"Cousin, this..."
Su Chen smiled helplessly. Although he knew from various past incidents that his cousin wouldn't misunderstand because of this, his father's words sounded too much like a local tyrant.
For instance, Ms. Shang next to them.
She had definitely gotten the wrong idea.
Su Ning slightly raised her hand to motion for him to stay quiet, and walked closer slowly with great interest. The closer she got, the more she saw and heard, and the more it looked like a classic scene of a bully abusing his power.
In the large open clearing,
a dense crowd of people was packed tightly like sardines. Covered in dust and dirt, they kept their heads down, occasionally glancing up cautiously at the dozen or so people begging bitterly in the front.
These people were emaciated and dressed in rags. They knelt on the ground, trembling under Half-Immortal Su's scolding. The man kneeling at the front finally seemed unable to bear it anymore.
Thud, thud, thud, he violently kowtowed several times.
With a red and swollen forehead, he forced an apologetic smile:
"Yes, my life is worthless, but we agreed before that besides room and board, there would be wages. I work every day and never slack off. Everyone else has seen it..." He looked pleadingly at the others as he spoke.
Hoping they would vouch for him.
However, everyone avoided his gaze and remained silent.
The man finally lost it.
Raising his voice, he cried, "Everyone else can get their wages, so why can't the few of us? Master Su, you are indeed a half-immortal with great magical powers, but you can't bully people like this. I'm begging you, I'm begging you. My children at home are still waiting for this money to eat."
As he spoke, his tone softened again.
He looked at Half-Immortal Su pitifully, raising his hand to wipe his tears with his torn sleeve.
The others kneeling also began to plead.
"Yes, please."
"My old mother is already seventy. She's lying in her sickbed just wanting a piece of meat. At least give me some of my wages."
Half-Immortal Su remained entirely unmoved. In the crowd below, some showed unbearable expressions, whispering very softly, "He's not even in charge of the construction site, by what right does he withhold their wages?"
"Isn't it just because he's Miss Su's uncle?"
"Even the managers don't dare to interfere."
"Do you think these wages went straight into his pocket? That's no good. If he gets a taste of the benefits, we'll be the ones suffering next."
"Should we speak up for them then?"
Yet, there was only silence.
"We'll... we'll see when the time comes," came a reply as quiet as a mosquito. They lowered their heads in shame. Su Ning's place had many rules and the work was heavy, but the wages and treatment were top-tier. With the war going on, jobs were getting harder and harder to find.
They didn't dare lose this job.
Even the slightest possibility of losing their jobs was enough to make them cower in fear.
They avoided it like ostriches.
This bred an even deeper disgust for Half-Immortal Su, and they couldn't help but fantasize: if Miss Su knew, she would deal with this uncle if only for the sake of her reputation, right?
The next second.
"Uncle, it's quite lively over here."
Su Ning appeared in the clearing with her people, her face devoid of any expression. The crowd stirred, and even small cheers rang out as countless expectant eyes lit up.
"Eldest niece, you're here."
Over here.
Seeing her, Half-Immortal Su actually panicked subconsciously for a moment. Fortunately, he quickly steadied his nerves, shot a warning glare at the crowd, and went to greet her. Who knew he would almost trip—
The leader suddenly reached out and hugged his leg.
Crying loudly, he said, "Today, Miss Su is also here, and I want to get to the bottom of this. I, Ma Erniu, work diligently. On what grounds does Master Su deduct my wages? Even if they should be deducted, it should be Miss Su who does it!"
These words were actually quite malicious.
They insinuated that Half-Immortal Su was overstepping his bounds, intentionally interfering with Su Ning's site. Given his sensitive status, it really made people overthink things.
There really were too many smart people.
Su Ning thought playfully. It was a pity she wasn't willing to indulge this cleverness. Just as Half-Immortal Su angrily shook his leg, trying to throw the man off while turning his head to explain...
——"When I am speaking with my uncle, is it your place to interrupt?"
A surprised female voice rang out.
Then.
Under the crowd's astonished gazes, several burly subordinates lunged forward, dragged Ma Erniu away, and pinned him firmly to the ground, slapping him a few times. "Behave, don't move."
Ma Erniu, dizzy from the blows, completely failed to understand what was happening.
He struggled to look up, only to see that the noble Miss Su hadn't even spared him a single glance.
This shouldn't be happening? Although Su Ning was rich, she was an orphan. In his mind, what she should be most wary of and guard against was uncles and brothers interfering with her businesses and embezzling her property!
Half-Immortal Su, on the other hand, felt a rush of vindication.
With his hands on his hips, he laughed arrogantly:
"Pah, a little punk like you thinks you can sow discord between me and my eldest niece? Keep dreaming! I said it already, your wages are definitely being deducted today... Eldest niece, tell them, can they be deducted?"
"Why even ask about such a trivial matter."
Hearing this, whether it was Ma Erniu or the others, everyone was incredibly shocked and disappointed—Wait, this is a trivial matter? Your uncle is arbitrarily docking people's wages without even an explanation, and you're not going to do anything about it?
What was there to do about it.
Su Ning was currently busy checking her rewards... Over time, she had developed a skill: she could distinguish the difference between the "ding" sounds of various rewards!
Just now, there had been a different one.
Sure enough.
Hidden among these people were quite a few plot characters, even a level-two one, squeezing out a lot of rewards. Su Ning nodded in satisfaction, which outwardly manifested as a smile.
This smile plunged the crowd into utter despair.
There was another flurry of dings.
"If my uncle docked his wages, he must have his own reasons. If he doesn't listen, then it's his fault." Smiling, Su Ning patted Half-Immortal Su's hand, swept a cold glance over the others, and said softly:
"If anyone is dissatisfied, they don't have to work here."
"Get out."
After she and Half-Immortal Su's group left, the remaining crowd finally couldn't hold back and erupted into hushed discussions. There were those who sighed in despair, those who were resentful and dissatisfied, but the majority were filled with anxiety.
"What did Miss Su mean by that? We didn't say anything, she wouldn't fire us, would she?"
"It's all Ma Erniu and his group's fault."
"But this is too tyrannical... Docking wages arbitrarily and we're not even allowed to complain. Sigh, just as I said, there is no perfect job in this world. Just endure it."
"Before, no matter how the outside world cursed her, we always spoke up for her. Now it seems there's no smoke without fire. Rich people are all cut from the same cloth!"
"I just hope they deduct a little less..."
…………
"Put that way, it really should be deducted."
After listening to Half-Immortal Su's explanation, Su Ning nodded in full agreement. It wasn't a waste of effort pulling him aside to talk. If she had let him explain earlier, she wouldn't have been able to harvest those rewards.
Reputation?
What was that? Could it be eaten? Could it complete missions?
"Exactly."
Half-Immortal Su deeply agreed. "If Assistant Lin hadn't personally invited me to step in, I wouldn't have bothered coming here. Outside, I charge at least this much for a single divination." He held up three fingers and added:
"But here, it's free!"
"Thank you for your hard work, Uncle."
The matter was actually very simple to explain. Ma Erniu seemed pitiful, but in reality, he squandered his money on eating, drinking, and gambling. If his wages were given to him, they would never reach his family, and without that money, his wife simply couldn't survive.
The deducted wages weren't truly deducted.
They would be sent directly to his family.
The other few were in similar situations.
As for why Assistant Lin was so kind as to smooth things over, even inviting Half-Immortal Su to use destiny as an excuse to dock pay, instead of just firing the person outright?
Because keeping the person around still had its uses.
"Although that Ma Erniu isn't much of a person, his family's traditional woodworking skills are unmatched in all of Peiping. It's just a pity that his fate isn't very good."
Half-Immortal Su said proudly:
"Earlier, when Lin Sen came to ask me to lie, I wasn't willing to do it. That kind of thing damages one's spiritual cultivation. I only reluctantly came for your sake, my dear niece. But taking a look at it, hey, that boy's destiny naturally lacks wealth and sons."
"There was no need to lie at all."
"In the unseen world, heaven has its own plans," Su Ning said, while desperately prompting the system to draw a prize for her, having accumulated good karma by meeting Half-Immortal Su.
It was the perfect time for a prize draw.
"Besides, Uncle, by doing this, you've also saved the women and children of several families. That's a great merit."
"Hahaha, you flatter me, you flatter me."
"To put it bluntly, these families are actually receiving your grace, my dear niece. If the children in their families learn their traditional skills well, once they master them, they can be recruited into the mansion. Then there will be people to handle daily repairs and remodeling."
"They'll be both loyal and capable."
Half-Immortal Su talked on and on.
Beside him, Su Ning was too stunned to keep listening. "System, I'm supposed to be drawing a prize, right? Why did you just generate a mission for me!"
