Chapter 6: After-Sales Service
Chen Bai was currently surrounded by the crowd like a monkey in a show. It was very lively.
All around him were voices full of contempt and abuse.
He could finally understand what it meant for spittle to drown a person, for public opinion to melt metal, for accumulated slander to grind one down to the bone.
He had thought he had already prepared himself and could calmly face all this, but he had underestimated this body’s instinctive reaction to those humiliating memories.
The anger in his heart kept challenging his reason, and the corners of his eyes flushed scarlet.
Even if he suddenly took out a knife and stabbed someone to death, he would not find it strange.
Just then, Qi Zheng, who was half a head taller than him, walked in front of him.
Chen Bai’s current position was definitely the focal point. He was surrounded right in the middle.
What was Qi Zheng trying to do?
Chen Bai was a little confused. This fellow Qi Zheng actually began talking about his establishment of a residence and recruitment of retainers, laying out every condition one by one.
Was he using the fact that Chen Bai had attracted so many people to recruit retainers? This guy was really… unwilling to let go of any opportunity.
Only after quite a while did Chen Bai’s brain finally turn the corner. He quickly took a silent step back, trying his best to lower his presence.
In a sense, Qi Zheng had helped him out of the siege. Who would dare interrupt and curse him while Prince Zheng was speaking?
Qi Zheng finished listing out the terms for recruiting retainers, but in the end, not a single student came forward to respond.
Shangjing Academy had not only imperial princes and descendants of court ministers, but also students recommended and selected from various regions. Logically speaking, descendants of court officials like Chen Bai were not suited to openly take sides, but for the other students, becoming a prince’s retainer while still studying was an extremely honorable thing.
Chen Bai was a little puzzled. Logically, Qi Zheng was still a prince. Even if he had only just returned to Shangjing and had no deep foundation, it should not have been like this.
He had been locked up in his courtyard recently and had no idea what had happened outside.
Qi Zheng’s face was frosty. With a flick of his sleeve, he walked into the classroom. Before leaving, he inexplicably glanced at Chen Bai.
Crown Prince Jiao’s retaliation was truly thorough. But in the end, Qi Zheng had agreed to protect Young Master Bai, which had completely enraged Crown Prince Jiao. He could not blame anyone else for this result.
Chen Bai rubbed his nose. What was going on?
He did not think too much about it and hurriedly followed Qi Zheng into the classroom.
If he did not take this chance to slip away, these students’ arrows would immediately point at him again.
But even if he could avoid the students outside, how could he avoid his classmates inside the classroom?
In this classroom, besides Qi Zheng, there were also Prince Zhuo, Prince Dao, and the rest were descendants of the Three Ducal Ministers and Nine Ministers.
They were all top-tier second-generation young masters of Shangjing, usually lawless and arrogant to the extreme.
As soon as Chen Bai entered the classroom, every pair of eyes turned toward him in unison.
After only a moment of silence, the whole classroom exploded.
Books, desks, and stools flew everywhere. Not a single person here was reasonable.
“Chen Zixiu, you still dare come back? Being your classmate makes us too ashamed to face anyone.”
“Now when people see us outside, they don’t even call our names anymore. They just say, ah, isn’t that the classmate of that wretch Chen Zixiu?”
Qi Zheng simply propped both hands on the desk, rested his chin on his fingers, and watched the group brawl with great interest. “What sort of fighting is this? A complete mess.”
They were, at least, a group of noble young masters from Shangjing. Yet one by one, they ended up with their hair grabbed loose.
Fortunately, the master arrived before long. Otherwise, Chen Bai really would have been pressed to the ground and rubbed into it.
The teacher looked at the chaotic mess inside the room and, as if nothing had happened, directly began class.
The teachers of Shangjing Academy were all broad-minded as well. Their stomachs could hold boats.
Chen Bai straightened his clothes. Damn it, even his clothes had been torn. He sighed. Was he going to come here and fight people every day from now on? Even if he did not want to fight, he had no choice.
And Qi Zheng, that fellow, had watched the show far too openly. It was truly infuriating.
But right now, he had better think about how to deal with things after the teacher left.
In ancient classrooms, one class lasted the entire morning. During that time, Chen Bai received countless murderous looks, as well as a pile of little notes.
All of them told him not to leave after class and invited him to fight.
Chen Bai was not in the mood to listen to anything the teacher taught. Time felt both fast and torturous.
Sure enough, as soon as the teacher left, benches, desks, and other things were thrown at him.
Chen Bai was so angry that he gnashed his teeth. What kind of sin had he committed? Calling this being condemned by a thousand fingers would not be an exaggeration. If an ordinary person had to live under this kind of pressure, merely surviving it would already be impressive.
The next few days were like going to battle every single day.
Chen Bai was worried.
Qi Zheng was also worried.
First, he could not recruit any retainers.
Second, as for the potatoes the demon had given him, he had followed the demon’s planting method and had indeed managed to get the potatoes to sprout. But after transplanting those sprouted potatoes into the field, for some unknown reason, all of them had rotted.
Now, whenever he had free time each day, he poked at the stone slab with his finger. Unfortunately, that demon never appeared again.
In truth, Chen Bai had blocked Qi Zheng. These past few days, Chen Bai had been fighting people every day, while Qi Zheng supported his head at the side and watched. He was only short of clapping and praising, “Splendid!”
Who else would Chen Bai block if not him? Was he supposed to keep chatting with him?
He would just treat this netizen who kicked him while he was down as dead.
Qi Zheng was indeed rather anxious now, because once the sowing season passed, he would have to wait until next year.
Unable to find the demon inside the stone slab, Qi Zheng finally thought of taking an indirect route and turned his attention to Chen Bai.
Besides himself, Young Master Bai was the only person who might have a connection to that demon.
At noon, in the classroom, Chen Bai and Chen Xiaobu were eating as usual. Chen Xiaobu came to Chen Bai’s place every noon to eat chicken.
Just then, a tall figure walked up beside the desk.
Chen Bai’s hand naturally grabbed the stool. He raised his head and narrowed his eyes as he looked up.
Prince Zheng?
Qi Zheng said in a low voice, “Come out with me.”
Chen Bai was a little confused. “He” and Prince Zheng should not have had any dealings, right?
But he still followed him out.
Chen Xiaobu was still gnawing on chicken. He reached out with his little hands, lifted the stool, raised it over his head, and rushed outside. “Don’t even think about bullying my brother!”
But halfway through, he thought about it. The other person was a prince, and he did not dare hit him.
With an “aiya,” he threw the stool to the ground and continued running out.
The others were also stunned. When had Chen Zixiu offended Prince Zheng?
Prince Zheng’s expression just now had not looked very friendly.
“Where is that demon?” In the corridor outside the classroom, Qi Zheng asked directly.
Quite a few people had already gathered around, but they did not dare come close. They could only see that the atmosphere between the two seemed rather tense.
Chen Bai’s eyes flickered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Qi Zheng was looking for him? What exactly had happened?
Qi Zheng’s eyes narrowed. “That demon only fulfilled half of his promise. Then don’t blame me for not keeping mine.”
“Let me think. Young Master Bai corrupted the imperial household and ruined public morals. What was the original punishment…”
Chen Bai’s eyes shrank. But Qi Zheng had said he had only fulfilled half the promise. What did that mean?
Qi Zheng continued, “Think carefully. I am only asking you to deliver a message. It is such a simple thing. Do not throw yourself back into difficult circumstances.”
Chen Bai frowned. Judging from Qi Zheng’s appearance, it seemed he had something urgent.
At this moment, Chen Xiaobu rushed over. “Brother, I already rolled up my sleeves. Why hasn’t the fight started?”
Chen Bai looked at Chen Xiaobu’s two small arms exposed from his rolled sleeves. With those, who could he beat?
He tapped Chen Xiaobu on the forehead. “Go back and eat.”
Thoughtful, he returned to his courtyard at the Tingwei Office that evening.
Chen Bai took out his phone and removed the message block on Qi Zheng. Instantly, there were 99+ garbled messages.
This person had probably been poking at the phone all day long.
Chen Bai glanced at the filter settings, then started a video call.
“I heard you were looking for me?” Chen Bai said.
In the video, Qi Zheng was also thinking: Sure enough, Young Master Bai had a connection to this demon.
Qi Zheng said, “Your promise was only half completed. How can you simply disappear like this?”
“I went through a tribulation these past few days. Got struck by lightning every day,” Chen Bai casually made up an excuse.
It was indeed like undergoing tribulation. He had been fighting people every day.
Qi Zheng said directly, “The potatoes you gave me cannot be planted at all. They all rotted.”
Chen Bai’s first reaction was, “Impossible.”
Potatoes were easy to grow. Even if tossed into the mountains, they could grow quite well by themselves.
In response, Qi Zheng directly displayed several rotten potatoes.
It could be seen that the tender sprouts had already withered, and the potatoes had decayed and grown moldy.
Chen Bai frowned. If he was only shown this, he could not judge what exactly had gone wrong.
He thought to himself, this was a buyer dissatisfied with the product coming to complain.
It seemed he really would have to provide some after-sales service.
However…
Chen Bai raised his head. “Didn’t you also only fulfill half of your promise? I asked you to protect Young Master Bai, but as far as I know, Young Master Bai has not exactly been living smoothly.”
Chen Bai’s desk had been replaced three times already. Did he know why? It had been split in half during fights.
At noon, when Chen Xiaobu came to eat with him, these classmates, though all wastrel second-generation young masters, had still received the best education from famous masters. Their most basic manners remained. They would not mock and fight in front of a child.
But once Chen Xiaobu left, the classroom became an entirely different scene. Flip the desk, grab a stool—start fighting.
However, Chen Bai’s words were somewhat forced, because Qi Zheng had only promised before to help Young Master Bai avoid court punishment. He had never said he had to take care of what happened afterward too.
After a long while, Qi Zheng said, “Help me solve the potato problem, and I will ensure Young Master Bai has no worries.”
Chen Bai quickly said, “Deal.”
Did he think Chen Bai liked fighting every day? If his previous life had not made him an orphan who had fought plenty of people, he would have pissed himself from fear long ago.
Those second-generation young masters did not hold back at all. The whip wounds on his back that had already scabbed over had split open again.
Scholars in this era were not so delicate. They could pick up blades and go kill at any time. Their lessons already included swordsmanship, spearmanship, riding, and archery. Fortunately, he had been born into the Tingwei Office and descended from military merit. This body had trained since childhood and had a decent foundation.
Chen Bai thought for a moment and said, “I am undergoing tribulation recently and have no time to look after much. Take Young Master Bai to the fields to see. After he returns, he will naturally know how to tell me the situation.”
Qi Zheng neither agreed nor disagreed.
Let Young Master Bai go to the fields to see the situation? Could he do it?
Besides, he and Young Master Bai had never dealt with each other.
In the past, that proud, arrogant, overbearing Young Master Bai had even gone out of his way to avoid Qi Zheng whenever he saw him. They were not people on the same road.
Qi Zheng was about to say something.
But before he could speak, Chen Bai hung up the video.
The corners of Qi Zheng’s mouth twitched.
Why was this demon so indifferent to him? Did he not like seducing sturdy men?
Qi Zheng glanced at the bronze mirror beside him.
A sturdy man. No mistake there.
