Protection money

"Open up! Open up!"

An unfamiliar voice came from outside.

Li Feng's expression tightened slightly. He walked over and opened the courtyard gate to find three men standing outside, all looking as though they had come looking for trouble. Without betraying anything, he asked, "May I ask who you gentlemen are?"

Before, when Li Feng had yet to enter the Martial Dao, he had been unable to clearly sense other people's auras.

Now he had reached the qi-blood first stage, and none of the three men before him had deliberately concealed their auras. A cursory glance told him that all three had entered the Martial Dao.

Anyone who had entered the Martial Dao could already be considered a capable fighter!

He simply did not know their precise levels, so despite their aggressive bearing, he suppressed his thoughts and asked first.

"Hmph!"

One of the men who looked like a lackey snorted, stepped forward, and arrogantly pointed at the man in the middle as he introduced him:

"Boy, you don't even recognize Lei Hu, Incense Master Lei of our Green Bamboo Gang? Listen up. I'm Ma San, and he's Xiao Liu."

At the name "Green Bamboo Gang," Li Feng's thoughts shifted. A smile promptly appeared on his face, and he hurriedly stepped aside, saying politely, "So you're an Incense Master of the Green Bamboo Gang. Please, come inside."

So they were from the Green Bamboo Gang, which had crushed the Black Tiger Gang. Two random lackeys from the old Black Tiger Gang would never have been this capable.

It seemed the Green Bamboo Gang truly had considerable strength. Even two ordinary lackeys had entered the Martial Dao. A gang had at least a hundred members, after all. If every member had entered the Martial Dao, that would be a staggering force.

Lei Hu raised his chin slightly, reasonably satisfied that Li Feng knew what was good for him, and swaggered after him into the house with his two subordinates.

"Incense Master Lei, brothers, have some water first." Li Feng took a few clean porcelain bowls, filled three with water, and set them before the men.

His home was sparsely furnished, and he had no habit of drinking tea, so he had neither teacups nor tea leaves. Plain water would have to do.

But before Incense Master Lei could take a sip, Ma San shoved the bowl aside.

"What the hell is this?! Do you know who Master Lei is? He comes to your home, and you serve him plain water?!"

Clack!

With a light clatter, the porcelain bowl tipped over on the wooden table. Water splashed across the surface, then trickled over the edge in a steady patter.

Watching this, Li Feng kept smiling. "My humble home is rather shabby. I truly have no fine tea to offer, only plain water. I hope you'll forgive me, Incense Master Lei, brothers."

With that, he picked up a rag and wiped away the water spilled across the table.

"Good thing you know it!"

Ma San folded his arms and snorted.

"Enough, Ma San."

Lei Hu waved Ma San back and got straight to the point:

"Boy, you seem like someone who understands the rules. I'm sure you've guessed why we've come calling today. We're mainly here to collect the protection money for this street."

"The Black Tiger Gang used to run this street. I don't care how things worked then, but now it belongs to the Green Bamboo Gang, so our rules apply. Every household pays, and we charge by the head: a hundred copper coins per person. I hear you also have a badly injured sister-in-law staying elsewhere. That makes two hundred. Be quick about it and hand over the money."

Li Feng's heart sank. He understood at once.

When the Black Tiger Gang had controlled this street, his sister-in-law had not yet been injured. Back then, she had been a Chief Constable at the City Guard Office. With that position, it was already generous of the Black Tiger Gang's men not to offer her money when they met. How could they possibly come knocking to collect protection money?

Now the Black Tiger Gang had been crushed by the Green Bamboo Gang, which controlled the street. Naturally, the Green Bamboo Gang had come to collect.

Two hundred copper coins was not much, but Li Feng still did not want to hand it over for nothing.

He cupped his hands and ventured, "Incense Master Lei, to tell you the truth, I currently serve at the City Guard Office. We all make our living on these streets. Might you be willing to... make an exception regarding the protection money?"

"A constable at the City Guard Office?"

Before Lei Hu could speak, Xiao Liu gave a derisive laugh and sneered:

"Don't try to bluff us with that. You think we don't know? We asked around before coming here. You're nothing but a temporary White Runner. As for your sister-in-law, she might have been a Chief Constable before, but now she's bedridden with serious injuries. Heh..."

Ma San joined in with repeated sneers. "A temporary constable who isn't even on the official rolls-what the hell do you count for? Incense Master Lei might show a little consideration to a regular constable, but you? Just be a good boy and pay!"

Lei Hu could not be bothered to waste any more words either. He snorted, suddenly raised his right hand, and brought it down on the table before him with seeming casualness.

A sharp crack rang out.

Li Feng lowered his head slightly and looked at the wooden tabletop.

Where Lei Hu's palm had just struck, a clear indentation had appeared. The palm print sank several centimeters into the wood.

The qi-blood second level!

Definitely the qi-blood second level, and an expert with well-developed strength at that!

Leaving a palm print with a charged strike and leaving one with a casual slap were worlds apart.

Although Li Feng had only just reached the qi-blood first stage, he still had the basic eye for such things.

What the man had done so casually was utterly beyond his current abilities. If that palm landed on him, his present physique would never withstand it. Even if it did not kill him, it would leave him badly injured.

That was how the world worked. If you lacked strength, you could only bow your head and swallow the loss.

Li Feng drew a deep breath, hid the resentment in his eyes, and offered an apologetic smile. "Excellent skill, Incense Master Lei. I was presumptuous. Naturally, the Green Bamboo Gang's rules cannot be broken!"

With that, Li Feng reached into his robe and pulled out a handful of silver pieces, preparing to count out two hundred copper coins' worth.

But Ma San's eyes were sharp and his hands quick. Before Li Feng could count anything, he stepped forward and snatched every piece of silver from his hand!

"What are you counting for?"

Ma San shoved the silver straight into his robe and declared overbearingly, "The extra will count toward next month's protection money!"

Li Feng's expression shifted slightly. "There are at least two taels of silver there," he said in a low voice.

Two taels of silver was a full two thousand copper coins, enough to pay ten months of protection money.

At this, Ma San's expression darkened. He abruptly turned and fixed Li Feng with an intimidating stare. "What? You have a problem with that?"

Li Feng looked at Ma San, then glanced at Lei Hu, who sat beside him overseeing everything. He badly wanted to draw his saber and cut Ma San down on the spot, but the difference in strength and the trouble that would follow brought him back to his senses.

He gritted his teeth, forcibly suppressed his anger, and said in a low voice, "No."

Only after watching Li Feng submit did Lei Hu nod in satisfaction. "At least you know what's good for you, boy."

"Let's go."

Lei Hu called to the others, stood up, and led Ma San and Xiao Liu straight out of the house and through the courtyard.

Once outside, the three swaggered down the dim alley.

Xiao Liu glanced back at the tightly shut courtyard gate and asked with some hesitation, "Master Lei, Brother Ma, wasn't taking two taels of silver from him outright a little excessive? He does work at the City Guard Office, after all. What if it causes trouble..."

"Tch!"

Ma San cut Xiao Liu off with a contemptuous snort, his face full of mockery. "Excessive? He's just a temporary White Runner with neither power nor influence. What waves could he possibly stir up?"

Lei Hu walked at the front without a word, his steps steady. He had never once spoken up to stop them, clearly giving his tacit approval to Ma San's reasoning and actions.

A lowly temporary White Runner did not even warrant a proper glance from him. He could squeeze the boy however he pleased. It was not worth mentioning.

Meanwhile, Li Feng watched the three leave his courtyard with an icy gaze before slowly stepping forward to close the gate.

In the original owner's memories, the Li family had never paid any damned protection money in all its years on this street.

When his father, Old Li, had still been alive, he had been a regular constable at the City Guard Office. With that position backing him, the Black Tiger Gang had never dared come knocking to collect protection money.

After Old Li died, his sister-in-law had soon taken over his post and even become a Chief Constable. Naturally, the Black Tiger Gang had been even less likely to come collecting.

But now, times had changed.

Although Li Feng also served as a constable at the City Guard Office, Lei Hu and the others saw two things: his sister-in-law, formerly a Chief Constable, had been badly injured, and Li Feng himself was merely a temporary constable who was not even on the official rolls.

In their eyes, a temporary constable was nowhere near enough to give them the slightest pause.

Without strength, you could only let others carve you up as they pleased!

This was the rule of might, and the bloody truth of this world.

Li Feng gritted his teeth and said fiercely, "Protection money?! Within half a year, I'll make the Green Bamboo Gang spit back every last coin of my protection money!"