If there had been anyone from the Great Shang Dynasty's army nearby, they would have understood just how terrifying the Invincible Divine General Sikong Jing's killing intent was!
At that moment, the servants could barely breathe under the pressure.
Only after Sikong Jing withdrew his killing intent did they finally let out a long breath. Suddenly, one of the servants asked, "Tenfold compensation? Are you serious?"
"I always keep my word," Sikong Jing replied coldly.
Aunt Li covered her face and asked bitterly, "And if you can't pay?"
"Then you can have my life. Didn't Su Zhengtao send you here to make trouble and steal things because he wants me dead?" Sikong Jing said firmly.
Grandfather Su had cut off their money, and the servants had turned against them to demand payment. It was impossible that Su Zhengtao wasn't scheming behind the scenes.
"Fine, fine, you said it yourself." Aunt Li gave a cold laugh. "Let's go..."
"Stop!"
Seeing the servants turn to leave, Sikong Jing barked again, "Leave the things behind."
The male servant was still holding Mei Xiaofang's silk. At Sikong Jing's words, he could only toss it back resentfully.
In the blink of an eye, all the servants had left.
Sikong Jing took the silk and handed it to Mei Xiaofang. "Mother-in-law..."
Before he could finish, a palm swept toward him from Mei Xiaofang's direction.
Sikong Jing reacted quickly and caught her hand. "Mother-in-law, what are you doing?"
"And you still dare to ask what I'm doing?"
"If you hadn't crippled Su Yang, would that old bastard Su Xuefeng have cut off our allowance?"
"And what was that you just said? Tenfold compensation? Where are we supposed to get ten times their wages? We don't even have a single copper coin now. We spent it all on your wedding ceremony last night, understand?"
Mei Xiaofang stared at Sikong Jing with bloodshot eyes, screaming furiously.
"Since I married into the Su Clan, I've never had it this bad. Even in the ten years since Yuexi's father was gravely injured, I could still scrape by, barely making ends meet. But after you showed up, could things get any worse?"
"If Su Yuexi is a jinx, then you're ten times the jinx."
The servants' betrayal made the emotions Mei Xiaofang had kept bottled up for ten years finally burst free.
Sikong Jing stood there dumbfounded. He gently lowered Mei Xiaofang's hand and said earnestly, "Mother-in-law, don't worry about the money. Within three days, I'll make sure you're no longer struggling, and we won't need a single copper coin from the Su Clan."
Sikong Jing had known plenty of hard days as a child and understood the misery of empty pockets.
But making money wasn't difficult for him. He only needed three days to raise his cultivation another level.
Mei Xiaofang stared at him coldly, then finally sneered. "Fine. If you can't come up with it in three days, kill yourself."
"That way, our house can finally have some peace."
With that, Mei Xiaofang turned toward her room, looking utterly lost. She couldn't even be bothered to doubt him anymore.
At that moment, Su Yuexi, who hadn't been able to get a word in, called out, "Mother..."
Mei Xiaofang paused, then cut her off. "Your father has fallen unconscious again. Don't let him find out about this. I won't let you upset him again... He can't take any more of your grief!"
Mei Xiaofang's back looked desolate, her shoulders heaving again and again, until she finally disappeared into the courtyard.
Watching her mother's retreating figure, Su Yuexi lowered her head in hurt, her expression pained.
Sikong Jing remained silent, then suddenly asked, "Yuexi, does your mother always take her anger out on you because of your appearance?"
He could understand anything. Even if she didn't trust him, he didn't mind.
But hearing her constantly called a jinx still made Sikong Jing deeply uncomfortable. Was Yuexi really to blame for her father's grave injury?
"No. My father's injury ten years ago was directly connected to me."
At Su Yuexi's words, Sikong Jing's spirits lifted slightly, and he listened intently.
"I was eight that year. While I was out playing, a Noble Young Master took a liking to me and wanted to make me his maid."
"He forcibly brought me back to the Su Clan and demanded that Father hand me over. Father naturally refused, but that Noble Young Master was far too overbearing. He revealed his identity and left Father no choice but to agree, or the Su Clan would be destroyed."
"The Noble Young Master gave me and the Su Clan one day to say our goodbyes."
"But when I woke up the next day, I had suddenly become the way I am now."
Sikong Jing's eyes widened. Once she became ugly, that Noble Young Master surely wouldn't want Su Yuexi anymore. He must have assumed her parents had caused it, and his fury was easy to imagine.
"What happened after that?" Sikong Jing asked urgently.
"When the Noble Young Master flew into a rage, my older sister stepped forward and said she was willing to take my place as his maid."
Sikong Jing's spirits lifted again. Only then did he realize that Su Yuexi was the Su Clan's second young lady, and that she had an older sister.
"My older sister, Su Yuexian, was taken away. But the Noble Young Master thought she was nowhere near as good as me, so Father was still punished. After that battle, Father was... gravely injured." Su Yuexi bit her lip as she explained.
Sikong Jing's expression grew dazed. Suddenly, it dawned on him that the Crimson Spider Poison had probably been administered to Su Yuexi by her older sister.
She had done it to keep Su Yuexi from being taken away by the Noble Young Master.
Su Yuexian hadn't been very old herself then, and she hadn't thought about how becoming ugly might affect her younger sister.
"My becoming ugly led to my older sister being taken away. There's been no word from her for ten years, and whenever Mother thinks of her, she secretly wipes away her tears."
"And because of me, Father was gravely injured."
"I don't know why I became ugly. I suspected Father and Mother had done it on purpose, but they really didn't... We've consulted many doctors, and they all say I was born with this defect."
"I wish I'd been the one taken away. Then my older sister wouldn't have left, and Father and Mother wouldn't have had to suffer."
As she spoke, Su Yuexi's tears rolled down in big drops. She was overcome with pain.
At last, Sikong Jing understood why Mei Xiaofang treated Su Yuexi so harshly.
"Who was that Noble Young Master?" A flicker of killing intent flashed through Sikong Jing's eyes.
Su Yuexi wasn't to blame for any of this.
The one responsible was that domineering Noble Young Master. He had injured her father and taken away her older sister.
He could imagine how lost and helpless eight-year-old Su Yuexi must have been back then. He could imagine how much merciless blame she had endured over the past ten years. And the root of it all was that Noble Young Master.
Su Yuexi shook her head. "Perhaps Father knows, but he's never said."
Sikong Jing understood. That Noble Young Master's identity must have been terrifyingly powerful. Even if Su Yuexi knew who he was, there would be nothing she could do.
Thinking of this, he could only comfort her first. "Everything will get better. I'll definitely get the money within three days."
Su Yuexi lifted her eyelids slightly and gave a soft reply, though it was unclear whether she believed him.
The next two days passed peacefully at Su Yuexi's home.
Su Zhenglong woke up once during that time. After asking whether Grandfather Su and Su Zhengtao had made any moves against them, he went back to sleep in peace, because Mei Xiaofang and Su Yuexi both told him that nothing had happened.
For those two days, Sikong Jing spent most of his time cultivating in his room. It wasn't until noon on the third day that he opened the door.
He left the Su Mansion alone.
He strolled leisurely along the streets of Yunye City, soon stopping in front of a building called the Heaven Martial Pavilion. It was a place that sold martial techniques and cultivation methods, and also bought them.
Sikong Jing's way of making money was, naturally, to sell martial techniques here.
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