Chapter 37 (1/2)

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The Secret Gold Card

The cla.s.s system was strict within Daqi, boundaries between them clearly drawn. Upon coining a master-servant relations.h.i.+p, it was as such for the rest of their lives.

The servants and handmaidens were all properties of the owner. Owners had the ultimate power over their bodies and lives.

The owners could kill them and they must not resist. At most, the owners would bribe the police or pay a small fine. If the servants bullied their owners, it was the most serious crime. The lightest punishment was exiling them to the military while heaviest punishment was public execution.

Madam Xie was usually very kind to her servants. Although none of the servants had committed major mistakes, they still had minor mishaps here and there. Madam Xie's sudden change in att.i.tude today scared them terribly.

Agatha's face was completely pale, her hands clutching each other at her stomach. She thought she had left the tiger's cave to enter the demon's lair.

Madam Xie yelled sternly, “Li Chengfeng, you'd better take this punishment seriously! The Zhan family of the northwest were anointed as Counts during the establishment of the empire! Even the Li family at the time did not dare cross them! Especially not now when we're so broke already! You've got the guts, how dare you dig our family's grave for a servant? You think you're cool, you're so proud of it, aren't you?!”

Asparta was an honest man. He did not show mercy since Madam Xie had already given him the instruction. Ten hits later, Li Chengfeng was already seeing stars. He couldn't help but say, “It's that b*stard who started it first!”

She yelled, “So if you see a tiger charging at you, you run towards it?”

Li Chengfeng looked up stubbornly, “Of course, I'll kill it with my fist!”

Madam Xie was utterly furiously, smas.h.i.+ng the teacup next to her unto Li Chengfeng's forehead. With a loud crack, the skin on his forehead was sliced open. Blood flowed down his face.

Without wiping the blood, as if he felt nothing, he said, “Must we always hold it in when someone more powerful than us bullies us? There are too many people more powerful than us in the world! Then should we just let all of them walk over us?”

Madam Xie could not even speak, her entire body trembling as she pointed a shaky finger at Li Chengfeng. “You… Are you not afraid of driving our family into the grave?”

Of course he was afraid, but he was a stubborn young man. He was in an argument with his mother in front of so many servants, he could not back down now. “We'll cross the bridge when we reach it, and if we can't solve the problems, we can just hide! What's there to be afraid of?”

Before she spoke, a voice rang. “Well said! What's there to be afraid of?”

Everyone looked towards the voice to see the patriarch Li Chun clad in formal attire at the door. He looked solemn, his gaze sharp. There was no sign of the haziness usually seen in them.

Although he was often insane when his sickness flared, he was still the patriarch. When he had his wits about him, no one dared argue with him.

His eyes swept across the hall as he said proudly, “The Li family of the Cleansing Moon Sect has lasted for many centuries, why would we be afraid?”

Madam Xie forced a smile and walked towards him. She extended her hands to support him at his elbow, and in a gentle voice, “You're up? And I see you're feeling well today?”

As if he did not hear her, he said, “You don't need to be afraid of the Zhan family. The Champion Marquis's power is only in the Northwest, his feelers cannot reach us! Plus our Li family has a trump card!”

Madam Xie smiled bitterly. With so many servants here, she had to protect her husband's dignity so she went along with it, “What is it?”

Li Chun enunciated, “A No-Death Gold Card!”

The crowd was shocked. Green Bead, who hadn't had the guts to speak, gasped, “No-Death Gold Card?”

Asparta and Agatha looked at each other in shock. Although they were foreigners, they knew that extremely few families in Daqi had the Gold Card!

Madam Xie gasped, “Since when did we have a No-Death Gold Card? Why.. don't I know of it?”

Li Chun looked delighted with himself. “Ancestor Li helped Heavenly Emperor Zhang Zhaoyang defeat the Devil King of Heaven's Corner, Sun Heluo along with the Ancestral Emperor. It was all because of his efforts at the Immortal Pa.s.sing Block, we received the Gold Card for his sacrifice.”

Madam Xie was suspicious. “Why haven't I seen it before?”

Li Chun grinned. “The Gold Card has always been carried in secret by the patriarch, you haven't seen it.”

Madam Xie thought: I've seen every inch of your skin, turned every brick in our house! There isn't a Gold Card!

However, Li Chun looked very serious and she had hope. “The Gold Card is with you now?”

Li Chun nodded and fished for it in his clothes. Everyone widened their eyes, including Li Chengfeng and Zhao Xiaobao who were lying on the ground, as they craned their necks to see.

Li Chun took something out and held it up solemnly. “Look closely, this is the No-Death Gold Card!”

Everyone saw a white, soft object in his hand with multiple fingerprints on it. It was a fifty-cent bun from down the street!

Su Yuehan, who was watching the show, almost laughed out loud. Everyone quickly looked down and forced themselves to think of the saddest thing they had experienced in their lifetimes. They must not laugh now.

Li Chengfeng covered his face, hoping the ground would swallow him. He had just been beaten in front of so many people, yet this was more embarra.s.sing.

Madam Xie did not see the difference. She forced a smile, her voice shaking as she instructed Green Bead, “Green Bead, bring Master back to rest.”

Li Chun was puzzled. “Look at it, it really is the Gold Card! With this, the Zhan family would never dare touch the Li family!”