Excuse me, excuse me, Your Lordship.
The old farmer hurriedly got off the car, with a guilty expression on his face, apologizing repeatedly and looking panic-stricken and uneasy.
He tried to help clear up in a flustered manner but didn't know where to start.
Upon seeing this, the passersby around cast looks of sympathy or mockery.
Among them, there were a few classmates of Su Jin who didn't even want to help, instead covering their noses with disgust and walking away.
Standing there, Su Jin felt both embarrassed and angry. She suppressed the queasy feeling in her stomach, refusing to let it show in her anger.
He tried to maintain his composure, speaking slowly, "Never mind, never mind. It was an unintentional mistake on your part."
As soon as he finished speaking, he quickly left here with the bookcase on his back, as if fleeing.
The bookcase was woven from bamboo and had holes in it. He ran wildly, stumbling along the way, causing the feces inside to be scattered along the path. This attracted passersby to cast sideways glances and cursed him continuously.
Su Jin had never been so embarrassed or disgusted in her life, and she ran all the way to the small stream outside of the village of Gu Luo.
By the stream, the grass was lush and green, wildflowers bloomed, and birds joyfully sang on the branches.
However, at this moment, he had no interest in enjoying the beautiful scenery.
He jumped into the stream eagerly, frantically washing himself.
At this very moment, a streak of light landed in the small forest by the stream, gradually revealing a stunning figure.
It was Yu Yao.
She looked at Su Jin's disheveled state with a coldness in her eyes.
Su Jin, Su Jin, this is just the beginning. You'll have to bear with it slowly.
In her previous life, the original host of Su Jin gave everything for her, but in the end, she was left with scattered cultivation and perished.
Su Jin's prejudice against demons is understandable, but the problem is that she clearly discovered that the original host was a demon, yet she pretended not to know and continued to deceive her.
He said that when he passed the imperial examination, he would marry the original host in an eight-lift flower carriage.
All this was just so that the original host could continue to help him, managing household chores, washing clothes and cooking, and spending money to sponsor her in the imperial examinations.
This man is heartless, cunning, and wicked. Even a thousand deaths would not be enough for him.
Su Jin was unaware that someone was watching him from the shadows. He was fully submerged in the stream.
The cool stream water caused him to shiver involuntarily. He took off his clothes and washed away the dirt from his body.
He immersed his hair in the water, and scrubbed his hands hard, trying to wash away the unpleasant smell.
He washed his face, neck, arms, and legs meticulously from head to toe. His movements were both hurried and forceful.
He scrubbed the clothes clean as well, wrung out the water, and put them on, damp but clean.
Although the clothes were wet and very uncomfortable, there were no other clothes here in the wilderness. He couldn't just go around naked.
Fortunately, the sun was still warm at this time. Although it was a bit cold, it wasn't cold enough to catch a cold.
He carefully took the books out of the bookcase and gently spread them open.
However, he desparately found that the ink inside had already smeared into a mess, making it impossible to read.
"Ruined, ruined, how could this have happened?"
Su Jin felt stunned like an electric shock, her face instantly pale without a trace of color.
He hastily picked up the other books and opened them to check, but each one was in the same terrible condition, with blurred characters that were impossible to read.
His face was as pale as death, and he fell to his seat by the stream in a daze, his eyes lifeless and filled with despair.
Inside, there were not only the books he had painstakingly copied for two weeks, but also the《Lunyu》 and《Zhongli》 that he had borrowed from a bookstore.
He had to return these books after copying them, and if they were damaged or lost, he would have to pay for them in full.
Even just one copy of the《Lunyu》was worth at least three or four taels of silver, and the《Zhongli》was even more expensive; it couldn't be bought for less than five taels of silver.
What's more, all the other books he had painstakingly copied for half a month were now useless.
He had just lost over ten taels of silver, and he had been doused with feces. Su Jin felt overwhelmed with injustice and anger, with no place to vent his emotions, reaching the peak of despair.
Holding his head in his hands, he painlessly screamed, "Why? Why do this to me?"
Tears couldn't help but fall uncontrollably, and he couldn't imagine how he would face such a disaster.
Su Jin felt that he couldn't just let it go. After cleaning the bookcase, he put it on his back and decided to look for the farmer.
Even though his clothes and hair were damp, he didn't care.
Ten or more taels of silver, he couldn't afford to lose them. Someone had to share the burden, after all.
Yu Yao was watching in the shadows as Su Jin didn't go back, but continued in the direction of Gu Luo Town.
Curious about where Su Jin was going, she transformed into a gust of wind and silently followed.
Su Jin didn't know the farmer who had been dumping the feces and didn't know where he lived.
He could only ask people along the way, but everyone shook their heads, saying they didn't know.
Finally, a kind-hearted old woman told him that the farmer lived in Zhaojiayuan, the village closest to Gu Luo Town.
Su Jin thanked the kind-hearted old woman and set off to Zhaojiayuan Village.
After a long search, he finally found Mr. Zhao's home.
At this moment, Mr. Zhao was working in the yard, his shirt drenched with sweat.
Upon hearing the noise coming from the courtyard gate, he raised his head and saw Su Jin at that moment, with an expression of utter surprise.
A bad premonition flashed through his mind, and he put down his farm tools and still went to meet him.
Su Jin walked into Mr. Zhao's house with a dark face, looking at the uneasy Mr. Zhao, he tried to keep himself calm.
He took off the bookcase on his back, took out the wet, crinkled books inside, and handed them to Mr. Zhao in front of him, unfolding them gently for him to see.
Mr. Zhao peeked at it and although he couldn't read, he could see that the characters were blurred and the books were unusable.
He then understood the intention of the young master and his face turned paler.
"Mr. Zhao, are you supposed to give me an explanation?"
Su Jin was straightforward, suppressing his anger and saying.
Mr. Zhao looked sincerely apologetic, "Young Master, I truly am sorry. This is indeed my fault."
Su Jin saw that the old man didn't mention compensation, only apologizing, and the anger in his heart grew stronger. However, he held back.
"Mr. Zhao, I spent two weeks painstakingly copying books, and also borrowed two from the bookstore. All of them were destroyed by the feces on your cart. I have to compensate the bookstore for these books and it was a waste of my efforts for these two weeks. Mr. Zhao, how should we deal with this loss?"
Mr. Zhao was panicked upon hearing this, "Young Master, I truly didn't mean it. I'm just a farmer who sometimes transports manure for people in the town. I really don't have the money to compensate you."
Books are so precious, how could he afford to compensate for them?
If he had the money, he would have sent his son to school long ago. Why be a poor farmer.
Su Jin frowned, raised his voice a bit and said through gritted teeth, "Mr. Zhao, I also know that you are not easy. But I am also a poor scholar. I have calculated it, a total of twenty taels of silver. You have to find a way to compensate me, otherwise I won't be able to explain it to the bookstore."
Upon hearing the amount of twenty taels of silver, Mr. Zhao was even more panicked. That much money was more than they could compensate for, even if they melted down pots and sold their iron tools.
Just then, Zhao Dazhuang, Mr. Zhao's son, returned from outside.
Zhao Dazhuang was muscular but exuded a thug-like aura. His hair was disheveled, and his clothes were askew.
Seeing Su Jin arguing with his father, Zhao Dazhuang glanced at him with a sullen expression and asked, "Dad, what's going on?"
Zhao Dazhuang was a lazy no-good person. He didn't do anything productive, but was good at sneaking around and causing trouble. He was especially good at climbing the walls of lonely widows' houses.
He had a bad reputation in the surrounding villages for miles and he was 30 years old and still single.
Upon seeing his son's appearance, Mr. Zhao was so angry that he couldn't help but blow up, but he still recounted the incident.
Upon hearing the amount of twenty taels of silver that needed to be compensated, Zhao Dazhuang's face contorted, his eyes staring like copper bells, and he arrogantly roared, "What? You want compensation? We don't have the money, forget about it!"
His voice was loud, his expression fierce and menacing, clearly not someone to be messed with.
Su Jin furrowed his brow, thinking to himself: How could this person be so unreasonable?
But seeing the other man's thug-like appearance, he felt that he might not get any money today.
However, considering that he couldn't afford to compensate the bookstore either if the other party wasn't compensated, he thought for a moment and decided to argue reasonably.
"This is your fault, how can you not compensate? Being drenched in feces, I don't mind. But those two books from the bookstore, if they are damaged, I have to compensate them according to their price. Moreover, the books I copied also require compensation for my efforts."
Zhao Dazhuang was not the kind to be conned, but someone actually came to defraud him? How could that be allowed?
He grabbed Su Jin by the collar of his shirt, saying menacingly, "Compensate? Not a cent. Scholar, I warn you, if you know what's good for you, just get out quickly. Otherwise, my fists won't be so polite?"
Su Jin was so angry that he shook all over, his face turned red, and he pushed away Zhao Dazhuang's hand, angrily saying, "This is fraud."
Mr. Zhao stood awkwardly to the side, feeling embarrassed. Although he thought they were in the wrong and his son was not right, he just couldn't afford to compensate twenty taels of silver.
"What's wrong with being cunning? Don't you go around asking, who is Zhao Dazhuang?"
Zhao Dazhuang's attitude was not right, and he punched Su Jin in the face.
Su Jin couldn't dodge in time and took several hard punches, feeling stars sparkling in front of his eyes and his head spinning dizzily.
He was instantly disfigured with a black eye and a swollen face, and he fell to the ground, sitting there.
Now he couldn't maintain the demeanor of a scholar any longer, and said darkly, "This is truly lawless. I will report you to the officials!"
Upon hearing that the other party intended to report to the officials, Zhao Dazhuang hit him even harder, wishing to beat Su Jin to death.
"Go ahead and report! Who's afraid of who! I haven't been afraid of anyone in these ten or eight villages!"
Mr. Zhao saw that things had become serious, and hurriedly pulled his son Zhao Dazhuang, saying, "Don't make things worse!"
Zhao Dazhuang pushed his father aside, "Dad, you're just a coward who's afraid of trouble. I'll beat him so bad today that he won't be able to get up, and see how he can go to the officials to report."
Su Jin was a scholar, and naturally, he was no match for Zhao Dazhuang's strength. He was beaten on the ground with no power to fight back.
His mouth was filled with the sounds of "ouch" and "ahh", as he was beaten badly, with his face swollen to the point where he looked like a pig's head.
If it weren't for Mr. Zhao and the neighbors who heard the commotion and came to intervene, Su Jin would probably have lost half of his life there.
Su Jin knew that a brave man doesn't eat what's in front of him for the moment, and he didn't say anything threatening anymore to avoid drawing more severe beating.
He endured the anger, crawled up from the ground, with a stern face and limping away.
Yu Yao secretly witnessed a good show, seeing Su Jin leave, he also quietly followed.
