Chapter 28: I even embezzled the empress’s money, why should I fear a Minister Personnel?
The group of young people came to a stop and turned back towards Lin Beifan. One of the more imposing young men, who appeared to be the leader, asked with confusion, “Are you calling me?”
“That’s right, I am calling you,” nodded Lin Beifan seriously.
“What do you want from me? You seem unfamiliar, are you new here?” the young man retorted.
“The Imperial Academy has strict disciplinary requirements. Being late or leaving early without permission violates the school regulations and will result in serious punishment! And you are currently late, do you know what you did wrong?” Lin Beifan replied sternly.
The other party sneered arrogantly and said, “So what? Even if I know, what are you going to do about it? I’ve done this many times before, why should you care? Who do you think you are to try and manage me? Haha!”
The others followed suit and laughed arrogantly.
“Naturally, I have the qualifications. Do you know who I am?” Lin Beifan said.
The young man laughed dismissively and said, “I don’t care who you are! Even if you have a high rank, are you higher than my father? Get out of my way, or I’ll make sure you regret it!”
“How dare you insult a court official!” Lin Beifan snarled.
“All you’ve done is insult me. I’ll even hit you!” The young man said, raising a hand and striking at Lin Beifan’s face.
Lin Beifan blocked it with a light flick of his hand and then slapped the young man back. The slap was very loud and clear!
The young man was dazed and spun around twice before regaining his composure. His face had already swelled up.
He covered his swollen face and trembled with anger, his eyes spitting fire. “How dare you hit me!”
“Why didn’t I dare hit you?” Lin Beifan sneered.
“Do you know who my father is?” the young man asked furiously.
“I don’t care who your father is!” Lin Beifan said arrogantly.
The young man was about to faint from anger.
He had never seen someone so arrogant in his life!
He had never been humiliated like this before!
Without hesitation, he waved his hand and shouted, “Kill that bastard!”
“Yes, Young Master!” The group of people surged forward and attacked.
The guards around them could no longer remain indifferent and intervened to stop the fight.
“Young masters, please calm down!”
“He’s the director of the Imperial Academy, you can’t hit him!”
The young man from before roared, “I don’t care who he is, I will take responsibility if anyone dies. Hurry up and kill him!”
Lin Beifan waved his hand, “Don’t stop them, let them come!”
They broke through the blockade and charged forward.
Then, within less than a minute, they were all lying on the ground, writhing in pain.
Lin Beifan clapped his hands and laughed contemptuously, “If you don’t have the ability, don’t try to fight!”
He said, grinning as he approached the young man.
The young man was frightened and stuttered, “What… what are you going to do? Let me tell you, I am Gao Tianyu, my father is the Minister Personnel, Gao Tianyao! If you dare to hurt me, my father will come for you!”
Lin Beifan was filled with disdain.
I even embezzled the empress’s money, why should I fear a Minister Personnel?
Lin Beifan walked up to the young man and kicked him suddenly.
“What are you doing? Don’t mess around! Ah…” The young man fell to his knees and lay on the ground like a dog.
“Now, I am going to enforce the school’s regulations!”
Lin Beifan pronounced coldly and mercilessly, “According to the regulations of the Imperial Academy, for frequent tardiness and early departure, he shall be punished with 100 cane strikes!”
“Disrespecting seniors, insulting imperial officials, 100 cane strikes!”
“Gathering a crowd to assault an imperial official, the severity is 10 points, the punishment is increased by one level, 200 cane strikes!”
“So, 400 cane strikes!”
“Now, bring me the cane!”
The young man was almost scared out of his wits!
One strike was enough to kill him, let alone 400 strikes. How could he survive?
At this moment, he finally became afraid and pleaded, “Stop! Sir, I know I was wrong. Please give me a chance to mend my ways. I won’t dare to do it again next time!”
“Good! I am usually kind-hearted, so I will give you a chance!”
Lin Beifan nodded.
The other party was overjoyed and was considering how to take revenge when Lin Beifan squatted down, grinned and said, “1000 taels, exemption from one punishment!”
The young man’s face turned green with anger!
Only one punishment could be exempted for 1000 taels?
Doesn’t that mean he would have to pay 4 million taels for 400 strikes?
Where would he get so much money?
He claimed to be kind-hearted, but he was clearly very black-hearted!
“Can you lower it a bit? I don’t have that much silver!” The young man begged.
Lin Beifan smiled and shook his head, “No! Either money or life, you choose one!”
The young man gritted his teeth and took out dozens of silver bills and some small jewelry from his pocket, saying, “Here’s a total of 200,000 taels! These jewels are worth 50,000 taels! They’re all for you!”
Lin Beifan happily accepted, “Not bad, you can be exempt from 250 strikes!”
The young man shouted at the others who were howling in pain, “You guys, quickly take out the money in your hand and give it to me!”
“Yes, Young Master Gao!”
They all took out their money and gathered it in Lin Beifan’s hand.
The young man asked excitedly, “Now it’s 400,000 taels, can I avoid being beaten now?”
Lin Beifan pulled out a 1000-tael silver bill and put it in young man hand.
The young man was confused, “What does this mean?”
“Because I still can’t resist the urge to beat you!” Lin Beifan chuckled and swung the stick, which was thicker than a thigh, with force.
“Ah!” He screamed in agony.