Still Two Taels Short

"All... all right, Sister-in-law."

Li Feng stood up, his voice suppressed and steadying as best he could, but his slightly heavy and rough breathing betrayed his tense mood at that moment.

"Mmm..."

Inside the sickbed, Lin Yanqiu did not dare raise her head to meet Li Feng's gaze, only managing to bury her burning cheeks deep into the cotton quilt, gently biting her red lips and whispering as thin as a mosquito's hum, "The... the night is deep. You should head back early to rest as well, and be careful on the road."

Li Feng walked out of the Spring Renewal Hall, and when the night breeze blew, the tender and romantic thoughts in his mind finally cooled down.

He rubbed his burning cheeks, forcing himself to calm down.

Everything that had just happened felt like a dream.

The next day, after finishing his shift at the City Guard Office.

Li Feng did not delay, walking straight toward the direction of the street intersection.

Before long, Li Feng arrived outside the home of Butcher Hu.

Butcher Hu had spent half a lifetime selling meat, accumulating quite a bit of family wealth in his hands. His life was quite comfortable; the courtyard walls were built tall and solid, and the two wooden doors were also crafted from thick, hard wood.

Standing outside the courtyard, one could even faintly smell the aroma of meat drifting from within. It was just the time when various households were lighting fires and building stoves, and though he did not know whether it was beef or pork, regardless of what kind of meat it was, ordinary impoverished commoners could not afford to eat it every single day.

The twenty taels of silver that Butcher Hu owed had been overdue for several months, and logically speaking, it was time to be repaid. Yet ever since that incident subsided, the Hu Family seemed to have forgotten all about this matter and never brought it up actively again.

If it were in the past, back when Sister-in-law was still a Chief Constable and the family wasn't particularly short on money, that would have been one thing.

But now, Sister-in-law was gravely wounded in bed, and the medical treatment alone would cost several hundred taels-an astronomical figure for an ordinary household.

Added to the fact that his Martial Dao had now entered the threshold, his daily consumption of vital blood was extremely high, requiring meat at every single meal, and money was needed everywhere. His life was already stretched to the limit.

If he could demand back this twenty-tael debt, it would definitely greatly ease his living expenses. After all, twenty taels of silver was roughly his annual salary, which was not a small amount.

"Knock, knock, knock." Thinking this, Li Feng stepped forward and knocked on the courtyard door of Butcher Hu's house.

"Who is it?!"

A woman's voice rang out from inside the door very quickly.

"Aunt Hu, it's me, Li Feng."

As Li Feng's voice sounded, all noise inside vanished instantly. After a full several breaths passed, the tightly shut courtyard door was opened from within.

"Oh my, it's Little Feng! Quick, come in and sit," Butcher Hu said, rubbing his hands together with a face full of smiles.

Li Feng followed Butcher Hu into the inner room. Inside, Butcher Hu's old partner, his son, and that daughter-in-law whose appearance was truly outstanding were also present. Judging from the leftover meals on the table, the family should have just finished their evening meal.

Seeing Li Feng enter, Aunt Hu curled her lips, and the gaze of Butcher Hu's son also looked somewhat unnatural.

"Little Feng coming over so late, you haven't eaten yet, have you?" Butcher Hu feigned polite pleasantries.

"I've eaten."

Li Feng replied neither humbly nor arrogantly.

Looking at this table of leftovers, even if he hadn't eaten, could they possibly invite him to eat together?

"Running over in the middle of the night, is there something urgent?"

Butcher Hu asked.

Li Feng went straight to the point: "There is indeed a matter. A few months ago, Uncle Hu's family ran into some trouble and came to beg my sister-in-law, saying that as long as your daughter-in-law's safety was ensured, you would give my sister-in-law a token of gratitude of twenty taels. I came over tonight to collect this gratitude payment on behalf of my sister-in-law."

Hearing these words, Aunt Hu's face instantly elongated.

Butcher Hu also gave a dry laugh, appearing extremely surprised: "So it was about this matter! I would have forgotten if you hadn't mentioned it. But Little Feng, this is too sudden, and Uncle's hands are a bit tight right now."

Li Feng smoothly pulled over a wooden chair and sat down, his expression detached: "It doesn't matter. I'll just sit right here and wait. Whenever you figure it out, I'll leave."

The corner of Butcher Hu's eye twitched. He had originally thought he could casually brush off this thin-skinned teenage youth and send him away, but who would have known that the other party would simply plant himself here like a piece of wood?

"Little Feng, look, it's getting late. Why don't you head back first, and in a couple of days when Uncle gathers the money, you can come over again?" Butcher Hu continued to procrastinate.

"It's better to settle it tonight." Li Feng's tone was resolute.

Seeing this, Butcher Hu simply put away his smile and assumed a pious, earnest demeanor:

"Little Feng, it's not that Uncle is trying to default on the debt. You're young and don't understand-last night, people from the Green Bamboo Gang just came by to collect a round of protection money, and the household was long since scraped clean. Where could we possibly pull out ten taels of silver right now?"

He had already inquired everywhere today: that Black Tiger Gang had already been scattered by the Green Bamboo Gang, and that Incense Master who had originally taken a fancy to his daughter-in-law was probably long hacked to death by a flurry of blades, with his corpse rotting in who knows what corner.

Since the crisis had already been resolved, why should he foolishly cough up twenty taels of silver?

Thinking of this, Butcher Hu glanced at Li Feng, his back involuntarily straightening a bit more, feeling justified and bold:

"Besides, your sister-in-law is originally a runner for the City Guard Office, drawing the imperial court's salary. Isn't protecting us ordinary folk part of her bounden duty? That twenty-tael reward was originally just a slip of the tongue said in a panic-how could it ever be taken seriously?"

Seeing her husband set the tone, Aunt Hu by the side understood immediately and hurriedly chimed in:

"Exactly! Your sister-in-law was ridding the people of an evil, accumulating virtue and doing good deeds! You, a brat who has neither started a family nor incurred debts, are biting onto these twenty taels and won't let go-are your eyes stuck in the money pit or what?"

Listening to the two of them bantering back and forth, Li Feng was almost amused to the point of laughter.

This family of Butcher Hu saw that the Black Tiger Gang had been overthrown and the crisis resolved, so they intended to burn the bridge after crossing it and default on the debt to the end.

Others didn't dare offend the Black Tiger Gang, but back then it was they who begged his sister-in-law to step forward; now, it had instead become her bounden duty.

Moreover, the Green Bamboo Gang's protection money was nothing much to Butcher Hu's family-one hundred wen per person, and with four people in his family, it was only four hundred wen. The gap between this four hundred wen and the twenty taels of silver owed to him was simply too vast.

Li Feng looked at the two of them like this: "Uncle Hu, Aunt Hu, whether I lack money or not is entirely separate from whether you ought to pay. The reason I'm willing to sit down and chat right now is out of consideration for everyone living on the same street for so long, to leave some face for you."

"Bang!"

Butcher Hu abruptly slammed the table and stood up, relying on his sturdy physique forged from years of butchering pigs, glaring down at Li Feng from above:

"Li family boy, calling you Little Feng is giving you face. No matter what, I'm an elder who watched you grow up; even if your father came, he'd have to be courteous to me. Is that any way to speak to an elder?"

Aunt Hu placed both hands on her hips even more, raising her voice to hurl abuse, employing the routine commonly used by women during quarrels: "You little bastard, you're trying to drive our whole family to ruin! Even if the Jade Emperor himself came today, there's no money!"

Yet for Li Feng, none of this carried any meaning.

He couldn't be bothered to waste words further, standing up abruptly and striking fiercely down onto the table that Butcher Hu had just slapped.

Reasoning was simply ineffective when dealing with such local ruffians.

Bang!

A depression was shockingly hammered out right on the table, the palm print sinking several centimeters into the wooden surface.

The scene went dead silent instantly.

After striking the table, Li Feng raised his foot, preparing to walk outward.

Seeing this, Butcher Hu's momentum instantly leaked away by more than half; he had originally thought this teenage youth possessed no real skills.

Yet...

Butcher Hu finally realized a single problem.

And that was that the youth before his eyes was no longer that trivial brat who could be casually dismissed, but a runner doing genuine work at the City Guard Office!

The threshold of the City Guard Office required at least the entry level of Martial Dao.

When he was being polite, they could honor the sentiments of neighborhood relations, calling him Uncle Hu and Aunt Hu, but if they weren't polite, whether overtly or covertly, there were plenty of methods to fix someone.

He had watched him grow up since childhood, yet he hadn't seen through his possession of such strength in the slightest!

Dammit!

"Wai-wait!"

Butcher Hu could finally no longer sit still, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead as he hurriedly cried out to stop Li Feng.

However, Li Feng's pace remained steady, paying him not the slightest bit of heed.

"Little Feng! Constable Li! Wait, wait! I'll pay! I'll pay the money right now!"

The moment the words fell, Butcher Hu turned and scrambled desperately toward the inner room.

"Old Hu, have you lost your mind?!" Aunt Hu on the side clearly hadn't recovered from her shrewish emotional state and wanted to grab Butcher Hu back.

"Get lost!" Butcher Hu shoved aside this clueless, stupid woman, stumbling blindly as he charged into the inner chamber.

Hearing that money would be repaid, Li Feng finally halted his steps.

A flurry of rummaging through boxes and cabinets quickly sounded from the inner room, and not long after, Butcher Hu hurried out clutching a coarse cloth money sack, panting heavily.

"L-Little Feng, don't be angry; Uncle was just joking with you a moment ago," Butcher Hu said, squeezing out a forced smile.

Li Feng reached out to receive the money sack, weighing it in his hand-the heft was truly not light.

He opened the money sack to count carefully, then slowly raised his head to look at Butcher Hu: "This sum isn't quite right, is it?"

"Ah? H-how could it not be right?" Butcher Hu's heart skipped a beat as he hurriedly stepped forward two paces: "I counted it carefully; there are twenty taels in total inside, not a single cent more, not a single cent less."

Li Feng looked at him quietly, his expression detached:

"The problem lies precisely in that not a single cent more and not a single cent less. There are indeed twenty taels in here, but according to the prevailing market interest over these past few months, the interest for one tael shouldn't be negligible, therefore..."

"It's still two taels short."