Chapter Nine: Let Him Come and Beg for Forgiveness

"Oh!" This exclamation piqued Jiang Qin’s interest. He waved away the beautiful woman tending his nails, straightened up with a faintly amused look, and asked, “Jimao, are you joking with me?”

Li Jimao was on the verge of tears; things had escalated to this point, and joking was the last thing on his mind. He recounted the entire ordeal.

“This man appeared out of nowhere, killed Chen Mingsheng, destroyed the Divine Marksmen Squad, and extorted one hundred and twenty billion from me. I simply can’t raise that kind of money, nor can I stand against him. So I have no choice but to ask for your help.”

“What? He killed so many people—even the Divine Marksmen Squad was no match for him? It seems he’s indeed quite capable.”

“Really, so many people seeking death these days… Very well, I’m getting old and it’s inconvenient for me to move around. Take this little trinket, it bears my personal inscription. Show it to him, then have him cripple one of his arms himself. Let the matter end there—don’t push him too hard. Go on, take it to him yourself.”

With that, Jiang Qin pulled a green jade pendant out of his pocket. It was the size of a palm, inscribed all over with tiny black characters, and his seal was at the bottom. He tossed it at Li Jimao’s feet, then reclined again.

Li Jimao understood: Jiang Qin’s caution meant he feared the troublemaker had a powerful background. After all, nobody would provoke the Flourishing Commerce Guild for no reason.

“Thank you, godfather.”

When Li Jimao returned to the Guild, the jade pendant held reverently in both hands, Lin Feng and Zhao Che were drinking tea and chatting in the conference room on the sixth floor. Zhao Sisi stood by, respectfully pouring tea.

All the Guild’s senior members lined up by the door, silent and trembling, helpless in the face of what had just transpired, not daring to make a sound.

Zhao Sisi felt much more at ease when she saw Li Jimao return. But this time, she wouldn’t dare roll her eyes at Lin Feng.

Li Jimao didn’t look at her; he walked straight to Lin Feng. “You must be Mr. Lin. I have something here for you to look at.”

Lin Feng knew Li Jimao must’ve gone to seek help, but he didn’t expect him to return so deferentially with a jade pendant.

“What’s this?” Lin Feng sat grandly on the sofa, picked up the pendant, inspected it, and asked, “Is this really worth one hundred and fifty billion?”

Damn it!

Li Jimao nearly suffered a stroke on the spot. If he weren’t afraid of Zhao Che’s martial prowess, he would have spat in Lin Feng’s face. This was outrageous—another thirty billion tacked on in just a short while.

Did Lin Feng think the Flourishing Commerce Guild’s money grew on trees? This was outright bullying!

“The owner of this trinket said, have you cripple one of your own arms, and the matter will be settled.”

“Jiang Qin!” Lin Feng smiled inwardly as he read the inscription on the jade. He’d heard of Jiang Qin, said to be a local emperor in Jiangzhou—so respected that even the newly appointed magistrate would pay his respects first thing, and even then, an audience wasn’t guaranteed.

“That’s right, it’s Elder Jiang himself!”

“Then I’ll trouble you to make another trip, and show this little trinket of mine to that old man Jiang Qin.” Lin Feng tossed the jade back and drew out a Nine Streets Emblem from his pocket, slapping it into Li Jimao’s hand. “He has one hour—just one hour. Tell him to kneel at the Guild’s front door and beg forgiveness, or he’ll bear the consequences.”

What? To have Elder Jiang kneel at the Guild’s entrance? And beg for forgiveness?

Was this kid crazy?

“My friend, you really don’t know the immensity of heaven and earth… Well, fine.” Li Jimao thought to himself, To hell with it—this could be perfect. If Lin Feng angered Jiang Qin, he’d get what was coming to him, and Li Jimao could take his revenge. If Lin Feng wanted to die, who was he to stop him? With this in mind, he turned and left.

Zhao Sisi lowered her head and whispered, “Mr. Lin, I’m afraid you’re truly mistaken this time. Elder Jiang is the king of Jiangzhou; he’s far more formidable than our two bosses. In all of Jiangdong Province, few dare cross him. I say this for your own good. Perhaps you should just… just cripple your arm.”

“After all this talk, you’re still so shortsighted,” Zhao Che snapped at her. “There’s always someone stronger. What’s Jiangdong compared to the world? Just wait and see.”

Zhao Sisi only wanted to flatter Lin Feng, but Zhao Che’s warning frightened her into silence. Who knew if this madman would suddenly break her neck? Probably only Mr. Lin himself could restrain this one.

An hour was nearly up. No one expected that, just then, Li Jimao would come rushing through the door, falling to his knees before Lin Feng. “Mr. Lin, the one hundred and fifty billion is ready for you. Elder Jiang—no, Jiang Qin himself—is kneeling at the entrance, awaiting your judgment.”

What was this?

Zhao Sisi’s legs buckled involuntarily; she nearly knelt before Lin Feng. Elder Jiang—Jiangzhou’s most venerated figure—bowing so easily to a mere youth?

Had everyone misjudged this plainly dressed young man, who now appeared to possess unfathomable power?

“What was that you said? I didn’t quite catch it. One hundred and fifty billion? Does the Flourishing Commerce Guild have no sense of fairness? The contract clearly states one hundred and eighty billion—are you trying to renege? That’s not right.”

“What!” The Guild’s total assets barely reached two hundred billion, most of it in fixed property. Li Jimao and Jiang Qin had scraped together the one hundred and fifty billion with great difficulty, and now Lin Feng was asking for even more.

But he dared not bargain any further; who knew if the price would jump by another twenty billion if he delayed?

“Please forgive me, Mr. Lin. I have only one hundred and fifty billion in cash, but I can offer you twenty percent of the Guild’s shares to settle the debt. I hope you’ll show mercy.” Those twenty percent shares had belonged to Chen Mingsheng. Since he was dead—and had caused the trouble—why not use them to resolve the matter?

“No need for apologies. Your Mr. Chen was such a formidable figure; you needn’t treat me so politely. I’m just an ordinary man. As long as we do honest, proper business, I won’t trouble you further. Let’s leave it at that,” Lin Feng replied graciously.

Ordinary man, my ass! This was his idea of conducting business properly? Zhao Sisi was speechless.

Relief flooded Li Jimao, even though he still didn’t understand why Jiang Qin was so fearful of this Lin kid.

He had seen it with his own eyes: when Jiang Qin picked up the Nine Streets Emblem, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. The terror etched into his bones made him instantly lift the little token over his head and kneel in reverence.

One hour later, at Jiang’s residence.

In that same courtyard, Lin Feng reclined on a chaise lounge. Jiang Qin knelt where Li Jimao had earlier, hands raised, presenting a stack of account books in abject trepidation. “Your Majesty, these are all the accounts handled by this old servant over the past five years. Please examine them.”

“That’s enough. You’ve worked hard.”

“All for the glory of Nine Streets Overlord!” Jiang Qin pressed his right hand to his chest.

Lin Feng didn’t even lift his eyelids, his expression dark. “Jiang Qin, I ordered you to oversee Jiangzhou’s underworld, not to abuse your power. If you commit any more wickedness, I’ll have no choice but to kill you.”

Jiang Qin had once served as a special operative in the Killing God Legion, infiltrating Jiangzhou years ago. With the Legion’s backing, he rose to become the region’s overlord. Three years ago, when the Nine Streets Overlord Plan began, Lin Feng had placed two pieces in Jiangzhou: a ‘white’ piece, Chen Heibai, and a ‘black’ piece, Jiang Qin.

In all of Jiangzhou, only two people knew Lin Feng’s true identity—Jiang Qin was one of them.

Lin Feng’s words made Jiang Qin shudder uncontrollably. He knew well the temperament of the War Emperor—none more terrifying. At the Battle of West Chu Pass, he’d personally buried five hundred and eighty thousand enemy soldiers… There was no one in this world more fearsome.

“This old servant deserves death. I’ll take my own life at once…”

“No need.” Lin Feng sat up, his face still grim. “The Overlord Plan needs capable people. I’ll give you this one chance to live, but do not test my patience again.”

“Thank you, War Emperor, for sparing my life. I will serve you with unswerving loyalty, to the death if need be.”

As Lin Feng stood to leave, Jiang Qin hurried after him in small, shuffling steps. “Your Majesty, please wait.”

“This old servant hasn’t seen you in so many years. Now that I have, I must express my gratitude. I have nothing worthy to offer, only twenty beauties. Though not heavenly goddesses, they are pleasing enough to the eye. Please accept them, War Emperor.”

Lin Feng smiled wryly to himself, thinking, If I really accepted them, I can’t imagine how my own truly peerless wife would react. The problem is if that woman doesn’t get jealous!

What a life.

“Forget it, keep them for your own use. I’m not as robust as you, nor am I interested.”

After Lin Feng left, Jiang Qin was secretly dismayed. The gift had been refused; he’d missed a golden opportunity to curry favor with the War Emperor. Even for him, an audience with such a figure was nearly impossible—who knew when the next chance would come?

What to do now?

Since beauties wouldn’t do, perhaps he should offer something else. According to Li Jimao, the War Emperor had married into a humble Chu family recently, probably to keep a low profile. In that case…

A sudden inspiration lit up Jiang Qin’s eyes.