Chapter 587 - 218: Three Birds with One Stone
Chapter 587: Chapter 218: Three Birds with One Stone
Gong Yuanxiu wanted to teach Fan Ju a lesson. He wanted to use the crime of falsely accusing a court official to strip him of his student title.
Fan Ju wasn’t stupid; he almost instantly saw through Gong Yuanxiu’s malicious intentions. How could he just sit back and accept his fate? Repeating his old trick, he grabbed Gong Yuanxiu and bit him viciously.
This time, he didn’t bite his leg. Instead, he clamped his hands around his face and took a savage bite out of his ear like a wild dog. The surrounding constables noticed something was wrong and rushed over to pull them apart—but it was no use. The constables were apprehensive and didn’t dare to yank too hard, terrified that Fan Ju might actually tear Gong Yuanxiu’s ear completely off.
While he didn’t manage to bite it off, the result wasn’t far from it. Wasn’t blood already dripping from the corner of Fan Ju’s mouth? That was all Gong Yuanxiu’s blood.
Seeing this, Mr. Zhou was frightened wide awake.
"Spare the ear! Young man, why are you biting people at the drop of a hat? You aren’t a dog, so let him go at once! If something happens to Mr. Gong, even if you are innocent, you will be found guilty! You still have a bright future ahead of you..."
Amidst Mr. Zhou’s earnest persuasion, Gong Yuanxiu’s pained threats, and the shouts from the crowd below—"Think twice before you act!" "It’s not worth ruining your academic title for this kind of person!" "Think about your future!"—Fan Ju finally let go.
The moment he released his bite, a wave of post-traumatic terror swept through his body. He collapsed to the ground, weeping uncontrollably. "Your Honor, this student has been wronged! Your Honor, Mr. Gong neglects his duties and occupies a position he doesn’t deserve! He’s forcing this student to his death!"
Gong Yuanxiu’s eyes practically popped out of their sockets. Clutching his torn ear, his eyes went red from the excruciating pain. With a contorted, savage face, he went to kick and stomp on Fan Ju again.
"You audacious, impoverished Scholar, how dare you lay a hand on me! I am an imperial envoy appointed by Your Majesty! To touch me is to touch the Emperor himself! Today, I will enforce heaven’s justice and eliminate you, this rebellious, insubordinate—"
SMACK! A rotten egg smashed right into Gong Yuanxiu’s face.
At the same time, a foul stench swept through the entire courtroom. Gong Yuanxiu, his face plastered with rotten egg yolk, stood frozen in shock. But that wasn’t the end of it. The egg seemed to flip a switch; the commoners below immediately grabbed whatever they had on hand and hurled it violently at Gong Yuanxiu.
"Stone this corrupt official to death!"
"He’s rotten! Completely rotten to the core!"
"No wonder he was beaten black and blue! If you ask me, he got off easy! What was Your Majesty thinking, arranging for this kind of person to be the chief examiner? He has completely disgraced Your Majesty!"
Leaving aside the fact that people were fiercely protective of their own and generally defended locals in disputes with outsiders, human nature inherently sympathized with the weak. Compared to Gong Yuanxiu, wasn’t Fan Ju just a fragile, helpless, and pitiful poor scholar? And Gong Yuanxiu was a madman who abused his power to do whatever he pleased with zero regard for the law.
If he was this arrogant in open court, one could only imagine how he acted behind closed doors. Such a person deserved to be beaten to death!
Rotten cabbage leaves, stones, half-eaten pastries, and even a stick of candied hawthorns were chucked at Gong Yuanxiu in a relentless barrage. He dodged left and right, looking as comical as a dancing monkey. Yet, despite being utterly disgraced, he refused to beg for mercy. Instead, he arrogantly tried to intimidate the crowd into backing down, shooting vicious glares at the people below whenever he got the chance.
"How dare you assault a court official! None of you will get away with this!
"Where are the constables? Hurry up and arrest these people!
"Barren lands breed wicked mobs! Just wait until I return to the Capital City and report all of you to Your Majesty!"
The farce came to an abrupt halt as the heavy BANG of the gavel struck the desk.
Mr. Zhou, who usually played the peacemaker with a harmless and lenient expression, no longer had muddy eyes. He sat bolt upright behind the official desk, his gaze sharp and piercing. An awe-inspiring aura of dignity radiated from him, plunging the entire courtroom into total silence.
Accustomed to the old and muddle-headed Mr. Zhou, Gong Yuanxiu felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of this highly capable, astute man who seemed like a completely different person. His intuition told him this was bad.
Mr. Zhou bellowed a reprimand at him, his voice booming with authority. "Absurd, how utterly absurd! You are a court official! How can you hurl abuse and threats in a courtroom like some vulgar street shrew? Mr. Gong, where are your manners and dignity? You are an imperial envoy sent by Your Majesty, yet you are damaging Your Majesty’s face! To trample the prestige bestowed upon you by imperial authority to such a degree—how will you explain yourself to Your Majesty when you return?"
"So this is my fault now? Wasn’t it your inaction in the first place that forced me to fight back?" Gong Yuanxiu thought furiously.
He was so enraged his hair practically stood on end. His eyes looked ready to split, rendering his bruised and battered face all the more hideous.