CHAPTER 223: CHAPTER 223 ELDER LI SI

Gu Jinli and his companions, upon hearing the voice, turned back to see a strange young man in his early twenties with a square face and average looks.

Elder Li Si, holding a jug of liquor with one hand on the servant’s shoulder, slanted his head to look at Gu Dashan and the others, seeing them dressed poorly with some even in coarse hemp clothes, disdainfully said: "What beggars are these... Hurry up and scram, don’t dirty my family’s ground!"

He then pointed at the gatekeeper and said: "You—how do you guard the gate? Why would you open the gate for these kinds of beggars?"

The gatekeeper, upon seeing Li Junping, flashed a look of disdain in his eyes, but could not reply dismissively as he was a relative of the homeowner: "Elder Li Si, they are here to visit the Qi Family."

Elder Li Si, an eccentric man, had just settled down after fleeing famine, and instead of resting, he couldn’t bear the loneliness and went to drink and revel. He even dared to not return to his relative’s house for days, and now he returned, drunkenly slurring his words.

"Visit? Ha ha ha... *cough cough cough*!" Elder Li Si, laughing so hard that he choked, finally sobered up from his hangover after a violent coughing spell, pointed at Gu Dashan and the others with the hand holding the liquor jug, and said: "Beggars like these, coming to visit the Qi Family?"

He glanced at Old Zhu and his son with scorn and said: "Do you even know whose residence this is? This is the noble Qi Family of the Prefecture, with the family’s elder serving as a Capital Official in the Capital, and you dare to come to visit? On what basis do you visit? Just because you are dressed in rags?"

Elder Li Si ridiculed Old Zhu and them, and ended up laughing so hard that he choked and began to cough violently again.

The servant supporting him hurriedly said: "Elder Si, calm down, don’t bother with these beggars, let me support you back inside the mansion."

Gu Jinli, watching them master and servant unsteadily walk towards the main gate of the Qi Mansion, quickly covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve, looking at the gatekeeper with concern and said: "This young man, where is this Elder Li Si from? Did he flee from famine? Why is he continuously coughing? Could it be that he has contracted some disease?"

Epidemic!

The gatekeeper, startled by her words, exclaimed: "What—what did you say?"

Jiang Jiao, who detested this Elder Li Si, chimed in: "I heard that there’s been typhoid in Central State, and many people have fallen ill and died."

"Ah? Is what this gentleman said true?" The gatekeeper, alarmed, quickly shut the heavy door with a bang and said through it to Jiang Jiao and the others: "Please wait a moment, I will go and report this for you."

Elder Li Si and his servant, locked out, were stupefied for a moment, and finally regaining their senses, he pointed at Gu Jinli and exclaimed: "You girl, what nonsense are you spouting? What epidemic, you are just... ah!"

Qin San Lang flicked a small stone, hitting the servant supporting Elder Li Si right on the knee. The servant, in pain, suddenly knelt down, causing Elder Li Si to fall to the ground with a thud.

"Damn it, Erxi you unlucky fellow, how did you support your master? Seeking death, aren’t you? Hurry up and help your master up, or are you waiting for your master to sell you too?" Elder Li Si cursed at Li Erxi.

Recently, the Li Family had sold many servants, and Li Erxi, fearing being sold, endured the pain in his knee and quickly helped Elder Li Si up: "Elder Si, forgive me, it’s my fault."

Li Anzi, afraid of Elder Li Si, had been hiding in the carriage and hadn’t dared to come down, only timidly lifting the gray cloth curtain of the carriage window to look outside.

When Li Erxi was helping Elder Li Si up, he suddenly saw half a face in the carriage window, quickly squinted his eyes, craned his neck to look, and after a moment pointed at the carriage window and said: "Elder Si, it’s Daxi’s brother Anzi."

Anzi’s siblings, who are rare twin brother and sister, were both born in the Li Family. When they were just born, the Li Family thought they were people of fortune and instructed their parents to take good care of the siblings, and when they turned six, they assigned them to serve close to the young masters and misses of the family, saying it was to bring fortune to the young masters and misses.

My brother was assigned to serve by Elder Li Si’s side, becoming his personal servant, bestowed with the name Li Daxi.

Unlike him, Daxi was very intelligent and eloquent, flattering Elder Li Si excellently. It was mainly through his great efforts that his family was able to follow the Li Family to escape the famine. Otherwise, his family would have been sold off by the Li Family back in Daliang Prefecture.

Escaping famine was not easy, carrying too many servants was not possible. In Daliang Prefecture, the Li Family sold off most of their servants, only bringing along a few dozen Protectors and servants to escape the famine.

"Daxi? Don’t even mention him to me, he’s bad luck!" Elder Si, leaning on Li Erxi’s shoulder, unsteadily stood up, cursing Li Daxi: "A plague-ridden thing, dared to talk back to me for a Maid, now he knows the consequences."

Gu Jinli sensed something wrong with this talk—it seemed that his aunt’s family was sold off by the Li Family, partly because they offended Elder Li Si.

"No, Elder Si, look in the carriage, that truly is Li Anzi. That fool wasn’t sold to the mines, and he’s even riding in a carriage."

Li Daxi offended Elder Si, and Elder Si ordered the broker to sell their family off cheaply; the men to the mines, and the women to brothels, making them suffer extremely.

Yet here was Li Anzi, something was off.

"What?" When Elder Li Si heard this, he finally snapped to attention, staggering to the front of the carriage, pulling aside the grey curtain, and tilting his head to look inside. Seeing it was indeed Li Anzi, he immediately started cursing: "Li Anzi, you son of a bitch, how are you here? Get down from there right now!"

"E-Elder Si, I—I..." Li Anzi was very afraid of Elder Li Si, hiding inside the carriage, not daring to come out.

Elder Li Si, already a brute and now drunk, seeing that Li Anzi wouldn’t get down, immediately climbed up to drag Li Anzi off the carriage, cursing: "You useless cripple, daring to defy my orders, not working in the mines and yet daring to ride a carriage, a carriage is not for a lowly slave like..."

Bang!

Elder Si hadn’t finished speaking when Gu Jinli knocked him out with a heavy club.

"Do you belong to ducks? Making so much noise." She had had enough of this so-called Elder Li Si, giving her a headache.

"Who are you? Daring to strike a relative of the Qi Mansion, do you not want to live!" Li Erxi was terrified, trying to rush over to save Elder Li Si, but Qin San Lang blocked him.

Qin San Lang twisting his wrist, stared at him and said: "Try coming over."

Qin San Lang was not yet fifteen, but he was taller than most, over a head taller than Li Erxi. Li Erxi, terrified, didn’t dare to move forward, only yelling: "You, just wait, when the Qi Family people come out, you’re dead."

Gu Jinli laughed, beckoning to him: "Come here."

"What do you want to do?" Li Erxi was a bit scared of her, this girl was ruthless, knocking out his Elder Si silently.

Gu Jinli smiled and said: "Nothing really, don’t you want to drag your Elder back? Come drag him then."