4: Chapter 4: Going all out is the way of a womanizer!

"Sister-in-law..." Qin Feng's Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty, his voice hoarse to a frightening degree. "Don't joke around. If Big Brother Ji finds out, he'll definitely skin me alive."

Although his mouth spoke words of fear, Qin Feng's gaze remained locked onto Wu Mengmeng's translucent hempen clothes, soaked through by the water.

Her proud curves and blindingly white skin were like a whirlpool capable of sucking a man's Soul in.

"Look at how pathetic you are."

Wu Mengmeng was not angry; instead, she gave him a coquettish roll of her eyes and proactively took half a step forward.

The distance between the two instantly shrank to less than a foot...

Her warm breath was like a faint electric current, instantly shattering the last line of defense of Qin Feng's rationality.

Screw the rules, screw Ji Boxiao!

I've lived two lifetimes, living like a dog at the bottom for fifteen years. As the saying goes, 'To die beneath the peony, even as a ghost, one remains a romantic!'

Do it!!!

"I want to!"

Qin Feng gritted his teeth, squeezing the word out through them. His hands rose uncontrollably, wanting to wrap around her willow waist, which could be grasped in one hand.

Creak. The courtyard's dilapidated wooden door let out a slight whine, kicking up a cloud of dust...

"Damn it, how truly unlucky. I searched for half a day and found nothing. Unlucky!"

Accompanied by a burst of exasperated complaining, a cursing figure stumbled into the courtyard.

Qin Feng shuddered, his hands, still in mid-air, snapping back as if he had been electrocuted.

Wu Mengmeng was also startled. The flush on her face had not yet faded, and she hurriedly turned around, pretending to vigorously scrub clothes by the well, her movements incredibly stiff.

"Big... Big Brother Ji, you're back..." Qin Feng forced down his wildly beating heart, his palms slick with cold sweat, as he stuttered a greeting.

"When did you little bastard crawl back?!"

Ji Boxiao rushed to Qin Feng in two or three strides, grabbing him by the collar and demanding, "Where is the 'xiongfeng powder' I told you to buy?! Where the hell did you die, taking so long?!"

Qin Feng felt his scalp tingle and could only bite the bullet, whispering, "Big Brother Ji... the Trading Shop had already closed. I climbed over the wall into the backyard to beg them to sell it, but I was almost caught by Steward Wang... I didn't get the medicine..."

He omitted the kick he received from Steward Wang Taian, because to Ji Boxiao, it would only sound like he was making excuses.

Leaders only ever care about results; the leaders in this world are the same damn way!

"You didn't buy it?!"

Ji Boxiao's voice instantly rose by eight octaves, like a screaming chicken that had its tail stepped on.

He violently shoved Qin Feng to the ground and roared hysterically, "You're a grown man, and you can't even buy a pack of medicine! What's the use of me keeping a dog like you?!"

His physical inadequacy was originally the most sensitive and inferior pain point in Ji Boxiao's heart.

Just when he desperately needed to prove himself, he kept hitting walls, and a surge of evil fire completely burned away his rationality.

"Trash, absolute trash!"

Ji Boxiao paced back and forth in the courtyard like a madman, kicking over an empty wooden bucket nearby. "I provide you with food and housing, I provide you with protection, and yet you can't even handle this tiny bit of business! What is the point of me keeping a freeloader like you?!"

Qin Feng sat slumped in the muddy water, not making a sound, only silently clenching his fists.

"Big Brother Ji, I really tried my best tonight. The Trading Shop has strict rules, as you know..." Qin Feng still wanted to try and plead his case.

"Shut up, I don't want to hear your excuses!"

Ji Boxiao turned around abruptly, his face livid. Staring daggers at Qin Feng, he gritted his teeth and said word by word, "Starting tomorrow, get out of this courtyard. I don't keep useless people here!"

Once these words were spoken, the entire courtyard fell into instant silence.

Wu Mengmeng, standing to the side, stopped scrubbing the clothes and turned her head slightly.

Qin Feng felt completely numb; his brain went blank for a brief moment.

Get out?

These three words seemed simple, but in Servant District 666 of the Hehuan Sect, for a Menial Laborer, it was equivalent to a direct death sentence!

Although he was currently working like a beast of burden for Ji Boxiao and was a Menial Laborer without any dignity, at least he had a "boss" for protection.

In Ji Boxiao's courtyard, although he did a lot of work and ate leftovers, as long as he didn't leave this courtyard, he wouldn't be beaten to death for no reason, and his monthly servant coins tax was paid on his behalf from Ji Boxiao's income.

This kind of treatment seemed inhumane, but compared to independent Menial Laborers without any support, it was much better!

Because in the strict rules of Servant District 666, if a Menial Laborer lost the protection of a Middle-tier Servant or Upper-tier Servant, they would be immediately assigned to the most marginal and chaotic "Menial Laborer Thatched Hut Residential Area"!

That place wasn't even called a residence; it was a shantytown built from moldy thatch and branches, leaking wind on all sides and overflowing with sewage.

But that wasn't even the most lethal part.

The most lethal part was that once one became an independent Menial Laborer, they had to seek their own way to survive and pay a tax of exactly 50 servant coins to the management office every month!

50 servant coins!

A Middle-tier Servant like Ji Boxiao, who had a fixed territory, only had a gross daily income of 10 coins.

If it came to savings, a Middle-tier Servant couldn't even accumulate 50 coins a month after deducting taxes.

And where would a Menial Laborer get such a huge sum?

The only way out was to take the high-risk menial labor jobs issued centrally—the Ling Mine pits, or go to the Earth Fire Room to forge iron!

The Ling Mine pits were full of toxic gas and hidden passages that could collapse at any time; the high temperatures in the Earth Fire Room could bake a person's moisture dry alive.

Working in those two places didn't treat people like human beings at all; they were treated entirely as consumables.

The mortality rate for Menial Laborers who went in to work was as high as fifty percent.

Remember, that's a fifty percent attrition rate every month!

If ten people went in, five coming out alive each month would be considered a blessing. The problem was that the surviving laborers had to continue working the next month.

Because a Menial Laborer's income was three servant coins a day, working for a month was just enough for one month...

"Big Brother Ji... you can't do this..."

Qin Feng's voice finally couldn't help but tremble. Unable to care about fear anymore, he stood up abruptly. "The spiritual fields and house my parents left behind are all yours. I've worked for you for free for fifteen years. If you kick me out now, you're just sending me to my death!"

"Sent to your death? That's what you deserve, you trash!"

Ji Boxiao sneered, his face full of gloom and heartlessness. "Your parents are long dead. You worked for me for free? If they hadn't promised to give me the house and the spiritual land, I wouldn't have raised you for fifteen years for nothing! What, still want to linger and not leave?"

As he spoke, Ji Boxiao strode to the corner of the courtyard, grabbed the tattered straw mat Qin Feng usually slept on and a patch-filled bundle, and slammed them onto Qin Feng like he was throwing out trash.

"Take your junk and get out! If I see you in the courtyard tomorrow at daybreak, I'll break your dog legs and throw you into the mass grave."

Ji Boxiao panted heavily, as if venting all of tonight's humiliation and unwillingness onto Qin Feng.

After venting, he didn't even look again, turned his head, and roared viciously at Wu Mengmeng, "What are you looking at! Go to sleep."

"Mm."

Wu Mengmeng pursed her lips, stood up slowly, and wiped her hands.

"Bang!"

The door was slammed shut furiously by Ji Boxiao, emitting a deafening dull thud.

Wu Mengmeng was also startled by the sudden turn of events and shrank her neck. She looked at the closed room door, stuck out her tongue in slight embarrassment, and slightly parted her red lips. Using a lip-reading motion that only the two of them could understand, she softly conveyed a sentence: "Perfect. Wait until tomorrow when you've been assigned your own Menial Laborer thatched hut... Sister-in-law will sneak over to see you..."

After speaking, a meaningful curve tugged at the corner of her lips. She strode towards the room; the door creaked open and then clicked shut again.