Chapter 1011: Chapter 990: Confession
The three of them hopped off the carriage and, seeing so many people inside, they beca a bit bewildered. “With so many people, how do we find them?”
No sooner had they spoken than soone shouted from not far away, “Brother Bai, Bai Erlang, over here, over here—”
The three hurriedly followed the sound and saw a group of people standing not far away. Seven or eight people surrounded Zhang Jinghao, who looked a bit pale, excitedly waving at them.
Seeing them, the three burst into laughter and imdiately approached, “We apologize, we apologize. We were delayed by so matters before leaving the house, so we are late. Zhang Gongzi, we hope you haven’t been waiting for long?”
Before Zhang Jinghao could answer, a classmate of his chuckled, “We’ve only just arrived and haven’t been waiting long.”
He glanced at Zhang Jinghao and said with a sly smile, “Today is our day off. I guess Brother Zhang must have slept in late last night, as he was still in bed when we went to his house to pick him up. Thus, we were actually worried that you guys might have arrived early and been waiting a long ti. Turns out, it’s such a coincidence that we all arrived at the sa ti.”
Bai Shan was surprised, “You even went to pick him up from his ho?”
The person beside Zhang Jinghao laughed, “Of course. We’ve hung out with Brother Zhang for such a long ti. Taking advantage of the holiday, it’s only natural to visit each other.”
What a joke. They had treated Zhang Jinghao to several days’ worth of als, only to end up being deceived by him in the end. If they didn’t probe into the matter, it would be too much of a pitfall.
Ever since Bai Shan had sought out Zhang Jinghao for the second ti in the cafeteria and said those words, those who were previously annoyed at Zhang Jinghao for looking down on them suddenly had a change of heart.
Especially after inquiring around and learning that after Bai Erlang went out with Zhang Jinghao for a trip, Bai Erlang’s right hand was bandaged.
They were not fools and guessed that Zhang Jinghao must have done sothing to anger Bai Shan, and this was a big roundabout way for Zhang Jinghao to fall into a trap.
Though it seed they too had been tricked by Bai Shan, they didn’t really mind that much. For so reason, all their anger was directed at Zhang Jinghao. So, they were even more curious about what sches Zhang Jinghao had with this horse racing field.
Then, after discussing it among themselves, they decided to pair up early in the morning to pick up Zhang Jinghao from his ho.
Zhang Jinghao had already secretly approached Bai Erlang yesterday, hoping to reconcile. But Bai Erlang played dumb, pretending not to understand, and rejected his white flag. So, this morning, Zhang Jinghao was in agony, hesitating about whether he should co or not.
If he ca, trouble was bound to await him.
If he didn’t, and Bai Shan truly made a fuss at his ho, his grandfather would be furious enough to beat him to death.
And just as he was hesitating, these people made the decision for him, all rushing over to accompany him there.
Zhang Jinghao stood silently among the crowd, not saying a word.
After looking around, Bai Shan said, “Zhang Gongzi, where is the fine horse you introduced to my Junior Brother? How about we go see the fine horse first?”
As they were talking, several horse carriages slowly ca to a halt near them. Ren Ke and Qiao Tao were the first to bounce down from the carriage, while a particularly familiar carriage behind them opened, and Yin Huo helped an elder off the carriage.
Everyone was especially surprised to see them.
No, to be more precise, they were especially surprised to see Yin Huo. It was nothing unusual for Ren Ke and the others who had been to the horse field before to co again, but why had Young Master Yin turned up?
Yin Huo, however, walked straight toward them and, upon reaching Bai Erlang, smiled and asked, “What’s this, wasn’t there talk of seeing a horse? Where’s the horse?”
Everyone turned to look at Zhang Jinghao.
Zhang Jinghao felt like dying. He desperately wished he could return to the past and drag out his forr self who had chosen Bai Erlang and give him a good thrashing.
What on earth had made him think that Bai Erlang was an easy target because he was rootless, wealthy, and foolish?
Zhang Jinghao looked around and saw classmates from Bai Erlang’s class, several of his own classmates, and other students from the Highest Institute; walking a bit further, they even encountered several students from the National Academy, among them the very famous Feng Zongping.
Feng Zongping plus Yin Huo, and Zhang Jinghao beca even more silent.
He led a group of people toward the horse market, but as they were walking, he suddenly stopped, turned around, and deeply bowed to Bai Erlang, “Bai Cheng, I am truly sorry. I deceived you about last ti’s matter.”
Everyone looked at Zhang Jinghao in surprise, not knowing why he suddenly admitted defeat.
Zhang Jinghao stood up, saw that Bai Erlang had no reaction, so he bowed even deeper, almost bending his waist to his knees. His apology was sincere enough, and he said with a face full of sha, “Actually, the horse I was supposed to sell to you wasn’t from any horse trader’s but from a friend of mine who was a bit short on money. His horse wasn’t bad, but it got heavily underpriced at the market. By chance you wanted to buy a horse, so I thought of pretending it was from a horse trader and selling it to you. Yes, our asking price was a bit steep. This was our fault, and I ask both Bai students to forgive us.”
The crowd felt slightly regretful upon seeing this; it seed they would miss out on the excitent now.
Zhang Jinghao was wrong to deceive people, but since he had apologized like this, and Bai Erlang hadn’t really lost anything, everyone thought he should be forgiven to save face. But then, Bai Erlang looked at Bai Shan and stepped aside.
Bai Shan gave him an approving look, then stepped forward, standing in front of Zhang Jinghao, and asked, “Young Master Zhang, where is that friend of yours? Can we et him?”
Zhang Jinghao’s face was filled with guilt, “The idea was mine. I was wrong to con Mr. Bai out of his money. I am willing to set a table at Primus Pavilion to apologize to you all, but my friend is completely unaware of this matter. I am too ashad to ask him to co over, please forgive , Young Master Bai.”
“But my Junior Brother said the price was quoted by him in person.”
Soone nearby couldn’t help asking, “How much was actually quoted?”
Before Bai Shan could answer, Zhang Jinghao, with a face full of sha, said, “One thousand five hundred taels.”
The crowd: …They finally understood why Bai Shan was so angry. Did they think their money just fell from the sky?
One thousand five hundred taels—usually, the horses their families bought were around a hundred taels, and for a particularly fine one, four or five hundred taels was the limit. They weren’t planning to beco great generals on the battlefield, nor were they royal relatives or nobility. Who needs a horse worth thousands of taels?
The crowd got the point, and no wonder there was a discount of three hundred taels. Perhaps that horse…
Soone coughed lightly and asked, “What was the actual value of that horse?”
Zhang Jinghao didn’t answer, just kept a shaful deanor.
Bai Shan walked around him twice, seeing his face full of sha and his body slightly bowed, then he laughed and clapped his hands, “A hero cuts off his own wrist. Now I really must admire Young Master Zhang a bit more.”
“Young Master Bai, I sincerely regret it…”
“But I did not co to trouble you about this matter,” Bai Shan said. “It wasn’t about the thousand and more taels of silver; after all, our Bai Family might just be small gentry landowners, but we can still co up with one or two thousand taels. We learn from our mistakes, and if it really bothers us, we might just catch you outside of school and give you a good thrashing with a sack.”
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