Chapter 881 - 883: Shocking Change, Pointed Out by Thousands_1
Jiang Yichun could tell she was angry with him; his eyes darkened, and he said irritably, "I have official duties to attend to. I’m busy!"
Bai Ruozhu glared at him. Why was he so brusque when he was the one in the wrong? Who did he think he was?
Lin Hanlan looked somewhat embarrassed and bowed to them both, saying, "I still have the Calligraphy Competition to attend, so I shall take my leave first."
Bai Ruozhu nodded at her, "I wish Miss Lin success."
Lin Hanlan smiled brightly, "Thank you, sister-in-law."
Once she had left, Jiang Yichun turned to Bai Ruozhu and said, "Don’t get jealous over nothing. You know what kind of person I am."
At this stance, Lightning quickly stepped back a little; he didn’t want to hear too much...
Bai Ruozhu was still furious. She glared at him fiercely and said, "I don’t care about that. All those childhood sweethearts of yours, I can’t do anything about your past. But who let another woman touch my son’s butt? My son is still so young, and you let an unrelated woman touch his butt, see his little willy—what kind of father are you?"
Jiang Yichun was stunned. Touching his son’s butt, seeing his little willy...
Lightning wanted to cover his ears; my word, he really wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but the lady was too funny, wasn’t she? Little Master was still so young; touching him a bit wasn’t a big deal.
Bai Ruozhu didn’t know what Lightning was thinking; otherwise, she would have grabbed his ear and said: You’re not a mother; do you understand a mother’s feelings?
She had carried her child for ten months; why should some random woman get to look and touch? It would be different if it were her future daughter-in-law, and even then, her husband’s childhood friend? How could it not bother her?
Coming back to his senses, Jiang Yichun said, "Tu Ying has seen Dengdeng before, and Guizhi has changed his diapers too. If you’re jealous, just say so. Don’t drag irrelevant matters into this."
"Is that the same? Who are Tu Ying and Guizhi to me? And who are they to Dengdeng? Do you think your childhood sweetheart should be the closest person to Dengdeng?" Bai Ruozhu was even more inflamed.
She turned her head and saw the Calligraphy Competition was about to start, so she handed Dengdeng to Jiang Yichun’s arms, saying, "I’m going to compete. If you can’t take good care of the child, I’ll hire a wet nurse afterward, so you won’t be hindered from catching up with old friends."
After saying that, Bai Ruozhu ran off, and Jiang Yichun, gnashing his teeth in anger, wanted to chase after her but had to consider her competition and was forced to swallow his frustration.
Dengdeng didn’t know what was wrong with his parents, but in Jiang Yichun’s arms, he could hear the grinding sound of his father’s teeth which he found very amusing, reaching out to touch his father’s cheek and then excitingly patted it a couple of times.
Jiang Yichun was irritated, and when his son patted him, he glared at him fiercely. Little Dengdeng had probably never seen his father look so scary before, so he puckered his little lips and burst into tears with a wail.
Now Jiang Yichun was at a loss, not even caring about being angry, he frantically began to soothe his son, but he was still holding back his vexation and said to Lightning, "Tell Chen Feng we’re heading back first, and ask him and Muyu to keep a close watch here."
"Yes, my lord," Lightning responded and went to find Chen Feng.
On the other side, Bai Ruozhu angrily rejoined the lineup, taking the field with the other calligraphers. Bai Zepei saw that his sister was upset and asked quietly, "What happened?"
"It’s okay, Tu Ying has already taken Tu Bai back, and they ran into a nosy doctor along the way which was very annoying," Bai Ruozhu whispered.
Liu Jianzhou had also gone to the Calligraphy Competition, and he excitedly said, "Tu Ying is so awesome. Who would have thought she would defeat all the men and actually win first place in the Competition? The arena was in an uproar just now."
At that moment, the judge came over, and everyone fell silent to listen to the judge announce the rules of the Competition.
"This round of the Competition will feature three model texts. Contestants are free to choose and write as much or little as they wish within the allocated time, in any script that shows their strengths," the judge declared.
Bai Ruozhu let out a big sigh of relief. Thankfully, the rules were relatively lax; her calligraphy was okay, but not particularly outstanding. If the Competition rules were stricter, she feared she would end up with the lowest scores.
Everyone found a table to write on. Bai Ruozhu and her second elder brother worked side by side; first, they looked at the displayed model calligraphy pieces ahead of them, which included a poem, a piece of exquisite prose, and a song in the graceful style.
Bai Ruozhu thought that as a woman, she might as well write fine script with decorative pins, so she chose the song. Then, she spread out her paper and began to write, burying her head in her work, unaware of the pointing and murmuring from the spectators or that she herself had become the focus of many gazes.
Bai Zepei was absorbed in writing and also did not notice these abnormalities. To write well, one must first cast aside distractions and immerse oneself in the task.
When Bai Ruozhu was halfway through, she caught sight of her second elder brother finishing up. He picked up his paper to dry it and handed it over to the adjacent judge. He glanced over at Bai Ruozhu’s table, nodded slightly, then retreated to the side, reassured.
Bai Ruozhu checked the time and dared not delay any longer. Writing this decorative fine script naturally meant that writing the entire song would be best, unlike large characters where one or two sentences would suffice.
As she was writing the last third, footsteps sounded nearby as many people finished their work and went up to submit it. She didn’t think much of it, but quickly sensed something was off. Before she could figure out what was happening, ink was inadvertently splashed all over her.
She instinctively dodged, and the ink missed her face but still splattered onto her left shoulder, with specks dotting her neck and chest. She looked down instinctively and saw that her work had been smeared with ink beyond recognition!
Scoundrels! Bai Ruozhu wished she could tear the person in front of her to pieces. It was a young woman glaring at her indignantly, even starting to shout, "Bai Ruozhu, a scandalous woman like you has no right to participate in this Competition! Being in the same arena with you is an insult to us all. The organizing committee should revoke your eligibility, or we will all boycott the event!"
"Right, we despise sharing the stage with a shameless woman who sneaks around having affairs on the Competition grounds!"
"The organizing committee must disqualify her, or we’ll boycott!"
"That’s right, we cannot condone such deviance. Drive her out of the arena, out of Xuanlang City!"
...
At that point, the guards arranged by the organizing committee rushed over and subdued the woman throwing the ink to prevent further chaos. She did not struggle but sneered and looked at Bai Ruozhu saying, "Even if the Competition catches me, it’s no use. Everyone knows about your disgraceful act now. You just wait to be driven out of Xuanlang City!"
The rage in Bai Ruozhu’s heart grew wildly like untamed weeds. Her fingers curled inside her sleeve, ultimately forming a fist that was clenched so tightly that she didn’t even notice her fingernails piercing the flesh of her palm.
What had she done to deserve such an affront? Why were they so intent on humiliating her? Why were so many people shouting for her to leave?
What gave them the right?