Chapter 121:1 Beg Mistress to Let Us Live
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
When Madam Li and her family members heard Su Ying’s question, they thought that they had a chance at blackmailing her, so they gestured with five fingers.
“500 taels of silver. As long as you give us 500 taels of silver, we’ll forget about this matter.”
Su Ying nodded noncommittally, but her eyes darted around as if she was looking for something.
When Madam Li and the others saw that Su Ying didn’t say anything, they assumed that she thought the sum they had asked for was too much. “You evil woman, we are talking about a human life. Let me tell you. If it wasn’t for our family’s benevolence, we wouldn’t have let this matter rest even if you give us 500 taels.”
“Number Three, throw me that rod.” Su Ying pointed at the rod next to Number Three that was as thick as her wrist.
Number Three understood and threw the rod toward her.
Su Ying weighed the rod in her hand and raised her head slowly to look at them. “I haven’t finished my sentence just now. Everyone here has seen it clearly with his own eyes. When 1, Su Ying, am in the wrong, I’ll talk reasonably with you and compensate you. But for someone like you who’s purely courting death and showing off in front of me, only death awaits you.”
As soon as Su Ying finished speaking, the rod in her hand smashed down viciously on Qian Wei’s body.
“Argh!” Qian Wei shrieked in pain and turned to run. However, Su Ying hit his leg with the rod the moment he turned around. He took a stumble and fell in front of Li Daya’s grave.
Madam Li felt the pain when she saw Qian Wei being hit. She wanted to run, but not a single one of them could outrun the evil rod in Su Ying’s hand.
All four of them were beaten until they were howling in pain.
“I don’t have 500 taels, but I can give you 500 whacks with this rod any time! Tell me, were you the ones who came to steal the seeds last night?”
Madam Li didn’t even have the strength to dodge the rod anymore. “Yes, yes, yes, yes!”
“You stole my seeds, ate it, and now you’re poisoned. This is your comeuppance, isn’t it!”
“Yes! Argh! Stop hitting us. We know we were wrong. We beg you. Stop hitting us.”
Under the beating of Su Ying’s relentless rod, the few of them didn’t even have the strength to dodge, let alone retaliate.
“We were wrong. We really know we were wrong… Please let us off…”
The four of them collapsed to the ground like a pile of mud.
Su Ying stopped what she was doing. “Throw all of them out.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
The bandit leader dragged the half-dead Madam Li and the others out, along with the son on the stretcher, who was on his last breath.
Many people who were watching the drama felt vindicated. Qian Wei’s family was a thorn in the side. They had caused a lot of trouble before. Seeing them get beaten up today was simply too satisfying.
After watching the drama, everyone dispersed to carry on with their own work.
Su Ying turned around and saw Li Laosan tidying up Li Daya’s grave with red-rimmed eyes.
“Daya, it’s Father’s fault. If Father had noticed that something was wrong with you earlier, you wouldn’t have died at such a young age.”
Su Ying walked up to Li Laosan and said eventually, “We accidentally dug up the little girl’s grave previously. Please don’t take offense.”
Li Laosan raised his head and glanced at Su Ying. “Lady, you must be new here. Daya’s grave has been here for a few years. We’ve been busy making a living and neglected the grave’s maintenance. It’s not surprising that you didn’t notice. 1 don’t blame you guys.”
Su Ying was quite curious about the lives of the ordinary people in the Tiger Base.
“Do you know about the Dust and Gust Restaurant in the Tiger Base?”
Li Laosan nodded. “I do. It’s just that it disappeared a while ago for some reason. In the past, the restaurant said that there would be meat for first-time customers, but it was not really true. Before eating meat, they would check your body first. They said that the bodies of some people were not suitable to eat their meat, and eating it will cause stomach problems. Such people won’t get to eat meat even if they go for the first time.”
Su Ying didn’t realize that there was such a practice. It seemed that the Venom Cult were quite selective when they chose people to raise the venomous bugs.
“How do you guys make a living under normal circumstances?”
“We depend on the mountains at the back. We usually pick some wild vegetables or hunt some prey. Then, the Tiger Base will give us some rations from time to time and also give us crop seeds. But actually, there are not many people who can successfully grow crops here because the crops get stolen before they are even fully grown. As time goes by, fewer and fewer people farm.”
“Are most of the people in the Tiger Base in a similar situation as you?”
Li Laosan nodded. “Yes. They are in almost the same situation. Everyone’s next meal is not guaranteed. There are too many people like Qian Wei, so everyone has to hide their belongings carefully whenever they have obtained something. You’re the first person to farm on such a large scale here.”
Su Ying nodded and thought for a moment before saying, “Do you know how to farm?”
“Now that I’m here, even if I didn’t know how to do it before, I should know how to do it now.”
“If 1 were to hire you to farm for me, would you be willing to work for me? You can ask for money or food. It’s up to you.”
Li Laosan looked at Su Ying somewhat in surprise. “But don’t you already have a lot of people working for you?”
“Of course, 1 still have my uses for them. Think about it carefully. If you work for me, 1 can pay you half a silver coin as your monthly salary. If you don’t want the silver, you can exchange it for 30 catties of rice, or 40 catties of brown rice. 1 can even provide you with one meal during lunchtime.”
30 catties of rice or 40 catties of brown rice! How much would that be? If he ate sparingly and combined it with some wild prey and vegetables, he might even have one full meal a day. He wouldn’t starve to death anymore!
“You don’t have to be in such a hurry to answer me. Give yourself time to think it through before we discuss it again.”
“I can do it, I can do it. Madam, 1 can work for you.” There was no need to consider at all. Now that he could have a meal, he would do anything, let alone farm!
“Alright. Then come over early tomorrow morning.”
“Yes, yes.”
Li Laosan left happily after he tidied up the grave.
The contents of Su Ying and Li Laosan’s conversation were not very palatable to the ears of the bandit leader.
“Do you think that Mistress is planning to get rid of us by getting the people from the Tiger Base to work here?” A certain bandit pulled a long face, feeling that his days were almost up.
Number One’s expression did not look too pleasant either. Although he had endless work to do every day and his life did not seem as impressive as before, he had almost adapted to the days of working hand in hand with these bandits.
If Su Ying wanted to get rid of them, should they rebel or wait for death?
For a moment, the mercenaries and bandits were caught in an unprecedented dilemma.
“What are you all standing there for? You guys don’t want to eat lunch anymore, is it? At this rate, when will my fish pond be able to produce fish?”
Su Ying saw that they were all standing still, so she walked over with the shovel.
Everyone came to their senses and wanted to go back to work initially, but their knees inexplicably gave way and they knelt down in front of Su Ying.
Su Ying was utterly speechless.
“Mistress, we were forced by circumstances to attack you back then. Please let us live, Mistress.”
“We beg you, Afastress. Please let us live.”
Su Ying was at a complete loss for words..
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