Chapter 65: Elder
The banquet continued until dusk, before Lu Jian ordered people to help the several drunk elders to the backyard to rest. There, beautiful young ladies had been waiting respectfully for a long time…
Lu Jian escorted them all the way to the moon gate before turning back. The eager smile that had always been on his face completely vanished, replaced by a face full of frost. He had always thought highly of himself and never deigned to bow and scrape like this, but this time he had no choice but to go against his nature and wag his tail to beg these old dogs. Although the effect was excellent and the crisis was basically over, one could imagine how stifled he felt inside.
When he reached the study room doorway, the steward came up and softly reported, “Master, Young Master has been found.”
“Bring him over.” Lu Jian’s face grew even darker as he tossed out the words and strode straight into the study room.
Moments later, Lu Feng was brought in, but in just a few days, he had lost a full circle of weight, his face full of haggardness, his hair greasy and shiny—where was there any trace left of a noble young master?
The moment he saw Lu Jian, Lu Feng dropped to his knees with a thud, crying out, “Father…”
Lu Jian’s face was ashen as he glanced at the steward, who tactfully withdrew and closed the door.
Once the door was shut, Lu Jian casually drew the feather duster from the porcelain bottle and viciously whipped it down on Lu Feng’s head. Lu Feng hurriedly shielded his head with both hands, which only made Lu Jian even more furious. Ignoring head or face, the feather duster rained down on Lu Feng like a storm. Although Lu Feng had already stepped through the threshold of Black Rank, how could he dare use true qi to protect his body in front of Lu Jian? He could only take the blows with his tender physical body! In no time, he was in such pain that he cried out for his father and mother…
Lu Jian turned a deaf ear, whipping until feathers flew everywhere, covering Lu Feng from head to toe in bruises, before throwing the now-bald feather duster to the ground and gnashing his teeth: “Beast, how did I father a beast like you?!”
“Father…” Lu Feng was a mess of snot and tears, trembling all over in pain as he said, “Your son was bewitched for a moment—Father, save me!”
“You still haven’t explained clearly all those deeds you did!” Lu Jian snorted angrily.
“Yes…” Lu Feng hurriedly wiped the corner of his eyes, hissing in pain as he inhaled: “This New Year, while drinking with Xie Tian and the others, I heard him say that the Water Management Bureau repairing the Yellow River had created many fields suitable for mulberry cultivation, rare in the North. They planned to swallow them up and resell to merchants for several times the profit.”
“After the first lunar month, your son went with them to inspect the land in person—it really was prime land, hard to come by. And they had already lined up merchants who would take as much as they could get. Your son came back, did the math, and saw it was a surefire profit with no loss, so I asked them for fifteen hundred qing. But your son didn’t have that much money to buy it, so I discussed with Manager He, Manager Chai, and the others to first borrow three hundred thousand strings from the public funds, buy the land, resell it for over a million strings. As long as we repaid the three hundred thousand before the mid-year accounting, it would be undetectable.”
“…” Lu Jian stood with hands behind his back, expressionless, listening as Lu Feng continued: “Manager Chai and the others wanted to get rich too, so they agreed to your son’s plan and borrowed the money from public funds to buy the land in the fourth month…” At this point, Lu Feng’s face was full of regret: “At that time, some wanted to sell the land directly for cash. But Xie Tian said that would sell at a loss—we should plant mulberry seedlings first, then sell to squeeze the merchants for more. But your son had no more money, and Manager Chai and the others didn’t dare borrow more from public funds, so we listened to Manager He, sold off part of the land, bought mulberry seedlings with it all, and planted them on the remaining land.”
“We were originally just waiting to sell after planting the mulberry seedlings, but unexpectedly, before they were done, the Yellow River burst its banks, flooding all the mulberry fields. Who would those merchants pay for anymore?” Lu Feng said with a crying voice: “Not only did we lose everything with nothing to show, we still had to fill the hole in the public funds ourselves, so we had no choice but to take a desperate risk and target the congee kitchen!”
“I’ll beat you to death, you little beast!” After hearing it all, Lu Jian hated him so much he raised his fist to give him another thrashing, but seeing Lu Feng covered in wounds and curled up, he finally softened and released his fist.
“Father, you must save your son!” Lu Feng climbed up the pole and hugged Lu Jian’s legs.
“Get lost!” Lu Jian kicked Lu Feng away and hatefully said, “I’m barely hanging on myself—how am I supposed to save you?!”
“It’s all that Lu Xin’s doing—if we can hold out a few more days, your son can fill the hole, and it would be undetectable…” Lu Feng said full of hatred.
“Shut your mouth!” Lu Jian coldly said: “If you hadn’t been bewitched and acted recklessly, who could have touched you?!”
“Yes…” Lu Feng hung his head dejectedly and shut up.
Lu Jian glared angrily at Lu Feng and said, “You idiot, why did you run?!”
“Your son was terrified at the time…” Lu Feng said timidly: “Terrified for myself, and even more afraid of implicating Father.”
“Sigh…” Lu Jian thought about it and realized it was true—if Lu Feng had been caught at the congee kitchen then, he definitely couldn’t have hidden anything, and the Elder Council absolutely wouldn’t back him up. It was Lu Feng’s flight that gave him the chance to maneuver in the middle. Thinking of this, he sighed: “Manager He and the others have taken full responsibility and committed suicide in disgrace.”
“Then can your son come back?!” Lu Feng was overjoyed to hear it.
“Impossible!” Lu Jian shattered Lu Feng’s illusions, coldly saying: “Going back now would be walking into the tiger’s mouth—no one could protect you!”
“I’ll listen to Father…” Lu Feng hurriedly whispered: “As long as it doesn’t delay next year’s competition…”
“Don’t dream!” Lu Feng not mentioning it was fine, but bringing it up made Lu Jian’s anger surge as he gnashed his teeth: “Lu Yi has already announced your expulsion from the name list!”
“What?!” Lu Feng was stunned and cried out like a bereaved dog: “He can’t do that—your son is already twenty-three; next time I’ll be over age!”
“Shut up!” Lu Jian glared hatefully at Lu Feng. To get him rated high rank, Lu Jian had racked his brains and waited two full rounds before squeezing Lu Feng into the four-person list. With this incident, six or seven years of his efforts had gone up in smoke, and Lu Feng had no more chance of rising through proper channels!
Lu Feng shut his mouth but grew sadder the more he thought, tears pattering down.
“Stop crying!” Lu Jian barked angrily and waved his hand: “It’s not like Nine Ranks is the only path—wait two years for Father to become Clan Leader, and you can still soar to success!”
“But that’s not the proper path…” Lu Feng whined.
“Don’t be ungrateful—if you can get past this hurdle and show your face again will depend on luck!” Lu Jian waved his hand in annoyance, signaling him to withdraw: “I’ll have Old Zhang arrange a new identity for you. Go hide out of town for a year or so and reflect properly!”
“Father, your son doesn’t want to leave Luojing, doesn’t want to leave you and Mother…” Lu Feng hugged Lu Jian’s thigh again and burst into tears.
“Scram!” Lu Jian kicked him away once more.
At this time, Steward Zhang came in from outside, helped out the tear-streaked Lu Feng, and took him directly to a remote courtyard. After settling Lu Feng, Steward Zhang softly advised: “Young Master, the trouble you’ve caused this time is truly too great. Even if Master wants to fix it for you, it will take time. Please stay calm and rest here for a few days—once this lowly one arranges everything, I’ll send you out of the capital. It won’t take a year or so; this lowly one will personally come fetch Young Master back.”
Lu Feng ignored him and just buried his head under the pillow. Steward Zhang had no choice but to bow and withdraw.
Once Steward Zhang left, Lu Feng’s lackey Hu San slipped in quietly. He had fled with Lu Feng and was the one who advised him to come back and beg Lu Jian for help.
“Young Master, this is already pretty good…” Hu San had overheard Steward Zhang and knew they definitely had to leave the capital. “Let’s just relax outside for a year—you’ve always wanted to see the world beyond the capital, haven’t you?”
“Even so, it should be this young master going on my own terms, not being chased out of the capital like a lost dog—what kind of thing is that!” Lu Feng shot up, gnashing his teeth: “Besides, I can’t just leave like this! Thinking of Lu Xin still living it up in the capital makes me unable to eat or sleep!”
“Young Master, he’s a Grandmaster…” Hu San’s eyelids twitched as he spoke. That day on Funiu Mountain, the shadow Lu Xin cast on him was too deep.
“He’s a Grandmaster, but his wife and kids aren’t! I don’t believe he can guard them forever!” Lu Feng coldly said: “This time, no kidnapping—just straight to killing!”
“But we have no one left to use…” Hu San said with a bitter smile: “Master’s people definitely won’t help.”
“In this world, there are professions that kill for money!” Lu Feng said darkly: “Go to the White Ape Society—I’ll pay double the price for his wife and kids’ heads!”
