Wages and Funeral Expenses, Settled in One Go

"Sikong Jing, he's back?"

Su Yuexi was resisting the servants as they tried to break into Su Zhenglong's room. Her body stiffened as if struck by lightning, and she froze in place.

She had heard Sikong Jing's voice in the courtyard. Was it an illusion?

It had to be an illusion. She just missed him too much.

"You're asking for death!"

Just as Su Yuexi was torn between hope and doubt, Sikong Jing's voice rang out again.

This time, it was unmistakable, like a thunderclap!

Boom!

A furious figure crashed into the hall, then flashed to a stop in front of Su Zhenglong's door. Thud, thud, thud, thud...

A barrage of kicks lashed out, striking the servants surrounding Mei Xiaofang and Su Yuexi. Cries of pain rang out as one servant after another was sent flying. In the blink of an eye, every servant had been swept away.

Sikong Jing looked toward the mother and daughter, who stood disheveled at the doorway, and asked, "Yue Xi, Mother-in-law, are you all right?"

The mother and daughter stared blankly at the towering figure, his face twisted with rage.

Disbelief filled Mei Xiaofang's eyes. He had actually come back. He hadn't run away.

Su Yuexi, meanwhile, couldn't utter a word. She stood perfectly still, afraid this was all just a dream.

Then Sikong Jing heard the sounds of things being moved from the other rooms in the courtyard. "Don't worry. I'll throw everyone out right now. And I'll make them pay."

He turned and charged out, unleashing a murderous intent that swept through the courtyard like a storm.

Thud, thud, thud...

More rumbling, more screams. Sikong Jing darted from room to room, blasting every servant out.

Hearing the commotion, Su Yuexi finally came to her senses. She murmured, "Mother, we're not dreaming, are we? Sikong Jing really came back. He really didn't abandon me?"

Mei Xiaofang looked at her daughter, whose veil was soaked through with tears, and answered uncertainly, "Perhaps he was captured and brought back."

Su Yuexi's heart trembled, and she was lost all over again.

The two of them had seen too much evil to imagine that anyone could truly treat them well, especially a criminal.

Could a criminal really be a good person?

By now, Sikong Jing had driven all the servants out. They were sprawled across the open space in the courtyard.

Mei Xiaofang held Su Yuexi's hand tightly and comforted her. "Maybe he truly couldn't bear to leave you, so he came back."

Seeing how pained her daughter looked, Mei Xiaofang couldn't bring herself to hurt her any more.

Then Mei Xiaofang led Su Yuexi out of the hall, silently praying that Sikong Jing hadn't been captured and hadn't returned against his will.

Otherwise, her fragile daughter wouldn't be able to bear it.

"Criminal, didn't you escape the city? Why did you come back?" Su Yun asked, eyes wide.

Sikong Jing stood in front of the hall, coldly surveying the servants groaning and rolling on the ground. Then he abruptly lifted his head. "Who told you I escaped the city? This is my home. Why would I run?"

The mother and daughter's hearts trembled at his words.

Su Yun paused, then scoffed. "What a high-sounding excuse. I bet the City Guard caught you and dragged you back."

She simply couldn't believe Sikong Jing actually considered this place his home. Who in their right mind would want Su Yuexi?

He must have been arrested after leaving the city.

The mother and daughter couldn't help looking at Sikong Jing, wanting to hear his explanation.

But Sikong Jing only gave a cold laugh. "I can't be bothered to waste my breath on you. I'll deal with you after I'm finished with these servants."

Then Sikong Jing looked at Aunt Li and the others and barked, "You. How do you want to die?"

He was truly furious. If he'd arrived a moment later, who knew what might have happened to Su Yuexi? Who knew if his father-in-law, Su Zhenglong, might have been angered to death in bed?

He was bloodthirsty now. He wanted to kill.

Aunt Li finally managed to endure the pain and snapped back viciously, "Criminal, you owe us money and won't pay. Now you want to kill us too?"

"That's right. You owe us money and won't pay, so of course we're moving your things."

The other servants sneered as well. They had the law on their side, and Miss Su Yun was here to back them up. What was there to be afraid of?

Ding, ding, ding...

As the servants continued to clamor, Gold Crystal Coins appeared in Sikong Jing's hand.

One after another, they scattered onto the ground with crisp clinks.

In an instant, every servant, Aunt Li included, stared wide-eyed.

They had never seen so many Gold Crystal Coins before. The entire courtyard fell silent.

"I said I'd repay you tenfold, and I'll do it. Who told you to go around touching my family's things?" Sikong Jing's voice was ice-cold, mingling with the coins' clinks.

Faced with his terrifying murderous intent, Aunt Li and the others suddenly panicked.

One servant replied in a trembling voice, "You'd already escaped the city. How were we supposed to know you'd come back?"

"I said I'd pay today. Even if I really hadn't come back today, you could've started taking things tomorrow."

"Who told you to start grabbing them now?"

Sikong Jing's final words brimmed with towering fury, like a divine general descending from the heavens, or a wild beast roaring.

Pfft...

Several servants near Sikong Jing suddenly spat blood. His voice alone had injured them.

Without warning, Sikong Jing reached out and pulled Aunt Li toward him. She landed in his grip, his fingers clamped tightly around her neck.

Aunt Li dangled in midair, struggling desperately.

"Let go of me! What are you doing? Who told you not to come back sooner? If you're going to blame anyone, blame yourself."

"Now let me go, then pay us ten times our wages, and we'll call it even."

The other servants crowded around, hurling all sorts of accusations. They all insisted that they'd only taken the things because Sikong Jing had arrived too late.

Some even said, what did it matter if they'd taken a few things? The family still owed them their wages.

Ignoring every voice, Sikong Jing coldly scanned the courtyard and said without mercy, "Ten times? No. This time I'll pay you twenty times your wages... To be precise, I'll give each of you two Gold Crystal Coins."

At his words, all the commotion vanished. Everyone stared at him, eyes wide.

Aunt Li stopped struggling too, her eyes gleaming as she asked, "Really?"

This criminal really had no backbone. He looked furious, yet he was still going to give each of them two Gold Crystal Coins. What a laughable, thrilling spectacle.

But then again, what else could a criminal like him do?

"Of course."

Crack...

As Sikong Jing spoke, a crisp sound came from Aunt Li's neck. He had snapped it.

The servants who had been waiting expectantly scrambled back in terror, their eyes nearly splitting open.

The courtyard fell so silent you could hear a pin drop.

Then Sikong Jing casually tossed Aunt Li's corpse onto the ground.

He drew two Gold Crystal Coins to him and placed them on Aunt Li's body. Only after that was done did he look up at the horrified servants and say grimly, "Twenty times your wages. The rest is your funeral expense."

Thump...

The servants' legs shook, and they dropped hard to the ground. At last, one of them shouted, "Y-you killed Aunt Li!"

The speaker was the middle-aged male servant who had snatched Mei Xiaofang's silk three days ago.

"Not just her. I'm going to kill you too."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Sikong Jing lunged. The middle-aged male servant died on the spot, and Sikong Jing drew two Gold Crystal Coins to toss onto his corpse.

He flashed away and struck again. In the blink of an eye, all seven servants who belonged to Su Yuexi's household were dead!