Chapter 58: Li Baobao

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Although surrounded by a group of bandits who had the advantage of the terrain, Li Baobao’s expression remained unchanged, her gaze still cold as she stared at Lei Qing: “You are Lei Qing? Is it you who just arrived in Qingshi Town recently and started plotting to occupy Fierce Tiger Ridge?” Although she was in a weak and low position, it did not put her at a mental disadvantage. She was very confident in her Iron-armored Heavy Cavalry; even in such an extremely unfavorable situation, they would kill off this ragtag group without leaving a single survivor.

“Small thief?” Lei Qing touched his nose and let out a light laugh: “May I ask for your name, Miss? What exactly have I done wrong to deserve the elegant title of ‘small thief’?”

“Hmph, do you think you deserve to know my name?” Li Baobao curled her lips, saying with disdain, annoyance in her eyes: “You sent your subordinates to exploit Xiangling’s trust in him to buy ten full sets of iron armor from us. Your methods were despicable, and your behavior was base. What else would you call such actions other than small thief?”

What angered her most was that this incident had drawn her most trusted confidante into betrayal, making her feel both anxious and heartbroken. Otherwise, merely ten sets of iron armor would not have truly caught her eye. Although this surnamed Lei seemed to have a certain temperament, looking neat and handsome, who was she, Li Baobao? Since she was in her teens, many extremely outstanding young or not-so-young men had surrounded her to please her. At first, she found it fresh, but as time passed, she found their faces disgusting. Consequently, she had strong immunity to good-looking men.

For this reason, she had much in common with Lei Qing.

Lei Qing was also a bit puzzled. He had originally thought that these Li Clan merchants came because he had wiped out Fierce Tiger Ridge. He had been wondering earlier just how powerful the Li Chamber of Commerce’s intelligence network was. In just two days, not only had they discovered that he had occupied Fierce Tiger Ridge, but they had also sent troops to pick a quarrel. He hadn’t expected it to be because of the iron armor.

“Miss from a noble family,” Lei Qing forced down his dissatisfaction. He maintained a polite demeanor, clasped his hands in salute, and said: “I don’t quite understand what you’re saying. Indeed, my subordinates bought the iron armor from the Li Chamber of Commerce branch. But I paid two thousand gold coins in full, with no debt incurred. How can you say the methods were despicable and the behavior base? Could you please enlighten me, Miss?” Lei Qing, who came from a noble family, had to take etiquette classes throughout his childhood and youth, whether he liked it or not. Although skipping classes was a common occurrence… but living in the Imperial Capital for so long and interacting with mostly high-status people, he knew how to pretend.

Li Baobao was slightly surprised until now. She had originally thought that Lei Qing, who plotted to occupy Fierce Tiger Ridge, must be a rough, fierce man with a scruffy beard and a face full of menacing flesh. She was already surprised when she first saw him, and hearing him speak with such proper courtesy like a gentle and humble person made her doubt and curious about his background. Li Baobao came from a noble background, and she could roughly judge a person’s origin by their speech, posture, and expressions.

Origin was not necessarily Li Baobao’s primary measure for evaluating a person. But at least, talking to this man was more pleasant than talking to someone with a bandit’s aura who cursed constantly. However, she still held prejudices against him, so she said coldly: “Do you really not know, or are you pretending not to know? If you want to know the truth, call your subordinate Jiang Yu out to confront me.”

“Jiang Yu.” Lei Qing’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

“Subordinate is here.” Jiang Yu, wearing iron armor, stepped up beside Lei Qing, lowered his head, and answered.

“Did you hear what this Miss said?” Lei Qing’s voice revealed a sharp killing intent: “Did you short-change them of their gold coins?”

Jiang Yu was shaken by Lei Qing’s killing intent and quickly knelt on one knee, shouting: “Boss, this is unfair! I clearly handed all two thousand gold coins to Inspector Li at the Qingshi Branch, and I still have the receipt. With all the courage in the world, I would not dare to do such a thing.”

Lei Qing’s expression relaxed slightly. He patted Jiang Yu’s shoulder and said: “It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just that the Qingshi Branch came to complain about this matter. I have to give them a clear explanation. Get up. You are Lei Qing’s brother, so of course I trust you.”

Jiang Yu stood up with a crisp sound and clasped his hands in salute to Lei Qing: “Thank you, Boss, for your trust. Jiang Yu followed you because he wanted to achieve great things with you.”

“Hmm.” Lei Qing nodded satisfactorily, then looked down at Li Baobao and said: “Miss from a noble family, you have also heard what my subordinate said? If you don’t believe it, I suggest you ask Inspector Li of your Qingshi Branch to come out and confront us.”

“Surnamed Lei, are you playing dumb and pretending to be ignorant? Did I say that gold coins were shorted? Hmph, this batch of iron armor was exclusively supplied for the internal Iron-Armored Personal Guards of our Li Clan Chamber of Commerce. It was never sold to the public.” Li Baobao raised her elegant eyebrows and said coldly: “Even if we were to sell it, it certainly wouldn’t be sold for merely two hundred per piece. That price is not even close to covering the cost. These are all iron armor carefully crafted for us by the Grandmaster blacksmiths of Wan Family Fort.”

Lei Qing was stunned and somewhat puzzled: “Then why did your Inspector Li sell them to us so cheaply? Jiang Yu, do you have a special relationship with that Inspector Li?”

“The subordinate has no prior acquaintance with Inspector Li. However, we hit it off immediately and got along quite well. I also received much care from him.” Jiang Yu said solemnly: “But I truly did not know that the iron armor was not priced at two hundred per piece.”

“Miss from a noble family, you have also heard what my subordinate said?” Lei Qing clasped his hands in salute from afar: “Since you believe the iron armor was sold too cheaply, please set a new price. I will find a way to make up the difference.” Although Lei Qing thought that backing out after a transaction was disgusting, he really didn’t want to offend the giant that was the Li Chamber of Commerce. At most, he would keep an eye out when dealing with the Li Chamber of Commerce in the future.

“You said you didn’t know Xiangling before?” Li Baobao was quite angry, staring fixedly at Jiang Yu, and waved her hand: “Someone, bring Xiangling here.”

Several knights brought Li Xiangling over, her hands tied, slumped on a horse’s back.

“Inspector Li?” Jiang Yu’s expression changed, and he said with some regret: “How did you end up in this state? If I had known this earlier, I wouldn’t have bought the iron armor from you.”

“Big Brother Jiang, this was all my own choice. It has nothing to do with you.” Although Li Xiangling looked somewhat disheveled, her tone remained calm: “It’s just that the Miss discovered this incident, and I implicated you, which makes me feel guilty. Also, Miss, Big Brother Jiang did not know that I had a prior acquaintance with him. When I left the village, I was still young, and things have changed a lot over these years. I didn’t want Big Brother Jiang to feel hesitant about accepting my kindness after learning my true identity.”

Jiang Yu’s expression changed upon hearing the previous words. He carefully recognized Xiangling, and as he thought about it, he was filled with shock. He said blankly: “You… you are Jiang Ling’er? This. How is this possible? After I returned to the village, I heard that you were kidnapped and sold…”

“Big Brother Jiang, Ling’er was indeed kidnapped and sold, but the Miss kindly bought me.” Li Xiangling said somewhat bitterly: “I’m sorry, Big Brother Jiang. This incident has implicated you.”

“Hmph, you are quite considerate of him.” Li Baobao’s expression relaxed slightly, but her mood was extremely bad due to the betrayal. She couldn’t help but vent this on the innocent Lei Qing: “Surnamed Lei, the situation is now clear to you. This iron armor was sold through abnormal channels. However, our Li Family values credibility. Since it was sold by people of our Li Family, we will not take it back. But, you and your subordinate Jiang Yu must come to our Qingshi Branch to accept punishment.”

Jiang Yu’s eyes darkened. He hurriedly clasped his hands in salute to Li Baobao and said: “Are you Miss Li? This incident started because of me, Jiang. I am willing to accept your punishment on behalf of the Boss and Ling’er. I am willing to be beaten or scolded, even willing to lose my head without complaint. This matter has nothing to do with my Boss or Xiangling.”

“You are quite loyal.” Li Baobao nodded: “It seems this matter indeed has nothing to do with that surnamed Lei. I, Li Baobao, am not an unreasonable person. You can come back with me and serve at my family’s mine for ten years. This matter will be dropped. Jiang Yu, are you willing to accept this ruling?”

Jiang Yu trembled but still nodded and said: “Jiang is willing.”

“Then come with us.” Li Baobao said calmly, and with a few casual words, she had already decided Jiang Yu’s fate for the rest of his life. She turned to leave.

“Wait!”

Lei Qing’s face was as dark as water, and he uttered a low shout.

……