Chapter 238: Everyone Will Be Punished
"Nonsense, you think we don’t already know you calculated everything? It’s too convenient that you bumped into Niu Pazi, huh? You’re clearly trying to hurt our Xiuxiang!" Wang Youcai spoke out, shouting, "How dare you trick your own elders, you are utterly malicious!"
Xiuxiang was the maiden name of someone from the Wang family.
"What you’re saying is strange. Since Auntie has kept her secret too well, how would I know about her and Niu Pazi’s secret?" Bai Ruozhu rolled her eyes, denying the accusations, using the adults’ not understanding her as defense.
"Why bother talking to her, old man? Smash her stall, nobody from our old Wang Family should ever suffer without fighting back!" Wang Chen’s, standing beside Wang Youcai, shouted.
People who came along also joined the fray, demanding to teach the Bai Family a lesson. A ruthless look flashed through Wang Youcai’s eyes as he gritted his teeth and commanded: "Smash it!"
Bai Zehao and Bai Yihong quickly moved forward, worried the two women would get hurt. The people from the Wang family started attacking the two men, smashing one of the Bai’s family bowls. The customers fled from the scene, terrified, while Lin Laifu from the next stall ran over to help, oblivious to the risks.
One of the Wang family women shrieked and, like a crazy woman, clawed at Bai Ruozhu’s face, filled with an overwhelming desire to destroy her looks.
A cold smile crossed Bai Ruozhu’s face. Before, when she was pregnant and less capable, she might have put up with vicious tricksters, but fearing Wang Chen was a joke. She had trained in martial arts in her previous life.
After all, she spent a few years abroad as a single girl, so would it be so weird for her to have learned some defensive moves?
She subtly dodged Wang Chen’s attack, then stealthily made a move with her foot. Wang Chen failed to halt her momentum in time and fell, plowing face-first into the dirt.
From the perspective of onlookers, they didn’t notice Bai Ruozhu’s subtle movements, and only believed Wang Jiapo had fallen while trying to lash out, missing her target. Even though the other stall owners didn’t interfere, they were quietly saying that Wang Jiapo got what she deserved.
A voice of scolding came from the distance: "What do you think you are doing? Gathering to brawl in broad daylight, all of you are coming with me to the Government Office!"
Before the echo of the words faded, Wang Luji and Wan Minglu, clad in officer uniforms, had already charged over. Each of them had a hand on their swords, ready to draw at a moment’s notice.
Even the most violent Wang family members were afraid of officers, so they all stopped.
"Officers, this is a private matter between our two families. Please, have a drink and forget about this." said Wang Youcai, adopting a flattering smile. He also stealthily handed Wang Luji some broken silver, saying obsequiously, "A token of my esteem, officer, please have a drink."
Wang Luji took the silver and weighed it in his hand, a sarcastic smile playing on his lips. Wang Youcai immediately thought that the officer considered the bribe insufficient; he showed a hint of consternation and cursed inwardly at the greedy officer.
But even if he was dissatisfied, Wang Youcai proffered more money. He was ready to literally pay a heavy price that day as he was bent on teaching the Bai family a lesson!
Unfortunately, fate had other plans! Wang Luji’s expression changed abruptly as he shouted, "Everyone here is a witness. This is bribery of an officer, add another charge!"
Wang Youcai’s face turned pale, "Officer, I didn’t mean..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Wan Minglu interrupted him, "Enough, come with us to the government office. Explain everything to the superior."
The Wang family members’ faces turned white. No matter how they tried to explain, Wang Luji and Wan Minglu hauled them all away without exception. Before leaving, however, Wang Luji said that a representative from the Bai family should come to testify. Bai Zehao stepped up, offering to go.
Bai Ruozhu inwardly nodded with approval; her brother was showing more and more the poise of a mature man.
Wan Minglu, who had not gone far, turned back and smiled at Bai Ruozhu. He seemed a bit naive and shy, and Bai Ruozhu couldn’t help feeling awkward, recalling Fusa’s words from the day before.
There’s no doubt that Wan Minglu is a good man; honest and sincere. Marrying someone like him would be wonderful, especially if he would treat Dengdeng with genuine affection. But, Bai Ruozhu didn’t feel that special spark for him, the kind that makes your heart race.
Perhaps because she had never experienced a passionate romance, she yearned for it, always feeling that something was missing, thus unwilling to settle for less.
Bai Ruozhu shook her head at her roaming thoughts. Perhaps, she pondered, Brother Wan was only being kind to her because his sister was going to be her sister-in-law, and he was just thinking about his sister’s future life. The more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
With that, Wang Jiapo, even though she was leaving, couldn’t resist giving Bai Ruozhu a harsh glare, hinting that this was not over. Bai Ruozhu watched her leave, made a wiping motion on her face and Wang Jiapo turned green with wrath. Wang Jiapo had bitten her lip when she had fallen face-first, causing blood to seep from her mouth. She looked truly pathetic.
Fusa rushed over to ask, "Are you alright? You really scared me just now."
Bai Ruozhu gratefully looked to Fusa and her husband, and sincerely thanked them, "Thank you both."
It’s said that you know one’s true nature in times of hardship. Lin Laifu rushing over to help was akin to treating them as family. It wasn’t that the other stall owners were unkind, but they might have been struck if they interfered. The odds were clearly against them and they could have made an enemy of the Wang family for no reason. But despite all this, Lin Laifu and his wife rushed over without giving these risks a second thought. How could the Bai family not be touched by this show of support?
Lin Laifu was an honest and earnest man, much like Bai Yihong in character. Seeing the Bai family thanking him, he scratched his head in embarrassment, "I didn’t really help much, the officials caught them, didn’t they?"
"If Brother Lai Fu hadn’t stepped in, we’d all have taken a beating." Bai Zehao gratefully remarked.
At this point, the other stall owners reached out, expressing relief that everything was fine, predicting that the Wang family was in trouble this time and wouldn’t dare to act so arrogantly again. Some also speculated that the Bai family must have some strong backing since the officials have previously dined at their stall and one of them is their relative. The Wang family really had bumped into a steel wall this time.
As it was said, the Wang family members were brought to the County Government Office, they were quickly charged by Superior Li with the crime of causing public disturbance and disrupting public order. On the spot, Wang Youcai and his son Wang Xiujun were each handed twenty lashes. Luckily, the Bai family didn’t suffer much loss, so the rest were spared, only receiving five lashings. They considered themselves lucky to escape a difficult situation.
Furthermore, Wang’s father and older brother were unlucky. They ended up directly getting helped back home to bed with injuries resembling Wang’s, not even needing a doctor’s attention. After all, they just had to apply the same medicine as for other common injuries.
And so, with the exception of Wang Jiapo, who was slightly better, the rest of the Wang family ended up with severely bruised behinds...
Wang was wailing and cursing again, her sister-in-law was busy taking care of her parents-in-law and husband. Seeing her family in such a state, she lost her temper at her sister-in-law, "Can’t you behave for once? Look at what happened to Dad and older brother! Even your mother at her age suffered after getting five slashes. You are spending time cursing when you should be caring for them. If they weren’t trying to get payback for you, they wouldn’t be suffering!"