The onlookers had indigestion from all the gossip, each declaring that they had been stuffed sick by this melon.
The scene before them was simply too shocking.
A richly dressed master was making his own biological son—uh, he was his biological son, right?
Everyone suddenly began to wonder. But whether he was a biological son or an adopted one, being forced by this richly dressed master to kneel at his own doorstep and submit to punishment, while the master himself held a thorned whip and stayed bent over for ages... Was this some new play the troupe next door had rehearsed?
Or was Liang Qu actually an Imperial Prince lost among the common folk, soon to ascend the throne, while an old enemy knelt to beg forgiveness?
That was how the storytellers always told it.
Xue Dingyi was weeping snot and tears, nearly wiping them onto Liang Qu. Liang Qu hurriedly stepped back and shook him off.
Knowing he was despised, Xue Dingyi did not dare hug him again. Instead, he kowtowed like a pounding pestle, making even the fishermen nearby unable to bear watching.
"A Shui, what exactly did he do?"
"Yeah, yeah, let us hear it."
They did not dare question the master in his splendid robes, but they had watched Liang Qu grow up. They did not fear him nearly as much, and they all spoke up, scratching at their heads in their eagerness to know why.
Hearing them, Xue Chengquan turned to the villagers and explained what had happened at the Martial Arts School.
Only, he left out some details. For instance, he did not mention that the two fellow townsmen had been beaten, nor did he clearly explain that Liang Qu had only become Yang Dongxiong's Personal Disciple afterward.
After hearing this, the crowd assumed