Chapter 99: Hello Chang’an
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Chapter 99: Invalid
As the girl’s words fell, the crowd fell into a moment of silence as they processed what she had said.
Cui Lang didn’t waste this moment of quiet—
“Just say it, Miss Chang didn’t intend to hide her identity at all. I recognized her at a glance initially, but since no one asked, it was treated as tacit approval! Now that someone has asked, isn’t she just responding truthfully?”
Cui Lang looked around with an expression of “Look how honest she is!” and addressed the crowd: “How can this be considered deliberate concealment?”
Chang Miao: “…!”
If he had known this would happen, he would have kept his mouth shut!
Chang Suining glanced at Cui Lang.
She knew he meant well, but he shouldn’t be too outrageous; otherwise, he’d just look foolish.
The crowd began to murmur.
Someone pondered, “The Chang Suining of the Cavalry General’s Mansion… why does that sound so familiar?”
Everyone knew about the Cavalry General’s Mansion, but it seemed like they had heard the girl’s name somewhere before… where could it be?
Chang Miao soon provided the answer—
“So it’s you!” He glared at Chang Suining with mixed anger and shock. “Two months ago at Dayun Temple, you were the one who injured my cousin?!”
Cui Jing: “…”
Great, the time, place, and people had all been detailed out. If Ming Jin were here, he would be thanking the heavens profusely.
He felt a bit of sympathy for that, being a fellow victim, and just recently being exposed by Chang Suining in front of everyone.
Faced with Chang Miao’s accusation, Chang Suining calmly nodded, “Yes, it was me.”
Chang Miao seethed, “So it was you!”
Chang Suining looked at him, “So what now?”
Could he really jump up and hit her?
“You…” Chang Miao was so furious he couldn’t speak coherently, wanting to rise but being stopped by Madam Chang’s tearful insistence, so he could only vent his frustration verbally: “This is the Imperial academy’s polo match; how could a mere girl like you have the qualifications to compete with me!”
Chang Suining found his attitude irritating.
It was the same old argument.
When he couldn’t beat her or outsmart her, he tried to use the fact that “you are a girl” as a “source of all errors” to belittle her and gain some sense of superiority to comfort his own inadequacy.
This mentality had existed for a long time, and even though the current sage was a woman, it had not been eradicated—this showed that even though the Empress sat on the dragon throne, what she represented was not womanhood itself, but rather the embodiment of imperial and patriarchal power.
She didn’t want to waste her breath arguing with Chang Miao and simply said, “But you are just a defeated opponent of mine; what qualifications do you have to judge whether I should compete?”
Her words struck deep, and Chang Miao felt his vision darkening from the blow.
Madam Chang couldn’t stand it and said sharply, “…No matter how eloquent you are, you are not a student of the Imperial academy; entering the match without permission is a violation!”
Chang Suining was unconcerned: “And so what if it’s a violation? Since I’m not a student of the Imperial academy, I don’t fall under its jurisdiction, so the Imperial academy cannot punish me—”
Madam Chang was momentarily speechless, then said, “The Imperial academy cannot deal with you, but others can!”
“The authorities? Or the holy emperor?” Chang Suining asked. “Just because I didn’t know the rules and mistakenly entered a polo match, do you think the authorities and the holy emperor would seek to punish me? I don’t even know which of the rules I’ve broken—”
Madam Chang felt her vision starting to blur—was there really no one who could handle this troublemaker?!
Then the infuriating girl turned to Qiao Yang and asked, “Teacher, what do you think?”
—Teacher?!
Seeing the crowd’s bewildered gazes directed at him, Qiao Yang had no choice but to rise and explain, “This is my newly accepted student.”
“This… Qiao Yang has taken this Chang family girl as a student!”
The surrounding scholars were astonished.
Although they were studying at the Imperial academy, few had the chance to receive direct guidance from Qiao Yang, let alone be accepted as his personal student!
Even without mentioning guidance, the title of Qiao Yang’s student was enough to add a lot of prestige.
Naturally, this stirred feelings of envy and jealousy.
Someone sighed, “I heard long ago that Qiao Yang treats this Chang family girl like a daughter, and it seems to be true…”
After all, she was family; she had a backdoor to rely on!
Chang Suining took in the crowd’s reactions, then glanced at Chang Miao. Just after she had dealt with him, the atmosphere was heated; it was the perfect opportunity for her to make a name for herself. It was truly fitting to make use of the situation.
If Chang Miao had known her intentions behind “making use of the situation,” he would have been so furious he might have fainted right there.
Madam Chang looked at Qiao Yang: “Since she’s Qiao Yang’s student… then surely Qiao Yang should provide an explanation!”
It was only natural for a teacher to manage their unruly students, right?
Clearly, having high expectations wasn’t a good thing—
“It’s strange that I didn’t make the rules clear to her. This child thought that by becoming my student, she would be considered half a student of the Imperial academy, which led to today’s events…”
Qiao Yang reflected somewhat reluctantly, then continued helplessly, “The polo match is just a form of entertainment for the young; it’s hardly a serious mistake. Moreover, ignorance is not a crime. They are just kids, playing around, so why should we, as elders, make a fuss over this?”
He always said this when his children weren’t the ones at a disadvantage.
Madam Chang’s cheeks twitched at his words—was this really what a mature Imperial academy scholar should say?
Qiao Yang scoffed inwardly.
This was his female student.
The one lying on the ground was the one who had injured his son.
Wouldn’t it be obvious how he would administer justice in this case?
Besides, he felt that handling it this way was quite fair!
As for whether someone would take the opportunity to make a fuss and accuse him of favoritism, unworthy of the title of Imperial academy scholar head?—Let them!
He didn’t want to hold that position anyway; it was the holy emperor who invited him to take it!
He wished to rid himself of this duty as soon as possible so he could fish in peace.
This showed that when someone hadn’t achieved a certain level of ambition, they could become fearless and have no weaknesses.
With that said, Ming Luo adopted a tone of authority and stated, “But the fact remains that she is not on the list of participating students; even if there is no punishment, her results should be considered void.”
Cui Lang felt a pang in his chest—so the crown prince’s pole was indeed flying away?
He was about to say something to salvage the situation when he saw Chang Suining nod in agreement: “It should be voided.”
This decision was fair; even if Ming Luo hadn’t mentioned it, she would have brought it up herself.
Hearing Chang Suining agree without hesitation, Ming Luo instinctively looked over.
Since she had already spoken, the other party had no right to disagree, but her promptness suggested she had prepared for the results to be unrecognized…
Her intuition told her that Chang Suining likely had other plans.
Sure enough, in the next moment, Chang Suining spoke up again, pointing at Chang Miao on the ground—
“But his previous results should also be voided.”
Chang Miao was furious: “On what grounds!”
Chang Suining replied, “Of course, it’s because you intentionally harmed someone during the match.”
Chang Miao sneered: “Let’s not even discuss whether I truly harmed you. According to the rules, it clearly states that intentional harm to classmates is not allowed. You entered the match without permission and are not our Imperial academy classmate, so what I did doesn’t count as a real violation of the rules!”
“No,” Chang Suining looked at him, “I’m referring to your intentional serious injury to Qiao Yubai.”
Chang Miao smirked again—so she still wanted to seek justice for Qiao Yubai!
He recalled Qiao Yubai’s disheveled appearance when he was injured, and this brought him a strange sense of balance. He then deliberately provoked Chang Suining, “You must have forgotten that the judge had already determined that it was an accidental injury.”
He emphasized the words “accidental injury,” his eyes filled with a sense of vindication.
What if he had deliberately injured Qiao Yubai? He had long been dissatisfied with that surname—every time he acted, there were sufficient conditions to prove that it was due to hitting the ball that he “accidentally injured” Qiao Yubai!
However, this sense of vindication didn’t last long, as he saw the girl raise her hand—
“Did the judge know this?” Chang Suining asked.
(End of chapter)
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