Chapter 119: Going Wild with Alcohol in the Middle of the Night
"Huh?" Fang Guizhi was caught off guard again, "Pranking someone, are you joking with me?"
Bai Ruozhu winked at her and said, "Guess!"
"What’s there to guess, stop keeping me in suspense." Fang Guizhi began shaking Bai Ruozhu’s arm.
Bai Ruozhu didn’t wish to keep it from her. Fang Guizhi was a trustworthy friend. But Bai Ruozhu did not want to implicate Fang Guizhi in any mischief. So, she just smiled and said, "You’ll know when the time comes. For now, just sell the wine to the Old Wine House. Remember to ask them to keep it a secret, or we won’t sell them the good stuff anymore. I’m sure they will cooperate."
Getting nothing out of Bai Ruozhu, Fang Guizhi simply wrapped the wine in a bundle and headed straight for the Old Wine House.
The two jars of wine were actually concocted by Bai Ruozhu before giving birth because she was concerned about sterilization. However, considering the alcohol content of the present wines was too low, she made some high-alcohol-content wines in her space, and there was still some left unused.
As for whether this thing would work, it all boiled down to luck.
Fang Guizhi took the wine to the Old Wine House as instructed by Bai Ruozhu. The Old Wine House, reputed for its generations of winemaking in Back Mountain Village, was renowned enough that people from nearby villages came to buy wine from them. They were indeed as fair and honest as Bai Ruozhu said.
As soon as the owner smelled the wine brought by Fang Guizhi, he became excited instantly, asking Fang Guizhi where the wine came from.
Scared by the owner’s reaction, Fang Guizhi had no choice but to lie hard, "I went to the market in the town and exchanged this with a traveling merchant. I thought I could make some silver by selling it."
The owner didn’t ask any more questions but offered her two hundred Wen. Fang Guizhi was secretly pleased. Such small jars of wine usually only cost about twenty something Wen when she bought them for her father from the Old Wine House.
Fang Guizhi hid her copper coins and went back to find Bai Ruozhu gleefully. On her way, she saw Bai Yibo, who was heading towards the Old Wine House.
All of a sudden, Fang Guizhi felt a chill. Bai Ruozhu said she was going to play a prank on someone. Could it be that she had precisely calculated that Bai Yibo would go buy some wine, and she’d added something to the wine?
Oh my, that would mean jail time! She hastened her pace to persuade Bai Ruozhu not to act rashly. It wasn’t worth getting into trouble with the officials due to such people.
When she found Bai Ruozhu, she closed the room door and started to plead with her. Hearing this, Bai Ruozhu burst into laughter, reached out her slender finger to poke Fang Guizhi’s forehead, and said crossly, "Silly girl, if I were really plotting something that would lead to potential legal trouble, would I involve you in it?"
Fang Guizhi, after pondering for a while, found this to be true. Bai Ruozhu would never put her in danger. Looking at Bai Ruozhu’s beaming face at the moment, could it be that she was overthinking?
"Could it be just a richer wine? No additives?" Fang Guizhi blinked her eyes and asked Bai Ruozhu closely.
Bai Ruozhu was laughing so hard that her stomach started to hurt. She nodded vigorously, saying, "Yes, it’s just good wine. Nothing else. You’re overthinking."
"Then, how does that prank someone?" Fang Guizhi scratched her head in confusion. She was finding it more and more difficult to understand Bai Ruozhu. Even though they were of similar age, how was Bai Ruozhu suddenly so much smarter than her? Could it really be that having a baby made a difference?
"A master stroke is mischief that abides by the law." Bai Ruozhu winked at her. "I’m not keeping it from you. I’m just not sure if it will work yet. If it does, you will naturally know."
Despite asking for a long time, Fang Guizhi received no information from Bai Ruozhu. She was left burning with curiosity and had no choice but to return home frustrated.
The next day, she got up early, eager to see if anything Bai Ruozhu mentioned had happened. In particular, she wandered near the Bai Family’s old mansion and found that even before she got there, several people on the road were quietly discussing something. Everyone’s face was either full of contempt or schadenfreude, which clearly indicated that something had indeed transpired.
Fang Guizhi was thrilled. Had Bai Ruozhu’s mischief been successful? Could she really predict things with such precision?
"Auntie, what happened? What’s going on?" She spotted three women chatting together and approached them to inquire.
"Oh, Guizhi! Why don’t you go see for yourself? You’re close with Ruozhu, you could also inform her in case she doesn’t know." One of the women burst into laughter after speaking.
Fang Guizhi’s eyes lit up. So, it really happened. Emotionally bidding the three women goodbye, she hastened her steps. However, before she even reached the Bai Family’s old mansion, she noticed some words, seemingly written in ink, on the fence. She had learned some characters from Bai Ruozhu before, but not many. These scribbles were too messy, making them look like Ghost-Drawn Talismans to her.
There were hardly a few people in the village with literacy skills and even fewer who used inkbrushes. So, it was evident who committed this deed.
She struggled to distinguish the words for a while and managed to discern "Die" and it appeared there was also a "You". She couldn’t identify the rest.
When she reached the Bai Family’s old mansion, the courtyard door was tightly closed, and a crowd had gathered outside for onlookers. It was eerily quiet inside the yard until the voice of the Bai family’s old lady broke out.
"Bai! You’re good for nothing! You don’t even know when your own husband is in trouble, all you know is eating and sleeping!"
Then came the voice of Mrs. Wang, "Mother, why are you yelling? Don’t you think it’s shameful enough?" Mrs. Wang sounded very upset because she felt wronged. She called Bai Yibo to bed last night, but he scolded her harshly before going out to the yard to drink wine and moon-watch. He claimed that it was something refined men do, and a woman like her wouldn’t understand.
Mrs. Wang felt like she had no control. With even the old master not bothered, what could she do? So, she went to bed. Little did she know, an incident would occur at home the next morning.
Everything fell silent again inside the courtyard of the Bai family’s old mansion. Fang Guizhi, unable to make sense of the situation, couldn’t help but whisper to an old woman standing next to her, "Old lady, what’s going on?"
The old woman, her face flushed with excitement, said, "Oh dear, don’t you know? The Scholar of the Bai family got drunk last night and ran all over the main street. It was only when the villagers went to work in the morning that they saw him lying by the roadside, fast asleep, with a brush still in his hand. He was the one who wrote all those characters on the fences."
"What did he write? I couldn’t understand." Although Fang Guizhi’s mind was reeling, she managed to maintain a calm exterior.
"How would I know? However, the villagers who could read said those were rude words, even telling his younger brother’s family to die. The younger brother is his own sibling, isn’t he?" The old woman spoke disdainfully, "This so-called Scholar is cursing his own brother behind his back. Isn’t he just jealous that his nephew topped the exam?"
Fang Guizhi nodded quickly, "Exactly, it doesn’t bother him if someone else comes first. Instead of improving himself, all he does is blame others for being better."
"Indeed, indeed. But that’s all he can do. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be failing the examination for so many years." The old woman chuckled softly.
Fang Guizhi said goodbye to the old woman and headed for Bai Ruozhu’s house, giddy with excitement. She thought she probably had it figured out. Bai Ruozhu had used one jar of wine to expose Bai Yibo’s true self. But how could she have been so accurate about it?