Chapter Twenty-Four: Moving Mouth and Hands

  The girl didn't come, and Liu Zhongji continued to sit in the room, losing his meaning, looking at him with his head on the table, still muttering to himself. Su Tiancheng shook his head lightly, stood up, and was about to leave. Anyway, he had to find the madam to reason with her. He and Liu Zhongji came to the brothel to look for fun, but now they found a bellyful of anger.

  As soon as the door of the room was opened, the noise came in immediately, and Su Er Tong stood outside the room.

  It's strange that opposite Su Er Tong, there was also a man standing, wearing similar clothes and looking like an attendant.

  On the corridor, many girls were laughing and joking, some of them flirting with guests in the lobby on the first floor, and some even directly inviting guests to come upstairs, it seems that there are indeed girls here.

  Su Tiancheng's face was expressionless, he wouldn't loudly scold and lose his temper, that was a behavior of someone without quality. He had something to say, so he found the madam and asked her why the girl hadn't appeared yet, trying to understand the situation and figure out how to handle it afterwards.

  Su Er'tong's opposite servant saw Su Tiancheng come out and turned around to leave, going to a nearby elegant room.

  "Second Brother, who is this person?"

  Su Er Tong couldn't bear it anymore and puffed up his chest to speak.

  "Young master, this man is Le Gongzi's servant."

  A bad thought emerged. This Lei Gongzi, whose real name is Lei Kui Gui, was the youngest son of the main branch of the Lei family in Pingyang Prefecture.

  The Lei family is also a well-known family in Pingyang Prefecture, having been in business for a long time. They are also one of the largest merchants in Pingyang Prefecture and have many connections with the Su family. What sets the Lei family apart from the Su family is that there is a jinshi (a successful candidate in the imperial examination) in their family, which is a capital to be proud of and a great reliance on business.

  All of this has nothing much to do with Su Tiancheng.

  Lei Kui and Su Tianran had a very good relationship, the two used to go in and out of brothels and casinos together, just like a pair of living treasures. Lei Kui often visited Su's residence, probably due to Su Tianran's influence, he had a bad attitude towards Su Tiancheng, being arrogant and overbearing, and even when they met on the street, he would mock and humiliate him, and even ordered his servants to take action.

  It was as if he had experienced it himself. Su Tiancheng narrowed his eyes, apparently having met Lei Kui in the brothel, which could explain why the girl had never appeared.

  In Su Tiancheng's eyes, people like Lei Kui were nothing but rascals and scoundrels. The more weakness you showed to such rascals, the more arrogant they became. Never think about being a humble gentleman in front of this kind of person. The best way is to fight back with equal force, and it's even better if you can beat them until they lose their sense of direction, then they will thoroughly fear you.

  Lei Kui Gui came out of the room, followed by several young servants.

  The madam downstairs probably knew the situation and hurried upstairs, she was also worried that if Lei Kui and Su Tiancheng had a conflict in the brothel, it would affect business.

  "Ah, I thought it was someone else, but it's really the young master of the Su family."

  Lei Guigui spoke out of turn, obviously thinking of finding trouble. The girls in the corridor slowly gathered around this side, everyone likes to watch the excitement.

  Inside the brothel, such things often happen, quarreling and even physical fights.

  The madam has gone upstairs and seeing something is amiss, hurried over.

  "Lei Gongzi, what's wrong? Has some girl offended you?"

  The madam stood between Su Tiancheng and Lei Kui, preventing the two from coming to blows. It's okay to exchange insults, but if they really started fighting, it wouldn't matter if someone got hurt, the key is that the furniture in the brothel would be damaged, which would be a headache for her to deal with.

  "Mom, what's with this place? Anyone can just come in here. The girls here are all like fairies. Some people who come here should at least help the girls with their shoes, don't you think?"

  Lei Kui's little servant beside him looked at Su Tiancheng and burst out laughing with ill intentions.

  "Mom, I'm helping out, don't serve such a scoundrel. Su Tiancheng, it's been a long time since I've seen you. If you kneel in front of me and kowtow to beg for mercy, I'll be in a good mood and spare your life today."

  The expression on the procuress's face changed, such an insult was a bit too much.

  Su Tiancheng's face remained expressionless as he turned his head towards Su Er'tong, whose face had turned red.

  "Second child, how come I heard a dog barking, and there's a group of curs yelping wildly?"

  The laughter stopped abruptly, and Leiguo Gui's face turned iron-green. He did not expect Su Tiancheng to dare speak like this.

  "Su Tiancheng, what did you say? Say it again, who are you calling a dog?"

  "Lei Guigui, you admit it so quickly, can't you be a bit more modest?"

  "You're so annoying, I'm itching all over..."

  Lei Kui pointed at Su Tiancheng with his finger, seemingly ready to order the little servant beside him to take action.

  "Lei Kung, I have two principles. Remember them well. First, if a dog bites me, I won't bite it back; otherwise, what's the difference between us and beasts? Second, I've always been one to mercilessly thrash a fallen enemy, showing no quarter."

  Just as the girls around him couldn't help but laugh, Su Tiancheng had already made his move.

  Since crossing over, he has been paying attention to exercising his body at all times. His daily life is also not bad, eating meat every meal, which greatly supplements his nutrition. In his previous life, he learned a set of military boxing, and after crossing over, he practices every day, with very agile movements, more than enough to deal with someone like Lei Kui Gui who is just a pampered young master.

  Su Tiancheng dodged the madam and walked up to Lei Kui Gui, lifting his right leg and kicking towards Lei Kui Gui's belly.

  A loud cry, and Leiko Kugai fell paralyzed to the ground.

  Su Tiancheng's movements were too fast, and the little servant beside Lei Kui was not even aware of it. Probably because Su Tiancheng had been too weak before, his mother simply thought about coming to watch the excitement.

  Such an opportunity, Su Tiancheng naturally grasped it.

  He stepped on Lai Guogui's face with one foot and sneered at the little servant who was about to take action.

  "This young master is a student of Pingyang Prefecture, if you dare to move your hands, come on, two boys, if they move their hands, you immediately go report to the officials, even if someone here is very disrespectful, the government will take care of it, this young master can rest assured and move his hands, killing or maiming without any problem."

  In the late Ming dynasty, the status of scholars was far inferior to that of the early Ming dynasty. However, according to the Ming Code, there were clear regulations that insulting a scholar would be punishable by law, with lighter punishments including flogging and heavier ones including exile to the military.

  These little servants were stunned for a moment, but their own young master was beaten by someone, and if they didn't take action, they would die just the same.

  Su Tiancheng naturally wouldn't expect that this sentence would stop Lei Kui's followers from taking action, he just wanted to stall for time, as long as he could control Lei Kui, everything else would be easy to say.

  "Lei Guigui, get your servants to kneel down for me, or I'll break your neck."

  Su Tiancheng's tone turned gloomy and his face also became ferocious.

  Lei Guo Gui had never seen such an array before. Although his face was being stepped on by Su Tian Cheng, he could still speak.

  "Su, young master Su, don't move..."

  Su Tiancheng has increased his efforts, and Lei Kui feels that he is about to be speechless.

  "Damn it, kneel down quickly..."

  Several young men knelt down in front of Su Tiancheng.

  Su Tiancheng turned his head and spoke to the frightened procuress.

  "Mother, I'm afraid I've delayed your business. This young man and I have some personal grievances to settle. If today's events have affected your business, I'll make amends here. Brother Liu is still in the elegant room, would you please arrange for a girl to attend to him? Whatever silver is needed, I'll take care of it after I've settled this matter."

  "Alright, alright, I'll treat you today. At Liu Gongzi's place, I'll make the arrangements. Don't worry, Su Gongzi."

  Su Tiancheng grasped Le Kui's right arm and leaned back against his body.

  This toothache is really unbearable.

  There must be a reason for everything, today I came to the Qinglou myself, it's said that Leiguo Gui wouldn't do such a thing, after all his relationship with Su Tianran is not bad, don't look at the monk's face but look at the Buddha's face, but what happened in front of me is too strange, there must be other reasons inside.

  Su Tiancheng may not be so simple, Lei Kui is not to be feared, even if it's the Lei family, it doesn't count for much. He himself is not afraid, but why did such a thing happen? He must figure it out.