Chapter 52 – Extortion (1/2)

Chapter 52 – Extortion

“You…” Wuhen’s fury surged, as Qinghan finished his provoking remarks. In order to refrain from acting rudely, he even clenched his fists so hard that the cracking sounds of knuckles could be heard. Before he had left home, his father had warned him not to do anything impulsive and he had promised to obey, “I choose not to talk with this crazy guy.”

Actually, Wuhen’s father, Xue Piaorou, had discreetly told his son about the main purpose of this trip – to alleviate the possible conflicts between the Xue Family and the Ye Family. After Wuhen had confessed to his father about what he had done back at the Ye Castle, including his kidnapping scheme, his father had promised to help him out by sending a sophisticated, great elder from the family to negotiate with his counterpart in the Ye Family.

Most importantly, Wuhen had heard that the negotiator in the Ye Family, Ye Qingniu, was notorious for his tyrannical temperament in the Mars Prefecture. Therefore, for the sake of the negotiation, he was told to control himself and hold back the anger resulting from any insulting remarks. It was no wonder, that despite Qinghan’s incessant insulation, he had been pretending to be calm, and didn’t say much at all.

Among the people in the room, only Wuhen knew, that it wasn’t the right time to irritate Qinghan. Others didn’t have any clue about it, especially the frivolous Long Shuiliu. Indeed, Shuiliu was surprised by Wuhen’s cowardice response; he thought that young leader Wuhen would’ve been more aggressive. On second thought, however, he guessed that, maybe, Wuhen didn’t want to fuzz about the wrangle between him and this teenager, Qinghan; or maybe, Wuhen tried to protect his gentleman impression in front of so many people. After pondering for a while, Shuiliu decided to stand up, and regain face for Wuhen.

“I agree with young leader Wuhen. You ought to be nice to him, or you’ll get punched to the ground.” Shuiliu spoke with a sullen tone.

The moment Shuiliu finished his words, the two luxuriously-dressed young lords looked at each other, and smiled, yet they kept silent like before.

“Idiot!” Yue Niang cursed the brainless Shuiliu in a whisper. Observing from what had happened just now, she was sure that Wuhen was intentionally avoiding any conflict with Qinghan, though she didn’t know the reason behind it. Now, against Wuhen’s will, Shuiliu had provoked Qinghan, trying to intensify the tension. As a nephew of the leader of the Long Major City, Shuiliu was notorious for bullying others in the name of his uncle. He had never done anything properly, because he was so fond of overestimating his own ability.

Yue Niang shook her head, and stepped back. As a middle-level cadre in the Yue Family, she felt she wasn’t in a position to interfere.

“Several months ago, many people tried to punch me down, and... they did. Now, there’re still many people who want to punch me down, yet… I believe, that they’ll be punched down instead. If you want to taste the feeling of being punched down, just come and have a try!” Qinghan’s reply was like a tongue twister. However, even a deaf person would sense the contempt in his voice.

“Humph! I’ll give you a lesson, on behalf of your family, for your narrow, despicable arrogance! I’ll let you know, that the sky outside of Grey City is more spacious than you could ever imagine!” Shui long sneered, as he pressed the knuckles on his fingers. It seemed as if he was determined to start a fight.

“The sky is limitless; yet the space on your head is so sadly limited. Poor brain…” Qinghan replied unthreatened. Suddenly, he abruptly turned to the two luxuriously-dressed young lords, and curiously asked, “Are you the young lords from the Feng Family and the Hua Family? Could you please do me a favor by answering me a couple of questions? Since Long Shuiliu declared to teach me a lesson, am I responsible when I punch him down? Will this fight lead to any further family conflicts in the future?”

“Errr!”

The two young lords were both stumped by these questions, and remained tongue-tied for a good while. They laughed bitterly to themselves, as they had never expected to become involved in this mess. Since Qinghan was blinking his eyes, waiting for an answer, the muscular one managed an awkward smile, “Normally, the fight between youngsters won’t influence the family relationships. After all, it would be embarrassing for the losing party to ask for help from his family.”

“I never ask for help from my family, and I’m always a winner.” The good-looking young lord replied confidently, with a touch of a weird feminine quality in his voice.

“Don’t waste time discussing such nonsense. We’d better choose our battlefield outside, in case we smash anything valuable in this room. Let’s get out, now!” Shuiliu wore a long face, yelling as though he was already pissed off by Qinghan’s absentmindedness. He was furious, because he was being despised by a teenager like Qinghan.

……