#94 - Verbal sparring
Wei Changtian!
Like a thunderclap from a clear sky, although the sound of these three words wasn't loud, they made everyone's heads buzz.
In this day and age, there was no internet, nor photographic technology.
Everyone had only heard the name of Wei Changtian, but didn't know what he actually looked like.
In many people's imaginations, such an outlaw young master was likely the type with a violent and ferocious face, perhaps even with a bit of a wretched appearance.
Who could have imagined that this handsome and dashing young master before them was actually the Wei family's only son, who had killed the Prime Minister, Wei Changtian!
“This, this...”
The fat County Magistrate stood up abruptly, his face full of astonishment as he sought confirmation from Liang Zhen: “General Liang... is he really the Wei family's young master?”
Perhaps because he was too surprised at the moment, the fat County Magistrate didn't pay attention to his form of address, and directly exposed Liang Zhen's identity.
General?
This Lord Liang is actually the Shuzhou General?!
Although everyone present had previously guessed that Liang Zhen must be some important figure, they never expected him to be a high-ranking official of the same level as the Prefect!
Good heavens! What exactly is going on tonight?
First, Liang Zhen and Peng Benzhi spent nearly twenty thousand taels of silver just to compete for Su Yu's “first night”.
Then, Song Dajia's poem was worth a thousand gold pieces.
Who knew that he just casually cursed Wei Changtian a couple of times, and the person himself would appear.
Now there's another General here!
The surprises came too quickly, making everyone a little numb, and they all stood there dumbfounded, not knowing who to look at.
However, Liang Zhen didn't care about the gazes of the crowd, nor did he pay attention to the fat County Magistrate.
He first looked at Song Zhengming, whose face was alternating between green and white, and then asked Wei Changtian.
“Changtian, what do you plan to do with this person?”
Military men have always looked down on literati, especially now that the two sides have completely torn face, so he was not ambiguous at all, and his tone was full of killing intent.
In a word, the temperature in the embroidered building seemed to instantly enter winter.
And no matter how proud Song Zhengming was as a literati, he couldn't help but shiver at this moment, and subconsciously cried out:
“You, what are you going to do!”
“Do what?”
Five zhang, four zhang, three zhang...
Wei Changtian didn't walk fast, and his footsteps weren't heavy.
But every step he took seemed to be stepping on Song Zhengming's heartbeat, making the latter's breathing more and more rapid.
“Clang!”
The table between the two was kicked away by Wei Changtian, and Song Zhengming's legs uncontrollably went weak, and he was so frightened that he fell back into the chair.
Fortunately, there was this chair, otherwise he might have collapsed directly to the ground.
The expressions of the people who had already hid far away became a little strange after seeing this scene, probably because they couldn't understand why a great scholar would behave so cowardly.
They couldn't fully empathize with Song Zhengming's pressure and inner fear at this moment.
After all, few people can remain calm when their own lives are in danger.
“Scholar Song...”
With a crash, Wei Changtian stepped on a teacup and stood in front of Song Zhengming.
He lowered his head slightly, with a hint of sarcasm on his face.
“I'm talking to you, but you're sitting. Didn't your elders teach you what is etiquette?”
“You!”
Qi and blood surged, and Song Zhengming's face instantly turned red.
It's just that he stammered for a long time without saying anything, and finally Wei Changtian waved his hand boringly, and continued:
“Forget it, I don't have as many rules as you, you can sit if you want to.”
“But you just scolded me in public, what should we do about this?”
“I...”
Song Zhengming was speechless for a while.
If he had known that Wei Changtian was here, he would definitely not have said those words even if he was beaten to death.
But now that the situation is already like this, there are only two paths in front of him to choose from.
Humbly beg for mercy, or rather die unyielding.
He has a certain chance to survive the former, but the rest of his life is destined to never be able to hold his head up again, and he will probably be ridiculed for the rest of his life.
As for the latter... he can only bet that Wei Changtian would not dare to kill himself in public, after all, the "killing the Prime Minister" storm has not passed, and Wei Changtian himself said that he is not willing to provoke trouble now.
Taking a step back, if he chooses the second path, even if he really dies, it can be regarded as leaving a good reputation.
Whether to endure humiliation and survive, or to die to show his ambition... Song Zhengming gritted his teeth and quickly made a decision.
“Words spoken are like water spilled!”
Although he still couldn't stand up because his legs were weak, his back was straightened a lot, staring at Wei Changtian and shouting righteously:
“I cursed, so what?!”
“What I said just now is what all the people in the world think!”
“If you can't stand it, you can kill me or cut me as you please! I will never frown!”
Song Zhengming's performance finally inspired admiration from the people around him, and even Wei Changtian was slightly surprised.
However, he quickly returned to his previous smile, and said calmly:
“Scholar Song is indeed proud, but he is a little too self-righteous.”
“What all the people think... how can you represent all the people?”
“Hmph! Justice is in people's hearts! Right and wrong have their own public opinion!”
Song Zhengming held the armrest of the chair and finally stood up: “Young Master Wei, doesn't he still know what kind of person he is in the hearts of the people of the world?!”
“Hmm? I really don't know.”
Wei Changtian smiled: “How about I ask now.”
“Ask?” Song Zhengming was stunned.
Wei Changtian ignored him, but turned his head to look at a person watching the excitement next to him, and actually asked with a smile:
“This brother, do you think I am the kind of heinous person that Scholar Song said?”
“Ah?”
The person who was asked was directly dumbfounded, how dare he say “yes”, his head shaking like a rattle drum.
“Of course not!”
“Very good.”
Wei Changtian nodded with satisfaction, and asked the second person: “What do you think?”
“I...”
The second person directly chose to pretend to be deaf and mute: “Young Master, I don't know what you have done at all... But as the saying goes, the face is born from the heart, you look so handsome, you must have noble morals!”
“Hmm.”
Wei Changtian's smile became more and more intense, and after asking a few more people, he turned his head back to Song Zhengming.
“Scholar Song, is this what you said is what all the people think?”
“Hmph!”
Song Zhengming sneered, and said righteously: “They are just afraid of you, what is the point of Young Master Wei deceiving himself like this?”
“Oh, it turns out that it's because they are afraid of me, so they didn't tell the truth...”
The smile on Wei Changtian's face slowly faded, and his tone instantly became extremely cold.
“Then what about the Emperor? Does Scholar Song think the Emperor is also afraid of me?!”
“You, what do you mean?”
“What do you mean?”
Wei Changtian glanced over: “The Emperor is not unaware of my killing of Prime Minister Liu, since I am so heinous, why doesn't the Emperor put me to death? Why doesn't he lock me in prison?!”
“According to Scholar Song's statement, could it be that the Emperor is confused?!”
“You, you...”
Song Zhengming pointed at Wei Changtian tremblingly, his face without a trace of blood.
However, Wei Changtian didn't give him a chance to speak, and continued to press on step by step:
“I understand, isn't it that Scholar Song thinks he is smarter and more sensible than the Emperor?”
“It must be so, after all, you just said that what you said can represent all the people in the world.”
“Scholar Song dares to say what even the Emperor doesn't dare to say, really amazing!”
“This one really admires you!”
Wei Changtian even arch his hand to Song Zhengming jokingly at the end.
This action was originally nothing special, but at this moment it was like a heavy hammer hitting Song Zhengming's chest hard.
He only felt a slight sweetness in his throat, and then a mouthful of stagnant blood spurted out.
“Pfft!”
The blood was bright red, staining the pure white scholar's robe.
