After He Yunjing left, she was full of complaints on the way back, showing no good expression to her maids who followed her:

“All of you, always instigating me. Today, I made such a fool of myself because of you. When we get back, you’ll have some punishment to eat!”

The maids were all experienced people who had lived for most of their lives and were quite cunning.

They usually flattered this pampered young lady.

As soon as they heard they might be punished, they immediately shifted the blame cleanly: “It’s all because of He Si’s nonsense. I’ll go back and shut his mouth!”

He Si was on duty at the entrance of the Liangyan Mountains today, and he was the one who relayed the news of Qin Zheng and Lin Zhao going to deliver food to the Western Village.

He Yunjing was immediately redirected by anger, saying, “What’s wrong with my foster brother’s men? They caused trouble last night, causing a rift between my father and Big Brother Lin. Today, they come to me with nonsense!”

The maids exchanged glances, everything understood without being said.

One of the maids with a squinting eye said, “The eldest young master is afraid you’ll suffer. You’ve seen that woman’s troublemaking appearance.

If the master really has something to do with her, wouldn’t you be wronged?

What’s the use of a man just being handsome? He needs skills.

Where can her man compare with the master? If she doesn’t have any thoughts about the master, why would she rush to bring food to him?”

He Yunjing thought for a while, finally coming up with what she thought was a brilliant idea: “Then starting tomorrow, I’ll go deliver food to Big Brother Lin. That way, she won’t have a chance to fawn over Big Brother Lin anymore!”

The maid was somewhat dumbfounded and wanted to say something more, but He Yunjing was in a good mood because of the ingenious idea she had come up with.

She walked away happily.

The maid couldn’t understand what went wrong.

She had clearly been trying to sow discord, making He Yunjing gradually believe that there was something between Qin Zheng and Lin Yao.

How did it end up like this?

Back in the Western Village, the maids served He Yunjing to her room to rest, while the squinting-eyed maid avoided others and slipped away.

Most of the men in the Western Village were unmarried, with about a dozen living under one roof.

Wu Xiao didn’t have to squeeze with the lower-ranked men; he lived alone in a room.

When the maid approached, Wu Xiao’s back wounds from the whip had just been treated.

He sat on the mud bed with a gloomy face.

Lin Zhao had broken three of his ribs, and the second master had beaten his whole back until it was covered in cuts and bruises.

He couldn’t lie down comfortably or stand up straight.

Now, even sleeping was difficult for him.

Seeing Wu Xiao, the maid smiled and greeted him deferentially: “Master Wu.”

Wu Xiao was shirtless, his muscles clearly defined, like a small mountain.

He glanced at the maid with a dark expression: “Did the miss go to the Eastern Village to cause trouble for that woman?”

The maid nervously admitted it, but didn’t dare to reveal the whole truth.

A sinister smile spread across Wu Xiao’s face: “Did Lin Yao quarrel with her?”

The maid shook her head.

Seeing Wu Xiao’s cold expression, she hurriedly said, “The master went to repair the bridge today. If something happened in the village, he wouldn’t know so quickly.”

Lin Yao only mentioned a third of the goods at the victory banquet.

Transporting the entire cargo of two large ships from the shallow waters to the village on their shoulders would take at least two to three days.

The second master wasn’t stupid.

Lin Yao only mentioned a small portion of the goods, and they couldn’t take that long to transport.

Lin Yao proposed repairing the bridge to save unloading time.

Wu Xiao wouldn’t miss this opportunity.

He would choose to make money for himself rather than for others.

He had secretly reached a deal with the river bandits.

He delayed the construction of the bridge while the river bandits searched the nearby waters of Liangyan Mountain for the two hidden ships.

After the deal was done, he would receive thirty percent of the total cargo on the ships.

Last night, he had sent someone to assassinate someone surnamed Cheng, claiming to fear the Eastern Village becoming stronger was just an excuse.

Cheng had killed so many of the river bandits that they wanted him to help get rid of Cheng as an additional condition for getting his share of the cargo.

He didn’t expect Cheng to be so lucky, escaping the assassination and implicating him instead.

However, Lin Yao was skilled in martial arts and had brought Cheng on board.

He was the best fighter in the Western Village.

Despite suspecting him of disloyalty, the second master had still protected him in the ancestral hall last night to preserve the strength against the Eastern Village.

Wu Xiao had taken advantage of the second master’s thinking.

When questioned by the second master upon his return, he made up a story about killing Cheng for the sake of the Western Village.

He pretended that the information about Lin Yao’s large quantity of hidden goods had been obtained from the three people who died last night, leaving no evidence against him.

But the second master was no fool.

Without solid evidence, he didn’t confront Lin Yao directly.

He just had Foreman Feng pretend to be sick and put the bridge construction on hold, waiting for Lin Yao to reveal himself.

This suited Wu Xiao’s purposes perfectly. Since the bridge in the Eastern Village couldn’t be built, and he needed to get the thirty percent of the cargo promised by the river bandits, all he needed to do now was kill Cheng.

He deliberately made He Yunjing misunderstand the relationship between Qin Zheng and Lin Yao and incited the maid beside He Yunjing to stir up trouble with Cheng.

His biggest goal was to turn Cheng against Lin Yao.

After all, no man could tolerate his woman being unfaithful.

Whether Lin Yao killed Cheng or Cheng killed Lin Yao, it would suit him!

Wu Xiao’s eyes gleamed with the self-satisfaction of a perfectly executed plan.

Eastern Village Kitchen.

As twilight descended, several torches were lit on the dam outside the kitchen, illuminating the surroundings.

Lin Yao and the brothers who had worked all day on the bridge repairs each held a large bowl, silently eating their meals, none of them uttering a word, the atmosphere heavy.

Mrs. Wang carried a basin of stewed meat out and, seeing the scene, didn’t say much, only asking when adding rice for Wang Biao, “What’s wrong with the village chief and the brothers?”

Wang Biao’s face still bore dried mud, and he grumbled, “After the confrontation between the elder brother and the second master in the ancestral hall last night, Foreman Feng, responsible for repairing the bridge, claimed illness and didn’t show up this morning. Isn’t that giving face to the village chief?”

“Elder brother led the brothers to work hard all day, but still couldn’t figure out how to repair that thing.

Just now, the village chief sent someone to see Foreman Feng, but the Western Village directly refused entry and said what?

They want to split the goods they robbed this time with us fifty-fifty.

They just consider it. They come up with one person from their Western Village, just by moving their lips, they make our Eastern Village brothers do the hard labor and want to take away fifty percent of the goods we robbed. They damn dare say!”

Wang Biao was so angry that he couldn’t eat anymore, and he directly put down his bowl. “I really want to kill those bastards!”

Mrs. Wang pushed the bowl over. “Eat first. Tomorrow morning, I’ll go to the Western Village to talk to the second master.”

“What’s the use?” Wang Biao was full of frustration. “Mother, don’t meddle. Elder brother has enough troubles these days.”

Mrs. Wang glanced at Lin Yao, who was sitting outside silently eating his meal, and sighed inwardly.

The old village chief had passed away early, and the second master was eyeing the position.

It wasn’t easy for Lin Yao to hold onto this village.

When Wang Biao returned to the outer table with his bowl, he whispered to Lin Yao, “Elder brother, if we don’t repair this bridge, so what? If the second master knows we’ve falsified the amount of goods, can he still come and forcibly take them?”

Lin Yao had finished his meal.

He put down his bowl, and the inch-long scar on his face looked somewhat grim in the firelight. “The river bandits are already eyeing this area around Liangyan Mountain. If we don’t transport the goods back to the village soon, if they come over, Qi Yun Village won’t be able to attack them, but we might not be able to hold onto those two ships’ cargo.”

Hearing this, Wang Biao realized the urgency of repairing the bridge and couldn’t help but curse.

“Brother!” Lin Zhao’s voice suddenly came from afar.

Lin Yao raised his head irritably, only to see Lin Zhao running over in a hurry.

After sitting down, she shouted to the kitchen first, “Mrs. Wang, three taels of preserved meat noodles!”

Seeing her sweating profusely, Lin Yao asked with a serious face, “Where did you go down the mountain at this hour? You’re only back now?”

After Lin Zhao sent Qin Zheng back to the courtyard in the afternoon, she went down the mountain again, purely to better conceal her involvement in planning with Qin Zheng.

It was a bit hot running all the way here, and she fanned herself with her hand. “Those bastards in the Western Village are just waiting to see us make a fool of ourselves, aren’t they? How could I let them have their way? Naturally, I went down the mountain to find a foreman who can repair the bridge!”

The mountain below was in chaos, and anyone who understood these things was probably taken to the army camp to build defenses.