Chapter 59: Come Keep Me Company

Cheng Xiangyu’s reverse psychology tactic proved quite effective.

Li Hao simply couldn't stand his fiancée declaring him incompetent. He crooked his neck, huffed, and retorted, "I am not a loser, and I certainly don't want to stay here and freeload!"

"I’m leaving! Besides, I have no intention of letting someone from the lowest tier of society like Lin Feng step on my head and boss me around!"

With that, he turned and stormed out of the cave.

After watching him leave for a moment, Lin Feng swept his gaze across the others and said, "If anyone else here still defies me and refuses to follow my arrangements, follow his example and leave this place to fend for yourself."

Not a single person stepped forward to express a desire to leave.

Even Luo Ruifang stayed put.

Qin Meng and He Tiantian, both desperately eager to marry into wealth, didn't bother chasing after Li Hao either.

Mainly, Qin Meng now hoped that Lin Feng would continue acting like her devoted lapdog. She figured that running off to follow Li Hao might ruin the engagement between Li Hao and Cheng Xiangyu, which in turn would give Lin Feng an excuse—thanks to Cheng Xiangyu—to never play the fool for her again.

Besides, both she and He Tiantian wanted to marry tall, rich, and handsome men, not a sissified creature like Li Hao.

If money was all that mattered, they would have long since married some old man.

Lin Feng announced, "Alright, since everyone has decided to stay and obey my arrangements, I will assign the tasks now."

He turned his head to look at Luo Ruifang.

Luo Ruifang instantly frowned, assuming Lin Feng would target her and assign her heavy, exhausting labor just because she had argued with him earlier.

To her surprise, Lin Feng said, "You are older, currently ill, and have limited physical capacity, so you will stay in the cave for now. Later, I'll sort out the medicinal herbs for your treatment. You can help Cheng Xiangyu wash the herbs, chop them into small pieces, and then brew them into a medicinal soup. I hope you get better soon."

Huh?

Luo Ruifang froze.

A deep wave of embarrassment washed over her.

She inwardly chided herself for using a petty mindset to measure the integrity of a noble person.

Because of this tiny detail, she completely cast aside her previous condescension toward Lin Feng just for being a poor young man.

Recovering her senses, she gladly replied, "Alright."

Lin Feng continued his assignments: "Qin Meng, He Tiantian, your primary duties from now on will be to assist Cheng Xiangyu with washing clothes, cooking, fetching fresh water in bottles, gathering firewood nearby, digging up medicinal herbs and wild vegetables, weaving grass mats out of herbs, and keeping the living environment clean."

"Cheng Xiangyu currently has an injury on her leg and has trouble moving around, so please bear with her and take on a bit more."

"I believe she is motivated enough that once her injury heals, she won't abuse her position as second-in-command to make you do all the work while she sits around doing nothing."

Hearing this, Cheng Xiangyu quickly chimed in, "Qin Meng, He Tiantian, don't worry, I won't slack off. I hope you two will cooperate with me. If we are lucky enough to be rescued and return to Haicheng in the future, I will treat you well."

Luo Ruifang followed up with a similar promise, assuring them that the Cheng family would reward them generously once they returned.

He Tiantian immediately smiled and agreed, "Okay."

Qin Meng offered a faint smile, though a sour taste lingered in her heart.

She had always believed that Lin Feng suddenly stopped groveling and started treating her so harshly purely because Cheng Xiangyu had suddenly thrown her support behind him.

Lin Feng then turned his attention to Ye Tian: "Your main job from now on will be setting traps and laying ambushes around the entrance of the cave."

"Although this used to be a leopard's territory, the leopard is dead now. It might not be long before other venomous insects or wild beasts come to harass us, so it's better to take some precautions."

"Furthermore, I'm worried Li Hao might come back to steal our supplies, so you are also responsible for guarding the provisions and making sure Li Hao doesn't take even a single shred of anything."

The reason he assigned this crucial task to Ye Tian was simple.

He felt that this big guy was straightforward, bold, and lacked the scheming nature of a manipulator.

Moreover, he could tell that Ye Tian was a man of integrity. Since Ye Tian had feelings for Wang Mengru, he would never take advantage of the situation to grope or harass the three beauties: Cheng Xiangyu, Qin Meng, and He Tiantian.

Not to mention, elder Luo Ruifang was there to keep things in check.

After listening to Lin Feng, Ye Tian nodded and replied, "Got it, don't worry, Lin Feng. I will never let that sissified bastard Li Hao lay a hand on our supplies."

Luo Ruifang, however, secretly believed that since Li Hao was a young master of the Li family, he would never stoop to theft and robbery—only poor people would do such things.

Still, she kept these thoughts to herself, mainly out of fear of offending Lin Feng. She also felt Lin Feng wasn't a bad guy after all; as long as he didn't harbor delusions about being with Cheng Xiangyu, she couldn't care less about opposing him.

Seeing that Lin Feng had arranged tasks for everyone except her, Wang Mengru stood up and asked, "What about me? What will I be responsible for?"

Lin Feng answered, "Accompanying me to forage for supplies and hunt."

Ah...

Cheng Xiangyu, Qin Meng, Luo Ruifang, and Ye Tian were all stunned by this.

They thought to themselves: Why would Lin Feng want Wang Mengru to tag along?

Could he have feelings for Wang Mengru?

A flicker of jealousy stirred in Cheng Xiangyu's heart.

Qin Meng felt that Lin Feng's desire to be with Wang Mengru was nothing short of delusional and completely impossible.

Luo Ruifang, on the other hand, felt a surge of secret joy, hoping Lin Feng would pursue Wang Mengru so her own daughter would finally give up.

Ye Tian, however, panicked and quickly blurted out, "Lin Feng, I feel like staying behind with a bunch of women isn't very convenient. How about this—you let my elder sister stay to handle my job, and I'll come with you instead?"

Lin Feng looked at Wang Mengru and said, "If you can guarantee that you won't give Li Hao any supplies just because he's a young master of the Li family or out of pity, I would actually prefer you to stay and take over Ye Tian's duties."

Without waiting for Wang Mengru to respond, Cheng Xiangyu jumped in first, "Lin Feng, don't worry. With me here, there's absolutely no way that guy Li Hao will ever get his hands on even a tiny scrap of our supplies."

"So just let Mengru stay and take Ye Tian with you instead."

She was terrified that if Wang Mengru and Lin Feng spent a long time together, romantic sparks might fly.

Even though Lin Feng had killed Wang Xingyu, that fear still lingered in her mind.

She was afraid that if Lin Feng stopped associating closely with her, Luo Ruifang would ramp up her pressure and force her into the arms of that dreadful Li Hao.

Wang Mengru stated, "Lin Feng, I promise you, I won't give Li Hao any supplies. If I do, you can deduct my share entirely. So, you should take Ye Tian with you on your patrols."

Her true motive for saying this was to stay behind so she could continue interrogating Cheng Xiangyu, Qin Meng, and He Tiantian about the death of her younger brother.

Lin Feng nodded. "Very well, since that's settled, we'll do it this way."

He then sorted out the medicinal herbs needed to cure Luo Ruifang's illness, proportioned them correctly according to the prescription, and set them aside.

Afterward, he took Ye Tian and left the cave to check the back mountains, seeing if they could scavenge any essential supplies from the crash site of the rescue helicopter.

Some time after Lin Feng had departed, Wang Mengru could no longer restrain herself. She helped Cheng Xiangyu move to a quiet corner and asked in a low voice, "Xiaoyu, tell me the truth—how did my brother, Wang Xingyu, actually die?"

Huh?

Qin Meng and He Tiantian were slightly taken aback.

Although Wang Mengru kept her voice down, they managed to catch a few fragments of her words, instantly realizing that Wang Mengru was still investigating the cause of her brother's death.

They hadn't expected that despite everything they had said earlier, she was still full of suspicion.