Chapter 623 I Know I Was Wrong
"You little bastard, why did you cheat? Why?!"
After a while, the crowd seemed to have vented their anger and pulled Ping'er up from the ground again.
Li Junping's usually straight spine was now bent, and the stray hairs on his forehead fell down, obscuring his eyes and making it impossible to discern the emotions in his eyes.
"I... I didn't. Believe it or not." His voice was hoarse and strained, like a leaky tin chimney, with a whistling sound as the wind passed through, completely unlike the clear and gentle voice of a young man.
"Bullshit! You dare to lie!"
"That little bastard has left the Great Wilderness and is living a peaceful life, but we people have no hope left from now on!"
"Kill him! If we can't leave the Great Wilderness, we'll have no chance tomorrow!"
Li Junping's eyes flickered. In his hand was a dagger, a gift from his mother. But, in a daze, he met the eyes of the crowd, reddened by despair, and in the end, he loosened his grip on the dagger.
As expected, punches and kicks landed on him again. Li Junping stared intently with bloodshot eyes, but he didn't utter a sound from beginning to end, letting everyone vent their anger by punching and kicking him.
"Stop! What are you doing!"
Suddenly, a sharp shout was heard.
Dean Yue and Fusheng returned, each carrying a basket on their backs. Upon seeing the scene before them, they immediately jogged over. Dean Yue even kicked the person in front of him away forcefully.
These were a group of weak scholars, and Dean Yue didn't even have to exert any effort; he beat them up in just a few moves, making them cry out in pain.
"Hiss, you wait! One day we'll kill this little bastard!"
Enraged, Dean Yue picked up a stone and threw it. The group of people, fearing Dean Yue's skill in martial arts, ran away.
Ping'er, who had fallen to the ground, was helped up by Fusheng: "Young Master, why didn't you fight back? Are you alright?"
Fusheng gasped when he saw the bruises all over Ping'er's body. He immediately rummaged through his belongings, found a small medicine bottle, and then knelt down to treat Ping'er's wounds. Seeing Ping'er's distraught appearance, he moved his lips several times, finally sighing and saying gently, "The ointment that Madam gave me was all stolen along the way. Luckily, we still have this one bottle left, but it won't last long. If Young Master gets injured again, I'm afraid we really won't have any left."
Dean Yue then heavily put down the basket on his back. The fish inside had been cleaned and killed, but were not quite dead yet, their tails swaying back and forth.
He seemed oblivious to this, his chest heaving violently as his gaze fell on Ping'er. The next second, he suddenly grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up: "Why didn't you fight back?"
With Ping'er's current skills, how could those weak scholars be his match?
Ping'er's somewhat vacant eyes flickered, his gaze settling on Dean Yue's bloodshot eyes. After a long while, he finally spoke in a hoarse voice, "Master."
"I'm asking you, why didn't you fight back? Do you want to die? Do you want them to beat you to death?"
Ping'er remained silent, which angered Dean Yue so much that he raised his hand to slap the dazed person in front of him, but the hand remained raised but did not fall.
"Dean!" Fusheng sensed something was wrong. He hurriedly stepped in front of Ping'er and whispered, "Young Master... he probably just made a mistake on a whim. Give him some more time, and he'll calm down. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't do anything foolish again."
Dean Yue, enraged, flung his sleeves and pointed at Li Junping for a long while before suddenly shouting in fury, "How could I have raised such a coward? You were just slandered, is that worth it? Li Junping, let me tell you. If you die here, it will be suicide out of guilt! You will be the sinner who has shattered the hopes of all the wicked! Your father and mother will forever have a cowardly son. My Panshi Academy will forever have a student like you who disgraces the school! You better think this through!"
Having said that, he turned around and went to start a fire in frustration.
The fire in front of him was kicked into the ground and scattered. Dean Yue bent down and picked up the pieces one by one, then took out rags and stuffed them under the wood. He then pulled out a flint from his pocket.
Because his fingers were trembling, he tried several times but couldn't get a spark. In a fit of anger, he threw the flint into the firewood.
A dull thud echoed between the three of them.
Dean Yue suddenly turned to look at Li Junping beside him.
"I'm giving you one last night. If you're still looking like you're half-dead when you wake up tomorrow morning, I'm going back to my hometown. Going to the capital with a coward like you would probably only make me lose face before I even get a chance to appeal to the emperor!"
In Ping'er's empty eyes, black energy seemed to be brewing. He staggered to his feet, squatted down next to Dean Yue, and slowly took out a tinderbox to start a fire: "Master, I... know I was wrong."
Dean Yue snorted coldly as he saw him approaching, clearly still angry: "Do you know what the consequences would be if I tried to salvage the situation even for a moment?"
As he spoke, his fingers trembled slightly, and his eyes were lowered; no one knew what he was thinking.
Ping'er looked down at the slowly burning campfire in front of her: "Master, those people are also diligent students."
Dean Yue frowned suddenly and turned to look at Ping'er.
But his calm eyes held a contemptuous emotion.
Ping'er continued slowly in a low voice, "After more than ten years of hard study, all I hoped for was the path of the imperial examinations. Now, that path has been blocked by others."
"If I were them, I think I would also want to kill this culprit."
Snowflakes landed on her lips, and Ping'er unconsciously licked her dry lips.
Therefore, he understood their hatred, which grew wildly like weeds.
Such hatred needs an outlet, and you become the target of that venting.
A moment later, he shifted his gaze from the flames. Seemingly sensing the two beside him, the worried poor boy slowly tugged at the corner of his bloodstained mouth.
"Master, don't worry, I know I was wrong, and it will never happen again. I will keep my life and go to the capital to apologize to my father and mother."
Mentioning his father and mother, Li Junping's eyelashes trembled slightly. The next second, his fist clenched tightly under his sleeve. He vaguely recalled the year when he still didn't have enough to eat.
He carried sandbags at the dock. His mother sat beside him and told him to study hard to get into the Great Wilderness.
But now, I...
Did I disappoint my mother?
Would she still want a son like that?
Dean Yue looked at Ping'er in front of him, his lips moved several times, but in the end he only let out a breath. He patted his shoulder, then took the fish that Fusheng handed him, placed it on the crackling flames to grill, and gradually became lost in thought.
He returned to Beijing after all; he had gone in circles and ended up back where he started.
He thought he could escape all this by hiding in the desolate wilderness. But fate played a cruel trick. Yue Qingfeng never imagined that one day his proud student would fall into the same predicament as him.
The Qianqing Palace.
Jiang Ren, standing beside the Emperor's bed, clasped his hands and replied, "Your Majesty, Li Junping is already on his way back to the capital. He is being escorted by a highly skilled person, and he should arrive in the capital soon."
(End of this chapter)
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