Chapter 736: Jiaojiao 16

Chen Jiao flinched, all the ferocity she had shown when confronting Ye Rong gone. But then she rallied, "I’m not scared. With Teacher here, I’m not scared at all."

Tan You said, "Alright, let’s go to the hotel. Your film crew isn’t in the mood to shoot this afternoon anyway. Everyone has already left."

Chen Jiao turned on her heel and dragged the suitcase full of cash into her hotel. As for the money, she still hadn’t figured out what to do with it.

She didn’t want to use any of it on herself. After all, just as she’d said, the money was soaked in the blood and tears of every person who had been oppressed. If she used it for her own pleasure, Chen Jiao wouldn’t be able to live with herself.

Perhaps others would call Chen Jiao self-righteous, but Tan You genuinely liked her personality. Truly pure people were too rare in this world. A personality like Chen Jiao’s was precious.

At the hotel, the various medicinal herbs Tan You had ordered had arrived. As soon as Chen Jiao got there, she started bustling about under Tan You’s guidance. This time, there was a greater variety of things to make. Chen Jiao ended up taking the day off, not even going to the set the next day, holing up in the hotel to create all sorts of life-saving tools.

Her request for leave naturally sparked another round of discussion among the crew. In fact, after seeing how Ye Rong and his men treated Chen Jiao on set yesterday, followed by Zhang Ping calling her "sister-in-law," everyone was speculating that she must be connected to the underworld.

But if she was from the underworld, she was far too low-key! She just filmed on set every day, showing no other signs of being different.

Yet Ye Rong and Yuan Sheng were so polite to her... No, it wasn’t just politeness, it was reverence. So, who on earth was Chen Jiao?

While Chen Jiao was busy making various unorthodox life-saving tools, Ye Rong, Yuan Sheng, and the others gathered once again in that house. Old Cai was naturally there as well. He looked at the porcelain vial in his hand, then poured out a small pill to examine it closely.

He scraped off a little powder with his finger and tasted it. Old Cai shook his head. "My knowledge is limited. I can’t tell what medicinal herbs she used to make this."

Yuan Sheng was more thoughtful. "Do you think she could be tricking us?"

Zhang Ping couldn’t hold back any longer. He had suffered the greatest loss of vitality among them; how could he possibly remain as calm as Ye Rong and Yuan Sheng? He snatched the pill from Old Cai’s hand and swallowed it in one gulp.

Seeing Zhang Ping’s desperate, life-clinging behavior, Ye Rong sneered, "Pathetic."

Zhang Ping said nothing, simply going to sit off to the side after swallowing the antidote. He was panicking inwardly. On one hand was the antidote he’d paid a fortune for; on the other was his own life.

’If this antidote doesn’t work, I won’t even have the chance to go argue with Chen Jiao about it. So, is this antidote real or not?’

In the end, Ye Rong, Yuan Sheng, and their underlings all took the pills. The group sat stiffly in the house, waiting for the designated hour to arrive.

Old Cai looked at them, a worry for Chen Jiao rising in his heart. ’How many of these guys who run in the underworld are merciful? Chen Jiao gave them the antidote so easily. If she can’t keep them in check, they certainly won’t quit while they’re ahead.’

But then, Old Cai laughed inwardly at himself for worrying about others. ’Since she dared to give them the antidote, she must not be afraid of Ye Rong’s crew turning on her. She probably calculated this step long ago...’

The hour hand ticked by, one mark at a time. When it reached eleven, everyone’s heart leaped into their throats. The excruciating pain from the previous two times had left them terrified. Now, they were both nervous and afraid.

But twenty minutes passed, and the intense pain never came. The men all let out a collective sigh of relief.

Ye Rong shot to his feet. "Tomorrow! We’ll bring her here tomorrow! We can’t just swallow this huge loss! If word gets out, how are we supposed to keep our reputation on the streets?"

Yuan Sheng’s expression was dark enough to drip water. "Exactly. All that money, we should get it back. Zhang Ping, you go to the set tomorrow. You two..."

Watching Yuan Sheng lay out his plan, Chen Jiao bent a stainless steel spoon with her bare hands. "You bastards. It’s just as you said, Teacher. These people can’t even be considered human."

Tan You, sitting on the sofa, asked again, "Are you afraid?"

"I’m not," Chen Jiao said, gritting her teeth as a boundless ferocity surged within her. "They want to get even, don’t they? Well, let’s see who comes out on top."

Tan You glanced at her. The girl’s savage side was being forced out. ’This is good, too,’ she thought. G City was in a state of chaos at the moment. There were said to be over three thousand gangs, big and small, and almost everyone in the film industry had ties to one of them.

To put it bluntly, Ye Rong and Yuan Sheng’s gang was just a third-rate outfit. If Chen Jiao could crush them and earn a reputation in the underworld for being someone not to be trifled with, she wouldn’t have to fear other gangs trying to control her.

As for relying on Chen Jiao’s agency, that was out of the question. Tan You had always believed more in herself and never pinned her hopes on others.

Seeing Chen Jiao pouting, looking ready for a fight, Tan You couldn’t help but smile faintly. She was really growing to like Chen Jiao more and more. She had a good heart, yet she wasn’t some poor little thing who wouldn’t fight back when hit. She knew how to retaliate. That personality was truly excellent.

Since she had taken the next day off, Chen Jiao worked through the day until afternoon, finally finishing all her little life-saving pills. Looking at the six small vials lined up neatly by her bed, a vicious glint flashed in her eyes.

"I’m going to get some sleep. Teacher, what do you think Ye Rong and the others will do when Zhang Ping doesn’t see me at the film set?"

Tan You checked on the movements of Ye Rong and his men. "You have four hours to rest. Knowing you didn’t go to the set today, Ye Rong and the others are planning to grab you from the hotel."

"They’re that audacious?" Chen Jiao shot up. "Is there no rule of law?"

Tan You gave a dry laugh. "This is the most chaotic of times. Talking to them about the rule of law is simply ridiculous. You see so many kidnappers daring to abduct and extort rich businessmen on the street; that should tell you how chaotic it is right now."

"As for the law? These people can’t even be considered human. How can you expect them to be law-abiding citizens?"

Chen Jiao gritted her teeth. She glanced again at the small vials by the bed, and in the next second, she changed into a tight-fitting outfit with a multitude of pockets. She then began hiding things all over her clothes, the most important items, of course, being the two boxes of scented balm.

This was the life-saving Divine Artifact. The rest, like the Intestine-Severing Powder and so on, all required her to take someone down before she could make them ingest it. With her current skills, she couldn’t even handle a single underling.

At this thought, a sense of urgency washed over Chen Jiao. "Teacher, I want to learn martial arts."

Tan You replied, "It’s not that you can’t learn. It would be good for strengthening your body. But if you’re thinking of taking on five people at once, that’s impossible. Your physical condition is what it is. Even if you train in martial arts, your achievements will be limited."

Chen Jiao wasn’t discouraged. "I’m still going to train. And I’ll make more of these things in my spare time. I don’t care anymore if the methods are unorthodox or not. As long as it can save my life, it’s fine."