Chapter 886 - 888: No Apologies, There’s Plenty of Time Ahead_1
"Miss Xu keeps insulting the students from the Northland, and even spreads rumors to frame my wife. Does your father, the Canal Transport Commissioner, no longer wish to remain in his position?" Jiang Yichun’s words sounded rather light, but his expression was far from mere intimidation. Many who heard it drew a sharp breath. Could it be that the power dynamics in Jiangnan were about to drastically shift?
Xu Panrui, breathing heavily, her modest chest heaving with anger, glared at Jiang Yichun and said, "Who do you think you are to meddle with my father? And when did I ever say that the North and the South should be governed separately? Don’t you dare pin your grievances with Bai Ruozhu on me and my father!"
Jiang Yichun didn’t even deign to look at her, but sneered, "Oh? Just wait and see how long your esteemed father can keep his seat."
Su Weilan’s face turned ashen, fearing that her turn would come soon. She hurriedly said to Bai Ruozhu, "Bai Ruozhu, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have looked down on the women from the Northland, and I definitely shouldn’t have insulted you. Please, forgive me!"
Xu Panrui was still arguing furiously when, to her surprise, her own ally turned against her. She shot a furious glare at Su Weilan and hissed, "You spineless coward!"
Bai Ruozhu couldn’t help but laugh, her smile full of scorn, "Su Weilan, I forgive you. Now the last one left, Xu Panrui, will you apologize or not? To be honest, I know you’re the real mastermind behind this, and I’m already being quite generous by merely asking for an apology."
The judges, including Elder Wei, had by now pieced together much of the story and naturally suspected Xu Panrui was behind the plotting. In Jiangnan, the long-standing tradition of looking down on the people from the Northland had not been lost, even among the officials and their families sent from the Capital City, with the Canal Transport Commissioner being the worst offender.
Xu Panrui, also a student of the female academy, was well-known among some teachers as the leader in ostracizing the women from the Northland’s official families. In contrast, the legitimate heirs of the Huainan King, both son and daughter, had not engaged in such factionalism.
Considering this, Bai Ruozhu’s request for just an apology from Xu Panrui was indeed extremely generous.
An apology in front of so many people? This was an experience Xu Panrui had never encountered in over a decade, especially when the other party was a woman from Northland whom she deeply despised and envied. Gritting her teeth, she suddenly burst into laughter, "Why should I apologize to you? You say you’re healing men, but you’ve seen their bodies; you’re nothing but indecent!"
At this, the two hundred soldiers were enraged. Many of them had received treatment from Bai Ruozhu, so this woman was not only insulting their lady but also insulting them!
Bai Ruozhu’s gaze grew colder, but she did not want chaos to erupt, so she made a subtle signal to Jianqi, who was standing not far away. As Jianqi made a move, before he even reached her, a dark shadow flashed in front of Xu Panrui, and with two crisp slaps, she was struck across the face!
Upon closer inspection, Bai Ruozhu saw that it was Lightning, the dark guard of Jiang Yichun, who had moved more swiftly than she and had evidently been ordered even earlier.
"If you dare insult my wife again, I’ll have you beaten to death right now!" Jiang Yichun spat out through clenched teeth.
Xu Panrui was stunned by the slaps; she had never been struck like this before, and that too in full public view, receiving two blows to the face. Moreover, with Lightning’s martial arts skills, her face had swollen like a bun, and a trickle of blood ran down from the corner of her mouth. If it weren’t for Lightning showing restraint, she might have lost several teeth.
With a loud cry, Xu Panrui began to sob openly, truly terrified. The assailant had appeared silently before her, inflicting a piercing pain upon her face; she even thought her life might be at an end.
For someone as proud as she, to break down crying was an unusual sight, earning her the sympathetic looks of many. Bai Ruozhu’s face flashed with a mocking smile. "Crying won’t solve anything. If I had broken down in tears earlier when I was pointed at by thousands, would anyone have pitied me?"
She finished speaking and shrugged indifferently, "Of course, I don’t need the sympathy of others. If you’re not in the wrong, then prove your innocence. If you’re at fault, just honestly admit your mistakes and make sure not to repeat them. That’s all there is to it. It’s just that some people have to make things complicated."
On hearing her say this, quite a few people who had already offered apologies no longer felt sympathetic towards Xu Panrui. Wasn’t Xu Panrui the instigator who had also misled them, nearly causing them to offend Bai Ruozhu? They had apologized, but Xu Panrui, the very instigator, refused to say sorry for the sake of her pride and continued to speak rudely, exacerbating the conflict. Wasn’t that exceedingly disrespectful?
Old Master Wei became somewhat impatient and waved his sleeve, "Xu Panrui, if you won’t apologize, you should just drop out of the academy. Our women’s college cannot accept a student like you."
Xu Panrui was both frightened and angry as she turned and ran outside. She wanted to find her father and have him defend her cause.
The audience stand was blocked by two hundred soldiers. How could she, a frail woman, possibly run out? She wasn’t allowed to bring guards into the testing ground, but how come they could bring two hundred people inside?
"Let me out! You can’t impose private punishments!" Xu Panrui spoke in this manner, but her previous vigor was gone, and she looked quite pitiful. However, the soldiers were unresponsive, and not pushing her away was already a courtesy.
Bai Ruozhu glanced over and said loudly, "Let her go. We wouldn’t want others to say we bullied a weak woman, and have me, the victim, turned into the tormentor."
"My lady, we can’t let her off so easily; she just insulted you," Muyu said through clenched teeth from the side.
"No matter, let her go today. Since she refuses to apologize, we’ll have time to deal with this in the days to come," Bai Ruozhu smiled, but the smile that bloomed at the corner of her lips resembled the spreading of poppies, causing the onlookers’ hearts to quicken.
Jiang Yichun made a gesture, and a pathway was cleared automatically, allowing Xu Panrui to leave.
Behind them, Old Master Wei sighed and muttered, "All this trouble could have been avoided with a simple apology. The Xu family’s girl really knows nothing of propriety. Well, it’s no longer my concern; she has brought this upon herself."
After Old Master Wei returned to the judges’ seats, someone proposed that they begin evaluating the calligraphy works from the earlier competition.
Bai Ruozhu glanced at Jiang Yichun in the distance and gave him a hand signal, indicating that he should withdraw his men. Otherwise, with so many soldiers guarding this place, if someone later criticized this as intimidation during the competition, it might wrongly influence the judges to give her or her brother favorable scores.
Jiang Yichun looked at her deeply, a trace of guilt flashing in his eyes, before giving an order and leading his men away first.
If he hadn’t left in a huff with the children to their residence earlier, he wouldn’t have let her face the pointing fingers alone, wouldn’t have let her endure such humiliation. She was the one he cherished most; why should she suffer such insults?
On receiving Chenfeng’s letter, he nearly lost his mind with rage, yearning to flatten the testing ground with his men. If it weren’t for the timely apologies, and Ruozhu speaking up for them, he would have surely made those who insulted Ruozhu kneel and bow their heads in apology to her today!