Chapter 15 (1/2)

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Bending The Knee

When Li Chengfeng's father, Li Chun, saw that his wife and son were humiliated, he couldn't help but leap up suddenly. With dishevelled hair and widened eyes, he roared, “You blind b*stard, my son is…”

Before he could finish, Madam Xie yelled sternly, “Bring Master to the backyard!”

Li Chun already had five surly servants standing behind so upon hearing the order, they leapt to action. Two grabbed his arms, two grabbed his legs, one stuffed a towel in his mouth in a swift, experienced motion. Like carrying a statue, they quickly carried the struggling and shouting Li Chun out of the hall.

This would've been blasphemy in other families. A wife was not expected to disrespect her husband, who was of higher status like that, she could be chased out.

But in the Li family, this was a normal occurrence. Li Chengfeng was quite accustomed to it.

Madam Xie turned around and begged, “Master, you're a man of virtue from the Spiritual Mountain Sect. Please do not take that to heart, for my husband had gone insane due to his cultivation years ago. I beg you not to take a madman's words personally.”

Sun Boren saw how her face was dripping with blood and yet she dared not wipe it away so he sneered and turned away without a word.

Madam Xie said, “If you pick our Li family to enter the Spiritual Mountain Sect, we will be very grateful and definitely repay you tremendously!”

Sun Boren suddenly clapped when he heard her. “Ah, Master Lingyun! I remember now!” He grinned at her. “So Master Lingyun knows you. Then you're not really an outsider, are you?”

Madam Xie was delighted to hear this. Her servant Green Bead by her side pa.s.sed her a towel discreetly, which was taken equally discreetly. She wiped her face quickly and then hid it in her sleeve as she said cautiously, “Our Li family has prepared five thousand silver pieces as offering this time, and an extra five hundred for your troubles…”

Sun Boren was now giving trouble to the Li family because he had lost the Zhao family's offering. He had been robbed by some southern thieves who came all the way to the north to throw him into a p.o.o.p pond so he hadn't had a place to vent his anger. Naturally, it was bad luck for the Li family.

Cheng'an City was not huge but any substantial family was a loyal supporter of the sect. Many of the major families had members cultivating within the Spiritual Mountain Sect. While Sun Boren was a big shot below the mountain, once on the mountain, he was just a low-ranked member. He would not dare cause too much trouble either. If any family here decided to have a conversation with their children cultivating in the mountain, and news of his rampant bullying spread, it would be bad news for him.

The Li family were relatively new to the city and did not have strong roots in the sect so naturally, he could bully them.

It was a coincidence that Li Chengfeng had met him. At this moment, he was sighing privately. He'd spent so much effort to steal the sect's offerings, yet it was he who got into trouble! Did karma really exist?

Sun Boren furrowed his brows when he heard that the offering was only five thousand silver pieces and his extra portion was only five hundred. Displeased, he said, “Five thousand? Hah! You seem to take our Spiritual Mountain Sect as beggars!”

When he finished, he flung his sleeve, then got up to leave.

Madam Xie panicked and yelled, “Wait, Master!”

“Hmm?” He turned around and looked down at her.

Madam Xie gritted her teeth. “To tell the truth, the Li family can offer two thousand silver pieces more!”

When she finished, Green Bead couldn't help but gasp lightly. “Madam, two thousand silver is…”

Madam Xie glared and she shut up, looking down as she teared up. She clutched her handkerchief tightly.

Li Chengfeng also knew that two thousand silver pieces were the last of the money their family had. If that was gone, they would either have to beg in the streets next month or eat nothing!

Yet, Sun Boren merely huffed coldly, then turned to leave.

Madam Xie, the woman who was usually calm and composed in spite of anything, and had the respect of all her servants, suddenly lost her wits and grabbed the tail of Sun Boren's long robes. She begged pitifully, “Master, that's already all the money our Li family has!”

Sun Boren raged and kicked her away. “Get off!”