Chapter 81 : Chapter 81

Chapter 81: It’s a Good Thing He’s Raiding a Household! Wait, He’s Raiding My Household?!

“That act won’t work on me. The two of you tell me the truth—what exactly have you been hiding from me!”

Li Jianying snapped, displeasure in her eyes.

She knew her husband and son’s temper well.

If someone offended them, they would never let it go. They would want nothing more than to beat drums and gongs while taking loud, open revenge.

For them to be acting so meek and ingratiating now, either they had done something shameful, or they had provoked someone they could not afford to offend and needed her to step in and help.

“This…”

Father and son exchanged a glance, but neither of them spoke.

BANG!

Li Jianying slammed a palm onto the table, her Internal Energy surging outward and shaking everything on it until it rattled, toppled, and shattered.

As a martial artist in the Seventh-Rank Realm, she was no gentle, virtuous wife. The word shrew suited her far better.

“Speak, now!”

Gao Song jumped in fright and had no choice but to recount how he had gone to the Jinyiwei Thousand-Household Office intending to throw his weight around, only to end up humiliating himself instead.

As for the part where Cheng Yu had humiliated him, he did not embellish it in the slightest. He told it exactly as it had happened.

It was not that Gao Song did not want to exaggerate.

It was that he simply could not.

Long accustomed to being flattered and fawned over, he could not even imagine the sort of outrageous behavior Cheng Yu was capable of.

On their very first meeting, the man had put a blade to someone else’s throat and forced scalding water down his throat.

This was the Jinyiwei hero personally appointed by His Majesty to serve as Thousand-Household Commander in Jiannan Circuit, the man who had saved tens of thousands of laborers?

No one would believe it if it were told aloud!

“Outrageous! To humiliate you like this—isn’t that the same as slapping me in the face?!”

After listening to her husband, Li Jianying’s anger flared at once.

Already hot-tempered to begin with, the more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She rose to her feet and stormed toward the door.

Gao Song hurriedly grabbed her.

“Wife, where are you going?!”

“To demand an explanation! He dared humiliate you like this, so I want to see for myself just how capable this so-called seventh-ranked man on the Human Ranking really is!”

The moment he heard that Li Jianying meant to march straight to the Jinyiwei Thousand-Household Office, Gao Song nearly jumped out of his skin and hurriedly held her back.

“Wife, absolutely not! Listen to me…”

“In any case, all we need to do now is wait for good news. A vicious brute like that will meet Heaven’s punishment soon enough!”

After a long bout of coaxing and persuasion, Gao Song, drenched in sweat, finally managed to talk Li Jianying back into her chair.

Women were such trouble.

He glanced at Gao Guobang, who was sitting to one side with his eyes wide, and felt utterly stifled.

Why had this child inherited his father’s martial talent, yet his mother’s temper and wits?

He had taken the dregs and thrown away the essence!

Fortunately, Gao Song had already laid his plans and had that brat Cheng Yu right where he wanted him, so those two would not get the chance to ruin things.

Just then, a servant walked in.

“My lord, the Jinyiwei have returned. Just as expected, they came back empty-handed!”

Gao Song felt a surge of delight and looked at Gao Guobang, nodding.

It worked! He had played the Jinyiwei for fools!

All that remained now was to act according to plan and wait for the right moment.

He gestured for the servant to continue.

“However, Thousand-Household Commander Cheng himself did not return. It seems he took a small squad with him to handle some business.”

“Business?”

Gao Song frowned.

Cheng Yu had no acquaintances or foundations in Jiannan Circuit, and his temperament was foul to boot.

What business could he possibly have?

Didn’t he only know how to kill people and raid households…

Raid households?!

Gao Song’s mung-bean-like eyes, squeezed almost shut by the fat on his face, suddenly lit up. Overjoyed, he turned to Li Jianying and Gao Guobang.

“It worked! Our chance has come!”

The two of them did not understand.

“What chance?”

Gao Song rapped excitedly on the table.

“Cheng Yu must not have been able to restrain his bloodlust and has gone off to deal with some jianghu faction by raiding their household and killing people!”

“If that’s the case, then our opportunity has arrived! The moment word gets out, Guobang, you are to contact all the jianghu factions at once. Wife, you’ll be the one to hold things down!”

“Got it, Father!” Gao Guobang answered excitedly.

Li Jianying also nodded silently, much of the displeasure in her heart fading.

At least Gao Song was capable of getting things done. For the moment, she would overlook the humiliating spectacle he had made of himself.

But in the very next instant, a shrill cry rang out.

“Master, something terrible has happened!!”

Gao Song frowned at once.

Only the household servants called him Master.

What terrible thing could possibly have happened at home? Had the beauty he kept on the side been exposed?

That really would be disastrous!

He quickly turned to glance at Li Jianying, then stopped the servant outside the door.

Lowering his voice, he asked, “What is it?”

The servant’s voice was filled with grief and terror.

“Master, something has happened at the ancestral residence! So many people are dead! Second Master and Third Master are both dead!”

“What?!”

Hearing of his two brothers’ deaths, Gao Song staggered back half a step in shock and nearly collapsed to the floor.

In fury, he seized the servant by the collar.

“How could that be possible?! Weren’t they entertaining jianghu guests at the ancestral residence? How could anything have happened there?!”

The servant was both terrified and grief-stricken, stammering as he spoke.

“A group of Jinyiwei charged in and started killing!”

The Jinyiwei?!

It was like a bolt from the blue exploding in Gao Song’s heart, and a cold, stern face rose in his mind.

“Where did those Jinyiwei come from? Tell me!”

“Master, I don’t know either! That man killed Second Master and the others with a single slash!”

A single slash to kill a Fifth-Rank expert!

At that moment, Gao Song finally had his answer.

In all of Jiannan Circuit, only the Thousand-Household Office could produce a Jinyiwei with that level of strength!

Cheng Yu had failed to find any trace of Prince Qing’s Remnants, then taken a squad out to handle some business…

Killing people… raiding households…

The instant the thought struck him, Gao Song collapsed to the floor and began muttering to himself.

“He didn’t find any trace of Prince Qing’s Remnants, so why did he go to the ancestral residence?”

As he spoke, he suddenly turned to look at his son, Gao Guobang.

By now, Gao Guobang’s face had long gone stiff with shock, and he stood there utterly frozen.

Gao Song scrambled to his feet and slapped his son across the face with a sharp crack.

Then he roared, “Why did Cheng Yu go to the ancestral residence?! I’m asking you!”

Clutching his face, he dropped to his knees.

“I was wrong, Father. I shouldn’t have fabricated traces near the ancestral residence just for convenience. I got Second Uncle and the others killed…”

SLAP! SLAP!

“You—!” Driven to the absolute limit of his fury, Gao Song slapped his son twice more across the face.

It was not that he had decided to spare him a third slap.

It was that Li Jianying had grabbed his arm.

“What good is beating your son now?! We have to deal with this first!”

Frowning, she looked at the servant, who wore a face of utter misery, and suddenly remembered something. Her entire body gave a violent tremor.

“Wait. Wasn’t my father at the Gao Family Ancestral Residence too…? He…”

“Madam, the Old Master was attacked as well. We still do not know whether he is alive or dead!”

SLAP!

This slap rang out more than ten times louder than the ones before.

This time, the one being struck was Gao Song.

Li Jianying’s eyes were red, her face twisted with fury.

“Gao, if anything happens to my father, you’re finished!”

With that, she rushed out the door in a hurry.

On Gao Song’s face, already smeared with medicinal paste, another bright red handprint appeared.

Clutching his face, he threw back his head and let out a shrill roar toward the heavens.

“Cheng Yu! You killed my clansmen—I want your life! Gather everyone and go to the ancestral residence! If I do not avenge this, then in my next life I’ll be a bastard!”