Chapter 36: Brothers

From the busy Dornick Port, they followed Oak Avenue all the way, passing seven street gardens—which were also seven major crossroads—arriving at the lush Black Beech Mountain, and reached the oldest residential area in Dun Er Ke. The streets here were wide and clean, wet but without any trace of snow.

This place was full of old estates that took up large areas, with high gates and tight security. On the streets moved carriages that were traditionally decorated, conservative, understated, yet exuding an ancient and luxurious feel. Moreover, the horses pulling them were all uniformly tall white horses.

Lin Qi led Enzo strolling up a main road toward Black Beech Mountain. Standing on Black Beech Mountain, one could overlook the entire Dornick Port and the bay. Naturally, the people living in the residences on the mountain were either rich or noble—not the kind ordinary people could get close to.

Enzo stared with red eyes at the horses pulling the carriages. All the horses were purebloods worth at least a thousand gold coins. These horses should have been galloping on the battlefield, but here, these wealthy families used them to pull carriages!

Lin Qi noticed Enzo’s troubled expression. He curled his lip and sneered, “Well, there’s no helping it. During the Continent-Island War, these people had to use donkeys to pull carriages. But now, if a household doesn’t keep seven or eight pureblood horses, they feel they can’t hold their heads up.”

Sighing lightly, Lin Qi shook his head and said, “They’re all rich people, Enzo, they’re all rich people here! You know, when I was a kid, just walking around this street and extorting pocket money from their children, I could always get more than ten gold coins each time!”

He spat neatly into the roadside ditch and looked up at the sky with deep nostalgia, sighing, “Those fiery and intense teenage years! Unfortunately, such good days didn’t last long before I was sent to Borelly!”

Just as Lin Qi was lost in emotion, a delicate, pure white carriage decorated with ivory stopped beside them. The curtain, covered with fine gauze, was lifted, and a young girl with reasonably good looks poked out half her face in surprise.

“Lin Qi? Is that you? Lin Qi?”

Lin Qi looked at the girl in surprise. He gave Enzo a proud glance, laughed loudly, and moved closer to the carriage. “Hey, dear miss, I’m really sorry. You still recognize me, but forgive me, as it’s been too long since I’ve been back home. May I ask what your name is?”

The young lady’s face turned pale, and she stamped her foot angrily. The carriage driver hastily shouted, urging the two horses to flee as if running for their lives. Faintly, a voice filled with lingering fear could be heard from inside the carriage: “God, that little scoundrel is really back. I have to tell everyone not to go out these days. God, why didn’t he die in Borelly?”

Enzo clutched his stomach and laughed heartily. Lin Qi stared gloomily at the fleeing carriage, grinding his teeth and muttering, “I remember now, this woman! Well, just because her brother didn’t want to obediently pay me protection money, I smashed her brother’s head and pushed her into the ditch. But aside from that, what else did I do to her? That’s all—was it really necessary to run away?”

Enzo crossed his arms gloatingly and chuckled, “Boss, if you pushed her into the ditch now, she’d rather die. You don’t understand how important their looks are to young girls. This beautiful young lady definitely won’t let you push her into the ditch again!”

Lin Qi glared at Enzo angrily. “Are you saying I don’t understand women?”

Enzo raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Do you? Ah, boss, I’m curious—have you finished developing yet?”

Lin Qi twisted his mouth and suddenly realized he couldn’t win this argument with Enzo, so he simply shut up. He felt lucky in his heart that Yulian wasn’t here; otherwise, he would surely be tormented to death by those two sharp tongues. Of course, Lin Qi comforted himself internally, calling it staying pure—he would never waste even a single copper coin on those tavern maids!

Vivid and charming beauties—how could they compare to the adorable golden wowo calls and shiny silver zhazha calls? Even copper coins were far more lovable than women. Twisting his mouth, Lin Qi sighed thoughtfully. Women? Hadn’t they caused him enough trouble?

After walking up the tidy Gooseberry Avenue for a quarter of an hour, a huge estate appeared before them. The estate’s walls had dark-colored bricks, entwined with ancient vines. The gate was an intricately designed metal lattice with tulips and grapevines intertwined, and a few people were standing in front of it talking.

Lin Qi’s face darkened, and his eyes instinctively fell upon the lively young man with fiery red long hair among the group. The young man was tall with a handsome face; his fair skin and fiery red hair gave him striking charm. He looked to be a little over twenty, certainly not older than twenty-five.

But the young man’s left eye seemed to have suffered a severe injury, tightly covered by a black leather eye patch. His right eye, however, was a deep, mesmerizing purple. One could imagine how handsome and attractive this young man would have been if his left eye were intact.

Lin Qi’s expression turned strange, and the corners of his mouth twitched as he looked at the red-haired young man.

Enzo keenly noticed Lin Qi’s unease. He placed his hand on his sword hilt and asked quietly, “Boss, who is he?”

Lin Qi shrugged his shoulders and said slowly, “Him? Arthur, my father’s adopted son, my nominal elder brother. The reason I left lovely Dun Er Ke for Borelly was because of him.”

Sighing lightly, Lin Qi narrowed his eyes, his gaze sharp as a blade. “Because, because his left eye—I dug it out with my own hands.”

Enzo looked at Lin Qi in shock. He hadn’t returned to Dun Er Ke for three years, meaning Lin Qi had gouged out his father’s adopted son’s eye three years ago. At that time, Lin Qi was only fifteen years old. How much anger and how ruthless a heart would a fifteen-year-old need to gouge out the eye of such a handsome young man as Arthur?

“What a pity. I originally planned to dig out both his eyes and then throw him into the sea to feed the fish. Unfortunately, my father arrived too quickly!”

Shrugging helplessly, Lin Qi strode toward the mansion, laughing loudly. “Hey, dear Arthur, you damn bastard, you’re still alive? Has your damn eyeball grown back?”

Arthur, who had been chatting and laughing with the people around him, suddenly changed his expression. His face turned green as he gritted his teeth and looked over.

Enzo straightened his expression, gripped his sword hilt tightly, and followed closely behind Lin Qi.