Chapter 13: The Farce

Page 1 of 3

“Ahhh! I think I’ve broken my leg!” An old man in a headscarf clutched his leg and screamed in agony on the ground.

“Huh? Isn’t that Fifth Zhongxi, the son of Lord Fifth?”

The burly man chatting with Qin Duoye looked up at the scene outside the window. Seemingly surprised, he muttered aloud.

The Fifth family?

Qin Duoye had heard that name for the second time. His interest was piqued, and he asked, “What happened to that child?”

“Oh, right. You were sick at home before, so you wouldn’t know. Fifth Zhongxi is the little tyrant of West Ward Street. His father is the current Fifth Grand Academician, a man of tremendous power, so no one on this street dares provoke his son! That little tyrant does whatever he pleases and throws his weight around. No one dares cross him.”

I see...

As the burly man explained, Qin Duoye’s indifferent gaze fell upon the purple-robed youth outside. The boy was furious, berating the old man who had fallen to the ground for being shamelessly disrespectful despite his age.

When Liu Xuanhai had privately threatened him the day before, he had also mentioned the eldest legitimate daughter of the Fifth family. From the sound of it, he seemed to be considering that girl a strong candidate in the contest for the position of empress.

The Fifth Grand Academician?

Qin Duoye rubbed the wine bowl in his hand. His slender fingers pressed against the rim, tapping lightly and sending ripples through the wine.

The burly man had been about to drag Qin Duoye outside to watch the spectacle. His hand was halfway extended when he suddenly caught sight of Qin Duoye’s slightly lowered eyes. His movement stiffened, and a faint terror crawled up his spine.

Qin Duoye rose, his sleeve sweeping through the air.

“I’m going out to have a look.”

Before long, a crowd of onlookers had gathered in the street outside the tavern. They huddled together, pointing and whispering.

“Who’s that person on horseback?”

“You don’t know? That’s the young master of Lord Fifth’s household, Fifth Zhongxi!”

“Oh! The hooligan who bullies men and women alike?”

“My heavens, if the child is a hooligan, doesn’t that mean his father is even worse? And he’s still a Grand Academician?”

Fifth Zhongxi’s face flushed with fury at those words. He raised his riding crop and lashed it viciously, the tip striking the ground beside the speaker’s feet.

The bystander went white and fell backward with a thud. He landed heavily on his backside and immediately began howling.

“Help! I’ve been attacked! The son of the Fifth Grand Academician is beating ordinary people!”

The surrounding crowd drew a collective, quiet gasp.

Suddenly, from somewhere in the crowd, a clear shout rang out:

“The Fifth Grand Academician can’t even educate his own child, so how can he hope to guide the scholars of the realm?”

The crowd fell silent for an instant. Then, from another corner, someone chimed in, “Exactly! His reputation sounds so pure and lofty, but who knows how filthy his heart really is!”

After that, the uproar erupted as if a dam had burst. Voices rose one after another, merging into a public condemnation.

“Throwing his weight around...”

“Fifth Academician isn’t fit to be the foremost scholar in the realm...”

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

Qin Duoye stood silently beyond the crowd. Hearing the blatantly inflammatory and biased remarks, he could not help frowning slightly.

Fifth Zhongxi held his breath and pointed at the man.

“He insulted my father first! Are you all deaf?”

But the crowd was already furious. His explanation was pale and powerless, quickly swallowed by the people’s angry curses.

Amid the chaos, someone threw a chicken egg. It struck Fifth Zhongxi on the head, the shell shattering as the egg white and yolk slid down messily.

The young boy reached up to wipe it away, but leaves and pebbles kept flying from the crowd, pelting him until he stood dazed in place. His hands, however, remained clenched tightly around the reins, restraining his frightened horse.

The man standing beside Qin Duoye plucked several leaves from his vegetable basket, still clotted with fresh soil. He raised his arm high and swung it with all his strength. Distracted, he failed to notice Qin Duoye beside him and drove his elbow hard into Qin Duoye’s ribs.

Qin Duoye: “...?”

“Oh, brother! Why are you standing there without saying a word? I didn’t even see you. Are you all right?”

“Cough... cough, cough...”

Clutching his chest and frowning, Qin Duoye moved two steps aside and waved, indicating that he was fine.

How absurd. The mighty Wei Chenglie Emperor had nearly been beaten to death simply because he had stepped outside to watch a spectacle. It would be humiliating if word got out.

Slowly rubbing his chest, he made his way out of the enraged crowd.

How strange.

The public denunciation unfolding before him was almost as if a wok of scalding oil had already been set over the fire, with the kindling prepared. All it needed was a spark tossed onto the wood, followed by food thrown into the pan—

Sizzle!

The oil would boil over in an instant, splattering everywhere.

It was peculiar. The course of events seemed to have been deliberately guided by someone, drawing everyone’s attention toward the powerful father of the supposed culprit, as though they intended to drag him down as well.

Qin Duoye lowered his hand and narrowed his eyes, sweeping his gaze swiftly across the crowd.

Strange. It seemed everyone had forgotten the person who had started the whole affair.

There!

At the very edge of the circle, the old man who claimed to have been knocked down saw that the conflict had shifted elsewhere. He began edging away, a sharp, sinister gleam in his eyes as he smugly watched the purple-robed youth trapped at the center of the storm, unable to defend himself.

Suddenly, the old man felt someone pat him on the shoulder.

He turned and met a handsome face. A trace of illness between the brows lent the young man an even more distinctive air.

Qin Duoye smiled with perfect benevolence, though not a trace of amusement touched his eyes.

“Good sir, if your leg is broken, where are you hurrying off to?”

At the center of the crowd, the shouting had shifted to demands such as, “Take him to the authorities!” and “No, the officials protect one another. No one will stand up for ordinary people!” and “Then let’s go beat the grievance drum!”

Suddenly, the crowd parted. A young man in plain but elegant clothing, with an imposing bearing, emerged step by step, dragging behind him the old man who had just been knocked down. He stopped beside Fifth Zhongxi.

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

The young man looked frail, yet he hauled the old man upright with one hand. Then he reached out and knocked the headscarf from his head.

The scarf fell to the ground along with the disheveled white wig concealed beneath it.

Qin Duoye gave a cold laugh and lightly clapped his hands twice.

The surrounding crowd froze. In an instant, the street fell utterly silent.

“Everyone,” Qin Duoye said. His voice was not loud, yet it carried an inexplicable authority that inspired fear without anger. His tone was laced with sarcasm. “Open your eyes. You’ve been watching the spectacle for quite some time, yet it seems no one has called a physician for this old man whose leg was supposedly broken.”

He deliberately emphasized the words “broken leg” and “old man,” making the crowd’s earlier outcry seem all the more foolish.

Having seen the truth, Fifth Zhongxi shook the leaves from his clothes and shouted triumphantly, “I told you from the beginning that I never touched him!”

Qin Duoye cast a cold glance over his shoulder.

“Does riding a horse recklessly through the streets make you right?”

Fifth Zhongxi fell silent at once. Like a quail, he hunched his neck and climbed down from the saddle.

A single sentence rendered the surrounding crowd speechless. After muttering a few scattered curses at the true culprit, the gathered people abruptly dispersed.

The man who had staged the fall trembled violently. He immediately dropped to his knees and began pounding his forehead against the ground, begging Qin Duoye and Fifth Zhongxi for mercy.

Qin Duoye had been accustomed to people kneeling before him in his previous life. He stood calmly where he was and looked toward the young master of the Fifth household.

“You deal with him.”

But Fifth Zhongxi sprang away like a rabbit, avoiding the man’s kowtowing.

“Hey! I can’t accept all that! You owe me an apology for what happened today!”

The man apologized repeatedly.

“Don’t ever use this trick to swindle people again.” Fifth Zhongxi raised the riding crop in his hand and threatened him. “If I hear you’ve done it again, I’ll beat you senseless! Now get lost!”

Seeing how lightly Fifth Zhongxi dismissed the matter, Qin Duoye could not help giving the boy another look.

He had thought the child was wicked. As it turned out, he was merely a simpleton.

Suddenly, Fifth Zhongxi seized Qin Duoye by the wrist.

Qin Duoye’s eyes widened slightly. The boy’s eyes shone with excitement.

“What’s your name?”

“My surname is Wen. Wen Qinghe.” Qin Duoye withdrew his hand without revealing a hint of emotion.

“Brother Wen, today I owe you my thanks! Come on, I’ll take you to meet my father!”

Fifth Zhongxi grabbed Qin Duoye and ran.

Qin Duoye: “...?”

“Hey! Slow down! I’m a sick man...”

Page 3 of 3