The father and son walked down the street reeking from head to toe, and the townspeople hurried out of their way. One blunt-spoken passerby covered her nose and frowned. "Neither of them looks blind, so how did they fall into a privy? And even if they did, couldn't they wash themselves off in the river first? Instead, they came out stinking like this. Their eyes probably aren't the only things that don't work—their brains don't either."
Hearing someone humiliate them like that, Heir Zheng rushed over in a fury to argue.
He wanted to argue, but she wanted nothing to do with him. Seeing him charge toward her, she went pale with fright and kept backing away. "Stay away from me, you two stinkbugs! Don't come any closer! You're filthy. Get lost!"
Count Songhe and Heir Zheng's expressions darkened when the commoners they usually looked down on called them stinkbugs.
But most of their faces were covered in sludge, so no one could see their expressions. Even if anyone had, they would not have cared.
"Who are you calling stinkbugs? Do you know who we are? I'm the heir to the Pinecrane Earl's Residence, and this is my father, Count Songhe!"
The onlookers refused to believe the identities he announced.
"You two, a count and his heir? If you're a count and his heir, then I'm the emperor! Just look at yourselves, filthy and stinking all over. You're worse than beggars."
Heir Zheng flew into a rage at those words. "How dare a lowborn wretch like you humiliate us! Believe me, I'll have someone deal with you—and all of you!"
Heir Zheng had also decided to hold a grudge against the onlookers. They had not originally intended to lay a hand on the father and son, but now that he