Punish the Heavens and Punish the Gods - Chapter 13
Li Wei instinctively stepped back, but the shattered debris didn’t fly toward him.
Instead, it stopped abruptly about half a foot behind Lao Wei’s head, as if an invisible wall had appeared there, blocking it.
Lao Wei’s face twisted bitterly, like a wilted chrysanthemum.
“I thought my luck might finally turn around after meeting you, young master,” he said with a sigh. “Didn’t expect this kind of mess. But I still don’t get it—why did that evil eye blow up his own head? I heard he’s the kind who’s afraid of dying. Guess looks can be deceiving.”
“I didn’t expect it either.” Li Wei’s expression paled slightly. “Old Wei… From now on, I’ll just call you Lao Wei. So, Lao Wei—how much is the bounty on that evil eye?”
“Why are you asking that, young master?”
“Just answer.”
“One hundred ninety-three thousand two hundred thirty-three taels,” Lao Wei replied.
“Here you go.” Li Wei picked up a silver note from the table and handed it over.
Lao Wei blinked in confusion. “Young master, what’s this for?”
“Take it.” Li Wei pushed the note into his hand. “Old Master Hu may be a bastard, but I actually agree with one thing he said—admitting your mistakes is the first step to improvement. Think of this as my apology for treating you badly before.”
“Young master, I can’t accept this.”
“Take it,” Li Wei said firmly. “You saw what happened today—you’re part of it. If you don’t accept it, it means you’re looking down on me.”
Lao Wei paused, then smiled faintly. “Since you put it that way, I’ll take it.” He tucked the note into his robe with a casual air.
Li Wei nodded inwardly. Sure enough, he’s not ordinary.
The note was worth five hundred thousand taels—not a huge sum compared to today’s bet, but still a fortune few people would see in a lifetime. Yet Lao Wei slipped it away as if it were just a scrap of paper.
Li Wei shifted his gaze to the others in the room. Their faces were pale—some even vomiting. None of them dared to meet his eyes.
He smiled, but there was a cold edge to it.
“Lao Wei, you wanted to say something?”
“Yes.” Lao Wei hesitated. “The master asked me to tell you that he wants to meet Young Master Liu.”
“Because he’s the grandson of Duke Zhen Guo?”
“That’s part of it. But mainly because Duke Zhen Guo once did the master a great favor. The master owes him. But he also said—this is the only time. If that brat crosses you again, you can deal with him however you wish.”
Li Wei was silent for a moment, then waved his hand. “Take him away.”
“Thank you, young master.”
Lao Wei gave Li Wei a deep look, then raised a hand toward Young Master Liu.
Liu suddenly floated up, his limbs flailing, and landed on Lao Wei’s shoulder like a sack. His whole body trembled, limp as if his bones had been pulled out.
“Farewell, young master.”
Without taking a single step, Lao Wei drifted toward the window like a breeze. The window opened by itself, and after he floated out, it closed again behind him.
“Little Marquis, it’s getting late. We’ll take our leave.”
About the time it takes to drink a cup of tea after Lao Wei left, a few of the rich young men who used to hang around with Li Wei finally couldn’t hold back anymore.
Li Wei didn’t say a word. He simply looked at the one who spoke.
That was enough. The man’s face drained of color; sweat rolled down like rain. He dropped to his knees and began to cry.
“Little Marquis, I was wrong, I was wrong!” he sobbed, slapping himself hard across the face.
Within moments, his cheeks swelled and his mouth bled, but he didn’t stop.
As if it were contagious, the other young men followed suit—kneeling, slapping, crying, begging.
“Little Marquis, we were wrong! Please, forgive us! It’s our first mistake, we were just blinded for a moment! We’ll never do it again!”
Li Wei raised an eyebrow. “First offense? Are you all first offenders?”
“Yes! First offense! We swear! If we’re lying, may lightning strike us dead!”
“First offense, huh?” Li Wei’s face darkened. “And what—first offenders shouldn’t be punished?”
“Come in!”
Crash!
Before his words even finished, the windows shattered, and more than twenty burly men leapt in among the flying shards. They knelt on one knee before Li Wei. “Awaiting your orders, young master.”
Li Wei sighed. “Did you have to break the windows? That’s expensive to fix. Forget it. Take all these fools away. Lock them up in the stables—no, in the pigsty. Then send word to their families—they have three days to hand over half their wealth.”
He paused, his voice turning icy.
“And after that… put them to work in the mines. Let them dig until they die.”
He looked down at the trembling men. “Honestly, I don’t want your families to ransom you. I want you to rot away, slowly, knowing exactly what you’ve become.”
The men fell to their knees and began kowtowing frantically. Soon, bl00d pooled on the floor—but they didn’t stop.
“Take them away,” Li Wei said coldly.
The big men rushed forward like wolves, grabbing each of them effortlessly and hauling them out the window.
Li Wei walked over to Yu Deshui—the only one who hadn’t begged. He lightly patted his pale, sweaty face.
“I’ve always wondered why your head’s so big,” he said mockingly. “Turns out it’s not for thinking. The moment you hear someone’s from the capital, you start licking boots—are you that cheap?”
He wiped his hand on Yu Deshui’s collar. “Remember this—the head is for thinking, not for crapping. That Liu brat has powerful backing, and it’s fine if you flatter him, but did you not notice my old man was worried I’d lose my temper? Why do you think he sent Lao Wei to take him away first?”
“Tell your dead father this,” Li Wei added. “All supplies he buys from my mines will now cost 30% more.”
“Little Marquis, I—”
“Who told you to talk? Make it forty.”
Yu Deshui’s face twisted in humiliation, but he dared not say another word. He turned to leave.
“Stop!” Li Wei barked. “Did I say you could walk? I said get out. What, you think I won’t dare to teach you a lesson?”
Yu Deshui clenched his teeth, then dropped to the ground and rolled toward the stairs.
When he reached the top step, Li Wei gave him a hard kick. Yu Deshui tumbled down the stairs, crashing all the way to the bottom.
“Bah! Serves you right. That felt good,” Li Wei muttered, dusting his hands.
He turned to Zuo An. “Do the math.”
“Yes, young master.” Zuo An thought for a moment. “The entire Proud Pavilion, including all its furnishings, is worth about four hundred fifty thousand taels of silver.”
Li Wei nodded. “Give Fatty Fei one hundred fifty thousand taels. Tell him to hand over the deed and leave the Golden City before sunset—or I’ll break his legs.”
“Little Marquis, I—”
“One hundred thousand,” Li Wei interrupted coldly. “Zuo An, remember that. Every extra word costs him fifty thousand.”
Fei Yuantong bit his lip and ran downstairs to fetch the deed, not daring to make another sound.
Li Wei stretched his shoulders. “I’m getting tired.” He turned toward Old Master Hu. “You’re a man of learning, Old Master. Tell me—what do you think I should do next?”
Old Master Hu forced a trembling smile. “Little Marquis, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have been blinded by greed. I accept any punishment you see fit.”
“Oh? And what kind of punishment do you suggest?”
“Little Marquis, you’ve always wanted my collection of Pleasure Scrolls. I’ll offer them to you.” His mouth twitched—clearly, it pained him.
“What else?”
“I’ll also donate all the ancient books I’ve collected over the years.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes… really, that’s all.”
Li Wei turned to his men. “You, you, and you—escort Old Master Hu out of the Golden Sea.”
“Little Marquis, you don’t want the Pleasure Scrolls?”
Li Wei smiled faintly. “I only take what I want, not what I’m handed.”
“The scrolls are hidden in a very secret place,” the old man stammered. “No one else could ever find them—”
“Take him away.”
The three men seized him, dragging him toward the stairs.
As they reached the steps, Li Wei called out lazily, “Be careful on the road—bandits have been rampant lately. I’d hate for Master Hu to have an… accident.”
The three men grinned. “Understood, young master.”
“Little Marquis! You can’t do this—I—” Old Master Hu’s words were cut off as one of the men clamped a hand over his mouth.
Li Wei exhaled deeply, raised both hands high, and shouted, “Come on, boys—time to raid the house!”
With that, he strode downstairs.
The rest of the men exchanged glances, shook their heads, and followed him with wry smiles.
When they reached the ground floor, Li Wei saw dozens of armed guards waiting outside, surrounding the building. Clearly, the Li family had sent reinforcements.
He nodded slightly, climbed into his carriage, and the whole group thundered off—straight toward Master Hu’s residence.