Bab 60: Family Banquet - Refutation

Xing looked at WanRou who looked like she had lost her mind and those two women were shocked to listen to her accusation too.

Xing wondered, what does me helping my brother with his work got to do with her?

Rijun who understood what WanRou insinuated was shocked to the bones, How could someone try to imply such thing about a pair of siblings? He was enraged and held his hands in a fist. Then it dawned on him as he remembered that Xu mama voiced concern when he entered. For others, his sister and him are mere cousins who only knew each other for some weeks and not blood siblings who grew up together. In their kingdom, even blood siblings won't visit each other at nights. Oh Boy! What have I done? I jumped through the window of an unmarried girl late night and stayed there for my own purposes without consideration! Rijun cursed himself.

Ever since he became close with his sister he kind of forgot she was a girl who is originally not his blood sister but a cousin and always treated her as a peer and he felt closer to her. Even if he was the one jumped through the window, only she will be blamed as the world always blamed only the woman. He didn't realise his mindless act would end up hurting her like this. He felt sad and guilty.

Shengli looked at Rijun and kind of got what might have happened. He knew Rijun always asked Xing to complete his work for him and sometimes they continued it through the middle of night. That should have happened last night too. But couldn't you have been a little careful when there are guests around, Rijun? He sighed. He wanted to know how Xing would handle this but looking at her she had no idea how serious this issue is.

"So? What's that got to do with what you did today?", Xing asked confused. AoTian rubbed his temples, does his daughter really didn't understand what she is implying? He looked at Rijun who was shocked to the core and had a guilty expression. His eyes wandered to look at Shengli who was angry and at the same time expectant.

"You shameless bitch!", WanRou sneered, " So you agree that you were with big brother Rijun last night?"

"Yes, we were for a while. But watch what you call me", Xing said sternly. She wondered why she keeps on talking about it.

"Huh!", WanRou sneered, " What else should I call a bitch who does vulgar things with a man she calls brother in the middle of the night?"

Xing only understood what she meant by now and before her brain registered that she was accused of doing indecent things with her brother her hand reacted first and slapped her hard. The slap was pretty hard that she lost balance and almost fell on the floor.

Xing never felt that angered before in her life before and she had never hurt a woman before too. She was too angry and she could feel her hand burning by the slap she gave and still she could not calm down and her breathing got erratic. Her eyes spit fire and she looked at her with fury.

WanRou laughed with blood trickling from the corner of her lips, " Now I know why Lord Ming gave such an expensive dress to you for free right? He should have been too pleased by the 'special bonding' you had in his bed too right?"

Slap! Another slap landed on WanRou's cheek. Xing could not believe what she's been hearing. Did she talk wrong about her and Haru too?

With everyone in shock, WanRou still continued, " You wanted the Huang money, is that why you seduced big brother Rijun? You wouldn't have even let Uncle AoTian too right? You didn't even let a six year old boy alone too right before our eyes and tried to seduce him too right? "

By now everyone was pissed, AoTian was about to get up and was held back by Lord Huang who was infuriated himself and even Uncle Feiye was not smiling anymore.

"Watch. What. You. Say", Xing gave a slap for every word she said and WanRou fell on the floor with no strength left. Her mother Concubine Lan ran to her daughter, "Stop it. Are You trying to kill her? "

Huang MingXue stepped in too, "Cousin are you okay?" she went by WanRou's side.. "Why are you this cruel to a girl?", she asked with her eyes watery and voice shaking to Xing. She looked like a freshly bloomed cherry blossom in spring.

Xing who was burning with rage looked at the friend who came to her aid even when she was scared., Wow! Such affection! I wish I had a friend like her too! She thought.

"Cousin MingXue, you don't seem to be with her in this. I would advise you to keep your distance from her in the future", Xing said with her tone slightly gentle,more like an advice than a threat. She did not have anything against her and no one would be able to help her if she foolishly get involved with a cousin who actually used drugs on another. But Xing's well intentions were only met with her glare. Wow! She really is loyal to her friend!

Rijun who became completely out of it because of his thoughtlessness that brought his sister this trouble was woken up by the first slap he heard and when she continued to accuse Xing, Rijun got more angry and he looked at Shengli who was sitting with his back ramrod straight and folded arms and not much reaction in his face. But his eyes were filled with murderous intent when he looked at WanRou. Rijun knew by now he had come up with at least a hundred ways to hurt her. But will he blame me too? And it would be better if I act before Shengli as it would create more problems if he gets involved too!

Rijun saw the slight smirk in Shengli's face with the series of slaps Xing gave her and Rijun got his wits back. What serious situations had he not encountered in the past years in the palace that he couldn't handle? For now, the fact that he jumped through the window has not been revealed yet. If it is revealed, it would be entirely different than meeting his sister for work. So the first thing is to contain the situation. He gently rubbed his hands and stood up. It's one thing they bullied him in the past, but he cannot let anyone bully his sister and give her names no matter what.

Xing was looking at MingXue who was glaring at her and Concubine Lan stood up to say something. Wow! Even she gets this much support from others. Just then she heard her brother's angry voice,

"Stop! Just stop hurting my sister! "

Xing saw Rijun walking towards her with his steps wide. What! He is going for that WanRou's aid? Xing felt sad and her heart fell. Guess blood is thicker than water.

Concubine Lan suddenly had a smile by this turn of events and WanRou looked up to take a glance and everyone else was shocked too.

Rijun stood by Xing's side and grabbed her wrist and took a glance at her hand that was slightly reddened by the slaps she gave.

Please sister don't hurt your pretty hands! I have a lot of work to finish today too! He thought.

He then pointed his right index finger at WanRou who was having a proud look that clearly said my brother has come for me.

"You, vile woman!", Rijun gritted his teeth at WanRou and that wiped the smile right out of the mother daughter pair and Xing turned to look at Rijun surprised,

"Why do you keep on putting your face in front of my sister's hands and hurt her? Why can't you just do what she says and be on your way?"

The entire hall fell silent by this reasoning of Rijun.

Rijun never minding their looks turned to look at Xing, "Let's call the imperial physician to give the best medicine for your wound okay, little sister?", he spoke like a doting big brother and he let go of her hand.

Wound? Putting face in front of hands? Xing snorted closing her mouth, in this world only her brother would come up with such a retort and would call the imperial physician for the one who slapped. AoTian calmed down from his anger and Lord Huang was more interested too.

Concubine Lan's face blackened, "You! Trash of a son! How could you speak like that to your blood sister for that whore? Don't you have any consideration for your mother who carried you in her belly for ten months and endured hardships?", she shook Rijun by his shoulders, crying pitifully. Xing who was always weak to women's tears cringed by her crocodile tears.

Xing felt a chill emitted from Rijun, she saw him push Concubine Lan's hands away, "Mother?", he snorted, "I think Concubine Lan had forgotten your own words that you only have one daughter and too bad she is currently kneeling in front of my sister. My mother recently passed away and I only have a father and sister now. Please refrain from acting overly familiar with me",he said with eyes so cold that even Xing wondered if he was the brother she knew.

But for someone who was as kind-hearted as her brother to say such harsh words, she must actually deserve it.

Concubine Lan's anger now turned towards Xing. All these years in the family banquet it was them who had the upper hand and did what they wanted, but this time with the arrival of one little whore, everything has changed. Even her secret was revealed by this one.

"You fox! It's all your fault", Concubine Lan raised her hand to slap Xing. But Xing caught it midair with her left hand and slightly twisted it. By now Concubine Lan was standing awkwardly bent since if she made any rash move she felt like her hand may break.

Seeing the siblings standing tall and none of the men bothered to stop them made Lady Huang angry too. Even though she hated Concubine Lan and her daughter, she hated to see AoTian's children to have the upper hand a lot more. Also with such accusations against them she could definitely get them back for threatening her paternal family.

"Let go of Concubine Lan, You, Some money grubbing, child of a whore who thinks she can easily get everything from us cannot easily bully a Huang family member", Lady Huang shouted angrily.

"What did you say?", Xing let go of the hands of Concubine Lan forcefully and went towards Lady Huang. Concubine Lan held her wrist and rubbed it to see it was already bruised. Both she and WanRou were crying with their faces covered in tears and looked pitiful. WanRou fixed her pitiful gaze at Shengli who was sitting there indifferent. She kept on looking only to be met by his disgusted and murderous look and she immediately turned to look away scared.

" See! This is what I mean! So uncouth! Don't know which trash sired you and you are here to swindle our family's money", Lady Huang spouted.

" You still don't learn do you?", Xing sneered, "Did you take my father to be a fool to believe anyone who comes to him saying they are his daughter? He is the Regent of this kingdom. He is only below the son of heaven and above the rest of us and you talk about him like he is a naive little boy. Do you even have any sense? ", Xing said in a mocking tone angering Lady Huang more.

"You! Why were you with Rijun last night? Don't deny it", Lady Huang shouted.

Xing smirked, so they keep coming to that.

"How could she deny? She agreed to it and even hit my daughter who was concerned about her cousin's morals", Concubine Lan added her two cents.

"Concerned?", Xing chuckled mockingly angering both of them, "If cousin was actually concerned about me why didn't she advised me privately or informed the elders in the family immediately to teach me? Why did she wait till now? No matter what, It looks like you all want to shame me in public"

" So what? It still stands that an unmarried man and woman were in a room together. How do you explain that? ", Lady Huang asked proudly.

Xing clenched her fists, what kind of people are they? What man and woman? Is this how they think about their brothers too?

Before she answered, Rijun came forward, "I can explain that", he said and stood beside Xing and gave a hard knock on her head, "Naive little sister, no matter how much you reason with them they won't understand. After all they are only showing what's in the dirty mind of theirs through their words. Now where is that pendant I told you to wear? ", he asked in a strong tone.

Lady Huang was about to say something but caved under Rijun's scary glare. Even Xing was surprised by his glare and immediately took out the White Tiger Token and gave it to him.

Rijun raised the pendant and showed it for everyone to see. AoTian and Shengli just smirked for a second and pulled on a nonchalant expression next second.

"You see this", he showed it to Lady Huang, " Then again, how would you know about this", he murmured mockingly and turned towards Lord Huang, "First Uncle, I think you would have recognised this white tiger token" and Lord Huang nodded not so surprised that 'Lord Táng' might have it. Feiye was surprised as he didn't know either.

"The bearer of the White Tiger Token the Emperor bestowed is my sister. Actually all of us should kneel before the bearer of this token but my sister spared all of you today since this was a family banquet. But her good intentions were only been returned with slander. Before your twisted brains get to theories of its own, I would explain first. You see there are purple tassels and gold covering the white tiger, you may know purple tassels can only be used by Royal family members and gold and purple together with white jade on a pendant can only be used by those who bear the Imperial Surname. While you are shaming her for her eligibility of the Huang name, the Emperor had bestowed the Royal Surname on her subtly. And no, she was not given this token because she was the Regent's daughter but because she had personally saved his life twice in the past couple of months. It is said life saved is a life owed. But as an Emperor he cannot do that so he had taken her as his family and given her the power equal to him. Although the Emperor is the one with higher authority she is the one with the highest power in this kingdom as the Emperor cannot freely roam around but she can and she has the authority to sentence death even without investigation. She was modest saying my father was below one and above the rest and that shows the noble way she was raised to respect elders. Truth is, she is the one above the rest and below just one. And now to the matter at hand, me visiting her at odd hours - it has something to do with this token. Although I cannot reveal confidential information, I, as a close aide of the Emperor, received a memorial from the Emperor which needed her help to solve and the security of our nation was the reason I had to barge into her room which might have been inappropriate in your eyes but I would still do the same given the same situation again as not only she is my sister she is my fellow peer working for the sake of this kingdom. I think you understand the dire situation you are in now that you know how you had slandered someone with Imperial Surname and I leave you all in my sister's grace as no one can stop her if she decides to send you to the gallows. But in case she needs a witness on her side I will gladly stand by her and would help her mete the appropriate punishment. And also I want to add something else also. I have no idea why you all assumed she was poor and she came here begging for money. All I can say is that she pays more tax per year than the entire expenses of the Huang family per annum. Also my sister speaks and writes four languages, is proficient in the four arts and also there is no one yet born to beat her in a sword fight. My sister never would let me say it but I had to since you all should know that the Huang family would be the one benefitting by including her and not the other way around", Rijun spoke continuously with firm tone and as earnest as he can be and placed the token back on her hand and gave her a bow.

Half way through his speech Lady Huang felt weak in her knees and knelt down. Concubine Lan was full of tears and her face paled.

Shengli was visibly smiling by Rijun's performance and AoTian cannot hold his grin. Feiye and Zedong already knowing parts about her didn't seem much surprised but the two cousin-brothers were shell shocked.

Xing wanted to give an applause to her brother's monologue. Wow! What a performance! Brother you really do belong in a drama troupe. What Imperial Surname? What national security issue? Didn't you come to push the Emperor's work he pushed on to you on me? Also what four arts? I don't even know what the four arts are! Wow! My brother can lie so smoothly and with such conviction! And why are you bowing unnecessarily?

Xing patted her brother in the shoulder and smiled, "Brother, we are family and we can forgo all those formalities. It was the Emperor's kind heart that he rewarded me with such honour. I cannot use it against my own family right? Mother never liked family members at each others odds. I am just glad that my mother made a good decision about raising me alone. Otherwise who knows, I might have been ended up like them too", Xing said sincerely and bashing them along the way and Rijun acknowledged with a nod.

WanRou, who was already in despair because of the effects of the drugs could not even think straight. Just who is she? How can some country bumpkin hold such power? She let out a laugh that echoed in the halls as if she had lost her sanity and everyone got silent,

"Why is everyone scared now? Can't you see this slut seduced the Emperor too?", she laughed loudly.

Shengli threw the cup in his hand right at WanRou's face and Xing stopped it right before it reached her face and everyone was petrified by the dangerous look in Shengli's face. He really wanted her dead. He had kept his silence till now because he wanted Xing to know how some women were actually like as she only knew the different side of women and also wanted to see her standing up for herself. But he cannot keep letting them slandering her with every man there is!

AoTian recognised that look Shengli has as the same look he had when he grabbed him that night and he had no intention of stopping him even if he killed that girl right here. How dare she slander his daughter continuously!

Zedong knew that his daughter had screwed up and by now she is only at the graces of Mingxia.

"Enough! WanRou", Lord Huang shouted.

"Why?", WanRou sneered, "What did I do wrong? I wanted him and so I tried to get him. What's wrong in that? I would have succeeded if this slut didn't get in between". She still didn't realise she did wrong.

"Abhorrent filth!", Shengli seethed and picked up the chopsticks and was about to throw it at WanRou.

Xing looked at him and he really wanted to kill her as she could see the deadly aura around him. She understood him, No one wants to be treated as a thing after all!

"Shengli..! ",Xing spoke gently with a smile that reached her eyes. Her entire demeanour became gentle and her eyes looked at him with love. Shengli paused looking at the dark eyes that looks at him with understanding and assurance as if she is saying she'll take care of everything and his grip on the chopsticks loosened and he sat back in his seat. In a moment, just by her calling his name, his aura changed from deadly to calm and aloof and he silently started sipping his tea.

Seeing him composed, Xing's gentle aura turned back dark and she looked at WanRou,

" He is right too. Even a third rate prostitute from a third rate brothel won't use such means as she would have more self respect than you both mother and daughter", she spoke in a clear mocking voice.

WanRou and Concubine Lan looked at her expressionless. No one can be belittled more than this. But there is no way they can retort as they had no one in their side.

Just then Lord Huang Zedong stood from his seat and everyone's attention went on him. Xing wondered what is his intentions to let his family go berserk like this and he just stood on the sidelines watching. Just what is in his mind?