However, Chu Mingyue’s voice was icy, and her eyes were filled with cruelty: "Shut up! Everyone saw this happen with their own eyes. How could you be wronged? Do you know the value of the Moonlight Cup? Even if I sold you, a worthless servant girl, you couldn’t afford it. This is a rare treasure I specially purchased from the Sea Country, worth eight thousand taels of gold. One wrong word from you, and I’ve basically thrown away eight thousand taels of gold?"
Upon hearing this, Xiaodouding was sniffling and sobbing incessantly, his voice full of grievance: "Senior brother, please don’t be angry, it really wasn’t my fault..."
"Bang~"
Before Xiaodouding could finish speaking, he saw Chu Mingyue kick out, and Xiaodouding didn’t dare to dodge, rolling down the steps head over heels, instantly getting his head broken and bleeding, covered in bruises. Yet he couldn’t care less about his injuries and got up to continue apologizing.
"Senior brother, it really wasn’t me, it wasn’t me!" Xiaodouding cried, repeating the two sentences helplessly, not knowing how to defend himself.
"Stop!"
At this moment, Zhang Chen rushed over from afar, seeing the scene of Chu Mingyue kicking Xiaodouding down the steps. His face turned red with fury, his voice filled with uncontrollable anger.
"Who do you think you are to meddle in my affairs?" Chu Mingyue stood tall in the pavilion, looking down at Zhang Chen and Chengyu.
Zhang Chen ignored Chu Mingyue and looked at Chengyu. Seeing him, Xiaodouding seemed to find reassurance and, full of grievance, cried out, "Junior brother!"
As he shouted, he spat out a mouthful of blood, and two of his little baby teeth fell out, making Zhang Chen’s heart clench.
"Junior brother, it wasn’t me! I didn’t break it! I was just watching on the side when Zhang Xiaohua turned and bumped into me, causing the cup to fall and break." Xiaodouding’s voice was full of grievance.
Zhang Chen looked at the toothless Xiaodouding and immediately burned with anger. How could such a cute child be treated so cruelly?
"Who do you think I am?" Zhang Chen shifted his gaze from Xiaodouding and stared fiercely at Chu Mingyue above: "You’re capable of attacking a child?"
"A child? I don’t care about any child. All I know is that this worthless servant girl broke my Moonlight Cup. If you want to defend her, compensate me for the Moonlight Cup first." Chu Mingyue’s voice was icy cold, looking down at Zhang Chen.
"Junior brother, I didn’t! It was Zhang Xiaohua who bumped into me..." Xiaodouding carefully explained the circumstances to Zhang Chen.
Upon hearing the explanation, Zhang Chen turned to Zhang Xiaohua: "Crown Prince, what do you have to say about this? A real man takes responsibility for his actions. You wouldn’t push all the responsibility onto a child, would you?"
Zhang Xiaohua was gloating from the sidelines: "Zhang Chen, I drank too much today, and I’m a bit hazy about what happened just now; I forgot. But all the youths just said it was that girl who broke the Moonlight Cup. Since everyone says so, I can’t twist the truth."
Zhang Xiaohua shamelessly acted as if he was uninvolved, watching the show from the side.
"Pay up! Return my Moonlight Cup, or this matter won’t end today." Chu Mingyue’s voice was filled with cruelty.
Upon hearing this, before Zhang Chen could speak, Li Donglai had already caught up and, hearing these words, shouted from a distance: "We have no problem with compensating, but you kicked my junior sister, causing her to roll down the steps and hit her head. How do you account for this?"
Li Donglai’s voice was filled with righteous indignation: "We can compensate you, sure. But let me slap you twice on the head and kick you in the chest first. Once we settle this score, I’ll be the one to compensate you for the Moonlight Cup. It’s just a damn cup, isn’t it? No big deal. I’ll return two to you."
Li Donglai’s voice was icy, and his expression was grim.
As he spoke, his hand turned bronze-colored and struck a nearby bluestone, breaking it directly.
If Chu Mingyue took that slap, he would surely die!
Seeing this scene, Chu Mingyue’s face changed drastically. Who could survive such a slap? If he took it, his head would be crushed like a watermelon. Of course, he wouldn’t agree: "You compensate me for the Moonlight Cup first; then naturally, I’ll apologize to your junior sister."
"Haha, apologize? Knocking out two teeth can’t just be brushed off with an apology. Today, either you ensure we get our due, or drop the matter of the Moonlight Cup." Li Donglai’s voice was full of cold laughter: "Even if you take this matter to the sect elders, we’ll maintain this attitude. If you let us slap you twice and kick you once, we’ll compensate you eight thousand taels of gold."
Chu Mingyue’s face turned ugly, encountering such a vexing person like Li Donglai gave him a headache.
The key is, for him, eight thousand taels of gold is no small amount either. He almost sold everything he had to buy the Moonlight Cup as a gesture to win the Crown Prince’s favor for a future opportunity.
Losing the Moonlight Cup would destroy his chances of currying favor with the Crown Prince, making it much harder for him to succeed in the future.
But taking two slaps would likely cost him his life.
"Haha, it’s your choice." Li Donglai’s voice was full of gloating: "If you don’t choose, we’re leaving."
As he spoke, Li Donglai began to drag Zhang Chen away.
"You’re being unreasonable. Compensate me for the Moonlight Cup. If you don’t give me an explanation today, don’t think of leaving." Seeing this, Chu Mingyue became anxious, stepping forward to grab Li Donglai, who then turned copper-skinned and directly struck back at Chu Mingyue.
"Bang~"
After the impact, Li Donglai stepped back, while Chu Mingyue retreated three steps, his gaze fixed on Li Donglai with an unpleasant expression.
"What, you intend to be unreasonable? If so, we’re excited." Li Donglai seemed to welcome chaos, his voice full of excitement.
Zhang Chen, holding Xiaodouding, left with Li Donglai. Although they were in the wrong today, Li Donglai’s unreasonable stalling gave them a small upper hand.
Everyone present was on the other side. Even if they outright insisted Xiaodouding had done it, even the Celestial King’s intervention would be useless.
Seeing this, Li Donglai glanced at Chu Mingyue, teasingly saying: "Come find me when you’ve made up your mind. I’m leaving!"
With that, he was gone, leaving Chu Mingyue standing silently in the pavilion.
Li Donglai caught up with Zhang Chen, muttering to him: "Don’t worry, on the arena stage, I’ll take care of this guy for you, giving you some satisfaction. With the Crown Prince present, it’s not wise to quarrel openly. Stirring things up could lead to disciplinary action from the sect elders, and missing the big competition tomorrow would be a lost opportunity. The other party is backed by the Crown Prince’s Mansion, and if we quarrel and escalate, the Daoist Temple will surely side with the Mansion, perhaps even punishing us to please Zhang Xiaohua. It’s not worth causing strife now. We should bide our time, and during the big competition, I’ll accidentally finish that guy off; this messy issue will be naturally resolved."
The sect doesn’t permit private fights. Those caught will be punished and may lose the opportunity for significant advancement.
Hearing this, Zhang Chen looked at Li Donglai in a new light. These three had only known each other for a few days, yet this wench was willing to stand up for Xiaodouding. He was truly a friend worth making.
At this moment, Li Donglai patted Xiaodouding’s shoulder: "Three-inch nail, don’t you think I’m worthy, standing up for you like this? Do you still admire that Chu Mingyue? From now on, you should admire me. What is Chu Mingyue worth? He can’t even compare to half a strand of my hair! You, little thing, don’t know what’s good for you, you’re just like a dog looking down on people."
Chengyu initially winced from the pain but then, hearing Liu Donglai’s words and seeing his proud, self-satisfied expression, couldn’t help but burst into laughter, showing the gap left by his missing teeth, but he wasn’t angry at being compared to a dog’s eyes looking down on people.
Li Donglai looked at Xiaodouding’s missing teeth and sighed softly: "Luckily, you’re still in the teething period; losing two front teeth isn’t a big deal. If you were an adult and lost two front teeth, you’d probably never find a husband in your lifetime."
Initially, Xiaodouding felt touched by Li Donglai’s words, but upon hearing him make fun of his teeth, his expression immediately dropped, rolling his eyes and turning away in anger, refusing to look at him.
Seeing that he had stood up for him, he didn’t retort.
"Why didn’t you fight back?" Zhang Chen asked, holding Chengyu.