Chapter 824 - 826 A Plan to Kill Two Birds with One Arrow_1
Bai Ruozhu made a look of aggrievement and pointed to the crowd gathered outside the shop, saying, "You ask everyone if it was me who hit you? It was clearly you who had someone hit me, I merely pushed her away in self-defense, and it was your servant who was careless, how is that related to me? Since when is it wrong to not have been beaten?"
Among the outsiders, someone with boldness shouted, "That’s what you call hoist by your own petard, trying to hit someone but ending up hurting yourself!"
"Right, serves her right, look at the state she’s left the shop in and she still wants to hit people, does she really think there’s no law anymore? Does being a noblewoman make her so great?" Another voice called out from the crowd.
Bai Ruozhu pricked up her ears, that voice sounded so familiar. She glanced over and indeed saw Muyu grinning smugly at her from the crowd; she almost couldn’t restrain her amusement. She had to admit, this Muyu had quite the sense of humor.
Stirred by Muyu’s incitement, the crowd also began to clamor, all saying they were willing to testify for Bai Ruozhu, that the noblewoman had been knocked down by her own servant. Muyu, seeing that things were about right, quietly slipped away from the onlookers and hid.
It wasn’t long before the guard had notified the officer to take people away. While the officer was taking away the immobile guards at the door, Bai Ruozhu saw a familiar figure appear. Wasn’t that Lady Gao, who had come to Beiyu City with the Li Shunsheng couple for a banquet?
Lady Gao was a lively one; her husband was the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Finance, and she had good relations with many of the city lord’s ladies. If she saw this commotion, the news was bound to spread even faster.
Bai Ruozhu chuckled to herself. Fate did seem to have a sense of justice. It looked like Lady Gao had originally come to Hua Xiangrong’s to shop, but now appeared hesitant upon seeing the crowd.
Of course, even without Lady Gao’s presence, others would come. Hua Xiangrong never lacked for customers.
Lady Gao craned her neck to peek into the shop, and quickly her expression turned to one of surprise and pity. She had planned to buy a sample she’d seen previously to order, but now it was too late. With her mother-in-law’s birthday banquet the day after tomorrow, she had wanted to flaunt a beautiful bag to highlight her status and sense of fashion. But now...
Lady Gao heard the onlookers’ clamorous comments and quickly grasped what had happened. She looked at Wang Miaoshuang with some disgust. Wasn’t Wang Miaoshuang the one who liked to act superior and look down on others? What was she doing now, divorced by her husband’s family and lowering herself to cause trouble in a plebeian’s shop?
The officer led the guards away, but dared not to arrest Wang Miaoshuang. The head officer smartly said, "Noblewoman, you’re injured, aren’t you? Why not come with me to the clinic to have a look?"
Wang Miaoshuang gritted her teeth and pointed at Bai Ruozhu, saying, "It was her who injured me, what is the crime for hitting a noblewoman? Take her away too!"
The crowd outside all began to shout, saying Bai Ruozhu hadn’t touched her, that it was she who had ordered her maid to hit people, only to be knocked down by her own maid.
The head officer, faced with the excited crowd, grew stern and said, "Noblewoman, with so many witnesses testifying, I can’t just arrest people indiscriminately. But now that everyone has seen you smashing up the shop, you might as well cooperate and come with me."
Wang Miaoshuang started cursing bitterly, cursing with all the vulgarity of a shrew, leaving both the head officer and the officer drenched in verbal blood. Many onlookers remarked it was no wonder she’d been divorced by her husband’s family—she was nothing but a shrew, a madwoman.
In the end, it was the Meng Family who sent someone to carry Wang Miaoshuang back, stating that even if Wang Miaoshuang was no longer one of theirs, they couldn’t afford such a loss of face.
After everything was settled, Bai Ruozhu bowed to the crowd outside and expressed her thanks, saying, "Thank you, friends, for speaking up for justice today. I am grateful for everyone’s kindness. Today’s tea at Hua Xiangrong is free; those who are tired can rest and have some tea at the shop next door."
Since business couldn’t be carried on for the moment anyway, she had Fusa take Lai Fu and the wax plums to the shop next door and prepared lots of tea, which was free for anyone who entered.
Many people had never set foot in Hua Xiangrong before because it catered to the rich, and the tea served there was of the finest quality. For many of them, it was their first time entering and their first time tasting such fine tea. They couldn’t stop singing praises for Bai Ruozhu and Hua Xiangrong. Jianqi couldn’t help but take another look at his master, impressed. The master had managed to put Wang Miaoshuang in her place subtly and had garnered a positive reputation for Hua Xiangrong in one fell swoop—it was indeed killing two birds with one stone.
Bai Ruozhu noticed that Lady Gao, who had been watching the excitement from afar, hadn’t come forward and, instead, quickly turned and left, obviously eager to go back and share the gossip.
Feeling that it was time, Bai Ruozhu headed home to look after her second brother, only to find upon entering the room that he was reading a book. She sternly snatched the book from his hands, saying, "Do you want to recover quickly or not? Being diligent can spare you a few days, can’t it?"
Bai Zepei was still in the pose of holding the book, but his hands were now empty. He looked at Bai Ruozhu with a smile tinged with helplessness and said, "Mother isn’t as naggy as you are—be careful or you’ll age quickly, and Jiang Yichun will inevitably dislike you."
Bai Ruozhu proudly said, "I’m five years younger than him, and since I take good care of myself, it’s him who will age first. Who will dislike whom is still unknown."
"You sure do get cheeky when your brother-in-law is not around," Bai Zepei laughed, his gaze on Bai Ruozhu softened with affection. However, when Bai Ruozhu wasn’t paying attention, his eyes flashed with a hint of desolation and helplessness.
"Regardless! I need to change your dressing now; don’t even think about getting up later—just lie down and rest well," Bai Ruozhu said sternly.
She carefully unwrapped the bandages around her second brother’s chest. The wound had been stitched with catgut sutures and was healing nicely; she believed that the sutures would soon dissolve on their own, with the smaller sections of the thread falling away bit by bit.
Bai Zepei quietly watched his sister change his dressing, seemingly entranced. She said the ointment was of high quality and could prevent scarring. He laughed, saying it didn’t matter for a man, but she insisted it did—if he were scarred, what if his future wife didn’t like it?
But inside, he felt somewhat troubled.
Bai Ruozhu carefully applied ointment to her second brother and then wrapped the bandages. During this process, her fingers inadvertently touched his skin. Bai Zepei was somewhat slender, his skin pale, and being bare-chested in front of his sister made him uncomfortable, feeling even more so when those accidental brushes of her fingertips occurred.
For him, it was an ordeal—a silent ordeal that no one else knew about.
"Rest well. I’m confiscating your book for now," Bai Ruozhu said, lifting the book in her hand with a bright smile as she walked out of the room. She was happy that her brother was recovering well, yet she didn’t notice his forlorn expression.
Bai Zepei lay on the bed with his eyes closed, his mind incessantly replaying the vision of that day when the arrow was removed—Ruozhu’s face covered in his blood, the excruciating pain in her eyes. At that moment, he truly thought he was dying, yet he felt somewhat consoled; at least he could see her one last time, see that she was heartbroken for him, and that was enough.