Chapter 24: Chapter 21: The Late Night Restaurant
Late at night, it was almost 9 p.m.
In Yang City, there was still a tavern that remained open.
Inside the tavern, three mourners who were dressed in hemp clothes and wearing mourning bands were devouring delicious dishes voraciously. These three mourners were part of the group led by the Deputy Gang Leader of the Iron Saber Association, who were mourning for Mrs. Li and Third Young Master Li.
While they were eating, the Second Elder suddenly said, "Deputy Gang Leader, there was a meeting this morning in our association. It's okay that we didn't attend, right?" His voice was full of unease; he was naturally a timid person whose greatest wish in life was to pass on his position as the Second Elder. He usually wavered between the Gang Leader and the Deputy Gang Leader.
Deputy Gang Leader Li Dian wiped the grease from his hands and said leisurely, "I said, if I, the leader, am not scared, what are you scared of? The sudden, serious illnesses and deaths of the lady and the young master are major events. We, who serve the Li family, should personally mourn their passing. The association's meeting is a minor matter, not worth mentioning." He spoke with a shake of the head, as if he were a scholar who had studied poetry for years.
'Are you really going to mourn? Wearing hemp, crying more miserably than the eldest and second young masters who lost their dear mother. When your own mother died, you didn't even cry that hard, did you?' the Second Elder thought bitterly. But then he remembered that he had wailed louder than Li Dian, and he felt somewhat embarrassed.
"Moreover," Li Dian's voice suddenly grew more animated, "with such a big incident happening, and Li Xin still thinking about the meeting, showing no concern for the family affairs, what kind of gang leader is he? I heard his old mother also fell ill suddenly last night and died. In my opinion, it must be some contagious disease caught from that despicable maid, which she then transmitted to the lady and the young master. Now, let's see what good end awaits this illegitimate son sired by the maid. Perhaps it's about time to remove the 'deputy' from my title as Deputy Gang Leader."
In his words, there was nothing but disdain for Gang Leader Li Xin and a firm conviction of securing the position for himself.
With such a scandal in the Li family—cannibalizing mother leading to her disfigurement and suicide—Li Pingsheng was naturally concerned with suppressing this scandal. The maids and house servants present at the time were all warned not to leak any information, and even Li Xin, who had left early, was specifically cautioned by a house servant.
"Brilliant, the gang leader is truly brilliant. After learning the news, he did not sleep all night and summoned the two of us today to rush to the Li household and start arranging the funeral to spare the patriarch and the two young masters from both the pain of losing loved ones and the trouble of managing these trivial matters. The patriarch was deeply moved by the gang leader's pale face, busily managing everything. The succession as the head of the Iron Saber Association is just around the corner," the Great Elder also chimed in with enthusiastic flattery.
"Hahaha…" Hearing this, Li Dian laughed heartily, pride evident in his laughter. Seeing the Great Elder take the lead in flattering the soon-to-be new gang leader, the Second Elder, out of jealousy and unwilling to fall behind, also vigorously praised Li Dian.
Amidst the robust flattery from the two, Li Dian's laughter was incessant, as if he could already see himself ascending to the throne of the gang leader, with Li Xin, that shameful little bastard, kneeling before him.
"Hahahahaha…" An even louder laugh echoed, full of vigor and completely drowning out Li Dian's laughter, interspersed with sounds of fists pounding on the table, as if the laugher could not control himself and was forcefully hitting the table.
Li Dian's moment of pride was interrupted, and he turned his head around in annoyance, searching for the person disrupting his mood.
It was nearing midnight, and ordinary guests had long returned home, while the pleasure-seeking young masters were unlikely to come to the tavern for fun. Li Dian looked around; there was not a single person sitting nearby. The laughter continued, and following the sound, Li Dian saw a figure dressed as a waiter, leaning over the counter where the tavern manager usually stood, unable to straighten up from laughter.
"Little bastard asking for death," muttered the Second Elder, feeling that he had previously lost some face. He lifted his foot, intending to rush over and teach the inn's waiter a lesson for disturbing the future Gang Leader's mood, hoping to redeem his earlier performance.
"Wait a minute…" Li Dian held back the eager Second Elder. Although a bit arrogant, he was no fool; otherwise, he would not have been sent by Li Pingsheng to the Iron Saber Association to restrain Li Xin, the current Gang Leader. Ordinary waiters lacked many things, but they certainly had keen eyesight. The three of them often paraded in the streets, throwing their weight around, and were more recognizable to the common folk than the people from families like the Li and Zhang Families. This waiter dared to interrupt him, so he must have had something to rely on.
Seeing Li Dian act this way, the Great Elder and Second Elder also restrained their intention to teach a lesson and became alert.
"Who exactly are you, and what is your purpose?" Li Dian asked carefully and cautiously.
The waiter's laughter gradually ceased. He lifted his head, revealing from beneath his slightly dirty cap the delicate face of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy—it was Qing Yu.
Qing Yu looked at the three men on high alert and felt that he was about to burst into laughter again. These three weren't mindlessly aggressive like minor characters should be; instead, they were surprisingly sensible, almost to the point of rivaling himself.
"It's nothing serious, just something funny. Seeing a few clowns who have already stepped one foot into the Ghost Gate without realizing it, still so pleased with themselves. What's even funnier is that they stepped into the Ghost Gate of their own accord," Qing Yu said with a laugh.
"What do you mean? I am Li Dian, Deputy Gang Leader of the Iron Saber Association, and also from the Li Family of the Four Great Families of Yang City. You should think thrice before acting against me," Li Dian advised, sensing ill intent from the other party and quickly tried to leverage his connections.
"Not the Gang Leader, huh…" Li Dian's old face flushed a bit.
"Do you know that your actions today have already raised Li Pingsheng's eyebrows, and trouble is imminent?"
Seeing the three men confused, Qing Yu continued, "Third Young Master Li, Li Qiuyan, was struck with a strange poison yesterday afternoon. He went mad, like a corpse demon, biting human flesh, and even bit a piece off his mother's face, disfiguring her. Last night, Li Qiuyan died, and his mother, unable to bear the shock, hung herself. Such a scandal is something Li Pingsheng is desperate to cover up, yet you three are flamboyantly unveiling what's already been covered. A great disaster is looming, yet you're unaware."
Li Dian was sweating profusely, and his sleep-deprived face turned even paler, devoid of any color. A trembling large hand clutched his shoulder, and turning around, he saw the similarly devastated Great Elder and Second Elder, their eyes filled with despair.
Li Dian forced a wry smile, realizing they really were courting death.
No, that's not right, Li Dian suddenly brightened up and laughed loudly, "Almost got scared by you. Even I, who am well-informed within the family, am unaware of such disgraceful matters of the Li family. I don't believe that you, an outsider, could know more than I do.
Unless… you are the one who poisoned and plotted against the Third Young Master."
"Being an outsider doesn't necessarily mean I'm less informed than those in the Li family. However, you are indeed right, the person who drugged Li Qiuyan was indeed me," Qing Yu said with a smile, his eyes reflecting the increasingly larger shadows.
Chapter 25: Chapter 22 "The Death of a Filial Son
"Give it up; you're done for, you little runt." Li Dian snarled as he pounced towards Qing Yu.
Qing Yu, with the approaching figure of Li Dian reflected in his eyes, remained utterly indifferent.
As the distance closed, and Li Dian was about to capture the mysterious youth, he was overjoyed.
"What's going on, my body isn't obeying me..." Li Dian felt his whole body stiffen, unable to move his hands or feet, only his fingers could still move slightly.
Li Dian fell in front of Qing Yu in a dog-eating-shit posture, his head hitting Qing Yu's boot. Following him, the Great Elder and the Second Elder also hit the ground.
"Since you guessed that I was the one who poisoned Li Qiuyan, did you not consider the dishes you ate tonight were all served by the junior waiter of this establishment? With my proficiency in poisoning, how could I miss the opportunity to add something to your meal?" Qing Yu squatted down, smiling as he looked at the unwilling expression in Li Dian's eyes.
Li Dian strained to turn his eyeballs to the right, staring at Qing Yu, "Who... exactly... are you?" His words came out with great difficulty.
However, Qing Yu did not answer directly but instead stood up, glanced around the tavern, and said, "You don't seem to be stupid; how did you fail to notice that the atmosphere in Yang City has been quite tense recently?"
He turned around, drew the Bishui Sword from behind the counter, and with the long sword in hand, walked towards the Great Elder and the Second Elder, who were lying not far from the dining table.
"The atmosphere in Yang City is not good lately. Why would you come to eat in the Zhang Family's tavern during such times? Did you really think the Zhang Family and the Li Family are on good terms?" As he spoke, Qing Yu held the Bishui Sword upside down and stabbed downwards, the tip piercing through the Second Elder's throat and nailing him to the ground.
The Great Elder, seeing his companion's eyes beside him lose their luster, cried out in fear, "Don't... Please... spare me..."
He wanted to beg for mercy, but due to the drug, even his tongue was not nimble, and he couldn't utter a complete sentence.
But Qing Yu did not immediately move to kill him; instead, he went out of his way to explain to Li Dian, "Yang City is too small to accommodate four families. The Li Family's business greatly overlaps with the Zhang Family's, so if one wants to take action, they naturally must first swallow up the Li Family to strengthen themselves."
"No... That's not right... You're... framing us." Li Dian was not foolish. Qing Yu's blunt words clearly had ill intentions.
"Oh my," Qing Yu exclaimed, not surprised, "You found out. But it doesn't matter, it's enough for you all to die in the Zhang Family's tavern."
Qing Yu stepped on the Great Elder's back, who, sensing his imminent demise, struggled desperately.
"Don't blame me; it's your own fault for standing in the way of the unification of Yang City."
After hearing this, the Great Elder seemed to realize something and struggled even more fiercely, his eyes brimming with deep-seated hatred and unwillingness. However, he ultimately died with his eyes wide open, clinging to his resentment.
Qing Yu looked at the traces that the Great Elder thought he had hidden well under the side table of the dining table, showing a satisfied smile. After much ado, he had perfectly adhered to the principle of a villain's penchant for monologuing, all for this bit of evidence.
"Well, it's your turn to die now."
Having achieved his goal, Qing Yu did not wish to waste more words and cleanly finished off Li Dian.
"Despicable and shameless poisoning, with malicious intent to incite discord. Rewarding the host with 100 Villain Points." The system notification rang in his ear, its content as unpleasant as ever, but Qing Yu was used to it. After all, every time he heard such notifications, it meant Villain Points were credited to his account. Qing Yu was more than happy to hear them; let the unpleasantness come even more fiercely.
"100 Villain Points, not bad at all. Along with the 150 points for giving Li Qiuyan the Three Corpses Brain God Pill, and the 100 points for providing strategies and poison to Li Xin, that's a total of 350 Villain Points."
"Should I save up the Villain Points and aim for the Intermediate Lottery, or should I go for the Basic Lottery now..."
"Never mind, I have the Exorcism Swordsmanship to accelerate; my moves can turn the rotten into the miraculous, so I'm not lacking techniques, and my Inner Strength doesn't need replacing. Better to save up for the Intermediate Lottery."
Qing Yu walked out of the tavern and disappeared into the vast night.
Li Pingsheng put down the teacup in his hand and looked toward his eldest son, Li Qiusheng, who was entering from outside, and said, "How is the investigation going?"
Li Qiusheng's eyes were bloodshot, filled with veins like a furious beast ready to choose its prey at any moment. The murder of his mother and younger brother had clearly deeply affected him. His voice hoarse, he said, "I've already interrogated the house servants who accompanied Qiu Yan on his trip. Qiu Yan sneaked out last night and went to Chun Gui Pavilion to compete with the second son of the Zhang family to see who had better stamina. He took an aphrodisiac he got from the pimp there."
"Didn't I ground him? Who let him out?" Li Pingsheng slammed his hand on the armrest of the Grandmaster Chair.
The day before yesterday, Li Qiuyan, on his way back to the Li Family, happened to run into Li Xin's mother, who was just leaving the Li family house to look for Li Xin. He casually kicked her. Unfortunately, that kick caused Li Xin's mother's old ailment to flare up again, and she died. To suppress the matter, Li Pingsheng had forbidden his always outspoken third son from leaving the house that night.
"It was... mother..." Li Qiusheng stammered out.
Li Pingsheng wanted to say something, but though the words reached his throat, he couldn't bring himself to speak for a long time. Although he had never believed in karmic retribution in his life, at that moment, he felt a sense of the cycle of cause and effect.
Li Qiusheng felt the same.
The two of them remained silent for a long time.
After a while, Li Qiusheng broke the silence, "The three members of the Iron Saber Association who came to pay their respects yesterday were killed last night at a bar owned by the Zhang family."
"The three who dressed in sackcloth and performed mourning rites for Li Dian yesterday?" Li Pingsheng would not forget those three fools who caused trouble. With such a disgrace occurring in the Li family, Li Pingsheng had intended to keep the matter under wraps, handle it quietly, and after some time, pretend it was due to a contagious disease to secretly hold the funeral rites. However, the very next day, the three from the Li Dian family showed up in mourning attire, wailing all the way to the Li family and only leaving after kneeling there until evening.
Now, everyone in Yang City knew that the Li family had lost its matriarch and the third young master in one night, and all sorts of rumors were swirling outside.
Furious, Li Pingsheng had those chatterbox maids and house servants who spread the news beaten to death with rods after Li Dian and the others left.
If Li Dian and his group hadn't died last night, they wouldn't have survived many more days; Li Pingsheng had no intention of letting them off.
"There were no signs of struggle at the scene. The three of them were simply poisoned and then someone pierced through their throats with a long sword," Li Qiusheng continued.
"Are there any clues?"
"Next to the leg of the table near one of the bodies, an 'Mian' character was found carved into it. It seemed to be etched by the victim's fingernails."
"'Mian,' Song?" Li Pingsheng immediately thought of the Song Family of the City Lord Mansion, his expression growing grave.
"It's a possibility. Of course, it could also be the Zhang family trying to cover up their crime by framing the Song family. The tavern's owner was also found dead in a private room on the second floor of the bar."
"Could the Sun Family be involved?" Li Pingsheng thought of the Sun Family.
"The likelihood is small. The Sun Family's several strongholds outside the city have also been swept clean recently; no one survived," Li Qiusheng replied.
Li Pingsheng's expression became even more somber, "It seems that someone wants to unify Yang City and has started to make their move."
"This, could it really be the Song..." Li Qiusheng's first thought was of the most powerful Song Family.
Li Pingsheng cut him off, "Continue to investigate. Don't jump to conclusions just yet."
"Yes," Li Qiusheng bowed, "I shall take my leave."
As he reached the door, about to leave, Li Pingsheng's voice came from behind, hauntingly, "Look into Li Xin."
Li Qiusheng's eyes sharpened, and he walked out the door without a word.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
9 Power
stone 
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