Chapter 957 796: Seats

"Collaborating with the Japanese?" Xu Houye shot to his feet.

At the words "collaborating with the Japanese," the Xu Family members outside the hall buzzed like a hive, even Mrs. Zhang and Zhang Xia couldn't help exchanging looks.

Mrs. Zhang couldn't help asking in a low voice, "Didn't the Anti-Japanese Army just win a great victory at Jingjiang? How did they end up in Ningbo Prefecture again?"

Zhang Xia lowered his head, pondering, "The transport-level ox carts only arrived in Jinling today, which means the Jingjiang victory was wrapped up seven or eight days ago. As long as the Anti-Japanese Army could board ships and reach Ningbo Prefecture within three days, then seize Xu Houye's son and immediately send someone to report, the timing fits perfectly."

Xiao Man stood to the side, watching Zhang Xia's expression while muttering under her breath, "Going by that, Young Master hasn't taken a single break, has he, running around nonstop for Sister Axia."

Zhang Xia slanted her a glance: "Thanks for the reminder."

At this moment, inside the main hall, Xu Houye swept his gaze over the chattering clan outside, then turned back to Li Si and snarled, "What nonsense are you spouting, how could my son be collaborating with the Japanese?"

Li Si said unhurriedly, "Isn't Xu Chuan'an your son?"

Xu Houye snapped, "So what if he is? Just because you say he's collaborating with the Japanese, he is?"

Li Si said innocently, "Exactly. My Anti-Japanese Army says he's collaborating with the Japanese, so he is. Problem?"

Xu Houye's breath hitched; he couldn't get a word out for a long while.

Li Si drawled, "My Anti-Japanese Army just chopped off over four thousand pirate heads in Jingjiang County, and from the pirates' confessions we followed the trail to some merchants collaborating with the Japanese. Sounds reasonable enough, doesn't it?"

At this point, Xu Houye looked to Xu Houting. Xu Houting gave a light cough, stood up, and said to Li Si, "Little brother…"

Li Si slanted him a look: "What, you're collaborating with the Japanese too?"

Xu Houting's face flushed crimson; the words he'd half said stuck in his throat. Li Si blinked: "Huh? You really are collaborating with the Japanese?"

Xu Houting barked, "Utter drivel!"

Li Si let out an "oh," stroked that small tuft of goatee of his, and said, "Looks like you are…"

Standing outside the hall, Mrs. Zhang watched Li Si alone taking on a hall full of "scholars" with his tongue without the slightest stage fright, and at once asked Zhang Xia, "Where did Chen Ji pick up this adopted son? From his manner, he doesn't look like some street riffraff. On the contrary, he seems rather well-traveled."

Xiao Man muttered, "He's picky as anything. When we eat fish, he rushes to grab that crescent of meat by the eye; with roast chicken he only eats the wings and drumsticks; with mutton he insists on some jaw meat, says it's neither too fatty nor too gamey… And he absolutely has to wash his hands before eating. Common folk on the streets don't have that habit."

Mrs. Zhang mused, "So he's the son of some official family?"

Xiao Man added, "And this kind of adopted son, Young Master has four more just like him…"

…

…

In the main hall, Xu Houting had caught his breath again; chin tilted, he said arrogantly, "Little brother, though your Anti-Japanese Army has made great contributions, that doesn't give you the right to arrest whomever you like. Even if this case is sent to the Three Judicial Departments, the evidence must be thorough before a conviction can be made."

"Yan… what was it again," Li Si stalled. He fished a slip of paper from his sleeve, gave it a glance, then turned to ask Xu Houye, "The Yan-character banner, is that yours?"

Xu Houye said in a deep voice, "Yes!"

Li Si put away the paper slip and looked up at him: "Then the three thousand seven hundred bolts of silk and one thousand five hundred jin of tea being shipped overseas on that boat—do they belong to your family?"

Xu Houye hesitated.

Two breaths later, he roared again, "That batch of goods was to be shipped by my son to Haoguang Bay. On what grounds do you say it was destined for Japan?"

"Leaving aside the court's strict decree that 'not a single plank may put to sea,'" Li Si smiled, "whether it was going to Japan or not, you know very well, and so do the sailors on that ship. No matter. My Anti-Japanese Army has interrogation experts who've handled even Second Grade Product officials; we have a hundred ways to make your Xu Family's sailors explain things clearly. By now the confession should be written, shouldn't it? Shall we send it to the Imperial Capital or not? This is a capital crime that wipes out whole families."

Seeing the situation turning bad, Xu Chuanyin immediately raised his hand to summon his own servant: "Today is the day the Xu Family discusses the major matter of choosing a Clan Leader. How can we let an outsider come in and stir things up? Throw him out. We'll talk about other matters after the Xu Family is done discussing."

Seeing the Xu Family servants squeezing through the crowd, Li Si still didn't panic. He turned to look at Xu Chongyi: "The Jinling Xu Family has nothing to say? You're just going to let them throw me out like this?"

Xu Chongyi gave a signal toward the outside of the hall; at once, the Jinling Xu Family's servants moved to block the Huqiu Xu Family's men.

Xu Chuanyin flew into a rage: "Xu Chongyi, no matter what, this is family business. How can you let an outsider make the clan elders lose face?"

Xu Chongyi lifted the teacup, took a light sip, and said, "With the greater good of the state before us, how can the family be above the nation?"

Yet at that very moment, Li Si suddenly shifted his tone, smiling as he said, "Of course, it's also possible that my Anti-Japanese Army made a mistake."

Xu Chongyi choked on a mouthful of tea.

Xu Houye's face sank into shadow: "What exactly does your Anti-Japanese Army want?"

Li Si looked at Xu Houye, put away his smile, and said grimly, "Hand over all the Xu Family property in your hands—the deeds to shops, fields, and workshops, house deeds as well—return them all to the clan. And don't feel wronged; this 'greater good' was bought with the lives of my Anti-Japanese Army dying hard in Jingjiang. It's only because we're in this Jinling City—were we in Jingjiang, your heads would already be rolling… I'm giving you just one two hours. Go."

Xu Houye's chest heaved violently. After a moment, he strode toward the door. Outside the hall was a dense crowd of clan members; his way was blocked, and he immediately grew irritable and cursed, "What are you looking at, get out of the way!"

Once Xu Houye hurried off, Shi'en Hall seemed to explode. Not only were the clan members outside chattering, even the remaining clan elders inside all turned sideways, whispering to each other.

Just then, Li Si put on a smiling face, turned back to look at Mrs. Zhang and Zhang Xia outside the hall: "Old Madam, godmother!"

That single call silenced both inside and outside the hall. Xu Chongyi was leaning an elbow on the armrest, listening to another clan elder's whispers; the shout of "godmother" made him look up in stunned surprise.

The next moment, Li Si came before Mrs. Zhang, fawning as he said, "Old Madam, please come inside. There's an empty chair here—sit and rest for a bit."

Everyone looked toward the hall. Of the ten chairs inside, one was finally vacated for Mrs. Zhang.

Mrs. Zhang gave a nasal "mm," calmly stepped over the threshold, and sat herself down unhurriedly in the very spot Xu Houye had just occupied.

Li Si stood to the side, smiling as he said, "This seat here has always been something one fights for oneself. A seat given by others can't be sat firmly, because it's not yours. Only what you fight for yourself can be sat firmly."

The Xu Family's young and old watched him, this brazen petty man, acting as if no one else existed while he arranged the seating.

One clan elder snorted, "A petty man in his moment of triumph."

The next moment, Li Si raised his head and said to Zhang Xia, who was standing behind Mrs. Zhang, "Don't worry, godmother, this petty man will find a chance to fight for a chair for you too. Let me see which one would be suitable…"

With that said, Li Si's cold gaze swept across the faces of the eight Xu Family elders one by one. The elders felt a chill in their hearts and knew this matter was far from over.

That Chief from the Anti-Japanese Army had gone to such great lengths, killed more than four thousand pirates just to grab hold of this banner of 'greater good'; he would never stop after only taking Xu Houye as the first example.

At this time, one elder leaned close to Xu Chongyi's ear and murmured a few words. Xu Chongyi gave a slight nod, then turned to the crowd and said, "Just now Xu Chuanyin suggested we choose the clan leader by collective vote. Our Jinling Xu Family agrees—why not conduct the vote right now?"

He summoned a servant, who brought over brush, ink, paper, and inkstone; on the table lay a stack of yellow paper.

Xu Chongyi said evenly, "Write down the person each of you nominates. Whoever receives the most yellow slips will be the next Clan Leader. Meng Shan Gong, your troubles extend far beyond that lone widow and orphan affair; what Xu Chuanyin knows, our Jinling Xu Family knows as well. But our Jinling Xu Family will not force you—just cast your vote for Xu Shu."

As long as Meng Shan Gong remained neutral, the Jinling Xu Family would now have one more vote than the Huqiu Xu Family.

Xu Chuanyin burst out angrily, "Xu Chongyi, why the hell didn't you agree just now, and only agree once you see we're fewer in number?"

An elder beside Xu Chongyi shouted, "Bawling and yelling in Shi'en Hall—what sort of decorum is that? If you further insult propriety, we'll throw you out right now."

Xu Chuanyin gave a grin that wasn't quite a grin: "Xu Chongde, I respect your seniority and call you an elder—but without that seniority, what are you? Xu Chongyi's two sons wag their tails behind Xu Chuanxi, one got the county magistrate post of Jiangning County, the other became Prefectural Magistrate of Yingtian Prefecture. Your son only scraped up a county magistrate post in Changzhou County, yet you still run around kissing his ass?"

Xu Chongde said furiously, "Changzhou County is the largest county in Suzhou Prefecture, administering East and North Suzhou City. The Suzhou wealthy families and official grandees all live there—it's an office others beg for but can't get…"

Xu Chuanyin made a show of sudden realization: "Oh, so that's why you're licking Xu Chuanxi's ass."

Xu Chongde sprang to his feet: "An insult to propriety! An insult to propriety!"

Outside the hall, seeing their elder insulted, Xu Chongde's sons and nephews immediately began pointing at Xu Chuanyin's nose and cursing him.

Xu Chuanyin threw a look at his own people, and the youths of both sides started quarreling outside the hall. No one knew who threw the first punch, but in an instant they were brawling in a heap.

Li Si folded his hands inside his sleeves, cheerfully watching the Xu Family youths beating each other up nonstop: "Isn't this more entertaining than listening to storytelling in a teahouse?"

Xu Chuanyin sneered, "Today it's all chaos because of an outsider. I suppose no result can be reached. We'll meet again in seven days!"

With that, he lifted his leg and left, shielded by his Executive Officer, walking straight through the brawling crowd and striding off.

As he stepped out the door, he spoke quietly to the Executive Officer beside him: "Prepare the carriage. We're going to the government office to see the Minister of War. I don't believe that here in Jiangnan we can't put this little Anti-Japanese Army in its place!"