Chapter 297: Dying for You to See
No one dared to open the door for Bai Fu without Bai Lu’s permission, and moreover, no one wanted to open it for him. After such an incident, the faint sympathy they had for him, thinking it was pitiful that his eldest son got arrested, dissolved like smoke upon hearing his current stance.
Such a self-interested man filled with warped reasoning was not worth their sympathy!
"You all want to make decisions without opening the door, Yibo is mine, without my agreement, none of you can expel him from the sect!" Bai Fu was ranting outside and by now, people from Fengye Village had curiously gathered around.
Bai Lu took a deep breath and said to Bai Zehao, "Continue signing, don’t worry about him, there is no point reasoning with him, talking to him is just a waste of energy."
Bai Zehao nodded, picked up the pen and signed his name, then left a handprint. The final statement was then passed to Bai Yihong.
"So you’re not opening the door, huh? Since you all are ignoring reason, I’ll kill myself in front of you! You’re bent on leaving my son homeless, I’ll hang myself at your door!" Bai Fu began to yell, straining so much that his voice broke.
Outside came a rustling sound, then someone yelled, "Elder Bai, your relative is tying a belt to the doorpost, really planning to hang himself!"
The faces of everyone inside the house changed. If he really hung himself at their door, wouldn’t that bring them bad luck?
Bai Ruozhu’s mouth twitched. She was amused the old man was about to hang himself with his own belt. Didn’t he fear that his pants might fall off while he was hanging, destroying his dignity in his old age?
But Bai Yihong’s hand froze. He was somewhat afraid to make his mark. He was genuinely afraid that his dad might actually kill himself. He could defy his father in this matter, but he couldn’t just watch his father die.
Fortunately, Lin Ping’er hadn’t joined them when they had gone inside to discuss matters and had gone to talk to Bai Zhaoshi instead. Otherwise, she would have certainly started scolding Bai Yihong.
Luckily, nobody from Bai Lu’s family had uttered a word to him. They probably understood how he felt at the moment.
Bai Ruozhu glanced at her dad, thinking that they had to deal with the old man outside before they could continue signing the document.
Outside, Bai Fu had already hooked his belt on the doorpost and tied a hangman’s knot. However, he couldn’t quite reach it. He looked around and saw that someone had left a small stool not too far off. He immediately rushed over to get the stool.
"Hey, what are you doing? That’s my stool." An old woman rushed out to grab the stool, refusing to let Bai Fu take it away, but Bai Fu had already grabbed one end of the stool and the two began to pull at it from each end.
"Just lend it to me. I’ll give it back to you after I hang myself." Bai Fu said, annoyed that the old woman was uncooperative.
The old woman rolled her eyes at him, "You’ll be dead after you hang yourself, what good is giving it back to me then! Isn’t it ominous enough? Can I ever use this stool again? Leave it. You’re supposed to be a scholar, yet you’re grabbing other people’s things. Don’t you feel ashamed?"
Bai Fu’s face turned red and then pale at the old woman’s words. But he barely did any physical labor in his normal life and lacked strength as a result, so he wasn’t able to wrestle the stool away from the old woman. They remained in a stalemate.
When Bai Lu opened the gate with everyone, they saw Bai Fu tussling with an old woman. The belt hanging from the gate was swaying in midair, almost touching Bai Lu’s neck, which annoyed him. He yelled at his family, "Give me a knife to cut this rope. Let’s see how he’ll hang himself then!"
Immediately, someone ran out of the yard with a grass-cutting knife and cut Bai Fu’s belt. Still, they were not satisfied and even cut the poor belt into several pieces.
Bai Fu no longer had interest in fighting for the stool with the old woman. Without his belt, what did he need the stool for?
He rushed forward in anger, pointing at Bai Lu, "You think you can stop me? If I can’t hang myself, I’ll just smash my head against your gate and die. Even as a ghost I won’t let you off!"
Lin Ping’er furrowed her brow. The old man seemed to be mimicking what she had said at the door of the old mansion.
"You’re at an advanced age and still don’t feel ashamed. You’ve studied for a lifetime, and you are a scholar, yet you have no understanding of basic reasoning. If dad were still alive, he would’ve been angry enough to die because of you." Bai Lu pointed at Bai Fu, disdainful of his despicable behavior.
"Hmph, if dad were alive, he wouldn’t let you treat Yibo like this. Among the younger generation of the Bai family, Yibo is the most promising. Even when dad was alive, he said we should spare no effort in providing for him." Bai Fu argued with conviction.
With extreme anger, Bai Lu broke into sarcastic laughter. His face showed obvious derision, "Most promising, yet he couldn’t pass the examination as a scholar his entire life and could only finally succeed through cheating.?"
"Yibo must have been framed! He would never do such a thing!" Bai Fu declared firmly.
Bai Ruozhu couldn’t help laughing, "Whether he did or did not, you are fully aware. If you want to die, no one is stopping you. But even after your death, we can still expel Bai Yibo from the sect. If you don’t mind him starving to death after his release from jail, you’re more than welcome to die."
Didn’t the old man care about Bai Yibo? Then she would attack his weakness.
"You ... you unfilial creature! No child should speak to their grandfather in such a way!" Bai Fu pointed at Bai Ruozhu, his hand shaking.
"Didn’t you already disown me as your granddaughter a while ago? I also don’t want a grandfather who can’t differentiate right from wrong and brings disaster upon the whole family for the sake of his son who does nothing but wrong!" Bai Ruozhu spoke loudly. She was no longer afraid of people saying she was unfilial. Her second brother was already in jail, why should she still talk about filial piety with this man?
"You ... you ..." Bai Fu gasped heavily, not knowing how to proceed. He then turned to Bai Yihong, "Is this how you teach your daughter?"
Bai Yihong was relieved that the old man wasn’t going to commit suicide and sighed in relief, "Dad, Ruozhu is telling the truth. My elder brother has committed such a severe crime, he should pay the price."
Although Bai Yihong was an honest man who hadn’t read much, he did not speak the local dialect only because his father enjoyed posturing like the wealthy. Since childhood, his father had forbidden him from speaking the local dialect. However, even if he wasn’t well-educated, he understood the simple principle that wrongdoing merits punishment.
Bai Ruozhu tugged at her father, "Dad, let’s not waste time. We still need to go to jail to see our second brother and arrange for his bail."
Bai Yihong turned away, walked back into the house and swiftly signed his name on the petition. He then pressed a bright red handprint.
"You are all forcing me. I’ll really show you by dying!" Bai Fu threatened to rush over and crash into the wall of Bai Lu’s house. But there were now many people present that even if he intended to crash into the wall, others would stop him.
"Bai Yibo can’t do anything and stripping his title means that he won’t even have food to eat. If you really pity him, you should live a few more years - that way, you can take care of him in the future and prevent him from starving to death on the streets." Bai Ruozhu turned her head and said with an ironic smile playing at the corner of her mouth, stabbing into the old man’s eyes.
His face turned an angry red color, but in the end, he took the advice and did not dare to rush over to crash into anything.