Evergreen Immortal-Chapter 15: Leave After the Deed

"Master, Old Li beat Second Master’s men..."

A middle-aged steward stood respectfully.

Zhu Ping’s expression didn’t waver. “Just a squabble among servants. Ten lashes each. How old is Old Li now?”

“Nearly seventy, master.”

Zhu Ping paused, then added,

“He’s too old for corporal punishment. Just note it down for now.”

The steward looked up, stunned.

So in the end, only Zhao Mazi gets the lashings?

This favoritism was way too obvious.

“Understood.”

After over a decade of working in the Zhu household, the steward was sharp. He immediately understood that the master was using this incident to give Second Master a warning.

When the room was empty again, Zhu Ping’s lips curled into a faint smile.

“Old Li, you’ve certainly given me a surprise.”

"Old Li, the master says you’re excused from the lashes due to your age. Just stay confined indoors for three days."

The steward beamed with not a hint of reproach.

“Thank you, Master. Steward Zhu, here’s a little token of appreciation.”

Li Rui pulled out a bulging pouch from his sleeve.

Steward Zhu accepted it without a flicker of expression. He weighed it lightly, the clinking of copper coins inside was music to his ears. His smile widened.

Ah, the elderly still know the proper etiquette.

"Old Li, you’ve served the household a long time. Keep it up, the master is watching."

The unspoken meaning: beat whoever you like. Master’s got your back.

Li Rui chuckled. “Master is truly a great benefactor.”

In the Zhu household, what you did didn’t matter as much as who you followed. With the right backer, anything you did was right.

He’d had Wang Zhao go exchange for a sack of copper coins just earlier, a pile of coins always looked more generous than a single silver piece.

Once the steward left...

Wang Zhao asked nervously, “Master, that’s... it?”

Li Rui glanced at his silly disciple. “What else would happen?”

The feud between Zhu Ping and Zhu Lie had simmered for years- veiled, but not forgotten.

Soldiers against soldiers, generals against generals.

As long as he didn’t lay a hand on Zhu Lie directly, it wasn’t a big deal. Zhao Mazi could only blame his own lack of skill, the beating was well earned.

“Get going. Don’t slack off on those stables just because I’m grounded.”

“Yes, Master.”

When Wang Zhao was gone, Li Rui sat alone in the room, his eyes glinting coldly.

“Zhao Mazi must not be left alive.”

That man had long abused his tie to Zhu Lie, bullying the weak and coercing women around the estate. He was careful, never picking fights he couldn’t win, so the master turned a blind eye.

But this time, he’d picked the wrong fight.

He messed with Li Rui.

“Poisoning won’t work, he eats in the mess hall. Might harm others and bring even more trouble.”

If too many people died at once, it wouldn’t just alert the Zhu household, even the authorities might investigate.

Though this world lacked high-tech forensics, some veteran constables weren’t fools.

“Then... I’ll be direct.”

Late at night.

In a dark little hut on the western edge of the Zhu estate, the door stood open. Inside, faint groans of pain echoed.

“Damn that old bastard... when I’m better, I’ll poison your horses and see how you explain that!”

Zhao Mazi lay belly-down on his bed.

His back was bare, crisscrossed with bloody lash marks, exactly ten. The moonlight made them look even more gruesome.

“Ugh...”

What pissed him off most wasn’t the pain, it was that he got ten lashes, and Old Li got nothing but three days in.

“Who’s there?”

He noticed a shadow appear in the room.

“Damn it, are you dead or what? Walking without making a sound.”

He figured it was one of his lackeys bringing medicine.

Just as he turned his head—

“Mmgh—!”

A blanket suddenly dropped over his head. Darkness swallowed his vision. He gasped for air, struggling wildly, but it was useless.

Although he was strong, how could he be compared to an Entry Grade martial artist?

A voice hissed in his ear:

“Be more careful in your next life, there are some people you can't afford to provoke!”

Under the blanket, Zhao Mazi’s face turned beet red, his eyes widened.

It was Old Li!

He wanted to curse, but only a low choking gurgle escaped. His limbs thrashed for a moment... and then went limp.

Li Rui didn’t let go just because he stopped resisting.

In his heart, he silently counted:

“Two hundred fifteen.”

“Two hundred sixteen.”

Only after reaching five hundred did he release the blanket.

Zhao Mazi had long since soaked the bed in urine. His face was purple, tongue lolled out, dead beyond any doubt.

No chance to fake death.

Li Rui felt no remorse. He even had the heart to clean the scene meticulously and pocket all valuables in the room.

Finally, he arranged the corpse to make it look like Zhao Mazi had rolled out of bed and froze to death.

Only then did he turn to leave, calm as ever.

Leave after the deed is done.

There was no surveillance in this world. Most murders remained unsolved and this was just a servant. The authorities wouldn’t lift a finger.

Of course, it was possible the government had supernatural methods.

Like the mystical talismans Zhu Yue had mentioned.

But even if such things existed, no way they’d use them on a lowly servant.

Zhao Mazi’s body was found by a few guards the next day.

It was the dead of winter, even hanging meat in the kitchen lasted weeks. When they found him, his corpse was frozen stiff.

Zhu Lie flew into a rage, he vowed to find out who killed his man.

Especially after they found Zhao Mazi’s valuables missing, he had clearly been killed for his money.

But Zhao had too many enemies. He’d done Zhu Lie’s dirty work for years, leaving a long trail of grudges, and Li Rui was just one of them.

Moreover, Li Rui was still confined and grounded in his room right now, there was no chance to make a move.

Unless he was some kind of martial artist...

A seventy-year-old man becoming an entry level martial artist, what kind of joke is that?

The case ended up going nowhere.

With Zhao Mazi dead, the Zhu family's subordinates were secretly rejoicing, without Zhao Mazi's bullying, their lives were bound to get easier.

Rumors spread fast.

Some said it was Old Li’s doing, but others laughed it off. After passing through seven or eight mouths, the story morphed into Zhao Mazi having committed too many vile deeds alongside Second Master and that he was dragged to hell by vengeful spirits!

How else could one explain a strong, living man dying without a sound, with not even the guards sleeping in the next room hearing a thing?

Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.

Naturally, none of this had anything to do with Li Rui, the seventy-year-old man already half a foot in the grave.

Li Rui returned to his room.

Before his eyes, lines of small text appeared.

[Congratulations to the Host on completing the achievement: "Jianghu Rising Star - Entry Level Plot: First Step Into Jianghu 2"]