What Zhao Wanjin despised most were these oily-haired, powdered-faced young masters who were physically weak and ignorant of basic work—when committing wrongdoings, their abilities seemed greater than anyone’s, but when it came to actually accomplishing anything, they could do nothing. They could only rely on their fathers’ and mothers’ influence to bully common people.
The tragic fate of Miss Yu’s family was undoubtedly the doing of Assistant Magistrate Gao and Young Master Gao, yet this scoundrel still had the audacity to come demanding the person?
Zhao Wanjin clenched his fists in his sleeves and sneered coldly, “Young master, even if you’re from a wealthy family, you still need to be reasonable, don’t you? Everyone comes here to seek pleasure, and besides, everything should follow the principle of first come, first served. We’ll each enjoy ourselves separately—don’t cross the line.”
“Who do you think you are?” Young Master Gao spat. “You should inquire about who calls the shots in this old capital!”
Young Master Gao looked Zhao Wanjin up and down with his hands clasped, saying contemptuously, “Seems you’re not a local either—you have that backwater country bumpkin air about you. Haven’t you even cleaned the black dirt from under your fingernails? Yet you dare to stand up to your Grandfather Gao!”
He turned and waved to his followers behind him, “Tell them what kind of background your Grandfather Gao has!”
Behind Young Master Gao followed two young servants and four tall, strong guards. At this moment, the lead servant, who looked quite clever, strode to the front and said arrogantly, “Listen up! Our young master is the son of Assistant Magistrate Gao’s household!”
After speaking, he tilted his chin up with an expression waiting to see everyone cower.
Who would have thought that after waiting for quite a while, Zhao Wanjin showed no sign of fear. Instead, he sneered coldly, clearly not taking Young Master Gao seriously at all.
The servant grew angry and pointed at Zhao Wanjin, cursing, “What’s wrong with you? How can you be so ungrateful! Being willing to announce our family name to you shows we think highly of you! If you’re smart, hurry up and hand over Lamei! Otherwise, if you truly anger our young master, you’ll regret it! My master can make it so you can’t survive anywhere in the Great Zhou Dynasty—do you believe it or not!”
“Ha! I really don’t believe it!”
Zhao Wanjin cracked his knuckles, his finger joints making crackling sounds. “Is your young master the Crown Prince or something? Even if he were the Crown Prince, I’ve never heard of any emperor abandoning reason for the sake of his son!
“The old capital is territory of the Great Zhou Dynasty, but it’s also the former capital of the Great Yan Dynasty that submitted to Great Zhou! With such great power as yours, could it be that you’re still connected to Great Yan’s original royal family and harbor disloyal thoughts toward the current emperor?”
Although Zhao Wanjin was rough, he was also shrewd within his roughness. Even though his words had some elements of deliberate argumentation, he still left his opponents speechless.
Young Master Gao’s face flushed red with anger, and he furiously pointed at Zhao Wanjin, cursing, “Fine! Where did this scoundrel come from? I ask you for my Lamei and you won’t hand her over, and you even dare to slander our family! How can you be so shameless!”
“You’re the shameless one! What is Lamei to you? What right do you have to demand her? I came first and chose Lamei first! No matter how powerful Young Master Gao is, you can’t be so unreasonable as to interfere!”
“Lamei is my lover! Speaking properly, you should call me big brother! Go ask Lamei yourself—who knew her first!”
Young Master Gao began acting like a scoundrel, arguing with Zhao Wanjin like this. Zhao Wanjin wasn’t to be outdone either. With Qin Yining’s instructions, he naturally had no reservations.
Young Master Gao was a spoiled person, accustomed to bullying and tyrannizing in the old capital. How could he ever yield to anyone? Others had always deferred to him. This time, finally encountering someone big who didn’t take him seriously, Young Master Gao’s anger was provoked to its peak. In his fury, he immediately ordered the guards behind him, “Attack! Beat this ignorant fool to death! If you kill him, it’s on me!”
“Yes, young master!”
The guards and servants who followed Young Master Gao in his misdeeds had often helped him commit evil acts. Beating people had become routine for them. When Young Master Gao was arguing with someone earlier, they were already eager to fight. Now they didn’t hesitate and immediately charged toward Zhao Wanjin.
“Ah!!” The women were frightened and scattered in all directions.
“Gentlemen, please stop! Gentlemen, let’s talk nicely, talk nicely!”
The madam gathered her courage to come forward and mediate. Breaking things was a small matter, but if either side was truly injured, that would be a big problem! Whether it was Young Master Gao or this generous benefactor Qian, both were people that small folk like them couldn’t afford to offend!
But the madam was just a woman without the strength to bind a chicken. She couldn’t break up the fight, and when she shouted, no one would listen. She could only anxiously stare helplessly as a chair leg was kicked off, and the porcelain on the table and the instruments dropped by the girls were pushed to the ground and trampled back and forth. The madam’s heart was bleeding.
“Oh my, oh my, what can be done! Everyone stop, please stop!”
Young Master Gao had originally felt victory was assured. After all, he had brought six people, and he knew all their skills. If worst came to worst, he could even join the fight himself.
But who could have expected that this big fellow looked like an incompetent fool but actually had very formidable martial arts skills? With his left fist, he knocked a servant to the ground, who clutched his stomach and rolled around unable to get up. With his right fist, he went straight for a guard’s face. The guard whom Young Master Gao had originally thought was quite formidable seemed like a slow-witted fool in front of this man, just watching as he took the punch, his nose bridge broken and crooked, blood streaming down his clothes.
This one person fought with the momentum of a group, quickly taking down all of Young Master Gao’s men in just a few moves.
Young Master Gao was truly enraged. Rolling up his sleeves, he grabbed a chair and launched a sneak attack on Zhao Wanjin from behind.
How could Zhao Wanjin, a man who had licked blood from knife edges, fail to notice this move? He immediately dodged to the side to avoid the strike and turned around with a kick.
Zhao Wanjin had measured the force of this kick—it wouldn’t kill the man outright, but crippling him was very possible. Moreover, Zhao Wanjin despised evil and especially couldn’t stand this kind of hooligan who bullied women. When he kicked, his foot moved down a bit, directly striking the man’s vital parts.
In an instant, Young Master Gao was in such pain he couldn’t speak. His face turned purple as he clutched his lower body, curled up and rolling on the ground. In the blink of an eye, he let out a wail like a pig being slaughtered.
“Ahhh—!”
Everyone was scared senseless. The girls hiding under tables and behind cabinets all had blank expressions, while the madam slapped her thigh and cried out, “What are we to do!” In her panic, she had people go find a doctor.
Young Master Gao’s six subordinates crawled up one by one with bruised faces and swollen noses. Seeing their young master clutching that area and rolling in pain, they were scared out of their wits. Without waiting for the madam to call a doctor, they immediately tore down a door panel and carried Young Master Gao as they fled outside.
The room that had been noisy for a while returned to silence.
But the madam and the girls were all trembling with fear. The madam simply didn’t know what to say. She just hoped she wouldn’t get involved in this matter. She wanted to scold the generous benefactor Qian a few words, but remembering his bowl-sized fists, she immediately became afraid.
Helpless, the madam quickly left with the girls.
Only then did Zhao Wanjin relaxedly clap his hands and lift the curtain to return to the inner room, “Mission accomplished.”