Chapter 294: Must Be Expelled from the Sect
Even though the old mansion gate was sturdy, upon Lin Pinger’s repeated hacking, a chunk of wood was finally chopped off, abruptly revealing the scene inside the yard.
As the old man was about to walk out, the old lady stubbornly grabbed his hand and refused to let go, and the beaten and bruised Bai Ruolan was so terrified she only knew to sob on the side.
"Stop grabbing me, are they too much for you? If they dare to hack at my door, they might as well hack this old body of mine too!" Bai Fu called out from the yard.
However, Bai Ruozhu understood that he was all bark and no bite. The old lady couldn’t really stop him, he was merely pretending to struggle to avoid any ridicule.
"Bai Fu, if you dare, come out!" Lin Pinger was almost frenzied, she didn’t care if Bai Fu, was her elder?
"Look at your wonderful son, not only did he harm my son, but he also brought disaster to the whole Bai Family! You spoiling him and indulging him every single day, and talking about being an Agricultural and Scholarly Family with us working on the fields while he doesn’t have to lift a finger, lazes around all day and is full of evil tricks. Just because he passed the Imperial Examination, he ridiculed my son Ze Lai for not passing it, and when he found out that Ze Lai became the top scorer, he harbored resentment and even cursed our whole family to die when he was drunk. This kind of person would have been punished in any other family, but you, feeling sorry for him and not scolding him even a little bit, what kind of a family head are you?"
With Lin Pinger shouting at the top of her voice, all the onlookers were stunned. This was the first time a daughter-in-law had dared to curse her father-in-law in the village. But upon thinking about how her son Bai Ze Pae’s bright future was ruined by Bai Yibo, everyone felt they could understand Lin Pinger’s outburst.
"What are you shouting for, your father’s also upset about Yibo being captured, he just fainted too. Don’t make him collapse out of anger." The old lady called out from the side, but with a much softer tone, it seems that she’s really scared of a woman who is not afraid to lose it all.
"His son being captured served him right, my innocent son is falsely accused, who can I seek justice from? If it weren’t for him spoiling and indulging Bai Yibo every day, there wouldn’t be today’s Bai Yibo or the Bai family!" Lin Piner burst into tears, "I feel hatred, I hate that I’m useless. I should’ve cut ties with all of you long ago. My poor son was now sent to jail by all of you, if anything bad happens to him, I swear, I won’t let you off even when I’m a ghost!"
Seeing her mother’s sufferings, Bai Ruozhu broke out in a cold sweat. But when her mother burst into loud cries, she felt relieved.
"Mother, let’s go find Grandfather the clan head to seek justice." Bai Ruozhu came forward, hugging her mother as she sobbed.
At this moment, Lin Pinger had regained her sanity, she hugged Bai Ruozhu and started to cry loudly, "What sin did we commit to have such kind of relatives!"
The old man clutched his chest, gasping heavily, and pointed at Lin Pinger, "Unfilial wretch, I’m going to divorce you from the Bai family!"
Bai Ruozhu glared back, "We already left the family. It’s not up to you to divorce or not. Just wait for your precious son to be expelled from the clan!"
The old man’s face was full of shock, "What are you going to do? He is your uncle, you can’t do this to him!"
Bai Ruozhu sneered, her face full of scorn, "So, I’m kicking him when he’s down? He’s the one who brought disgrace to our clan and dragged the whole Bai family down with him, why can’t he be expelled from the clan? He caused my brother Er Lang to be imprisoned, but you’re not calling him a bastard! Mother was right, Bai Yibo is the monster you created. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a day like this!"
The onlookers all nodded their heads, everyone in the village knew what kind of person Bai Yibo was. If he were like Er Lang who had accomplished so much at such a young age, it wouldn’t matter if he focused only on his studies and didn’t do farm work. But Bai Yibo had always been incompetent and extremely lazy. After a sudden stroke of luck, it all turned out to be false.
The old man began to tremble all over. He didn’t want to admit that he had spoilt Bai Yibo too much. Wasn’t he the same? Focusing only on his studies and not working? What was wrong with that? But he had to admit, Yibo had really caused a huge problem this time.
The gap made by hacking the gate was rather large, the people outside could see into the yard, the old man couldn’t uphold his dignity and started to faint.
Bai Ruozhu let out a cold snort and said loudly, "You might as well faint, as soon as you wake up, Bai Yibo won’t be on the Bai family tree anymore!"
Her words worked, the old man’s body swayed a bit, but he managed to stand straight again and didn’t faint. The people outside who were there for the spectacle, laughed secretly, it turned out he was pretending to faint.
Bai Ruozhu didn’t bother to give him another glance, she pulled Lin Pinger and said, "Mother, let’s go to Fengye Village, I don’t believe that there’s no justice left!"
Lin Pinger quickly nodded, "Alright, let’s go." She then realized she was holding a kitchen knife, which would terrify anyone who didn’t know what was going on, but at the same time, she didn’t know what to do with the knife.
Reading her mother’s mind, Bai Ruozhu grabbed the knife and viciously embedded it into the fence of the old mansion, the knife went deep into the yard wall.
"Mother, let’s leave it here for now. This will wake up the people inside the mansion, reminding them to have some conscience in their future words and deeds. Otherwise, they were bound to get their comeuppance!" Bai Ruozhu said without a hint of warmth in her tone as she swept a glance over the inside of the yard. The old man was so furious with her words that he was cursing his own misfortune, while the old woman shrunk her neck in fear and didn’t dare to make a noise.
"Save those words about misfortune for your elder son." After dropping this line, Bai Ruozhu pulled Lin Pinger away.
Bai Yihong and Bai Zehao felt relieved when they saw Lin Pinger regain her composure. For Bai Zehao, it was incredibly satisfying.
"Yihong, you can’t go, that’s your elder brother. For the sake of your father, leave him a way out!" The old man’s voice softened with a hint of pleading.
Bai Yihong had already turned around to leave, but upon hearing the high and mighty old man begging like this, his steps faltered and a twinge of pain shot through his heart.
Ultimately he stopped, tears welling up in his eyes, he turned around and looked at the old man, saying, "Father, I can listen to you on any other matter, but not today. My elder brother is not young anymore, he should pay for his own mistakes. Otherwise, he will never learn his lesson."
"He’s already been sent to prison, and the government will punish him. Isn’t that enough? What will he do for the rest of his life? I beg of you. I’ve never asked you for anything. Can’t you give your elder brother another chance?" The old man cried, looking utterly desperate.
"That’s right, you’ve never asked me for anything, Father. Because whenever you give an order, we have no choice but to obey. If you had been as strict with Bai Yibo as you were with us, none of this would have happened!" Seeing her father hesitating, Bai Ruozhu hastily spoke.
Upon hearing this, Bai Yihong’s gaze no longer wavered. He looked at the old man and said, "He’s made a huge mistake this time. Don’t you know that he could cost Zepei his title and never be allowed to take the Imperial Examination again? Don’t you know he could hinder all the children of the Bai family from taking the Imperial Examination?"