Chapter 83: The Embroidered Uniform Guard's Combo Meal

Inside the Fan residence in the inner city of Beijing, Fan Yongshan was frowning as he listened to his subordinate's report.

He was a cousin of Fan Yongdou, the head of the Fan clan of Shanxi, and had been on excellent terms with Fan Yongdou since childhood. After Fan Yongdou became clan head, he entrusted Fan Yongshan with authority over the Fan family's affairs in the capital, tasking him with managing relations with the various powerful figures in Beijing.

Fan Yongshan asked his steward Fan Tong beside him, "Have you found out who those newly arrived grain shipments in the capital belong to? Where were they transported from?"

The steward replied, "Fourth Master, from what this servant has learned, the grain was shipped from Xincheng and is being sold by Zhang Dabiao's Zhang Family Grain Shop, still at the usual prices."

"How strange—the grain from the canal transport was all intercepted by the Manchu lords at Tianjin. How could that newly built place, Xincheng, have so much grain?" Fan Yongshan was deeply puzzled, unable to figure it out no matter how he thought, pacing back and forth in the room.

Feeling uneasy, Fan Yongshan decided it was necessary to inquire at the Ministry of Revenue, so he said to his steward Fan Tong, "Fan Tong, go now and find Vice Bureau Director Chen of the Ministry of Revenue, and ask where exactly this grain came from!"

Fan Tong acknowledged the order and withdrew. After drawing six hundred taels of silver from the accounts office, he hurried off to Lord Chen's residence.

The Fan residence had long been under full surveillance by men dispatched by Li Tingbiao, and the moment Fan Tong stepped out the door, seven or eight peripheral operatives of the Embroidered Uniform Guard had him locked in their sights.

Two quarters of an hour later, Steward Fan Tong sauntered slowly out of the Vice Bureau Director's residence with a swaggering gait, patting the heavy silver in his bosom, feeling quite pleased with himself—earning a hundred taels of silver for one trip out was truly a cushy errand!

Not long after Fan Tong left Lord Chen's residence, just as he was passing through an alley, several beggars coming from the opposite direction "accidentally" knocked him flat on his back.

Fan Tong cried out in pain and was just about to stand up and start cursing when he suddenly discovered that these beggars had bound him with remarkable swiftness, stuffed a wad of rags into his mouth, and then slipped a burlap sack over him before carrying him off directly.

This whole sequence of operations left Fan Tong, the man at the center of it, utterly stunned. It took him a long while to snap back to his senses—he had actually been kidnapped in broad daylight! Damn it all—

By the time he understood what was happening, he had already been brought to a hidden location. When the burlap sack was pulled off him, his eyes were suddenly dazzled, and he found himself in an unfamiliar place, with a man in his forties seated above him.

This man was none other than Li Tingbiao. He wore a smile and spoke in a very cordial tone, saying, "You're the steward of the Fan residence, Rice Bucket, is that right?"

Fan Tong had been mocked for his name by his clansmen many times since childhood, and he hated everyone who dared to ridicule him. Seeing this man so brazenly make a pun of his name, he flew into a rage and said, "My name is Fan Tong, not Rice Bucket! Who are you people? How dare you kidnap me?"

Li Tingbiao walked slowly toward Fan Tong. His originally smiling face suddenly went blank, and with a sudden crack, he slapped Fan Tong across the face, asking in a cold voice, "You're my old man?"

As the chief steward of the Fan residence, Fan Tong often mingled in circles of the powerful and influential for work, doing business of slipping money to people, so he naturally had a high opinion of himself. Now that a stranger had slapped and humiliated him, he angrily blurted out, "I'm your old—"

"Crack!" Another slap. Li Tingbiao's face remained expressionless as he asked, "You're my old man?"

Fan Tong was utterly exasperated. His whole body was firmly restrained, and no matter how he dodged or struggled, he could never evade this man's palm.

Seeing that the other man said nothing, Li Tingbiao grew somewhat impatient. He delivered seven or eight heavy slaps across Fan Tong's face, left and right, front and back, before unhurriedly asking once more, "You're my old man?"

By now Fan Tong's face was swollen like a pig's head, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He immediately caved, his mouth twitching as he said, "I'm not your old man!"

But Li Tingbiao slapped him again in a backhand, saying flatly, "Why not?"

Fan Tong was completely dumbfounded, utterly broken down. He closed his eyes in despair, like a young maiden tormented past endurance by ruffians, fully resigned to his fate.

It wasn't just Fan Tong—even the plainclothes Embroidered Uniform Guard agents were dumbfounded. This Lord Li was truly something else!

Li Tingbiao once again swung with both hands, delivering eighteen slaps in succession, front and back, before saying unhurriedly, "Why not? Hm?"

Fan Tong could no longer feel his own mouth; his entire head seemed numb. He had accepted his fate, no longer resisting, eyes closed as if he were enjoying it.

After a moment, Li Tingbiao finally said, "Come, tell me about your relationship with that Lord Chen of the Ministry of Revenue."

Fan Tong slowly turned his head, casting a seemingly "resentful" glance at Li Tingbiao, and said in a muffled, slurred voice, "What relationship could I have with that old man? I have no idea what you're talking about."

Li Tingbiao was not angered in the least. Instead, he chuckled and said, "Since you, Rice Bucket, can't remember, let me help you recall! Brothers, this Rice Bucket has a poor memory—help him think it over."

The moment he finished speaking, one of the plainclothes Embroidered Uniform Guard agents took out a long, thin bamboo splint and approached Fan Tong, a wicked grin on his face, saying, "Steward Fan, let me tell you—my former line of work was pedicuring. But my skill was poor, and I'd accidentally poke the bamboo splint into my customers' toenails, so my employer let me go. Today, at my brother's invitation, I've come specially to give you a pedicure. If my technique is lacking, Steward Fan, you'll have to bear with it."

"Shanji, enough chatter—hurry up and attend to the guest!" Li Tingbiao scolded with a laugh.

"Aye, coming!" This Embroidered Uniform Guard agent, code-named Shanji, responded with an ingratiating smile, then slowly picked up one of Fan Tong's fingers with one hand while holding a bamboo splint in the other.

Hearing this, Fan Tong's eyes stared unblinkingly at that long, thin bamboo splint. Every pore on his body stood on end, his heart filled with terror, his hands trembling violently, his pig-head face turning pale with fright, beads of sweat streaming down without cease...

Shanji held the bamboo splint and kept tracing it back and forth in the gap of Fan Tong's fingernail, and as he did so, he didn't forget to let out a few snickers at his "client." But those chuckles sounded to Fan Tong like the howling of a fiend.

Fan Tong tried to pull his finger free, but the man's hand was like a pair of iron pincers—no matter how hard Fan Tong struggled, he couldn't pull it out.

And just then, Shanji suddenly applied force, and the bamboo splint went straight into the gap of Fan Tong's fingernail.

As the saying goes, the ten fingers are connected to the heart—the ancients did not deceive us. Fan Tong let out a piercing scream, his eyes rolling straight up...

Watching Fan Tong's miserable state, Li Tingbiao didn't so much as blink, saying casually, "Have you remembered anything yet? If you haven't, that's no matter—I'm in no hurry. You can take your time thinking. We have plenty of ways. This is merely an appetizer—there are still one hundred and seven fine dishes awaiting your tasting!"

Fan Tong heard Li Tingbiao's unhurried words like a death warrant, and especially at that last sentence, he was so frightened he pissed himself on the spot, a large patch of the floor beneath him soaked.

He looked at Li Tingbiao and said tremblingly, "One hundred and eight tortures... you... you people are the Embroidered Uniform Guard?!"

"Oho, not bad! You even know about our Embroidered Uniform Guard's combo meal!" That plainclothes agent code-named Shanji picked up another fresh bamboo splint, waved it a few times in front of Fan Tong's eyes, then took hold of another of Fan Tong's fingers and began tracing the splint back and forth in his nail gap once more.

Fan Tong's upper and lower teeth were now chattering without stop, his whole body shaking, his mouth no longer obeying him as he stammered, "G-Great Sir, I-I-I'll talk, I'll tell you everything!"

Before long, Li Tingbiao was holding Fan Tong's confession in hand, hurrying off to report to Zhu Cilang...