Chapter 133.2
TW: Minor descriptions of torture(?)
Editor: Sahloknir
From that day onward, Jiang Bieyu took care of Shi Qing even more attentively.
As a result, the little master became more and more inseparable from him. He would call out for Jiang Bieyu before doing anything, and took the man with him to mess with the Jiang family every day.
By this point, almost everyone in Crane City knew about Shi Qing and the Jiang family fighting because of the divorce papers.
The Jiang family was the first to fold.
What choice did they have? They could hold their own if it was anything else, but how could you win a war without any food to eat?
And that d.a.m.ned old fox of the Shi family just had to be cunning enough to send a junior out on his behalf. Now the Jiang family was too embarra.s.sed to ask the King for help.
After all, Shi Qing had said that this was a grudge between the younger generation. He would stop his vendetta against the Jiang family as soon as Jiang Liye signed those divorce papers.
So if anyone was to blame, it was Jiang Liye himself for being so stubborn.
He would rather be selfish and watch his parents and relatives suffer and cause problems for the entire Jiang family manor than sign some papers.
When the situation was put like that, how could the Jiang family still have the face to ask others for help?
But despite their unwillingness to show weakness, the Jiang family were aware that they would become a laughingstock if things were allowed to carry on like this. Thus, they could only bear the shame and ask the King to intervene.
As expected, when the King found out what had happened, his opinion of the Jiang family dropped like a rock. They couldn’t even outwit a sixteen year old child. But since the matter had been brought before him, the King had no choice but to speak and request that Shi Qing stop interfering with the Jiang family’s food.
As expected, the Shi family’s little master listened.
Still, although he let the Jiang family off when it came to food, out of consideration for the King, he refused to give up on suppressing the Jiang family so that Jiang Liye would sign the divorce papers.
The little master, who had always presented himself as a dandy, took over a large number of businesses from Father Shi for the sole purpose of suppressing the Jiang family from all sides.
Maybe the Jiang family were just down on their luck, maybe this Shi family little master was just too gifted, but…
Ever since he got involved in the Shi family’s businesses, he surpa.s.sed everyone’s expectations and accomplished everything he set out to do.
The Jiang family sold fragrances, so he had people conduct research in the area and develop a long lasting and pleasant fragrance that was very popular with all the major families in Crane City.
The Jiang family had a restaurant, so he followed suit and opened not just one, but an entire chain of restaurants. With attentive service, a high emphasis on privacy and a famous chef hired for extraordinary sums of money, soon the restaurants opened by the Shi family spread to not only Crane City, but also other cities as well.
The Jiang family sold porcelain wares, so he opened a brick kiln to produce porcelain that was fired using heat fueled by paper. Astonishingly enough, he actually succeeded in making porcelain wares as glistening as white jade, which were named ‘beauty porcelain’. Despite their high price tag, demand was overwhelming.
When Father Shi handed over the Shi family’s businesses to his son, many people predicted that he would come to regret this decision when he lost it all.
Fortunately, Father Shi was still alive. With him supervising, there wouldn’t be any major losses.
No one expected that the already powerful Shi family would see its a.s.sets grow exponentially in the hands of Shi Qing. They became a household name as well.
Through his own power alone, without the use of violence or underhanded tricks, Shi Qing ever so slowly brought down the Jiang family.
Keep in mind that the Jiang family was once one of the two major families in Crane City, along with the Shi family.
But now, because of Shi Qing, the Jiang family was so poor that their legitimate sons couldn’t even afford a meal at the Shi family’s restaurant, not to mention living an extravagant and lavish lifestyle.
Of course, you could also say that the meals at the Shi family’s restaurants were too expensive.
In short, the Jiang family could finally see the pickle they were in.
If they continued this battle of attrition with Shi Qing, who was like a bull, this guy would never let go and would definitely hound them to death.
The only reason they were still holding out was to save face.
But now that their family has been suppressed to the point of losing everything, what was the use of that?
Soon after Shi Qing’s eighteenth birthday, during the first snow of the year in Crane City, the Jiang family finally gave in to his tireless demands and sent the divorce papers over.
When the little master, who was happily packing s...o...b..a.l.l.s and playing with them in the courtyard heard about it, he immediately brightened up. He jerked Jiang Bieyu, who was squatting with him, to his feet.
“Come on! Let’s go and see Sister!”
The tall, strong man followed behind him silently. Looking at the sweet smile on the little master’s face, that seemed capable of melting anyone’s heart, a hint of softness appeared in his eyes.
Father Shi basically had to bring people to pry Shi Xi away from the Jiang family.
Previously, the Jiang family refused to release her and Shi Qing wanted to deal with the Jiang family.
If Shi Xi was still living with the Jiang family, then they would have to starve together.
After listening to his son ramble on and on, Father Shi took a bunch of people to the Jiang family manor under the pretense of a social visit/amicable negotiation.
In reality, he was there to steal her back.
After retrieving his daughter, Father Shi didn’t stay a second longer and headed straight back to the Shi family manor.
As for the Jiang family scolding him for being shameless, among other things, well, he paid them no mind.
He even said that Shi Xi may have become a member of the Jiang family when she married Jiang Liye, but there was no rule against a married woman visiting her elderly relatives.
If he was getting on in age and sick, what was wrong with Shi Xi coming back to attend to him?
Anyways, he acted completely justified in his actions.
The Jiang family now knew who Shi Qing got his shamelessness from.
The Shi family didn’t have as many children as the Jiang family.
Including Father Shi, the head of the family, there were only two men.
But to them, quality was more important than quant.i.ty.
A sixteen-year-old boy who everyone thought was an arrogant and domineering dandy two years ago, who lived a sheltered life and seemed likely to squander his family’s wealth…
He had managed to bring their Jiang family to its knees.
They were about to die of anger.
The Shi family’s little master, who had infuriated the Jiang family to death, was running in front of everyone with a cloak made of silver fox fur on his shoulders. It was trimmed with rabbit skin and decorated with beautifully coloured gems.
As he moved, his beautiful face became tinged with a delicate flush that stood out even more due to his platinum white cloak.
In the past two years, Shi Qing insisted on drinking milk every day and jumping around from time to time. Indeed, he did grow a bit taller, but his frame was just as slender as before, so he still looked quite delicate.
Two years was all he needed to a.s.sume control of the entire Shi family and even the economic lifeline of Crane City. After being in power for so long, no one thought he was an easy target to bully, despite his young age and slender figure.
Of course, another reason was probably because of Jiang Bieyu, who always remained by his side.
He was a tall, cold and hard man, reminiscent of a lone wolf.
The Hu blood running through his veins made him much taller than the Han people around him. The cold look in his light-coloured eyes struck fear into everyone who looked into them. But they were always meek and loyal when he looked at Shi Qing.
Everyone said that Jiang Bieyu was the most obedient wolf under Shi Qing’s command.
In the past two years, Shi Qing had offended many people, both explicitly and implicitly, during his expansion of the Shi family’s businesses. Several a.s.sasination attempts were made against him, but they were all foiled by Jiang Bieyu.
After that, this man, who was technically a servant but unusually dangerous in truth, devoted himself to tracking down those responsible one by one.
Most got off fine. They were just thrown in jail.
But the one who instructed their hired a.s.sa.s.sin to keep Shi Qing alive because he had heard that the Shi family’s little master possessed peerless beauty? The one who wanted to ‘have some fun’ with him?
Jiang Bieyu personally dragged him into the streets.
In broad daylight, as horrified pa.s.sersby watched, he carved into the man’s flesh, delivering unto him a death by a thousand cuts.
No one knows where Jiang Bieyu learned how to do this. In any case, that man’s shrill shrieks continued on for three days before he finally died. His mouth was not gagged, so he kept begging for mercy. But no matter how much he cried or begged for a quick death, the tall, stoic man just carried on like he didn’t hear a thing.
Afterwards, Jiang Bieyu was taken to prison for taking justice into his own hands, but he was released within two days.
After all, the deceased had signed an indenturement contract in order for his life to be spared beforehand.
Therefore, in terms of the law, Jiang Bieyu was just disposing of one of his family’s servants, making this a family matter that the magistrate couldn’t really interfere in.
Although he had committed the act in public, the ground under his feet had been paved by the Shi family.
So there was technically nothing to fault him for.
Those three days cast a great psychological shadow on the people of Crane City.
After Jiang Bieyu made such a scene, the effect was naturally remarkable.
From then on, no one dared to try and a.s.sa.s.sinate the Shi family’s little master anymore.
The people of Crane City also spoke of Jiang Bieyu in hushed whispers.
They all said that he lived up to his Hu bloodline by being so ruthless and cold-blooded. That guy’s screams were shrill enough to make anyone’s heart tremble, but Jiang Bieyu could continue to torture him without pause.
Some also said that the Shi family’s little master should watch out.
Jiang Bieyu might be protecting him now, but could the Shi family’s little master really control such a fierce beast forever?
The people of Crane City knew very well that although this little master was petulant and arrogant, he was very kind on the inside. In the past two years, he had built roads to benefit the common people, set up a department store to accommodate scattered hawkers, and bought rice and grain from farmers at fair prices without ever cheating them.
They all knew how kind-hearted he was.
But could such a kind-hearted little master really be capable of overpowering a servant as beastly as Jiang Bieyu?
Shi Qing didn’t know what was being said about him outside.
He ran across the courtyard and pa.s.sed under the veranda.
There, the little master subconsciously paused and glanced into the distance, where the steward was leading the new servants into the manor and lecturing them.
When Jiang Bieyu saw him stop suddenly, he stopped as well.
The man silently and respectfully waited by the little master’s side. That was, until he saw Shi Qing suddenly raise his hand, revealing a small portion of his jade white finger from within his white sleeves as he pointed to the group. The little master instructed the maidservant who approached,
“Go ask what the name of that tall man in dark clothes is.”
Jiang Bieyu looked over and saw that he was referring to a fierce-looking servant.
The man’s eyes darkened every so slightly. From where he was standing, he inclined his head to look at him.
What he saw was the beginnings of interest on the little master’s jade-white face. His eyes were filled with curiosity and joy as they watched that servant.
The man looked down slightly and clenched his fists.