Chapter 83: Ruthless

Even the children, however unwilling, could sense that something was amiss. Since he was just a child, it didn’t matter—helping once or twice was all the same to him, and it certainly wasn’t the first time.

“Grandma, Grandma... Xiaowei is so sleepy now, can Grandma carry me home to sleep?”

The child was a master at pretending; clearly, he had often done such things at home, and it usually worked to coax people around.

No matter how much Qimei disliked it, she still had to care for her grandson. The child had been brought home just in time on the day he was born, and ever since, everything had gone smoothly.

Even though she had endured for many years with her body...

Such a clever, calm, and resourceful young woman—had he recognized her sooner, he too would have been hopelessly ensnared.

On the second floor, the pill furnaces and alchemical cauldrons were clearly of higher grade than those on the first. Some jade bottles and gourds were empty, while others held varying quantities of pills. Three jade caskets sealed with talismanic seals revealed spiritual herbs and grasses within, while jade slips recorded the pill recipes.

“Yes!” Pang De responded, swiftly gathering his men to drive the surrendering Qiang soldiers from the camp in the direction of Linjing.

Once again, the “twang” of bowstrings sounded; four heavy arrows whistled through the air, and four more bandits screamed, rolling on the ground.

Liu Changsheng’s sudden appearance was like a violent wind tearing across a calm lake, stirring the whole Yanhuang City into turmoil. Some rejoiced, others worried, but no one knew that he was uninjured—he was merely training the spirit beast he had acquired from Ren Teng.

A flash of dark light appeared before his eyes—a giant ape’s claw descended from the sky, each talon several feet long and sharp as swords. This time, instead of swatting Liu Changsheng like a mere fly, the claw spread its five fingers wide to seize him, intent on capturing him alive.

Within the tsunami, the power of the Sea Emperor’s Trident surged, countless opposing forces twisting into a vortex, shredding everything in its path.

In contrast, over at Shoushan Manor, there had been ongoing land reclamation and irrigation works. They had built dikes along the inner Baima River, encircling the fields with stone walls and setting up sluice gates. Several ponds were constructed, along with new canals, all said to be lined with stone.

One could see that the figure was none other than Sikong Zhaixing. Yet now, Sikong Zhaixing wore a mask—a black iron mask concealed his entire face, but could not hide the lively cunning in his eyes.

At that time, she had just narrowly escaped Gong Gaochang’s scheme and was heading to the Cheng family’s manor. Suddenly, he appeared, blocking her carriage, awkwardly trying to apologize to her.

Unfortunately, it was only at the hospital that she learned abortions were not expensive, but the post-procedure nutrition fees were astronomical. Without full payment, the hospital simply refused to provide any care.

He had come out to search for his biological mother; but if things here were good, he was willing to stay for the time being.

So, it was normal for some foreign guests to attend such grand events—the real question was their purpose for coming, which was anyone’s guess.

Li Tianxiong quietly triggered the mechanism, pushing a “bear’s head” on the armrest to one side. Instantly, the entire throne rotated open, revealing a passage leading underground.

However, her mother, sensing her hair being pulled downward, yanked even harder, forcing Sun Yingmei to lift her head and face Zhang He directly.

Likewise, if you wanted to raise chickens, ducks, or geese, the state could advance you chicks, ducklings, or goslings. But come autumn, you’d have to supply meat and eggs to the state. Of course, the state wouldn’t take them for free—they’d pay you the official purchase price, never cheating the people out of a cent.

The murky gray-blue irises gradually became entirely covered by a layer of ashen white; the gray swallowed both the whites and the pupils, engulfing them completely.

Later, the old-timers would always say that if only the legion commander had stopped back then, things would have turned out differently.

This was also the only orphanage in the city, located at the very center of the county seat. Yet when I asked the locals, few had heard of it. After a whole morning searching in vain, we finally found the orphanage’s location, only to discover that it had long since ceased to exist.