Brother Jian sneered. "So what if she knows? We’re already here. This place is completely deserted. Even if she screamed her lungs out, no one would come to save her."

"Heh heh, that’s true," the goon said, patting the gun at his waist. "We’ve got this. What’s there to be afraid of?"

Brother Jian shot the goon a glare. "This is the mainland. Don’t use this unless you absolutely have to. If we get on someone’s radar, we’ll be in big trouble."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, Brother Jian. Don’t worry," the goon said quickly with a grin. "I’m just saying this is our backup. Even if that little girl took down A Zhuang the other day, and even if she’s a great fighter, she can’t stand up to this baby."

Brother Jian chuckled. He squinted at the case in Su Qing’s hand and snorted. "I don’t know what that girl is thinking. A whole case of gold, just carrying it around so openly. Bringing it into the mountains, too. Isn’t it heavy?"

"Hah, all the better for us," the goon said. "The young miss said she wants it... like this."

As he spoke, the goon made a throat-slitting gesture. "She’s carrying the case with her, which saves us the trouble of looking for it elsewhere. We can just grab the case and go. It’s perfect."

The other two goons chuckled in agreement.

Hearing this, Brother Jian raised an eyebrow. Seeing Su Qing getting further away, he said, "Let’s go. Keep up."

"You got it."

Brother Jian and his three men quietly followed Su Qing, planning to make their move in a secluded spot once they were deeper in the mountains. Meanwhile, as An Zhiqian was preparing to return to Xiangcheng, he realized four of the men he’d brought were missing.

"An Zhiwei!" It only took a moment for An Zhiqian to figure out where the four men had gone. Furious, he stormed into An Zhiwei’s room and growled, "Didn’t I tell you to stop provoking Su Qing?"

An Zhiwei played dumb. "Brother, what are you talking about? She already left. How could I possibly provoke her?"

"How could you provoke her?" An Zhiqian sneered. "Let me ask you, where are Jian and the others?"

An Zhiwei pressed her lips together and said nothing.

"You... you!" An Zhiqian pointed an angry finger at her. "Do my words just go in one ear and out the other?"

"Brother, I guarantee it’s foolproof." Realizing she couldn’t bluff her way out of this, An Zhiwei dropped the act. "There are four of them with Jian. You think four men can’t handle Su Qing? Just relax. It’ll be fine. Besides, they have this."

An Zhiwei made a gun shape with her hand and gave An Zhiqian a smugly raised eyebrow.

"What were your orders?" An Zhiqian knew it was too late to call them back, so he had no choice but to ask about her specific intentions.

"What else? Just... that," An Zhiwei answered nonchalantly, pursing her lips and darting her eyes from side to side.

Hearing this, An Zhiqian took a sharp, deep breath and hissed through gritted teeth, "Do you have any idea what you’ve done? This is the mainland! The mainland! If anything goes wrong, we’ll be in serious trouble!" 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

’Never mind anything else,’ he thought. ’If Jian and his men really can’t handle Su Qing and end up using the gun, and if it’s discovered and traced back to us, the consequences...’

An Zhiqian didn’t dare to imagine it. A Ming and A Sheng’s group had already caused a huge mess when they were arrested by the police for running an illegal casino and street fighting. It got even worse when it was discovered they were illegal immigrants. If this incident was also traced back to the An Family, the mainland police would not let it go.

"How could that happen?" An Zhiwei pouted. "I specifically told them to wait until they were in a remote part of the mountains before making a move. Plus, I told Jian and the others to be clean about it. If no one can even find the body, how can there be any follow-up? Brother, stop worrying. I guarantee this is foolproof."

"There’s always a chance for an accident." An Zhiqian was still uneasy. But it was impossible for him to get Jian and the others back now. He could only point at An Zhiwei again. "You’d better pray that nothing goes wrong. Otherwise, Dad and I won’t be able to save you."

An Zhiwei pursed her lips, looked at An Zhiqian, and huffed without a word. ’He’s just trying to scare me,’ she thought. ’I don’t believe him. Every time I get into trouble, Dad and Brother always protect me.’

Seeing her expression, An Zhiqian knew exactly what his sister was thinking. He slammed a fist on the table in frustration, shot her a glare, and walked out. The An Family had bought a lot of raw jade at this event, and they weren’t cutting it on-site. It all had to be shipped back to Xiangcheng, and there was still a lot to do. Since he couldn’t change what was already in motion, all he could do was start thinking about how the An Family could distance themselves from this mess if it all went south.

But the An Family weren’t the only ones preoccupied with Su Qing. The middle-aged man who had been on the same train as her from Beijing had been mulling it over for a few days after returning home. He couldn’t shake his unease, so he sent someone to the Northeast. He needed to confirm whether that girl was currently there or not.

Su Qing, of course, had no idea so many people were thinking about her. She leisurely led the four men behind her deeper into Da Hu Mountain. They kept their distance, not too close, not too far. She gave a faint smile. By now, they were deep inside Da Hu Mountain, a place truly devoid of people. Just a moment ago, Su Qing had used the creeping vines on the ground to scan a radius of a mile or two. Besides the wild animals, the only humans were the five of them!

Once she was sure no one would see what was about to happen, Su Qing stopped and turned to look behind her. She smiled. "How much longer are you planning to follow me?"

"Brother Jian, the damn girl really did know we were following her," one of the goons said with a frown.

Brother Jian snorted. "I knew this girl was trouble."

Another goon chimed in, "What’s to be scared of, Brother Jian? We’re deep in Da Hu Mountain. There’s not another soul around. You think a few big guys like us can’t handle one little girl? Worst case scenario, we’ve got a gun. We can just pop her, and no one would hear a thing."

"I told you, we don’t use the gun unless we have to. Do you not understand? Let’s go. We’ll have a proper ’chat’ with this girl," Brother Jian snapped.

"Oh. My mistake, Brother Jian," the goon said, quickly admitting his error.

Brother Jian then led his three men out from their hiding spot. When they were a short distance from Su Qing, he chuckled. "Well, little girl. You knew we were following you all along?"

Su Qing sneered. "A few big guys like you kept popping up around me. Do you think I’m an idiot? That I’m stupid? How could I not notice such obvious tailing?"