Chapter 12: Li Ping'an Establishes His Authority

Li Ping'an's front foot had just stepped onto the squeaking, clamorously creaking black‑painted door of Courtyard No. 95, when a gust of cold wind wrapped with ice shards, mixed with sharp street curses, slammed straight at his face.

"Hey! You damned Sangmen Star! Pay up! If you don't pay, I'm going to make you leave sideways today!"

Jia Zhangshi blocked the courtyard like a mound of flesh, spitting so much that droplets nearly sprayed Li Ping'an's face. Her sharp triangular face was puffed purple, and her fingers seemed ready to poke into his eye sockets.

Li Ping'an halted, genuinely bewildered. He had just stepped back, the stove was still cold—what play was this? "Jia family aunt," he steadied himself, a hint of newcomer confusion on his face, "I don't understand what you're saying… compensate what money? There must be some explanation, right?"

"Explanation?" Jia Zhangshi's voice rose so high it could lift the roof, shaking the sparrows on the eaves into frantic flight. "What foolish act are you putting on! Look! Look at my son Jia Dongxu!" She yanked the hunched, drooping Jia Dongxu beside her to the front, pointing at the shallow, freshly scabbed scratch on the child's arm as if indicating a severe broken limb, "All because of your broken bucket! While you were just standing in the road, you tripped my Jia Dongxu, he fell hard, his arm got bruised and cut! Blood everywhere, it scared the living! You say you shouldn't compensate?!"

Li Ping'an looked in the direction she indicated. His new wooden bucket indeed lay tipped under the eaves at the entrance of the East Wing Room, about two feet away from the central blue‑brick main road. A few shards of broken ice were scattered around the bucket, and a shallow drag mark lingered on the ground.

His eyes swept swiftly. At the West Wing Room doorway of the Central Courtyard, He Daqing stuck out half his head, his face like he was watching a monkey show. In the Front Courtyard's West Wing Room, Yan Bu Gui's spectacles reflected a sly glint from behind the window. From the rear courtyard direction, Liu Haizhong paced out, hands behind his back, a solemn "I, the official, pass judgment" expression. Yi Zhonghai also lingered at his own doorway, his brows knotted, his gaze heavy and pressing down.

Heh, the Hongmen Banquet has begun. Li Ping'an felt a clear resolve inside. This was the welcome‑down‑the‑horse challenge the courtyard's bunch of "demons and monsters" had prepared for the newly arrived "soft persimmon". If today he cowers before this rolling‑knife meat, then from now on in Courtyard No. 95, Li Ping'an will never find peace! Human or ghost, anyone could step on him!

His thoughts flashed like electricity, and the hint of panic on his face vanished completely. Li Ping'an straightened his back, his gaze icy, his voice not loud but each word hammered into everyone's ears: "Jia family aunt, your words are unreasonable. My bucket was placed properly under my house's eaves, eight zhang away from the road. Your son Jia Dongxu, instead of staying on the main road, deliberately squeezed into the corner of my doorway?"

He paused, his gaze slicing like a knife over Jia Dongxu's guilty face, his voice suddenly rose, carrying the youthful vigor: "What? You saw no one at my house, tried to sneak past my new bucket? Yet you fumbled, tripped, scraped a bit of skin, and then blamed me?"

He scanned the courtyard, noting the various overt and covert prying eyes, his voice tinged with grievance, but mostly with unyielding resolve: "All the old and young of Four Nine City, is this all your ambition? Picking on half‑grown children who fled from elsewhere? Thinking I'm easy to bully? No way!"

As soon as those words left his mouth, the courtyard's air froze. Yan Bu Gui adjusted his glasses, Liu Haizhong's official stern face stiffened. Yi Zhonghai's brows twisted into dead knots.

"Stop... stop your mother's dog stench!" Jia Zhangshi, as if a lung tube had been poked, swelled like a pig's liver, her flesh trembling. She was used to ruling tyrannically, and couldn't stand being called a thief by a "kid". Her mind buzzed, and the thread of reason snapped completely!

"You little beast! I'm tearing you apart!" Jia Zhangshi let out a strange scream, looking like a wild sow with frenzied hair, she lunged with all her might at Li Ping'an! The momentum was such that, if it hit, it could slam a person into a wall!

Li Ping'an had already prepared. With a subtle shift in his footing, his body floated lightly to the side, moving so fast that only a fleeting afterimage remained in onlookers' eyes.

"Ah—!"

Jia Zhangshi's full‑force lunge missed, and the massive inertia hurled her forward. Whether her foot hit ice or her leg gave way, with a "thump" a huge sound echoed as she landed flat‑on‑her‑back, face down on the frozen, hard ground, instantly chewing up a mouthful of mud!

"Wah—!" A dry, pig‑like wail instantly ripped through the courtyard.

Jia Zhangshi struggled to lift her face, her mouth filled with blood mixed with mud, half her face smeared, looking like a fierce ghost. She spat a mouthful of blood‑foam, and inside lay a blood‑stained Yellow Plaque Tooth!

"My tooth! My tooth! You thunder‑struck little beast! You won't die a good death!" Jia Zhangshi rolled on the spot eighteen times, wailing for mother and father, unleashing all her tantrum skills.

"Child's mother!" Jia Youcai burst out of the Central Courtyard, seeing his wife's miserable state, both shocked and angry, he stared blankly.

"Unthinkable! Absolutely unthinkable!" Yi Zhonghai finally wore a stern face and strode forward, with Liu Haizhong behind him, his expression one of deep sorrow. Yi Zhonghai pointed at Li Ping'an, his voice weighted with authority and regret: "Li Ping'an! You've only been here a few days, and you've already injured Jia family's elder sister like this! Her tooth is knocked out! Do you still have any sense of law? Any rules? Any respect for hierarchy?!"

He inhaled deeply, assuming a posture of a decisive word: "Considering you're young and reckless, I will decide! You shall compensate the Jia family three yuan for the soup medicine fee, and also make amends to the Jia family's elder sister! Then this matter will be closed, the Jia family will be magnanimous and not hold a grudge! How does that sound?"

Li Ping'an almost burst with amusement. What a Moral Heaven Supreme! His skill at twisting black and white, creating a biased frame, was truly masterful! Without asking about cause or effect, ignoring any facts, he immediately threw a dung bucket at him, forcing him to admit defeat and pay? The scheme was so blatant that even outside Nanluoguxiang the clamor could be heard!

"Excuse me… Uncle Yi," Li Ping'an deliberately elongated his tone, his gaze icy, scanning Yi Zhonghai, "Who are you? The Black Dog Lord of this area? Or the Earth Emperor of the courtyard? If those two eyeballs are just decorations, better donate them to those in need, that would be a merit! Everyone is watching closely—did I even move a single hair of hers? She lunged at me to tear me, I dodged, and she fell on her own, like a dog eating its own shit! How can that be blamed on me?"

Yi Zhonghai's face flushed red from being choked, he forced out, "Spurious arguments! The Jia family's elder sister is older, momentarily panicked; you're young and strong, why not give way? You chose to dodge? If you hadn't, could she have fallen like that? You show no respect for elders! With your character, I think you don't deserve to live in our courtyard!"

"Ha!" Li Ping'an scoffed, his voice suddenly rising, clear enough to pierce the sky, "If that's your view, she hits me, and I have to turn my face to let her strike? After that I must ask if her hand hurts? What relation do you have with her? Protecting a calf? Is her husband Jia Youcai not present, so you rush to be a flower‑guardian? Or..." He paused deliberately, his tone laced with venom, "... she's the little one you raised outside?"

"You… you're farting!" Yi Zhonghai's face flushed instantly, his ears reddened, he trembled, pointing at Li Ping'an's finger, "You little beast! Spitting blood! Disrespecting elders!"

"Disrespecting elders?" Li Ping'an stepped forward, his gaze like a knife, piercing Yi Zhonghai's heart, "Fine, Uncle Yi, we'll follow your twisted logic! I'll give you a big ear slap now, you better not dodge! If you dare dodge, my hand will hit the wall and hurt, and you'll have to pay my medical fees! Is that fair?"

He scanned the surroundings, his gaze passing over faces of shock, spectators, and thoughtful looks, finally landing on Yi Zhonghai's purple‑swollen old face: "Also, you keep saying I'm unfit to live here? Is this courtyard your property, Yi Zhonghai? Or do you just decide? I signed a contract with the Deaf Old Lady and paid real gold and silver for rent! What right do you have to drive me out? Do you truly think I'm a half‑grown refugee child, a soft persimmon?" His voice suddenly sharpened, carrying a chill born of blood‑soaked battlefields, "I've seen many starve on the road, many fall to stray bullets! I can stand here fully, not because I'm a coward!"

Before his words finished, Li Ping'an lunged a step to the courtyard wall's base! There lay a pile of leftover old blue bricks from repairs. He casually grabbed a heavy thick brick, and under the astonished gazes, his five fingers suddenly squeezed!

"Ka—chā—!"

A crisp sound! The solid blue brick, like a biscuit, shattered in his palm into crumbs! Pieces of all sizes clattered and fell to the ground!

The entire Courtyard No. 95 fell into dead silence in an instant!

All the onlookers who wanted to stir the fire looked like chickens with their throats squeezed! He Daqing's eyes nearly popped out! Yan Bu Gui gasped a cold breath! Liu Haizhong instinctively stepped back! Jia Zhangshi's dry wail was stuck in her throat, she stared terrified at the pile of brick debris! Yi Zhonghai's facial color drained away with a swish, his lips trembled, not a single word could escape!

Li Ping'an brushed the dust off his hand, his voice calm as ice‑bound well water, yet carrying a chilling aura: "I, Li Ping'an, speak reason. If there's reason, let's discuss it properly. If anyone thinks speaking reason is nonsense and wants to act tough…" His gaze flashed like lightning over Jia Zhangshi and Yi Zhonghai, "I don't mind opening their eyes, showing what 'Some Martial Knowledge' really means!"

In the dead‑silent courtyard, only the whimper of cold wind swirling dead leaves could be heard.

"Enough."

A hoarse, slow voice with the weight of an iron anvil came from behind. The Deaf Old Lady leaned on a ebony cane, somehow already standing there. Her face was expressionless, her cloudy eyes swept over the wrecked courtyard and the varied faces, finally landing on Jia Youcai; her voice was low but like an ice spear piercing bone: "Jia Youcai, take that disgraceful wife of yours back into the house. If I hear her wailing again, your whole family will pack up and roll away like a sack of eggs."

She then turned toward Li Ping'an, her gaze lingering on his face, the stare deep enough to swallow a man: "Kid, you're rigid and brittle. Your temper is too fierce… watch out you don't burn yourself."

Having said that, without waiting for anyone to respond, the old lady leaned on her cane, turned slowly, and vanished behind the curtain. Her silhouette exuded a seasoned indifference to storms.

The welcome‑down‑the‑horse challenge aimed at Li Ping'an ended hastily under the Deaf Old Lady's cold gaze. Jia Youcai, with furrowed brows and downcast eyes, hauled the still‑dazed Jia Zhangshi and slipped back into the house. Yi Zhonghai, his face bruised, said nothing and turned to close the door. The others, even more, slipped away quickly.

In the front courtyard's open space, only Li Ping'an remained, the spread of broken bricks on the ground, and the blood‑stained Yellow Plaque Tooth that Jia Zhangshi had dropped, glaring especially in the cold wind.

Li Ping'an glanced at the disgusting tooth, lifted his foot, and with the tip of his broken shoe flicked it away disdainfully. The tooth rolled a few times, landing precisely in the trash heap at the corner. A scavenging stray dog, startled, let out a "woof" and bolted away.

The cold wind swirled up dust, spiraling into people's necks. Li Ping'an's face showed no expression, his heart clear.

The uncanny wind of Courtyard No. 95 today served as an opening gust. He bared his fangs—both a deterrent and a warning. Next time these people charge again, they won't be at the low‑level, flailing stage like Jia Zhangshi.

He lifted his gaze, scanning Yi Zhonghai's tightly shut door, then glanced at the slitted window of He Daqing's house in the Central Courtyard, a faint icy curve forming at the corner of his mouth.

The wind will only blow more wickedly. He intends to see just how many pounds of cultivation this courtyard truly holds.