"What right do you have to criticize us?" Jiang Ye pointed at Jin Qiaoyue aggressively. "Let me tell you, we all paid to join this expedition!"
Jin Qiaoyue's expression turned grim, a cold glint flashing in her eyes. After a moment of contemplation, she looked at me and said, "Mr. Xiang, you are the principal manager of this expedition. What is your opinion?"
I glanced at her, then at Jiang Ye, unsure of what to say.
At that moment, Li Chuang walked over, smiling. "Everyone, please calm down. I know we've all been a bit tired from traveling these past few days, and that's normal. When we signed the contract, it was clearly stated that all arrangements would be made by us..."
"By you?" Jin Qiaoyue said coldly. "Is this how you arrange things?"
Li Chuang smiled. "Miss Jin, why don't we all take a step back? Miss Zhao is indeed unwell, and we can't blame her. Besides, arriving a day earlier or later to the destination makes no difference..."
With Li Chuang's mediation, the atmosphere gradually eased considerably.
Although I didn't know the specifics of their contract, I could tell that everyone seemed to be somewhat apprehensive whenever Li Chuang brought up the contract.
After resolving the internal conflict, everyone went about their own business.
Li Chuang found me and asked me to help ease the atmosphere during dinner.
"How should I ease it?" I asked.
He smiled. "Mr. Xiang, you are the principal manager of our expedition, and they will listen to what you say. Just say a few words then."
"Principal manager?" I said. "As you know, even though I'm called the principal manager, I'm really just a gofer. My job is to bring everyone to the destination and then bring them back. As for other matters, I'm not really equipped to handle them. Why don't you say a few words later?"
Li Chuang said, "What's the use of me saying anything? It has to be you. The contract clearly states that all matters are arranged by the principal manager."
"I haven't even glanced at your contract, how would I know what it says?" I replied.
Li Chuang gave a sheepish smile. "I don't have the contract with me right now. Mr. Xiang, if you want to see it, I'll show it to you when we get back."
Get back?
I couldn't help but mutter to myself: Who would care to see your contract once we get back?
However, on second thought, I was getting a good deal out of this trip, and my purpose was also to find Suihou Zhu.
No one knew what would happen in the future. If everyone wasn't united, and something truly happened, there could be real trouble.
Thinking this, I agreed to Li Chuang, saying I would try to persuade both sides later, but whether they listened to me was another matter.
Seeing that I had agreed, Li Chuang smiled and said, "Thank you for your trouble, Mr. Xiang."
Rexiti had found a lot of firewood from somewhere. He said they should make more bonfires tonight to prevent another wolf attack.
I naturally had no objection to this. I worked with him for a large part of the day, setting up seven or eight piles of firewood.
However, it was still early, so only one pile was lit to cook dinner.
On the plateau, it was difficult to boil anything properly. Most of the food that needed cooking couldn't be eaten, so we could only eat canned food.
Before dinner, Fatty excitedly found me. "Mr. Xiang, I've found out."
"Found out what?" I asked.
"I know why they were arguing." Fatty said.
"Why?"
I really didn't know why Jin Qiaoyue and Zhao Xuezhen had argued during the day.
Fatty said, "Zhao Xuezhen wanted to go to the restroom during the day and asked Jin Qiaoyue to accompany her. Guess what happened?"
"What happened?"
"After Zhao Xuezhen finished, Jin Qiaoyue also wanted to go. And then, while Jin Qiaoyue was using the restroom, Jiang Ye appeared."
I was stunned for a moment. "You mean, Jiang Ye saw Jin Qiaoyue using the restroom?"
Fatty nodded. "Yes."
"What was Jiang Ye doing there?"
"What else could he be doing? He went to look for his wife because Zhao Xuezhen hadn't returned. And that's how he accidentally saw Jin Qiaoyue using the restroom..."
"They started arguing because of this?" I asked.
Fatty said, "Initially, Jin Qiaoyue was targeting Jiang Ye. But who knew that Zhao Xuezhen, being protective of her husband, said, 'What's wrong with taking a look? It's not like anyone's going to die...' Just that sentence infuriated Jin Qiaoyue."
Fatty added with schadenfreude, "Think about it, Jin Qiaoyue kindly accompanied her to the restroom, only to suffer an indignity and then be talked back to. Do you think she could tolerate that?"
I hadn't expected the reason to be this. I thought Jin Qiaoyue was unhappy because Zhao Xuezhen had delayed their progress.
So it turned out to be such a trivial matter. When there are many people, anything can happen.
I suddenly felt a headache coming on, filled with helplessness.
"Mr. Xiang, in my opinion, Zhao Xuezhen is a troublemaker. She's bound to cause trouble sooner or later," Fatty complained.
I looked at him and said, "What if she's a troublemaker? She paid her money, and she's our client no matter what."
On this trip, Fatty and I had agreed that someone had hired me as the expedition leader to lead them to the treasure.
Once the treasure was found, the hiring fee would be split between Fatty and me.
For Fatty, this trip was all about making money.
Therefore, he hadn't caused any major problems along the way.
Fatty sighed and stopped talking. I curiously asked him, "Who did you get this information from?"
"Who else? It's Li Chuang, of course," Fatty replied.
I nodded, then asked Fatty to bring the gasoline and lit two more bonfires.
After dinner, I originally planned to ease the atmosphere as Li Chuang had requested.
However, Zhao Xuezhen said she was feeling unwell and was resting in her tent, and Jin Qiaoyue was also hiding in her tent.
With the two main parties absent, there was little point in me trying to ease the atmosphere.
After dinner, Jiang Ye and I sat by a bonfire, smoking and chatting.
Jiang Ye, despite being a fiercely protective husband, wasn't unreasonable.
Speaking of the day's events, he told me, "That woman is just unreasonable. I didn't even see her using the restroom, but she insisted on making trouble for me!"
Jiang Ye said that when he went to look for his wife during the day, Jin Qiaoyue didn't seem to be using the restroom at all, but she insisted he had peeked at her.
Hearing this, I was somewhat bewildered. What was going on now?
Looking at Jiang Ye, he didn't seem like someone who would lie.
Could Jin Qiaoyue be too sensitive?
The more I thought about it, the more confused I became, but I couldn't figure anything out.