Chapter 204: The Final Revenge

The manager reached for his neck, but his hand met a biting cold. Immediately, a sharp, searing pain of a deep cut radiated from his palm.

Blood surged out instantly, splattering onto his concubine.

“Ah!”

The concubine didn’t make a sound, but the manager did.

However, the cry was extremely short-lived. Though the manager’s mouth remained wide open, no sound could escape.

Yun Huizhou saw the manager thrashing about in pain and terror. Fearing the man might accidentally slam his neck against the blade, he moved the knife away and returned it to its sheath.

The manager scrambled pathetically into the corner of the bed, cowering.

Yun Huizhou was currently masked and dressed in black, carrying a blade—the very image of a villain.

The manager stared at him in horror, wanting to beg for mercy, but he was unable to utter a single word.

He didn’t even know why he had been targeted by this “thug,” nor did he know if he could pay to save his own life.

Yun Huizhou stared at the manager for a while, his anger rising the more he looked at him.

If Lian Li hadn’t been unable to endure it and run away back then, he truly would have been sold into this place and then passed off to someone else as a male catamite.

With that boy’s temperament, he was so fierce that he wouldn’t have even waited for the day he was sold; he would have found a way to take these people down with him that very day.

Even if he couldn’t take them down on the spot, he would have definitely looked for an opportunity to die together with them later.

Yun Huizhou suppressed his murderous intent and said coldly, “Do you know why I’ve come for you?”

The manager shook his head frantically, the fear in his eyes overflowing as his mouth opened and closed, trying to speak.

However, Yun Huizhou did not have the same patience for him as he did for Lian Li to decipher what he was saying.

He simply continued on his own, “A year ago, Lian Wen from Xiaoshi Village came to you, wanting to sell his younger brother. You remember that, don’t you?”

The manager looked dazed for a moment before it clicked. Wasn’t this “thug” talking about the incident last year where a man sold his brother, took twenty taels, but then the brother ran away and the man couldn’t produce the person?

Just as he was hesitating between nodding or shaking his head, he heard the “thug” continue.

“That brother who ran away happens to have some history with me. Upon learning that his elder brother actually tried to sell him into servitude here, and that you were prepared to sell him off as a male catamite, my heart was naturally filled with immense fury.”

“Unfortunately, he is soft-hearted. He only said that from then on, he would consider himself as having no brother and let the matter rest. But the fire in my heart is difficult to extinguish.”

Hearing this, the manager thought the “thug” was hesitant to trouble the elder brother out of respect for the younger brother’s feelings, and was therefore planning to kill him to vent his anger. Tears and snot began to fly in terror.

He hurriedly knelt on the bed and kowtowed to the “thug.” Although he couldn’t make a sound, he kept mouthing pleas for mercy.

He claimed that Lian Wen had been the one to contact him, that it wasn’t his idea to buy the person, and that after the boy ran away, he had only asked for his money back and hadn’t pursued the matter further.

Yun Huizhou knew he was telling the truth, so despite his anger, he wasn’t about to kill the manager.

When all was said and done, the ones to blame were still Lian Li’s brother and sister-in-law.

“I assume your brokerage still has some influence in this town,” Yun Huizhou said in a slow, measured tone. “You can manage to quench the fire in my heart without making my soft-hearted ‘dear brother’ sad over his elder brother’s affairs, can’t you?”

The manager’s kowtowing paused. He looked up at Yun Huizhou, his eyes filled with uncertainty.

He roughly understood what this man wanted him to do, but he wasn’t sure to what extent.

Thus, he could only move his mouth anxiously, making exaggerated shapes with his lips in an attempt to let the other party know his confusion.

Fortunately, Yun Huizhou was worried the manager might lack a sense of proportion, so he added another sentence.

“I don’t want them to live too comfortably, but I don’t want them to be unable to survive either. You must grasp this balance well. For example, if the husband and wife each lose a leg, that should be about right.”

The manager’s eyes darted around, and he immediately nodded, indicating he knew exactly what to do.

Wasn’t it just a matter of breaking their legs and then occasionally finding them some troublesome but solvable problems?

And making sure they didn’t live as well as they did now, but without going too far and driving them to death.

He understood; he could do it.

Seeing this, Yun Huizhou nodded and said, “It’s good that you understand.”

With a flick of his hand, he unblocked the manager’s mute acupoint. Then, with a flash of movement, he vanished from the room as if he had never been there.

The manager remained in a kneeling position for a long time. Only after confirming the man was truly gone did he collapse onto the bed as if drained of all strength.

At this moment, he no longer had any desire for pleasure. The pain in his hand told him that everything just now had been real. It took a good while before he regained his senses and shouted for his servants to fetch a doctor immediately.

Half a month later, Lian Wen went to the town for work. On his way back, he encountered thugs who robbed him of his money and broke one of his legs.

He Guilian accompanied him to the town to see a doctor for his leg, but on the way, she also encountered thugs, and He Guilian’s leg was broken as well.

***

In Jianggao City, under Uncle Zhang’s arrangements, everything for the new graves had been prepared.

The timing of the duo’s return was perfect; the next day was an auspicious date for the relocation.

If they had been a day or two late, they would have had to wait at least another half-month.

After successfully moving the original owner’s parents into the new graves, Lian Li suddenly felt as if a breath that had been trapped in his chest had finally been released. He felt light and unburdened.

He thought it was simply because the task was finished and he could finally breathe a sigh of relief, so he didn’t pay it much mind.

Having the original owner’s brother and sister-in-law each lose a leg was Yun Huizhou’s suggestion. Lian Li had originally only intended to have the brother lose a leg and leave it at that.

But Yun Huizhou felt that at least half of what Lian Wen did was due to He Guilian’s “pillow talk.”

Lian Li recalled that when the original owner was still in that house, He Guilian spent most of her time tormenting him. She made the original owner live in constant fear; even drinking a cup of water made him worry he would trigger He Guilian’s sensitive nerves, leading her to make snide remarks about how he was tactless and only knew how to drink water but not how to fetch or boil it.

Lian Wen knew all of this and had tacitly allowed it.

The original owner couldn’t take the torment, left the village, and lost his life.

Lian Li couldn’t sentence the brother and sister-in-law to death on behalf of the original owner. Before the original owner died, although he had resented them, he mostly blamed himself for being useless; he had never even entertained the thought of revenge.

Otherwise, given the actions of the brother and sister-in-law, the original owner only needed to use a few minor schemes in the village to ensure that the respected elders would point fingers at them.

Once branded with the reputation of being unfilial, Lian Wen’s future work would have been affected.

Lian Li saw in the original owner’s memories that he had thought of such methods but never implemented them. Instead, he chose to leave, and even before death, he didn’t regret not choosing to take revenge in the village.

Therefore, Lian Li could only go this far, making the brother and sister-in-law compensate the original owner with two legs.

Furthermore, for a long time to come, the people from the Yuqiao Town brokerage would not make life easy for them.

On the night the new graves were settled, after Lian Li fell asleep, he actually dreamed of a thick mist. Within the mist, a figure dressed as a scholar stood there.