Chapter 1027: Return unto Others as They Have Done unto You (4)
"Ah, listening to you all talk, it does sound plausible! Right after Elder Sir Xiao passed away, General Xiao went off to the battlefield. That year, the general was only thirteen and dared to fight the enemy with a real blade. Could he have done that if he had grown up pampered by his parents? It must have been without Elder Sir Xiao’s protection, forced by someone else!"
"Good heavens, maybe that’s true. It seems the waters run deep at the Lord Wei Yuan House! Tsk, tsk, I’d heard before that where there’s a stepmother, there’s a stepfather, and I didn’t believe it. But now, after hearing you all, I do think that Lord Wei Yuan isn’t any good either. Who knows if he’s also siding with that woman, scheming against his own son? Alas, the Hou Mansion is simply no place for anyone. It’s a wonder how General Xiao has endured all these years. If it were me, I’d probably have been hounded to death by a pack of those vicious-hearted people."
A loud voice broke through the buzz of discussion, putting a decisive end to the matter. The booming voice shouted so that the entire tea house could hear.
Strangely, many people agreed with the speaker, and suddenly, there were murmurs of doubt about Lord Wei Yuan and Lady Marquis Weiyuan everywhere. Even Xiao Ruiqing, miles away, could not escape the cycle of suspicion voiced by the people.
The fat man and his accomplices, who were still at the center of it all, were stunned. Even though the accusatory words from the audience were not directed at them, their payoff for spreading rumors had not only failed, but they had also drawn the calamity they created onto the very individuals they served. Now, instead of pocketing shiny silver and living luxuriously, they feared for their very lives.
Their final trump card had yet to be revealed, so how had things taken such a turn?
Thinking of their impending fate, the fat man and his companions turned as pale as ghosts, feverishly denouncing Xiao Ruiyuan using the pretext that he hadn’t celebrated at the Hou Mansion the night before, in a desperate bid to blacken his name and shift attention back to Princess Hejia. But, flustered and contradictory, their words were mercilessly exposed by those around them.
Upon the "enlightenment" of some "savvy" onlookers, the crowd, who were nearly used as pawns, finally realized that these spreaders of false information and smears against their revered War God were acting on someone’s orders. Suddenly, all eyes were on Lord Wei Yuan, Lady Marquis Weiyuan, and Xiao Ruiqing.
The fat man and his group were chased and beaten by the enraged tea house customers. Outmatched, they could only run for their lives, protecting their heads. When they finally escaped the tea house, there wasn’t a single part of them that wasn’t bruised, their faces swollen like pig heads.