William Thompson shook his head. “How you punish him is your business, but I must give an explanation to our ancestors. At dawn, pack your things and leave!”

Henry Brooks was so frightened that he knelt down, begging bitterly, “Master, my son and I have served the Li family for forty years. For the sake of the old master, please spare me this once! I will break my unfilial son’s legs to atone for our offense.”

William Thompson pointed at the collapsed ancestral hall and roared angrily, “I may forgive you, but the ancestors will not forgive me! Either get out, or go beat your son to death!”

Henry Brooks instantly turned ashen, glaring at William Thompson with deep resentment. “I understand. Now you’re killing the donkey after it’s done grinding. Fine! I’ll go. One day, I, Henry Brooks, will come back for justice!”

Henry Brooks got up and stormed off in anger. William Thompson looked at the collapsed ancestral hall and once again knelt down in helplessness, his heart filled with dread at being unable to answer to the clans across the land.

At this moment, George Thompson led David Thompson forward, unable to contain his excitement, and whispered, “Clan leader, this child rescued the ancestral spirit tablet.”

“What!”

William Thompson suddenly looked up, staring in disbelief at the rosewood spirit tablet in David Thompson’s arms. With trembling hands, he took the tablet and held it tightly to his chest, feeling as if he were dreaming. He was so moved he nearly burst into tears.

This spirit tablet was the only ancestral tablet their ancestor Li Congqian rescued from the ancestral temple when the Song army set fire to the Southern Tang ancestral shrine. Since then, it had become the most precious possession of their family.

After Li Yu was poisoned by Zhao Guangyi, Li Congqian was terrified and washed the gold characters off the tablet with brine, turning it into a blank spirit tablet. Even so, he dared not pass it to his legitimate son, but secretly gave it to his third son on his deathbed, instructing him to take the tablet far from the capital and settle in Xiangzhou. The tablet had since been passed down through generations in Xiangzhou, usually locked in the clan leader’s room and only brought out for the ancestral rites every ten years.

Other spirit tablets could be remade, but if this one were destroyed, William Thompson would become a sinner to his family for all eternity. His earlier grief and fear were because he thought this tablet had also been destroyed in the fire, but unexpectedly, a child had rescued it from the flames.

“Whose child are you?” William Thompson asked.

George Thompson replied from the side, “Clan leader, he is Daqi’s son, named David, only six years old this year.”

“So he’s Daqi’s child!”

William Thompson was filled with gratitude and took his hand, asking, “David, you’re only six years old. How did you have the courage to rush into the fire and rescue this spirit tablet?”

David Thompson lowered his head and said softly, “I don’t know. I was outside watching the adults fight the fire, when suddenly I heard someone calling in my ear, ‘Save me! Save me!’ It felt like a force pushed me, and I ran into the fire.”

William Thompson cried out, “Ah!” and asked urgently, “And then?”

“I was very scared inside the fire, but the voice told me not to be afraid, that he was in the eastern corner. So I crawled along the wall to the eastern corner, and… and I found the spirit tablet.”

William Thompson hugged David Thompson tightly and burst into tears again. “Our ancestor has shown his spirit!”

David Thompson blinked, and even he started to believe it a little.

Chapter 0010 Brothers in Discussion

Before he had a chance to make any requests to the clan leader, David Thompson hurried back to the village and begged Uncle Harris to go to the county seat to tell his father that Henry Brooks had been expelled from the Li residence, and not to pay any attention to the so-called “medical expenses.” David Thompson was worried his father didn’t know and would be tricked by Henry Brooks into giving him money.

Henry Brooks, at the end of his rope, would seize any opportunity to get money—he would never let such a chance slip by.

Uncle Harris didn’t say a word, grabbed his staff, and headed straight for the county seat. With the most important matter arranged, the utterly exhausted David Thompson collapsed onto his bed and fell into a deep, dark sleep.

While David Thompson set aside his worries and slept soundly, the clan leader William Thompson was at the residence with his brothers, handling the aftermath of the ancestral hall fire.

William Thompson was not only the Li clan leader, but also a renowned gentleman of Tangyin County and a regular guest of Magistrate Peter Brooks. His third brother, Richard Thompson, was the head constable of Xiaohe Township.

He was so highly regarded mainly because he had a brother serving as an official in the capital—his second brother, James Thompson.

James Thompson held a seventh-rank official post in the capital. Although seventh rank was usually considered a minor position, in fact, the Tangyin magistrate was only eighth rank, so a seventh-rank capital official was an extraordinary figure in the countryside.

According to the tradition of officials in the capital bringing honor to their hometown, James Thompson had built a large mansion covering eight acres in Lushan Town for their father to live in. After their father passed away last year, the eldest brother William Thompson moved in, and the mansion became the true residence of the clan leader.