The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 864 - 842: Renowned Reputation

Chapter 864: Chapter 842: Renowned Reputation

Lord Wei asked, "Did your son skip school today?"

"What are you thinking, is Ting’er that kind of person?"

"Then stop thinking about it, even if you think, you won’t figure it out. I’ll ask Ting’er tomorrow."

Wei Ting hadn’t even gone to the classroom yet the next day when he was dragged out to see his father.

Seeing his dad, Wei Ting instinctively tensed up. He had just returned from his break and attended class for one day, right?

What had he done yesterday?

As Wei Ting walked expressionlessly toward his father, he racked his brains. In the end, he couldn’t remember any misdeed from yesterday, so he could only walk over with a taut face.

When he was about to reach his father, he suddenly grabbed Bai Shan, who was passing by, and asked in a low voice, "Have I done anything bad recently?"

Bai Shan winced from the tight grip and, after frowning slightly, followed Wei Ting’s gaze to see Lord Wei.

He then seriously thought about it and asked, "Does copying my homework yesterday count?"

"No, that’s trivial. Mr. Zhai won’t notice it, and even if he does, he wouldn’t specifically go to my dad because of it." Seeing his dad getting impatient, Wei Ting quickly lowered his voice and asked, "Did I talk back to the teacher yesterday?"

Bai Shan shook his head, "No."

"Did I skip class?"

Bai Shan: "No."

"Then did I get into a fight with anyone?"

Bai Shan: "No."

Wei Ting breathed a sigh of relief, straightened his clothes, and walked toward his father with a smile, muttering under his breath, "I thought so, I wouldn’t have forgotten. So I must not have done anything wrong."

However, as soon as he reached Lord Wei, Lord Wei smacked him on the head and angrily asked, "I’ve been looking for you, what are you dawdling for over there?"

Wei Ting, with his neck shrunken, said, "I didn’t know what father wanted to see me for, so I asked a classmate to help me ask the teacher for leave."

"Ask for leave? I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions," Lord Wei asked, "Which classmate sold the flowers to your mother last time? What’s going on with him? How come I heard from your mother, that due to him, she and several other ladies have offended the Princess Consort of Yizhou?"

Wei Ting opened his mouth but didn’t dare say that it was Manbao who sold the flowers, not Bai Shan.

But if this matter were seriously pursued, both Bai Shan and Bai Erlang were indeed in cahoots with Zhou Man.

Wei Ting was a bit torn under his father’s scrutiny, and he could only say, "Dad, it’s a long story."

"Then give me the short version."

"Do you remember Bai Shan?"

Lord Wei didn’t even think before shaking his head, "Don’t remember."

Wei Ting: "..."

After a pause, Wei Ting said, "It’s the one who saved Ji Hao."

With that reminder, Lord Wei remembered; he recalled having met the boy before and cleared his throat to ask, "His family isn’t poor, right? Why would he think of selling flowers?"

Wei Ting said grumpily, "They weren’t doing it for the money. If they were, would they sell such fine peonies for only sixteen taels?"

Lord Wei thought about it and it made sense, then after pondering for a moment, he asked, "So they were trying to please the Princess Consort of Yizhou? But that doesn’t make sense either; if they wanted to please her, why did they make her lose so much face?"

Wei Ting explained how they had intended to sell a pot of peonies for six hundred taels, but the steward from the prince’s estate had forcibly bought it for merely sixteen taels and three coins of silver.

Lord Wei was clearly astounded by this revelation, gaping in disbelief before finally saying, "So that’s why they became angry, letting the princess consort embarrass herself in front of all the ladies?"

Wei Ting gave a slight cough and said, "It wasn’t quite that severe..."

Lord Wei just silently gazed at him, rubbing his forehead after a while and asking, "Did you know about this from the beginning?"

"No," Wei Ting immediately denied, "Father, do you think I am so foolish? If I had known earlier, I certainly wouldn’t have let Mother buy that peony, and I would have stopped her from attending any flower-viewing banquet."

Lord Wei then nodded in satisfaction and waved his hand, "Alright, off to your studies."

Wei Ting scampered off in a flash, running back to the classroom to find Bai Shan, "You’re quite famous now."

Bai Shan looked up at him, and Wei Ting shared what his father had come to ask him, saying, "Isn’t that becoming famous? Be careful, the Yizhou prince’s estate might make things difficult for you."

Ji Hao coldly snorted from the side, "Why fear them? Bai Shan, my Ji family will protect you."

Wei Ting asked him irritably, "Can you speak for the Ji family?"

Ji Hao’s face turned red as he declared, "If I say I can, then I can."

Second Madam Ji was not too keen on bearing grudges against the prince’s estate of Yizhou because of an outsider, thus she looked troubled facing her mother-in-law.

However, Old Madam Ji furrowed her brows and asked, "Why did they want to sell the white peony to the Princess Consort of Yizhou?"

Second Madam Ji promptly said, "Perhaps they wanted to establish ties with the prince’s estate?"

Ji Hao immediately said, "No, it was just to make money."

"Are they short on money?" Second Madam Ji expressed disbelief, "Moreover, why choose the Princess Consort of Yizhou of all people to sell to? Our family could also afford to buy peonies. Logically and emotionally, they should have approached our family first, but they did not. Mother, I think they didn’t really want to develop relations with our family."

She clearly still remembered missing out on buying the moutan peony.

Old Madam Ji glanced at her, then turned to Ji Hao, "Who said they were only after the money?"

"It’s what Zhou Man said," replied Ji Hao, "She needs money to buy medicinal herbs, so she thought to sell the peonies."

"She’s not aiming to become a medicinal herb merchant. How much could buying medicinal herbs possibly cost?" Second Madam Ji still looked unconvinced.

Ji Hao found himself at a loss for words.

Clearly, like Second Madam Ji, no one believed that Bai Shanzhou and the others sold the first pot of peonies to the Princess Consort of Yizhou just to make money. Instead, they thought the intention was to establish ties with the prince’s estate, but ended up being mistreated by the petty servants of the estate, leading to an outburst that disgraced the princess consort and the prince’s estate in Yizhou City.

Originally, only a few scheming families were aware of the matter, but once Lord Wei went home and recounted the story to reassure Madam Wei, it took less than two days for the tale to spread throughout Yizhou City.

Not just the top officials like Lord Huang, the military governor, down to the yamen runners in the County Governmental Office, but even the idlers roaming the streets heard some rumors, and so the tale was known throughout the whole of Yizhou City.

For Zhou Man, Bai Shan, and Bai Erlang, this wasn’t considered a bad reputation, but in fact, became a sort of acclaim.

In Great Jin, scholars currying favor with those in power to advance their own prospects was not seen as shameful, since in the period before the imperial examination, the students would often present essays and poems to powerful courtiers.

If your submission caught their favor, you were praised; if not, you remained obscure. If you made an effort and were troubled by petty servants, but then caused the powerful figure to lose face and had the servants punished, that was considered an honor.

And moreover, it was a reputation that spread far and wide.

When Bai Shan returned to the academy, not only did his classmates look upon him with affable smiles, but even the teachers in the school praised him several times for not fearing the powerful.

Bai Shan: ...

Manbao, who had snuck over the wall to read and was then informed by Wei Ting about how famous Bai Shan had become: ...

This was clearly her doing, so why should Bai Shan get the credit?

Well, since he had taken the blame, it was only natural that he also received the praise. Manbao remained silent.