Ominous Premonition!

"There's definitely something strange about this chest!"

With that thought, Qin Yao gripped it firmly with both hands and heaved with all his strength before finally lifting the large chest aside.

Once it was moved, he saw that beneath where it had been pressing down was a square floor tile with a slightly wider gap around it.

He pried up the tile, and beneath it, the hidden compartment was unexpectedly filled with a large handful of loose silver pieces!

Qin Yao weighed them in his hand. There had to be at least twenty taels.

That was the equivalent of twenty thousand copper coins!

For the poor people on the west side of the village, this was a fortune so great they could wake up laughing from dreams about it.

"Ha, so that bastard hid all his money beneath the floor tiles. No wonder he used such a heavy chest to weigh it down."

Qin Yao tucked the loose silver, along with the hundred-odd copper coins he had searched out earlier, into his clothes.

Everything else was returned to its original place.

After finishing all that, he went over to Niu Shiyang's bed.

Seeing that the man was still sleeping like the dead, he unceremoniously pinched open his mouth. With his other hand, he picked up a stinking sock from the floor, kneaded it into a ball, and stuffed it inside.

Then he used the old clothes Niu Shiyang had casually thrown around to bind his hands and feet.

The entire process was clean and efficient.

After all, with Qin Yao's strength—"the force of a thousand jin"—handling a squat, stubby man like Niu Shiyang, who weighed less than two hundred jin, was no strain at all...

Then Qin Yao used a "little first-aid trick" he had learned while scrolling Douyin in his previous life: pinching the philtrum. He forcibly pinched Niu Shiyang awake!

The fellow woke up in a daze and had yet to understand his situation when Qin Yao's slaps were already raining down—"Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack..."

Niu Shiyang's already fat, big-eared face immediately swelled even more outrageously!

When he focused his eyes, he saw a man squatting beside the bed.

Dark-skinned, vicious-faced, with a huge scar across his forehead—he looked every inch a fiend incarnate!

As for Niu Shiyang himself, both his hands and feet were tied up, making him look exactly like a pig awaiting slaughter.

"Mmph! Mmph mmph!!"

Scared half out of his wits, he kept making muffled cries through the stinking sock crammed in his mouth.

"Shut up!

"Make another sound, and I'll cut out your tongue!"

Qin Yao's threat was highly effective.

Niu Shiyang immediately turned into a trembling little rabbit; even his nostrils dared not draw breaths too loudly.

"From now on, I ask, and you answer.

"You have three counts to give me an answer.

"Get it right, and there's a reward. Get it wrong, and there's punishment."

Qin Yao deliberately spoke in a hoarse voice. "Metal, wood, water, fire, earth—which one has the longest legs?"

"???"

Niu Shiyang was utterly bewildered.

Where had this person come from?

Why was he asking such a bizarre question?

While Niu Shiyang was still stunned, Qin Yao had already begun counting without a care: "Three, two..."

How could Niu Shiyang dare think any longer?

His mind spun, and he hurriedly gave his answer: "Wood—wood has the longest legs!

"Because the vertical stroke in the character 'wood' is the longest among the five characters."

After answering, Niu Shiyang secretly felt rather pleased with himself. He thought he had shown remarkable quick wit; this answer was surely foolproof.

But the next moment, Qin Yao pinched open his mouth and stuffed the stinking sock back inside.

"Wrong answer!

"The correct answer is 'fire.'"

Qin Yao said icily, "Because—ham sausage means 'long legs'!"

"???"

Niu Shiyang's eyes bulged round, his face blank with shock.

If the stinking sock had not plugged his mouth, he would have dearly loved to shout: Was that even a serious question?!

"You got it wrong, so accept your punishment."

As the words fell, Qin Yao clenched his fist like a hammer and savagely smashed it into Niu Shiyang's shin!

Thinking of what his grandfather had suffered before, the youth had been holding back a stifling rage in his chest. This punch was delivered without the slightest reservation.

"Bang!"

"Crack!"

With just one blow of tremendous force, Niu Shiyang's right tibia was smashed into a comminuted fracture.

Even the bed beneath him was not spared, collapsing along with it!

That leg of Niu Shiyang's was completely crippled...

"Urgh! Urgh!!"

This burly man's face and neck went red from the pain, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face.

Qin Yao, meanwhile, brushed off his sleeves after the deed and vanished in the blink of an eye.

By the time the neighbors, drawn over by the thunderous crash of the collapsing bed, arrived—

Qin Yao had already returned home, hidden the money, and removed his disguise!

It was not that the neighbors' "response" had been too slow. The only blame lay with Niu Shiyang, who had been far too much of a bastard these past two weeks.

Even rabbits knew not to eat the grass around their own burrow!

But after selling off his own sister to cling to Manager Wang's thigh, this greedy bully who preyed on the weak had made a habit of targeting the poor neighbors in the west side of the village!

If not for several young men who, after hesitating, barged into his home with the thought, "If we help Niu Shiyang out, maybe we can follow him in the future"...

This bastard likely would not have been untied even by dawn.

"Quick, take me to the apothecary in the east of the village."

Niu Shiyang was drenched in sweat from the pain, and could barely speak clearly.

"Got it, Brother Niu!"

"Leave it to me, Brother!"

"No, I'll do it."

The four younger men all fought to grab Niu Shiyang's arms.

They all wanted to claim the foremost credit for "carrying Niu Shiyang to see a doctor."

"Hey, let go, let go! It hurts like hell!"

Niu Shiyang cried again from the pain and screamed hysterically, "Can't you see my leg is broken? Don't carry me—lift the bed, lift the bed!"

This time, the four of them had no need to fight. Each took hold of one corner.

"Wait."

Niu Shiyang suddenly remembered something and pulled a copper key from beneath his pillow. "I can't let you work for nothing.

"Use this key to open that chest. There's a bag of money inside—split it among yourselves!"

If Qin Yao had seen that key, then with his lockpicking skill now at the Minor Achievement realm, he would have seen through the mystery concealed within the little thing at a glance.

It turned out that aside from the front half, which could unlock the chest normally...

The small protruding piece at the back was a tool similar to a screwdriver, capable of dismantling the chest into six pieces: the lid, four sides, and the bottom.

That way, even though Niu Shiyang was far weaker than Qin Yao, he could still move the chest by himself.

"Wow, thank you, Brother Niu!"

"Brother Niu, you're righteous!"

"Brother Niu, you're so generous!"

"I told you Brother Niu was actually a good man."

The moment they heard there was money to split, all their eyes lit up, and flattering words poured endlessly from their mouths.

"Enough, enough. Once you've divided it up, lift the chest.

"Underneath it is the private stash Manager Wang Ji hid with me. Take it with you first, then carry me to see the doctor.

"From now on, I, Niu Shiyang, will not only treat you as my own brothers, I'll also recommend you to Manager Wang.

"We brothers will share blessings and hardships alike!"

Niu Shiyang sounded impassioned and generous on the surface, but sneered inwardly. "Hmph, it's only a little over a hundred copper coins. I'll just treat it as alms for beggars.

"Letting them taste a little sweetness, then feeding them some empty promises, is the only way to make these fools work harder for me..."

It had to be said that Niu Shiyang did have a few tricks up his sleeve.

He knew his injuries were severe, and the expense of seeing a doctor in the eastern village would certainly not be small. He had no choice but to use the private stash hidden beneath the stone brick.

But he was afraid that if these fellows saw the large amount of silver beneath the brick, greed would take root in their hearts. They might even let evil overcome their courage and join forces to kill him and seize the money!

Thus, Niu Shiyang both handed out copper coins and painted grand promises.

He also deliberately emphasized that the money hidden beneath the stone brick belonged to Manager Wang Ji.

The implication was clear: if they entertained any crooked thoughts about that money, the consequences would be unbearable...

A moment later.

One of the youngsters shook the empty money pouch in front of Niu Shiyang. "Brother Niu, this money pouch is empty?"

"What? How is that possible?!"

Niu Shiyang frowned. "Look more carefully. It probably got scattered into some corner or other."

So the four youngsters turned the chest upside down right in front of him.

Still nothing.

Niu Shiyang's heart lurched!

A sinister premonition instantly crept into his heart...