Extortion

Nie En was surprised by Nie Li's boldness. First, he was surprised to get a letter from his branch member at school, then by the contents of the said letter. Then when he wanted to check everything himself the Patriarch and grand elder suddenly decided to join him. Now even Nie Li was acting completely different than what he remembered. "Let's sit down and talk everything out peacefully." he offered.

"I apologize." Nie Li said. He was the youngest here. There was no reason to antagonize his clan's leadership. In the case of Nie Wei, it was basically a lost cause, but he didn't have to make it worse. "Let me ask someone to bring some food and drinks." Nie Li led them towards the table. He sent a signal through his phone. He had warned the servants about the VIP visit beforehand and asked them to be prepared.

So they were just waiting for a signal. Not a quarter of a minute passed and before the awkward silence settled the door opened and girls brought in trays of refreshments, and drinks. Not long after food was also brought in. The girls who served the table were a bit flustered. They hadn't expected that they would serve food to the patriarch so soon after taking the job.

Seeing their flustered faces and small mistakes the Patriarch and elder Nie En smiled at them leniently to alleviate their worrying, while elder Nie Wei scowled even further. Nie Li, on the other hand, looked as cool as a cucumber as he looked at the happenings indifferently as if this was an everyday occurrence.

He was thinking about introducing new uniforms for them looking at their mismatched clothing. Not the 'sexy maid uniform' though. Or he will suffer at the hands of every female in his life, even if the girls themselves agreed. Nie Li shook his head clearing it from the ideas his hormone-induced mind cooked up. He must leave such matter to his mother and aunt when they come to live here.

All four of them stayed silent until the last of the servers left and closed the door behind them. The doors and walls were completely soundproof so the privacy of their talks would be guaranteed. Still, Nie Li put his pyramid privacy device on the table and activated it. It hummed its top glowing and a shimmering barrier appeared around them.

At the questioning and wary look of his clansmen, he answered, "Privacy device. Our conversation may touch on some very sensitive information. I don't want anyone to overhear or spy on us." There were even some strange spying artifacts in the world so Nie Li's paranoia wasn't groundless.

"Okay Nie Li," Nie En started the discussion, "How are your studies?"

"Thank you. They are great. How are the things at the clan?"

"Everything alright Nie Li," the Patriarch answered in the place of Nie En. "We heard some interesting news about you."

"Oh, what kind of news?" Nie Li asked.

"Quit blabbering," impatiently shouted elder Nie Wei. "We are talking about how you bought Purple Haze Grass and hid it from the clan"

"Elder Nie Wei. Don't make such baseless accusations" Nie En spoke up in the defence of Nie Li. Nie Li actually informed him about a large amount of money he made from his transaction with the Purple Haze Grass in his letter. He didn't know the exact amount but knew that it was in the millions.

"If I wanted to keep it secret from the clan why would I hire our clansmen to buy the grass in the first place?" Nie Li asked. "I actually hired them so that the secret wouldn't spill outside of the clan."

"So you admit to exploiting your own clansmen and paying them a pittance for their job." The old man was simply impossible.

"Exploiting? Do you know that most of them get only 50 yaolinbi a month from the clan? And because it's not enough for them they usually take some hard jobs in the city and make a couple hundred a month at most?" Nie Li replied. "I pay them 1000 yaolinbi a month just for doing some small tasks for me when they are free. It's not even a part-time job."

"What about those girls?" Nie Wei didn't want to give up. "You are taking their time from studying."

"They attend sham schools." Nie Li said incredulously. "They don't teach anything worthwhile there. And let me open another secret to you, they also take some outside jobs to make their ends meet."

"Currently there are 50 of our clansmen under my employ." Nie Li continued, "Most of them part-time. I pay them approximately 50 thousand a month. That's not including the additional resources that reach up to hundreds of thousands." They actually were worth millions but Nie Li didn't want to reveal such information yet.

Nie En and Nie Hai watched the proceedings not interrupting. Nie En was planning to interject on behalf of Nie Li a couple of times but his help wasn't necessary. The kid was relentless in his defense.

"Did you buy this house from that money?" Nie Wei decided to try another approach.

"Partially. I have other sources of income as well." Nie Li replied nonchalantly. Nie Li didn't like that he had to deal with Nie Wei He would have preferred to discuss sensitive matters with the Patriarch and elder Nie En alone. It was not that he hated the man, but he was too antagonistic against Nie Li so any talks with him would lead to a dead end.

"How much money did you spend on this mansion? It must have been expensive. But it's too small and too far away from the center."

"This is not the only property I bought. The next mansion where the construction is going on is also mine." Nie Li added.

"You bought the Mo Family's mansion?" asked suddenly patriarch joining the talk. After Nie Li nodded he continued. "There are some strange rumors about it?"

"They weren't completely baseless." Nie Li grimaced remembering the Ghost city. "But I have dealt with it. I am tearing it apart completely to rebuild it"

"Rebuild it? Hah. How much is it costing?" Nie Wei again interrupted sarcastically. Nie Li wanted to ask what the patriarch knew about the Mo clan's history, but it looks like the old bulldog isn't going to let go.

"Expensive." Nie Li admitted. "I am paying for the hurry as well."

"Sigh. It just shows that you don't know how to manage your money. If you had given the money to the clan it would have benefited everyone greatly. Instead of buying things that just caught your fancy, the clan would have bought really necessary things."

"You said yourself how our clan's financial situation is bad," he continued pathetically. "Additional money could have helped the family greatly. We could afford to send everyone to the Holy Orchid Institute for example."

"I didn't buy the properties willy-nilly. I bought them because I have plans for them. And I am not against helping the clan. Actually, that was one of the reasons why I wanted to talk to elder Nie En. But I will decide how and what kind of help I will provide." The old man was getting on his nerves.

"Nonsense. You are too young to make such decisions. The clan leadership is more experienced in these matters. You should hand over your money to the clan immediately. Of course, your family would be well taken care of. Your contribution to the clan would be recognized. We should also stop the construction on the adjoining property and get the money back," the old man continued his monologue while Nie Li gaped at him.

The nerve of the old man! Was he insane? Or does he think that Nie Li is a child? Well, he was a child but even a child wouldn't agree to that. Especially considering the animosity between them. The old man continued mumbling about what would be done with the money they get.

"Elder Nie Wei, do not cross the line." Nie Li growled interrupting the old man's daydreaming. "This is my money. I will do whatever I want with it. If I want to give it away to the beggars in the street I will do it. I won't care about your opinion." It was ironic, considering he saved Xiao Ning'er from this fate, now he was facing it himself.

Grand elder scowled at being spoken like that. It must have been a long time since someone talked to him in this tone.

"Patriarch" he turned to Nie Hai. "The kid is delusional. We must make him surrender the money to the clan. If necessary, we must have a serious talk with his parents, because the upbringing they gave him seems insufficient." The last word he spoke, staring hard at Nie Li trying to intimidate him.

Yeah, Nie Li was sure now. All the years of privileged life rotted his brain. After learning so much about him he still considered Nie Li as a child that would be intimidated by the threat of talking to his parents.

"Elder Nie Wei. You are overreacting. Nie Li really wrote in his letter that he was planning to donate money to the clan." Nie En calmly replied. It looks like they have become accustomed to the old man's insanity already.

"Yes, elder Nie Wei. It's his money. And he doesn't have to surrender it to the clan," the patriarch spoke.

"But, but he used our clan members to make it" complained elder Nie Wei with his last argument. He was surprised. He expected the patriarch to side with him. He had learned about Nie Li's good fortune through his relatives that studied at the school with him. There was no way the patriarch hadn't learned about it through his grandnephew. Unlike Nie En who had no contacts in the Holy Orchid Institute, they had gotten the information a while ago.

Did the patriarch know more considering his grandnephew seems close to Nie Li? Or was there something else, like an alliance between the patriarch and Nie En? He wanted to join hands with the patriarch to confront Nie En. He thought the idea of getting his hands on millions would be a great temptation to the patriarch. Other elders would have been easy to convince as well.

And the kid wasn't a problem. He would have cracked under the pressure despite how belligerent he may have been acting. The only problem could have been Nie En. But without the patriarch's agreement, it was impossible.

The patriarch Nie Hai really knew more than most. His grandnephew warned about a powerful potential backer behind Nie Li. Alienating someone who could gift some insane treasures like candy would be idiotic. And the kid was loyal to the clan.

His talent was also impressive. He may as well be the next patriarch of the clan. So he is not going to act against the kid. His actions so far greatly benefited the clan. Even if he stopped helping now, the clan will have at least a dozen gold rank demon spiritualists in five years at most. There was no reason to kick the goose laying golden eggs.

"He paid them well for their work." Nie Hai replied. "If the workers are satisfied there is no reason for us to interject."

Nie Wei slumped helplessly. He could claim that not every worker was satisfied but knew that it won't help. The old fox already made his decision and confronting him further would not be beneficial to him in any way.