Chapter 85
Chapter 85
People say conflict is the root of all resentment, but in truth, jealousy is the true source. Seeing Shen Lang being splattered with filth, slandered by a low-class prostitute, brought the Xu steward immense joy and satisfaction.
*‘I did this. This was all my doing.’*
But Shen Lang, with a brilliant move, turned the tables in an instant. Unable to bear the situation, the prostitute confessed that the Xu steward had put her up to it. In that moment, the steward’s face changed, and he rebuked the prostitute in a furious voice.
“Where did a low-class whore like you crawl out from, spouting such nonsense? Your slander of Shen Lang has nothing to do with me. How could a respectable steward of the Xu Clan like myself possibly know a woman like you?”
Hearing this, the prostitute grew furious.
“Pah! You bastard, did you think I wouldn't know what you were like twenty years ago? Back in the day, didn't you used to spy on me when I went to the latrine? How could I forget something like that!”
At this, Shen Lang waved his hand at the beggars and vagrants. This was getting interesting; he had to let her continue. The beggars and vagrants reluctantly stopped, still holding the prostitute in the air.
The Xu steward said coldly, “Today is a joyous occasion for my master. I will not bicker with a low-class woman like you.”
The steward finished speaking and turned to leave, but the prostitute cried out in alarm.
“You bastard, don't go! Don't you dare leave! You're the one who paid me to slander Shen Lang. You gave me fifteen gold coins and promised to get me a house when it was all over! Young Master Shen Lang, I was forced into this, I had no choice.
This bastard was a petty creep who spied on me at the village latrine twenty years ago. Later, he went to the capital to become an apprentice in a shop and somehow rose to become a steward for the Xu Clan. He came to me a few days ago and told me to tarnish your name, Young Master Shen Lang, and he even slept with me five times in the process. Four of those times, he couldn't even get it up and just rubbed against me.”
Hearing this, everyone turned to stare at the Xu steward.
*‘I thought he was a man of some standing, but who knew his tastes were so... unique.’*
He was mortified by what he had done in his youth. Still, he felt a little wronged. Back then, this prostitute had been the village beauty. Wasn't it natural for a young boy to be curious about a beautiful woman’s private moments?
Shen Lang asked the prostitute, “So you’re saying you and I never slept together, is that right?”
“Yes, never. I’ve never even met you before, Young Master, so how could such a thing have happened? The Xu steward paid me to slander you. He even told me to say that I had the plum blossom disease and had passed it on to you, but I refused to do that.”
*‘Damn, what a vicious bastard.’*
Plum blossom was syphilis, an incurable venereal disease in this world. If people merely thought Shen Lang had peculiar tastes and dallied with low-class prostitutes, they would only look down on him. But if they thought he had contracted syphilis, his reputation would be utterly destroyed. People would feel disgusted and fearful wherever he went.
“Guards! Get this wretched woman out of here.”
The Xu steward shouted, trying to flee into the courtyard.
“Stop right there!”
Shen Lang exclaimed. The steward sneered.
“Young Master Shen, you are the son-in-law of the Count's estate, not the master of the Xu Clan. You can't do anything to me. If you lay a hand on me now, people will say the Count of Xuanwu’s Estate acts with the same tyrannical impunity as the Lord of Xuanwu City.”
*‘What a bastard. A mere merchant's steward has learned to make political attacks. Are you trying to say our Count of Xuanwu's Estate is running roughshod over the local administration?’*
The steward finished speaking and turned to leave.
*‘So what if you're the Count's son-in-law, Shen Lang? So what if I hired someone to slander you and sling mud at you? What can you possibly do? Can you even touch a single hair on my head?*
*Look. This is how things should be between us. Even though you became the Count's live-in son-in-law, you're still beneath my feet.’*
Shen Lang said again, “Stop right there...”
The steward turned back to look at him and said calmly, “Young Master Shen Lang, even if that wretched woman wasn't lying, this matter should be adjudicated by the Prefect's Office. The Count of Xuanwu’s Estate has no authority to carry out punishment. To put it bluntly, you can't do anything to me. Now, if you'll excuse me!”
The steward was not wrong. The Count’s estate had no authority to punish him. To do so, he would have to be arrested and tried by the Prefect's Office. But Prefect Liu Wuyan was completely in the pocket of the Xu Clan. Everyone present turned their gaze to Shen Lang.
*‘Shen Lang, if you can't even handle a single steward from the Xu Clan, then you're just a fool who has no business fighting us tonight.’*
Seeing this, the Xu steward became even more smug. He had originally intended to flee quickly, but now, growing more arrogant, he slowed his pace, taking a step and then looking back, slowly making his way into the courtyard. His actions were meant to show everyone that Shen Lang was powerless, unable to do anything even to a mere merchant's steward like him.
*‘What can you do to me, Shen Lang, you bastard? What can you possibly do? I am truly a loyal steward. I've gone to such lengths to humiliate Shen Lang for my master's sake. The Count's estate has no authority to punish me. No authority at all.’*
Zhang Jin and Xu Qianqian hadn't come out; they were watching from within the courtyard, hidden from view. Shen Lang sighed and said to Mulan.
“Wife, there are too many bad people here, and they're trying to harm me tonight. I'm so scared. Let's go home!”
“Alright. Let's go.”
Shen Lang took Mulan's hand and turned to leave.
Instantly, Zhang Jin grew anxious.
*‘It's not over yet.’*
Slinging mud at Shen Lang was merely meant to disgust him; it was only the beginning. There was still a fatal, decisive blow waiting for Shen Lang and the Count of Xuanwu’s Estate. If Shen Lang left now, he would only gain a reputation for being weak, but they wouldn't have laid a finger on him. The stage set to attack the Count's estate could not end in such an anticlimax. He had worked too hard to prepare everything to let it all go to waste.
At that moment, Zhang Jin walked out, laughing loudly.
“Lady Jin, Young Master Shen, the banquet hasn't even begun. Why are you in such a hurry to leave?”
Shen Lang said to him, “Someone is trying to harm me. They are truly wicked.”
“Then what must be done to make you stay, Young Master Shen?”
“If you break both his legs, I won't go.”
*‘In your dreams. I'm Lord Xu's trusted confidant. There's no way Master Zhang Jin would break my legs.’*
But then the steward saw Zhang Jin hesitate as if he was actually considering it, and he began to tremble with fear. Lord Xu quickly rushed out and said to his steward in a low voice.
“What are you still doing here? Go, quickly.”
The steward hunched over and tried to scurry away, but Shen Lang moved faster, turning to get on his carriage and head home. Zhang Jin's expression changed. He could not let Shen Lang leave. The prelude to tonight’s attack on the Count of Xuanwu’s Estate absolutely could not end in failure. If it did, his father would be greatly disappointed.
To land a fatal blow on Shen Lang and the Count's estate, any price paid now was worth it, especially if the price was just a steward of the Xu Clan. Zhang Jin's expression changed in an instant, and he said in a cold voice.
“Steward Xu, how dare you brazenly bribe a prostitute to slander Young Master Shen, the son-in-law of the Count's estate? You are utterly without discernment. Guards! Seize this man.”
At once, two warriors came forward and seized the steward. Xu Guangyun’s face changed dramatically, and he stepped forward to speak to Zhang Jin.
“Nephew...”
Zhang Jin waved his hand and said coldly, “Today is my joyous engagement ceremony! How dare a mere servant commit such an unsightly act out of personal resentment? If I do not punish you now, how will I maintain discipline in my household in the future? Which of the esteemed guests here would ever come to celebrate with me again? For the sake of my own honor! Pin this steward to the ground and break both his legs!”
*‘I... I... Master Zhang Jin, I did this for you! How can you break my legs? What kind of master kills his own dog, skins it, and eats its flesh?’*
A warrior raised a wooden club, about to strike. Just then, Shen Lang spoke.
“Wait.”
Zhang Jin asked him, “Young Master Shen, what is it?”
“No need for you to trouble yourselves. I'll do it. I'll do it myself. Bring that prostitute over and put her next to the steward. They're from the same hometown, after all.”
Instantly, the prostitute, who had been released from the beggars' grasp, was pinned to the ground by the warriors, right next to the steward.
“Prefect Liu Wuyan, a lowly prostitute has slandered a nobleman. According to the laws of the State of Yue, how should she be punished?”
Liu Wuyan did not want to answer Shen Lang's question, but he had no choice.
“The punishment is left to the aggrieved nobleman.”
The laws of Yue were generally protective of commoners, but they placed little value on the lives of certain lower classes. Shen Lang crouched before the prostitute and said calmly.
“I'm rather lenient with women. So, I won't have you violated by dozens of men until you die.”
Shen Lang gave an order to Jin Hui.
“Beat this woman! Don't kill her, just break her hands and feet!”
“Yes, sir.”
Shen Lang raised a wooden club, looked at Zhang Jin, Xu Qianqian, and Liu Wuyan, and said.
“You all told me to beat him, so I'm not breaking any laws, am I?”
Zhang Jin frowned.
“You’re really going to do it.”
The faces of the people around them also darkened.
Shen Lang picked up two bricks, placed them on the steward's legs, and marked the spot he was going to hit.
“Good boy, don't move!”
Then, Shen Lang summoned all the strength he used to suckle his wife's breast in his dreams and brought the club down with all his might.
*Crack.*
The steward's two legs were brutally broken.
“Aargh!”
The steward, his femurs shattered, let out an utterly wretched scream.
“Aargh!”
But then Shen Lang, the one doing the beating, also screamed. Everyone was stunned.
*‘What sort of wicked trick are you trying to pull now?’*
Shen Lang clutched his back, his face contorted in pain.
“Wife, quick, come here! I think I used too much force and threw out my back. It hurts, it hurts so much.”
Shen Lang wasn't acting; he had really strained his back and was on the verge of tears. In that moment, the crowd couldn't bear to look. As for the steward sprawled on the ground, he had only one thought.
*‘Shen Lang, I'll kill you!’*
Mulan went to his side and gently massaged his lower back. Instantly, the throbbing in Shen Lang’s back subsided.
“Wife, stand back, farther away, where the blood won't splatter.”
Shen Lang spoke in the tone of a ruthless killer. Mulan took a few steps back. She wanted to tell her husband how to exert force without straining his back, but not wanting to deflate his bravado, she kept quiet. Otherwise, he would be upset for a while. She could just massage his back again if he strained it later. Shen Lang raised the club again and brought it down hard on the steward's legs.
*Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack.*
He used all his strength with every strike, and each time, the steward let out an even more wretched scream. Bright red blood spurted out, staining the ground. A moment later, Shen Lang was panting heavily, his face drenched in sweat.
*‘Damn it, who made this wooden club so heavy? This is exhausting.’*
The steward had even wet himself. Though Shen Lang lacked strength, he put his entire body weight into each vicious blow, and his aim was precise. The steward's leg bones were broken in four or five places, to the point where they could never be set again in this world. Xu Guangyun's face turned ashen, as if frozen.
Panting, Shen Lang crouched down and asked the steward.
“You bastard, does it hurt a lot?”
Of course, it hurt. It was so painful that falling into hell would have felt like a relief. The steward had screamed so much he had long since gone hoarse, and his eyes were bloodshot. Shen Lang said warmly.
“Don't worry, you bastard. Soon it won't hurt anymore. It won't hurt at all.”
Shen Lang stood up once more, raised the club, took aim at the steward's lumbar spine, and brought it down with all his might.