Flat Rabbit began to sense something was off.
"Eh? Wait a second… Isn't he the guy Mr. Bai recruited from Heyang County? Why is he protecting your Zheng Village now?"
Zheng Gouzi replied, "He's from Wangjia Village."
Sweat rolled down Flat Rabbit's temple. "Wangjia Village? Don't tell me… that Wangjia Village?"
"Exactly that one," said Zheng Gouzi.
Flat Rabbit's eyes widened. "Your village's big brother calls him big brother too? You're from Zhengjia Village—your boss is Zheng Yanfu, right? And he's Zheng Yanfu's big brother… from Wangjia Village… Wait, wait—don't tell me he's the Wang Er of Bashui?"
Zheng Gouzi chuckled. "Heh, Rabbit Lord, you may be dumb, but you're not stupid."
Flat Rabbit let out a sharp yelp and suddenly spun around, bolting toward Wang Er's direction. Back when he'd beaten up that government officer and fled the village, calling himself Flat Rabbit and "roaming the land in the name of justice," it was all because he wanted to follow in Wang Er's footsteps.
He'd never imagined their reunion would happen here, and like this.
Panting, he rushed up to Wang Er, dropped to his knees with a loud thud, and blurted out, "Big Brother Wang, forgive this fool for being blind and disrespectful earlier! Please—give me a good beating if you must!"
Wang Er smiled, understanding immediately that Flat Rabbit had recognized him. He helped him up. "Don't. My identity can't be revealed carelessly, or it'll bring trouble to Gaojia Village."
Flat Rabbit stiffened, glanced around nervously, and quickly stood at attention. His eyes, however, were full of admiration. He wanted to serve tea, pour water—anything—but there was nothing in his hands.
"I… I…" he stammered. "I left my village back then because I wanted to follow you, Big Brother Wang, to conquer the world! That's still what I want."
Wang Er shook his head with a faint, distant tone. "Conquer the world? That dream of mine was all wrong. Flat Rabbit, you should treasure what you have now. This—this is the real world worth fighting for."
This is the real world worth fighting for.
Those words struck Flat Rabbit to his core.
Yes. These past few years he hadn't been with the man he idolized most, but following Dao Xuan Tianzun was no worse. Here, there were no corrupt officials abusing their power, no landlords oppressing the weak, no bloodthirsty bandits.
Here, he'd already done so much—living out his simple, honest sense of justice.
Wang Er patted him heavily on the shoulder. "I wish I could be you."
With that, he walked past Flat Rabbit and disappeared into the distance.
Flat Rabbit turned, staring at Wang Er's back for a long time.
Then Bai Mao walked by and deliberately bumped him.
Thump!
Flat Rabbit fell on his butt again.
Bai Mao laughed and followed after Wang Er.
Flat Rabbit sat there for a while, then suddenly grinned. He was at peace at last. The regret of never having followed Wang Er vanished like smoke.
…
Flat Rabbit's guess had been right.
When Yizhangqing returned to prison, the other inmates quickly surrounded her.
"Girl, did they torture you?"
"Did they hurt you?"
Many of the labor convicts had lost husbands or sons to the Gaojia Village militia. They secretly admired what Yizhangqing had done, and seeing her brought back alive, they were genuinely concerned.
She sighed. "Thank you, everyone. I'm fine. Gaojia Village didn't harm me—just added ten more years to my sentence."
"What?"
Yizhangqing held her head in her hands. "I… I spoke with an immortal… and what he said made sense. My mind's all messed up now."
The prisoners looked at one another. "Girl, tell us what the immortal said."
And thus, the seed Li Daoxuan had planted in the labor camp began quietly to sprout.
…
Early the next morning, Li Daoxuan was eating dragon wontons when someone started pounding on Gao Fort's main gate. It was a woman—Chunhong.
Chunhong was the first of the four female secretaries to be sent out for independent work. She managed the Gaojia Village Cloth House, an enterprise run entirely by women.
Though it seemed like just a small shop in the Gao business circle, it was connected to nearly every woman in the village—and through them, to every household's men. The power of the Cloth House was not to be underestimated.
Chunhong had once been a pitiful courtesan. Now, she'd risen to become a leader of a key department—a complete transformation of her fate.
She no longer wore seductive clothing. Dressed in plain fabric garments, her beauty carried a calm dignity. Many men pursued her, but she avoided them all, knowing her past and keeping her life simple and humble.
Li Daoxuan hadn't paid her much attention lately, so seeing her urgently pounding the gate took him by surprise.
The guards on the wall quickly opened the door and let her in.
Chunhong ran straight to the council hall.
At the time, Shansier was in the middle of a meeting with a group of advisers. Once, he had managed all of Gaojia Village alone. Then, as affairs multiplied, Tan Liwen joined him. But even two people weren't enough, so Tan Liwen recruited a team of clerks.
Now the administrative office of Gaojia Village had grown into a full department, with people handling different sectors—commerce, agriculture, roadwork, and more.
ShanSier was busier than Liang Shixian by far. Liang only governed the "traditional" Chengcheng County, where farming was the main concern. But Shan Sier oversaw the "newly rising" Gaojia Village, full of strange innovations—and Dao Xuan Tianzun often assigned new, baffling projects that left him scrambling for days.
And today, another one had arrived.
Chunhong burst into the hall, breathless. "Third Administrator, bad news!"
ShanSier looked up. "What's wrong? Some thugs causing trouble at the Cloth House?"
Chunhong shook her head. "Nothing so small!"
"Then what could it be? It's just a cloth shop."
She took a deep breath. "We're out of alkali!"
Shan Sier froze. "Alkali?"
"Yes—alkali!"
Tan Liwen and the others exchanged puzzled looks. "Why would your shop need alkali?"
Chunhong gave a helpless sigh. "A bunch of men who know nothing about weaving! You need a lot of alkali for textile processing. When we wove by hand before, it was slow, so our supply lasted. But now that the steam engines are running—oh heavens, the speed is insane! Our alkali stock is completely gone!"