Chapter 1006 - 1008: The Shameless Old Movie Star_1
The idea was originally Bai Ruozhu’s, and the decision was also made by Bai Ruozhu. She immediately stood up and said, "This cannot be blamed on the clan leader, Grandpa. At the time, my second older brother was in jail, and these decisions were all mine. If a prince breaks the law, he suffers the same punishment as the common people. My uncle made a mistake and should accept the corresponding punishment. Didn’t he think about our family’s reputation before doing this?"
Bai Zepei didn’t want his sister to stand up alone, so he also spoke up, "Old Master is also a scholar and should know the way of the gentleman. Some people spend their entire lives without passing the Imperial Examination, yet they still work tirelessly and continue to earn the respect of others. But my uncle’s cheating has abandoned the integrity of a scholar; moreover, he even sold exam questions for money. His crime is not just cheating. This is a serious matter; the Bai Clan cannot be implicated by his actions alone."
"What, he sold questions?" Elder Bo was somewhat surprised as he looked at Bai Fu, as Bai Fuzhi clearly had not mentioned this.
After listening to Bai Fu about Bai Yibo’s situation, Bai Fu said Bai Yibo’s name was given by his grandmother. Elder Bo suddenly thought of the homophony between "Bo" and "bo," realizing this child must be his second sister’s lingering thought of the Bo Family.
In addition, Bai Fu mentioned that Bai Yibo had always worked hard, but his poor family background had held him back. Although he had reached middle age, he had not even become a Scholar. Naturally, it did not feel good, and as a result of a momentary lapse of judgment, he was instigated to buy exam questions.
Bai Fu also mentioned that afterwards, Bai Yibo felt a lot of regret and couldn’t sleep night after night, continuously blaming himself for not being capable enough to bring glory to the Bai Family.
Bo Gaozhuo truly believed Bai Yibo resorted to this low tactic because poverty had hampered his studies, and after so many years of taking exams and feeling sorry for his family, he was more sympathetic towards Bai Yibo.
But if he was also selling questions for money, that was another matter entirely.
"Little uncle, don’t listen to their nonsense. My grandson and granddaughter are exceptionally intelligent, but they are too selfish. I’m not happy that he passed the Imperial Examination, because he did it at the sacrifice of his uncle. Naturally, when it comes to his uncle, there’s not a good word to say." Bai Fu said, and even sighed regretfully, as if deeply lamenting his grandson’s "misdeeds."
Bai Ruozhu nearly vomited upon hearing this. She had not realized the old man was such an expert actor. If he lived in modern times, perhaps he could become a celebrated old thespian and even win an Oscar Lifetime Achievement Award.
Bai Lu couldn’t bear to listen anymore and spoke up, "I am the clan leader of the Bai Family, with so many clan members watching. I should be impartial. What kind of person Bai Yibo is, everyone in the Bai Family is clear about. If uncle doesn’t believe it, let him check the records. The cheating case during the Child Student Exam in Anyuan Town caused quite a stir; the emperor even sent an imperial envoy to investigate. Bai Yibo’s offense was the biggest besides the main and deputy examiners."
"My big brother was biased towards his eldest son. From childhood, the eldest son would study while the second son worked in the fields. As a result, the eldest son Bai Yibo was lazy and never succeeded even in becoming a Scholar in several decades, and he never toiled in agriculture. Talking about being an Agricultural and Scholarly Family, did he ever do any farming? Just ask around in the Mountain Village about his character. Everyone knows that after getting drunk, he even went around the village writing curses against his own younger brother’s family, out of envy for his nephew passing the Child Student Exam as the top scholar!"
Bai Ruozhu was also very angry at this point and added, "I don’t want to speak ill of my uncle and make us seem petty. I just want to make one thing clear: my second older brother’s achievements in his exams did not come at the expense of anyone. He placed first in his first Child Student Exam, and later, despite being implicated and jailed by my uncle, the imperial envoy showed leniency and did not cancel his eligibility to participate in the Imperial Examination. He took the Child Student Exam again, and once more he was the top scholar, which also proved his innocence."
"In the recent Rural Examination, he was once again the top scholar. Couldn’t all these achievements be gained without sacrificing someone? In the previous years when my second brother did not participate in the Imperial Examination, why didn’t my uncle ever achieve top scholar?"
Bai Ruozhu was quite agitated, "A gentleman has things he will and won’t do. My uncle made a mistake and should accept the lessons he deserves. Otherwise, if everyone can just find excuses for their mistakes and blame others for lacking sympathy or not considering familial ties to save them, what’s the point of having laws? Wouldn’t the Danliang Country be thrown into chaos?"
"You spiteful girl, you’ve always held a grudge against your uncle. Whenever you get the chance, you smear him. Is your heart black?" Liu Family cried out.
Bai Zepei bowed to Elder Bo, "Elder, it’s good that you care about the younger generation, but don’t lose your sanity and violate the law, lest you bring trouble upon the Bo Family."
"You two scourges, do you even have me, your grandpa, in your eyes?" Bai Fu roared, "You had Bai Lu confine me, denying me my freedom, and now you speak of benevolence and righteousness, aren’t you ashamed?"
Bai Ruozhu didn’t want to argue with the old master in the Bo Residence, so she turned around and bowed to Elder Bo, saying, "The younger generation has said all that should be said. If the elder does not believe, you may send someone to verify. My family and I will take our leave now."
Bai Yihong and Lin Ping’er also bowed, and the family made their way out.
Liu Family didn’t follow and said to the Bo madam who was looking at her, "I’ll stay behind to take care of our old master, look how angry he is."
Bo madam couldn’t very well ask her to leave, so she ignored Liu Family and hurried out of the yard to catch up with Bai Ruozhu and the others.
"Don’t be upset either, your father-in-law was just a bit excited to have finally found his relatives, he’s actually a reasonable person, things will clear up once everything is investigated," Bo madam whispered in consolation.
Lin Ping’er smiled at Bo madam, "It’s alright, we just don’t want the elder to be misled by others."
"When my Marquis comes back, I will surely have him persuade the elder," Bo madam said with an awkward smile, as it wasn’t proper for her, as a daughter-in-law, to press the issue too much.
On the way back home from the Bo Residence, the family sat in the horse carriage, and Lin Ping’er couldn’t help saying, "Your father is becoming more fond of blatantly lying as he gets older, shamelessly at that. That is your grandmother’s own brother, and for the sake of his precious son, is he thinking of dragging someone else down with him?"
Bai Yihong coughed awkwardly twice, "I don’t really know what to say either, thank goodness Zepei and Ruozhu are clear-minded. I see that Uncle has started to realize some things."
Bai Ruozhu snorted coldly, she was very unhappy with Elder Bo’s line of reasoning, what does it mean that one shouldn’t only think of one’s own safety and shouldn’t have expelled Bai Yibo from the clan. If Bai Yibo’s character was decent, and he had merely been foolish momentarily, the clan would definitely have tried to save him. But looking at what he had done over the years, even stooping to the level of drugging his own nephew before an exam, why should everyone accommodate such a black-hearted person?
By the time Bai Ruozhu returned home, Jiang Yichun had already arrived, and both of them were seething with anger. So, they shared with each other what they had encountered that day, which only fueled their anger more.
"It’s true that the Capital City is full of trouble, I didn’t expect even those old folks to be so shameless," Bai Ruozhu remarked. Of course, by "shameless," she was referring to Elder Jiang Ge’s argument, that she had gone out and provoked somebody. She had merely been on her way to her mansion upon entering the Capital City. Besides, who decreed that a woman must stay at home and not go out?
Even the relatively backward Turkic Country didn’t have such rules!