After vaulting the wall to get in, he deliberately made a noise, scaring away the hurried footsteps. Hua Yusen didn’t open the gate; instead, he vaulted back over the wall and gave chase.

Only after running a good distance and feeling certain no one was following did the two men stop, panting for breath.

"Damn, I’m telling you, that Hua fellow is way too alert," one of the men said. It was none other than Wang Dadan.

"Yeah, I told you last time. I’d barely made it to the top of the wall when he spotted me, but you wouldn’t believe it," said Li Siming. "Yang Guanghui is a volunteer too, but compared to that Hua fellow, he’s complete trash."

So these two had come to the Dragon King Temple again at night to snoop around.

"Yep. One whack with a stick would knock him out. Absolutely useless," Wang Dadan said scornfully. "He’s on alert over there now. We probably won’t find anything useful if we go back. How about we just head home?"

Li Siming wasn’t having it. "Just now, I clearly saw Hua Yusen’s ox-cart was loaded with stuff—several large sacks!" he said urgently. "I don’t know what was in them, but it’s definitely not something a mere volunteer could afford. There’s something very wrong here."

"Are... are you sure you saw that correctly?" Wang Dadan retorted, his confidence wavering. He had been outsmarted by these young people several times now, and he no longer dared to be as arrogant as before. "If we get this wrong, we’ll be like rats in the street that everyone wants a piece of."

Li Siming frowned, clearly unhappy that Wang Dadan doubted him. "I’m not blind," he shot back. "I saw it plain as day. If the ox-cart was empty, why didn’t Hua Yusen take it straight to Miao Dahai’s place?"

"Oh, right!" It dawned on Wang Dadan that Li Siming had a point. "If he were taking it straight to Miao Dahai, there’d be no reason to detour to the Dragon King Temple. Several big sacks, you said? Do you think it could be grain?"

"Judging by the creaking of the cart, it sounded like it was carrying three or four hundred pounds. I think it has to be grain." Li Siming mused for a moment. "Yes, it must be grain. But what’s he doing with so much of it? He can’t possibly eat it all! The real question is, where did he get it?"

After he finished speaking, Li Siming looked at Wang Dadan.

A storm raged in both their hearts as they remembered the man from the county seat, the one who’d ordered them to torment those men.

They weren’t idiots; they knew those men were not to be trifled with. When important people fall on hard times, some will be there to kick them while they’re down, but it’s only natural that others will be there to offer a helping hand and provide protection from the shadows.

"Are you saying that Hua fellow was sent to protect those old geezers?" Wang Dadan asked. "It can’t be a coincidence, what do you think?"

Li Siming nodded. "That’s what I think too. In any case, they won’t be able to eat all that grain in a short time. Let’s go back and plan properly how we’re going to search the Dragon King Temple! Once we find that grain, let’s see how Hua Yusen explains it! Then, it’ll be our word that matters! Dong Sanshu is auditing my books, so I probably can’t stay on as the accountant. But Wu Dazhu is a nobody—a total blockhead. With you as the director, things will be much easier for us."

Wang Dadan was delighted to hear this; Li Siming always knew what to say. He nodded. "But of course. Once that happens, I’ll have people patrolling around the Dragon King Temple day and night. We’ll see how that Hua fellow can keep hopping around then." Wang Dadan chuckled smugly. "But don’t you worry. Once I’m director and my position is secure, I’ll dig up some dirt on Dong Sanshu and make sure you get to be the accountant again."

Accountant Li had been waiting for Wang Dadan to say just that. He nodded. "Good. Then it’s a deal. We’ll take it one step at a time. We can’t be as hasty as we were before."

"Right. Haste makes waste. This time, we must have a foolproof plan before we make a move..." Wang Dadan no longer dared to be so arrogant. If he hadn’t let lust cloud his judgment the last two times, he wouldn’t have acted so rashly and left behind such a huge mess.

Not only had he failed to get the prize, but he’d also lost his official position. Now it was incredibly inconvenient to get anything done. The frustration was killing him.

Hearing Wang Dadan and Li Siming’s conversation, Hua Yusen sneered. ’Give you time to plot? Why would I make things difficult for myself?’

So Hua Yusen quietly tailed Wang Dadan and Li Siming. As they were crossing a log bridge, he picked two stones off the ground and hurled them at their legs.

Hua Yusen, with his special training and superb technique, unleashed one hundred percent of his usual Power, striking Wang Dadan and Li Siming’s legs with pinpoint accuracy.

All that could be heard were two pained cries of "AHH! AHH!", followed by two loud THUDS as they hit the riverbed.

Ha! That log bridge was a shortcut to the village, suspended four or five meters above the bottom of the ravine. Even though it was winter and the shallow water below was frozen solid, after a fall like that, it would be a miracle if Wang Dadan and Li Siming didn’t break a few bones.

Hua Yusen slipped away, paying no mind to the howling cries of Wang Dadan and Li Siming. ’Even if they freeze to death, what’s it to me? I returned the ox-cart and went back to the Dragon King Temple. I didn’t see anyone at all.’

’Plausible deniability. Anyone can play that game!’

’Besides, no one saw me throw those stones. If I just deny everything, nothing will happen!’

Down in the ravine, Wang Dadan was screaming in agony. He glared at Li Siming, who had landed behind him. "Falling on your own would have been one thing, but why did you have to grab me! Great. Now we’ve both fallen. I think my ankle’s twisted... maybe even broken. AHH, mother of god, it hurts!"

"HSSS..." Li Siming gasped, struggling to speak. "My ankle... I think something hit it. That’s why I fell. My mind went blank; I just instinctively reached for something to grab. I didn’t mean to pull you down with me!"

Hearing Li Siming’s words, Wang Dadan tried to recall the moment of the fall. He thought he might have felt something hit his leg too, but he had been so focused on Li Siming grabbing him that he hadn’t really registered it.

"If that’s the case, then we didn’t fall off that bridge by accident," Wang Dadan said, a chill running down his spine. "I think someone was following us. They might have been trying to kill us..."

"Kill us?" Li Siming started, then shook his head vigorously. "No way. Taking a life is a huge deal. You can’t just kill someone whenever you feel like it. Even when the higher-ups told us to give those guys a hard time, they never said anything about killing them. But who in this village would have the nerve to attack us?"

"Who else could it be?" Wang Dadan snapped. "It’s got to be that Hua fellow! AGH, it hurts, it hurts! I can’t walk. Can you get up? If you can stand, hurry and get help from the village! I think my leg is really broken!"