A Dish Best Served Cold (The Man In Rage)
Chapter 1107 The Terrified Li Er

"Smoothly?" Wu Wei-Tao burst out laughing.

"Li Er, did you think that anything would go smoothly after Ye Fan stirred up this much trouble?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Li Er's expression turned grim, because he could hear surprise in Wu Wei-Tao's voice. "Nothing. I just wanted to give you a reality check so that you could make plans early," replied Wu Wei-Tao softly.

But Li Er frowned even more deeply than before.

"Wu Wei-Tao, what on earth are you trying to say?"

But Wu Wei-Tao ignored Li Er's question and looked back at the stage.

It had reached the part where the Qing army was about to make its way into the capital, so Wu Sangui's troops were on their way to the capital to aid the Ming army. But they were too slow, and by the time they came close to the capital, they heard that their emperor had already killed himself.

"Master Er, have you watched this particular opera before? What do you think of this Wu Sangui?" Wu Wei-Tao strangely started talking to Li Er about the opera instead.

"If Wu Sangui had arrived earlier, then the country wouldn't have fallen into the hands of foreigners. This man was neither loyal nor filial, and he's famous for being a traitor. He was destined to be cursed by generations for centuries to come because of the things he did," replied Li Er coldly.

But Wu Wei-Tao shook his head. "I don't think so. In fact, I think he was a hero in his time. The clever birds choose a good tree to live in, while clever officials would choose to serve a good emperor. The Ming dynasty was already on the wane, so even if Wu Sangui made it in time, he wouldn't have been able to do much. He could see the bigger picture and chose selfpreservation. He eventually named himself emperor, and died with that title."

Wu Wei-Tao was saying all this very nonchalantly, but the more Li Er listened to him, the grimmer his expression became.

"What are you trying to tell me?"

"Master Er, don't you get what I'm trying to say? From what I know, after Lu Ming-Feng and Xur Shao-Hua's bodies were sent back to their families, the patriarchs of the Lu and Xur families, Lu Cang-Qiong and Xur Jun-Lin, immediately hit the roof. The two of them hold all of China's political and military might in their hands. Do you think Mr Chu can hold up against these two families after they combine forces?" said Wu Wei-Tao in a deep voice as he looked at Li Er.

"Just yesterday, the second-in-command of the Xur family, Xur He, left Yanjing and secretly entered the Jiangdong military zone. I'm sure you know why he's here. The two families have begun their revenge plan. It won't be long before the fury of Yanjing will cover all of Jiangdong like a river flooding its banks! Master Er, are you going to blindly remain loyal to Ye Fan and protect him at all costs?"

"The intelligent man knows what to do at the right time and place. Mr Chu's era is coming to an end, so we should join hands to take Mr Chu down while we still can. We should pass Mr Chu to the two families and claim credit for it. I'm sure the two families won't blame us, but will be grateful to us instead. Once that happens, we will get the favor and support of these two major families of Yanjing, and Jiangdong will still belong to us!" said Wu Wei-Tao as an ambitious look burned brightly in his eyes.

But Li Er was so horrified by these words.

"Wu Wei-Tao, are you nuts? Even if you think that Mr Chu might go down soon, he's still not someone that both of us can topple. I think you're tired of living! You're nuts!" Li Er really didn't want to be caught here with Wu Wei-Tao anymore. His face was livid and he turned to leave.

"Master Er, I'm trying to think about you. There's nothing wrong in trying to save your own skin! Even Chen Ao of Jianghai has become a traitor, so why do you insist on remaining loyal? You're the foolish one! You will have a chance now, so you should act quickly. Otherwise, by the time the Lu and Xur families' revenge is in full force, not only will Ye Fan go down, the rest of you who support him will go down as well," Wu Wei-Tao continued to call out after Li Er.

But Li Er didn't dare to listen to Wu Wei-Tao's words anymore.

"Enough! Wu Wei-Tao, our friendship ends here. From now on, do not contact me anymore. I will pretend that today didn't happen and we didn't meet at all tonight. The path you choose from now onwards will have nothing to do with me. You go your way and I will go mine. I will no longer care about your fate!" said Li Er angrily with a furious look on his face.

After he said these words, he quickly left the theatre.

He didn't dare to stay here for even one second longer.

After all, Ye Fan hated betrayers the most.

If Mr Chu found out that he had met Wu Wei-Tao privately, then even if Li Er didn't intend to betray Mr Chu, Mr Chu would become suspicious of him.

So the only thing in Li Er's mind was to cut off all contact with Wu Wei-Tao immediately.

Otherwise, it would become too difficult for him to explain himself in the future.

But Li Er didn't blame Wu Wei-Tao for choosing to walk down this path.

Neither of them was wrong.

They just decided to stick to different principles, that was all.

Some people switched loyalties according to whoever was in power.

Some remained stubbornly loyal and never switched sides no matter what happened.

These two men who had known each other for decades finally went separate ways. They had differing values in life, so there was no point in holding onto this relationship.

After he got home, Li Er's emotions were still in turmoil.

He had never thought of betraying Ye Fan.

After all, Ye Fan was the one who gave him everything he had right now, and had made him the successful man he was today.

If not for Ye Fan, Li Er would have died back then.

But even though Li Er had chosen to remain on Ye Fan's side even in the face of impending danger, he still felt very jittery inside.

Mr Chu really had nothing else to fall back on besides his own physical strength when it came to dealing with the Lu and Xur families.

His identity as a descendant of the Chu family wasn't helpful either, since he had been chased out of the family so long ago. Li Er figured that many people in the Chu family probably wished Ye Fan dead more than anything else.

"What am I going to do? What should we do now?" Li Er simply couldn't think of any possible way for Mr Chu to get out of this mess.

Eventually, Li Er became so panicky that he went running back to Ye Fan's bungalow and cried as he pleaded, "Mr Chu, why don't we run for it? You can have your wedding some other day. Staying alive is more important! Mr Chu, I beg you! If you don't leave now, it will really be too late! The Lu and Xur families have sent their folks to Jiangdong already. They will reach Yunzhou either by tomorrow or the day after. When they get here, you won't be able to leave anymore!"

Li Er pleaded with Ye Fan as both tears and mucus came running down his face.

Was Li Er afraid to die?

Of course he was!

He didn't dare to betray Ye Fan precisely because he was afraid that Ye Fan would slaughter him. So since Ye Fan said he wasn't leaving, then Li Er didn't dare to run off either.