CHAPTER 46: CHAPTER 46: SERVES YOU RIGHT, TRULY SERVES YOU RIGHT!

Although my relationship with Li Ming was just average, we had dined together a few times.

Especially when I was on good terms with Li Shen, we had visited brothels together several times.

When the man saw Li Ming, he gave him some face, put down Qi Nanfeng, and greeted him, "Mr. Li."

When Qi Nanfeng saw it, he realized that these were indeed Li Ming’s men, indicating he had used some connections.

Now he could be saved!

So he quickly started speaking favorably.

"Li, thank you! We are brothers, your brother’s misfortune is a fact, and from now on, we brothers must work together."

Li Ming sneered, his gaze turning cold as he stared at him: "Now you call me brother, but when you betrayed my brother, did you ever think he was also your brother?"

Qi Nanfeng’s heart tightened, and he quickly shook his head: "I’m innocent, Brother Li! This has nothing to do with me; it was Ruan Mian who colluded with the Prime Minister to capture your brother."

"Do you really think I don’t know? My brother told me everything that happened back then! Qi Nanfeng, you’re a despicable and shameless person! And you expect me to save you? It’s already merciful on my part that I haven’t cut you to pieces for my brother’s sake!"

His eyes were bloodshot, and he glared fiercely at the man.

The Lord grinned and, without saying a word, pinned Qi Nanfeng from behind!

In no time, a man’s miserable screams echoed from inside the tent!

Each scream sent a chill down one’s spine.

Hearing this familiar voice, Qi Lin burst into laughter.

"Serves you right, serves you right, it truly serves you right!!"

Meanwhile, Ruan Mian was brought alone into the tent, her face calm. Beside her was the trembling Ruan Qing and the bloodshot Shaoxi.

Influenced by Ruan Mian’s composure, Shaoxi took a deep breath and decisively said, "Miss Ruan, I have an idea."

Ruan Mian looked over suddenly and found Shaoxi had a sharp dagger hidden in her sleeve, quickly cutting through the ropes.

After untying herself, she also cut through Ruan Mian’s ropes without a word.

Ruan Mian, however, stopped her: "Take the elder sister behind the screen."

Shaoxi looked over in confusion, not understanding why Ruan Mian wanted the two of them to go to the other side of the screen at this moment.

The so-called screen was just a tattered thing picked up by the soldiers from who knows where.

The conditions here were quite rudimentary.

Ruan Mian didn’t want to waste time and spoke earnestly: "Shaoxi, since you’ve chosen to follow me, I now entrust the elder sister to you, please take care of her. I will handle the person outside."

Shaoxi was worried, but her firm expression made her withdraw those concerns.

From the start, she knew Miss Ruan was capable.

So she decisively followed Ruan Mian’s instructions and took Ruan Qing behind the screen.

At this moment, Ruan Mian touched the Jade Bracelet and took something from the space.

With the sound of footsteps outside the tent, the leading Lord strode in, only to find no one at first glance?

Frowning deeply, just as he was about to shout, Ruan Mian suddenly sprang from behind, holding the sharp dagger directly against the man’s throat!

She spoke first and took out a document.

"Lord, do you know what this is?"

The man was unafraid of the threat, but upon seeing the document, his eyes widened suddenly.

Because the content of the document was related to grain and salary!

It even included orders for grain depot transfers.

The distinctive paper and official seal made it impossible for anyone else to fake!

"How did this end up in your hands?!"

Ruan Mian smiled calmly: "If I tell you I know where the grain and salary are, will you let people go?"

"You were once people who protected the country, how can you now degenerate to be no different from bandits!"

The soldier’s armor quivered, and upon hearing her question, he laughed mockingly, with deep indignation in his eyes.

"Protect the country? Hahaha, what a joke! We shed blood and risked our lives! For what? Not for military glory and horses, but precisely to protect the country! But how does our country treat us?"

"On the front lines, even basic rations cannot be guaranteed, leaving us to starve to death!! We are soldiers, and the battlefield is our ultimate place, but don’t you see how many border soldiers die on the battlefield? More than half starve to death in miserable camps! Don’t you find it ridiculous?"

His spittle flew as his anger found an outlet!

"You, the officials and nobility, live without worries, sent into exile for crimes of greed, yet even so, you have resources on the road, food from town post stations to sustain life, why should those of us who risk our lives have nothing, not even a mouthful of food!!"

Every word seemed to carry the accusations of thousands of soldiers.

His words indeed made one’s heart tremble.

Empathizing, if Ruan Mian were among them, she would surely feel disheartened too.

But they didn’t know a fact.

Ruan Mian told him, "It’s not that the court didn’t provide you rations, but that most of your grain and salary were embezzled by the corrupt Magistrate Ding Cheng of Hui City."

"What?!"

He seemed not to believe Ruan Mian’s words, so Ruan Mian waved the document in her hand.

"The news of Ding Cheng being skinned publicly has long spread, even the governor was dispatched. You have nowhere to go now, if you forcibly enter the city, the court will definitely pursue you as deserters to the bitter end."

Ruan Mian had read the original book, so she knew how harshly this dynasty treated border soldiers.

Anyone who enlisted and then deserted before their term ended would be dealt with under rebellion charges!

At the very least, imprisonment; at most, implicating the nine clans.