After her transformation and rebirth, she manipulates the innocent and ruthless to overthrow the wor

As soon as Xiao Ran stepped out of the house, she saw the third leader and a group of burly men gathered downstairs.

It was as if they were afraid she would run away.

Mo Ping squeezed out from the crowd, smiling as he greeted her: "Ali, the Third Master wants us to stay at his place for the night."

Upon hearing this, the third leader also turned to look at her, but his eyes revealed a lot of emotions: intimidation, warning, and... distrust.

Xiao Ran calmly went downstairs and headed straight for Mo Ping, saying to the Third Master, "Thank you, Martial Uncle."

This is the fourth leader's elder brother, so he should be addressed as "Master Uncle".

Moreover, she called him that to remind the Third Master that they were all disciples personally taken in by the Fourth Master.

The third leader's expression softened slightly, and he nodded. "Yes, my house is not far away. It's getting late, let's go."

The third leader instructed his men to hand them the few oil-paper umbrellas they had, while he himself, wearing a raincoat and a straw hat, walked into the rain.

Along the way, Mo Ping kept whispering to her how understanding the Third Master was, and how the Third Master had only asked a couple of questions while passing by before agreeing to let them stay the night.

Moreover, he would rather get wet himself than not take care of the younger generation, and he even sent someone to inform his master of the situation so that his master would not worry.

Xiao Ran merely curled the corners of her lips and casually echoed a couple of comments.

Her senior brother could attribute the Third Leader's appearance to just passing by, but how could she not understand? This middle-aged man in front of her probably knew that the First Leader had called her over, and hurriedly came to intercept her.

They soon arrived at the third leader's courtyard.

He instructed his men to settle them in the old house where the fourth leader had once lived. It was a farmhouse courtyard by the water, where a few ducks and other poultry were kept, and there was a pond outside the courtyard.

Mo Ping was exhausted after a long day and soon fell into a deep sleep.

She nudged Mo Ping twice and softly called out "Senior Brother" twice, only to find that the person in front of her was fast asleep. So, taking advantage of his sleep, she sneaked into the courtyard.

For no other reason than that one of the third leader's men had secretly slipped a note into her hand.

The inscription reads: "A chat by the willow tree by the pond."

She stepped out of the courtyard and, as she approached the willow tree, saw a dark figure beneath it. She murmured, "Third Master."

The dark figure turned around, clearly the third leader, with two subordinates behind him. He said with displeasure, "You still know how to come over?"

Xiao Ran immediately stepped forward respectfully and handed over the letter from his sleeve. "I'm sorry to have kept the Third Master waiting. This is something that Brother Qiangzi specifically instructed me to do before he died."

The third leader took the letter, quickly put it on his waist, then patted his sleeves twice, and asked suspiciously, "What did the first leader say to you?"

"The boss only asked about Qiangzi's death; I dare not say anything else." She bowed, trying to keep a low profile.

"You know you're just a disciple the fourth brother recently accepted, not like the one inside. If you dare to lie to me..."

Xiao Ran listened respectfully with her head down. She knew he was threatening her. After all, she had only been in the valley for a short time, and no one would care if something happened to her here.

But so what? She slightly curled the corners of her mouth.

“Third Master, I am devastated by Qiangzi’s death. I know he was one of your confidants, so when the First Master asked why Qiangzi was in the cave, I didn’t say a word. The First Master just thought I was overwhelmed with grief and let me go.”

"But he told me everything before he died, including... the person in the letter. He hoped that I could take over his work properly."

"This was his last wish, and I dare not refuse."

As she spoke, she pretended to be sad and wiped away non-existent tears from her face, trying to make herself look more pitiful.

Her meaning couldn't be clearer: she had now gained the trust of the head of the gang and was also the disciple of the fourth-in-command. Having her do things was probably the best option.

The third leader was a little surprised that Qiangzi had told her such an important matter, but after thinking for a moment, she said, "Alright, since Qiangzi has already acknowledged you, and you are Lao Si's apprentice, I will trust you for the time being."

Then he left with his men. Xiao Ran saw that the moon was already high in the sky, so she went back to her room to rest.

-

The next morning, when Mo Ping woke up, he found his junior brother curled up asleep on the ground.

"Ali? Why are you sleeping on the floor?" Mo Ping gently woke her up.

She got up and rubbed her eyes. What else could it be? She couldn't possibly sleep with a man, could she?

But since she was now identified as a man, she had to speak in a low voice, "Senior brother, you took up the whole bed yesterday and slept so soundly that I couldn't wake you, so I had to lie on the floor..."

Upon hearing this, Mo Ping scratched his face sheepishly, "Next time, just punch me a few times, and I guarantee it'll wake me up!"

"How can that be? Senior brother, don't worry about me. I rested very well yesterday."

Mo Ping looked at the dark circles under his junior brother's eyes and knew he was lying, but since his junior brother had said so, he couldn't refuse, so he said, "Then let's pack up and get up. Master should be waiting for us."

"it is good."

Although the daytime heat was unbearable, the good lighting made the path much easier to walk than at night. After traversing the winding trails, we soon arrived at Baicaoyu.

After passing through a large field of medicinal herbs, we saw the fourth leader pushing a wheelchair along the edge of the field, tending to the herbs.

"Master!" Mo Ping shouted upon seeing the Fourth Master and immediately stepped forward to help push the wheelchair.

"You're back? Now get to work and take these back to the medicine hut." The fourth master patted the neatly arranged medicine basket on the ground and ordered without looking up.

Mo Ping muttered to himself, thinking that he hadn't properly told his master what happened yesterday.

But he still went to pick up the medicine basket.

"Come here," the fourth leader said to Xiao Ran.

She walked over as well, but when the fourth leader saw that Mo Ping hadn't moved and was even eavesdropping, he slapped Mo Ping on the head and urged, "What's wrong? You've come back from your trip and you don't even listen to your master anymore?"

"No, no, I'll go right away..." Although Mo Ping was somewhat dissatisfied with the different attitudes his master had towards him and his junior brother, he thought that this was, after all, a new junior brother, and as the senior brother, he should give way to him. So he reluctantly picked up the medicine basket and turned to walk into the courtyard.

"He's been with me since he was little, I've watched him grow up," the fourth leader said, still pruning leaves as he worked.

"It's clear that Master and Senior Brother have a very good relationship."

After saying this, the fourth leader remained silent and focused on pruning the leaves. Xiao Ran went over to check and saw that he had cut off several withered and yellowed leaves.

“This is called Chalcedony Sunflower. It can dispel blood stasis and detoxify. Most importantly, it works very quickly. It is my most precious treasure. But since it was transplanted from my home, it has been getting worse year by year. In a few more years, I’m afraid it will have to fall back to its roots.”

Xiao Ran picked up a withered yellow leaf that had just been thrown away from the ground and examined it carefully. She found that the leaf was not only limp and droopy, but also that the veins of the leaf were slightly black.

Can these herbs also cause adverse reactions to changes in environment and climate?

However, when she followed that quack doctor before, she learned how to restore the vitality of herbs, but she didn't know if it would be useful for the fourth master's hard work.

"Master, why don't you let me give it a try?"

"You have a way?" A glimmer of hope flashed in the fourth leader's eyes.

After a moment's consideration, she realized that she didn't actually need to help this master, but if she did well, perhaps her master would let her leave the valley.

He then said, "I learned a thing or two when I was wandering around. If Master agrees, I will go up the mountain tomorrow to find the materials I need."