In a chaotic and famine-stricken era, I picked up an empress to be my wife.

At this moment, Shen Xiaoqi had already blocked the courtyard gate, forming a pincer movement with Shen An.

Enraged, Wang, the gang leader, roared, "You two pieces of trash actually dare to lay a hand on me? When I was making my way in the underworld, you were still suckling! Today, I'll use you as a sacrificial offering!"

Shen An didn't waste any words with him and raised his knife to strike.

Wang Ban Tou parried with his knife, and with a clang, the sound made his hand go numb.

He was terrified.

Where did Shen An, such a thin corpse carrier, get such strength?

What alarmed Wang Bantou even more was that Shen An changed his moves extremely quickly, his blades always targeting blind spots in defense, making it difficult for even a trained fighter like him to defend.

After a few moves, Wang Bantou's weakness was exposed, and Shen An kicked him in the knee.

Wang Bantou knelt down in pain, and when he looked up, Shen An's knife was already at his neck.

His expression changed drastically, and he immediately adopted a fawning tone: "Shen An, you're really something. As long as you let me go, you'll be the second-in-command of the mass grave from now on! And the woman's bounty will be yours too, how about it?"

"I'm not interested. I'd be more at ease if you died."

Shen An raised his knife and slashed Wang Bantou's neck, blood gushing out.

His eyes were filled with nothing but pain and disbelief.

He never imagined that he would die at the hands of a corpse carrier.

Shen An felt incredibly happy!

He originally wanted to use modern knowledge to make money and change his current situation!

He avoided conflict with the government until he succeeded, which led him to endure humiliation in silence.

Killing Wang Bantou finally allowed him to vent his pent-up anger!

Shen Xiaoqi jumped up, her eyes shining: "Brother, that was great! So satisfying!"

Dugu Meng stared blankly at Shen An.

She couldn't believe that this corpse carrier had once again saved her from a desperate situation.

Besides feeling grateful, she also began to re-evaluate Shen An.

It's a real shame that this decisive and ruthless man became a corpse carrier.

If she manages to escape alive in the future, she must make good use of this person.

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps sounded outside.

Shen An looked up and saw that the commotion of their fight had attracted the attention of the entire village. Feng Guaizi, the leader of the corpse carriers, was leading his men over.

There was no time to hide the body, so Shen An quickly pulled Dugu Meng into the woodshed and covered her with straw.

Just as the door closed, Feng Guaizi's scream rang out in the courtyard.

"Ah! Shen An, how dare you kill Wang Ban Tou!"

He immediately called to the other corpse carriers, "Men, arrest those brothers and take them to the authorities!"

"Everyone, please don't act rashly!"

Old Zhao rushed forward to stop him, sighing heavily as he asked, "Shen An, why did you kill Wang Ban Tou?"

Shen An already had an explanation. He said in a deep voice, "These past few days, Wang, the squad leader, has deliberately increased our tasks. If we don't complete them, he threatens to cut off our heads and force us to pay money to settle the matter."

In the future, when we are all drained dry, we will all be sent to the battlefield to die. Who will survive then?

I killed him to save everyone's lives.

That's true, but they don't buy it.

Feng Guaizi roared, "Shen An, if you kill him, and the county government doesn't investigate properly, we'll all be implicated! You're ruining us!"

"I will find a way to resolve this crisis and won't drag you down," Shen An said.

"What do you have in mind to solve this?" Feng Guaizi didn't believe it at all.

Shen An's decision to commit murder, though unexpected, was not without a solution.

He continued, "The position of head of the mass grave was bought by Head Wang from the county government for fifty taels of silver."

"If I can give them double the money before the county government finds out, I can take over Wang's position, and their murder can be resolved."

"Haha, you? You only make two hundred coins a month, you'll never be able to scrape together a hundred taels in your entire life! Don't talk big!" Feng Guaizi thought he was laughing at him.

"What are you laughing at? My brother said he can do it!" Shen Xiaoqi stepped forward and said.

"Hmph! I don't believe it. It's better to arrest you and send you to the county government!" Feng Guaizi was about to order his men to attack Shen An again.

Shen An and Shen Xiaoqi's expressions darkened.

Although killing Wang Bantou was out of selfish motives, it also helped them a lot.

These people were submissive to Wang Bantou, but extremely arrogant in front of him; they were typical bullies among their own kind!

Just as the two were preparing to teach Feng Guaizi and his gang a lesson, Old Zhao stepped forward again: "Don't make a move! Give me some face, everyone, and give Shen An a chance!"

"What if he runs away after we give him a chance?" Feng Guaizi questioned.

"If he runs away, I'll say I killed him."

Old Zhao patted his chest and said, "They may escape, but I can't!"

Feng Guaizi finally gave up, stroking his chin as he said, "Shen An, I can give you a chance, but only for ten days!"

In fact, Shen An didn't expect to have ten days. He couldn't control the government's actions and was always at risk of being discovered by them.

He agreed: "Ten days it is. You'd better keep an eye on your men. If you dare to report to the authorities during this time, I will tell the county government that you are in cahoots with me."

Feng Guaizi's face darkened.

He was genuinely afraid of Shen An's threats. The county government didn't treat them like human beings at all. If they took action before finding out the truth, they would all be finished.

"Of course, if you cooperate with me, I will not treat you unfairly if I succeed in the future," Shen An added.

"Hmph, mistreated? If you had the ability to scrape together a hundred taels in ten days, would you still be working as a corpse carrier? You're just trying to buy time and live a few more days! What are you pretending for!" Feng Guaizi chuckled and turned to leave.

Old Zhao thought so too, but he felt that Shen An was a good young man, and that killing Wang Bantou had indirectly helped them. He figured that if Shen An and his brother could live a few more days, that would be good.

Shen An and Shen Xiaoqi were deeply moved when they saw Old Zhao speaking up for them, and immediately expressed their gratitude.

Old Zhao waved his hand and said, "Hurry up and bury the body, it will be terrible if the government finds it."

Knowing the implications, Shen An instructed Shen Xiaoqi to guard the house while he carried the two corpses to the mass grave, found a place to burn them and bury them deep, thus destroying the evidence!

When Shen An returned, Dugu Meng, who had been hiding in the woodshed, finally dared to get up and walk out, supporting her shoulders.

She said guiltily, "Shen An, it's my fault for not following your instructions!"

"Just be more careful next time," Shen An said, not pursuing the matter further.

Dugu Meng gave an awkward smile, then asked with concern, "You just said you'd gather a hundred taels in ten days? How are you going to do that?"

"With these dead men's hair!"

Shen An took out the hair he had cut off when burying Wang Bantou and said, "There's plenty of this dead people's hair in the mass grave. If you have enough, you can sell it for over a hundred taels!"

Dugu Meng frowned: "You said yourself that nobody wants dead people's hair, how can you sell it for so much money?"

"Trade secret; specific methods cannot be disclosed."

Shen An said seriously, "I can only tell you that dead people's hair can be turned into treasure with some tricks."

I had long planned to use it to make money to buy an official position, but today the incident happened suddenly, and the amount was not enough.

The authorities could discover what happened today at any moment. We must quickly collect enough hair, or we'll both be dead!

"This…"

As an emperor, Dugu Meng was well-informed and had never seen any valuable items made from the hair of dead people.

How can we turn waste into treasure?