Chapter 256
Li Yisheng pursed his lips, afraid he might laugh out loud.
With just a few words, Father Xie understood what had happened and hurried forward: "Fang Xiucai."
Fang Zichen looked at him.
"My nephew was rude and offended you greatly. I hope you will be lenient," Father Xie said.
Fang Zichen did not let go: "You're Xie Xiaoyu's father?"
"Yes, yes, that's right."
"I heard you work at the yamen." Fang Zichen's smile was ambiguous, his tone neither warm nor cold, impossible to read. "Then do you know the punishment for innocently insulting a xiucai who has achieved scholarly merit?"
Du Yi's eyes widened as he looked toward Fang Zichen's waist, spotting the identity token hanging there. Panic set in.
"I didn't mean it, I didn't mean it."
Fang Zichen grabbed him by the hair and lifted him up: "I don't care whether you meant it or not! You insulted me, and that's that."
Father Xie pleaded, "Fang Xiucai, could you overlook this for this old man's sake? I'll have him apologize to you."
Fang Zichen glanced subtly at Li Yisheng, saw him nod, and then secretly raise two fingers. Fang Zichen's eyes lit up with excitement, practically gleaming like a wolf spotting prey, and immediately went all out, smiling: "And who do you think you are? Why should I show you any face?"
Father Xie's face suddenly flushed red, his expression darkening, and the expressions of the few people behind him also turned unpleasant.
Seeing him humiliated, Li Yisheng couldn't stop rejoicing inside; finally, he had gotten some satisfaction.
"Are you angry from embarrassment?" Fang Zichen tossed Du Yi aside and looked down at Father Xie, asking in a provoking manner, "Are you angry from embarrassment? Do you want to hit me?"
Father Xie: "..."
He dared not say yes.
"I know you want to, but you don't dare. If you so much as touch a single hair on my head today, I can report you to the prefect tomorrow. Do you believe me?" Fang Zichen said.
Father Xie was silent for a moment, then said he dared not.
"Dare not?" Fang Zichen laughed and walked toward Father Xie. His footsteps seemed to tread on Father Xie's heart. Father Xie barely dared to breathe; even when facing the prefect, he had never felt such pressure.
Suddenly, he remembered what the prefect had said a few days ago.
'Just look at how he carries himself; it's obvious. Before he came to Da Xia, his family must have been something extraordinary!'
Only those trained by top-tier aristocratic families could possess such an imposing aura.
Fang Zichen was clearly here for them. He looked at Li Yisheng and suddenly understood.
Fang Zichen stopped two steps away from him and looked at him: "I heard you went to my brother's medical hall to cause trouble a few days ago. Is that true?"
Brother?
Father Xie's heart trembled with fear: "It's, it's all a misunderstanding?"
"A misunderstanding?" Fang Zichen's face darkened, his eyes filled with menace. "It seems you don't regard me at all! But then again, I'm just a xiucai. You, on the other hand, work at the yamen. Though you hold no official post, even a dog is judged by its master. 'A prime minister's doorman is still a seventh-rank official.' You indeed have no reason to respect me."
[宰相门前七品官 (zǎixiàng mén qián qīpǐn guān): lit. a prime minister's doorman is still a seventh-rank official; fig. even a lowly servant of a powerful figure commands respect and wields influence by virtue of their master's status.]
Father Xie gritted his teeth, his back soaked with sweat: "Fang Xiucai misunderstands. How would I dare?"
Eldest Brother Xie couldn't stand it anymore. Fang Zichen wasn't some noble or powerful person, nor was he particularly famous. Only scholars and those following the imperial examinations would know of him. Eldest Brother Xie was a merchant and felt that this mere xiucai, having come to their home, first beaten someone, and then spoken so insolently, was truly going too far.
"Fang Xiucai certainly puts on quite an air," he sneered. "Anyone listening would think you'd already passed the imperial exam, become the Number One Scholar, and entered the court as an official!"
"That's only a matter of time." Fang Zichen glanced at him coolly. "But whether I've passed the exam or not doesn't stop me from putting on airs."
Eldest Brother Xie said angrily, "My Xie family has never offended you. This is going too far."
Fang Zichen's face was cold. When he was expressionless, he looked extremely formidable. When his face darkened, he looked like someone who was owed a billion, couldn't get it back, and was so angry he wanted to kill, making it impossible for anyone to look him in the eye, trembling with fear.
"You haven't offended me, but you've offended my brother. What, your Xie family is allowed to bully others, but others aren't allowed to bully you? Who do you think you are? What makes you nobler than anyone else? I came to your door to pick a fight today. I didn't do it outside for everyone to see. Out of consideration for Xie Xiaoyu, I even saved your Xie family some face! And your father? He went straight to my brother's medical hall to cause trouble. What was his intention?"
Li Jiagen wasn't here, but opening a medical hall in the city was already difficult enough with competition from other practitioners. When Father Xie came to cause trouble, he had spoken of Li Yisheng in extremely vile terms, claiming that what was clearly a mutual affection was instead a one-sided obsession on Li Yisheng's part, a desperate attempt to curry favor, calling his behavior that of a petty man.
What he said that day was excessive. Father Xie had humiliated Li Yisheng relentlessly, and the medical hall's reputation plummeted.
When Father Xie acted this way, had he considered the friendship between the two families?
If he looked down on Li Yisheng and didn't want the families to become close through marriage, he didn't have to go this far.
Eldest Brother Xie had been strongly opposed to Father Xie's actions, but Father Xie insisted on having his way.
And now... the old one was provoked, and now the younger one had come.
A flicker of emotion passed through Eldest Brother Xie's eyes, and then he quickly looked away.
Li Yisheng was truly satisfied.
Seeing Father Xie, who dared not speak his anger in front of Fang Zichen, his eyes stung a little.
Having someone to back you up is truly good!
His parents hadn't backed him up. That day, no one had come forward to defend him. He was alone, enduring Father Xie's slander and the pointing fingers of those around him. He couldn't refute a single word. As the younger generation, and because of the friendship between the families, whatever he said was wrong.
He wanted to marry the Xie family's ger, and Father Xie looked down on him, so he had to endure. He had to endure the insults.
But everything has its limits. Once that limit is crossed, everything changes.
A father-in-law is practically a second father. If Father Xie wanted him to kneel and kowtow, he could. That was nothing. But the way he talked down to him? That was treating him like dirt.
He wanted to be someone's son-in-law, not become their dog.
Fang Zichen, coming from a wealthy family, was very good at putting on an act.
Suddenly, Xiao Feng came over and tugged at Fang Zichen's sleeve, looking up at him: "Fa, father."
After Li Yisheng arrived, Fang Zichen had told Xiao Feng that from now on, when this guy was around, he should call him father.
Xiao Feng remembered, and he was also willing to call him that. Fang Zichen treated him well, no different from his own child. He had lost his father when he was young and never knew what it felt like to have a father's love. Zhao Ger was good to him, but no matter how good, it was different from Fang Zichen's kindness.
When Fang Zichen was good to him, he often felt warm inside, so moved he wanted to cry. But sometimes, he also made him so angry he wanted to hit someone.
"Hey~" Fang Zichen picked up Xiao Feng and stroked his head. "Hungry? Wait a bit, and Father will take you home."
Xiao Feng looked at him for a moment, then suddenly hugged his neck and said, "No, not hungry. Fa, father, don't, don't be, be angry. Be, being angry, is, is bad for, for your, your health."
"Alright, Father understands. You're truly my good son."
Fang Zichen pinched his cheek: "Xiao Feng ah! Father will work hard in the future. Father will never sell his child for glory, nor sacrifice you to seek promotion and wealth."
The Xie family members' faces flushed crimson. This pointed remark was like a slap in their faces.
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