Chapter 230: Chapter 230: The Best Strategy is to Retreat - Part 1
"Gu poison!" Qin Feng blurted out these two words.
This answer stunned Xue Xiaochan.
"What did you say? Are you saying that the taro chicken was poisoned by Sheng Cuifang with Gu poison? Is there really such a thing as Gu poison in the world?
Since you’ve seen she used Gu poison to harm us, why didn’t you expose her and still paid her for the meal?"
Xiaochan looked at Qin Feng with a perplexed face, waiting for his explanation.
"Sheng Cuifang is just a vendor selling taro chicken; how could she know anything about Gu poison? The Gu poison was not placed by her but inherently present on the chickens she sold.
Didn’t she say that the big roosters in the cages were all raised on insects? These insects they ate were all Gu worms.
As for Sheng Cuifang, she probably knew nothing about it.
You said the miners at the mine got strange illnesses, most likely related to Gu poison."
"Even if what you’re saying is right, is this how you cure someone of Gu poison? Your technique looks so practiced—are you telling me you’ve done this before with other pretty girls?"
"Yes! I’ve done it with other pretty girls, and I did it exactly like this."
Qin Feng used his finger to poke lightly.
"Ah!"
Xiaochan let out a cry, then glared at Qin Feng with a flushed face, pouting and scolding, "Stop fooling around and drive properly! Keep messing around like this, and you’ll ditch the car!"
...
Half an hour later, the jeep arrived at Qiuniu Gold Mine.
Xue Xiaochan had contacted them earlier, and the general manager, Wang Fugui, was already waiting at the entrance.
As soon as he saw the jeep approaching, Wang Fugui hurriedly came to welcome them.
"Mr. Xue, it’s good you’ve come to take charge of the situation."
"What exactly is going on?"
"I don’t know the specifics, but over the past two months, the miners have been suffering from inexplicable diarrhea, vomiting and purging.
At first, I thought there was an issue with the food in the canteen, so I checked daily, but the food has no problems!
We sent the miners to the hospital for checks, and nothing could be found.
Out of the more than three hundred employees at Qiuniu Gold Mine, more than half are now bedridden, all in their dormitories. Let me take you, Mr. Xue, to have a look."
Wang Fugui led the two of them into the workers’ dormitory, which were all double rooms with two people per room.
On the two beds on the east and west sides, two people lay respectively.
One was a middle-aged man in his fifties with greying hair named Liu Daqiang; the other was a young man in his twenties called Zhang Xiaobao.
"Old Liu, Xiaobao, Mr. Xue has come to see you."
"Good to see you, Mr. Xue! Thank you for coming to visit us."
The two greeted weakly.
At that moment, Wang Fugui’s gaze landed on Liu Daqiang’s stomach.
Pointing to Liu Daqiang’s belly, his face full of worry, he asked, "Old Liu, what’s wrong with your stomach? Why is it swollen like you’re seven or eight months pregnant?
We should hurry to the hospital for a check-up to see what’s going on."
"The hospital won’t be able to find anything."
Qin Feng stepped forward, pointing at Liu Daqiang’s stomach, and said, "Old Liu’s belly is filled with Gu worms; he has been afflicted with Gu poison."
Gu worms? Gu poison?
These words instantly turned Wang Fugui’s face pale with fright.
Qin Feng caught the change in Wang Fugui’s expression and asked curiously, "Do you know if someone in Anlong Town is raising Gu worms?"
"Pei Chunlan," Wang Fugui said.
"Pei Chunlan? What’s her background?"
"She is the wife of the Family Head of the Pei Family, as well as the Family Head herself. Anlong Town has a nickname, called Pei Family Town. It means that the entire Anlong Town belongs to the Pei Family."
Assistant Qin, when you and Mr. Xue came, you must have encountered Pei Wuwei at the entrance of the town, right? He is the one the Pei Family has put in charge of collecting tolls at the entrance."
No matter who it is, if they want to drive into Anlong Town, they have to pay a fifty yuan toll fee."
"Fifty yuan? He asked me for five thousand?"
"Five thousand? That Pei Wuwei always charges arbitrary fees. Probably seeing the nice car you, Assistant Qin, were driving, he got greedy on the spur of the moment and hiked up the price for you."
"However, I didn’t give him a dime."
"Then how did you get in?"
"I beat up that Pei Wuwei and his lackeys, and threw them into the manure pit, then drove in."
These words scared Wang Fugui.
"Assistant Qin, you said you beat up Pei Wuwei and his men and threw them into a manure pit? Is that true?"
"Of course it’s true. Do you think I’m joking with you?"
"This is bad, really bad."
Now the situation is difficult to resolve.
Mr. Xue, Assistant Qin, this is not a place to stay for long. You had better leave quickly, the sooner you leave Anlong Town the better.
Leave the rest to me to handle!"
Xue Xiaochan chimed in with a question, "Leave? Why should we leave? Is there no law in Anlong Town? Is it really the Pei Family’s world?"
"Mr. Xue, I know the Xue Family is powerful, but right now you are alone.
Moreover, even a mighty dragon can’t suppress a local serpent!"
"For you and Assistant Qin, the best option now is to leave. Of all stratagems, escaping is best!"
Qin Feng looked at Wang Fugui, asking, "You said you’ll handle the rest. How will you handle it? Can you cure the mining workers of the gu poison?"
"How could I possibly cure gu?"
Wang Fugui only gave that response before he stopped speaking.
"Then how are you going to resolve this? Is there something else you haven’t told us?"
"If the gu poison comes from the Pei Family, then only the Pei Family can cure it. Now, a lot of the miners have been poisoned by gu, and soon everyone will be affected.
The only way to solve this problem is to agree to the Pei Family’s demands."
"Agree to the Pei Family’s demands? What demands?"
"About two months ago, Pei Yuanbing, the eldest son of the Pei Family, came to me.
At that time, he said that although the Qiuniu Gold Mine hasn’t yielded any gold, the coal production is quite high.
That’s why he wanted me to relinquish some management positions to their family’s descendants, to solve their employment problems."
"Solve employment? And management positions? They want to forcibly take over the Qiuniu Gold Mine, don’t they?"
"I feared this at the time, so I refused Pei Yuanbing. After that, the Pei Family stopped approaching me.
I thought the matter had passed.
But then, the miners started having problems one after another and it became more and more serious.
So, I had no choice but to call Mr. Xue for help."
"So you knew all along that the miners had been poisoned by gu?
You called Mr. Xue here to have her witness the miners’ plight and then, soft-hearted, agree to the Pei Family’s terms?"
"The entire Anlong Town is under the Pei Family’s control. To run a mining operation here, you have to sweeten the deal for the Pei Family.
Otherwise, the Qiuniu Gold Mine can’t continue production.
Now, more than a hundred miners have been cursed with gu poison. If we don’t ask the Pei Family to cure them, they will all die.
Are more than a hundred lives not more important than a few management positions?"
