Chapter 73 Seeking justice
Those words of Gu Xiran were very crafty. No matter how Zhang Hanfang answered, it was inappropriate for an unmarried girl to talk about the amorous feelings between men and women. Her face turned red. She fiercely glared at them once, turned and walked away.
Nanny Guan felt dull and was also embarrassed to continue to stay here. She called the two guards who looked at each other in dismay and followed behind Zhang Hanfang. Only Peiyu dillydallyed and didn't want to leave because she knew that her miss had lost face here and would certainly vent her anger on her (P) when they go back. She felt very uneasy.
"Wait…"
Just when everyone thought that the matter would end like this, Gu Xiran suddenly opened his mouth.
Shu Huan looked surprised at him. She didn't know what he wanted to do.
Zhang Hanfang was also puzzled, but she still proudly turned, raised her chin and said with ridicule, "What advice does second big cousin brother still want to give me?"
"I don't dare to give advice, but…," Gu Xiran's eyes lowered and locked at Shu Huan's neck. He said faintly, "She had offended little cousin sister and had apologized. Then, shouldn't little cousin sister's nanny be accountable for hitting her?"
He originally didn't want to make a big fuss. However, with his identity as Gu household's legitimate son, he could do more as his pleases than Shu Huan. Hence, there was also a limit to his tolerance. There was no reason to see his wife being humiliated and not do anything.
Zhang Hanfang didn't expect that he would come up for a maid. She was very surprised. Then, she got angry, "Then, what about that she hit my maid?"
Gu Xiran didn't look at her and asked Shu Huan, "Did you hit her maid?"
"Answering second young master." Shu Huan lowered her eyes and said with reverent and respect, "It was miss's maid who wanted to hit me. I only dodged a bit."
Only now did Gu Xiran looked up at Zhang Hanfang, "Did you hear?"
"Nonsense," Zhang Hanfang said angrily. "I obviously saw that she reached her leg out to trip Peiyu."
Gu Xiran looked at Peiyu, "Really?"
Peiyu saw that there was hope and nodded quickly.
"Did you fall?"
Peiyu went blank for a moment and said, "No…"
"Then, is there any injury on your body?"
Her voice lowered, "No…"
Gu Xiran raised an eyebrow, "Is this also called being hit?"
As he said that, he pointed at the bruised and swollen fingerprints on Shu Huan's neck. He smiled faintly and said, "We have evidence. If you don't believe it, why don't you let nanny Guan compare the fingerprints. The five fingers would certainly not be too long or too short and no more or less."
The four words "no more or less" caused Shu Huan to almost laugh out loud. It wasn't easy to hold in. With blame, she casted a glance at him to let this old man to stop spoofing.
Gu Xiran looked laughingly at her and continued, "Come, come, come. Nanny Guan reach out your hand to compare, otherwise my little cousin sister would think that I accused you wrongly."
Nanny Guan had long become the color of a pig liver. She helplessly said to Zhang Hanfang, "Miss, just now, I really hit …"
Zhang Hanfang gritted her teeth from anger. However, being pressed like this by Gu Xiran, she couldn't pull down her face to elude. She said with hate, "Then, what do you want?"
Gu Xiran seemed very good-tempered and pushed off, "Nanny Guan is little cousin sister's nanny ever since young. How would it be reasonable for me deal with? It's better for little cousin sister to handle it yourself."
Zhang Hanfang had been spoiled since young. She had never experienced such awkwardness and embarrassment. If it wasn't because she was strong-minded and she endured with gritted teeth, her tears would have fallen.
At this moment, she felt defeated. How would she still have the mind to dispute and bargain with Gu Xiran for her nanny? She only wanted to escape this humiliation sooner. She raised her hand and fiercely slapped nanny Guan's face. Then, she provocatively raised her head and asked arrogantly, "Is it enough like this?"
She didn't feel ashamed for having hit her nanny and instead used that to demonstrate against him. How arrogant and devoid of emotions did one have to be, to be able to do such a thing?
Gu Xiran shook his head.
He originally just wanted to make her embarrassed for a short moment and take revenge for Shu Huan, but when her slap fell, he discovered that he had underestimated her ruthlessness. The funny thing was; what does nanny Guan had to do with him? Even if she was slapped two more times, it was irrelevant to him. She obviously put her provocation on the wrong place.
Zhang Hanfang misunderstood the meaning behind the reason he shook his head and coldly said, "What, not enough?"
"Enough," Gu Xiran wasn't interested in playing with an arrogant and willful girl. He casually said, "I originally thought that it would be enough if nanny Guan apologized. I didn't expect that little cousin sister is so fair. A slap for a slap. No one suffered loss."
It wasn't just not losing, they even earned!
Both got slapped. One got slapped on the neck and the other on the face, but the meaning was completely different. The later was extraordinary shame and humiliation. From the strength that Zhang Hanfang used, presumably nanny Guan wouldn't be able to come out and face people for several days.
After Zhang Hanfang heard that, she could hold back anymore. The tears tumbled down. While crying, she said through gritted teeth, "Gu Xiran, you…you are intentionally bullying me…you…you are not a man…"
The laughter in Gu Xiran's eyes turned cold, "What, would one be considered man by cowardly fawning upon you while you are being so rude and unreasonable? Besides, I only sought justice after one was bullied by you. Everyone present is a witness. You are the one who slapped your nanny. You lost face because of your own doing. I wouldn't dare to accept the word "bully". It's better that I return it to you."
After he said that, he grabbed Shu Huan's waist and walked away.
Meijing looked at this one and then looked at that one. She also slipped away.
This miss Zhang's temper was even more arrogant than fourth young master. If she slipped away a bit later, wouldn't she (HZF) just look for any fault and beat her to death? It was safer to follow second young master.
In the end, even Zhang Hanfang's finishing blow of throwing her sleeve and leave had been snatched by Gu Xiran. She suffocated on her anger, lost her voice and choked with sobs. She picked up a stone and throw it at Gu Xiran's back. She said with hate, "You are something! Wait and see!"
The stone hit a parasol tree, bounced back and disappeared into the darkness.
Gu Xiran tightened his hold on Shu Huan, lowered his head and laughed, "Did you hear her threat?"
Shu Huan sighed, "I heard it."
"What do you feel?"
"…"
Shu Huan looked at the sky and said, "Too childish. Even her threat is so shallow and not novel."
"Mm, right," Gu Xiran nodded while feeling similar. "Then, we can completely ignore her in the future."
Shu Huan looked up at him. This person's expression was very calm. There wasn't any trace of pride and the meaning to show off. Thinking about it again, his statement seemed to be a fact and it also reminded her that while dealing with someone like Zhang Hanfang who liked to make trouble without reason, the best way wasn't to fight an eye for an eye. If she did that, Zhang Hanfang would bear grudges against her and the matter would become bigger. The best way was to ignore her. She would stop when she feels that she was being a clown.
But then again, Gu Xiran obviously knew this, and he still couldn't hold back from teaching Zhang Hanfang a lesson. In fact, this guy was more arrogant than Zhang Hanfang and belonged to the class of people who would seek revenge for the smallest grievance. It seemed that she has to be careful to not offend him in the future. Otherwise, she wouldn't even know how she had died.
While she secretly thought about things, she couldn't help but cast more glances at Gu Xiran and she subconsciously wanted to stay a bit farther away from him. The result was that she was immediately noticed.
The sound of laughter being suppressed sounded in her ears, "You are afraid of me?"
"What a joke? How could that be…," She obviously appeared fierce while cowardly at heart.
"Since you are not afraid of me, then, think about how to requite me. Just now, I took revenge for you, oh."
"…"
Alright, she was wrong. Gu Xiran's greatest trait wasn't being fearful but it was being hateful.