Even though a base desire of possession had been stirred in the man’s heart, he still cared about his pride. His broad palm seized the back of her neck and pulled her outward.
Wang Yuzheng was sensible enough not to push her luck too overtly, allowing herself to be tossed to the side like a little cat.
Right at that moment, Zhang Chang, a disfigured bandit, heard that Wang Yuzheng had tried to fool them with fake gold. He stormed over, intent on beating her to vent his anger.
Li Zhi kicked him without ceremony and cursed, “Why beat a woman? Go beat her husband!”
Zhang Chang had a fierce temper and said in exasperation, “Chief, this woman is terribly sly, tricking us with fake gold! Don’t be fooled by her!”
Terrified, Wang Yuzheng crawled forward and clung to Li Zhi’s thigh, saying timidly, “Please spare my life, hero! As a mere woman, I would never dare provoke you gentlemen.”
Seduced by her beauty, Li Zhi defended her, “You idiot, use your brains! A woman walking straight into a bandit’s lair—would she dare fool us with fake gold unless she’s seeking death?!”
Zhang Chang froze.
Li Zhi cursed, “Pig-headed fool, go get the Liu family servants and question them properly! This woman clearly isn’t bright; she must have been tricked by her husband’s family!”
Hearing him evaluate her as “not bright,” Wang Yuzheng was not annoyed at all. Instead, she was secretly delighted and nodded repeatedly. “Please, hero, seek justice for me! I truly don’t have the courage to touch the ransom money…”
Zhang Chang wanted to say more, but Li Zhi snapped impatiently, “Get out!”
Roared at like that, Zhang Chang had no choice but to retreat resentfully.
Wang Yuzheng’s heart remained suspended in her throat. Unable to stand her spineless demeanor any longer, Li Zhi cursed, “Stupid woman! Someone so foolish deserves to be controlled by her husband’s family.”
Wang Yuzheng’s eyes reddened, on the verge of tears again.
Li Zhi’s hand twitched as he poked her forehead. “Cry for what?! If it weren’t for me today, you would have been skinned and deboned long ago!”
Wang Yuzheng: “…”
Li Zhi’s face was written all over with disdain, feeling she was like a useless eye candy—all beauty and no brains.
Yet her looks and figure matched his aesthetic tastes to a tee. Coveting her beauty, he had no choice but to worry over her like an overly anxious mother hen, afraid she would suffer a loss.
And so, to clear up the doubts regarding the ransom, Zhang Baixiang and the others were brought in for questioning.
Hearing that the ransom had been counterfeited, Xiao Guan was scared out of his wits. Zhang Baixiang’s face turned deathly pale, feeling that sheer disaster was imminent.
Several of them kowtowed repeatedly, Xiao Guan trembling as he said, “Spare our lives, heroes! We household servants are just subordinates whose deed contracts are in the master’s hands. How would we dare risk our lives to meddle with the ransom?”
“Please spare our lives, heroes! Please spare our lives! The ransom was prepared by the master’s house. We truly knew nothing about it. We are innocent!”
Zhang Baixiang also kowtowed alongside them. In truth, he had a guess in his heart, but he did not dare voice it.
On the other side, Liu Ming had been beaten black and blue. As Zhang Chang beat him, he cursed, “Son of a bitch, daring to play tricks on us! You’ve got nerve!”
Liu Ming groaned repeatedly, wailing, “It must be Wang! She tampered with it! She wants to harm me!”
Zhang Chang did not believe him. “Bah! If that woman wanted to harm you, why would she risk her life coming to a bandit’s lair?!”
Liu Ming held his head and howled.
Zhang Chang kicked him hard a few more times. It was only when the other bandits feared he might beat the man to death that they persuaded him to stop.
This matter was indeed strange.
The bandits discussed the missing ransom amount. At first, they suspected Wang Yuzheng was playing tricks, but Li Zhi rejected the idea.
The reason was simple: once something went wrong with the ransom, Wang Yuzheng would inevitably suffer. Coming to a bandit’s lair was already risky; there was no need for her to dig such a huge pit for herself.
Later, they suspected the household servants had secretly tampered with it, but after careful thought, that also felt wrong.
Wang Yuzheng said they were servants born into the Liu household whose deed contracts were held by the Liu family. Naturally, they would hope for their master’s safe return; there was no reason to dig their own graves.
As for the Liu family itself, Liu Ming was the sole heir of the family. Old Lady Liu would rely on him for her old age and funeral in the future, so she should want him back safe and sound more than anyone else.
Unable to make sense of the situation, Hu Chong scratched his head and pulled at his ears. “What on earth is going on? My head is hurting from thinking about it.”
Zhang Chang looked toward Li Zhi and asked, “Chief, short by three hundred taels—surely we’re not going to let the Liu family off that easy?”
Li Zhi snorted, “Those scum dared to fool me like this; how could I go easy on them?”
Qian Jiang said, “To be short by so much shows how treacherous the Liu family is. We might as well just kill the hostage.”
Zhang Chang chimed in, “Qian Chuanzi is right! If they want the person back, eight hundred taels, not a fraction less!”
Hu Chong asked, “So what do we do now? Make them go back for more money?”
Everyone looked at Li Zhi. Smitten by Wang Yuzheng’s beauty and nursing his own ideas, he said, “Lock Liu Ming together with the servants first, then we’ll talk.”
The men could not understand these words, looking at one another in confusion.
Li Zhi offered no explanation, and they did not ask further. After all, among the nine bandits, he was the smartest; he surely had his reasons.
Following his instructions, Liu Ming was locked up together with Zhang Baixiang and the others. Seeing his master beaten black and blue, Zhang Baixiang burst into tears and snot, crying, “Young Master, you’ve suffered! You’ve suffered!”
Liu Ming was filled with rage and hatred. Since Zhang Baixiang was a loyal servant of the Liu family, Liu Ming naturally did not suspect him of meddling with the ransom. He cursed, “That blight Wang—daring to harm me! The Liu family will surely skin her alive!”
Zhang Baixiang hesitated, words caught in his throat.
Xiao Guan said in distress, “Young Master, the priority right now is how to escape this bandit lair.
“Those bandits are all burly and fierce, and we have no outside help. We’re like fat meat on a chopping block, completely at their mercy.”
Liu Ming cursed furiously for a long while before finally settling down a bit.
The few of them fell into deep worry.
Suddenly, Liu Ming pulled Zhang Baixiang into a corner and whispered a few words.
Zhang Baixiang faltered, lowering his voice. “To tell you the truth, Young Master, raising eight hundred taels of silver cash in a short time was truly too difficult for the Old Lady.”
Liu Ming caught the subtle implication and frowned, asking, “Didn’t Wang bring a dowry when she married in?”
Zhang Baixiang waved his hand and said helplessly, “Back then, to ransom you, Young Mistress set conditions with the Old Lady. Not only did she handle her dowry as she pleased, but she also opened her mouth wide to demand three shops on East Street and the courtyard villa in Wuyi Lane.
“The Old Lady was furious, but fearing something might happen to you here, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and transfer them under her name before Young Mistress was willing to bring the ransom to Mount Yanjun.”
Hearing this, Liu Ming almost spat blood in fury, raging, “That venomous woman goes too far!”
Zhang Baixiang hurriedly covered his mouth. “The Old Lady said that as long as we detain her dowry servant, Nanny Xu, at the Liu house, Young Mistress won’t dare play any tricks.
“Right now the ransom falls short, and those bandits certainly won’t let you go. You must find a way to free yourself, Young Master.
“Not only that, but the Old Lady also said Young Mistress is no easy target either. You must carefully weigh your actions, Young Master, and not fall into her trap.”
Liu Ming suppressed a belly full of resentment, gritting his teeth as he said, “For such a venomous woman, why bring her back at all?”
Zhang Baixiang did not dare answer.
A malicious idea formed in Liu Ming’s mind. Since the ransom fell short, why not use Wang Yuzheng as collateral here?
If anything went wrong with her, the dowry she brought into the Liu family would become ownerless property, which could conveniently fill the Liu family’s financial deficits over the years.
Little did he know that while he was full of calculations, the other party was also calculating his life.
If she could not bring Liu Ming back, Nanny Xu would die, yet Wang Yuzheng did not want Liu Ming to live.
This was a difficult dilemma.
To incite the couple to tear into each other, Li Zhi deliberately put pressure on Liu Ming the next day: if he could not make up the remaining three hundred strings of cash, he could forget about leaving alive.
Liu Ming was terrified.
Wang Yuzheng was in the adjacent room at the time and overheard Liu Ming offering to sell his wife as collateral, begging Li Zhi to let him go back to gather money to ransom her.
Wang Yuzheng was not surprised in the least. She had long seen through the calculations of the Liu mother and son.
They wished for nothing more than her death outside so they could monopolize her dowry and wipe her out completely. Wishful thinking!
“You say you’ll go back to gather money to ransom her—why should I trust you?”
Li Zhi paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, holding a horsewhip in his hand that could strike out at any moment.
Liu Ming glanced at the whip from time to time, feeling fear toward the man before him, who exuded a wild, wolf-like bandit air.
“Hero, you’ve seen Wang’s appearance. Not only does she have a fine face, but her figure is also superb, and she has even read some books.
“She is only eighteen years old. Although I married her, due to some conflicts, we have never consummated the marriage; she should still be a virgin.
“If I fail to raise the full ransom upon my return, you can sell her to a pleasure house that specifically serves the nobility. With just a little training, selling her for two or three hundred strings of cash won’t be a problem.”
This financial avenue genuinely surprised Li Zhi. Half-believingly, he said, “Her? Worth two or three hundred strings of cash?”
Liu Ming promised solemnly, “Yes, absolutely! I have seen the world too. When officials come down from the imperial court, the state prefecture invites women to serve them. Unlike ordinary courtesans, their prices are extremely high.”
Li Zhi deliberately put on a contemplative act. In the next room, Wang Yuzheng was laughed out of sheer anger. If she did not get Liu Ming killed, her name was not Wang.
Next, Liu Ming said many more flattering words, all with a single purpose: keep Wang Yuzheng detained in the bandit lair and let him go back to gather the ransom.
Li Zhi neither agreed nor refused; he only wanted to see how Wang Yuzheng would react.
After having Liu Ming taken down, he walked into the adjacent room.
As expected, Wang Yuzheng looked utterly heartbroken, tear drops brimming in her eyes yet refusing to fall.
Seeing her mournful expression, Li Zhi plopped down onto a stone stool and asked, “I wonder what thoughts Lady Wang has in her heart?”
Wang Yuzheng lowered her head, silently wiping her tears with her sleeve. She let out a faint sigh and said sorrowfully, “This is my fate.
“When I was young, my mother took me to a Taoist temple to have my fortune told. The priest said my life would be full of hardships, and if I couldn’t cross this hurdle, I would pass away early.
“Now it seems the fortune teller spoke the truth. This hurdle of the Liu family is one I truly cannot cross.”
Li Zhi did not speak, merely looking at her with a playful expression.
Wang Yuzheng secretly stole a glance at his expression and said hesitatingly, “As a mere woman, I truly have no other way. If Husband wants to leave me here as collateral, you gentlemen will certainly not let me off.”
Li Zhi smiled, a rare sight. “He says you are worth three hundred strings of cash.”
Wang Yuzheng slowly touched her face and smiled bitterly. “I didn’t know I was worth so much money.”
Li Zhi raised an eyebrow.
Testing his bottom line step by step, Wang Yuzheng put on an expression of throwing caution to the wind. Hesitantly, she stood up, walked over to him, and slowly sank to her knees.
Li Zhi remained seated on the stone stool without moving, merely looking down to inspect her. She looked up pitifully, her crimson lips parting slightly as she said softly, “I want to live. I don’t want to be sold into prostitution.”
Li Zhi still did not move.
Wang Yuzheng slumped her body in dejection, resting her head on his lap in an utterly bewitching manner, murmuring, “I beg the hero to show me mercy just this once.”
She displayed a weak posture, begging for his pity.
Li Zhi looked down at her, unable to press down the corners of his mouth.
He liked watching prey walk obediently into the cage. “Is Lady Wang begging a bandit to love and pity you?”
Wang Yuzheng did not answer, merely looking up at him, her almond eyes carrying an embarrassment too difficult to voice.
From the triumphant look in his eyes, she caught sight of his competitive desire for control.
Very good. The fish had taken the bait.
The time to deceive him had arrived.