The Wool-Pulling

At daybreak, when dawn broke, it was time for the Blood Ridge Black Market to close.

The merchants and stall owners all began to leave, which was when the black market workers became busiest. They had to clean up, dispose of the trash, and so on.

Li Shaoyun drooped his head as he busily hauled away the abandoned crates left behind at the various stalls.

Wang Xiang, who was nearby, saw how slowly he was working and barked at him, "I'm talking to you. What the hell are you dragging your feet for? If you piss off the new steward, you'll have more trouble than you can handle."

"Got it, Brother Wang. I'll speed up." Li Shaoyun was unhappy inside, but he didn't dare show the slightest displeasure. Instead, he put on a fawning smile, swallowed his humiliation, and hurried through the work in his hands.

After three months of merciless battering, he was no longer the high-spirited young master he had once been.

He had come to understand the ruthlessness of this world.

His temper was gone, and so was his pride.

Now, he no longer dared think about how he would fare in the provincial martial examination three years from now...

Just then, Liang Zhi hurried over.

"Li Shaoyun, stop for a moment."

Li Shaoyun thought Liang Zhi had come to reprimand him for slacking off. He immediately hefted several large abandoned crates and put on an extremely diligent facade before revealing a flattering smile. "Elder Liang, what are your orders?"

Liang Zhi naturally saw that Li Shaoyun was pretending to work hard, but he couldn't be bothered to fuss over it now. "Put the crates down quickly. The new steward asked me to pass a few words to you."

Li Shaoyun's whole body jolted, and a chill crept up his spine.

After spending three months in the black market, Li Shaoyun was terrified of this new steward.

"Elder Liang, what does the steward want?"

Liang Zhi looked Li Shaoyun up and down, then said sternly, "Come with me."

Li Shaoyun followed Liang Zhi to the side compound in trepidation. From a distance, he saw the new steward in the main hall and grew frightened, but Liang Zhi instead led him into a small room beside it.

The room had poor lighting and was somewhat dark, which made Li Shaoyun even more uneasy.

Liang Zhi poured Li Shaoyun a cup of tea himself. "Li Shaoyun, if I remember correctly, you're the young master of the Li Household in Wuqiao Town. You're also a Martial Scholar. You took a nominal deputy steward position at the Blood Ridge Black Market to obtain martial arts resources, so that you could participate in the provincial martial examination three years from now. Am I right?"

Li Shaoyun took the teacup, his heart filled with dread, and answered fearfully, "Yes."

Liang Zhi nodded. "It's a good thing to have dreams. The steward had you do odd jobs to temper your temperament, helping you shed your impatience. It was all for the sake of letting you go farther in the future. Do you understand the steward's painstaking intentions?"

Li Shaoyun cursed inwardly, but he didn't dare let it show. He could only answer with utmost respect, "Elder Liang is right to remind me. I'm deeply grateful to the steward."

Liang Zhi suddenly changed tack. "If I remember correctly, you gave Zhang Biao five hundred taels of silver to secure this nominal deputy steward position, didn't you?"

The moment Li Shaoyun heard this, he was so frightened that he dropped to his knees and trembled violently. "I, I..."

He thought Liang Zhi was about to settle the old score.

But Liang Zhi said, "You don't need to be so nervous. The new steward isn't an unreasonable person. Zhang Biao is a steward, and the new steward is a steward as well. Everyone is doing this for the good of the Tiger Wolf Gate, right?"

Li Shaoyun was completely lost, and could only nod repeatedly. "Yes, yes."

Liang Zhi offered a timely hint. "You gave Zhang Biao five hundred taels, and the new steward's position is equal to Zhang Biao's... Don't you understand?"

Hiss.

Li Shaoyun's eyes widened at once.

The new steward had already collected nearly four hundred taels from him and still wasn't satisfied. He wanted another five hundred taels?

Fearing that Li Shaoyun hadn't understood, Liang Zhi reminded him at just the right moment, "Let me be frank with you. The new steward was personally appointed by Tang Qingyun, an elder of the Examination Hall of the Tiger Wolf Gate. His future prospects far surpass Zhang Biao's. You should understand now, right?"

Leaving those words behind, Liang Zhi left.

From beginning to end, Liang Zhi never explicitly said that Li Shaoyun should send a gift to Xie An, yet he dropped hints everywhere.

They were both stewards, so Li Shaoyun should give five hundred taels.

And besides... the new steward had better prospects than Zhang Biao. Beyond intimidating him, this was also a hint to Li Shaoyun: if he knew how to behave, five hundred taels would not be enough.

Li Shaoyun wasn't stupid. He naturally understood the hidden meaning.

Five hundred taels still wasn't enough?

Did he need six hundred taels?

How had he offended this new steward?