Chapter 20: Since I’m Already Here, You’re Going to Make Me Go Back Empty-Handed?
“Where else could he go? Either the brothel or the gambling den.”
“Bah, better if he just kicked the bucket early—one less troublemaker in the world.”
Qi Cong was already in pain from his wounds and didn’t want to waste energy on Lu Lan’s nonsense. But suddenly, a wave of unease surged within him. Something felt off. Clenching his teeth against the agony, he pulled aside the curtain and asked the coachman:
“Which way did he go?”
“I think… towards our pawnshop.”
Qi Cong’s eyes widened in alarm. “Bad news. Quick, back to the pawnshop!”
“Hold on…”
The coachman cracked his whip fiercely, urging the horse onward until sparks flew from its hooves against the ground.
After a hurried trek, they finally reached Jiapigou Alley, where the sound of gongs and drums filled the air. Someone shouted:
“Fire! Fire! Someone come quick!”
Father and son Qi saw towering flames and thick smoke being scattered by the wind ahead. Pushing through the crowd, they found a shop engulfed in blazing fire.
It was Qingfengyuan Pawnshop.
Several shop assistants, clad only in their undergarments and covered in soot, pleaded with neighbors to help fight the blaze.
“Oh my God… there’s no way out!”
Qi Changgui’s vision blurred; he collapsed to the ground, thrashing like an eel, his fine clothes quickly stained with mud.
All the family’s ledgers and silver notes were locked inside the storage room.
Even though Lu Lan had swindled them out of 43,000 taels tonight, it wasn’t enough to completely drain their fortune.
Who the hell set fire to his shop?
Qi Cong grabbed one of the men fetching water to douse the flames. “What’s going on? Who set the fire?”
He already had a suspicion.
The man hung his head, looking miserable. “It was… Master Lu. He didn’t even let us put it out. He only left after the fire took hold.”
“Lu Lan? I’ll fight him to the death! I’ll risk everything to make him pay. All my silver notes are gone!”
Qi Changgui’s heart felt as if it had been gouged out and chopped into pieces.
Seeing their agony, the man hurried to console them. “Sir, I have good news and bad news.”
“Hmph?”
“Tell me the good news first!”
Everything had gone wrong that day.
The two Qis stared at him eagerly.
“The good news is the silver notes weren’t burned. Someone pulled them out of the fire.”
The sound was like celestial music in their ears.
Wonderful. It was tolerable if the ledgers were lost, but as long as the silver notes survived, it was a relief.
Qi Cong silently praised the man’s cleverness.
“What about the bad news?”
The man scratched his head. “Master Lu himself rescued them.”
Crash!
Father and son Qi stood frozen, struck as if by thunder.
This man certainly knew how to console.
Damn it, it would have been better if the fire had consumed the notes!
A suffocating rage surged from Qi Changgui’s feet to his skull. He collapsed back to the ground, writhing in torment.
“Cursed fate!”
The man added, “Master Lu said… since he was already here, he couldn’t leave empty-handed. Besides, this money was originally Lu family’s anyway.”
Qi Changgui wept as if his life was ending.
Qi Cong’s reaction was the opposite; he crouched silently in a corner, terrifyingly calm.
The real loss wasn’t just the silver notes stolen by Lu Lan, but the business contracts.
Many commissions on real estate hadn’t been collected yet; with the contracts burned, those accounts were lost for good.
Lu Lan had wiped out all of old Master Qi’s hard-earned wealth in one fell swoop.
…
After the robbery, Lu Lan went back to the storage room. The satisfaction he felt was indescribable, as if avenging a lifetime of grievances.
Xianyu handed a box to Zhong Bo. When he opened it, Zhong Bo’s mind went blank.
Inside were scattered silver notes amounting to a full 20,000 taels.
As for the other items—ledgers, contracts, property deeds, land deeds—Lu Lan took none. They were all reduced to ashes in the fire.
“Master, where did these silver notes come from?”
“I said I found them on the road. Believe it or not.”
Zhong Bo was speechless.
Yeah, right—finding 20,000 taels just lying around?