Translator: YHHH Editor: Book_Hoarder
After Ren Baqian stopped talking, a tall and sturdy man appeared at the side of him and stared angrily at the woman opposite, “Liu Ruoyao, he is right. How dare you disrespect a court appointed official?”
“Xi Yueya, what are you talking about?” That woman named Liu Ruoyao looked over with a look of incredulity.
“Everyone understands except you. I am the official appointed by the court. In any case, I represent Her Majesty and the court, what do you want to do? You actually dared to loot the belongings of an official and even attacked him. It can be clearly seen that you are very courageous,” Ren Baqian said coldly.
At this time, a few more figures appeared at the side of Ren Baqian and looked at the woman called Liu Ruoyao .
Even though they weren’t old and had the elder generation to rely on, the words from Ren Baqian made them understand one thing; he was here on behalf of Her Majesty, who was part of the dynasty bloodline created by their ancestors. If Ren Baqian were to make any mistakes, Her Majesty could punish him and the high-ranking officials could also do so. But, they were really not qualified to do so.
Attacking Ren Baqian was the same as not respecting the imperial laws laid down by the ancestors. As a result, the girl became the enemy of everyone.
Furthermore, Her Majesty was just at the side yet you had the audacity to strike? How gutsy can you be?
Hong Xian looked aghast. She had come to realization, and therefore, she tried to stop Liu Ruoyao just now.
Some other people also realized it and as a result dared not open their mouths.
The rest of the people eventually understood and stood on his side.
Although the children of the powerful officials knew each other, the recent words of Ren Baqian and the performance of Liu Ruoyao made them disregarded their old feelings.
In a short span of time, 10 more people joined his side.
Only Liu Ruoyao’s anger rose to her head.
The immediate situation for her was like being drenched with a pail of cold water from head to toe.
The cold stares from the others made her think about what she had done back then.
Even though she wasn’t smart, she wasn’t stupid either. If she made any more foolish mistakes in such a situation, she would not be able to live anymore.
“It is our fault, we will return your things.” Although Hong Xian knew what Ren Baqian said was irrefutable and led them to such a situation, it was hard to raise the mood and her face remained cold.
Ren Baqian received the crossbow that was thrown to him. It was obvious he had offended them and might as well let out his anger. Moreover, even though his attitude was tough, what he said after all was rational. The other party would find it difficult to make trouble for him in the short term.
By the time this situation had passed and the other party wanted to find trouble with him, Ren Baqian’s status in the empress’s would have deepened further.
He did not know the empress had directly turned the table on the Seventh Prince of Great Xia because of him. Although it was not totally due to him, it still displayed the considerable extent of the empress’s favorable impression towards him.
“If an apology is sufficient, what is the law for? You all really think that the empress does not know what is happening here? Instead of apologizing, it is better to confess to your crimes.” After speaking, Ren Baqian did not look at them again. He turned to those standing around and cupped his hands. “Thank you, everybody.”
“There is no need to thank us, what you said is correct. Dayao was established by our ancestors. My grandfather and father shed blood for Dayao, and every inch of Dayao was built on the blood of our ancestors. For their sake, we will not be trampled on as it would be the same as trampling on their bones,” Xi Yueya, who was the earliest to appear beside Ren Baqian, said in gruff voice to him. While speaking to Ren Baqian, he kept his gaze fixated on Liu Ruoyao .
Ren Baqian took a surprised look at this guy, his words were really of a high standard.
“I….I was not thinking, I was consumed with anger just now,” Liu Ruoyao said softly and lowered her head. The public gaze had made her frightened.
She did not know how did things turned out this way.
She only felt that the guy who taught Du Changkong those nasty words was reprehensible and wanted to teach him a lesson.
But the result was totally not what she expected.
Hongxian dragged Liu Ruoyao along, “I will bring you to Her Majesty to plead for leniency.”
What Ren Baqian’s said just now was clear. It was impossible that Her Majesty did not hear what the commotion was about as she was close by.
They had committed a grave mistake and must plead with Her Majesty for leniency.
Tears fell from Liu Ruoyao’s eyes. After all she was just a young lady and such an incident left her feeling flustered.
As Hongxian dragged Liu Ruoyao to Her Majesty to acknowledge her mistake, they encountered many people looking at them coldly along the way, and it was difficult to bear.
Further away were the nobles from the other three nations, who already knew there was some kind of conflict going on and that a mad dog was involved. As they weren’t able to get nearer, they could only hear the words brought along by the wind. They watched the show from afar and were more than happy to know that the mad dog was being taught a good lesson.
What surprised them was the fact that many aboriginals supported the mad dog. Did they want to give him a platform to unleash? Was that mad dog’s status in Dayao so esteemed?
This was what they could not figure out. Wasn’t Dayao biased against foreigners? How could it be that so many people were on his side while so few aboriginals were on the other side.
As the two left, the others dispersed and nobody could be bothered with Ren Baqian anymore. The few people who were standing with Hong Xian also took no notice of him.
Back then, what Ren Baqian demonstrated was indeed reasonable, but it did not mean that the others would be fond of him.
On the contrary, the mentality of Liu Ruoyao was the same as many others. Having Ren Baqian exposing their inner thoughts was like exposing their naked bodies. It’d be a wonder if they had a favorable impression of him. As in the earlier scenario, Ren Baqian was standing on the side of righteousness, and they had no choice but to stand by his side.
Ren Baqian held the crossbow in one hand and the roasted meat in the other and was somewhat helpless. He did not plan for things to happen this way.
But at that time, it was necessary for him to act that way. He had many good things on hand, and if anyone could just take what he had, it would spell big troubles for himself in future.
He was robbed of one crossbow which was not that important. But what about his other belongings?
Ren Baqian carried his things and returned to the mountain-gazing bird’s side and put the crossbow on the ground. Then, he finally sat down and began to eat the cold roasted meat.
The cold meat was not tasty, but his stomach was already rumbling with hunger. If he still did not eat it, he would not have enough strength to go up the mountain this afternoon.
From his point of view, he could see Hong Xian and Liu Ruoyao kneeling on one knee in front of the royal carriage.
In fact, Ren Baqian quite liked Dayao’s ceremony of kneeling on one knee. At the very least, it was more comfortable than kneeling on both knees. From a psychological standpoint, it was awkward for a male, with a few decades of education to kneel on both knees as he was taught kneeling was a degrading act. Kneeling on one knee posed no such psychological barrier.
After eating a piece of roasted meat, Ren Baqian was practically full, and he lay flatly on the lawn. Frankly, he was rather nervous back then, and he could finally relax at this moment.
As for those people would want to retaliate against him in future, he did not want to think about it. This matter could rest until his return from the mountain.
After lying down for a while, a person appeared beside him, took the remaining pieces of meat and started gnawing on it.
Needless to say, it must be Du Changkong, who earlier was badly beaten till he was whimpering like a dog.
“Brother, you are really amazing,” Du Changkong said as he continued eating and praising Ren Baqian at the same time. Even though he was beaten until he was unable to get up earlier, he saw what happened and was full of admiration for Ren Baqian.
“You were really pathetic, being kicked around like a ball,” Ren Baqian casually stated.
Upon hearing this, Du Changkong’s face blackened, “This Hong girl has improved since a year ago. Only a few people here are a match for her.”
Although it was a rebuttal, but, it was somewhat powerless.
“What kind of relationship does Hong Xian and Hong Luan, who is serving Her Majesty, share?” Ren Baqian mentally noted the two had the same surname Hong and could not help asking.
“It seems they are not related.” Du Changkong replied after some deliberations as he really did not know much about Hong Luan.
“But, the Hong girl is the granddaughter of Sir Hong Wu.”
“And who is Sir Hong Wu?” Ren Baqian curiously asked.
‘He is the second most powerful person in Dayao. I wonder when will be the day that I can be that powerful as well,” Du Changkong said with a look of longing.
Number two in Dayao? Just behind the empress in pecking order. Ren Baqian sat up abruptly as the realization of the power of this guy hit him, “Hong Wu, ninth most powerful expert in the world?”
“You are right, Sir Hong Wu is simply amazing,” Du Changkong said with a tinge of longing yet again.
Ren Baqian actually felt some teeth aching.
Oh, this was the ninth most powerful expert in the world. That was the granddaughter of the ninth most powerful expert in the world, and he had offended her.
Although Ren Baqian knew he had certainly offended the children of some powerful officials, he did not expect it to be someone that was so powerful and fierce.
