Chapter 111 - Blackmail and Extortion (2/2)

As the head of the family, Fifth Elder had to stay behind alone to clean up the mess.

Lin Xuanzhi and Fifth Elder looked at each other. Beside them stood a pitiful looking Yan Tianhen who was wiping away his tears.

The corners of Lin Xuanzhi’s mouth curved up slightly as he revealed a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

When Fifth Elder saw that smile, his scalp immediately felt a tingling numbness and he laughed bitterly in his heart for awhile. He said, “Xuanzhi, we’re the ones who let you down this time.”

Lin Xuanzhi smiled, then said as if he didn’t think much of it, “I’m actually quite used to this kind of let downs. After all, the Lin family has always been like this. If there comes a day when someone isn’t trying their best to cause trouble for me, I would find that strange instead.”

After he was stabbed with such satire that was neither hot nor cold, Fifth Elder felt like he had been thoroughly humiliated.

He coughed once to conceal his embarra.s.sment, then said very uneasily, “Actually, the blame can’t all be placed on our heads. After all, Tianhen’s and your cultivation speed has been so quick that it’s a bit frightening. And coincidentally, Lin Yangzhi was so a.s.sured when he said that he had seen a corpse in the cellar, which was why we had forgotten to verify it at that moment.”

“The Head need not explain anything, Xuanzhi just needs to admit my bad luck.” Lin Xuanzhi said lightly, “But, I do want to know why someone would abruptly say that my unused cellar would suddenly have a corpse that was being refined. Yet after a formidable array of people had come forward, they would discover that the corpse had vanished into thin air. The Head wouldn’t really think that Lin Yangzhi was directing and acting in his own show and had fabricated all these lies ?”

Anyone with a brain would know that Lin Yangzhi had been tricked today.

But the problem is, who was the one who had tricked Lin Yangzhi?

Frankly speaking, Fifth Elder had always thought that Lin Xuanzhi was the one who had designed a trap and deliberately lured Lin Yangzhi into it to embarra.s.s him. Or, that Lin Xuanzhi really was cultivating the devil’s arts, but he reacted quickly and played around of ‘‘. But Lin Xuanzhi’s performance truly made it seem as if he wasn’t in the know.

A lot more doubts instantly arose in Fifth Elder’s heart.

He frowned and said, “You can tell me any thoughts you may have.”

Lin Xuanzhi looked at the Yan Tianhen leaning against him like a wilted eggplant, then brought him into his embrace with one hand. “Head, Ah Hen and I have never seen a corpse, but it had been discovered by Lin Yangzhi, and he even a.s.serted emphatically that it belonged to us. So why don’t we surmise that someone did place the corpse in the cellar, and it was found by Lin Yangzhi.” His lips curved up and Lin Xuanzhi continued, “But, that person had received news in advance and knew that the location of the corpse had been exposed, so that person dispatched someone over to take the corpse away beforehand. So by the time Lin Yangzhi had brought everyone here, there was nothing.”

“Therefore, when everyone comes, you would still suspect that I was the one who had rigged a scam in the dark and s.h.i.+fted everyone’s attention from the one who was manipulating everything behind the scenes, to me. Secondly…..”

Lin Xuanzhi smiled lightly, then looked at Mt. Luojia behind him and narrowed his eyes, “The corpse that’s being refined is still safe and sound in that person’s hands.”

Fifth Elder gazed at Lin Xuanzhi with a profound look in his eyes, “Everything that had happened today occurred because Lin Yangzhi wanted to frame and make false charges against you. As for the rest, both you and I will not think too much about it.”

Lin Xuanzhi smiled, “My crafting process was interrupted, so I have suffered quite a bit of a loss. I’ve always been a very timid person, and my younger brother who always gets bullied had been escorted the whole way here, and had even been threatened. Does the Head think that I wouldn’t overthink things under this sort of circ.u.mstances?”

Fifth Elder couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from twitching. He glared at Lin Xuanzhi, “Just give it to me straight, what do you want to extort from me this time?”

“Head, using the word ‘extort’ seems a bit too much.” Lin Xuanzhi said lightly, “At most it’s just a little necessary compensation.”

Fifth Elder, “……”

Lin Xuanzhi continued, “Since the Head is so generous and has told me to speak, then I won’t find it embarra.s.sing to be impolite. The amethyst currency card from before has no more money left. I used all the money inside to buy forged stones and materials required for crafting, but unfortunately, a whole pot of them was destroyed just now. As for my Ah Di, the Head has seen today too, he has a dual elemental wood and fire spiritual roots, and I’ve also checked to see that he does have an alchemist fire in him that he can use to refine pills. But since we’re unable to make ends meet, we don’t have the money to buy materials for refining pills, so it is difficult for us to put our skills into practice. Why don’t the Head pa.s.s Ah Hen some materials used for refining pills as well?”

Fifth Elder felt like he had practically lost to Lin Xuanzhi.

Giving him this sum meant that several months of the Lin family’s income would be drifting away.

However, when Lin Xuanzhi had said ‘cut off all ties completely with the Lin family’, Fifth Elder’s heart did jump with a start.

A craftsman and an alchemist — these are the two professions that all the major powers fight over to pursue in the Five Continents’ mainlands. He can’t afford to offend even one of them, let alone two! Even if these two rascals are members of his Lin family and are living off the Lin family’s rice!

Fifth Elder once again berated the Lin Yangzhi who had caused him so much trouble thoroughly.

Between pulling them in and pus.h.i.+ng them out, was it really necessary to consider which option he should choose?

Fifth Elder threw Lin Xuanzhi a sapphire blue currency card and rolled his eyes, “There’s 100,000 gold inside; all of the profits the Lin family made for this month is in that card. Just buy whatever you want to buy .”

Yan Tianhen’s eyes widened considerably —He has never seen that much money before in his life!

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Zryuu: Less pain today, but it still throbs a bit. So no RSCB chap will be released tmr, but at least I got this one out so no cliffy~

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