Ch 156: Completely Bankrupt

“Incredibly potent snake venom. In less than five minutes, the venom spread throughout her body?”

After examining the deceased Chen Yanhong, Qin Yun’s expression grew even more serious and shocked.

If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t believe such potent snake venom existed in the world.

Unfortunately, the snake had vanished. Otherwise, he would have captured it for thorough study.

Qin Yun only remembered that the snake was initially gray, almost identical to a common earth snake.

But after moving around for a while, the gray on the snake’s body began to shed, gradually revealing golden rings. Its oval head slowly transformed into a triangular shape.

“Could it be the incredibly venomous lancehead viper? No, its venom is even more potent.”

“Why was its body covered in gray, disguised as an earth snake? Did Liu Ergou and the others disguise the poisonous snake?”

Qin Yun quickly dismissed this idea.

After Liu Dabiao’s death, Chen Yanhong became the backbone of Liu Ergou and the others.

Chen Yanhong had money and connections through her family. Liu Ergou, Liu Dazhu, and the others needed to rely on her to continue their lives.

If she died, Liu Ergou and Liu Dazhu would lose their support and become completely destitute, wandering the streets.

As Qin Yun had anticipated, upon learning of Chen Yanhong’s death from a snakebite, Liu Ergou, Liu Dazhu, and Zhou Cuie’s faces changed drastically. They rushed to Chen Yanhong’s body, crying out in panic and distress.

“Yanhong, Yanhong, you can’t die!”

“If you die, what will we do?”

“Yanhong, wake up!”

“…”

Liu Ergou and the others knelt by the corpse, crying out in terror for over ten minutes. Chen Yanhong remained unresponsive, her body growing colder and stiffer.

They finally believed Qin Yun’s words; their last support, Chen Yanhong, had been poisoned to death.

Without Chen Yanhong, they were helpless and destitute.

Unless a new thug leader took them in, they would likely end up on the streets, begging for food.

Having been thugs for most of their lives, their only skill was eating and drinking; they had no other means of making a living.

Asking them to farm was impossible.

Thinking of their bleak and hopeless future, Liu Ergou and the others gathered around Chen Yanhong’s body, crying sadly and wailing.

Hearing their cries, Qin Yun felt uncomfortable, and his aversion to Liu Ergou and the others dissipated.

“Why did you disguise an incredibly venomous snake as an earth snake and let Yanhong be bitten to blackmail me?”

After their crying subsided, Qin Yun asked, puzzled.

“We didn’t know it was a poisonous snake beforehand, nor did we disguise it as an earth snake.”

“Unless they’re insane, who would let themselves be bitten by a poisonous snake?” Zhou Cuie said.

“If you didn’t disguise it, why did it look like an earth snake?” Qin Yun asked, puzzled.

“That snake was given to us…”

“After Brother Biao died, many enemies he had bullied came looking for Yanhong and us to settle the score. Yanhong compensated them with a lot of money, but they still wouldn’t let it go and wanted Yanhong to give them all her savings.”

“Yanhong couldn’t fight them, so she decided to leave Peach Blossom Village. Before leaving the village, she wanted to get some money. At that time, someone approached her, saying that as long as she could ruin you, she would get a million, and said that you killed Brother Biao.”

“Knowing that you killed Brother Biao, Yanhong and we were very angry, so we agreed to that person’s request and followed his plan to steal cucumbers from the farm.”

“Following his instructions, in the farm’s sandy area, we deliberately left many footprints, and also forged children’s footprints, leaving crimson iron slag at the bottom of each footprint, to lead you here.”

“When you arrived, we used the earth snake left by that person to bite Yanhong, luring you to the shower room to falsely accuse you of peeking at Yanhong’s body…”

“None of us expected that the person left a poisonous snake, which bit Yanhong to death…That guy dared to deceive us, he’ll get what’s coming to him!”

“…”

At this point, Liu Ergou and the others no longer concealed anything and revealed the entire story.

“Where did that person come from? What is their identity? Why would they frame me?” After understanding the situation, Qin Yun’s face darkened.

It turned out that Chen Yanhong and the others were acting under someone’s instructions to set a trap for him.

Who was so vicious?

Suddenly, a name flashed through his mind: Dragon Granny’s Senior Sister.

This name made him nervous.

Dragon Granny’s strength was only slightly inferior to his.

Her Senior Sister must be even more powerful, definitely stronger than him now.

Otherwise, Captain Hao wouldn’t have warned him with such a serious expression.

Back in the village, he had been wary of this person.

Was it really Dragon Granny’s Senior Sister?

However, given the other party’s strength, there was no need to use Chen Yanhong and her gang to frame him; they should have acted directly.

From this perspective, it didn’t seem like Dragon Granny’s Senior Sister.

Qin Yun furrowed his brows, his expression shifting slightly.

At this moment, Liu Ergou’s voice rang out.

He replied, “We don’t know that person’s identity, neither did Yanhong. Everything he told us to do was written down on paper, he never showed his face.”

“So you’ve never seen his face?” Qin Yun asked.

“No, we’ve never seen his face.” Liu Ergou nodded.

He pointed towards the mountain behind the abandoned iron mine and continued, “According to his instructions, after dealing with you, we’d find a way to lure you to that mountain ridge. He would be waiting there and give us the agreed-upon money.”

Qin Yun glanced in the direction he indicated and his face instantly changed.

That mountain ridge was above the abandoned iron mine, overlooking the entire mining area. If Liu Ergou’s words were true, that person was likely watching them from the mountain ridge.

“You’re not lying to me, are you?” Qin Yun stared at Liu Ergou and asked in a low voice.

“Brother Biao and Yanhong are both dead, why would I lie to you?” Liu Ergou’s face was pale and dejected.

Liu Dazhu and Zhou Cuie were the same.

Qin Yun could tell that they weren’t lying this time.

“Didn’t Liu Dabiao have three pork stalls in the county town? Just by managing those three stalls, the money earned in a year would be enough for your expenses. Why did you still covet that guy’s money? In the end, you didn’t get the money, and Yanhong was bitten by a snake.” Qin Yun’s expression softened slightly as he asked.

“Those three stalls and Brother Biao’s other businesses were all taken over by Wang Junjie. He sent someone to tell Yanhong that Brother Biao owed him a large sum of money. Even though Brother Biao is dead, the debt remains, so he used all of Brother Biao’s businesses to settle the debt.”

“Brother Biao was the richest man in our village, with businesses in the countryside and county town. How could he owe money to an outsider? Wang Junjie must have wanted to seize Brother Biao’s property and made up an excuse.”

“Yanhong had already guessed that Wang Junjie was extorting them, but he’s the Young Master of the Wang family in the provincial capital, powerful and influential, and we couldn’t fight him.”

“Sigh! This is all Brother Biao’s fault. We were doing well in the countryside, but he had to go to the county town to curry favor with Wang Junjie, and ended up dying in the county town, losing everything.”

Liu Ergou and the others sighed and groaned, filled with resentment and helplessness.

“It’s too late to complain now. Since you’re all villagers, let me advise you—stop being thugs, settle down in the village, farm, and at least you’ll have food to eat.”

Qin Yun advised kindly.

He sincerely hoped that Liu Ergou and the others would turn over a new leaf.

As long as they could reform, Qin Yun would do his best to help them.

“Farming?”

A look of disdain flashed in Liu Ergou’s eyes, and he shook his head repeatedly. “Farming in this impoverished countryside can only barely provide enough to survive. We would work ourselves to death every day doing hard labor, with no future.”

Liu Dazhu and the others echoed his sentiments.

“Ergou is right, we don’t want to till the land in this poor mountain gully for the rest of our lives.”

“Going out to the world, maybe one day we’ll get rich.”

“…”

Seeing their stubbornness, Qin Yun stopped wasting time.

“Since you want to go out and get rich, I won’t stop you. If you get tired of it and want to come home, the villagers and I will still welcome you.”

With that, he turned and left.

There was likely a pair of eyes hidden on the mountain ridge ahead, watching them. Qin Yun didn’t dare to delay and had to leave quickly.

To avoid alarming the person, Qin Yun didn’t look in that direction the entire time.

After leaving the abandoned mine, he changed direction, dashed into the nearby grassland, lowered his body, and quietly approached the mountain ridge.

Qin Yun was very familiar with every mountain in this area.

Using this advantage, he decided to investigate and see who was trying to harm him.

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