Chapter 56: Chapter 56
“In broad daylight?” Lin Zhixu gave a coquettish smile and lightly bit her dainty lips.
Li Suifeng glanced at Lin Zhixu.
Well now—she really did know how to set the mood!
“Come here.”
“…”
With Lin Zhixu’s cooperation, an hour later Li Suifeng walked out of the courtyard, refreshed and in fine spirits.
Willow, keeping watch outside, saw Li Suifeng emerge; her pretty face flushed crimson, and she didn’t dare look at him.
…
The next day.
Li Suifeng brought Wen Bubao to the small courtyard where the Xu siblings were being held.
After two days of confinement, the pair had grown somewhat haggard.
These past two days they had been on edge, not knowing how Li Suifeng meant to deal with them.
Seeing Li Suifeng walk in, the two hurried to their feet:
“Lord Feng!”
“We greet you, Lord Feng!”
Xu Yiyi looked at Li Suifeng, threads of fear in her eyes.
She had been pampered since childhood, and with her outstanding looks she had always been cherished like a treasure in the palm—yesterday was the first time anyone had ever treated her so roughly.
“How does Lord Feng intend to deal with us?”
Xu Tianyi forced out a faint smile.
Since Li Suifeng hadn’t killed them yesterday, it proved there was still room to talk. He hoped Li Suifeng simply didn’t want to offend too many fifth-rank experts at once—in which case, leaning on their aunt’s renown, they might yet have a chance to return to Mingzhou.
“How do you think I ought to deal with you?” Li Suifeng found a place to sit and gestured for Wen Bubao to keep watch outside.
Xu Tianyi smiled bitterly:
“Lord Feng, just tell us how you mean to deal with us.”
“Do we even have any room to bargain with you now?”
“Smart.” Li Suifeng nodded. “I plan to ask your aunt for some silver. How much do you think the two of you are worth?”
The Nanyang Branch’s coffers held little; they were enough to keep the branch running, but to expand its strength, it was far too short of funds.
The pair posed no threat to him. Trading them for some silver was as good as putting trash to use.
The Xu siblings let out a breath.
If he only wanted silver, that was manageable. Their Xu family might not rank among Nanzhou’s top powers, but as a force with a fifth-rank expert at its helm, the Xu family had its own businesses, and each year a fair sum came in.
Their own father held no low position within the clan; he, too, was a peak-sixth-rank martial artist.
“Lord Feng, how about fifty thousand taels of silver?” Xu Tianyi asked in a small voice.
SLAM!
Li Suifeng brought his palm down on the table, and the solid-wood table split to pieces. He barked:
“Fifty thousand taels—are you insulting yourselves, or insulting me?”
Goddamn it. When he’d wiped out the Yang family before, he’d taken more than a hundred thousand taels from them. And now two direct-line scions of a fifth-rank family were only willing to put up fifty thousand to ransom themselves?
Even the top courtesan at the Lakeheart Pavilion couldn’t buy her freedom for a mere fifty thousand taels.
The Xu siblings’ hearts quailed.
“Lord Feng, a hundred thousand—a hundred thousand truly is the limit!” Xu Tianyi said, his face crumpling miserably. “My Xu family’s yearly income has to support so many people in their training. The expenses are enormous, and we only clear a few tens of thousands of taels a year. For people of my and my sister’s standing, a hundred thousand really is the limit.”
Though they were direct-line scions of the Xu family, real power lay with their aunt, Fourth Aunt Xu.
“A hundred thousand it is,” Li Suifeng said evenly.
“But once I let you go, I’ll need you to do something for me.”
“What is it?” Xu Tianyi asked.
Li Suifeng: “Isn’t your Xu family on good terms with the Righteous Manor? Find out the Righteous Manor’s movements for me.”
“That won’t do!” Xu Tianyi said hastily. “If it’s discovered, my Xu family is finished!”
The Righteous Manor was not to be offended lightly. It was thick with experts; a fifth-rank expert might count as a local powerhouse in Nanzhou, but before the Righteous Manor it was nothing.
If word got out that he was passing information to Li Suifeng, his aunt wouldn’t spare him—never mind the Righteous Manor lifting a finger.
“You will.”
With that, Li Suifeng laid a hand on the teapot.
WHOOSH!
Two Life-Death Talismans shot out and sank into the two of them.
An hour later, the Xu siblings were drenched in sweat, their eyes full of terror as they looked at Li Suifeng.
By now, the swelling on Xu Yiyi’s face had gone down.
Li Suifeng ran his hand across Xu Yiyi’s soft, fair chin and said evenly:
“I hear you have quite the silver tongue.”
“Today, why don’t we explore that?”
Xu Yiyi stared at Li Suifeng’s face, her pretty face flushing crimson, at a loss.
Xu Tianyi, knowing better than to linger, had already walked out of the room, pulling the door shut behind him as he went.
…
A massive ship was making its way toward Nanyang Prefecture.
The Canal Gang’s banner flew from its mast.
Ye Mingchu stood at the bow, gazing toward Nanyang Prefecture, his spirits high and his bearing proud!
After more than ten years in the Disciplinary Hall, he had his own network of connections. If he could gild his name with a few years at the Nanyang Branch and then be transferred back to headquarters, his standing was sure to climb another notch.
What was more, he’d received a letter some days ago: his son was now an inner-sect disciple at the Bashan Sword Sect. The future held such promise!
“Haah.” Yuan Hai, standing in a corner of the deck, let out a sigh.
This time he had gone, on Lord Feng’s orders, to seek out Elder Liu, and Elder Liu had indeed lent a hand—but unfortunately the Disciplinary Hall now held great sway, and had personally named Ye Mingchu to succeed to the post of Nanyang Branch Helmsman.
Such a shame! Had the Disciplinary Hall not stepped in, that Helmsman’s post would have fallen to Lord Feng.
“Let’s hope Lord Feng’s standing as sixth on the Human Rankings gives Ye Mingchu some pause,” Yuan Hai murmured.
Back in the Disciplinary Hall, Ye Mingchu had been domineering in his ways, and Lord Feng was not a man to swallow a slight either; there were bound to be frictions between them.
And according to some information he’d gotten from Commander Hu, this Ye Mingchu seemed to be on friendly terms with Qi Hu.
That earlier business with Manager Ma had been quashed by Ye Mingchu, so that it never implicated Qi Hu.
“Helmsman!”
“Someone’s rushing toward us from up ahead!”
Just then, a startled cry rang out.
“This is Three Rivers Fortress territory—could it be someone from the Three Rivers Fortress?”
“The Three Rivers Fortress has only one sixth-rank, Jin Buhuan—where would he find the nerve?”
“No—it’s a woman!”
No one aboard panicked. They were all elites of the Disciplinary Hall, who had weathered countless storms; each took weapon in hand and watched coldly as the figure came striding toward them across the waves.
“It’s… Ji Xiangxiang of the Valley of Ten Thousand Flowers!”
At last, a peak-seventh-rank Disciplinary Hall expert standing beside Ye Mingchu recognized the newcomer, his face changing drastically.
They too knew that two days prior, the Nanyang Branch Elder Li Suifeng had slain Chen Dao, Ji Xiangxiang’s only son.
For Ji Xiangxiang to come now boded ill.
Ye Mingchu, standing at the bow, cupped his hands toward Ji Xiangxiang:
“Might I ask what brings Elder Ji here?”