The ballroom was quiet again after Lu Ming-Feng left.
Wei Wu-Ya and his son's dead bodies were still lying where they were, and there was still fresh blood slowly trickling down the wall.
The sound of the blood dripping onto the floor sounded so creepy and terrifying.
The silence went on for a very long time.
Ye Fan didn't say anything else. He just sat on the sofa and enjoyed his cup of tea.
But even though Ye Fan was the only one drinking tea, he called Li Er, Lei San and Wang Jie-Xi to sit down with him.
He completely ignored the rest and left them standing wherever they were in the ballroom.
He didn't say whether he was going to let them off or punish them.
The longer he remained silent, the more terrified the others became.
The unknown was the most frightening thing in the world after all.
Waiting silently without any foreseeable sign was a torture to all of them.
It felt like there were blades gently slicing their skin.
Emotions like terror, fear and despair gripped their hearts like the hand of a demon.
Finally, someone couldn't bear it any longer.
He fell with a thud before Ye Fan and bowed fearfully as he pleaded through his tears, "Mr...Mr Chu, please spare us! We really didn't mean to betray you! It was Baldy Liu's fault! Baldy Liu was the one who persuaded us and frightened us! He said that if we didn't surrender to Lu Ming-Feng, we would all end up like Mufan Group.”
"So Mr Chu, you really can't blame us for doing this. We were all just trying our best to survive. We really didn't mean to betray you, we really didn't mean to..."
The moment one person fell to his knees, the entire sea of people followed suit.
In no time, the entire group of people who had just pledged their allegiance to Lu Ming-Feng moments ago suddenly changed sides again as they knelt before Ye Fan and bowed in fear and trembling.
"That's right, Mr Chu. It's all that Baldy Liu's fault! He was the one who planted this idea in our heads. If not for him, we would never have thought of betraying you."
"That's right! It's all that Baldy Liu's fault!”
"It's Baldy Liu who persuaded us to switch camps!"
Everyone immediately made Baldy Liu the scapegoat.
Baldy Liu was stunned by these accusations and his face paled. His heart was filled with fear and anger.
"You...you people! All of you are a bunch of disloyal bastards! Yes, I did persuade you to switch camps, but did I force you to do this? You chose to switch loyalties on your own accord because you were all afraid to die and afraid that Young Master Lu might take revenge on you! Now that it hasn't turned out the way you hoped it would, you're all blaming me for this? You fair weathered people! I must have been blind to try to help any of you! I should have suggested to Young Master Lu to just kill all of you!" shouted Baldy Liu with a darkened expression on his face. He was so angry that he nearly puked blood. He never thought that these people would gang up and blame him alone.
"Mr Chu, look! Baldy Liu has admitted to doing this! He's the one who betrayed you and even got the rest of us to surrender to Lu Ming-Feng! Baldy Liu is a really scheming one! Mr Chu, please punish him accordingly!" pleaded the head of the Ma family, Ma Fei.
When the rest saw this, they too, started pleading with Ye Fan the same way and pushed all the blame onto Baldy Liu.
"Mr Chu, please punish him accordingly!"
"Mr Chu, please punish him accordingly!"
"You people!!"
These were people who used to be his friends, but now, they had all turned against him. Baldy Liu's heart immediately felt cold inside from their heartlessness.
He knew that he was definitely doomed this time round.
Before this, he was hoping to help Lu Ming-Feng become the King of Jiangdong and be rewarded greatly for being one of the first people to support Lu Ming-Feng's empire.
But all his dreams had been shattered.
"You people what? You're the greatest sinner of Jiangdong! How dare you talk back! Hurry up and kneel before Mr Chu and hope to die!" Ma Fei ran over to Baldy Liu and kicked him to the floor.
Everyone else quickly came over and started beating Baldy Liu up as well, hoping to prove their loyalty to Ye Fan in this manner.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Man In Rage