A Miao Village in Xiangxi

The landlady's outrageous stunt was enough to make anyone's jaw drop.

Unfortunately, it was none of their business, and everyone else chose to stay silent. Not a single person stepped forward.

Jiang Yiming couldn't stand watching any longer. He walked over to Sun Qin, handed her a napkin, and comforted her. "See that? The landlady's delighted to see you crying!"

Sun Qin looked up and saw the smile on the landlady's face. She quickly took the napkin, wiped away her tears, and fought back any more.

Jiang Yiming decided to stand up for her. He walked over to the landlady and asked calmly, "Landlady, after docking someone's entire wages like that, doesn't your conscience ache just a little?"

"I feel great! Comfortable from head to toe!"

The moment the landlady said that, a sharp pain suddenly shot through her chest!

Her face instantly turned pale. She clutched her chest, her voice coming in broken gasps. "What's happening... It hurts..."

Jiang Yiming said coldly, "So if you do enough shameful things, your heart really does hurt."

In truth, her pain had nothing to do with the shameful things she'd done. Jiang Yiming had just flicked a drop of the Ghost-Faced Spider's venom onto the back of her hand.

The venom hadn't entered her bloodstream, so it wasn't fatal. It would only make her chest ache for two days.

The other employees gloated at the sight of the landlady's suffering. No one stepped forward to help.

Only the owner hurried over, his face full of concern. "Honey, what's wrong? Is something wrong with your heart? I'll take you to the hospital right now!"

The landlady was already in too much pain to speak. She gripped his arm tightly.

Just then, Jiang Yiming spoke up. "Taking her to the hospital won't help. This is heaven's punishment for her. If you don't pay Sun Qin's wages, she'll keep hurting!"

The owner naturally didn't believe such superstitious nonsense. He said with disdain, "Spare me that talk about heaven! Heaven's will, my ass! There are so many black-hearted people in the world. Which one of them has heaven punished?!"

"That's because their time hasn't come yet." Jiang Yiming changed tack. "But since you're cursing heaven so brazenly, I'm sure your punishment will come soon!"

"Pah!" The owner couldn't be bothered to say more. Saving her was more important.

But just as he picked up the landlady, a pain suddenly struck his chest too. Within moments, it turned excruciating, and he set her down, his strength gone.

"I told you, heaven has eyes, but you just wouldn't believe it."

Jiang Yiming walked over and said unhurriedly, "If you pay Sun Qin her wages, I guess heaven should let you off."

Just now, the landlady had been the only one in pain. The owner hadn't felt a thing himself, so he'd spoken very tough.

Now that he was hurting himself, he instantly lost his nerve!

"I'll pay! Every last cent!" Enduring the pain, he hurried to get the money.

After he paid the 3,250 yuan in wages, without withholding a cent, his symptoms showed no sign of easing.

"What's going on?! Didn't you say heaven would forgive us if we paid her wages?" The owner clutched his chest, furious!

Jiang Yiming kept a straight face. "Yes, heaven has already forgiven you, so you won't die, and there's no need to see a doctor. Bear with it for two days, and you'll naturally get better."

He only knew how to administer poison, not how to neutralize it. Since it wouldn't kill them anyway, he casually fed them some nonsense.

Surprisingly, after he said that off the cuff, the owner and the landlady really did feel a little better.

Perhaps some of the venom had been neutralized, or perhaps it was just psychological.

Jiang Yiming couldn't be bothered to dwell on it. He pulled Sun Qin along and hurried away.

After they each returned to their rented rooms, Jiang Yiming tidied up his room, then wheeled out his bicycle, intending to go looking for venomous insects.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw Sun Qin next door coming out with a suitcase.

"What are you doing? Leaving here?" he asked casually.

"Mm. I've lost my job, and something's come up at home, so I'm planning to go back for a bit," Sun Qin said with a smile.

"I happen to be passing the station, so I'll see you off on the way."

As he spoke, he wheeled out his bicycle and put Sun Qin's suitcase on the back seat.

"I still don't know where your hometown is," Jiang Yiming said as he walked ahead, pushing the bicycle.

"I'm from Hunan."

"Where in Hunan?"

"Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture."

Jiang Yiming had only been asking to break the awkward silence. But when he heard Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, his interest immediately stirred. "I heard there are lots of Miao villages there?"

"Yes. Not just in Xiangxi—there are lots of Miao villages in Eastern Guizhou and Southern Yunnan too. Actually, I'm Miao myself," Sun Qin said openly.

Jiang Yiming had been wanting to learn about the Miao, so he immediately pressed her. "I heard the Miao are good at raising gu. Is that true?"

"Raising gu?" Sun Qin shook her head. "I'm a cooked Miao, so I don't know about that. But I've heard some raw Miao really do raise gu, and they're very good at it. Unfortunately, they all live deep in the mountains and forests and never have contact with outsiders, so I've never met anyone who raises gu in all my life."

Jiang Yiming fell into thought.

So there really were other people in this world who raised gu besides him!

"Are you all right?" Seeing him lost in thought, Sun Qin shook his arm.

"I... I'm fine." Jiang Yiming gave an awkward smile.

"If you want to learn about raising gu, come find me in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture sometime!" Sun Qin said with a smile. "My grandpa knows a few things."

"All right! When I have time, I'll definitely come find you!"

He'd been working behind closed doors these past few days. Although he had the system to rely on, his success rate at refining gu was far too low.

According to the book, refining gu normally couldn't possibly fail so easily!

Once I go to Xiangxi and exchange ideas with the gu masters there, maybe I can learn something about refining gu and increase my success rate!

As long as my success rate goes up, I'll have hope of refining a heaven-tier gu insect!