Uncle Chen said with a smile, "Good! Where is it?"
"It's here in the house…" I replied immediately, making my uncle mutter in panic,
"Y-you're lying! There was no ledger here, I checked everywhere…"
His claim didn't seem fake.
So, he really had searched the whole house.
Why?
I knew clearly that he was lying about my father borrowing money from him.
I just didn't know his reason.
"Lead us to it," Uncle Chen said.
Nodding, I walked toward the ancestral altar cabinet in the very hall we were standing in.
It stood directly opposite the entrance.
I reached behind the removable wooden panel, took out a small wooden box, and opened it in front of everyone.
"Father never kept important records in his room," I said, looking at my uncle.
"He always said debts and lending should be placed where the ancestors could see them."
My uncle's face drained of all color as I took out the ledger, a thread-bound book made of yellowed paper with a plain cover.
Ancestral tablets were considered sacred in every family.
Even for my greedy uncle, they were something that should not be touched unless absolutely necessary.
Especially on the day of the funeral, disturbing them was believed to bring misfortune.
That was why he never went anywhere near them and why he never found the ledge
The moment I touched it, a sound rang out in my head.
[Ding! You have obtained incomplete contracts… Heavenly Ledger Eye discerning value…]
A flood of information rushed into my mind, names, dates, silver amounts, countless transactions appearing all at once.
I stood frozen, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of data.
"Now that we have the ledger," Uncle Chen said coldly, "tell me, when did you lend money to your brother? I'll look for it."
My uncle looked terrified.
He suddenly shouted, "There's no need! Hmph, if Li Yuan didn't record my lending in that book, you'd call me a cheater and a fraud!"
His furious gaze shifted to me.
"With this incident, now I know how wicked you are, you little bastard. Thank goodness we don't have to take care of you anymore. I'll let the past be bygone, I don't care about the money I gave your father anymore. From now on, you have nothing to do with us. Don't ever dare show your face before us again!"
Without pausing, he turned to his wife and son.
"Lianhua, Wei, both of you, come now. I don't want to stay even a moment longer with these greedy people. It sickens me."
My aunt opened her mouth to protest that she hadn't even packed her things, but seeing her husband's terrified expression, she sensed something was wrong.
She immediately grabbed Li Wei's arm and prepared to leave with him.
"Uncle Chen, stop them!"
I shouted immediately before they could get away.
The guards instantly blocked their path, preventing them from escaping, even without any order from Uncle Chen.
Even they could sense that something was wrong.
A greedy man who had refused to stop being shameless for so long was now suddenly trying to flee in panic, as if running from something the moment the ledger appeared.
I stared at the so-called uncle with pure disgust.
This man claimed my father had borrowed money from him.
But the information I received from the Heavenly Ledger Eye the instant I touched the book contained nothing of the sort.
On the contrary, there was information that made my blood boil.
"Oi! Why the hell are you blocking our way? I already said I've cut all ties with that little bastard! Isn't that enough? Get the hell out of my way!" my uncle shouted angrily at the guards.
But they didn't move an inch.
Uncle Chen didn't even look at them.
His gaze remained fixed on me.
I frantically flipped through the ledger, then finally stopped at a specific entry.
"Uncle Chen, please take a look at this…"
I handed the book to him directly.
As he read it, his face twisted with fury.
"Zhao Hu," Uncle Chen said coldly, "bring that man here."
In an instant, Zhao Hu grabbed Li Zhenhao by the back of his neck as if lifting a sacrificial lamb and dragged him effortlessly before Uncle Chen.
"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! LET GO OF ME—"
Slap!
Li Zhenhao tried to fend off the guard's grip, but what followed was a sharp, resounding slap across his face.
Uncle Chen struck him with terrifying force, his palm imprinting itself clearly on the man's left cheek.
"Y-you basta—"
Slap!
"OI! WHA-"
Slap!
"S-stop—"
Slap!
"I-I'll kil—"
Slap! Slap! Slap!
Not once.
Not twice.
Slap after slap rained down.
I lost count after the tenth strike.
Li Zhenhao's entire left cheek was swollen crimson.
"Dear!!"
"Father!!!"
His wife and son rushed forward in panic, but the guards firmly held them back.
Even after more than thirty slaps, Uncle Chen showed no sign of stopping.
His voice thundered with rage as he cursed:
"You filthy scum! Not only did you borrow twenty-five silver taels from little Tianyuan's father, you didn't repay it even after six months, yet you dared to claim Li Yuan borrowed money from you?!"
Slap!
"And you even tried to rob his child of his inheritance?!"
Slap!
"He is the son of your own brother! Do you have even a shred of humanity left in your heart?!"
Slap!
Whenever Li Zhenhao tried to say something, another slap landed on his reddened cheek.
Both his wife and son desperately tried to save him, but they couldn't do a thing against two well-trained guards.
I didn't feel any pity for that man.
In fact, I was truly satisfied watching him get slapped again and again.
If anything, I wanted Uncle Chen to keep slapping him until he died right there and then.
How could a person be this shameless?
According to the details my father left behind, Li Zhenhao borrowed twenty-five silver taels at the very beginning of summer to buy two mu of farmland in his home village to the west of here.
More precisely, he borrowed the money on the third day of the first lunar month of summer, exactly eight months ago.
Even though he borrowed the money from my father without interest and without any collateral, claiming he would repay it after six months, he never paid back a single coin.
My father had written in the notebook how deeply dejected he felt about this matter, lamenting that his own brother could behave in such a way.
He recorded every detail meticulously: how he had signed his own name as a witness on the land purchase contract, how he personally helped Li Zhenhao finalize the deal for the new farmland, and even the exact location of the land was written clearly in the ledger.