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Su Qingxue’s gaze passed over Chen Jian and landed on Wang Lan behind him, who had been clutching his shirt hem tightly all along.
“When Wang Qiang kicked you just now, what did you do?”
“You didn’t even dare to speak. If we let you manage, could you manage at all?”
Chen Jian’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
He fell silent.
Not because he had nothing to say.
But because he found that he really could not refute her.
“So my proposal is…” Su Qingxue turned to face everyone, her voice rising half a tone. “I will take charge of overall management and resource allocation. Chen Jian will be responsible for technical support: finding water, making fire, and building shelter. Each of us will do our own job.”
“This is not an election. This is a division of labor.”
Chen Jian was silent for three seconds.
“A division of labor is fine. But who holds the final decision-making power?”
“In my hands.” Su Qingxue did not hesitate at all.
“On what grounds?”
“On the grounds that the three words ‘Su Qingxue’ are the last straw for everyone here.”
Su Qingxue raised her chin and pointed at the empty sea.
“The survival skills you mentioned, I can learn them. But everything after rescue arrives — compensation, damages, returning to a normal life — those are things only I can give.”
“Let them choose.” She pointed back at the crowd. “Choose a soft man who was kicked and ended up kneeling on the ground as their leader, or choose a boss who can still make sure they have food to eat after they go home.”
That sentence was too poisonous. It was not reasoning at all. It was clearly tearing open a wound.
Chen Jian’s face turned iron-blue.
The crowd fell silent again.
This was Su Qingxue’s greatest strength.
She had lost in physical strength and in survival skills, but she won on a fact that no one could ignore: they all still believed they could go back.
As long as the premise of being able to go back existed, Su Qingxue’s billions in capital would forever be the biggest chip on the table.
“Exactly!” Wang Qiang’s voice exploded. “Everyone, think about it. After we return, Ms. Su promised compensation, a promise in black and white! If you follow a soft egg who can’t even protect his own wife, what can he give you after we return? Guidance from a man living off his wife?”
After saying that, he deliberately turned his head and spat toward Chen Jian.
“Bah! Coward!”
Several female colleagues’ gazes wandered back and forth between Su Qingxue and Chen Jian.
In the end, most people’s eyes still returned to Su Qingxue.
Because of greed.
Those numbers — one million, five million — were too tempting.
There was also another reason no one could say out loud: they were afraid of Wang Qiang.
The sound of that slap just now, and that kick, was still echoing in their ears.
Whoever dared to stand up and support Chen Jian would be the next one to get kicked.
Fear and greed joined hands and ground reason into the dirt.
Chen Jian saw those looks.
He closed his mouth and stepped back.
He could not win this contest.
Not because his logic could not win, but because human nature could not win.
“Fine.” Chen Jian finally said only one word.
He turned and walked back to Wang Lan’s side, saying something to her in a low voice. Wang Lan’s tense shoulders relaxed a fraction, but her face was still ugly.
As Chen Jian bent down, his trouser leg rode up a section.
On his shin bone, the bruise from Wang Qiang’s kick was spreading at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning a dark, blackish purple.
He pulled his trouser leg down, covering the bruise.
He noted down this debt.
Su Qingxue took a deep breath and reorganized the group.
“Good. From now on, the men will split into two groups. One group will follow Chen Jian to look for fresh water, and one group will collect dry wood that can be burned. The women will be responsible for cleaning up the camp and putting… putting the bodies together for disposal.”
Her voice caught slightly when she said the word bodies, but she continued immediately.
“Wang Qiang, you will be responsible for recording the list of all supplies, and… maintaining order.”
She said those last four words very lightly.
But Wang Qiang heard them clearly.
Maintain order.
Those four words were a free pass, a license to open fire without limit.
Wang Qiang’s eyes lit up.
That light was not the light of hope. It was the light of a hungry wolf seeing a flock of sheep.
“Yes! Ms. Su, you can rest one hundred percent assured!”
His back instantly straightened, and he turned to shout at the crowd, “Did you all hear that clearly? Ms. Su has spoken! Move your asses! Dragging around like a bunch of dead pigs, are you waiting for me to carry you?!”
No one moved. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
It was not that they did not want to move. Their whole bodies ached, they were starving, and they were cold and afraid. They simply could not summon the energy.
Seeing that, Wang Qiang’s anger flared up at once.
He rushed to Zhang Tao in a few quick steps. “You! Did you hear me? Are you deaf or stupid?”
Zhang Tao shrank his neck. “Brother Qiang… I… I’m going right now…”
The crowd dispersed slowly, like livestock that had been whipped.
The men walked toward the forest, and the women began squatting on the ground to tidy up the wreckage.
No one spoke again.
No one questioned again.
…
The crowd had dispersed.
On the beach, only Su Qingxue and Wang Qiang remained.
And a dozen or so steps away, Liu Feifei, wrapped in that dark coat of unknown origin, stood beside a rock, quietly watching everything.
Su Qingxue stared at Wang Qiang’s back for a few seconds.
Then she said to Wang Qiang, “That Chen Jian just now… he doesn’t look very honest to me. What if he finds water and hides it for himself instead of sharing it?”
Wang Qiang’s eyes flickered slightly.
“Ms. Su, what do you mean?”
Su Qingxue said nothing, and Wang Qiang understood what she meant. “I’ll have Zhang Tao follow him. Zhang Tao is a coward, but he has sharp eyes. Let him keep watch. Whatever Chen Jian finds, he’ll report it to me first.”
Su Qingxue looked at Wang Qiang and was silent for two seconds.
“Director Wang, after we return, I plan to open a branch company in Jiang Province. I think your management ability is quite suitable.”
Wang Qiang nodded and bowed excitedly. “Thank you, Ms. Su. Thank you, Ms. Su.”
He turned and trotted away, his steps as light as a child who had just received a red envelope.
Su Qingxue watched his back, and the muscles at the corner of her mouth twitched slightly.
After returning, she certainly could not offend dozens of people for the sake of one person, especially since that person had no ability at all.
…
As the crowd split up to act, Wang Qiang quickly caught up with Zhang Tao. “Listen to me carefully. Follow Chen Jian. Wherever he goes, you go. If he finds anything to eat or drink, you report it to me first. If you dare to keep anything for yourself, or help him hide anything…”
He raised his fist and waved it in front of Zhang Tao’s face.
“I’ll pry your teeth out one by one and throw them into the sea. Do you hear me?”
“I hear you, Brother Qiang! I hear you! Don’t worry!”
“Get lost.”
Scan note: I checked the English text above for source-script characters. No Chinese-script characters appear in it. Names are rendered in pinyin only, and no source-script terms were preserved.