Quick Transmigration: The Mad Beauty Refuses to Be the Scapegoat!

The voice from behind sounded a bit familiar.

Jiang Li immediately recognized it, skidding to a stop and turning back to look, his face instantly overflowing with anger.

"It’s you, brat! You damn..."

"Smack—!"

Jiang Lai slapped Jiang Li, cutting off the words left unsaid in his mouth.

"Watch your language, kid!"

Jiang Li covered his head, glaring angrily at the person in front of him.

"Sis! Last time, he hit me!"

"I remember him."

"Then why aren’t you letting me get revenge?!"

"You couldn’t beat him last time, do you think you can win this time?"

Just after saying that, three young guys emerged from the corner behind the house. They were all about sixteen or seventeen years old, uniformly skinny and dark but with solid limbs, looking quite powerful.

The tallest guy stood in the corner, keeping his head down and staying silent, but the leading teen would occasionally glance at him for cues.

"Are you here to sell coal chunks or not?"

Jiang Lai nodded.

"Yes, we heard the price is good here, so we came specifically."

"Let me see."

The teenager lifted the cloth covering the basket, immediately dumping out the coal chunks, and after a quick inspection, patted and nodded.

"Not bad, all large coals, I’ll give you three mao per jin."

Three mao per jin was already decent, but Jiang Li could sense that this guy was still trying to scam him.

"Three mao? Such large coal chunks, and you’re only offering three mao?"

The teenager was impatient.

"Are you selling or not? There are plenty of others waiting behind you. If not, get moving, don’t waste our business time."

Jiang Li was about to speak, but Jiang Lai covered his mouth.

"Three mao then, next time we have more, we’ll come find you again."

Both baskets totaled nearly ninety jin, rounded up to ninety, came out to twenty-seven bucks, which the other party counted out and handed directly to Jiang Lai.

Watching them pull out a bulging black bag, it seemed like it was filled entirely with money.

Who would have thought, initially mistaking them for fellow workers, only to find out they were the bosses.

They not only dig themselves but also gather from others; judging by appearances, they’ve probably collected quite a lot.

Winter was fast approaching. In the resource-scarce north, these coal chunks would soon become the most sought-after commodities. By then, just turning them over in more northern cities would double the price.

After collecting the money, Jiang Lai didn’t linger long, grabbing the baskets and pulling Jiang Li away.

At that moment, the teenager selling coal suddenly asked, "Were you the one who went to dig coal chunks a few days ago?"

The voice was the same, but the appearance was worlds apart.

The girl under the coal dust was actually quite fair and delicate, her eyes sparkled like wildflowers blooming in spring as she spoke.

Jiang Li turned back and spat at them.

"What’s it to you? Sis, let’s go, they’re nothing but troublemakers."

"Who the hell are you calling troublemakers, damn it, if you have the guts, stand still, you—"

The irritable teenager was instantly pinned down by a powerful hand.

Looking back, there were sharp, dark eyes in front of him, immediately calming him down.

"Brother Gao, he insulted me."

The teenager raised his hand, fingers resting beside his mouth, signaling him to shut up and say no more.

The others also stepped up to mediate.

"What’s the point in arguing with those people? Without a good dad, they’re nothing."

"Hmph, next time we won’t buy their coal chunks!"

[No need to jeopardize business]

The gesturing teenager bent down, picking up a white hair tie trapped under the coal chunks, with a black long hair attached, very fine and soft.

He was silent for a moment, then casually stuffed the hair tie into his pocket.

——

"I lost my hair tie."

While digging coal chunks, Jiang Lai was worried it would get dirty, so she specifically took off the white one.

Now preparing to switch back, she realized it was gone.

Jiang Li was counting the money.

Earlier, Jiang Lai handed him a bunch of bills, totaling up to over nine yuan.

"Let’s go, I’ll buy you a new one."

"I must have lost it at the place we sold coal just now."

Mentioning selling coal triggered some sort of reflex in Jiang Li.

"Those guys aren’t any good, let’s not sell our coal to them next time!"

Judging by his words, Jiang Li was already familiar with them.

Without Jiang Lai needing to ask, he explained everything himself.

"Did you see the tall guy standing in the back just now? He’s their leader, Lin Gao."

"You know him?"

"Are you kidding? Who doesn’t know him around here? He pulls all sorts of shady moves, gathering a group of orphaned kids with no parents, wandering around this area every day.

The one just arguing with me, called Little Si Zi, used to dodge me before joining Lin Gao, now he’s bold enough to hit me because he hides behind others!"

Jiang Li was adaptable.

Getting hit didn’t bother him.

What upset him was being hit by the small-time troublemakers he previously overlooked.

Jiang Lai recalled the skinny teenager, who looked pretty good without the coal dust. Though he walked with a hunch, he lacked the delinquent vibe, rather like an eagle ready to fly, his eyes sharp with a hint of ferocity.

"That Lin Gao is mute."

Jiang Li continued talking to himself.

"Rumor has it that his family used to live inside the steel factory, his father or grandfather was the factory director, but later, his uncle sabotaged them, kicking him out."

This story sounded somewhat familiar.

Jiang Lai remembered it, Lin Gao was precisely the villain in the original plot.

She generally paid no attention to information irrelevant to herself.

By the time Lin Gao first appeared in the novel, the original character was already dead.

Cannon fodder differs naturally from villains.

The original character died silently, while that villain’s death was quite dramatic.

Executed by firing squad for embezzling state assets.

The scene of the execution was thronged with people eager to watch the spectacle.

Jiang Lai nodded.

No wonder, he looked quite handsome, like someone with a story.

"He’s really fierce in fights, besides me it’s only him, no one dares mess with him around here."

Jiang Lai glanced at him.

Compared to Jiang Li, Lin Gao was even skinnier, his scapula felt sharp under the thin jacket, but although lean, nobody would doubt the strength in his fists.

That’s why, when they were digging coal chunks that day, Jiang Li was easily overpowered with no chance to fight back.

If not beaten by those followers, then he’d probably face Lin Gao’s wrath.

Jiang Li wasn’t foolish, he could differentiate between superficial wounds and severe injuries.

At the supply and marketing cooperative, Jiang Li bought two hair ties for Jiang Lai, one white and one red.

"I noticed Sister Yao Yao used a red one, it looked nice."

"That must have been from you, right."

"..."

Jiang Li was silent for a few seconds.

Feeling inexplicably a bit guilty.

"I didn’t understand you before."

Because Sister Yao Yao was gentle and generous, always tolerant, never competing with Jiang Lai for anything.

Whereas Jiang Lai seemed particularly scrupulous, untidy and not fond of tidying herself up.