Inner Turmoil Within the Li Clan

A servant searched for Li Bai and announced it in the auction's lobby.

"Attention, we are searching for trash- ahem, Li Bai, has anyone seen him?"

.....

When Li Bai exited the VIP area, he headed towards the Li clan's area. He went straight to his room, where he waited for results. He expected his sister to get the money for him, but little did he know, that not only had Li Bao not accepted the money, she also requested the auction house to look for him!

.....

The next day, a commotion was outside the Li clan's territory. They were all looking for the trash Li Bai. They thought that he did something terrible, so terrible that even the biggest auction in the city was looking for him. They thought that the Li clan was hiding him.

"Hey, Li clan, hand over the trash now!"

"Yeah, it's time to take out the trash!"

"The trash will be taken out!"

Inside the Li clan, the elders were panicking. The commoners were causing a riot! How dare they do that, this was the Li clan's territory! They wanted to hand over Li Bai so badly, but they're afraid that it would become a taint of their reputation. They would also lose a lot of face for giving in to the commoners.

"Hey! What did Li Bai do?!"

"Clan master, I think we should interrogate him."

"We should kick him out!"

The clan master was fazed by this sudden turn of events. Usually, they only expressed their hatred for Li Bai by mocking or sneering at him. But now, they want to kick him out of the clan? The elders are ignoring Li Fu's presence!

"SILENCE!"

Li Fu's shout made everyone fall over. His level was the Fifth Level Mark 9-gems - 6 gems short of ascending to the Heavenly Mark realm! The presence of a Fifth Level Mark would make everyone intimidated. After all, all of the elders weren't even Fifth Level Mark yet.

"I am the clan head! I make the decisions!"

Every one of the elders had a bead of sweat dripping down their forehead. They regretted angering him. After they fell over, they kept kneeling.

Li Fu was releasing all his pent-up anger from all the ridiculing of his son. He had to suppress his anger, but now, he had an excuse. He wasn't going to let go of this opportunity!

"I say: what are you all so fired up about?!"

The elders remained silent. They knew that answering him now would only mean doom. Li Fu, however, was thinking the opposite. If they didn't answer, they would meet doom. Their lack of communication just amplified the disorder in the clan.

"Hmm, so no one's respecting me, eh?"

When they heard this, all of the elders' hair had turned white. Only at this time did they realize that Li Fu was waiting for an answer, and was getting impatient. The problem was, no one was courageous enough to answer him. Everyone knew that whoever answered him would become the scapegoat.

All of the elders looked around the room, facing each other. Almost all of them nodded their head. The only one who didn't, was Li Chen, the newly promoted elder. He then shook his head profusely. He knew that everyone else agreed for him to become the scapegoat. He pushed his back against the wall.

Li Fu was observing what was happening. They were ostracizing this new elder. He was relatively younger than all of the other elders but still older than Li Fu.

"Li Chen! Come here."

All of the hair on Li Chen stood up. The clan head had taken action himself! The elders that were still kneeling all snickered. They were all delighted that none of them had to take action. It was a stroke of luck!

Li Fu was testing the elders. If their expressions worsened, that meant that they weren't purposely isolating Li Chen. If their expressions improved, however, that meant that they were bullying him!

Li Chen slowly stood up and walked towards the clan head, who had a mad expression on his face. This made him more scared. He was now the scapegoat. Except, what happened was something he didn't expect!

"Li Chen, if they're bullying you, you can come to me."

What?! All of the people were stunned! They just realized what happened. They all laughed a little when Li Fu called Li Chen, and that revealed their intentions! They were all sweating profusely.

Li Chen, however, was delighted! He thought that he would be scolded and punished! Who would've thought that instead of that, he would actually receive the clan head's backing! He stood behind Li Fu.

Li Fu was actually planning on suppressing the elders, they had too much power. With this amount of power given to them, they're sure to abuse it. He was just finding an excuse to. Now that a golden opportunity was dangling right in front of him, how would he not take it? Whatever trouble his son has caused, it surely couldn't be worse than the elders repeatedly misusing their authority!

"Okay, now that that's out of the way, let's get back on track. What is the matter?"

Everyone was still not answering. The elders were all scared stiff. They could not move.

One was courageous enough to stand and speak up.

"Clan master, It's... it's Li Bai. The commoners outside said that the Hou auction house was looking for him."

"Hou auction house? Come to think of it, he just said he was going to go there earlier today..."

When the elders saw the clan head's not so angry tone, they all felt relieved. But, they didn't dare express that. They held in their sighs of relief.

Li Fu was still observing the elders. If they dared act impudently again, he wouldn't let them off! He was testing them, to see if they had learned their lesson. Except for the pretty obvious expression of relief in their faces, they did well in holding in their sighs. The sighs were the ultimate expression of relief, so when they held them in, he was willing to let go if the situation at hand. He waved his hand.

"Okay, you're all dismissed."

Li Fu then ordered a servant to call for Li Bai. Li Bai arrived soon after.