Chapter 24: The Oppressive Token
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“Miss Su, what has angered you so much that you attacked my two guests in succession?”
Ye Bufan approached with a composed and courteous demeanor.
“Is the Young City Lord standing up for them?” Su Ran asked coldly.
“Miss Su is also a guest. How could a host justify attacking their own guests?” Ye Bufan shook his head.
“However, I must also give the other guests an explanation.” His tone shifted slightly.
“What does the Young City Lord intend to do?” Su Ran frowned.
“I have already understood the full situation.” Ye Bufan continued, “Everything stems from Chen Fei’s actions. As long as Chen Fei apologizes to my two injured guests, I will personally ensure this matter is settled.”
“Apologize?”
“Have my husband apologize?”
“What if I refuse?”
Su Ran let out a cold laugh.
“Miss Su, don’t be so hasty. Take a look at this first.” Ye Bufan handed a document to Su Ran.
With a hint of doubt, Su Ran took the document, and her expression immediately changed. It was a contract for the transfer of mining rights, signed by numerous Su family elders, including the most senior among them.
This mine was the Huang Ling Mine, the most crucial asset of the Su family. Whether for Su Ran herself or for the Su family patriarch, it was an irreplaceable resource that could not afford any mishaps.
“How dare they?” Su Ran’s expression turned to fury and anxiety.
“Miss Su, this agreement has not yet taken effect. However, all it needs is the family head’s signature, and it will be fully enacted at any moment,” Ye Bufan said with a smug smile.
“Now, Miss Su, are you still willing to risk this contract for the sake of your useless husband?” His eyes gleamed with amusement.
Su Ran remained silent, frozen in place. The Huang Ling Mine was too important. However, if she forced Chen Fei to apologize in front of so many people, it would be the same as abandoning him—letting him be humiliated once again in Huangwu City.
Although Chen Fei stood behind Su Ran, his Serpent Sight ability allowed him to see the content of the contract clearly.
“Ye Bufan is truly despicable, using the Su family’s most important mine to threaten her?”
“And how could the Su family even think of selling such a crucial asset to the City Lord’s estate?”
Chen Fei was utterly shocked. The existence of such an agreement was far too suspicious.
He could feel Su Ran’s dilemma. Just moments ago, she had been fiercely protecting him, causing an uproar at the grand celebration.
But now, Ye Bufan had struck at her weakness, putting her in an impossible position. Whether she chose to yield or resist, she would lose face either way.
“Ye Bufan, what will it take for this agreement to disappear?” Su Ran gritted her teeth.
“A single mine means everything to the Su family, but to my City Lord’s estate, it is merely a drop in the ocean,” Ye Bufan replied with a triumphant grin.
“If you want this agreement back, it depends on how much sincerity Miss Su is willing to show.”
He was enjoying every moment of this.
“Just an apology, right?”
“Young City Lord, if I apologize, will you destroy this agreement?”
Chen Fei stepped forward without hesitation. He did not want Su Ran to be put in such a difficult position, nor did he want her to suffer humiliation for his sake.
Ye Bufan looked at Chen Fei, his gaze filled with cold contempt. This blind, crippled man was the husband of the woman he admired most? Even though everyone in Huangwu City knew Chen Fei was just a shield for Su Ran, it still infuriated Ye Bufan.
“You?” Ye Bufan sneered. “You think your apology is worth this contract?”
“If your brother personally came to negotiate, maybe I’d consider it.”
“But unfortunately, your brother Chen Yang is not here. And from today onward, he will never have a place in Huangwu City.”
When facing Chen Fei, Ye Bufan didn’t bother maintaining any pretense of civility. He wished he could tear Chen Fei apart on the spot.
“Young City Lord is right. A crippled, blind waste like you has no right to stand here and negotiate.”
“Back then, you were abandoned by Qin Shuang, publicly humiliated by the Qin family, and nearly thrown out onto the streets.”
“If it weren’t for Miss Su saving you, you’d be worse off than a beggar right now.”
“A useless cripple like you dares to stand before us?”
The crowd of young elites eagerly piled on the insults, recounting every painful detail of Chen Fei’s past—his betrayal, his ruined cultivation, his lost eyes, his public humiliation.
Each word was like salt rubbed into an open wound.
For a moment, an uncontrollable rage burned inside Chen Fei.
He wanted to lash out, to strike down every person mocking him.
But reason held him back. If he acted recklessly, not only would he fail to help Su Ran, but he might also be unable to walk out of the City Lord’s estate alive.
Right now, everyone saw him as a blind cripple—a perception that, ironically, protected him.
But swallowing this humiliation? Unacceptable!
“Young City Lord, I may be a cripple, but my brother is not.”
“You claim he has no place in Huangwu City?”
“But to him, Huangwu City isn’t even worthy of his talent and strength!”
Chen Fei smirked and reached into his robes, pulling out a silver crescent-shaped dagger.
“Young City Lord, I wonder if this Silver Moon Academy Special Token is enough to negotiate with you?”
This was the token given to him by Sun Qianyi, representing his status as a specially recruited student of Silver Moon Academy—the highest level of student recognition.
According to Sun Qianyi and Lu Yijun, any student who successfully graduated from Silver Moon Academy’s special recruitment program would automatically become a Fourth-Rank City Patrolling Envoy of the Great Qing Nation.
A City Patrolling Envoy was the imperial court’s method of restraining and monitoring city lords. They held the terrifying authority to act first and report later.
Thus, while this token held little significance to common families, to a City Lord’s estate, it was an absolute threat.
“Impossible!”
Ye Bufan snatched the silver crescent dagger from Chen Fei’s hand, inspecting its emblem and inscriptions.
“No wonder he ignored my invitations. He actually possesses a Special Recruitment Token from Silver Moon Academy!”
Ye Bufan’s expression changed drastically, and he subconsciously swallowed hard. Although Chen Fei had not yet become a City Patrolling Envoy, as long as he survived, it was only a matter of time.
As the Young City Lord, Ye Bufan feared no one—except a future imperial envoy.
Ye Gulong and Ye Chunyan also came over to examine the token, their expressions shifting dramatically.
For the first time, an uneasy panic appeared in their eyes.
If the City Lord learned that they had offended a future City Patrolling Envoy, none of them would escape punishment.
The onlookers, who had been ridiculing Chen Fei just moments ago, were left speechless.
Who would have thought that this so-called cripple had an elder brother with such an astonishing identity?
“Young City Lord, shall we negotiate now?”
Chen Fei watched Ye Bufan’s panicked expression and knew—Sun Qianyi had not lied to him.
This token truly carried immense power.
