijian's side, but when she saw that the workshop was still dark, she breathed a sigh of relief when she was sure that the firelight was not coming from there.
He paused for a moment when his gaze fell on the thatched hut that had suddenly burst into flames outside, and silently gave Lu Cijian a thumbs up in his heart.
This guy knows to go all the way with his act; he can't burn down the workshop, so he'll just burn down these few thatched huts.
Seeing the flames spreading rapidly, Zhao Dashu and the others rushed out to put out the fire.
Soon, most of the villagers woke up. When they saw the raging fire burning at the Jiang family's house, they were all startled and rushed to help put it out.
Fortunately, the fire was discovered in time and was quickly extinguished.
Unfortunately, it hadn't rained for many days, and the thatch was too dry. This fire burned several houses to the ground.
Fortunately, there wasn't anything valuable inside, so it wasn't a huge loss.
Li Yishi frowned as he looked at the Jiang family's few thatched huts that had been burned to ashes, then at the three unconscious people on the ground, and cursed, "Where did these thieves come from? They actually came to the village to kill and set fires."
Dazhu, tie the man up. We'll report to the authorities as soon as it's light.
These bullies are far too arrogant.
Li Dazhu quickly responded, and after he and several young men tied the three people on the ground up with rope, he said with relief, "Yimian, it's fortunate that you and Cijian found out in time, otherwise, our whole village might have been in trouble."
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