CH 119

Chapter 119 – Off-Topic

Li Duan’s face paled upon hearing it.

He slammed his hands on the table, his eyes were bloodshot and he gritted his teeth and snarled, “What on earth is he up to?”

Lin Jue’s expression was dark.

Li Jun was the only one who didn’t know what was going on. He looked at Li Duan and then at Lin Jue and felt it was better for him to stay out of it. After a moment of silence, he said, “Brother, cousin, I will check on mother. If you have anything else for me, just have the attendant inform me.”

Wei Xiaoshan’s incident was like a huge stone boulder that broke the calm beneath the surface of the Li family and showed Li Jun all the hidden misshapen rocks and grime in the lake. There was no way he could overlook it, nor separate himself from it, so his only choice was to be like a quail with its head hidden under its feathers, aimlessly drifting along with the current.

The bad news from Lin Jue distracted Li Duan, and he was in no mood to scold Li Jun anymore. Hearing this, he couldn’t be happier and immediately waved his hand and dismissed Li Jun, “The wound on mother’s forehead has not healed. She used to love you the most when you were younger. Let’s drop the matter. Since you are here now, you should spend more time with mother and not upset her anymore.”

Li Jun nodded his head. He bid Lin Jue farewell before leaving the study.

Lin Jue looked at his younger cousin, who had the aura of an elderly man, and waited until he left the study, before asking in a low voice, “What’s wrong with Ah Jun? What did Uncle say? Why did I hear that Uncle might be transferred to Yungui? Is it true?”

If it was true, the Li family would be in danger – the living environment in Yungui was so poor, desolate and polluted that not many people could survive.

Of course, if the Li family was ruined, his Lin family wouldn’t fare much better either.

Li Duan’s face turned blue as he asked, “Who did you hear that from?”

Lin Jue skimmed his lips internally, but did not show it, saying, “I heard it from someone in the Song family.”

Ever since the Peng family ascertained that the Pei family’s nautical chart was the same as the one contained in the Pine Creek Fishing Hidden Painting, they turned against them. Although they did not explicitly accuse them of not doing their job properly, they kept silent about the terms they had promised earlier, and even asked them to investigate the Pei family and how they had acquired the nautical chart.

The clear implication was that they suspected them of double crossing them.

But how could they possibly find out how the Pei family obtained the nautical chart?

If they were capable of doing so, they would have replaced the Pei family a long time ago!

Wasn’t this just making things difficult for them?

Li Duan promised them he would do so verbally, but was slow to act on it.

Perhaps the Peng family was monitoring their movements. Just two days earlier, they sent a steward over, threatening that if he didn’t get the job done well, they would use someone else.

He had never been humiliated like that in his whole life and instinctively retaliated.

Little did he know that in the next few days, rumors would spread that his father had his brother return with embezzled silver.

Their family had their roots deep here. Their children and grandchildren would have to live here in the future. If their family’s reputation was ruined and shunned by people, would they have to leave their hometown?

However, never did he expect that there would be rumors circulating that his father was going to be posted to Yungui.

If his father got promoted, although it would be perilous to serve in Yungui, it would still be worth the risk for the sake of their family’s future prospects. However, he feared that this news might be the Peng family’s way of warning their family …… and could eventually turn out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Li Duan could not help but furrow his brows and frowned. He asked Lin Jue, “You spoke with the Song family?”

The Song family was the Peng family’s business associate, and the Song family and the Pei family were in-laws, so if they wanted to smoothen things with the Peng and Pei families, it would be most ideal to ask the Song family to help out.

This cousin of his was really astute and diligent

As he thought of this, he viewed Lin Jue with a little more affection.

in Jue always felt that his cousin was good at everything, except that he was a bit standoffish and liked to act pretentious. There were so many connections that he could have been made and used, yet he was unable to even strike up a conversation.

This perhaps reflected the arrogance of a scholar.

He was feeling disdainful yet envious, saying, “I had no other option, did I? The Peng family is convinced that we are double-crossers, and since we are weak, there is nothing we can do about it. I suspect that they had no way of explaining the situation to their elders, so they pushed the blame onto us. If you ask me, something must have gone wrong on the Peng family’s side. And the Pei family, do you think what we did was detected by Pei Yan? He didn’t hold the auction earlier or later, but held it exactly at the time we found the Pine Creek Fishing Hidden Painting. Surely he was coming for us.

“Don’t think that I’ve just been playing around these past few days. In fact, I’ve been inquiring about Pei Yan. He is not like Grand Elder Pei. The way I see it, he is a man-eating wolf, that after swallowing you whole, he would still resent you for having tough bones, making it difficult for him to digest ……”

The longer Li Duan listened, the worse his mood became and he retorted irritably, “Isn’t it possible that the Yu family was the one behind this?”

Lin Jue paused and replied, “It can’t be! The Yu family is so insignificant that apart from Yu Wen, who has studied for a couple of days, there’s no one else that could be regarded highly.  If their family found out the secret of the Pine Creek Fishing Hidden Painting, they would already found a way to sell it!”

After saying this, they locked eyes with each other.

If the Yu family were to sell the painting, whom would they sell it to?

Of course it would be the Pei family!

Both of them were greatly shaken, as if an invisible hand had cleared away the dark clouds to reveal the sun, and some things suddenly became crystal clear.

Even after all their calculations, they had missed out on the outlier – the Yu family!

Especially since Pei Yan had taken over as head of the Pei family, the Yu family suddenly become close to them, and even started to enter the Pei family’s residence rather frequently.

If people said that this matter had nothing to do with the Yu family, even if they were to die, they still wouldn’t believe it.

Lin Jue leapt to his feet and said eagerly, “Let’s just hand the Yu family over to the Peng Family!”

This way, they could remove themselves from the picture.

Li Duan was also delighted at first, but he then shook his head and said soberly, “It’s not advisable! If the Peng family asks us, how did the Yu family know about it, how would we answer?”

Lin Jue replied, “Just say that they found it accidentally?”

“Then how did we find out that the Yu Family had discovered it?”

“We rechecked again afterwards, and then we found out?”

“Why did we have to re-investigate our actions?”

Lin Jue didn’t reply.

Li Duan continued, “Was it because there was a problem on our side? Wouldn’t that be admitting it’s our fault?”

Of course they couldn’t admit it.

If they did, then this matter would become their responsibility.

Lin Jue paced around the room impatiently and said, “Neither this nor that will work. We can’t just sit around and wait for our deaths, can we? I’m sure that this matter is definitely linked to the Yu family. We can’t just be schemed by the Yu family, and let it be! I know that intolerance for minor issues can cause great havoc, but I can’t endure this grievance like this ……”

Li Duan ignored Lin Jue’s ramblings and contemplated further.

Why did the Yu family hope to accomplish with this? It’s likely to be triggered by Wei Xiaoshan’s death.

This was something that they had handled wrongly in the beginning.

If they had encouraged the Lu family to go to the Yu family instead to ask for his personal effects after they killed Lu Xin, perhaps there wouldn’t be so much trouble.

But at that time, they never expected that Lu Xin would have already sold the painting to Yu Wen, nor did they consider that Yu Wen would generously return the painting to the Lu family, recognising it as Lu Xin’s personal item.

The first step was a mistake than led to the next.

It was already too late to say these things.

His immediate concern was whether his father would be reassigned or promoted.

He asked Lin Jue, “Is the information from the Song family reliable? It’s not something from the Peng family, is it? The Song family seemed to be doing well these past two years, but none of the sons who studied are in pivotal roles anymore, so if my father was really assigned to Yungui, how is it possible that our family didn’t receive any news?”

His father was not a fool, if there really was such a change, he would have informed his family straightaway so that they could prepare in advance.

Lin Jue understood. He thought for a moment and said, “I don’t think so. However, the situation was such that I didn’t have the nerve to ask the Song family where they got the news from.”

Li Duan sighed and replied, “Can’t you see? The Peng family is trying to pressure us into submission!”

But what happens after they yield?

What did the Peng family want?

Both of them were puzzled.

The Peng family members were also baffled when they received the news.

The steward who reported back to Peng Eleventh said, “I don’t know the culprit responsible for spreading the news, but I’m afraid that the Li family will suspect it’s us. When the situation between our families escalates, we’ll have to find someone else to do the work instead.”

Peng Eleventh got so incensed that the veins on his forehead throbbed, and he said darkly, “Investigate, investigate ruthlessly for me. I want to see who dares to make a mockery of us behind our backs!”

The steward hesitantly asked, “Could it be the Pei family?”

“No.” Peng Eleventh said without a second thought, “I met him once at Seventh Uncle’s house back then. He probably doesn’t remember me anymore, but I still remember him.” Speaking of this, his expression turned scornful. Back then, he thought he would become a fellow contemporary of Pei Yan, but who knew that now the difference between them was a huge chasm between the heavens and the netherworld, “This man, he’s so full of himself, if he wanted to mess with the Li family, he wouldn’t resorted to such tactics at all.”

The steward thought it over and agreed with him. This time, the Li family’s actions could be seen as a challenge to the Pei family’s position in Lin’an City. If the Pei family wanted to teach the Li family a lesson, why would they bother with such a stealthy, underhanded approach?

“Then who is the culprit?” The steward murmured.

Peng Eleventh wasn’t interested in finding out and said dismissively, “Have you investigated that the problem with the nautical chart had nothing to do with the Li family?”

The steward quickly responded, “We’ve checked and verified that the case really had nothing to do with the Li family. After they found the painting, they hired a master painter to evaluate the authenticity of the painting and the said painter’s corpse still rests at the bottom of the Suzhou River. There is no way the Li family could be at fault.”

Then there must be a problem with their Peng family.

Over the past few years, the Peng family had undergone intense internal strife and conflict, and even seventh uncle Peng Yu, who was an official far away in the capital, couldn’t stand it anymore and wrote a letter back asking the Peng family’s eldest old master to restrain their family’s sons and brothers. Perhaps the traitor was among their own family members!

“Let’s put this matter aside for now.” Peng Eleventh said, “You keep an eye on Li Duan – if his marriage with the Gu family dissolves, there is no need to keep him.”

The steward shivered at this, and respectfully bowed his head and assented.

Peng Eleventh took a sip of tea with a disinterested look, as he remembered Gu Chang, who was still staying in Lin’an City.

I wonder what his intentions are.