They’re pigs... sows... and a whole herd of sows that lay golden eggs!!!

Those few words dropped like rolling thunder in everyone’s ears!

Sun Chuan’s expression faintly turned ugly... no, extremely ugly!

His hands clenched, his face livid, and right now he was staring at Zheng Shijie like he wanted to eat him alive!

What if a person can’t fit into the jar?

Cut half of them off and they’ll fit!

He’d even, five years ago, because he was afraid of being caught by the police, dumped more than a dozen jars with people inside straight into the river...

And now, he was directly calling people sows that lay golden eggs!

"Depraved" wasn’t enough to describe Zheng Shijie and the others... calling him human was wrong, he was basically some humanoid brute!

"What do you mean?"

Xu Liang’s brows knit slightly. He sensed something, shifted his posture, and continued staring at Zheng Shijie in front of him.

"Spell it out. Watch your emotions. This concerns... the situation of your wife and daughter."

The man’s emotions were running hot, and based on his earlier attitude, he shouldn’t be agitated—he should be submissive.

Maybe it was self‑destruction, or maybe he felt that after saying all this he was doomed anyway, so his body’s instincts just cranked his emotions up.

But Xu Liang couldn’t be bothered with that.

He only cared about... how exactly these people were squeezed for every last drop of profit!

When he heard the words "wife and daughter," the excitement in Zheng Shijie’s eyes gradually faded, replaced by a trace of clarity.

His hands were cuffed. He looked at the people in front of him, his lips twitching.

After a long time, a flat voice sounded.

"You know beggars?"

"Beggars?" Sun Chuan, behind him, paused.

"You mean beggars who ask for food?"

Zheng Shijie paused, then nodded.

Beggars.

They have a lot of names—like "street bums," "panhandlers."

As for the origin... nobody really knows when it started; all you need to know is they’re people who can’t get enough to eat, about to starve to death, and can only go along the street begging for a little food.

"Those are normal beggars. They only ask for food."

Zheng Shijie began to speak, explaining to the people in front of him.

"All they ask for is food. They’ll usually knock on doors along the way with a broken bowl in hand. If the resident’s kind‑hearted, they’ll scoop them a bowl of plain white rice, or give a few dry steamed buns."

"But... what if they’re asking for money?" 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Asking for money....

Sun Chuan, Su Yu and the others froze.

The food‑begging type of beggars Zheng Shijie was talking about had mostly disappeared before 2015 as time went on. In a lot of places you could hardly see any even by 2000.

Instead, with social development, it was the money‑begging kind... that matched what most people picture when they hear the word "beggar"!

Now that Zheng Shijie put it like this—

The people in front of him instinctively fell silent in a daze.

But Zheng Shijie kept talking:

"People have empathy. They have feelings."

"Earthquake relief, disaster‑area aid, humanitarian relief when wars break out in other countries—you can see it from all that."

"It’s the same with beggars. Once you throw away the simple asking for food and turn it into asking for money... they become sows that lay golden eggs!"

In human society, people tend to be very tolerant and sympathetic toward the weak.

When they see beggars, some might be wary, but more often it’s sympathy!

In other words...

"Your goal was just... begging?"

Sun Chuan couldn’t hold back anymore. He suddenly spoke.

His eyes were icy cold, his chest heaving hard, obviously suppressing his fury.

He was furious.

In Sun Chuan’s eyes, flames of rage seemed to be burning—flames that looked ready to devour Zheng Shijie completely!

"If you only look at the essence of it... yes, it was begging."

Zheng Shijie said expressionlessly.

At that.

Rage immediately twisted Sun Chuan’s face, his expression feral.

"If it was just for begging, why did you...."

He didn’t finish the sentence, but the meaning was obvious.

Just for begging, to turn someone into a beggar... did you really have to chop off the lower half of a victim’s body!?

"Because it makes money!"

Zheng Shijie said coldly, cutting him off.

Sun Chuan froze. Before he could retort, Zheng Shijie spoke again:

"Do you know how much they can make!?"

"A beggar pretending to be disabled, five years ago, in Upper City, Hai City, Qingshi City, places like that... could bring in ten thousand a month!!!"

"Ten thousand, a month, doing nothing, pure profit—ten thousand!!!"

Zheng Shijie’s voice rose higher and higher as he spat out the things buried deepest in his heart.

"Do you know how much so many people, busting their ass, can make in a whole year!?"

Five years ago—that is, the year 2000.

Back then wages were very low. Ordinary factory workers made about a thousand a month.

If it was a bit better, maybe fifteen hundred or two thousand.

And people in the countryside, who could only sell their labor...

"I only made six hundred, for fuck’s sake!!!"

Something flashed through Zheng Shijie’s mind. His hands clenched hard, his eyes bloodshot, spittle flying as he spoke.

"I sold my strength. I went to the labor market to sell it, got up at five in the morning to wait for someone to hire me."

"And I only made six hundred a month, for fuck’s sake!!!"

"But begging—doing nothing for a whole month—can bring in ten thousand. I couldn’t make ten thousand in a year even if I didn’t eat or drink!!!"

He roared himself hoarse. It was obvious he’d done hard labor before he got into this line.

Ten thousand...

Just for ten thousand, you’d imprison a person and send them out to beg....

Yang Ruoxi felt it was cruel. An odd look crossed her face, a trace of sorrow in her eyes.

That sorrow seemed to catch Zheng Shijie’s attention, and he spoke again.

"You don’t think it’s only ten thousand, do you."

"One arm gone, and you can make another five thousand a month!"