gnovel Chapter 47 Extortion
Chapter 47 Extortion
Since Li Qi entered the room, Li Jinglong and the others have remained silent, and the atmosphere has remained cold.
Li Qi felt as if he was being ignored, and the anger in his eyes grew stronger.
"Duke Cao, where is Liu Dan?" Li Qi finally spoke first.
"So it's Young Master Li!" Li Jinglong smiled. "That Liu Dan you mentioned is in the backyard!"
"Give me the person, I want to take him away!" Li Qi frowned.
"Hehe! Young Master Li, although my Cao Guogong Mansion is a small and insignificant family, we are not to be trifled with!" Li Jinglong sneered as a smile appeared on his lips.
"Stop with the nonsense. You just wanted me to come in person, didn't you? Now that I'm here, what do you want to do? Just say it!" Li Qi snorted coldly and stood with his hands behind his back.
"Good!" Li Jinglong clapped his hands and said:
"I don't know this young master Liu at all, so I have no reason to make things difficult for him. But he caused trouble here, and I couldn't just let it go. I beat him up to teach him a lesson, but he's holding a grudge. I can't do anything about it; I can only make sure he remembers it even more!"
When Li You went back earlier, he had already told Li Qi about the issue of Liu Dan's statement being untrue. Now, after hearing Li Jinglong's words, Li Qi was even more certain. He cursed Liu Dan inwardly, thinking that he was just causing trouble for him.
Although he was furious inside, Li Qi couldn't back down verbally. He snorted coldly, "What? Is Duke Cao going to discipline the servants of my Duke of Han's mansion?"
"Young Master Li, I am not disciplining your servants on behalf of the Duke of Han's mansion, but rather dealing with those who have offended my Duke of Cao's mansion. Do you think your Duke of Han's mansion's reputation matters, but my Duke of Cao's mansion's reputation doesn't?"
"You..." Li Qi was speechless for a moment after being caught off guard by Li Jinglong's words, and could only look at Li Jinglong angrily.
After a long silence, Li Qi finally softened his tone: "Offending Duke Cao is naturally Liu Dan's fault, but Duke Cao has already punished him. For my sake, Duke Cao, please forgive Liu Dan!"
Although Li Qi wasn't forced to apologize, it was already the maximum they could ask him to soften his tone, considering his father was the leader of the Huaixi nobility and the number one minority shareholder of the Ming Dynasty.
"Someone, carry Liu Dan outside!" Li Jinglong ordered the servants at the door.
Upon hearing this, Li Qi coldly glanced at Li Jinglong and raised his head.
He thought to himself that this was bad; he guessed that Liu Dan was probably already half-dead from being tortured by Li Jinglong!
Just then, Li Er hurriedly entered the private room and whispered something to Li Jinglong. Li Jinglong's brows furrowed instantly, and his gaze toward Li Qi grew even colder.
Just as Li Qi was about to turn around, Li Jinglong suddenly spoke up: "Wait!"
Li Qi turned around, barely suppressing his anger, and said, "What? Are you going to back out?"
Li Jinglong suddenly laughed, which made Li Qi panic.
"Young Master Li, I'm afraid you can't take this person with you!" Li Jinglong said coldly to Li Qi.
"Li Jinglong, are you kidding me?" Li Qi squinted at Li Jinglong.
Li Jinglong chuckled and shook his head: "Li Qi, I never expected you to be so bold! I think you should go and explain to His Highness the Crown Prince!"
"You..." Li Qi reacted instantly, a chill running down his spine.
Keeping a secret chamber from Princess Ningguo is tantamount to throwing Princess Ningguo's face on the ground and trampling on it. Even if his father can protect him, there is no guarantee that His Majesty and the Crown Prince will not despise him. What will become of him in the future?
Thinking of this, cold sweat began to pour from Li Qi's forehead.
"Wait!" Li Qi hurriedly raised his hand, glanced at Chang Sheng and the others, and said in a consultative tone, "Jiujiang, could we speak in private for a moment?"
Li Jinglong shook his head: "Young Master Li, please speak here!"
Li Qi gritted his teeth, knowing this wasn't the time to turn hostile. He could only clasp his hands in a fist salute to Deng Zhen and the others, saying, "Brothers, please give me some face and allow me to speak with Jiujiang alone for a moment!"
Upon hearing this, Deng Zhen, Chang Sheng, and the others glanced at Li Jinglong and said something conciliatory: "Jiujiang, you two talk, we'll go out first!"
With things having come to this point, Li Jinglong could only nod in agreement. After Deng Zhen and the others left, Li Qi stepped forward and feigned regret, saying:
"Jiujiang, our two families are related by blood. I was foolish enough to be blinded by beauty. I shouldn't have done such a thing! I know I was wrong. Let's leave it at that. I'll deal with Liu when I get back. Consider it a favor I owe you!"
Li Qi's performance truly opened Li Jinglong's eyes. What does it mean to be flexible and adaptable? This is it!
Li Jinglong didn't want to escalate the matter to the Crown Prince. If it really came to that, Li Qi would certainly suffer, but he himself wouldn't gain much benefit. Besides, Princess Ningguo had always had a good relationship with Li Qi.
"Young Master Li, you're not just going to make empty promises, are you?" Li Jinglong smiled, preparing to seize the opportunity to gain some benefits.
As the first of the six founding dukes, with disciples and old friends all over the world, the Duke of Han's mansion was incredibly wealthy!
"Don't worry, Jiujiang, I understand!" Li Qi's anxiety was finally relieved when he saw Li Jinglong asking for benefits.
"Young Master Li, words are no proof. Give me a written agreement. Who knows if you'll hold a grudge against me later?" Li Jinglong said to Li Qi with concern.
"Why do you say that, Jiujiang? Don't you trust your foolish brother?" Li Qi forced out two dry laughs.
"I can't trust you!" Li Jinglong shook his head, thinking to himself, "As soon as Deng Zhen left, you immediately became so humble. You can do something so shameless. Who would believe you?"
"Heh...heh!" Li Qi was filled with shame and indignation, forcing a dry laugh to ease his embarrassment. "Since Jiujiang doesn't trust you, your foolish brother will give you a written agreement!"
After saying this, Li Qi instructed the maid beside him to bring him a pen and ink, and began to write.
A moment later, Li Qi put down his brush, picked up the paper, blew on it, and then handed it to Li Jinglong.
When Li Jinglong looked at it, he saw that it read: "Today I gambled a little for fun and lost three thousand mu of fine paddy fields in Nanzhili and a thousand-mu manor around Nanjing to my brother Jiujiang."
Li Jinglong handed it back to Li Qi, shaking his head: "That's not enough. Why don't you give me those seven thousand mu of paddy fields in Jiangning, Young Master Li?"
Li Qi stared wide-eyed at Li Jinglong in disbelief, inwardly cursing Li Jinglong for asking for an exorbitant price.
"Alright! Since Jiujiang wants it, I'll give it to you!" Li Qi knew the principle that when you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. He took the document, wrote it down, and then handed it to Li Jinglong.
"Young Master Li, let's not write 'a little gambling for fun.' Just write that you spent 30,000 strings of cash at Heaven on Earth and used these fertile fields to pay off the debt!"
"You..." Li Qi glared at Li Jinglong, suppressed his anger, and began to make the changes as Li Jinglong had instructed.
Holding it in his hand, Li Jinglong smiled and said to Li Qi, "Since Young Master Li is so generous, I, as his brother, cannot be ungrateful. Let's call it even!"
"Thank you so much, Brother Jiujiang!" Li Qi's heart was bleeding. Those were ten thousand acres of top-quality paddy fields!