Mrs. Wang stepped forward and said sternly, "What's the matter? Are you trying to pick a fight by being so unreasonable and aggressive?!"
The robust woman puffed out her chest. "A fight? So be it. Do you think I'm afraid of a scrawny weakling like you?"
Upon hearing herself called a "scrawny weakling," Mrs. Wang immediately retorted, "You, you big oaf!"
"How dare you insult me?" The robust woman raised her hand to strike Mrs. Wang.
Bai Sheng flashed forward, grabbed her hand, and shielded her aunt. She then looked at the villagers with cold eyes. "You claim our children injured yours. Do you have any evidence? If you have no proof, we will report this to the authorities and accuse you of falsely accusing and extorting good citizens!"
"Exactly! Without evidence, you barge in here to stir up trouble. This is the act of bandits!" Mei Fei also said sternly.
The villagers flinched. The leading villager turned and pulled a teenager forward. "Look! The injury on my son's head is the evidence!"
The boy had a bruised and swollen face and kept his head down, afraid to meet anyone's gaze.
Seeing this, other villagers pushed their injured children forward.
Some of the children had half of their faces swollen; others had black eyes, squeezing their eyes into slits; still others had torn lips, their mouths crooked... Their conditions were significantly worse than Zuo Jia's children.
However, in terms of age and physique, they were all much older and larger than Zuo An and Lu Yun, and they had a numerical advantage.
Bai Sheng looked at the villagers' children and suddenly burst into laughter.
"What are you laughing at, you bewitchingly seductive vixen?" the robust woman pointed at Bai Sheng and scolded.
Bai Sheng was unfazed. "This vixen is laughing because your children are truly useless! Look at your children. In terms of numbers, age, and physique, they are all considerably larger than our children. Who would believe that our children injured yours?"
"They know martial arts!" the boy with the swollen face pointed at Lu Yun and the five children.
"That little one is very strong!" the crooked-mouthed child pointed at Rui Rui.
Bai Sheng raised her voice and addressed the children. "Even if our children know martial arts and are strong, why didn't they hurt anyone else? Why did they only hurt you? Is it possible that you simply deserved to be beaten?!
Why don't we all go to see the magistrate together? Once we're at the yamen, the official will surely investigate the cause and effect, and who started the trouble!"
Fear showed on the faces of the children.
Lu Yun stepped forward and looked at them. "You were the ones who provoked us first! You claimed the river belonged to your village and forbade us from fishing, demanding that we give you all the fish we caught. When we refused, you overturned our bamboo baskets, pushed my younger brother down, insulted my uncle, and pinched my two-year-old nephew's ear. Only then did we retaliate."
Someone in the crowd suddenly exclaimed, "That river has always belonged to our village!"
"Oh?" Lu Ye sneered. "May I ask which law states that the river belongs to your village? Shall we go and ask the authorities together?"
The villagers dared not utter a word and their faces paled.
Prince Yu impatiently said, "Why waste words with them? Let's go and see the magistrate!"
"Right, we are in the right! Let's go see the magistrate together!" Zuo Muchen raised his arm.
Zuo Siming cupped his hands towards the villagers. "Everyone, let's go. Bring your children along, and we'll all go to the yamen.
Everything will be decided by the magistrate. If my children are at fault, I will compensate. However, if my children are not at fault, you will have to compensate, as my children have also sustained injuries."
Among the villagers, a few children tugged at their parents' clothes and said timidly, "Mom, Dad, I... I don't want to see the magistrate. Actually, it was... it was us who provoked them first."
"Useless! Who told you to speak nonsense!" The villagers were so angry they jumped, and the parent slapped the child on the head.
None of the villagers dared to make a move.
Bai Sheng looked at the children and laughed loudly. "Whichever child is willing to be honest and tell the truth, I will reward them with five taels of silver!"
"Five taels of silver?!"
The villagers' eyes suddenly lit up.
The children looked at each other, filled with excitement.
The child with the panda eyes tilted his head and asked Bai Sheng, "Do you keep your word?"
Bai Sheng smiled and nodded. "A gentleman's word is his bond. I believe honest children are worthy of reward!"
The Zuo family, Prince Yu, and Mei Fei all looked at Bai Sheng with surprise.
They hadn't expected her to resort to this tactic.
"Alright, I'll tell you!" The panda-eyed child raised his hand.
However, his parents beside him suddenly raised their hands and covered his mouth. Although they also wanted to earn the five taels of silver, they wanted to wait and see, not wanting to be the first to speak out. After all, they still had to live in the village, and offending other villagers would make life difficult.
Bai Sheng continued to increase the stakes. "The first honest child to tell the facts will be rewarded with ten taels, and those who repeat the facts or supplement them and admit their mistakes afterward will be rewarded with three taels of silver!"
In fact, most of the children's mistakes stemmed from their parents' poor upbringing; if the upper beam is not straight, the lower beam will be crooked. Bai Sheng intended to distribute some money, considering it an opportunity to correct these wayward children.
She had plenty of money anyway. The wealth she had extorted from the Empress and the Crown Prince made it not entirely unreasonable to use a tiny portion for charity.
Moreover, the Zuo family still lived here, and offending the nearby villagers too much was not wise.
Zuo Siming understood Bai Sheng's intention and gave her a look of admiration.
Granny Wu looked at Bai Sheng and nodded with a smile, thinking that her disciple having such vision was a blessing for the people of Qinghuang in the future.
"I'll tell you!"
"I'll tell you!"
...
The children raised their hands one after another.
The parents who had covered their child's mouth immediately let go.
Seeing their children begin to turn against them, the villagers deliberately put on a look of helplessness and anger, but inwardly, they were overjoyed.
The panda-eyed child seized the opportunity and, before anyone else, recounted the entire sequence of events.
The villagers looked at each other, shame evident on their faces. The robust woman had, at some point, retreated behind the crowd.
Bai Sheng smiled, took out ten gleaming taels of silver, and before handing them to the panda-eyed child, said sternly, "Remember, in the future, be an upright person. Many times, what your parents say and do is not always correct. You must learn to distinguish right from wrong."
The panda-eyed child glanced at his parents and nodded sheepishly, "Yes, I understand."
Although his parents were stifled, they gladly endured it for the ten taels of silver.
The child who received the ten taels of silver trembled with excitement. This was the first time he had been rewarded for telling the truth.
He had never seen ten taels of silver in his life!
Following that, the children described the facts one by one and admitted their mistakes.
Bai Sheng rewarded each of them with three taels of silver as promised.
Three taels of silver was more than their family's income for half a year! Although the villagers felt ashamed, their hearts were reassured.
As long as there was money, what was a face worth?
Today, if these villagers had come forward on their own to admit their mistakes and ask for medical expenses, Bai Sheng would have paid without a second word. However, since they had barged in, disregarding right and wrong and acting unreasonably, Bai Sheng naturally would not yield.
She yielded to kindness, not to force.
It was the same act of paying money, but the meaning behind it was entirely different.