Walls fall and everyone pushes, drums crack and everyone hits.
This is an undeniable truth, an immutable maxim.
Before Li Qianfan arrived, all seven noble families, excluding the Ma family, presented a resolute front, their faces a picture of unwavering loyalty, ready to sacrifice everything for the Ma family.
But then Ma Hongshan was publicly hanged, and Wei Shifang revealed the truth;
Li Qianfan then presented the recorded conversation between Ma Hongtu and Editor Yuan, fabricating a secret pregnancy for a certain empress.
Elder Yuan the Second immediately and decisively bowed his head in surrender and turned to leave.
Li Qianfan seized the opportunity to deliver a speech from his car, exposing the Ma family's despicable actions to the public and inciting widespread outrage. And then what?
Chen Er was the first to jump out, publicly declaring his dissociation from the Ma family, and even furiously denouncing their villainy.
Kang Er and Zhou Er, unwilling to be left behind, pointed fingers at Ma Benyong's nose, calling him a deceiver who nearly led them astray and wrongly accused the good man, Li Qianfan.
In an instant.
Ma Benyong was covered in spittle.
The Ma family disciples also turned pale, their eyes filled with despair.
Because they all keenly sensed that the Ma family was on the verge of ruin.
A slight misstep—
The six noble families, who had repeatedly vowed to stand and fall with the Ma family, would soon transform into the fiercest wolves, pouncing to tear them to shreds.
The hundreds of billions in assets of the Ma family in Modu were a super-sized, tempting prize!
"It's all Ma Qiang's fault, and those three scoundrels, Wei Shifang and Ma Hongshan."
Many Ma family disciples, in their hearts, fiercely cursed these three.
If they hadn't stirred up trouble, how could the Ma family have fallen to such a state?
"From now on, the Chen family has nothing to do with any of the Ma family's affairs."
After reiterating his stance, Chen Er turned and, with several Chen family disciples, strode away.
He had to quickly find his elder brother to report the situation.
Now he finally realized that the "five-step plan" devised by Su Nanyin, which the four Modu families had analyzed earlier, was utter nonsense!
It was all the fault of Ma Qiang and his family of three.
It had led Chen Er and others down the wrong path of thought; it had directly caused Chen Er to contribute seven hundred million.
"This debt will be repaid by the Ma family sooner or later!"
Chen Er said fiercely in his heart before getting into his car.
Although Kang Er and the others had suffered no direct losses, they were well aware that their past support for the Ma family would be remembered by Li Qianfan and Su Nanyin.
To dispel their "misunderstanding," they would have to offer some substantial benefits to show their sincerity.
Anything less than a hundred million wouldn't be presentable!
Sigh.
It's all the fault of those stupid Ma family members!
Kang Er and the others cursed inwardly and also hurried home to discuss.
Only an increasing crowd of onlookers and Wang Jian and his team remained at the scene.
And Li Qianfan, still confronting the Ma family.
Ma Benyong, truly the most favored by a certain young lady, realized the imminent disaster and collapse of the Ma family. To salvage the situation (and mend fences), to minimize future losses and complete the task assigned by the young lady, his only recourse was to humble himself before Li Qianfan in a timely manner.
This would buy him precious time to rectify matters!
No sooner thought than done.
Ma Benyong, enduring the humiliation, suddenly clasped his hands together and bowed deeply to Li Qianfan: "Mr. Li, would you be so kind as to come to our home for a talk? Let's resolve all misunderstandings through negotiation."
This, perhaps.
Could be.
If the Ma family had adopted such an attitude earlier, why would Mr. Qianfan have resorted to such violent means in broad daylight?
Everything could be discussed.
The critical point was the growing number of onlookers.
Wang Jian and his team, responsible for maintaining order, were clearly struggling.
If troublemakers were to appear now, the consequences would be dire.
Li Qianfan nodded, hands clasped behind his back, and with Yaoyao and his sharp-browed female bodyguard, slowly walked into the Ma residence.
Seeing this, Wang Jian breathed a long sigh of relief.
The Ma family disciples quickly took down Ma Hongshan's body and carried Wei Shifang into the house.
With a resounding thud, the gate was bolted shut.
The thousands of spectators gathered outside, seeing that the show was over, naturally dispersed, still feeling unsatisfied.
Not a single person thought that Li Qianfan, who had killed someone in public, should be brought to justice.
The Ma family had also decided that Ma Hongshan's death would be attributed to an unexpected accident, perhaps due to latent heart disease or lack of oxygen.
In short.
The deaths of Ma Hongshan and his son Ma Qiang had absolutely nothing to do with Li Qianfan.
Didn't the Miao family of Sixian and the Feng family of Tianbei do the same?
Of course.
If Li Qianfan were an ordinary person, let alone killing someone, even uttering a single word of criticism towards the Ma family could have landed him in prison for life.
Most of the Ma family disciples stood in the courtyard, fervently praying that Li Qianfan would show mercy to the Ma family.
In the main hall.
Ma Benyong, representing the main family, instantly looked more than ten years older. Even Li Qianfan felt a pang of sympathy.
Li Qianfan sat on the sofa, his back to the west.
Yaoyao sat to his left.
His sharp-browed female bodyguard stood behind the sofa, loyal and exemplary.
"Mr. Li."
Ma Benyong, sitting on the sofa opposite Li Qianfan, said with a bitter tone: "Name your price."
His direct approach, Li Qianfan found, was quite admirable.
Li Qianfan extended his right index finger and waved it in front of his eyes.
Yaoyao rejoiced inwardly: "In the blink of an eye, another ten billion in income! How much will I get? I'm the main force in earning this ten billion! Ha, ha. Fortunately, I followed Qianfan here to Modu, even if it meant life or death. If I hadn't come, I would have died of heartache if it had been someone else."
The sharp-browed female bodyguard thought: "This ten billion is compensation from the Ma family for the brat and Yaoyao. Jiao Yin, Gao Lingwang, and the others are likely involved. There's probably none for me. At most, he'll bestow some arbitrary amount, twenty million would be the ceiling! I've given him almost everything, yet I'm on the same level as Chu Yazhi. Alas, this heart aches."
Huff.
Ma Benyong secretly let out a sigh of relief, but outwardly said with difficulty: "Mr. Li, to be frank, my Ma family appears to be vast and wealthy, with a market value of hundreds of billions. However, the readily available cash we can produce in a short time is truly insufficient to cover ten billion. Moreover, Ma Hongshan and his son Ma Qiang both died at your hands. Therefore, I dare to implore Mr. Li to lower the price by another ten billion."
He was certain that Li Qianfan would not budge.
But what if Li Qianfan did?
Even a reduction of ten million would be ten million saved.
After all, ten million still had considerable purchasing power.
"Heh heh."
Li Qianfan suddenly forced a smile, his lips curling, and slowly asked, "Old Ma, did your head get stuck in the door for you to think that a mere ten billion in compensation would be enough to quell the immense fury I felt at midnight when I bravely saved someone, only to be falsely accused and nearly have my girlfriend endangered?"
Ah!?
Old Ma, the core members behind him, and even Yaoyao and the sharp-browed female bodyguard were stunned.
Ma Benyong stammered, "You, then how much do you want?"
"Ten billion."
Li Qianfan's eyes rolled upwards, gazing at the ceiling.
Silence descended upon the room.
Regardless of what the Ma family members were feeling.
Yaoyao, for one, heard only the frantic beating of her own heart.
Ten billion!
Not ten billion, nor even a hundred yuan!
Even though Yaoyao hailed from the Shen family of Lingnan and was a top-tier young lady, her dowry was "only" 160 million.
She even knew that the total assets of the entire Shen family of Lingnan were only just over twenty billion (the economy there truly couldn't compare to Modu).
Now Li Qianfan was demanding a ten billion compensation right off the bat.
Could Yaoyao's little heart handle it?
Similarly.
Even the empress, who had seen countless storms in her life, felt a rush of blood to her head when she heard Li Qianfan declare ten billion.
She roared inwardly: "You brat, do you fear your tongue will get twisted asking for so much!?"
An unknown amount of time passed.
Li Qianfan broke the silence: "What, does the Ma family think ten billion is too much?"
Ma Benyong stared at him blankly.
Yaoyao came to her senses and cried inwardly, "Ten billion, is that still not enough!?"
"The Ma family has provoked me twice. First, they fabricated scandals between me and Su Nanyin. This time, it was even more egregious! Not only did they repay kindness with enmity and incite other noble families to fight me to the death, but they also attempted to seize my woman!"
As Li Qianfan spoke, he pulled Yaoyao into his embrace.
Yaoyao suddenly felt so happy.
"As the saying goes, vengeance for a father's murder and hatred for a wife's abduction are irreconcilable!"
Li Qianfan grinned ferociously: "You old fool, remember this! Ten billion. If you dare to deduct even one cent, I will kill one of the Ma family's core disciples! Because I said at midnight, if the Ma family did not come to apologize to me within 12 hours, not only would Wei Shifang and her husband die, but others would too! Yet, you never came."
"Li Qianfan!"
Ma Benyong regained his senses, trembling as he stood up, his face contorted in rage: "You, you are utterly going too far!"
"If you're unwilling to part with your wealth, then wait for death."
Li Qianfan, unwilling to waste any more words, stood up and walked towards the door: "I'll give you another 24 hours. These 24 hours are for you to prepare your funerals and purchase burial plots. After twenty-four hours, I will begin killing."
Qianfan.
Are we just leaving like this?
Couldn't we let them bargain, see how much they'll give?
Actually, even if they only gave us ten billion, no, even eleven billion would be fine.
I suddenly don't like killing people anymore.
I want money—
Yaoyao cried inwardly, but could only be led by him, her waist held, towards the door.
The sharp-browed female bodyguard quickly opened the door to the main hall.
Li Qianfan stepped out—
Ma Benyong shouted hoarsely: "1.5 billion!"
Li Qianfan walked out of the living room: "9 billion!"
Ma Benyong caught up: "2 billion!"
Li Qianfan entered the courtyard: "8 billion, not a single cent less."
Ma Benyong caught up: "2.5 billion!"
Li Qianfan's steps didn't stop: "7 billion. If you try to lower the price again, I'll knock out all your teeth."
Ma Benyong stumbled: "3 billion."
Yaoyao's eyes began to unfocus.
All she could do was, instinctively, wrap her arms around Li Qianfan's arm, almost being dragged by him.
She suddenly realized that even now, she didn't understand Li Qianfan.
If she couldn't even figure out her own man, what was there to be confused about?
The empress, acting as a bodyguard, also felt her knees weaken.
If she hadn't been gritting her teeth in secret, she would have clung to Li Qianfan's arm just like Yaoyao to walk.
This was all due to the immense impact of money.
The brat was negotiating multi-billion dollar deals while walking.
Each time he spoke, the price dropped by a billion!
Who could withstand this?
"5 billion—"
Ma Benyong stopped, saying weakly.
"Deal."
Li Qianfan, who had already reached the main entrance, finally stopped his steps and turned back: "I can extend the deadline for you to raise funds to 48 hours. If you fail to pay within the deadline, I will kill one person per hour."