Lin Zhang on the side was left stunned by it. He never thought that his five years old son would do something unbelievable such as recording things in secret.
The young Yichen was quite smart to do it all on his own. He was quite observative and foresighted at such a young age.
To know that his son was waiting his whole life keeping the magic recorder to himself, Lin Zhang couldn't help but felt sad at it.
The kid must be keeping it to himself waiting for that perfect chance where he could show it to someone whom he could trust and get his revenge.
To think that several years had already passed and he hadn't revealed a thing about it showed that Yichen had no one he trusted by his side all those years.
Now that he was back, there was no way he would let those who had done wrong to his son escape the punishment.
Lin Zhang's provoked face turned towards the two and roared agitatedly: "Lin Lui and Lin Qui, I didn't expect you to be such a lowly person. To think that you would stoop so low to snatch the money from the young kid, you two are utterly hopeless! You have disgraced the clan!"
He eyed everyone present in the meeting hall with a penetrating judging glare, then deduced furiously: "Lin Lui and Lin Qui acted out of their character and bullied a kid. This kind of behaviour is a bad example to the youths of the Lin clan, therefore, as a lesson to teach them and to show everyone that such a despicable thing is intolerable in the clan, they both are to be flogged with thirty strokes each, furthermore, they are to return Yichen's pocket money for all the years they took plus ten times the amount as interest.
Whether they sell their property to their fellow clansmen to return the debt or to work as a slave, the option is vast and it's up to them. This debt should be returned anyhow within three months."
Lin Zhang's punishment was clear, concise and up to the point; his furiousness was evident in his tone of speech. It was their good luck that he didn't lose his control and passed the judgement patiently, otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable. There was no way that the two would survive if Lin Zhang decided to punish them personally.
He was only being lenient by giving them chances to return the debt and giving them a few flogged as a punishment.
Lin Lui and Lin Qui gulped at it. Their entire life flashed before them as they heard the judgement.
They had narrowly escaped their death!
Both knew the cost of bullying Lin Zhang's son would be inconceivable and it was their speck of luck to narrowly escaped the worst.
Now, they had to bore the price of bullying the Chief's only son. They were to return the debt with ten times the amount and was no simple matter. God knows how much would that be?
Lin Lui was left sweated as he roughly calculated in his head.
'There are twelve months in a year and for each month one gold coin is given then for the last seven years we had taken the money plus ten times the amount equals to...???!!
Twelve multiplied by seven equals eighty-four plus ten times the amount equals..... Eight hundred and forty?!!
We are to give that brat eight hundred and forty gold coins from each of us?!!'
Lin Lui's eyes widened in dumbstruck. His soul had left the moment he knew the amount he owed.
It was worth more than the total of his four years of pay calculated together!
No wonder the Chief mentioned selling the property or working as a slave as other options to repay the debt. He already knew that it would be a great deal to accumulate that amount within a short span.
Just as he thought that he had narrowly escaped his life, he didn't think that something worst than death was awaiting him. Right now, Lin Lui believed that it was better to die than to receive such a brutal judgement because even if they sold everything they had, the money won't still be enough to repay the debt they owed.
While he was sweating over it, Lin Zhang glared down at the two and added crisply: "Lin Lui and Lin Qui, both are suspended from their job as clan bankers and are reduced to work on the farms of the Lin clan. Hope this will teach them a lesson but...if they continued with their dirty behaviour then expelling from the clan will be the final option for them.
I hope the two are very clear with it."
His sharp eyes penetrated their soul as he noted it.
The malicious punishment had made their soul escape their body.
Both of them stood dumbstruck; they were powerless and caught red-handed; nothing they said would now be futile and the verdict had been passed.
Their life was set to doom.
Lin Lui's heart went heavy. The amount of shame and regret he felt right then was inevitable; his body swayed backwards as his thought went astray.
To think that all of his previous glory of working as a clan's banker was now gone into ashes just like that; he couldn't help but wished to undo his every improper decision before.
Lin Qui was too the same; he never thought that this rotten day would come.
He was getting the price of being acquainted with a rotten cow.
His life was too doomed there. His entire life fell before his eyes with no way of returning.
Soon with the judgement, Lin Zhang made the guards drag them out and gave them their deserving punishment.
With the return of the previous chief, everyone present in the meeting hall felt as if the air of the clan was slowly turning clearer and brighter.
It was as if the black smoke in the clan were slowly wiped out making the air fresh and clean again.
The clansmen consent to the chief's decision and quietly obeyed his lead.
The demeanour of Lin Zhang was like a lion of the jungle and the weak clansmen naturally submit to him.
Seeing his father toppling over those who had looked down on him; Yichen couldn't help but grin at it.
This was his father after all.
He expected his grand comeback to be like this.
His heart fluttered as he admired his mightiness.
Yichen's eyes sparkled upon seeing him ruling over the clansmen.
"Son, what do you say, are you contented now?"
Lin Zhang inquired his son with a serious looked on his face.
Yichen's eyes flashed at it. His father was worried about him.
Young Yichen was already contented with his father's act, he couldn't be any happier.
His deep turquoise eyes looked at his father and nodded consciously.
"Yichen is very thankful for father's justice."
He cupped his fist and thanked him graciously.
"Mn... It was smart of you to record the incident otherwise, no one would have known that there was such waste in the Lin clan. Regarding this...you did a good job son."
He praised him meaningfully as if he was looking through everything and young Yichen couldn't help but scratched his head with a charming grin, "Heh, you overpraised me, father, Yichen was only being wary and was protecting myself."
"Mn...That's good. That's good."
Lin Zhang noted in deep thoughts as he attended to his son's humble words.
He was proud of what his son had done but also couldn't overlook the fact that if he hadn't recorded everything in the magic recorder, things wouldn't have gone as easy as it was! After all the Lin clan was the Lin clan; only the strong and the wise survived here.