Hearing Fatty Fan’s words, Li Yunwen’s lips curved into a smile. Without a word, he rose.
Fatty Fan hurried to follow, snatching a cloak from a maid to drape over his young master—the mining district was colder than outside!
Outside the bamboo building, fine rain fell, distant mountains cloaked in mist—a scene like a painting.
Perhaps tired of the view, Li Yunwen’s gaze fell to the courtyard below.
There, muscular fighting dogs, their sinews like steel, road.
Nearly as large as tigers, these dogs carried demon beast blood.
Seeing young master Li appear, these normally snarling beasts tucked their tails, their eyes squeezing out fawning charm, their ferocity drained.
A servant presented a large silver tray.
Piled with dripping fresh at, it reeked of blood.
The handso Li, untainted by the gore, smiled brightly, tossing the at below.
The dogs scrambled, then tore at each other.
This was young master Li’s favorite spectacle.
Growls, roars, and the sound of teeth ripping flesh mingled.
The stench of blood rose.
Even Fatty Fan felt a chill crawl up his spine.
Li Yunwen leaned on the railing, his smile deepening, before turning to Fatty Fan. “You’ve done well these years. Once the dust settles, you’ll take over Harmony and Ma Liu’s yards.”
Fatty Fan’s heart leaped. His bulky fra collapsed to its knees, head banging the floor. “Thank you, young master! Thank you!”
A trusted confidant of Li Yunwen, his bright future had been spent groveling in the southern city for years—for this mont.
Recent upheavals in the southern city were tied to this fatty.
He’d goaded Ma Liu to secretly ally with the Li family against the old lean tiger, then colluded with Zhang Dachui’s bandits to escalate the chaos.
As expected, Liu, unable to restrain his lifelong ambition, sought out young master Li.
The Li family seized the opportunity, orchestrating a sche in their mining district to pin the smuggling on Ma Liu while taking Harmony’s yard.
Did Ma Liu, that fool, really think his deputy commissioner son-in-law gave him such clout?
Liu, deluded by his own cunning, thought he controlled the ga, sacrificing pullers to fra Ma Liu and swallow his yard.
Pitiful, these two southern city bosses, fighting like dogs for years, both t their end.
But young master Li’s sche, shaking Forty-Nine City, wasn’t just for two rickety yards.
With Ma Liu taking the smuggling bla, the marshal’s mansion would no longer suspect the Li family.
The sword hanging over them for years had been lifted.
This resolved a colossal threat!
Fatty Fan’s small eyes squinted with joy, his fleshy face beaming.
With this rit, no one in the Li family could block young master Li.
Once he rightfully beca mine master, Fatty Fan would claim pri credit.
—
In the misty rain, Li Yunwen stood with hands behind his back, his smile freezing as Shi Cheng hurried into the building.
Shi Cheng, weary from a sleepless night, clasped his fists. “Young master, Liu is dead. I’ve arranged soone to confess at the police bureau—a man whose family Liu wiped out. He won’t talk.”
Li Yunwen nodded, clapping lightly.
The blood-filled silver tray was carried away.
“Was the silver paid?” Li asked. “We can’t shortchange him.”
“Rest assured, young master. Fifty silver yuan, in coins, delivered to his wife.”
“But one thing,” Shi Cheng paused, stealing a glance at Li Yunwen, voice trembling. “The ledger’s missing. Liu’s old girl escaped.”
Li Yunwen’s brow arched, a flicker of nace crossing his handso face.
Shi Cheng trembled, dropping to his knees. “Young master, I’ve sent n. We’ll catch her.”
Li said nothing, his expression calming.
Taking a silk cloth from a maid, he wiped the blood from his hands, then raised a hand slightly.
Shi Cheng scrambled up.
“Old Shi, you’re tired. Rest. Liu’s dead; that old girl can’t make waves.”
Li produced a plain black pill, flicking it to Shi Cheng.
Shi Cheng caught the Bone-Expanding Pill, his heart easing.
For a ninth-rank major achievent martial artist, the pill was minor, but from young master Li, it carried weight.
Shi Cheng wiped sweat from his brow.
The young master’s ambitions were vast, watched by countless eyes. A misstep could ruin everything.
Li Yunwen was generous but ruthless in reward and punishnt.
Li Gui, who botched a job, was thrown into the mines.
—
“Fatty Fan, don’t wait. Take over both yards tomorrow. If you’re short on n, use fresh faces, but not from the Li family—avoid trouble from the marshal’s mansion. Spend big, hire from the three strongholds or nine territories, but don’t let anyone trace it back.”
Fatty Fan nodded eagerly. “Young master, I’d die before leaking a word. I’ll keep it airtight.”
Shi Cheng listened silently, then spoke softly. “Young master, one more issue.”
“Last night, during the move on Liu, a yard guard saw a convoy leader—likely the big guy Li Gui ntioned.”
Convoy leader? Big guy?
Li Yunwen’s brow furrowed.
Fatty Fan jumped in. “I know him—Xiangzi. Looks honest but is cunning and brutal, never leaves survivors.”
Xiangzi? Li Yunwen’s lips curled. “What a rustic na.”
Fatty Fan bowed, chuckling. “Just a mud-leg, no fancy na, but he’s dangerous—a real figure.”
“Oh?” Li Yunwen was surprised. A small yard producing soone Fatty Fan called a “figure”?
This fatty had toyed with both yards in the southern city for years.
Li laughed softly.
Just a puller. Even if he escaped, what could he do?
Drum for justice at the marshal’s mansion? Who’d care?
But loose ends needed tying—not for the marshal’s mansion, but within the Li family.
With his succession nearing, no flaws could be exploited—his father tolerated no imperfections.
Li said leisurely, “Fatty Fan, handle this kid. Find him, dead or alive.”
Fatty Fan nodded with a grin.
—
After they left, Li Yunwen tapped the bamboo chair, humming a Pihuang opera tune.
Months of work had buried the smuggling issue, proving his skill to his father and unexpectedly forging ties with the marshal’s mansion—a blessing in disguise!
His gaze fell to the pond.
In a gold-rimd glass tank swam vibrant fish, each the size of a small cat, their sharp teeth unnerving.
The tank ca from Chuancheng, a gift from his father to ponder its lesson.
A clumsy old turtle swam among the demon fish, surviving freely—a rarity.
Li Yunwen sneered at the turtle.
If his father handled this, he’d hesitate, sentintal over Liu, reluctant to kill, inviting trouble.
Without the ledger as leverage, Li Yunwen couldn’t have convinced his father to eliminate Liu or seize both yards.
His father always preached: Sail cautiously for ten thousand years.
With the Li family’s power, a plausible excuse sufficed.
Even if Marshal Zhang had proof of smuggling to the three strongholds or nine territories, would he dare crush the Li family?
He had n and guns, but he’d weigh who stood behind them!
Even tossing out Ma Liu as a scapegoat forced the marshal’s mansion to swallow it.
Not just warlords—even in the Great Shun dynasty’s heyday, few dared target the Li family.
In this chaotic world, two things mattered: fists and silver.
As long as the mines endured, the Li family would stand!
But young master Li’s ambitions stretched beyond.
Gazing at the turtle’s comical waddle, he smirked mockingly—so live too long, their courage shrinks.
This world belonged to the young.
For the Li family to rise beyond this small mining district, it rested on him, Li Yunwen!
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