“My Lord, have mercy!”

Upon hearing this, the maids and matrons all fell to their knees, kowtowing repeatedly. “My Lord, have mercy! This servant will never dare again, this servant will never dare again!”

They had acted under orders and were truly implicated by Bian Ruohan’s actions.

But in Lu Heng’s view, when Bian Ruohan did foolish things, even if they couldn’t stop her, they could have gone to tell him first. If they had even the slightest bit of loyalty to him as their male master, they wouldn’t have let Bian Ruohan cause such a scene.

“Someone come.”

“Yes!”

At Lu Heng’s command, someone immediately responded from outside the door.

“Take all these incompetent servants out and give each of them twenty strokes of the rod, then expel them from the manor.”

“Yes, My Lord.”

Lu Wenru responded steadily from outside the door, then called for the household guards and attendants.

“My Lord, My Lord, have mercy! Madam, please, Madam, plead for us!”

“My Lord, we’ll never dare again! My Lord, spare us!”

Lu Heng sat down in the main seat, one hand resting on his knee, the other supporting himself on the chair’s armrest. He asked, “Do you know what place this is?”

“This is Huichuan County…” someone with a slow mind immediately answered.

Others who were more perceptive already trembled as they said, “Yes, yes, it’s the Earl’s mansion.”

“Then who am I?” Lu Heng asked again.

“You are the Earl, you are the master of this mansion.” The wet nurse kowtowed repeatedly. “My Lord, have mercy, this old servant truly knows her mistake. It’s just that Madam, she…”

“I don’t listen to excuses.” Lu Heng lowered his eyes and said, “You all came with Madam and are utterly loyal to her – I can understand that. But you’ve always gotten one thing wrong: this is the Earl’s mansion, I am your master. You wholeheartedly helped Madam in her foolishness, nearly causing her to truly lose her life. I’m only punishing you with twenty strokes each instead of beating you to death directly – that’s already very merciful. Madam comes from noble birth – can’t her fright be exchanged for your beatings?”

Everyone was momentarily speechless, all looking pleadingly toward Bian Ruohan. The Earl’s meaning was already very clear – the final issue still came down to Bian Ruohan’s fright. If Bian Ruohan would say “there was no fright” at this moment, they could be saved.

They had been trying to dissuade Bian Ruohan from the very beginning, not letting her perform this fake hanging trick, but Bian Ruohan refused to listen no matter what, insisting she wanted to teach the Earl a lesson.

Now the Earl hadn’t learned any lesson, Madam had only been scolded a few times, but they were about to lose their lives.

Though the Earl only said to beat them twenty strokes and expel them from the mansion, on such a rainy day, to be beaten twenty strokes and then thrown out in the heavy rain – what difference was that from letting them die?

“Madam, Madam! Please, for the sake that this servant followed your orders, please plead with the Earl for us.”

A maid cried out in terror, crawling forward on her knees to embrace Bian Ruohan’s legs in supplication.

Bian Ruohan’s eyes flickered, and she kicked her leg in displeasure, throwing the person off.

“What do you mean ‘following my orders’? I never told you to do anything.”

Lu Heng sneered from the side.

His mockery made Bian Ruohan’s face burn with shame. He clearly knew everything, yet was still using schemes!

Bian Ruohan glared at Lu Heng with tears in her eyes, crying again in grievance.

Lu Heng smiled and said, “What are you crying about? Hmm? Have I said anything to scold you for your death-seeking fake hanging that nearly became a real hanging? I’m punishing the ignorant servants. You are my wife, so you’ve done nothing wrong. No matter what you do, you’re never wrong. Only the servants can be wrong. These people today,” he pointed at each person before him one by one, “if they die, they all die for the sake of your dignity, Ruohan. You remember that yourself.”

Bian Ruohan looked at her wet nurse and the personal maids and matrons who served her, what was carved into her mind were faces streaming with tears and eyes filled with terror.

Bian Ruohan couldn’t bear to watch and frantically looked away.

Lu Heng said, “Take them away.”

Lu Wenru then followed orders and entered the room with the household guards. Since this was the main wife’s main quarters, the guards and Lu Wenru dared not raise their heads. They grabbed the kneeling maids and matrons like catching chicks and dragged them out. Soon only Lu Heng and Bian Ruohan remained in the room.

Then the sound of clattering rods and screams of agony came from the courtyard.

Bian Ruohan trembled all over like a sieve, her face deathly pale as she covered her ears.

But Lu Heng grabbed both her delicate wrists in one grip.

Bian Ruohan looked up at Lu Heng in panic.

Lu Heng smiled and said, “Listen, they’re all suffering for you.”

Bian Ruohan shook her head repeatedly, her hair disheveled, her face covered in tears and snot. “I was wrong, I shouldn’t have done this. I was just upset in my heart. I wanted to scare you, to make you come apologize to me. I didn’t want to be confined. I know I was wrong – please let them go.”

Lu Heng smiled and shook his head. “You had a chance to plead for them just now. But you refused to tell me the truth, for the sake of your own dignity, because of your selfish motives. Now the beating is almost over. It’s too late to plead, too late to confess. You’d better pray they have good fortune and strong fate – otherwise if they really die, you’re the one who killed them all.”

Bian Ruohan’s face was deathly pale. Though she had been pampered and spoiled growing up to this point, and though she had been somewhat arrogant and had beaten servants before, had even sold maids away, she had never harmed so many people at once.

Each phrase “it’s your fault,” “you killed them,” weighed so heavily that she nearly had a mental breakdown.

Bian Ruohan screamed, “It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me! They are servants, I am the master! Their loyalty to me is only proper! I didn’t harm them!”

“As you wish.”

The sound of beating outside ended, and Lu Heng also released his hands.

“Do you want to go out and see them off?”

At the thought of that horrific bloody scene in the heavy rain, Bian Ruohan trembled all over and dared not go.

Lu Heng shook his head and clicked his tongue. “You’re truly heartless. Who knows, this parting might be your final farewell. Your wet nurse is among them, isn’t she? Has she been loyal to you on ordinary days?”

“Ahhh!!” Bian Ruohan suddenly screamed.

Lu Heng picked at his ear and said, “Alright, I won’t talk about you anymore. In the future, you must not commit such mistakes again. When His Majesty introduced you to me, he said you were gentle and virtuous, from a distinguished family. Even if you were just putting on an act to give His Majesty such an impression, you’d better keep it up. Otherwise, you would be deceiving the sovereign. Rest assured, you will be the only one in the position of Countess of Loyalty and Righteousness. As long as you properly manage the inner quarters, manage yourself well, and don’t go around causing trouble and losing face everywhere, I won’t divorce you.”

Bian Ruohan choked with sobs and said desperately, “You, you weren’t like this to me before. You were very gentle with me. Is it, is it that wench who came looking for you again? Now that you have her, you don’t want me anymore! Her husband confined her – it must be because she came looking for you!”

Lu Heng shook his head. “You really don’t learn. All these things are just your wild speculations, completely baseless matters, yet you speak of them as if they were true. Is this how your parents taught you at home? What’s in your brain? Did your intestines grow into your head? I can treat you well, but that’s on the premise that you behave yourself. If you continue to act foolishly without restraint, though I won’t divorce you, I have many ways to end this relationship between us that makes people feel oppressed and suffocated.”