46: A bountiful harvest/a sudden drop in temperature

On the open ground outside the brick house on the mountaintop.

Crippled Wang and his subordinates stood in a circle, holding guns.

Inside the circle were several corpses, and a man, tied up and kneeling on the ground.

He was about forty years old, his mouth sealed shut with a cloth strip, unable to speak, glaring fiercely at the people around him.

Seeing Jiang Fei return, Crippled Wang’s eyes narrowed into slits as he smiled, unable to contain his joy: “Boss, look who I caught!”

“The Third Leader of Tiger Suppression Gang!”

“Last time at the Dongshan factory, I let this guy get away, but I didn’t expect him to come to the farm tonight. My brothers and I tied him up directly!”

At this, Crippled Wang spat at the Third Leader: “It was this guy who cuckolded me for a whole year! He finally fell into my hands!”

“Scar! Sharpen a cleaver for me! I’m going to castrate this old bastard!”

Jiang Fei had no interest in staying to watch. Just as she was about to return to the brick house, she suddenly glimpsed Ling Zhaorui standing at the doorway, staring intently at the Third Leader, his eyes bloodshot and ferocious.

“You know him?”

Ling Zhaorui gritted his teeth: “He’s the one who killed my parents and took over my family’s house! And there’s another person besides him!”

“He’s older than him! He wears a golden snake earring on his right ear!”

Crippled Wang wasn’t far and also heard Ling Zhaorui’s words. After a moment of thought, he said: “The person you’re talking about is the Second Leader of Tiger Suppression Gang. Only he likes to wear golden snakes.”

“But I advise you to give up. Tiger Suppression Gang has many people and great power, and they often change their hideouts. Even I don’t dare to confront them directly, let alone you.”

“Even if the Boss helps you, there’s a high probability of failure.”

Knowing that Crippled Wang was speaking the truth, Ling Zhaorui clenched his jaw, not saying a word.

Jiang Fei looked at Crippled Wang: “After he’s castrated, let him cut him a few times. I don’t want those three boxes of food for the pigs anymore; consider it a thank-you gift.”

She couldn’t impulsively take risks to help Ling Zhaorui get revenge, disregarding the safety of Xiao Chuxia and Lu Yu, to confront Tiger Suppression Gang.

At most, if she encountered the Second Leader in the future, she would find a way to deliver his life to Ling Zhaorui.

“The food is your rightful reward. Boss, if you’re being polite with me, you’re not treating me as a friend.”

Crippled Wang did not accept Jiang Fei’s suggestion. He pulled out a knife, skillfully castrated the Third Leader, and then handed the knife to Ling Zhaorui: “The rest is up to you.”

Ling Zhaorui trembled as he took the knife, walking step by step towards the fallen Third Leader. Suddenly, as if insane, he pounced on him, stabbing the knife into his chest again and again.

Accompanying this was a hysterical cry.

Everyone couldn’t clearly hear what Ling Zhaorui was shouting, only that his roars were filled with despair and rage.

Since Jiang Fei rescued him, Ling Zhaorui had been suppressing his emotions, and today they were finally released.

Understanding that Ling Zhaorui was venting, Xiao Chuxia and Lu Yu, who had been drawn out by the sound, did not try to stop him, nor did anyone else.

Everyone consciously returned to their rooms, leaving the space to Ling Zhaorui.

—

Two days later.

The temperature plummeted, and the wind on the mountaintop became bitingly cold.

Crippled Wang and his subordinates had finished curing half of the wild boar meat. They also found large sealed bags and plastic bags to pack the portion belonging to Jiang Fei’s team.

Each bag could hold ten catties, totaling 32 bags, which meant 8 bags for each of Jiang Fei’s four people.

To avoid attracting attention, Crippled Wang packed the wild boar meat into boxes.

His subordinates also finished organizing 22 boxes of supplies. With the wild boar meat, there were a total of 30 large boxes.

Compared to the thin jackets of the previous two days, everyone was now wearing thick clothes and hats.

Crippled Wang, who was afraid of the cold, even put on a padded jacket.

“Boss, your rubber boats won’t be able to carry all these things. I’ll have A Meng bring people to take you back.”

“Scar and I won’t see you off. There’s still pork that hasn’t been processed here, so we have to stay.”

Crippled Wang couldn’t help but curse: “This damn weather, it was fine yesterday, but today it’s so cold?”

“I just checked the outdoor thermometer, and it’s minus 3 degrees Celsius. I thought winter had arrived.”

“Don’t go out much recently,” Jiang Fei instructed, preparing to move things down the mountain. But she stopped as she passed the small brick house and asked Lu Yu.

“How is Ling Zhaorui?”

That day, after Ling Zhaorui killed the Third Leader, he locked himself in the brick house.

Lu Yu went back to rest and tried to communicate with him, but Ling Zhaorui chose to remain silent.

“He didn’t talk to me today either…”

Creak—the wooden door of the brick house opened.

Ling Zhaorui, dressed in warm clothes, looked haggard but had a smile on his face: “Sister Jiang, I’ll help move the boxes.”

“With so many supplies this time, we won’t have to worry for a while.”

Ling Zhaorui eagerly went to move the boxes, also warmly thanking the subordinates.

Jiang Fei couldn’t help but poke Xiao Chuxia beside her, whispering: “Do you think he looks normal?”

Xiao Chuxia: “Not normal. It feels like he’s been stimulated.”

Lu Yu: “At least he’s willing to speak now.”

Suddenly, Ling Zhaorui turned his head.

The three instantly fell silent.

“Sister Jiang, Brother Lu, Chu Xia, you don’t have to worry about me. I killed an enemy, and now I feel incredibly relieved.”

“I’m not stupid. Before I have absolute strength, I won’t secretly go to Tiger Suppression Gang for revenge, nor will I ruin my body.”

Ling Zhaorui clenched his fists: “That Second Leader is already forty or fifty years old, unlike me, who is young and strong. At worst, I’ll outlive him!”

“That’s more like it,” Crippled Wang said, putting an arm around Ling Zhaorui’s shoulder:

“I’ll keep an eye on the Second Leader for you. If he ever gets separated, I’ll tell you, and you can finish him off.”

Ling Zhaorui: “Thank you, Brother Wang!”

Seeing the two start calling each other brothers, seemingly about to become sworn brothers, Jiang Fei silently pulled Ling Zhaorui away.

She didn’t want to become Ling Zhaorui’s “bonus item” and be recognized as Crippled Wang’s sister.

—

The 30 large boxes almost filled all of Crippled Wang’s rubber boats and assault boats.

If he hadn’t brought so many watercraft, Jiang Fei and the others wouldn’t have been able to transport all the supplies at once.

The temperature at the foot of the mountain was higher than on the summit, but the cool breeze made people shiver.

The only relief was that the water surface hadn’t frozen.

Water snakes were mostly gone, with only a few insects and mosquitoes remaining.

Jiang Fei and her group arrived at Yulan Yuan Building A already in the evening.

The community people were not present, and those who originally lived in the corridor had been arranged into empty rooms.

Coupled with everyone deliberately treading lightly and carefully moving supplies upstairs, no one else was awakened.

The subordinates helped move the boxes and then left.

Jiang Fei closed the electric gate on the 22nd floor and distributed the supplies with Lu Yu and the other two.

“Vegetables don’t last long, so you all take some and eat them as soon as possible.”

While moving boxes on the mountain, Jiang Fei had secretly replaced the contents with vegetables grown in the Supermarket.

The Supermarket’s vegetables were beneficial to the human body, and she wanted her teammates to try them too.

Lu Yu chose some vegetables for everyone, then took out their respective supplies for exchange.

It took nearly an hour for the four to finish exchanging supplies.

Jiang Fei didn’t ask for any warm items, only took some medicine, and returned to 2202, leaving Lu Yu and the other two to continue organizing in the corridor.

Jiang Fei entered the Supermarket warehouse to check the harvest from this trip.

Excluding what was found in the large warehouse and what was given to her teammates.

There were still 150 boxes of hundred-round bullets, 30 handguns, 5 submachine guns, 30 barrels of hundred-liter gasoline, 30 barrels of hundred-liter diesel, 8 large bags of salted wild boar meat, and 10 packs of 20 eggs.

1 box of coal, 2 boxes of medicine, all anti-inflammatory and fever-reducing drugs.

It was worth it!

Every time she saw Xiao Jin Yang, she would have a bountiful harvest!

Wanting to try the agricultural machinery, Jiang Fei didn’t rest. She chose a large tilling machine, filled it with diesel, and drove it out of the warehouse to the designated planting area outside the Supermarket.

When she previously learned about planting from Ling Zhaorui, Jiang Fei also asked about the use of agricultural machinery.

Although she was unskilled at first, she quickly found the knack.

In just over two hours, the area of tilled land was as large as the entire planting zone.

She had originally taken several days to till the planting zone!

Jiang, the old ox, Fei, affectionately touched the tilling machine, then switched to other agricultural machinery and began planting.

As for the fruit trees, Jiang Fei didn’t move them. Firstly, she couldn’t move them, and secondly, she was afraid of damaging the roots. She installed fences around them in situ, designating this area as the fruit zone.

With Supermarket carrots to replenish her energy, Jiang Fei worked through the night, planting ginger, garlic, eggplant, radish, snap peas, and oilseed rape.

By the time Jiang Fei finished and exited the Supermarket, it was already the afternoon of the next day, having consumed two barrels of diesel.

Agricultural machinery was great in every way, except that it consumed too much fuel.

Jiang Fei lamented, then went to the bedroom to catch up on sleep.

After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Fei was woken up by the cold.