15 Inside the Thousand Gold Hall (1/2)
The members of the Dugu family were extremely protective towards Dugu Xiao Yi; especially her father Dugu Wudi. In fact, he had become overprotective of his daughter. Therefore, he had been labelled as the ‘tough meat’ of the kingdom. He would mobilize his entire army if anyone so much as bullied his daughter.
In fact, that ‘tough meat’ mobilized his entire army at the slightest cue. Who would dare to provoke such a person? Dugu Xiao Yi had beaten-up Jun Mo Xie even though he was under the protection of Jun Zhan Tian. This didn’t mean that Grandpa Jun couldn’t oppose Great General Dugu Wudi. However, he knew that Grandfather Dugu would interfere in case he mobilized his own army. After all, Great General Dugu Wudi had inherited his overprotective nature from his own father. Therefore, Jun Xie feared Dugu Xiao Yi the most… second only to Grandpa Jun. In fact, he sometimes feared Dugu Xiao Yi even more than Grandpa Jun. After all, his Grandpa would never hurt him physically. He – at the most – would preach him boring lessons. Dugu Xiao Yi – on the other hand – had no such reservations. Jun Mo Xie was always at the risk of getting thrashed by her – sometimes for no reason at all.
Even a person of Jun Mo Xie’s background couldn’t dare to provoke Dugu Xiao Yi. So, the other people obviously didn’t stand any chance in front of her.
But now, the precious princess of the Dugu family had walked in the Thousand Gold Hall by herself.
Jun Xie tilted his head to one side, and pointed his finger at Dugu Xiao Yi’s hand tugging at his ear. He said, ”I couldn’t help it. Look at me. Can I do anything about this? All of you can go ahead if you have any brilliant ideas. But, please… keep me out of it.”
”What’s wrong with you people? Are you not going to welcome me? Do you think that I haven’t got any money to gamble?” Dugu Xiao Yi started at them. She then pulled out her purse, and shook it. She raised her eyebrows and said, ”I’ve lots of money.”
That entire group of the debauchees was so scared that they were on the verge of soiling their pants. [You do have a lot of money. But, who has the guts to win your money? Anyone who wins against you will be ‘visited’ by your grandfather and his army in order to re-collect your debts. And… that’s the ‘best’ thing that can happen to that person. But, what about the bad scenarios…? What if your grandfather is in a bad mood? What if he decides to visit this place? Then… we’re as good as dead.]
A fiery light flashed in Tang Yuan’s eyes. He didn’t seem to care about the condition of the rest of the people. He said, ”Let’s not worry about irrelevant things. I’ve kept my promise of bringing Third Young Master Jun to this place… and he’s not going to run away now. So, please return my item to me. You people gave your word to me. A man who can’t keep his promise can’t be considered as a real man. Only a man of word has the right to stand between the Heaven and Earth.”
Even someone as calm as Jun Xie felt like puking after he heard Tang Yuan’s words. [Are you saying that you’re a real man? Please don’t degrade the worth of real men.]
Only one person among the six young men had been able to maintain his calm. He was Li Feng – the grandson of the Grand Preceptor Li Shang. His two brothers – Li Zhen and Li Lin – also stood behind him. Meng Haizou – a slim-looking young man with a thin moustache and deep eyes – stood further behind them. He was the eldest son of the Minister of Personnel – Meng Jianghu. He was known to be a person of great talent. Two more members of the Meng family stood behind him. They were Meng Liang and Meng Fei.
Li Feng smiled and said, ”Miss Dugu is personally visiting this place. How can I not welcome her?” He then turned around and issued an order, ”Serve Miss Dugu in the best possible way. I’ll peel-off your skin if you displease her in any manner.” Then, he looked at Meng Haizou and blinked, ”Third Young Master Jun is here. So, let’s conclude our joke. Look at Young Master Tang… Look how anxious he is. He’s sweating from head-to-toe. Only a man of word has the right to stand between Heaven and Earth. How can we not keep our word? Give him that item.”
Meng Haizou nodded and looked at Tang Yuan. ”Young Master Tang, I’m ready to give you the item. But, I can’t compromise on the one-million-and-five-hundred-thousand silver liang.” Tang Yuan nodded. He had gone there to collect the promissory note. He had been so occupied with its thought that he hadn’t given a thought to the one-and-a-half-million silver liang… even though it was a huge amount of money.
Jun Xie sneered in his heart. It was evident that Tang Yuan was extremely scared. However, Li Feng and Meng Haizou weren’t as fearless as they seemed. They wouldn’t have dared to publish the contents of the promissory note even if Tang Yuan hadn’t brought Jun Mo Xie to the Thousand Gold Hall. They knew that making the note public would’ve invited the wrath of both the Tang and Sun families. They would’ve ended-up becoming the blood enemies of both these families. It would’ve been a complete disaster. Therefore, this matter wasn’t as serious as it seemed. The only objective behind creating this scene was to get access to Jun Mo Xie.