Chapter 103: Seeking Another Beating
Bai Zepei was so ruthless, his words were a slap in the face to Zhou Taohua and a sarcastic jab at Bai Ruozhu, who had come to eavesdrop. Bai Ruozhu recovered her composure, made a big ghost face at her second brother—such a poisonous tongue he had!
She also...
Bai Ruozhu involuntarily thought about that cold, detached gentleman in the painting. She shook her head and shoved away the jumbled thoughts, disregarding his poisonous-tongued demeanor, the guy was indeed a rare male beauty.
The next day, Fang Guizhi, in high spirits, came to Bai Ruozhu, the dried fish were sold again, just like before, to the same restaurant owner, at the same price.
Bai Ruozhu again split two taels of silver with Fang Guizhi. Guizhi became ecstatic and exclaimed, "I now have six taels of silver. I now have six taels of silver."
Bai Ruozhu urgently gestured at her to quiet down, "If you keep yelling like this, the whole village will know. Money is unspoken, understand? And, you’re going to wake up my son." As she spoke, she gave Fang Guizhi a stare.
Fang Guizhi awkwardly chuckled a few times and lowered her voice, "I’m just a bit too excited."
Bai Ruozhu wouldn’t truly get angry at her, it was just playful banter. The two of them started chatting again. By noon, Fang Guizhi left and Bai Ruozhu thought to herself that Guizhi’s mother seemed to have changed a lot recently. She no longer treated her strictly, or endlessly commanded her to do work. Had she finally seen reason?
In the afternoon, after feeding her baby and taking a short nap, Bai Ruozhu was awakened by a commotion in the yard—she opened her eyes in irritation.
Although they were still building the house, the people that came and went did not speak loudly. Only when her child was awake and taken outside to watch by Lin Ping’er, would they laugh and entertain her. The loud voices that were heard clearly indicated something unusual was going on.
Bai Ruozhu pricked up her ears, and sure enough, her guess was correct.
Bai Yibo’s voice could be heard at the gate of the courtyard, "Second Brother, isn’t it right for me to bring Sanlang over to help? We’re all family, resentment shouldn’t be kept overnight. Sanlang is young and doesn’t understand, you, as his uncle, can’t hold a grudge against him for a lifetime, right?"
Although Bai Yibo’s education was only half-finished, he was very crafty in his speech. His words meant that if Bai Yihong didn’t let them in, it would seem like he was calculating over relatives, and holding grudges against his elder brother and nephew. But, if Bai Yihong let them in, he would likely be the target of his own family’s criticism.
Of course, Bai Yibo had a motive bringing Sanlang here. Mostly, it was for the villagers to see.
A few days ago, Bai Ruozhu had heard about it. Originally, the Village School had decided to let Scholar Wu from Shuhai Village hold the fort. However, it turned out that Scholar Wu was sick, and seemed quite serious. The village doctor had said that it would take about a month or two to recover.
But the school couldn’t wait for Scholar Wu, right? Therefore, the decision had to be changed, which gave Bai Yibo a new opportunity.
Originally, he looked down on teaching the children of the village, but now, he had no other choice, right? In addition to the previous conflict with the Second House, his reputation in the village had been affected and people even stopped inviting him to banquets. He hadn’t tasted meat for many days, how could he bear it?
At least if he became the school teacher, wouldn’t the families who sent their children to study under him have to invite him for meals every now and then?
"What are you talking about, Big Brother? You are a scholar, how can you do this kind of work? Sanlang is too young and shouldn’t be overworked and risk stunting his growth. Besides, the house is almost finished, there’s really no need for your help." Bai Yihong had also become smarter now. Without directly quarrelling with Bai Yibo, he politely declined the offer.
Bai Yibo rolled his eyes, glanced over at the workers, and then lowered his voice, "You need to pay people to help, right? You have a lot of things to take care of at home, Erlang is about to take the Rural Examination soon, you should focus more on his matters. Why don’t you let Big Brother help and supervise this work for you?"
Bai Yihong’s face dropped, "What are you talking about, Big Brother? These are all my good friends and brothers. Where is the need for a foreman? Please don’t say anything that will offend people." He was genuinely angry now, he didn’t bother to withhold anything to Bai Yibo, nor did he care to keep his voice down, his voice was heard by many.
Those people looked at Bai Yibo with disdain, some coldly snorted, not even a scholar yet, and already acting arrogant, wanting to be a foreman, wasn’t he just putting on airs?
"Well, Second Brother, you’ve learned to trap your elder brother in only a few days, do you really want to taint my name in the village? Why don’t you shout a little louder?" Bai Yibo thought Bai Yihong had done this on purpose, and immediately flared up. Sanlang, who was standing behind him, rolled up his sleeves and said, "Father, I knew he was up to no good. He beat me up last time!"
Bai Yihong’s face turned red instantly upon hearing this. He was so angry that he almost had a stroke, thankfully Lin Ping’er came over and pulled him away, saying, "Don’t argue with them. Ruozhu is still in her confinement period and should not be angered, let them go. In the future, do not recklessly open the gate."
After saying this, Lin Ping’er turned around and left. She really didn’t want to argue with Bai Yibo, she didn’t even want to look at them.
In the room, Bai Ruozhu took a deep breath, constantly reminding herself not to get angry. It was utterly unworthy to get agitated over such people. They were here intentionally to add to her troubles, she definitely couldn’t fall into such a stupid trap.
However, Bai Yibo refused to leave. He had his hand on the door crack, making it impossible for Bai Yihong to shut the door, and then started shouting, "Second Brother, are you being led around by the nose by your daughter now? I came over to help, is that not acceptable? Are you intent on turning brothers against each other?"
Bai Ruozhu felt that her father couldn’t handle this anymore. When it came to throwing tantrums, her father was no match for Bai Yibo.
Just at this moment, Dengdeng—who was beside her—suddenly burst into cries. The crying was so loud that it even startled Bai Ruozhu.
Dengdeng was still in his sleepy stage. Normally, he didn’t cry much, only when he was hungry or had wet himself would he cry a few times, but his cry didn’t disturb people, which is why everyone liked him so much.
But today, why was he wailing suddenly?
Bai Ruozhu quickly picked up the child and began soothing him, wondering if he was hungry. However, the baby was still crying fiercely while flailing his tiny hands, as if saying: get him out, get him out!
Lin Ping’er was startled and was about to rush towards the room when she heard Bai Ruozhu loudly yell, "Mother, tell them to leave immediately! They’ve scared the child. My child was almost endangered by them before birth, and now, they’ve come to scare him again. I want to ask, is this how my dear uncle treats his niece?"
"Ruozhu, don’t get angry, I’ll send them away immediately." Lin Ping’er’s eyes were red with anger. She turned around, grabbed a large broom from the corner of the wall, yelled, and charged towards Bai Yibo at the gate.