Chapter 12: The Cruel Landlord Zhang

“Young Master Li, Young Master Li, wake up.” A female voice seemed to come from far away.

Li Si felt someone shaking him forcefully, making his head spin.

“This woman must have well-developed limbs,” he thought to himself, feeling that if he didn’t wake up soon, he might be shaken to death by this woman.

Opening his eyes, Li Si saw a young girl dressed as a servant shaking him desperately. He reached out to push away the girl’s hands, then sat up on the bed, holding his painfully throbbing right cheek. In his heart, he had grown to hate the Zhang family to the bone.

If that blow had hit the back of his head, it might have sent him straight to the afterlife.

The young girl bowed to Li Si and said, “Young Master Li, my master has prepared a meal in the main hall and is waiting for you.”

“Get out!” Li Si coldly glanced at the young girl. He had made up his mind. If the Zhang family threatened his life again, they wouldn’t just have to worry about their own ghost, but also a Beheaded Ghost. As for the servant who had hit him, Li Si had already sentenced him to death in his heart.

“Young Master Li, please don’t make things difficult for me,” the girl’s face showed a troubled expression.

“What? Do you want to give my left cheek a blow too?” Li Si sneered, his hand slowly moving towards the cloth bag on his chest. He would never make the mistake of underestimating people again. He now understood that in this world, humans could be just as dangerous as ghosts and monsters.

Seeing Li Si’s frost-like face, the girl suddenly felt a bit scared and turned to leave.

“Phew~” Li Si exhaled, lowering his hand. He looked at his surroundings, which were much better than his own home. The blanket on the bed was very soft, probably silk. He had never used such a blanket in his previous life.

The wooden bed had a faint fragrance, which he couldn’t identify. It was probably sandalwood or something similar. Beside the bed were green curtains, which served as mosquito nets in ancient times.

To his left was a small wooden table with a small bronze tripod and a tea set. The bronze tripod occasionally emitted wisps of smoke.

“What a decadent rich person’s life,” Li Si got out of bed, stretched, then walked to the small wooden table. He opened the lid of the bronze tripod and poured water from the teapot into it.

The tripod made a “hiss hiss” sound, and soon stopped emitting smoke.

Putting down the teapot, Li Si walked to the window and opened it. A cool breeze blew in, making him feel much better.

Looking out the window, he found himself in a small courtyard.

Outside the door was an open space of about 70-80 square meters. From this room’s door to the gate in the surrounding wall, there was a small path paved with bluestone slabs.

To the left of the path was an exquisite stone table with two stone stools. To the left of this stone table, near the wall, a patch of slender bamboo had been planted just right.

The bamboo leaves appropriately shaded the stone table below from the sunlight, with half of the bamboo reaching above the round gate.

Above the round gate in the wall was a plaque that read “Small Bamboo Courtyard” in three characters.

“Get in there!” Suddenly, a deep voice rang out. A middle-aged man with a prosperous appearance entered, accompanied by two servants pushing a tightly bound man. This man was the servant who had “invited” Li Si over.

Seeing Li Si, the bound servant cried out, “Young Master Li, spare my life, please don’t kill me!”

Hearing the servant’s cries, the prosperous middle-aged man also noticed Li Si standing by the window. He immediately put on a guilty expression and said, “Young Master Li, I sent this dog to invite you, how could I have known he would be so violent towards you? Zhang is deeply ashamed.”

After speaking, he viciously kicked the servant kneeling on the ground.

This man was none other than Landlord Zhang, the big landowner of Fengmen County.

“Young Master Li,” the prosperous middle-aged man bowed slightly to Li Si, who was still in the room, then pointed at the kneeling servant and said, “Just say the word, and I’ll have this dog beaten to death. To quell your anger.”

Seeing this, Li Si was secretly alarmed. He naturally knew that the root of all this lay with Landlord Zhang. The servant was merely acting on his orders.

And this Landlord Zhang spoke of killing someone as if it were nothing, even though this person was working for him. The man’s cold-heartedness had reached such an extent. These thoughts flashed through Li Si’s mind in an instant.

Li Si’s eyes darted, and his face immediately showed a panicked expression. He quickly walked out of the room and sighed to Landlord Zhang, “Oh my, it’s a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. I had no intention of not coming at the time, I just wanted to put down my vegetables before coming by carriage. Who knew he would get so angry and hit me?”

Li Si helped the kneeling servant up and solemnly said to Landlord Zhang, “Please, Landlord Zhang, do not harm his life. He was also acting for you, which is commendable loyalty.”

Seeing Li Si speak up for him, the servant immediately burst into tears, overwhelmed with emotion. He had hit Young Master Li with a stick, yet Li Si was still making excuses for him. He felt he was less than human!

A hint of suspicion flashed in Landlord Zhang’s eyes, but it quickly disappeared. His face instantly turned angry, and he pointed at the servant and scolded, “You dog, you hit Young Master Li, and now you want Young Master Li to make excuses for you. I’ve never seen such a shameless person.”

“The death penalty can be avoided, but punishment cannot!” Landlord Zhang said angrily, pulling out an exquisite dagger from his chest and walking towards the servant. Li Si was also startled and took a step back. He didn’t expect this old fellow to carry a dagger with him.

“Master, spare me!!! Master, please spare me!!!” Seeing Landlord Zhang take out the dagger, the servant immediately fell to the ground in terror, crying out in panic.

“You two, hold him down for me,” Landlord Zhang ordered the two men controlling the servant. Hearing this, they pinned the servant to the ground, immobilizing him completely.

As the servant was pressed to the ground, Landlord Zhang crouched down, grabbed the servant’s ear with his left hand, and with his right hand holding the knife, he forcefully cut along the ear’s curve. The servant’s ear was immediately sliced off.

Blood flowed steadily from the wound on the ear, filling up his ear canal.

“Ahh!!!” The servant let out a miserable cry, tears, saliva, mucus, and blood mixing on the ground, and his crotch was soaked through.

Li Si was also startled. As a modern person, he had never seen such a thing, and this Landlord Zhang was so cruel, cutting off an ear as if it were a well-practiced skill.

He immediately gained a general understanding of the cruelty of class in this world. This Landlord Zhang had probably done this kind of thing many times.

“Alas, why go to such extremes, why such extremes!” Li Si’s eyes showed sympathy as he shook his head and sighed.

“No need to worry, this is the price for not serving the Zhang family well,” Landlord Zhang seemed to imply something, but then laughed heartily and said, “Young Master Li, you haven’t had lunch yet, have you? I have prepared a meal, would you care to join?”

“Yes, yes,” Li Si seemed a bit frightened and hastily agreed, then added, “This young man must see a doctor as soon as possible. We mustn’t delay his treatment.”



“It’s fine. Yang Er, take this dog to see a doctor,” Landlord Zhang waved his hand, then instructed one of the servants. He then handed the ear to another person.