15 Inside the Thousand Gold Hall

The members of the Dugu family were extremely protective towards Dugu Xiao Yi; especially her father Dugu Wudi. In fact, he had become overprotective of his daughter. Therefore, he had been labelled as the ‘tough meat’ of the kingdom. He would mobilize his entire army if anyone so much as bullied his daughter.

In fact, that ‘tough meat’ mobilized his entire army at the slightest cue. Who would dare to provoke such a person? Dugu Xiao Yi had beaten-up Jun Mo Xie even though he was under the protection of Jun Zhan Tian. This didn’t mean that Grandpa Jun couldn’t oppose Great General Dugu Wudi. However, he knew that Grandfather Dugu would interfere in case he mobilized his own army. After all, Great General Dugu Wudi had inherited his overprotective nature from his own father. Therefore, Jun Xie feared Dugu Xiao Yi the most… second only to Grandpa Jun. In fact, he sometimes feared Dugu Xiao Yi even more than Grandpa Jun. After all, his Grandpa would never hurt him physically. He – at the most – would preach him boring lessons. Dugu Xiao Yi – on the other hand – had no such reservations. Jun Mo Xie was always at the risk of getting thrashed by her – sometimes for no reason at all.

Even a person of Jun Mo Xie’s background couldn’t dare to provoke Dugu Xiao Yi. So, the other people obviously didn’t stand any chance in front of her.

But now, the precious princess of the Dugu family had walked in the Thousand Gold Hall by herself.

Jun Xie tilted his head to one side, and pointed his finger at Dugu Xiao Yi’s hand tugging at his ear. He said, "I couldn’t help it. Look at me. Can I do anything about this? All of you can go ahead if you have any brilliant ideas. But, please… keep me out of it."

"What’s wrong with you people? Are you not going to welcome me? Do you think that I haven’t got any money to gamble?" Dugu Xiao Yi started at them. She then pulled out her purse, and shook it. She raised her eyebrows and said, "I’ve lots of money."

That entire group of the debauchees was so scared that they were on the verge of soiling their pants. [You do have a lot of money. But, who has the guts to win your money? Anyone who wins against you will be ‘visited’ by your grandfather and his army in order to re-collect your debts. And… that’s the ‘best’ thing that can happen to that person. But, what about the bad scenarios…? What if your grandfather is in a bad mood? What if he decides to visit this place? Then… we’re as good as dead.]

A fiery light flashed in Tang Yuan’s eyes. He didn’t seem to care about the condition of the rest of the people. He said, "Let’s not worry about irrelevant things. I’ve kept my promise of bringing Third Young Master Jun to this place… and he’s not going to run away now. So, please return my item to me. You people gave your word to me. A man who can’t keep his promise can’t be considered as a real man. Only a man of word has the right to stand between the Heaven and Earth."

Even someone as calm as Jun Xie felt like puking after he heard Tang Yuan’s words. [Are you saying that you’re a real man? Please don’t degrade the worth of real men.]

Only one person among the six young men had been able to maintain his calm. He was Li Feng – the grandson of the Grand Preceptor Li Shang. His two brothers – Li Zhen and Li Lin – also stood behind him. Meng Haizou – a slim-looking young man with a thin moustache and deep eyes – stood further behind them. He was the eldest son of the Minister of Personnel – Meng Jianghu. He was known to be a person of great talent. Two more members of the Meng family stood behind him. They were Meng Liang and Meng Fei.

Li Feng smiled and said, "Miss Dugu is personally visiting this place. How can I not welcome her?" He then turned around and issued an order, "Serve Miss Dugu in the best possible way. I’ll peel-off your skin if you displease her in any manner." Then, he looked at Meng Haizou and blinked, "Third Young Master Jun is here. So, let’s conclude our joke. Look at Young Master Tang… Look how anxious he is. He’s sweating from head-to-toe. Only a man of word has the right to stand between Heaven and Earth. How can we not keep our word? Give him that item."

Meng Haizou nodded and looked at Tang Yuan. "Young Master Tang, I’m ready to give you the item. But, I can’t compromise on the one-million-and-five-hundred-thousand silver liang." Tang Yuan nodded. He had gone there to collect the promissory note. He had been so occupied with its thought that he hadn’t given a thought to the one-and-a-half-million silver liang… even though it was a huge amount of money.

Jun Xie sneered in his heart. It was evident that Tang Yuan was extremely scared. However, Li Feng and Meng Haizou weren’t as fearless as they seemed. They wouldn’t have dared to publish the contents of the promissory note even if Tang Yuan hadn’t brought Jun Mo Xie to the Thousand Gold Hall. They knew that making the note public would’ve invited the wrath of both the Tang and Sun families. They would’ve ended-up becoming the blood enemies of both these families. It would’ve been a complete disaster. Therefore, this matter wasn’t as serious as it seemed. The only objective behind creating this scene was to get access to Jun Mo Xie.

However, these serious repercussions would cease to exist as soon as the promissory note landed in Tang Yuan’s hands. Then, they would start spreading rumours about the note in order to strike at the Tang family. Jun Xie could clearly foresee the entire situation.

"What kind of an item can make Young Master Tang so uptight? Let me see it with my own eyes. This is going to be an eye-opening experience for me." Dugu Xiao Yi seemed extremely curious about the whole matter. She stretched-out her small hand as she saw Tang Yuan’s relieved expression after he had received the note.

Tang Yuan’s face became pale. He shoved the piece of paper in his mouth. He chewed it a couple of times and swallowed it. He then smacked his lips with an innocent expression on his face. He had done this with a lightning speed. His fat neck had been stretched out like a giraffe’s as he had swallowed the paper.

"Bloody… Fatty… how dare you mess with me? You certainly have some guts…" Dugu Xiao Yi rushed towards Tang Yuan in an angry manner. She grabbed his collar and lifted-up his two-hundred-and-fifty kilograms of body in the air. She then shouted, "Spit it out!"

Jun Xie and the other youths’ eyebrows twitched as they saw this scene with slanted eyes. Their lips became blue and crooked, and their faces turned white.

"Miss Dugu, it’s nothing… really. It all started from Third Young Master Jun. We were missing him a lot ever since he had been grounded by his grandfather. We wrote ‘coming or not’ on a piece of paper. We had a bet that I’ll have to eat the paper if Third Young Master Jun didn’t come… and Young Master Tang was supposed to eat the paper if he came. That’s the only matter. Master Tang is a real man… a man true to his word… hahaha…" Meng Haizou laughed as he explained. He had made up a story on the spot; he truly had some talent. This matter would’ve blown out of proportion if Tang Yuan had been made to spit out the paper… and if it had fallen into the hands of Dugu Xiao Yi.

Jun Xie raised an eyebrow. He looked at Meng Haizou and thought, [This man came up with such a believable excuse in such a short period of time. Moreover, he spoke with a straight face and a steady heart. He’s an exceptional talent. He has guts, rational thinking, and the ability to act on his thoughts.] Jun Xie – for a short moment – had wanted Tang Yuan to spit out the paper. He wanted to see this entire matter turning into a huge storm. But, Tang Yuan was Jun Mo Xie’s best friend… even though he was a useless person. Moreover, Jun Xie was confident that he could easily win among this group of debauchees. So, he had finally given up on the idea. [But… But, I wanted to… I really wanted to… sigh!]

Dugu Xiao Yi looked at the youngsters with a sceptical look in her eyes as all of them started to nod like ‘chickens pecking on rice’. "That’s true. That’s what had happened," everyone said in unison. She then released Tang Yuan.

Tang Yuan’s face had become purple as he had been suspended in the air by his neck. He issued a series of retching sounds as Dugu Xiao Yi loosened her grip on his collar. He had refrained himself from breathing since he was fearful that he might end-up coughing out the paper.

"Dear guests, please come inside," Li Feng – the owner of the place said.

Jun Xie smiled and marched inside the place with an arrogant and domineering look on his face. He sat down on a chair and propped-up his legs on the table. He looked like a typical rogue with a degenerated attitude.

Dugu Xiao Yi frowned. She felt like kicking Jun Mo Xie.

"Haven’t you guys been missing me? I was also missing you… your money. So… how do you want to play?" Jun Xie gave a wicked smile and said.