Chapter 18 Dealing With Xue Pan
Xue Pan was causing a scene on the street. Little Daiyu stood beside the horse, holding a tree branch she had broken off from somewhere, poking it at Xue Pan's face.
"You are not allowed to take one more step forward!"
"What kind of thing are you! Xiangling is the maid I bought. What does it matter to you if I hit her?"
"Hitting her has everything to do with me!"
"Aiyo, what a domineering girl. Whose family do you belong to?"
"Lord Lin has arrived!"
I lifted the carriage curtain. Little Daiyu saw it was me and quickly dropped the branch to run toward me.
She was still pulling a girl by the hand. The girl looked thin and frail, with a red mole the size of a rice grain between her eyebrows. I knew at once it was Xiangling.
Daiyu called out "Father" with tears in her eyes, looking pitiful.
She quickly and clearly explained how Xue Pan had been bullying the girl on the street, and pointed at Xue Pan with righteous indignation.
"I insist on hitting him until he searches for his teeth all over the ground."
The surrounding onlookers echoed in agreement, all saying that Miss Lin had hit well.
Looking at Daiyu's angry, puffed-up appearance and then at Xue Pan's disheveled clothes with blue and purple bruises on his face, I actually found it somewhat amusing.
This had truly become Lin Daiyu uprooting the weeping willow.
"Brother from the Xue family, it's me!"
I smiled and stepped forward, pretending to help wipe his face while actually putting force into it, slapping him hard twice.
Xue Pan was dazed from the blows. "Who are you."
"Your aunt is my elder sister-in-law. Remembered now?"
Xue Pan's pig-like brain thought for a long time before he grinned.
"So it is Lord Lin! I know, I know. How about it, could this be your daughter?"
I nodded and gestured for Daiyu to step forward.
Daiyu swept a disdainful glance at Xue Pan.
"Good sister, wasn't it said your body is not well? How come you hit people with such strength? It really hurts this brother to death."
Upon learning Daiyu's identity, Xue Pan immediately put on a playful smile.
Daiyu rolled her eyes and had no intention of giving him a good face.
"What strength? What kind of talk is that. My daughter's body is not well. This is known to the entire Yangzhou city. You fell like this yourself. How can you start slandering others?"
The common people heard this and laughed in agreement.
"Yes, it is clearly you who fell by yourself!"
"Exactly, how could a little girl like Miss Lin beat you?"
Xue Pan frowned but did not get angry. Instead, he nodded and said "yes" several times.
"Yes, yes, yes. It was this nephew who was careless and fell! It has nothing to do with sister at all."
Xue Pan was best at flattering those above and trampling those below. He was merely a small imperial merchant and did not dare to clash with me head-on.
"This girl is the one you bought?"
I indicated Xiangling. Xue Pan hurriedly waved his hands.
"If Miss Lin likes her, then I will give her to Miss Lin. This little girl, I also saved from the hands of human traffickers. I was acting out of pure kindness."
"Very well. If that is the case, our family will not stand on ceremony."
I signaled for Daiyu to take Xiangling onto the carriage first.
"Nephew from the Xue family, your injuries are not serious, are they?"
Xue Pan waved his hands repeatedly. "Not serious, not serious! No need for Lord to trouble yourself."
I truly paid him no further attention. For a bully like him, taking a beating was getting off lightly.