Chapter 33

Today is the darkest day of Wang Shizheng's life. This great Confucian scholar, who was skilled at morally coercing others, encountered an extremely bizarre incident today. A woman, accompanied by a child, publicly claimed to be his concubine, and even more shockingly, a discarded one.

What was even more devastating was that this woman accurately described his physical characteristics in front of everyone, especially the distinctive features of his private parts. Wang Shizheng's face turned pale with fear because all those characteristics were true, without a single lie.

How did she know? How could such a thing be known by outsiders? Wang Lao Hanlin felt a wave of dizziness, but he had to hold on because this woman was already escalating the situation.

"Don't, don't pull her..." Wang Shizheng said in the weakest voice, but no one in the chaotic Taibai Building could hear his feeble plea. The old Hanlin watched as the servants dragged the mother and child upstairs, while the woman was shouting and causing a scene.

"Please, we won't dare anymore, we'll never come to the capital again... Gentlemen, please help us, we don't want to die..."

"Mom... Let's go home, I'm scared..."

The mother and child resisted the servants' rough handling while sobbing pitifully, a sight that moved everyone. Many diners on the first floor were secretly wiping away tears, but they dared not speak out against the powerful figures in the Heavenly Room.

Wang Shizheng felt like jumping off the building. The entrance of Taibai Building was already crowded with onlookers. These ignorant people didn't care about the truth; they would spread rumors throughout Beijing at lightning speed. By tonight, the entire city would be buzzing with the rumor that the old Hanlin had killed his wife and abandoned his child.

"You... don't pull her, you... should invite her..." Wang Lao Hanlin felt a tightness in his chest, and his words were inaudible.

Amidst the chaos in Taibai Building, in Room A on the second floor, four or five people were stifling their laughter. Who else could be so excited about the spectacle except for Xiao Letian and his companions?

Xiao He Xin, Wang Huaiyuan, and a few other soldiers, including Luo Hao and Wen Xiu, the two newly recruited chief disciples, along with a black man skilled in photography named Simon, were all watching the scene through the window, too engrossed to eat the delicious food on the table.

"Is... this a bit too much?" Luo Hao, who was kind-hearted, felt a bit uneasy. As a fellow Hanlin, he couldn't bear to see this. But Wen Xiu had no such sentiment.

"Luo, you need to see the bigger picture. This is a battle between Western learning and traditional Confucianism. The old Confucianism, which has existed for thousands of years, will never let us grow. The foreigners may be afraid of us, but these fanatics will never show mercy when it comes to their own. If Mr. Xiao is too soft, he will end up dead..."

Xiao Letian nodded in agreement. Wen Xiu, a former official of the Grand Council, understood the intricacies of the empire. Even during the Tongzhi era, let alone after the First Sino-Japanese War, when the empire was thoroughly humiliated, reformers like Tan Sitong were still beheaded.

This Qing Dynasty, if you have any good illusions about it, you are courting death. "What's wrong? Does Luo Hanlin feel sorry for him? He can defame my wife's honor in Baihua Building, but I can't defame his?" Xiao Letian's tone was icy.

Luo Hao, a simple scholar, didn't even notice Xiao Letian's hostile tone and said softly, "Mr. Xiao, it's better to repay evil with virtue. After this small punishment, just make them fear us, no need to finish them off..." Before he could finish, Wen Xiu stepped on his foot.

Xiao Letian's eyes bulged. "Repay evil with virtue? How do you repay righteousness? You're a Hanlin, and you don't understand this? I'm not a Confucian scholar; I'm just a half-foreigner. I don't care if this old man is pitiful; I only know that he made my wife cry all night..."

"Do you think I'm heartless now? If you don't like it, leave. I don't need you here..." As he spoke, Xiao Letian's bandit-like nature emerged, and he scolded Luo Hao until his face turned red.

"No, that's not what I meant..." Luo Hao stammered, unable to say anything. In the end, it was Wen Xiu who smoothed things over, calming Xiao Letian down after much persuasion.

Xiao Letian was no longer alone. Shi Dakai had assigned him several elite soldiers, all with backgrounds in the underworld. As soon as they entered Beijing, they had connected with the intelligence network left by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Under the banner of the Prince of the Wing, these intelligence agents had unhesitatingly joined Xiao Letian's command.

Spring Thirteen Lady, a famous female thief, even controlled a branch of the Beggar Gang. With her involvement and the assistance of a group of skilled martial artists, dealing with Wang Shizheng was a piece of cake.

Spring Thirteen Lady, with her Oscar-worthy performance, staged a real-life version of the "Execution of Chen Shimei." The helpless mother and child sobbed, the servants pulled them roughly, and the stern gazes of the powerful figures upstairs were all witnessed by the surrounding crowd. Many elderly people were already in tears, and if not for the presence of the powerful figures upstairs, the crowd would have already started cursing.

Spring Thirteen Lady, a skilled thief, was not easily moved by a few servants. Using her skillful technique, she made them feel like they were grabbing a slippery eel, unable to drag her upstairs no matter how hard they tried. She was deliberately waiting for the next act.

Sure enough, a group of foreigners, both men and women, strolled into Taibai Building, admiring the local life of Beijing. Leading them was Reverend Lewis.

When the justice-loving old cowboy saw someone bullying a weak woman, he was furious and pushed his way through the crowd. "Stop, you brutes, why are you attacking a woman and a child! I will punish you in the name of God..." Reverend Lewis's foreign-accented Chinese, without the fourth tone, caused a stir on the street.

"Oh, even the foreigners can't stand it. The foreigners are going to save them? Make way..." The crowd parted to let the indignant foreigners through.

Today, Lewis was leading a group of foreign families on a tour of Beijing. Lewis was a recognized traveler among the foreigners in Beijing, and many newly arrived foreigners enjoyed chatting with him about the customs of the Qing Dynasty. Today, Lewis was treating a dozen foreign families to a meal in the southern part of the city, including several elegantly dressed foreign women.

"Oh, what a pitiful little angel, how could he be so scared?" The child was carefully selected by Spring Thirteen Lady from the Beggar Gang, with a particularly endearing appearance. The foreign women, overwhelmed by maternal love, rushed over and held him in their arms.

Lewis charged into the crowd of servants, punching them left and right, making them scatter. These servants, who were bullying others, dared not fight back and fled in terror.

"Beijingers, I am American Reverend Lewis. Who can run an errand for me and take my card to the officials of Shuntian Prefecture? I want to file a complaint..." Lewis pulled out his card and two silver coins, showing that he had already understood the customs of the Qing Dynasty and was prepared to offer a reward.

"I'll go, I'll go..." The crowd, seeing that they could get silver for standing up for justice, rushed forward. At this moment, a group of people ran down the street, dressed as officials from Shuntian Prefecture.

"Oh, what's going on? Why are they fighting? Everyone, move aside... Oh, greetings, foreign gentlemen..." The officials, who had been defiant a moment ago, immediately softened upon seeing the foreigners and bowed deeply.

"You came just in time. There's a public security incident here; someone is beating a woman and a child..." Lewis immediately filed a complaint. However, the officials smiled bitterly and said, "Gentlemen, please calm down. We are here to invite Old Hanlin Wang. After we invite him, we can handle this case, okay?"

The constable then bowed to the second floor. "Is that Old Hanlin Wang Shizheng? We are officials from Shuntian Prefecture. Just now, the madam of Baihua Building filed a complaint against you, saying you didn't pay for your drinks and damaged the building. She is demanding money from you..."

The crowd, who had been watching, went wild with excitement, buzzing with discussion. They couldn't believe that the seemingly upright old Hanlin had not only refused to pay for his drinks but also beaten people. The scene of him abandoning his wife and child was even more shocking. This old man was a modern Chen Shimei.

Curses, everywhere were curses. Wang Shizheng's vision began to blur, and the curses pierced his ears like hammers, driving him to the brink of madness.

"Shameless! Shameless..." The old Hanlin mustered all his strength to shout, then collapsed and fainted.

"Oh, listen, Wang Shizheng has a conscience; he knows he's shameless..." Someone in the crowd shouted, and many others echoed the sentiment.

The situation had reached its peak. The old Hanlin was quickly taken home by his servants to see a doctor, and the officials from Shuntian Prefecture, seeing the accused had fainted, had to let the case go. The foreigners, after receiving praise from the crowd, also left.

Even Spring Thirteen Lady and the child had disappeared, leaving the crowd to speculate.

"Did you see? This is called a public opinion battle. To stir up a situation, you must grasp the key points. A dog biting a person is not news, but a person biting a dog is. In this plan, how many key points did we grasp?" Xiao Letian finally had the mood to drink and eat, explaining to those around him.

Wen Xiu drank a cup of wine and said excitedly, "Mr. Xiao's plan seems full of flaws, and a careful investigation could easily expose it. But it captured the hearts of the people of Beijing. First, it's a scandal, and ordinary people love to spread such gossip..."

"Second, the use of the little boy was brilliant!" Luo Hao, who had also figured it out, added, "What's the current state of the officialdom? Both the emperor and the common people can see it. Such cases of abandonment are common, but not having a son is rare. In any clan, abandoning a son is a grave sin..."

"Third, Spring Thirteen Lady's acting. By shouting 'don't kill me' in public, she has already nailed Wang Shizheng to the pillar of shame. The gossipy people don't care about the details..."

"Lastly, the involvement of the foreigners was a brilliant move. In today's Beijing, any incident involving foreigners will attract everyone's attention. It seems that Wang Shizheng is destined to bear the label of a modern Chen Shimei."

Luo Hao and Wen Xiu, excited, toasted and celebrated. Finally, they asked Xiao Letian, "How did you persuade the madam of Baihua Building? Getting that greedy and timid woman to file a complaint with Shuntian Prefecture was the final straw that broke the camel's back!"