The Great Tang's King of Provisions

Chapter 49: The Spoiled Young Master Extorts Money

When she reached Xue Fangui, Xue Yingying picked up the ten taels of silver ingots Li Xuanba had given her and waved them in front of her brother with a somewhat boastful smile. “Big Brother, look! That young master gave Yingying ten taels of silver ingots!” “What? Ten taels of silver ingots?” Upon hearing Xue Yingying’s words, Xue Fangui felt no joy; instead, he picked up the silver ingots and shot Li Xuanba a wary glance. Seeing that Li Xuanba was burly, with clear, bright eyes, and that his mount was a truly magnificent steed, Xue Fangui finally let out a slight sigh of relief. Although the two siblings had gone out into the world to make a living, he had always been the one to look after his younger sister, ensuring she remained naive about the ways of the world. Wealthy young masters like this typically treated commoners as mere chaff; if they were being so generous, he feared they might have ulterior motives. Just as Xue Fangui was about to bow his hands toward Li Xuanba to express his thanks, several extremely arrogant voices rang out from behind the onlookers. “Move aside! Make way for my young master—are you looking for a beating?” “Move aside! Let our young master through—it’s time for him to collect the rent!” As these incredibly arrogant shouts rang out, the crowd parted to form a path, and five or six people staggered through. Leading the group was a young master dressed in silk robes. He had a fair, clean-cut complexion, and his narrow, almond-shaped eyes gleamed with a lecherous, devious glow. Combined with the way he swayed his head from side to side—and flanked on either side by four servants who looked like henchmen—he was the very picture of a dissolute young aristocrat from Chang’an in the Tang Dynasty. Upon seeing this young master, the onlookers all furrowed their brows. They took three steps back, muttering among themselves. “Look, it’s that good-for-nothing, the Lu family’s eldest son!” “Son of a bitch! That Lu family heir comes by once a day to collect money—most of what we earn gets squeezed out of us by her.” “Ah! What can we do? He’s the son of an official, and we’re just commoners—who can stand up to him?” “I heard that with the new emperor just enthroned, the Lu family’s young master’s father has been promoted to Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue—that’s made him even more arrogant!” Hearing the murmurs of the onlookers, Li Xuanba narrowed his eyes and glared coldly at this so-called eldest son of the Lu family. “The son of the Right Vice Minister of Revenue? The son of a Fourth-Rank official actually comes to the West Market to collect rent from the common people? Is he that desperate for money? How dare he collect money from the subjects under this young master’s jurisdiction!” Just as Li Xuanba was seething with rage, Cheng Huai Mo whispered in his ear, “Your Highness, this is Lu Tonghe’s eldest son, Lu Tancai.” “Lu Tancai? I’d say his name should be Lu Greedy! With a son named like that, his father can’t be much of a decent person either!” Hearing Cheng Huai Mo’s words, Li Xuanba replied coldly. In the Tang Dynasty, anyone whose name he had never heard of was certainly not a man of talent or virtue. Lu Tancai was oblivious to Li Xuanba’s fury; he was busy going back and forth, fleecing the common people of their hard-earned money. “Come on! Hand over your money to this young master! You bastard! You dare resist? I’ll break you!” No matter how much money the common folk had earned, Lu Tancai would rush over and grab a handful of copper coins; anyone who dared to resist got a kick in the gut. “You dare steal from my young master? Are you tired of living? Beat them!” After Lu Tancai delivered his kick, the four henchmen at his side pounced, punching and kicking the commoners without a care for their desperate pleas. After plundering the people’s hard-earned money, Lu Tancai walked up to Xue Fangui and his sister. His eyes lit up when he saw the ten taels of silver ingot in Xue Chuangui’s hand, and he chuckled, “Heh heh! You’ve made quite a profit! Hand over these ten taels of silver to this young master—I won’t take the rest!” Facing the spoiled rich kid Lu Tancai, Xue Fangui shielded his younger sister, Xue Yingying, behind him. Clenching his fists, he suppressed his anger and said, “Young Master Lu, don’t you usually take a fifty-fifty cut of the rent? Of these ten taels of silver, I can only give you half—five taels!” Xue Fangui certainly wanted to knock Lu Tancai to the ground with a single punch, but Lu Tancai was the son of a government official. If he didn’t lay a hand on him, everything would be fine, but if he did, he feared he’d be arrested by the authorities immediately. If that happened, leaving his sister to live alone and helpless in this world, how could he ever face his deceased parents? Seeing that Xue Fangui dared to offer him only five taels of silver, Lu Tancai’s eyes widened as he glared at Xue Fangui and threatened, “Five taels? Are you trying to fob off a beggar? This young master says ten taels, and it must be ten taels. If you dare resist, this young master will have you kicked out of Chang’an City right this minute!” “Didn’t the young master leave you some money? With the young master being so kind, how dare you not pay the rent!” “Exactly! My young master was kind enough to leave you all those copper coins, yet you actually dared to hand over only five taels of silver. It seems you don’t want to keep performing in Chang’an anymore!” Hearing his four henchmen chime in, Lu Tan clicked his tongue. His almond-shaped eyes gleamed as he looked at Xue Yingying and teased, “You don’t have to pay the silver if you don’t want to! Just come home with your big brother for a little fun—we’ll have a great time! Who knows? I might even take you as my thirteenth concubine. Then you won’t have to come out here every day, exposed to the wind and sun—just come home with me and live in luxury!” Ha ha ha! I never expected that while collecting rent today, I’d run into such a beautiful young lady. Just look at her skin—it’s as smooth as silken tofu. Plus, since she’s an acrobat, her slender waist must be incredibly supple. Who knows? I might just have a good time today! Seeing that Lu Tancai, that spoiled rich kid, dared to have designs on her, Xue Yingying glared at him and snapped, “What did you say? You shameless playboy! I, Xue Yingying…” Before Xue Yingying could finish her sentence, Xue Fangui stepped in to restrain his sister, who looked like an angry little tiger. He tossed the silver ingots—earned through backbreaking labor—at Lu Tancai, suppressed his urge to strike, and said coldly, ““Here’s your money! With good-for-nothing scoundrels like you in Chang’an, life for us common folk grows ever harder. I’ll never set foot in this city again—a place like this isn’t where poor people like us belong.” Lu Tancai tossed the ten-liang silver ingot in his hand with satisfaction. His eyes gleaming with greed as he looked at Xue Yingying, he grinned and said, “Haha! I’ll give you credit for knowing your place, kid! If you want to stop being a poor commoner, it’s easy! Just marry your sister off to me—make her my concubine—and I’ll arrange for you to work in my shop. You could even become a manager.” “No thanks! I, Xue Fangui, eat coarse rice and live in a ramshackle cave dwelling—I can’t possibly measure up to a high-and-mighty family like yours. Yingying, let’s go!” Xue Fangui shot Lu Tancai a cold glance, grabbed his sister’s hand, gathered up their traveling troupe’s belongings, and hoisted the large pillar onto his shoulder, preparing to head out of Chang’an. Seeing the Xue siblings about to leave, Lu Tancai tossed the ten taels of silver in his hand, his eyes darting about. He waved to his four henchmen to block their path and sneered, “Heh heh! Think you can just walk away? You’re just a street performer, yet you managed to rake in ten taels of silver in a single go—there’s bound to be some shady business going on here! Did you steal money from some family or household? Why don’t you come with this young master to the Chang’an County Magistrate’s Office so we can investigate your thieving background? Heh heh!” After speaking, Lu Tan looked smugly at the two before him, especially the delicate Xue Yingying, and thought to himself with secret glee, “Heh heh! Heaven has blessed this young master. This time, I’m definitely going to get my hands on this lovely young lady!” “You’re talking nonsense! My brother and I have been working hard here in Chang’an, performing to make a living. When have we ever stolen anyone’s money? We’ve always lived with a clear conscience—don’t make such baseless accusations!” Facing the young master of the Lu family, who had falsely accused her and her brother of theft, Xue Yingying’s beautiful eyes blazed with fury, and her calloused, jade-like hands clenched tightly into fists. If Xue Fangui hadn’t grabbed her from behind, her jade fists might well have landed squarely on Lu Tancai’s eyes. “Hahahaha! Me, making baseless accusations? Most of the people who come to the West Market are poor commoners. It’s already a lot if someone tips you four or five wen; for someone to give you ten liang of silver? What a huge joke!” Lu Tancai looked smugly at Xue Yingying, who stood before him like a little tiger. He didn’t believe a word she said. As the son of a wealthy family, he was too busy spending money on his own pleasures—how could he possibly just hand out ten liang of patterned silver to someone else? That’s a load of nonsense!