Chapter 9: The Most Arrogant Perpetrator in History

Su Jin was still feigning tears.

With a hesitant, lingering tone, she said, "Young Master Sun, if you break off the engagement, I will become the laughingstock of the entire manor, subject to everyone's ridicule..."

Sun Yaojun remained silent.

As long as I can marry a virtuous wife, who cares about you?

The door was open, and though no one was passing by, it didn't mean no one nearby was dining. Su Jin suddenly raised her voice, clamoring, "Young Master Sun, you are the dignified son of the Minister of Revenue, yet you disregard our engagement to come here and commit adultery! I must have been blind to ever fall for a heartless and unfaithful man like you."

Before she could finish her sentence.

People began to gather around.

As they pressed against the door to eavesdrop, Sun Yaojun hurriedly closed the door, attempting to cover her mouth to stop her from slandering him everywhere. The engagement would be broken sooner or later, but since it hadn't been officially dissolved yet, their date was indeed improper. "Speak, what will it take for you to quiet down?"

Su Jin pried his "stinky hand" away. "Silver."

Having said that, she held up a single finger.

Sun Yaojun gave her a look of disdain and tossed out one tael of silver. Su Jin immediately became unhappy; was he treating her like a beggar? She spoke up, "One thousand taels!"

Sun Yaojun refused decisively, "I don't have it."

Who goes out carrying a thousand taels of silver? Seeing this, Su Huangying pulled a gold hairpin from her head. "Fourth Sister, is this enough?"

Su Jin took it.

She weighed it; it was a full half-jin and should be worth quite a bit. However, "Clearly not enough."

In this dynasty, one tael of silver was equivalent to 1,000 RMB, so one thousand taels was equivalent to 1 million. With gold at a mere 400 RMB per gram, half a jin was only 100,000—it was far from enough!

Su Huangying began to play the kinship card, "Fourth Sister, we are all family, sisters. Can't you ask for a little less?"

With a sudden movement, Su Jin headed for the door.

Seeing that she was about to raise her voice and talk nonsense again, Su Huangying was forced to take off all her jewelry. "Is it enough now?"

Su Jin nodded. "It'll do."

She immediately stuffed everything into her clothes and turned to leave.

Sun Yaojun lost his temper. "Stop! You can leave, but leave the things!" Those were the ornaments of a woman he admired; how could they be extorted away without leaving a single thing?

Su Jin looked back. "What, are you going to pay?"

Even after emptying his pockets, Sun Yaojun could only produce three one-hundred-tael silver notes. Su Jin returned the least valuable piece of jewelry, intending to take it, but the man had no intention of giving it at all; he pulled it back and hid it in front of him. "If you don't leave them, don't even think about walking out that door."

Oh my...

How scary.

Clutching the goods, Su Jin ran behind the masked man to seek refuge. Sun Yaojun clearly didn't understand the concept of "cherishing the fair sex"; he threw a punch, quite fiercely. He had intended to beat Su Jin until she was flushed and breathless, but she slipped away far too quickly.

He looked impatiently at the masked man. "Useless, move aside."

Don't get in the way of his violence.

Otherwise, he'd hit him too.

A murderous, bloodthirsty light flashed in the masked man's eyes. "Say that again!"

Sun Yaojun curled his lip and was just about to repeat himself when a palm strike sent him flying. He slammed into the door, spat out blood, and passed out directly. Su Huangying was already terrified out of her wits; it took her a long time to regain her senses before she hurriedly hired a carriage to go to the Minister's manor to seek help.

Su Jin fled with the goods.

She exchanged all the jewelry for silver, walked into a money changer, deposited it under her own name, and then wandered the streets.

The masked man watched her leave with a lonely gaze.

***

Night fell...

In the Su manor, within the courtyard where the Third Concubine resided, Su Huangying had been crying for several hours, her eyes swollen. "Mother, let's go find the First Madam, find Father, and beg them to seek justice for me, alright?"

Her jewelry.

Her Sun-lang.

Just thinking about it made her anger boil. The Third Concubine pulled her hand over in heartache, "My silly daughter, it's useless to seek justice from anyone right now. When that masked man struck, there were no other witnesses to see it, so he cannot be punished. Besides, where would we find him to settle the score?"

They hadn't even seen his face clearly.

Su Huangying's eyes darkened.

Her crying voice was somewhat hoarse, "Then what about my jewelry? Mother, help me, help me get it back, I can't bear to lose it..."

The Third Concubine shook her head. "Forget it."

If Su Jin truly held her in any regard, she would have shown up at the door by now.

The fact that she hadn't appeared meant she clearly wasn't afraid of trouble.

Rushing to the door would be useless; it would be better to find a way to eliminate this scourge.

While thinking this, she comforted her daughter, "As long as that wicked girl is still in the manor, there's no fear of not finding a chance for revenge. Don't worry, she almost caused Young Master Sun to become a widower; how could she be easily spared?"

A fierce light appeared in the depths of her eyes.

...

In the Sun manor, Sun Yaojun had already woken up. After explaining the sequence of events, he looked at his father. "Even if I have to dig three feet into the ground and turn the entire capital upside down, I will find that masked man and Su Jin. They must die for me to vent this hatred in my heart."

The Minister of Revenue was nearly sixty.

Having a son in his later years, he was naturally exceptionally indulgent toward Sun Yaojun.

He let him have his way with everything.

But now, as a father who loved his son as his own life and couldn't bear to see him bullied even slightly, he merely let out a helpless sigh. "Wash up and go to sleep."

Sun Yaojun looked at the Minister of Revenue, his fingers gripping the corner of the quilt tightly. "He almost killed me! If I hadn't been so lucky, you would be a white-haired person mourning a black-haired one right now. And you just say that? Are you even my father!"

He had almost died.

Did they have to be separated by the veil of death before the severity of the matter could be realized?

The Minister of Revenue's hair turned several strands whiter from worry as he sighed again.

When he first learned that his son was in trouble, he had nearly gone mad with anxiety. He immediately brought guards to pursue and intercept the culprit, wanting the villain to pay with his life. Who would have thought that just as he reached the door, the man had been waiting for a long time.

"The person was injured by this Prince. He deserves to die."

A calm statement of fact.

Cold and heartless.

At that moment, the Minister's heart had sunk to the bottom, feeling as if winter had arrived. He struggled to curl his lips. "My son was impetuous and disturbed Prince Qing's elegant mood. I ask that you take his youth into account and forgive him this once."

His son was unconscious and in critical condition.

Not only could he not seek justice, but he also had to apologize to the perpetrator.

Simply because that man was the Imperial Uncle of the current dynasty. This man was steeped in evil and feared even the Emperor; he never had to pay with his life for killing.

On Sun Yaojun's pale face was a striking hatred. "If you won't help me, I'll do it myself."

The Minister of Revenue stood up.

He called for the servants. "Lock the Young Master in his room and keep a strict watch. No one is allowed to see him, and nothing is to be leaked out."

Having said that, he left.

Sun Yaojun suddenly felt that the world had changed. For a moment, he even suspected whether his father had performed a blood test while he was unconscious to discover they had no blood relation, which was why he was being so heartless.

The Minister of Revenue couldn't afford to think about much else; the warning the Imperial Uncle had left before departing was fresh in his mind: "If there is a next time, he, you, and the entire Minister's manor will all go to hell."

A chilling wind blew...

The next day, Su Jin went to the First Madam's place to pay her respects at the usual time, but the First Madam refused to see her. Watching the other young ladies come and go outside the door, she waited for about ten minutes before slipping away.

Paying respects was a trivial matter to begin with.

As long as she maintained appearances, it was enough.