Chapter 285: Rong Zhi’s Past 2
Keke shook his head, tutting, “Of course he was pitiful. But your lord isn’t someone who can be bullied. After he recovered, he borrowed some money from the Zhou family and found someone to stuff Yuan Qingfang’s useless son into a sack and beat him severely while he was out playing.”
“Rong Zhi knew those people wouldn’t let him continue with the Imperial Examination peacefully. So, during Rong Linzhong’s old bastard’s birthday banquet, he provoked and designed Rong Huaiqing, who is Yuan Qingfang’s son, that fat pig of a scumbag.
He made him set fire to Rong Zhi’s house. After luring the guests over, he exposed the scumbag Rong and his few malicious deeds of seizing his mother’s dowry.
With enough evidence and his clever use of language, that fire became proof that Rong Huaiqing was jealous of Rong Zhi passing the Xiucai exam and wanted to burn him to death. The Zhou family then took this opportunity to help him leave.”
“Good!”
“Well done! Our lord was so resourceful even at such a young age. No wonder he’s smart; if it were us, we’d have been bullied to death.”
Keke coughed a couple of times, “Cut this part out. Just write that Rong Huaiqing was jealous of Rong Zhi and feared he would continue his studies, so he tried to burn Rong Zhi to death.”
Butler: “I understand. I’ve already written it.”
Qin Wanwan and Keke both leaned in to take a look. As expected, it was written exactly as Keke had said. The part about stuffing Rong Huaiqing into a sack wasn’t even included. The entire narrative was about how Rong Zhi was bullied, portraying him as a weak and pitiful little thing.
Moreover, the butler had injected his personal emotions and added quite a few details.
Not bad, not bad. He’s truly worthy of being a butler.
“During the Imperial Examination later, that venomous woman, fearing he would truly soar and become an official, bribed a fellow candidate who had mutually vouched for him to poison his food before the exam.
Fortunately, Rong Zhi, having learned from past lessons, was very vigilant and only ate food and water sent by the Zhou family. When one plan failed, that venomous woman had the scholar place a note in his examination basket.
If it were discovered by the inspectors, he would be punished for cheating. And once caught cheating, not only would his future path in the Imperial Examinations be cut off, but even his Xiucai title would be lost!”
“Slap!”
Unsure how many people slammed their tables. They were all so angry their faces turned red, their eyes bulged, and their teeth ground together, wishing they could travel back in time to Rong Zhi’s examination and give Yuan Qingfang and those people a good beating.
“What a malicious scheme!”
“How dare they do such a thing? They truly have no regard for the law!”
Qin Wanwan looked around, then jumped off the stool, picked up a blue brick from the flowerbed, and walked out with a cold little face, hugging it.
“Cub, where are you going?”
Qin Wanwan’s tiny voice was fierce, “I’m going to beat them to death!”
Those scumbags who bullied her Daddy so badly, beat them to death!
The little person, with big eyes filled with burning rage.
Keke: “Come back, hurry and come back! You can’t beat those bastards alone.”
Qin Wanwan wiped away her tears, “They bullied my Daddy!”
“Alright, alright, we’ll find an opportunity to deal with them. There’s no rush, let’s resolve the reputation issue first.”
Qin Wanwan tilted her little neck up, “I’m not afraid!”
She truly wasn’t afraid. Let her reputation be bad; she had five powerful Daddies, so why would she be afraid of someone bullying her?
As for Daddy Rong, she would also ask her other Daddies to protect him!
“Then shall we go at night? We’ll stuff them into sacks at night.”
Qin Wanwan thought about it and nodded, hugging the blue brick as she sat back down.
The little one’s face was so angry it puffed up like a baozi.
“Tonight, I’ll use this to beat them, smash them!”
Everyone coaxed him, “No problem.”
Sniffling, the little one asked sullenly, “And then? Did Daddy find that note?”
“Of course he did.”
Keke’s voice was loud and full of momentum, “Your Daddy is so smart! He knew that venomous woman Yuan Qingfang would surely cause trouble. He was not only cautious about what he ate and drank but also meticulously checked his examination basket inside and out before the exam. That’s how he found the note. But he kept it to himself, waiting until after the exam to investigate and expose the scholar who tried to frame him.”
“Good!”
Keke had a talent for storytelling, narrating with such emotion and dramatic ups and downs that the people around applauded and cheered.
“And in this examination, he directly became the Jieyuan, the first place among the Juren.”
Qin Wanwan’s eyes lit up as she listened, “My Daddy is super amazing!”
The others nodded in agreement.
“After becoming the Jieyuan, the Rong family then wanted to mend their relationship with him. However, before they could find him, Rong Zhi, arranged by the Zhou family, came directly to Shangjing to study.”
“Didn’t those Rong family members come looking for him?”
Keke sneered, “They wanted to, but Rong Zhi created trouble for them before he left, making the Rong family too busy to handle anything else. He led Rong Huaiqing to brothels and gambling.
He instigated the elder and second branches to fight for power, and he handed over some of their hidden dirty secrets to each other, making them fight like dogs. These schemes were secretly laid out from the time he passed the Xiucai exam.”
Who would have thought that a young man of only thirteen or fourteen years old would already display such strategic talent, as if he could see a hundred steps ahead while only taking one?
“Of course, the scholar who framed him eventually reaped what he sowed. Rong Zhi designed a situation where he offended an influential scholar from their academy, and he was then expelled from the academy and beaten.”
Qin Wanwan: “Serves him right!”
“Later, Rong Zhi entered the best academy in Shangjing with his own ability. At the age of eighteen, he entered the imperial court and, with his top-notch appearance and talent, was favored by the Emperor and appointed as the Third Scholar.”
Qin Wanwan propped her chin with her small hands, “Why wasn’t he the top scholar? Isn’t the top scholar more impressive?”
Keke: “Who told you that among the top three in his cohort, he was the best-looking? The other two were an old man in his forties and another who was plain-looking and in his thirties.
The Third Scholar is the most amazing, alright? Possessing both talent and appearance, the Third Scholar is the most popular.”
Qin Wanwan nodded, “Daddy is good-looking.”
Everyone quickly pressed, “What happened next? What happened next? Did the lord get his revenge?”
Keke walked on the table with his wings on his back, looking incredibly imposing. The people surrounding the table, even the cleaner, couldn’t help but crowd around.
None of them asked Keke how he knew so much. They had personally experienced it; this bird could not only speak human language but also tell fortunes.
This was clearly a bird immortal who had achieved sentience!
“Naturally. The Rong family, after learning he had become the Third Scholar, still wanted to find him. A group of shameless people who wanted to leech off him, but Rong Zhi had already anticipated it.
Every time they prepared to set off, some accident would occur, and they never managed to come. He also had some officials send him beautiful women with impure intentions, who were secretly sent to the Rong Mansion in Taiyuan to annoy Yuan Qingfang and clog up his father’s backyard.
Later, those two also often quarreled. In short, almost everyone who had bullied him in the Rong Mansion had been retaliated against by him.”
