Dad, Mom, We Have a Share in Lin Fan's Silver Too

"Lin Fan, what are you doing? I'm your younger brother!" Lin Ming cursed, only to earn an even fiercer beating from Lin Fan.

Boss Xu and his men, who had braced themselves for disaster, were dumbfounded. This turn of events was far beyond anything they had expected. Wasn't he supposed to beat them up? Why had he started beating his younger brother instead?

Lin Ming grimaced in pain and brought up their parents. "Lin Fan, have you gone mad? I'm going home to tell Mom and Dad you hit me. Just wait for them to curse you out and beat you!"

Lin Fan's movements paused at those words. Lin Ming thought he had found his weakness, but before he could feel pleased with himself, Lin Fan's heavy slaps greeted him.

Smack, smack, smack...

One slap followed another. Lin Ming's face swelled at a speed visible to the naked eye, and several of his teeth were knocked out.

They sucked in sharp breaths.

Boss Xu and his men gasped. This was the first time they had ever seen anyone beat his younger brother so brutally.

Lin Fan only stopped after slapping Lin Ming unconscious. He felt nothing but endless loathing for this younger brother.

If Lin Ming hadn't squandered the family assets, perhaps he would have entered a martial arts hall long ago. With the Fate Panel, he might already have reached the sixth rank or higher by now.

Lin Fan turned his gaze toward Boss Xu. Cold sweat immediately poured down Boss Xu's body, and he trembled, terrified that a slap would land on his face the next second.

"Now, I have two tasks for you," Lin Fan said impassively.

"Please, go ahead!" Boss Xu hastily bowed and cupped his hands.

"First, the fifteen taels of silver you collected from Lin Ming's house last time were mine. Go back and tell your boss I want compensation."

"Second, take this piece of trash home to collect his debt. Take every bit of the marriage money his mother saved for him. And from now on, don't allow anyone in that family to set foot in the city proper. If he goes to the gambling house again, break his arms and legs."

Boss Xu did not understand the second task at all, but he respected it and said he would see to it immediately.

Lin Fan did not wait there. Instead, he found a pavilion and sat down.

He did not have to wait long before Boss Xu returned with a money pouch, looking at Lin Fan with even greater reverence.

He had just learned from his boss that Lin Fan was Head Steward Yue Shan's newly accepted disciple. To him, such a figure was already a divine dragon in the heavens.

Lin Fan felt the contents of the pouch. Inside were gold leaves, roughly a dozen of them.

"All right, the matter of you taking my money is settled. Remember to keep an eye on Lin Ming and his family from now on. If I see them in the city proper..." Lin Fan did not finish, but Boss Xu understood what he meant.

"Rest assured, Young Master Lin. I'll have men watch them for all twelve double-hours of the day. If they set even one foot in the city proper, I'll bring you my head!" Boss Xu hastily pledged.

Lin Fan rose and left, heading toward the martial arts hall with steps much lighter than when he had come.

He had forbidden Lin Ming's family from entering the city proper because he knew what Lin Ming and Lin Ping were like. They would certainly go to the martial arts hall to make trouble, using the moral weight of family ties to force him to give them money. Later, they would also wave his banner as they ran amok.

For now, Lin Fan did not want to leave a bad impression on the martial arts hall or his master, so he naturally would not allow them to set even half a foot in the city proper.

At Lin Ming's home, four of Boss Xu's men dragged Lin Ming to the entrance, then kicked open the already rotten door.

Two people rushed out of a room in a panic. They were Lin Ming's parents. At the sight of the fierce-looking thugs, both wore expressions of terror.

Then their gazes fell on the figure lying on the ground. His pig's head of a face startled them, but they soon realized that this was their son.

"Ming'er!"

Mother Lin cried out in anguish and threw herself down beside Lin Ming, desperately shaking his shoulders. "Ming'er, don't scare your mother." Her voice choked with overwhelming grief.

"Ah! I'll fight you to the death!" Burning with rage, Father Lin snatched up the long-stemmed tobacco pipe beside him and charged at the four thugs. He wanted to avenge his son.

But the next instant, he was kicked flying back. How could an old man like him be a match for young thugs?

"If you don't want your son to die, bring out all your money and pay back the debt right now. Otherwise, we'll send your whole family on your way!" The thug who had kicked Father Lin away brandished the cleaver in his hand and spoke viciously.

Father Lin's Adam's apple bobbed, and his eyes grew considerably clearer.

Meanwhile, Lin Ming finally stirred awake in Mother Lin's arms, opening his bleary, blackened, swollen eyes.

Light returned to Mother Lin's dim eyes, and she pulled Lin Ming into her arms. "Son, you're awake! Thank goodness! You nearly scared your mother to death!"

"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts..."

Lin Ming sucked in sharp breaths. The slightest touch to his face now hurt unbearably, and Mother Lin hurriedly let go.

"Mom, you have to stand up for me. Lin Fan did all this to me," Lin Ming sobbed.

"What? Lin Fan did this?" Intense shock and anger flooded Mother Lin's face. "How could he do such a thing?"

Father Lin slammed his tobacco pipe against the ground. "Fuck his mother! That unfilial son! I'll go flay him alive!"

Lin Ming tugged at Mother Lin's sleeve and tearfully complained, "Mom, you have to stand up for me! Now that Lin Fan has become a distinguished disciple of the Mountain Suppression Martial Arts Hall, he doesn't think anything of either of you anymore."

"What? Fan'er joined the Mountain Suppression Martial Arts Hall?" Mother Lin was both surprised and delighted.

Father Lin was also deeply shaken by the news, but instead of feeling pleased, he grew even angrier.

"He's turning heaven upside down! Never mind being a mere disciple-even if he were the hall master, you'd still be his younger brother, and I'd still be his father! Tomorrow, I'll go to the martial arts hall and settle the score with him. I'll let everyone there know just how unfilial he is and have them throw him out!" Father Lin shouted.

"Dad, make him compensate me too, and pay you both support money! Now that he's a martial arts hall disciple, he must have heaps of silver. We have a share in that silver too!" Lin Ming clamored, greed surfacing in his eyes.

The four thugs exchanged glances. At last, they had some understanding of why Lin Fan had asked them to keep this family of outrageous specimens from setting even half a foot in the city proper.

"Beat them!"

One of the thugs barked the order. Then all four laid into Lin Ming and Lin Ping with clubs, while Mother Lin was shoved aside.

"You bastards! My son is a martial arts hall disciple! How dare you hit me? Aren't you afraid he'll take your lives?" Lin Ping roared.

Then a club struck him hard across the face, knocking out his teeth.

"Still expecting Young Master Lin Fan to avenge you?" The thug sneered repeatedly. "Let me tell you, Young Master Lin Fan has already ordered that you're forbidden from setting foot in the city proper. From now on, we'll watch you day and night. If you dare take one step outside this door, I'll break your damned legs!"

Lin Ping's chest heaved with fury, his eyes bulging as though their corners would split. "That bastard Lin Fan! How dare he? If I'd known, I'd have strangled him when he was born! Raising a dog would have been better than raising him!"

What greeted him next was an even fiercer thrashing from the thugs.

"Fuck your mother! You dare insult Young Master Lin Fan? You must be tired of living!" the thug cursed as he beat him.

"Don't think I don't know about your family's rotten business! That useless Lin Ming squandered your entire fortune, yet you insist on doting on him. Meanwhile, Young Master Lin Fan worked himself ragged earning money at the docks to support you, only for you to curse him however you pleased, treating him like a servant!"

"You even took the money Young Master Lin Fan had saved to learn martial arts and gave it to Lin Ming to pay his gambling debts, forcing Young Master Lin Fan to leave home. And you still have the nerve to call yourselves his parents? You're nothing but bloodsuckers! Pah!" The more the thug cursed, the angrier he grew, and the harder he struck. Lin Ping wailed without end.