Chapter 61: Demanding Justice
Xiao Yanci paid the meal money and prepared to take the scholars away, but Boss Li blocked his path.
Boss Li said menacingly, “You injured me and just walk away like that?”
Xiao Yanci said coldly, “What do you want?”
“Compensation for medical fees and medicine money.” Boss Li clenched his fist, his fingers crackling. “You should go ask around—when has Laozi ever suffered a loss?”
Zhang Zhaodi watched with great interest, not missing a beat in eating her meat.
With such a big show unfolding, their appetites improved even more. Zhang Zhaodi called the shop assistant over and ordered another serving of roasted lamb chops.
Roasted lamb chops were much more expensive than roast duck and beggar’s chicken. If it had been earlier, let alone Zhang Zhaodi ordering it herself, even if Su Yaoguang had ordered it, she could have returned it for her.
Seeing those snobbish people get their comeuppance put Zhang Zhaodi in a good mood, so she didn’t care about that bit of money anymore.
Xiao Yanci and the scholars were weak and bookish, not daring to confront Boss Li head-on. Caught in a tough spot, they could only admit defeat and honestly hand over the compensation silver.
Zhang Zhaodi was too short to see how much was given. She stood on tiptoe, jumping a few times now and then—her actions utterly childlike.
“One tael of silver,” Zhou Wangshu said from the side. “Several of them pooled it together, scraping up all the money they had on them to make up the amount.”
“Haha…” Zhang Zhaodi clapped and cheered. “This is retribution. Let’s see if they dare gossip anymore. Alright, let’s keep eating. Ignore those foul-mouthed people.”
The group’s appetites were whetted, and they polished off the entire table of dishes. Zhang Zhaodi even ate two bowls of rice.
After the meal, Su Yaoguang gave Jiang Jing a look.
Jiang Jing immediately got the message and pulled Zhang Zhaodi outside, saying that Su Yaoguang would send Zhou Wangshu back to the academy, and she would first accompany Zhang Zhaodi to procure daily necessities.
Once Zhang Zhaodi left, Su Yaoguang paid the bill.
After eating those few dishes, half a tael of silver was gone.
Zhou Wangshu watched Su Yaoguang pay, lost in thought.
Su Yaoguang was different from ordinary village girls; she was very shrewd and good at earning money.
He couldn’t possibly really let a woman support him forever—perhaps he should consider earning money himself.
However, he couldn’t reveal himself now, so he couldn’t earn money with his calligraphy and painting.
He was studying at the academy now and couldn’t earn money through force either.
If this didn’t work and that didn’t work, it seemed he really was a freeloader.
Fine, he’d wait a bit longer. He still couldn’t reveal himself now, so he could only trouble them for the time being.
Su Yaoguang sent Zhou Wangshu back to the academy. She stood at the doorway and, seeing him go in, turned to leave—only to find Xiao Yanci blocking her path.
She sidestepped, but Xiao Yanci shifted over to block her again.
“Good dogs don’t block the way—don’t you know that?” Su Yaoguang said impatiently.
“Why did you frame us?” Xiao Yanci demanded. “In that situation just now, it clearly wasn’t our fault, yet you sided with that brute to testify against us, making us suffer injustice.”
“That’s right, I really didn’t see you trip him. But I’m petty by nature. You mocked us there like gossips for half a day—can’t we get revenge?” Su Yaoguang crossed her arms and looked at him provocatively. “Women are petty by nature, and I’m the pettiest of them all. Offend me, and I don’t have the virtue of returning good for evil.”
“You seem to especially hate me. Why? We clearly didn’t know each other before.”
“You’re overthinking it. Or do you think you’re somewhat handsome, so all the women in the world should fawn over you? If they don’t, it’s their problem?”
Xiao Yanci looked at the rude, arrogant, talentless, and unattractive village girl before him and felt he must be furious beyond reason to waste time talking nonsense with her.
“Don’t think that just because you’re a woman I won’t hold you accountable. If you frame me again…”
Su Yaoguang plopped down on the ground, looking at Xiao Yanci with shock: “How could you do this?”
Xiao Yanci’s heart skipped a beat. He stiffly turned around to see several scholars returning from outside, standing not far away and eyeing them curiously.
“Yes, back then the human trafficker wanted to sell you to me, but I didn’t like you, so I didn’t buy you. Even so, you can’t take revenge on me! Wuu wuu…”
Su Yaoguang got back up and ran off covering her face.
The scholars exchanged glances, and when they looked at Xiao Yanci, their expressions turned extremely odd.
Because she didn’t buy him, he held a grudge—this person was too petty.
Even if such a person had great scholarship, they couldn’t associate with him—otherwise, who knew when he’d stab them in the back.
Xiao Yanci gnashed his teeth in hatred.
That detestable village girl.
He’d just warned her not to frame him, and she immediately splashed dirty water on him. Truly, only women and petty people are hard to deal with.
Su Yaoguang walked far away and looked back toward the academy, muttering to herself: “Wangshu sees that person all the time—won’t he bully him? No, next time I see Wangshu, I must teach him some counterattack methods. Otherwise, with Wangshu’s soft personality, I’m afraid those wolves and tigers will devour him down to the bones.”
Su Yaoguang went to the general store to find Zhang Zhaodi and Jiang Jing. They had quite a lot to procure, and three women alone might not be able to carry it all back. Su Yaoguang waved grandly and said to buy an ox cart.
“Ox carts aren’t cheap—they cost five taels of silver!” Zhang Zhaodi said. “And that’s the cheapest; the expensive ones are even pricier, who knows by how much.”
“Mom, having an ox cart would make things much more convenient for us,” Su Yaoguang said. “With an ox cart, we wouldn’t need to go to the village entrance before dawn to wait for one, or squeeze with others from the village. You know how troublesome the village people are. If time drags on and they find out what business we’re doing, it won’t be easy to fend them off.”
“Buy buy buy, we’ll buy it,” Zhang Zhaodi agreed. “But someone has to drive the ox cart after buying it, right? I don’t know how. Does Jiang Jing?”
Jiang Jing shook her head: “I don’t, godmother. But I can learn.”
“I do,” Su Yaoguang said. “Then Jiang Jing and I can take turns driving the ox cart. Mom, you can lay clean cloth in the back, and we’ll put up a waterproof tarp for a shelter—sun protection in summer, warmth in winter. If there are large items to transport, we can take down the shelter for easier use.”
After settling on the plan, they immediately went to the cattle market to buy an ox cart.
When they drove the ox cart back to the village, many villagers curiously gathered around.
“Did your family buy this new ox cart?” Aunt Li asked. “This ox looks spirited. How much did it cost?”
Su Yaoguang said, “Not much. This ox has defects, so it was sold cheap.”
“What defects? I can’t see any—it looks pretty good.”
“Seems it had some illness, bad temper, goes mad now and then,” Su Yaoguang said ambiguously. “I don’t remember exactly. He rattled off a bunch of strange stuff I didn’t understand. I just knew it was cheap, so I bought it first and figured out the rest later.”
Hearing this, the villagers quickly pulled back their hands, not daring to touch it anymore.
