That's What I'll Try

"Ah! Ah! Ah!"

Yuan Jiang was rolling all over the ground as he was beaten, like a wild child being thrashed by his own father. At first, he kept spouting threats, but soon they were drowned out by his wails.

The onlookers gaped in shock. That was Yuan Jiang, hall master of the Fierce Tiger Gang, and someone was beating him so brutally.

With a crack, the wooden stick snapped.

Yuan Jiang's eyes rolled back, and he fainted, lying motionless on the ground.

Lin Fan tossed aside the broken half of the stick. Without even sparing Yuan Jiang a glance, he turned to Zhao Er, who stood there dumbfounded, and said, "Little Fatty, go find a handcart. Bring your mother and come with me."

Little Fatty, still clutching a cleaver in each hand, came back to his senses. "Ah, oh, okay..."

He had already been won over by Brother Lin's mighty, domineering presence, and had been left completely dumbstruck. Once he came to, he hurried off to find a handcart.

He knew Brother Lin was taking him away.

Before long, Little Fatty carried his sick mother onto the handcart, carefully placed a pillow behind her head, then pushed the cart over to Lin Fan.

"Brother, we're ready."

"Let's go."

Lin Fan ignored Steward Li, who was clinging to his side, and left with Little Fatty. No matter how loudly Steward Li called after him, he didn't answer.

Only after Lin Fan's back disappeared from sight did Steward Li slap his thigh in regret. Pointing at the unconscious Yuan Jiang, he cursed him furiously. "Yuan Jiang! You damn fool! You really deserve to die!"

Back at the residence.

Zhao Er gaped like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden, captivated by the surroundings before him.

"Brother, are my mother and I going to live here from now on?"

"Yeah. From now on, you'll be my steward. Forget about running with gangs. First thing tomorrow morning, go to the clinic and bring a doctor back to treat your mother properly. Don't worry about the money. I'll take care of everything," Lin Fan said.

Hearing this, Zhao Er's eyes reddened, and he couldn't help crying. "Brother, thank you so much."

"What are you thanking me for? We're brothers."

Lin Fan smiled and waved his hand. Now that he was doing well, he certainly wouldn't forget his poor brothers. Besides, he knew what Zhao Er was like, and the man was well suited to be his steward.

"Mm."

Zhao Er nodded firmly, swearing to himself that his life belonged to Brother Lin from now on. He'd climb a mountain of blades or plunge into a sea of fire without so much as furrowing a brow. If anyone tried to harm Brother Lin, they'd have to step over his two-hundred-pound body first.

Sun Manor.

The atmosphere in the hall was heavy.

Steward Li sat waiting for the gang leader to question him. Sun Yaozu frowned, as though he had a lot to say but didn't know where to begin.

Sun Xiao asked, "Is there still any chance to turn this around?"

Steward Li sighed. "It'll be difficult, very difficult. That idiot Yuan Jiang has completely undone all my earlier efforts. In fact, if he and I hadn't gotten along fairly well lately, I would've thought he was ready to beat me up too."

Sun Yaozu said from the side, "Father, no matter what, Yuan Jiang is a hall master of our Fierce Tiger Gang. Now that he's been beaten like this, if we do nothing, won't people think our gang is easy to bully?"

He was fairly close to Yuan Jiang.

After all, he wanted to become the gang leader, so he needed the support of some of the gang's old hands. Yuan Jiang was one of the hall masters backing him. Now that someone had beaten him up, Sun Yaozu had to say something.

Smack!

Sun Xiao slammed his palm on the table and turned to Sun Yaozu. "Easy to bully? He brought it on himself. Remember this: what I give you is yours. What I don't give you, you mustn't covet. There are things you think no one knows about, but I simply don't care to hold them against you. Do you understand?"

Facing his father's imposing authority, Sun Yaozu immediately lowered his head. "I understand, Father."

"Steward Li, keep trying. See if there's still any chance to win him over. Talented people are hard to come by. No matter the price, he's worth bringing into our fold," Sun Xiao said.

"Yes, sir. I'll do my best."

Steward Li looked troubled, but didn't refuse.

Sun Xiao nodded, quite satisfied.

Now that was what a capable, dependable subordinate looked like. Steward Li was exactly that sort of man.

Early the next morning.

As usual, Lin Fan headed to the private school to study the law. Before he even arrived, he ran into others who were studying the law. They looked at him with deep awe and respectfully addressed him as Master Lin.

He accepted it without hesitation.

The title wasn't bad.

Word of last night's events had spread fast and far. Yuan Jiang had brought dozens of men, only to be brutally beaten by Lin Fan. There was no way such a thing could stay quiet.

They all wondered whether Lin Fan was human or some kind of monster. If he really was human, how could any person be so good at fighting?

When he reached the pier, he found that the laborers looked at him with even greater awe than they had the day before. He couldn't help straightening his chest. Status and respect were earned with fists.

If their earlier awe had only been because of his position,

then now it came from his own strength.

In the end, it all came down to whether your fists were hard enough.

Amid a chorus of "Master Lin," he arrived at the warehouse, where his brothers all looked at him in unison, their admiration practically spilling out of their eyes.

"Brother Lin, I really admire you so much!" Wu Yong cried out. "We heard what happened last night. You gave Yuan Jiang a thorough beating. Too bad we found out so late. If I'd been there, I could've fought alongside you and slaughtered our way through them!"

Lin Fan smiled and waved a hand. "It was nothing."

"How could it be nothing, Brother Lin?" Wu Yong said. "Everyone outside is talking about it. They say you descended from heaven like a god, took on dozens of men alone, and beat them till they were howling. You even beat Yuan Jiang so badly he couldn't fight back at all. If I'd been there to see your might with my own eyes, I'd have died without regrets."

The other brothers looked at Wu Yong enviously. It sure paid to be quick-witted. While they were still thinking about what to say to Brother Lin, Wu Yong had already gotten all those words out.

"Haha." Lin Fan laughed. "Maybe you'll get your chance next time. All right, I need a couple of strong guys to help with my training."

Life still had to go on, and his training couldn't stop.

He hoped Yuan Jiang would exhaust all his connections and find some experts. Even if the experts were weak, as long as they knew a thing or two, Lin Fan would have a good, long talk with them.

No matter how much silver it cost, he was determined to learn the secrets of the Martial Way.

The path to mastering the Martial Way was simply too difficult.

He could only hope Yuan Jiang would put in a little more effort.

Around noon, Steward Li came by, but Lin Fan simply waved away his invitation. Sometimes, you had to make the act convincing.

After what happened last night, both sides knew where the other stood.

He wanted a free ride.

Steward Li didn't just want to get something for nothing; he also needed his master to believe he'd failed because of Yuan Jiang, not because of him. Clearly, he'd already pulled that off.

Although he hadn't managed to get anything for free from Steward Li,

his own hall master showed up with a broad smile. Clearly, last night's events had left the hall master feeling great. He practically seemed to have a spring in his step.

Of course, given how generous the hall master was, there was no way they'd be going to Xianwei Tower. They'd have to settle for some ordinary restaurant, but food was food. Who cared about the rest?

At the restaurant.

"Good! Nicely done! That fight really made our name!"

Wang Changhai was delighted. He drank several cups of wine and praised Lin Fan to no end. When he first heard what had happened, he'd been completely stunned. Then he'd gone home and laughed up at the sky.

His wife even said he'd gone crazy, but he wished he could go crazy like that more often.

Who would've thought you'd see a day like this, Yuan Jiang?

You'd been coveting my Jili Pier.

Dream on.

Lin Fan smiled, not taking the matter to heart. Just then, commotion broke out in the street. Two constables, swords at their sides, emerged from a tavern, escorting a man.

A middle-aged man hurried out after them.

"My lords, please let my son go! He's innocent!"

The commotion drew the attention of the surrounding townspeople.

But they seemed to have seen this sort of thing countless times before. They shook their heads and sighed, powerless to do anything.

Lin Fan watched intently, unsure what was going on. Wang Changhai glanced over a few times and said, "Don't bother looking. It happens all the time. The Hu family took a liking to his liquor recipe. He has no power, no connections, and nobody to help him, yet his liquor sells so well. It'd be a miracle if he could hold on to the recipe."

Wang Changhai had long since grown used to things like this.

The common people couldn't fight the officials.

Otherwise, they could use any little scheme they liked to make an ordinary family suffer.