Chapter 049 Extortion
Hearing Tang Yuan’s words, Qin Hu felt as though his soul was suddenly shattered, cold sweat breaking out through his body. Oh, my God! This situation was just akin to bumping into a ghost in the middle of the night. Anyone could see that Tang Yuan was blindly accusing, and yet his accusations had actually hit the bull’s eye. What an extremely messed up son of a bitch! If his son somehow let out anything he should not… the amount of smart people within the Tang Family was not to be underestimated!
Jun Xie was grinning sinisterly as he sat on the side. However, when Jun Xie saw Qin Hu’s face turning pale, his eyes glancing evasively, Jun Xie felt surprised.
Those words from Fatty Tang was simply his way to getting more in terms of reputation and benefits. Was there a need for Qin Hu to panic until such a degree? No matter how you cut it, Qin Hu was still a Clan Leader. Even though the Northern City Clan was presently the weakest amongst the Six Great Clans, surely Qin Hu had no need to be so fearful. In fact, depending on how Qin Hu dealt with this situation, he could actually use this opportunity to ingratiate himself with the Tang Family, turning this into a great blessing. And yet, his current expression was one filled with guilt… why so?
Wait! Guilt?! Thinking about that, Jun Xie’s gaze towards Qin Hu changed, becoming more meaningful, his mind clicking into place.
“This lowly one’s son was being rude; it is only fitting that he be disciplined. But, may I request the permission to first bring him back to treat his wounds before sending him to Eldest Young Master’s residence for disciplinary action? Naturally, since this lowly one’s son had caused Eldest Young Master a fright, I will definitely compensate you to your satisfaction!” Even though he had been rendered fearful after what happened last time, as a Clan Leader with years of experience, Qin Hu was able to immediately recover. He proposed a compromising stance with a smile on his face.
Tang Yuan gave out a “heng” and said. “I would like to see just how you Northern City Clan plan to compensate me!” This sentence of his signified that he no longer wished to pursue this matter. Now that Fatty Tang has managed to keep his face, all he wanted was benefits! As an experienced man, Qin Hu naturally understood Tang Yuan’s intentions and replied in a grateful voice. “I thank the great Eldest Young Master for your mercy! I will certainly visit to thank Eldest Young Master for your great kindness!”
Tang Yuan gave a light “en” and turned towards Jun Xie. “I no longer have a problem with you, but your son had earlier cursed Third Young Master Jun here. As long as Third Young Master Jun is willing, then you are free to go.”
“Third Young Master Jun?!” Qin Hu suddenly recalled this name. In the entire city, the infamous Jun Moxie was the only one whom Tang Yuan would address as “Third Young Master Jun”!
Not only did his son offend the Eldest Young Master Tang, he also cursed the even more terrifying Third Young Master Jun! At this moment, Qin Hu was almost overwhelmed with an impulse to strangle his own son. If only Qin Xiaobao was not his only heir.
Jun Xie looked at Qin Hu, his eyes flashed for a moment before fading instantly, his mind made up. Qin Hu and his son Qin Xiaobao were both rude, overbearing and arrogant in shielding their own mistakes. Jun Xie could only imagine how many sins these two have committed! Today, if Qin Xiaobao had not met Jun Xie and Tang Yuan and had instead met an ordinary person, would that person still be alive?
Qin Hu, Qin Xiaobao, facing such scums of society, letting them live would cause Jun Xie discomfort! Allowing Northern City Clan to survive would also cause Jun Xie discomfort! Jun Xie’s killing intent had been provoked! But he was hesitant, mainly because he could feel that someone was secretly observing him in this building, noting his every move…
He leaned back lazily upon the chair and lifted both his legs by force of habit. He pointed at Qin Hu’s head with his finger. “Qin Hu, after hearing your words earlier, I had originally intended to teach you a lesson! But seeing you show such a respect, I have decided to forget about it. Uh, I heard that your Northern City Clan had opened no small number of casinos. I also hear that the Northern City Clan is rolling in mountains of gold and silver every day. Hehe… truly prosperous.”
Staring at Qin Hu, Jun Xie let out two cold sneers. “Qin Hu, this Young Master shall observe how you handle your affairs. If you dare make me dissatisfied, then this Young Master can assure you that no one in your Northern City Clan, regardless of age or gender could live to see tomorrow’s rising sun!” Having said that, Jun Xie bent his body. He approached Qin Hu’s ears and smiled in a peculiar manner. “However, if you can satisfy me, then you will get to enjoy some benefits, hahaha…”
You might as well just say cough out as much money as you can! Was there any need to beat around the bush in such a long-winded manner? Qin Hu inwardly cursed, but was unable to do anything as the opposing side’s influence was stronger than his. As a Clan Leader, he had to endure being abused by a young teenager. How humiliating! Nonetheless, Qin Hu dared not show the slightest hint of unhappiness. This was because it really would not take much for Jun Xie to exterminate the Northern City Clan…
Wearing a smile on his face, Qin Hu promised that he would satisfy Third Young Master Jun. After having exhausted all his flattering words, Jun Xie waved him off, allowing him to pick up his son and leave in a disheartened manner.
“Pooh! What a mood breaker!” Tang Yuan fiercely spat out as he watched Qin Hu’s leaving back. “Third Young Master, the Gifted Scholar’s Feast will be held tomorrow evening in the centre Island of Moondrop Lake. Are you going? I heard that there will be a lot of new stuff!”
Traditionally, Tianxiang Kingdom will hold a Gifted Scholar’s Feast during the annual Autumn Festival. This feast would be held during the evening in the centre Island of Moondrop Lake. The Emperor would take this opportunity to have his ministers arrange for the first ten gifted scholars from the Wenxing Institute of Knowledge to appear. These ten individuals were in fact, the few handsome talents that were about to graduate and serve the royal court. Using this feast, their talents would be judged before being assigned to the appropriate positions. As such, this Gifted Scholar’s Autumn Festival Feast was no different from a platform for them to soar into the dragon’s gate.
A mere ten places were certainly not enough for the thousands of scholars. This situation would cause an intense competition to arise among the scholars of Wenxing Institute of Knowledge. This situation would also become the main focus of the masses. Even the great families would assign some men to attempt to approach these men into serving their family.
In addition, these gifted scholars were mostly bachelors with a very promising future. Thus, some young ladies from various noble families would desire to select their future husbands from amongst them. Naturally, many others would choose to join in as well.
With so many ladies from the noble families there, it was only natural for the debauchees like Tang Yuan and Jun Moxie to appear. In order to garner the attention of the beauties, they would end up competing with the gifted scholars in a battle of wit. However, each of these competitions would end with the debauchee side losing miserably. Such was the scenario each year. At the current, Tang Yuan asked with a look of excitement on his whole fat body, he obviously felt that this was an important matter. But, whether they would be able to win was not something they dared to declare. The only thing that could be said was that it does not look optimistic.
“Gifted Scholar’s Feast? Eldest Young Master Tang, just look at the two of us. Do we look like… gifted scholars?” Jun Xie rolled his eyes. “It would be more accurate to call us rapeseeds.”
[TL: The pinyin for “gifted scholars” (才子) is “cái zǐ”, while the pinyin for “rapeseed” (菜籽) is “cài zǐ”. The difference between them is the way of pronunciation. The pinyin for “fat seed” (肥籽) is “féi zǐ”.]
In his heart, Jun Xie had to restrain himself from saying: With my delicate features, it may not be too farfetched to be labelled a gifted scholar. But you my dear brother, even calling you a rapeseed is inappropriate. For you, it would be more fitting to call you a fat seed!
“Nonsense! What gifted scholars? They are just a bunch of pedantic men bent on making profit. Do you remember that Zhao Chengsong who caused me to lose face in front of Miss Li in last year’s Gifted Scholar’s Autumn Festival Feast? He was that one person who kept throwing various insults around. I immediately arranged for him to be employed by our Tang Family. All I needed to do was promise him a high position and big salary for him to run over. Do you know which department he is in now?” Tang Yuan said in a triumphant manner.