It's painful?
His peers scoffed, "Finally you know what it means to feel pain. Where did your stubborn headstrong behaviour go? I don't want to lecture you, but why did you pick a fight with a lady? Now you're the only one who's suffered losses."
"I didn't expect the woman to be skilled in martial arts. She resorted to violence the moment she realized that she was not able to win the argument with words. She's such a shameless brute." Lin Shu howled, his fury boiling strongly in his chest.
"All right, you should calm down too. It's well known that women and bastards are the worst. It would have been fine if you were the only one who got beaten up, but you even dragged us into hot water with you."
"How is it my fault?"
His friend glared at him, but could not do anything about it, so he purposefully applied more pressure on Lin Shu's wound
Lin Shu clenched his teeth out of pain as he endured through it.
He then asked, "By the way, what is that crazy girl doing now?"
"What else can she be doing? Teacher punished her by ordering her to clean up the entire study hall and kneel overnight at the Memorial Hall."
Shocked, Lin Shu exclaimed, "That's her punishment? That's all?"
"What else do you expect? I reckon that Teacher is rather respectful towards Young Master Jing. I wonder what's his background that even Teacher was wary of him"
Lin Shu expected his teacher to take his side and avenge his loss. However, things did not happen the way he wanted. Aggrieved, he spoke, "I will not let her go just like this."
His friend asked, "What are you planning to do? Have you not had enough? Do you want to stir up more trouble?"
"I've never in my life been bullied like this. I must take revenge."
"What do you plan to do?"
He put on a devious smile, "Someone in our academy raises a snake as a pet, right?"
Upon hearing his words, the rest of the group felt chills running down their spines. They shuddered and asked, "What do you actually plan to do?"
"I want to teach them a lesson."
"You better not cause more trouble for us."
He responded only with a devious smile on his face, fists secretly clenched.
At this moment, a big and fat scholar walked towards them with a wooden pail in his arms. The fats on his body trembled as he tottered forward.
Knowing that the fat boy was heading for a bath, the few of them stopped him in his tracks, "Fatty Lu, it's better for you to not dip yourself in. The pool can't fit so many of us."
The fat scholar named Lu glanced at the hot spring, pointed at it and responded, "Isn't this pool very spacious?"
"Yes, it is. But once you join in, there won't be enough space."
"Then what am I supposed to do? Not bathe? But I'm completely drenched in ink."
The group laughed scornfully, "Isn't there a well at the back mountain? You can wash over there, with the water from the well."
Another boy seconded, "Yes. You shouldn't squeeze yourself with us."
"You should quickly go over there to bathe. It's fine for you to take your bath here on usual days when it's not packed. However, today is especially crowded, so I suggest you best not bathe with us here."
The fatty rebuked, "No one has used the well in the past year. I can't even tell if the water from the well is clean. Can't I just bathe after you all finish bathing?"
Another scholar stood before him. With his hands wrapped around his chest, he said arrogantly, "Fatty Lu, what are you worried about? Look at how dirty you are with ink stains all over your body. Can you be any cleaner than the water from the well? I advise you to head over to the well behind the mountain now before the sun sets. Rumour has it that there are lingering ghosts behind the mountain. If you go there after the sun sets, you might run into the ghosts…" he intimidated Fatty Lu with an eerie tone as everyone else joined in to mock and jeer at Fatty Lu.
In fact, no one in the academy liked Fatty Lu and especially despised him for his weight. Usually, people avoided him, even to the extent where they would bathe at a different time from him.
Being bullied was not something new for Fatty Lu. Even if he felt aggrieved, he couldn't do anything about it as he had was neither exceptionally smart nor did he have an influential background.
Therefore, he had no choice but to head to the well with his wooden pail. As he left, the jeering continued behind him. In the meantime, Lin Shu, together with his two closest friends, left the scene inconspicuously.
...
Inside the study hall, Tang Si was purportedly cleaning up the mess. However, she was clearly only doing the opposite, venting her anger at the jumble of broken tables and chairs.
She ranted as she kicked the furniture, "Why am I at fault? It was Lin Shu who started the fight by speaking rudely. In fact, I was already nice enough to not injure him severely. If it happens again, I'll no longer be merciful. I'll present him with two more whips and seal his mouth. That is what he deserves." She was swamped with hatred.
Besides her bluster, the study hall was filled with loud thuds as the chairs and tables were thrown to the ground. No one could keep track of how many tables she had broken.
On the other hand, Mo Ruo continued to stay in the room, carrying a jug of wine in his arms. He leaned leisurely on the wooden door as though he was supervising Tang Si. In the short time it took to burn a joss stick, he had never stopped nagging Tang Si for even a second. Tang Si was greatly annoyed!
Seeing that he had no intention to help her at all, Tang Si poked him with her broomstick, "Have you not seen someone cleaning up before? Is it fun sitting there watching me do everything? Why don't you come over and help? You really are a cold-blooded animal."
Cold-blooded?
He scoffed, "I've certainly not seen anyone cleaning up, especially one who does her chores like you."
"What's wrong with my way of doing chores?"
He did not answer.
"Tell me. What's wrong?"
Mo Ruo took a gulp of the wine and remained silent as he grinned.
His grin provoked Tang Si, and she placed her hands on her waist, "What are you laughing at?"
Mo Ruo shrugged, "I'm not laughing."
"Yes, you did."
"And, so what?"
"You…"
"So I'm not even allowed to laugh?"
Frustrated, Tang Si threw the broomstick onto the floor. She clenched her fist and told him in a threatening tone, "It's obvious that you're just here to mock me. Go away now and quit hindering my work. Otherwise, I might accidentally hit you with this broomstick."
However, Mo Ruo was not intimidated at all. Fearlessly, he walked toward Tang Si and sat on a table which she had just wiped. He placed both his palms on his thigh and looked at the enraged woman with an indistinguishable smile.
He pointed his finger at the surrounding, "Miss Tang, how can you possibly call this cleaning up? You're merely breaking things, and you even broke the things that weren't even broken in the first place. If this continues, you'll turn the entire place upside down."
"That's none of your business!" she threw a brutal kick at one of the tables and a loud thud resonated across the room.
Mo Ruo shifted his gaze to stare at Tang Si with his purposeful eyes. He made a conditional offer, "Miss Tang, how about this? Beg me and I'll send someone to help you. What do you think?"
You want me to ask you for help? In your dreams!
"Even if I die, I'll never beg for your help!" she said stubbornly.
Mo Ruo shrugged, "If you insist, then I can't help you. But Jing Rong will definitely break your hand if you fail to clean up the entire place before dawn. Don't resent me for not being helpful when you don't have a hand to feed yourself later." He crossed his legs as he lolled around.
Tang Si was not a fool. Looking at the clutter in the study hall, she knew clearly that it was impossible for her to finish her task overnight.
A true man knows when to advance or retreat! Moreover, I'm merely a lady. This time, I will give in. I'll be a hero again tomorrow!