Chapter 48: Be a Good Person
The Laiguogong Mansion is the courtyard closest to the clan school.
The main house on the north side.
With a white scarf tied around his head and a dog-skin plaster on his temple, Lu Jun, who looked sick, was wearing only his undergarments . He was trembling as he held a ruler that was usually used in the clan school. His face was distorted, but he tried his best to keep his voice down as he scolded.
"Get down on your knees, you bastard!"
A handsome young man who was a little over seven feet tall and had delicate skin and flesh, held his head high with an indifferent look on his face, and stood in front of Lu Jun in a loose manner, pretending not to hear Lu Jun's scolding. He even snorted with disdain.
"Evil son, kneel down!"
Lu Jun raised the ruler in his hand and pretended to hit the young man.
The young man rolled his eyes, thrust his head forward, and shouted dryly, "All right, beat me, even if you want to kill me. Anyway, this life is so boring, I don't want to live anymore!"
The woman standing next to Lu Jun, who looked to be in her early thirties and still had some beauty and charm, rushed forward and snatched the ruler from Lu Jun's weak hands.
"Oh, Master, what are you doing? Lin'er is our only son. He studies very hard and is very weak. If you hurt him..."
"He is our own son, not one of those poor outsiders who came to take advantage of our family in the clan school... We can beat up those bastards, but how can you beat up your own son?"
Lu Jun was powerless and could only watch his wife snatch the ruler away.
His only beloved son, Lu Lin, who was about the same age as Lu Yi, snorted again and pushed his head in front of Lu Jun again: "Mom, don't persuade me, don't persuade me, just beat me to death."
"Isn't it just a few small golden grains? What's the big deal?"
"I've been to so many banquets with my brothers, so what's wrong with me treating them back once?"
"This little golden coin..." Lu Jun was furious. The little golden coin that was spent by his own son on a night of drinking and partying was the money for medicine that Bai Lang left for him when he came to "visit" him.
This amount of money is not much, and Lu Jun still has to bear the bad reputation of "not being able to judge people and misleading students".
Lu Jun also thought about using the money to buy two old ginsengs to nourish his body.
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is approaching, and after the Lantern Festival, the clan school will start again. As the head of the clan school, he can't go to see people with such a sickly look, right?
Well, because of one carelessness, this prodigal son, this damn beast, actually took away all those little golden seeds.
If it was just about eating and drinking, Lu Jun wouldn't be so angry.
But in addition to treating a few of the clan's good friends to a feast, Lu Lin also went to a brothel and spent half the night there.
When Lu Lin returned home early this morning, her face was covered with rouge marks and her body was filled with the scent of powder...
Lu Jun is angry!
These years, he lost his job and only relied on the tuition from the clan school to support his family.
He was reluctant to spend his own money on a life of debauchery, but this evil creature of his actually did something that even Lu Jun was reluctant to do!
"A loving mother often spoils her son. You, you, you just keep on doting on her, keep on doting on her..." Lu Jun was so angry that he was shaking. He was gasping for breath, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead .
"What should I do if I don't dote on her?" Lu Jun's wife howled at the top of her lungs, "Who made Lin'er so miserable that she has such a useless father? Look at how Lin'er looks and how she is, he should be a son of an official who wears gold and silver and eats delicious food!"
"But his useless father lost the position he had already obtained!"
"Look at the brothers of his age in the clan. What do they wear? What do they eat? What do they use? Which of them doesn't have seven or eight big maids around them, and a dozen servants following and surrounding them, carefully serving them at all times?"
"My poor Lin'er, he is so good-looking and well-educated, no worse than the other young masters of the eldest house, but because of his useless father... How much suffering has he endured over the years?"
When women throw tantrums, men retreat.
Lu Jun's wife was throwing a tantrum, and Lu Jun was seriously ill. He felt a buzzing sound in his ears, his legs were weak, and he staggered backwards. Finally, he fell powerlessly on the bed, groaning weakly.
Lu Lin glanced at her sickly father, pouted, and yelled to her mother, "Forget it, I don't want to stay here anymore. Wang, the eldest son of the family, is hosting a literary gathering tonight and needs a receptionist. I'll go and help him. You don't have to keep the door open for me tonight."
With a flick of his sleeves, Lu Lin turned and left.
Lu Jun was so angry that his face twisted. He pointed at Lu Lin and trembled, but couldn't utter a word.
At this moment, he was just hoping that Bai Lang's promise to him could be fulfilled quickly. Once he was reinstated in office half a year later, he would definitely let this little bastard know how powerful he was!
Lu Lin turned around, walked to the door, and was about to reach out to open it.
With a bang, Lu Yi pushed open the door with one hand, and a gust of cold wind blew into the house. Lu Lin was startled by the wind and felt his vision suddenly darken. He looked up suddenly and suddenly saw Lu Yi, who was much taller and more powerful than himself. He was so scared that he screamed and staggered back several steps.
"What...yeah? Brother?"
Lu Lin blinked and saw Lu Yi's appearance clearly. He couldn't help but laugh: "Rare guest, rare guest, why are you back... Hey? Where did you get this gorgeous dress?"
"Strange, strange! I have also seen civil and military officials who visited the Duke of Lai's mansion. The patches on their chests were either birds or beasts. Why do you have a big gecko tattooed on your chest? Whose official robe is this?"
It was winter, and the room was a little dim in the afternoon.
Lu Jun was reluctant to waste the lamp oil, so he didn't light the lamp when he was teaching his son a lesson.
Lu Yi strode in. Lu Jun widened his eyes and looked at Lu Yi for a long time. Only then did he see clearly what the "big gecko" that Lu Lin mentioned looked like.
It would have been better if he hadn't looked. Once he looked, Lu Jun shivered all over. The hairs on his body stood up and a drop of cold sweat seeped out from under each hair.
This time, Lu Jun was almost frightened to death.
Instinctively, Lu Jun recalled the time when he was in office and had embezzled money and grain. The eunuchs guarding the palace came stripped him of his official robes in an extremely rough manner, tied him up and threw him to the ground. It was a scene that was completely undignified and disrespectful.
"You, you, you..." Lu Jun pointed at Lu Yi tremblingly, unable to utter a complete sentence.
Lu Lin stared at Lu Yi blankly.
Seeing his own father showing such a horrified expression, Lu Lin immediately realized that something was wrong.
He moved stealthily, step by step, in an attempt to slip away from Lu Yi and out the door.
Today's Lu Yi made Lu Lin feel extremely unfamiliar.
Before, in the clan school, although Lu Yi was born the most sturdy and strong, he showed a very good temper. No matter how his classmates and clan members mocked and ridiculed him, Lu Yi was just lukewarm and never even spoke loudly.
But today...
There was a chill that pierced the heart from Lu Yi.
Lu Lin felt as if there was a steel knife on his neck.
He suppressed his fear, clamped his legs together tightly, and moved towards the door little by little.
With a sneer, two young eunuchs in blue robes put their hands in their sleeves and blocked the door on the left and right, blocking Lu Lin's idea of escaping.
"Don't be afraid, Brother Lin. I'm looking for your father. It's just a small matter. I'll leave after I'm done."
Lu Lin leaned against the wall tightly, not daring to say a word.
Lu Jun trembled as he looked at Lu Yi. He finally mustered up the courage and asked in a hoarse voice, "You, you, what do you want to say? What do we, we, we have to say?"
Lu Yi walked into the room and looked around.
In Lu Jun's room, there was a desk under the window with the four treasures of the study on it. The room was heated by a kang, so it was warm. There was water in the inkstone, but it did not freeze.
Lu Yi walked to the desk, picked up the ink stick, and slowly ground the ink in the inkstone.
While grinding the ink, Lu Yi said slowly, "Don't be afraid, Xuezheng, it's nothing serious. It's just that we need to talk about some old grudges over the years."
Lu Jun glanced at the two young eunuchs at the door in horror.
He hissed, "What old grudges could there be between us?"
Lu Yi ground the ink, picked up a wolf-hair brush, and rubbed it in the inkstone: "How come there are no old grudges? For four consecutive years, Xuezheng has given me good Taoist topics."
"In the fifteenth year of Jiayou, during the clan school's year-end exam, you gave me the Taoism essay topic 'A hen crows at dawn, how can there be any Taoism?' A hen crows at dawn, haha, haha, are you afraid that I will die too slowly?"
"In the sixteenth year of Jiayou, the topic you gave me was 'The rules of heaven and earth do not change, but the law can be changed'? The reform of the Wenjiaofa Sect involved so many important figures. How dare I, a young boy, touch it?"
"In the seventeenth year of Jiayou, it was even more sinister. 'There is no two suns in the sky', this title really wanted me to die without a burial place."
"On the contrary, in the 18th year of Jiayou, the topic was slightly better, 'The Advantages and Disadvantages of Ancient and Modern Rituals'. Although it was also a pitfall, it at most made me infamous, but it didn't kill anyone. But Xue Zheng still had ulterior motives and was bent on destroying my reputation."
Lu Jun didn't say anything. He was trembling all over as he watched Lu Yi holding a brush and writing quickly on the desk.
His eyes widened and gradually, blood oozed out from the corners of his mouth.
From his position, he could just see that Lu Yi's handwriting on the paper was so familiar - if he hadn't seen Lu Yi writing with his own eyes, Lu Jun would almost think that the words were written by himself.
Every stroke, every downstroke, and even the spacing between characters were exactly the same as Lu Jun's handwriting, with absolutely no difference.
Such means are simply shocking and terrifying when you think about it carefully.
The words that Lu Yi was writing made Lu Jun feel as if his internal organs were burning with fear, and he almost fainted from fright.
"The Empress Dowager is an old witch. She pretends to be in charge of government affairs but plots to usurp the throne. She also keeps three thousand male lovers and defiles the palace!"
"On the ninth day of the first lunar month in the nineteenth year of Jiayou, Lu Jun, the head of the clan school at the Laiguo Mansion of the Lu family in Jingyang, wrote this angrily out of righteousness!"
After Lu Yi finished writing these words, he casually placed the wolf-hair brush on the pen holder.
He put his hands behind his back, not even looking at Lu Jun who was twitching with fear, and said leisurely: "I don't want this post to be spread all over the capital. You should go to the Anlefang Ling Yamen and surrender yourself."
"Two years ago, several widows in Anlefang were murdered by someone who kicked their doors in the middle of the night. You are the one who did it. Remember, remember, you must confess and then turn over a new leaf and be a good person!"
