《Second Patriarch: Rise of the Liu Clan》Chapter 10: Blackmail
Advertisement
Liu Zhu left the restaurant and headed down the city's main street, keeping an eye out for the manor Elder Chu had described. After a couple minutes Liu Zhu spotted the lion statue Elder Chu had mentioned and examined the property it was sitting in front of. The manor was smaller than the Liu Clan's estate, but it was still fairly large for being inside a city. Surrounding it were a few similar homes, and employees and servants could occasionally be seen tending to the premises through the gates.
A tired-looking guard approached the gate upon noticing Liu Zhu, and after asking for his name and purpose immediately opened them. Once he was let into the estate Liu Zhu was escorted to the drawing room, where Elder Chu and his friend were currently chatting. Upon entering the two glanced towards Liu Zhu, and Elder Chu's friend introduced himself as one of Elder Chu's subordinates in the last war against Hiqui Sect, Fang Qi.
"I'm sorry for the wait, I'm afraid it'll be a few more hours until I'm done here Young Master Liu." Liu Zhu nodded, not minding. "Alright then, just tell me when you're done." As Liu Zhu went to leave Fang Qi mentioned that Liu Zhu might get along with his grandson, and not thinking much of it Liu Zhu said he'd speak to him while he waited for them to finish their reminiscing.
Liu Zhu made his way upstairs to speak with Fang Qi's grandson and kill some time, but saw something very surprising along the way. A door on the upper floors was wide open, and glancing through Liu Zhu caught sight of a very familiar figure treating a few wounds on his face. Liu Zhu boisterously laughed at the sight, and the figure immediately turned towards Liu Zhu, shocked.
"I can't believe you followed me here! I-I'll call the guards! I'm not afraid of you!" Sitting there treating his wounds was Fang Wu, the arrogant teenager that Liu Zhu gotten into a fight with not even an hour before. Liu Zhu chuckled as he heard this, unable to hide his amusement given the situation. "If you're not afraid of me why would you call the guards? Anyways, are you Fang Qi's grandson?" In response to Liu Zhu's question Fang Wu put up a proud front, which immediately clashed with his miserable appearance. "Aha, I see you've heard of me. Yes, I am Fang Wu, grandson of Fang Qi and son of Fang Zhuchong. You came hoping to apologize after hearing about my grandfather then? I'm not a man to hold grudges, so..."
Advertisement
As Fang Wu ranted on, Liu Zhu interrupted him. "No, I'm not here to apologize to you. My name is Liu Zhu and one of my family's elders was your father's superior. Fang Qi suggested that I speak with you while they talked." Upon hearing this Fang Wu's face fell slightly, but he soon recovered. "I see. Well, as I said I don't hold grudges, so I suppose we can let bygones be bygones and start on the right foot, can't we?"
Seeing Fang Wu try to ignore what happened, Liu Zhu was amused. He laughed as he responded. "God, you're the most shameless person I've met." Fang Wu's face soured as he said this, but after hearing that Liu Zhu's family had one of his grandfather's war buddies as an elder, he didn't dare retort. "Hahahaha... yes, I suppose it is a bit shameless. I... I apologize, so can we forget about this?"
Figuring that this was the most entertainment he'd get while he was waiting, Liu Zhu continued leading Fang Wu on. "Mmmm... I suppose we can forget about it. Still, I do feel bad about beating you up." Pretending to come to a realization, he snapped his fingers and then looked towards Fang Wu. "I figured it out! You apologized, so I should apologize too. I fought back instead of letting you do as you wished, so clearly I'm at fault too. I mean, a child my age beating up my senior like that is truly regrettable..." Fang Wu looked at Liu Zhu, his eye slightly twitching, as Liu Zhu continued to mock him. "I'll just pop in with your grandfather and tell him I'm sorry for hurting you that much, alright?" Fang Wu's face paled as he heard this, and he stuttered as he replied. "T-There's no need to do that, al-alright? I-I'm fine without an apology, really!"
Liu Zhu pretended to be guilty and shook his head. "No, no, that really can't do. How could I leave without telling your grandfather everything that happened- I'd really feel bad." Fang Wu gritted his teeth, a distraught expression on his face, before Liu Zhu continued. "Well... maybe you could convince me otherwise." Fang Wu stared at Liu Zhu, looking confused, before Liu Zhu decided to make his intentions more obvious.
Advertisement
"Right now I'm a bit short on funds. Maybe a couple dozen gold coins would make me forget about everything." Fang Wu lost his composure as he heard this, shooting up from his chair and exclaiming "Shameless!" Liu Zhu sighed as he heard this. "Pot, meet kettle." Fang Wu's face reddened after hearing this, but he regained his composure after a few moments and sat down. "I have 20 gold coins on hand. I can give you 15."
Liu Zhu was satisfied upon hearing this, but realizing that he had the chance at a decent payday, kept pushing. "Well... alright, I won't tell him about our fight. Still, what about that woman? What's your grandfather's stance on that?" Fang Wu's expression grew even more frustrated as Liu Zhu continued. "Or does your family approve of acting like that? Did your grandfather teach you to bully people?" Fang Wu loudly swore before interjecting. "Shut up, shut up. I don't care anymore, I can get 25 gold coins if you give me a moment. Just don't tell that old man whatever you do, I'm not getting shipped off to join the military. I know that old war nut would do it if he found out."
Liu Zhu smiled at Fang Wu and put out his hand. "Let's shake on it then!" Ignoring him, Fang Wu left the room. Soon he returned with a nondescript pouch holding 25 gold coins. Liu Zhu took it and nodded appreciatively. "Well, I'm not sure what we were talking about, but thank you. Anyways, my name is Liu Zhu, it's nice to meet you." Fang Wu ignored Liu Zhu as he left to hole himself up in his room.
Since his new 'friend' was gone, Liu Zhu explored the manor and its grounds until Elder Chu finished chatting with Fang Qi. At that point it was late in the afternoon, and Liu Zhu was more than ready to leave the city. As Elder Chu was about to leave, Liu Zhu considered taking the chance to tell Fang Qi what happened with his grandson, but in the end decided against it. As much as he would enjoy getting that prick sent into the military where he could hopefully learn some manners, it would be unfortunate if this incident caused some awkwardness between Elder Chu and Fang Qi. Anyways, he was doing whoever would have to work with Fang Wu a favor by making sure he didn't get sent into the army.
Before leaving the two retrieved their horses. They lead them off of the main street before mounting them and continuing onwards towards the Yu Clan's home, Yu Mountain.
Advertisement
- In Serial361 Chapters
Summoner Of Miracles
Talented in magic but useless in physical combat?
8 383 - In Serial169 Chapters
Paths of the Chosen (Rewritten, Revised, and Reinvigorated)
Daniel Stewart was chosen to alpha test a brand new Immersive VR game, "The Realms". What he doesn't know is that he has also been Chosen by one of the Powers of a far-off world, and is now a pawn in a game much bigger than any he thought he would ever participate in. Will he survive and thrive in this strange new world, or will he stumble and fall, shattered by the ambitions of another? Does he have what it takes to walk the Paths of the Chosen?---Inspired by the Chaos Seeds novels, TheDespaxas's The Gamer, and a wide variety of games and books, although the world, characters, and systems are my own. Expect high fantasy, magic, combat and intrigue, love and loss, grief and passion. This story is intended for adult audiences and contains explicit sexual content, profanity, and violence (including sexual violence, although not by the protagonist and not as a focus of the story). Chapters with such content will be clearly marked, and all explicit sexual content will be behind spoiler tags. I prefer my stories to have happy endings, and especially in these uncertain times, I feel that it is important to maintain hope. While this tale will reach some dark places, I promise to you that, when all is said and done, the villains will be justly punished and the heroes will prevail and prosper. Remember: it is darkest before dawn, but dawn always comes. Please note also that although this story does not have the [Harem] tag, it does have an extremely slow build into a polyamorous relationship. Additionally, starting with Champion (book two of the series), the [Multiple Lead Characters], [Female Lead], and [Non-Human Lead] tags would also apply to varying degrees.This is a complete, ground-up rewrite of the original Paths of the Chosen, following feedback from here and elsewhere. It is now written in the third-person limited omniscient perspective and in the past tense. In addition, while the major plot beats are unchanged, most of what comes between them has been reconsidered and rewritten, with pacing and characterization as a special focus.---Update schedule: 2 chapters per week (Monday and Thursday), not counting bonus chapters. Chapter length is roughly 2,500 words on average, +/- 1,000 words. Chapters with explicit content tend to be longer so that they are still worth reading for those who would prefer a fade to black. --- Cover art by Agri Karuniawan (@artofagri). View more of their work at https://www.deviantart.com/iamagri.
8 189 - In Serial15 Chapters
Babel - The Path To Ascension: Heaven
Eight years after Laurence first began climbing the tower he has finally begun ascending past the tenth floor. He and his friends will continue climbing to reach their dream, to become gods, to become Ascendant Immortals like those who took the road before them. However their journey will not be an easy one. A myriad of forces move behind the scenes, working towards goals that will change the shape of the world forever and affect everyone who lives or climbs the tower itself. Book 2 of Babel - The Path To Ascension
8 186 - In Serial12 Chapters
Worlds Divided Flara’s Journey
Flara is a spirit fox that comes from the world of Love and Nurture. She thought of her world. It's all she ever known and it's the greatest truth she's ever known. All the foxes and other creatures there are patient, kind, gentle, and honor each other with the greatest respect. All opinions and feelings are valid here. It feels perfect, it feels right. But something has always troubled Flara. If love and positivity exist, then surely their opposites must exist as well. There is talk about balance here and that you can have one thing without the other, but she always kept these feelings to herself because of their deviant nature. She always wondered how she could know full love and nurture if she never experienced what was not? How could she fully enjoy it and understand if she never knew why they were important? She has kept these feelings deep inside and now it's eating her up. She meets another spirit fox named Tarot from the world of Devastation and Sorrow. Together, they go on a journey to find balance between the worlds and set new rules for them before they merge into one.
8 133 - In Serial119 Chapters
From Another World (A Hololive Fanfiction)
Mikage Kamishiro, a former delinquent and now an avid video game fan, got involved in an accident one rainy night. Good news: He woke up safe and sound in a hospital. Bad news: Said hospital was found in another world. This is his story as he tries to live as a person from another world.
8 94 - In Serial5 Chapters
Tao Lee
This story is more about my OC Tao and how he got the scars on his face but also a little bit about his past, I hope you enjoy#1 - characterstory#73 - ocstory16 - #legomonkiekid
8 136

