Chapter 45 Dear Father, Clearly Settle the Accounts
Taking the golden note Blackbeard stuffed into his hand, Lin Qi carefully scrutinized it under the light.
He didn’t immediately pay attention to the amount of money written on the golden note. Rather, he first examined the paper. It was an extremely tough and smooth piece of special paper,. Despite exerting a little strength, it unexpectedly didn’t tear apart: It really was the empire’s unique and exclusive golden note created using special papers and made for selected banks.
The watermark on the golden note was also clearly visible under the light: three silvery-white-colored elephants in a line that were walking under a metasequoia tree. This was the symbol of the biggest, oldest, and most respected bank in the empire―the ‘Silver Fir and Elephant Bank’. From the special secret marks on the bodies of the silver-colored elephants as well as the distinct leaves of the metasequoia tree, it was evident that this golden note was truly produced by the Silver Fir and Elephant Bank.
The writing on the golden note was clear without any traces of alterations. More importantly, there were no bloodstains or any other suspicious marks on the golden note; this proved that it indeed came from standard channels and was unlikely to be a stolen good or from the spoils of a robbery.
Only after determining that it was a true and reliable piece of consummable golden note, did Lin Qi focus on the most important box that contained the value of the money.
One hundred thousand gold coins!
The blessing came so suddenly that Lin Qi’s blood surged from his heart directly to his brain, and he was dizzy for a while. One hundred thousand gold coins, this was already worth several years pure annual income of some medium-sized aristocratic families in Borali City. Yet Blackbeard generously gave him an investment of one hundred thousand gold coins!
Then, when he thought about the word ‘investment’, the blood boiling in Lin Qi’s brain rapidly returned to his heart. He regained his clear-headedness, then stuffed the golden note into his inner pocket while staring at Blackbeard. He sneered and said, “Dear father, investment? Did I mishear? One hundred thousand gold coins to be invested into my Ironfist Brotherhood? Go to hell! Is this something a father should be doing?”
Blackbeard indifferently took out a small bronze bottle of wine from his sleeve, unscrewed it, and drank a mouthful. He grimaced and retorted Lin Qi in a loud voice, “Rubbish, I care for my only son. I take out glittering one hundred thousand crowing to invest in the faction established by my only son. This fully expresses the concern and care a father has for his child!”
“I accept the money, but investment isn’t possible!” Lin Qi buttoned up the three buttons on his secret pocket and sat on his mother’s coffin. Both of his hands caressed the ice-cold and smooth crystal coffin as he coldly said, “This kind of behaviour, it’s too shameless. You unexpectedly want to seize my property with a trifling one hundred thousand crowing. This absolutely won’t do. Mother will never forgive you! This is mother’s tomb, you are extorting her only child in front of her tomb, simply too shameful!”
Blackbeard was so angry that his face turned red. He bared his fangs, waved both of his hands, and roared with rage, “No crowing just fall from heaven! Every copper coin was painstakingly earned by your father! Father merely took a liking to your Ironfist Brotherhood’s growth potential. Moreover our Black Tiger Family need our own eyes and ears in Borali, so I invested in your small faction!”
Raising the wine bottle to his mouth and drinking the whole 250-gram alcoholic drink, Blackbeard loudly howled, “Otherwise, for your group of lawless students along with three hundred wandering ruffians and rogues, why would I, Blackbeard, take out one hundred thousand glittering crowing?”
Throwing the wine bottle to the ground, Blackbeard raised both of his huge hands and slowly counted with his fingers, “ten thousand, twenty thousand, thirty thousand… one hundred thousand! Look clearly, one hundred thousand crowing, not ten, not one hundred, but one hundred thousand!”
Waving his big fist, Blackbeard spat some saliva and roared in rage, “One hundred thousand crowing, do you know what this means? If you took out several crowing in a small tavern in the Borali Dock Area, you could make a group of men help you kill your enemy! There are one hundred thousand crowing here; they are worth twenty thousand human lives! I invested so much and only want so little in return, yet I still can’t invest?”
Strongly slapping Lin Qi on the head, Blackbeard roared, “I’m seizing your property? Hell! In the future, all the family properties will be yours! Damn it! You scoundrel! You idiot! Is this something a son should be saying? You just hurt me too much!”
Lin Qi rolled his eyes, then coldly snorted and said, “All of your properties will be mine? Then, should I go and kill Arthur first?”
Blackbeard’s breath hitched and he didn’t reply for a long time.
Strongly patting his chest and burping loudly, Blackbeard wrinkled his eyebrows and grumbled, “How did it come back to this problem? I’ve said it before, after a while, I will sent him away. Let him take over his father, Red-Haired Demon’s territory. The family’s properties would naturally be handed over to you entirely. Why do you always have to worry about this matter?”
Lin Qi narrowed his eyes in satisfaction. He raised a finger, sneered, and said, “Because I don’t trust him! Do you think he will go back to the territory of that deceased father of his? Will he obediently go back and risk meeting with pirates? Hell, if he can kill me, then he can take over the entire Black Tiger Family, he would then flourish!”
Blackbeard strongly shook his head. He sneered and said, “How would he have that kind of opportunity? Don’t talk rubbish!”
Firmly waving his hand, Blackbeard flatly said, “Forget about Arthur. In the past, you had bullied him enough; you even personally dug out one of his eyeballs, what more do you want? Don’t raise this matter anymore. One hundred thousand gold coins, plus a group of experts from the family assigned to Borali under your command, I want Ironfist Brotherhood to expand tenfold in two years.”
Clenching his fist, Blackbeard muttered to himself for a moment before saying, “Since it’s the Ironfist Brotherhood, you will take sixty percent, father will take forty percent, you’ve gotten a big advantage!”
An investment of one hundred thousand gold coins, plus a group of experts from the family under his command? This kind of strength was enough to allow the Ironfist Brotherhood to rapidly expand.
Because Borali was the imperial capital, among the city’s secret forces, there were no big and powerful families like the Black Tiger Family. The tenfold increase in strength of the Ironfist Brotherhood could mean that they could even become superior to big and long-established powers like Cripple and Hunchback. Without a doubt, this will bring a huge profit.
Not to mention, now, Lin Qi could work with a Lord like Mister Ge Lang. After the Ironfist Brotherhood expanded tenfold, perhaps their business targets would be people like Barons, Viscounts, or even big shots with even higher positions, right? This would also be a benefit for Blackbeard’s plan!
Perhaps this was actually Blackbeard’s most fundamental goal – he wanted to develop his own group of lobbyists in the imperial capital!
After muttering to himself for a while, Lin Qi raised his finger and said, “Dear father, let’s clearly settle the accounts: The one hundred thousand gold coins shall be considered mine. If you want to invest in the future, you have to give me enough gold coins. The people assigned by the family have to listen to my commands. You must not remotely control them! I will have the final say in the Ironfist Brotherhood!”
Unable to stop himself from looking at this shrewd son of his, Blackbeard gratefully and emotionally sighed, then said, “Fine, Lin Qi, you’ve finally grown up! You even know to bargain with your own father—you’ve indeed grown up!”
Blackbeard firmly shook Lin Qi’s hand and the pair of father and son officially concluded the contract.
Chapter 45 Dear Father, Clearly Settle the Accounts
Taking the golden note Blackbeard stuffed into his hand, Lin Qi carefully scrutinized it under the light.
He didn’t immediately pay attention to the amount of money written on the golden note. Rather, he first examined the paper. It was an extremely tough and smooth piece of special paper,. Despite exerting a little strength, it unexpectedly didn’t tear apart: It really was the empire’s unique and exclusive golden note created using special papers and made for selected banks.
The watermark on the golden note was also clearly visible under the light: three silvery-white-colored elephants in a line that were walking under a metasequoia tree. This was the symbol of the biggest, oldest, and most respected bank in the empire―the ‘Silver Fir and Elephant Bank’. From the special secret marks on the bodies of the silver-colored elephants as well as the distinct leaves of the metasequoia tree, it was evident that this golden note was truly produced by the Silver Fir and Elephant Bank.
The writing on the golden note was clear without any traces of alterations. More importantly, there were no bloodstains or any other suspicious marks on the golden note; this proved that it indeed came from standard channels and was unlikely to be a stolen good or from the spoils of a robbery.
Only after determining that it was a true and reliable piece of consummable golden note, did Lin Qi focus on the most important box that contained the value of the money.
One hundred thousand gold coins!
The blessing came so suddenly that Lin Qi’s blood surged from his heart directly to his brain, and he was dizzy for a while. One hundred thousand gold coins, this was already worth several years pure annual income of some medium-sized aristocratic families in Borali City. Yet Blackbeard generously gave him an investment of one hundred thousand gold coins!
Then, when he thought about the word ‘investment’, the blood boiling in Lin Qi’s brain rapidly returned to his heart. He regained his clear-headedness, then stuffed the golden note into his inner pocket while staring at Blackbeard. He sneered and said, “Dear father, investment? Did I mishear? One hundred thousand gold coins to be invested into my Ironfist Brotherhood? Go to hell! Is this something a father should be doing?”
Blackbeard indifferently took out a small bronze bottle of wine from his sleeve, unscrewed it, and drank a mouthful. He grimaced and retorted Lin Qi in a loud voice, “Rubbish, I care for my only son. I take out glittering one hundred thousand crowing to invest in the faction established by my only son. This fully expresses the concern and care a father has for his child!”
“I accept the money, but investment isn’t possible!” Lin Qi buttoned up the three buttons on his secret pocket and sat on his mother’s coffin. Both of his hands caressed the ice-cold and smooth crystal coffin as he coldly said, “This kind of behaviour, it’s too shameless. You unexpectedly want to seize my property with a trifling one hundred thousand crowing. This absolutely won’t do. Mother will never forgive you! This is mother’s tomb, you are extorting her only child in front of her tomb, simply too shameful!”
Blackbeard was so angry that his face turned red. He bared his fangs, waved both of his hands, and roared with rage, “No crowing just fall from heaven! Every copper coin was painstakingly earned by your father! Father merely took a liking to your Ironfist Brotherhood’s growth potential. Moreover our Black Tiger Family need our own eyes and ears in Borali, so I invested in your small faction!”
Raising the wine bottle to his mouth and drinking the whole 250-gram alcoholic drink, Blackbeard loudly howled, “Otherwise, for your group of lawless students along with three hundred wandering ruffians and rogues, why would I, Blackbeard, take out one hundred thousand glittering crowing?”
Throwing the wine bottle to the ground, Blackbeard raised both of his huge hands and slowly counted with his fingers, “ten thousand, twenty thousand, thirty thousand… one hundred thousand! Look clearly, one hundred thousand crowing, not ten, not one hundred, but one hundred thousand!”
Waving his big fist, Blackbeard spat some saliva and roared in rage, “One hundred thousand crowing, do you know what this means? If you took out several crowing in a small tavern in the Borali Dock Area, you could make a group of men help you kill your enemy! There are one hundred thousand crowing here; they are worth twenty thousand human lives! I invested so much and only want so little in return, yet I still can’t invest?”
Strongly slapping Lin Qi on the head, Blackbeard roared, “I’m seizing your property? Hell! In the future, all the family properties will be yours! Damn it! You scoundrel! You idiot! Is this something a son should be saying? You just hurt me too much!”
Lin Qi rolled his eyes, then coldly snorted and said, “All of your properties will be mine? Then, should I go and kill Arthur first?”
Blackbeard’s breath hitched and he didn’t reply for a long time.
Strongly patting his chest and burping loudly, Blackbeard wrinkled his eyebrows and grumbled, “How did it come back to this problem? I’ve said it before, after a while, I will sent him away. Let him take over his father, Red-Haired Demon’s territory. The family’s properties would naturally be handed over to you entirely. Why do you always have to worry about this matter?”
Lin Qi narrowed his eyes in satisfaction. He raised a finger, sneered, and said, “Because I don’t trust him! Do you think he will go back to the territory of that deceased father of his? Will he obediently go back and risk meeting with pirates? Hell, if he can kill me, then he can take over the entire Black Tiger Family, he would then flourish!”
Blackbeard strongly shook his head. He sneered and said, “How would he have that kind of opportunity? Don’t talk rubbish!”
Firmly waving his hand, Blackbeard flatly said, “Forget about Arthur. In the past, you had bullied him enough; you even personally dug out one of his eyeballs, what more do you want? Don’t raise this matter anymore. One hundred thousand gold coins, plus a group of experts from the family assigned to Borali under your command, I want Ironfist Brotherhood to expand tenfold in two years.”
Clenching his fist, Blackbeard muttered to himself for a moment before saying, “Since it’s the Ironfist Brotherhood, you will take sixty percent, father will take forty percent, you’ve gotten a big advantage!”
An investment of one hundred thousand gold coins, plus a group of experts from the family under his command? This kind of strength was enough to allow the Ironfist Brotherhood to rapidly expand.
Because Borali was the imperial capital, among the city’s secret forces, there were no big and powerful families like the Black Tiger Family. The tenfold increase in strength of the Ironfist Brotherhood could mean that they could even become superior to big and long-established powers like Cripple and Hunchback. Without a doubt, this will bring a huge profit.
Not to mention, now, Lin Qi could work with a Lord like Mister Ge Lang. After the Ironfist Brotherhood expanded tenfold, perhaps their business targets would be people like Barons, Viscounts, or even big shots with even higher positions, right? This would also be a benefit for Blackbeard’s plan!
Perhaps this was actually Blackbeard’s most fundamental goal – he wanted to develop his own group of lobbyists in the imperial capital!
After muttering to himself for a while, Lin Qi raised his finger and said, “Dear father, let’s clearly settle the accounts: The one hundred thousand gold coins shall be considered mine. If you want to invest in the future, you have to give me enough gold coins. The people assigned by the family have to listen to my commands. You must not remotely control them! I will have the final say in the Ironfist Brotherhood!”
Unable to stop himself from looking at this shrewd son of his, Blackbeard gratefully and emotionally sighed, then said, “Fine, Lin Qi, you’ve finally grown up! You even know to bargain with your own father—you’ve indeed grown up!”
Blackbeard firmly shook Lin Qi’s hand and the pair of father and son officially concluded the contract.
