Chapter 61: Seeking Justice
Xiao Yanci paid for the meal and was about to leave with a few scholars, but Boss Li blocked their way.
Boss Li snarled, "Injured me and just walk away like that?"
Xiao Yanci responded coldly, "What do you want?"
"Compensation for medical fees and medicine," Boss Li said, clenching his fist, his fingers making cracking sounds. "You really should find out, when have I ever taken a loss?"
On this side, Zhang Zhaodi watched with interest, not slowing her pace of eating meat.
Such a grand spectacle playing out, their appetites grew even bigger. Zhang Zhaodi called to the waiter to bring another serving of grilled lamb chops.
Grilled lamb chops are much more expensive than roast duck and beggar’s chicken. If it were earlier, Zhang Zhaodi wouldn’t have even considered ordering it, even if Su Yaoguang ordered it, she might have returned it.
Seeing those snobby people get their due made Zhang Zhaodi happy, so she didn’t care about the money.
Xiao Yanci and a few scholars were powerless, unable to confront Boss Li head-on. Finding themselves in a difficult position, they could only yield and obediently hand over the compensation money.
Zhang Zhaodi, too short, couldn’t see how much was given. She tiptoed and jumped a few times, her actions childlike.
"One tael of silver," Zhou Wangshu said beside her, "They pooled together, emptied their pockets, and just reached the amount."
"Haha..." Zhang Zhaodi clapped her hands in praise. "That’s karma, let’s see if they dare gossip again. Come on, let’s keep eating and ignore those foul-mouthed people."
The group devoured the whole table of food. Zhang Zhaodi even had two bowls of rice.
After the meal, Su Yaoguang gave Jiang Jing a look.
Jiang Jing caught on immediately, pulled Zhang Zhaodi away, saying that Su Yaoguang would take Zhou Wangshu back to the academy first while she accompanied Zhang Zhaodi to shop for daily supplies.
Once Zhang Zhaodi left, Su Yaoguang paid the bill.
After eating all those dishes, their half-cent of silver was gone.
Zhou Wangshu watched Su Yaoguang pay thoughtfully.
Su Yaoguang was different from ordinary village girls, she was clever and good at making money.
He couldn’t really let a woman support him; maybe he should think about making money himself.
However, he couldn’t reveal himself now, so he couldn’t earn money through his calligraphy and paintings.
He was studying at the academy, so couldn’t earn money through martial arts either.
This doesn’t work, that doesn’t work, seems like he’s just living off a woman.
Fine, wait a little longer then. He couldn’t reveal himself now, so he could only inconvenience them.
Su Yaoguang sent Zhou Wangshu back to the academy. Standing at the entrance, she watched him enter and turned to leave, only to find Xiao Yanci blocking her way.
She sidestepped, but Xiao Yanci moved to block her again.
"Good dogs don’t block paths, don’t you know?" Su Yaoguang said impatiently.
"Why did you frame us?" Xiao Yanci questioned, "Clearly, in that situation, it wasn’t our fault, yet you testified for that brute, causing us to be wronged."
"You’re right, I didn’t see you trip him. But I’m a petty person, you mocked us like gossips for ages, can’t we retaliate a bit?" Su Yaoguang crossed her arms, challenging him, "Women are typically petty, and I’m pettiness personified, I don’t have the virtue of repaying grievances with kindness."
"You seem to particularly dislike me, why? We clearly didn’t know each other before."
"You’re overthinking it. Or do you think you’re so good-looking that all the women in the world should revolve around you? If they don’t, do they have a problem?"
Xiao Yanci looked at the crude, arrogant, uncouth village girl in front of him, feeling he was truly dumbfounded, wasting his time speaking nonsense with her.
"Don’t assume just because you’re a woman, I won’t argue with you, if you keep framing me..."
Su Yaoguang suddenly sat on the ground, looking at Xiao Yanci in astonishment, "How can you be like this?"
Xiao Yanci’s heart sank, and he stiffly turned around, only to see several scholars returning from outside, standing not far away, watching the two with puzzled eyes.
"Yes, back then when the human trafficker tried to sell you to me, I didn’t fancy you, so I didn’t buy you. Even so, you can’t seek revenge on me! Wah wah..."
Su Yaoguang got up, covered her face, and ran away.
The scholars glanced at each other, then at Xiao Yanci, their expressions turning increasingly bizarre.
Resentful because he didn’t buy her, such a petty person!
No matter how knowledgeable this type of person is, one shouldn’t associate with them, or one might get stabbed in the back secretly.
Xiao Yanci gritted his teeth in hatred.
That despicable village girl.
He had just warned her not to frame him, yet she immediately smeared him, truly difficult to raise both women and vile characters.
As Su Yaoguang walked far away, she glanced back towards the academy, muttering to herself, "Wang Shu and that person see each other often, he won’t get bullied, right? No, next time I see Wang Shu, I must teach him some methods of retaliation, otherwise, with Wang Shu’s gentle nature, he might be chewed up by those wolves, tigers, and leopards leaving not even bones."
Su Yaoguang went to the grocery store to find Zhang Zhaodi and Jiang Jing. They had a lot of things to buy, and just the three women were not enough to carry it all back. Su Yaoguang waved her hand grandly, saying to buy a cow cart.
"Cow carts aren’t cheap, they’re five taels of silver!" Zhang Zhaodi said, "And that’s the cheapest, the expensive ones could be way more."
"Mother, if we had a cow cart, it’d be much more convenient," Su Yaoguang said, "If we had our own, we wouldn’t need to go to the village entrance before dawn to wait for one, nor squeeze with other villagers. You know how troublesome those villagers can be, and if they learn what business we’re in, it’ll be tough to fend them off."
"Buy, buy, buy, let’s buy one," Zhang Zhaodi agreed. "But we’ll need someone to drive the cart, won’t we? I can’t drive, can Jiang Jing?"
Jiang Jing shook her head, "I can’t, godmother. But I can learn."
"I can," Su Yaoguang said, "I’ll take turns driving with Jiang Jing. Mother can lay clean cloth at the back, and we can use waterproof fabric to set up a canopy, protecting against sun in summer and cold in winter. If there’s a big item to transport, we’ll remove the canopy, making it easier to use."
After their discussion, they immediately went to the cattle market to buy a cow cart.
When they returned to the village driving the cow cart, many villagers came over, curious.
"Is this cow cart newly bought by your family?" Aunt Li asked, "This cow looks so vigorous, how much did it cost?"
Su Yaoguang said, "Not much, this cow has a defect, so it was sold cheaply."
"What defect? Didn’t notice any, looks quite good."
"Apparently it had an illness, has a bad temper, and goes crazy occasionally," Su Yaoguang said ambiguously, "I don’t remember much. He said a series of strange things I didn’t understand. I only know it was a cheap sale, so we bought it back first."
Upon hearing this, the villagers quickly retracted their hands, daring not touch it again.