Was Ji Lingchuan a man of iron will?

No.

Compared to the heart-piercing, bone-stabbing pain during the resolution of obsessions, the physical suffering at this moment was nothing to him.

He actually felt that with each strike of the rod, the sins upon his body lightened a bit—an indescribable sense of relief.

He suddenly remembered a small incident from long ago.

When Third Master of the Ji manor was born, the servants all said Third Master’s nose and eyes resembled his.

Curious, he secretly went to her courtyard.

It was a summer afternoon.

The maids and servants were all dozing in the shade. He walked straight into the inner room and called out “Yiniang.”

She stood up with a start, looking at him somewhat at a loss.

“I came to see Third Brother!”

“Then… then follow me!”

He followed her into the inner chamber and saw Third Brother in the cradle. He couldn’t help muttering, “How is he like me? Not at all. He’s ugly as sin.”

Her brows and eyes smiled open. “Young Master, put your finger in his hand and see if he’ll grip it.”

“Won’t I hurt him?”

“No.”

So he extended his finger, carefully sliding it over.

The infant seemed to sense it, and his little hand suddenly gripped his tightly. He jumped in surprise. “Such strength!”

“Young Master also liked to grip people’s fingers as a baby, held on so tight and wouldn’t let go. Even stronger than this.”

He looked up. “How do you know?”

“I heard Madam say so.”

She smiled. “Young Master, pull your finger out.”

He pulled a few times but couldn’t extract it. “Forget it, forget it. Let him hold on a while longer!”

She smiled again, her gaze gentle.

He sat down by the cradle. A wave of drowsiness came over him, his eyelids heavy. “I’ll take a nap. Wake me when Third Brother lets go.”

“Alright.”

Outside the window, cicadas were chirping.

He and she were barely half an arm’s length apart. She had a very faint, very faint milk-scent about her that made him even drowsier.

Hazily, a breeze blew over, and then he heard a soft voice.

“Son, are you hot? Mother will fan you!”

Tears of regret fell from the corners of Ji Lingchuan’s eyes. In the intense pain, he opened his eyes one last time.

The pale blue sky outside the hall, the intoxicating breeze, Pei father and son leaning their heads together, looking at him with worried faces…

Just let me die like this.

This ending was the best for him. Otherwise, for the rest of his long life, to whom would he feel guilty? To whom would he confess?

The rods fell with sharp cracks. In the intense pain, Ji Lingchuan slowly closed his eyes, calmly accepting death.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when, in a haze of confusion, footsteps approached him, and ice-cold fingers lightly touched his forehead.

A tremendous sense of cowardice suddenly surged in his heart.

Mother, is that you?

Did you see my retribution?

Are you satisfied?

No one answered him.

Only a soft sigh reached his ears.

Then he felt something cover his back, tightly protecting his mangled body beneath it.

The pain suddenly vanished.

Yet those rods continued to fall, one strike after another.

Ji Lingchuan seemed to understand something. His eyes snapped open as his entire body struggled violently.

“Don’t move!”

A familiar voice drifted into his ears.

“In this life, Mother never did one thing for you. Just this one thing can fulfill the mother-son bond of this lifetime.”

This lifetime?

What about the next life?

“No need to meet again!”

She smiled at him and waved, her pair of bright eyes black and shining.

Through those dark eyes, he saw the endless North Cang River, saw the wood cotton flowers blooming in full glory.

At the end of the wood cotton flowers stood a handsome youth. The youth extended his hand, and she ran toward him.

“Mother—”

“Mother—”

“Mother—”

He roared until his heart was torn to pieces.

But she didn’t turn back, and would never turn back…

Two lines of bloody tears rolled from the corners of Ji Lingchuan’s eyes, sliding to his cheeks.

So this was his ending—

To become an orphan!

“Crack—”

The final rod fell. The two executioners panted from exhaustion.

“Lord Lu, the eighty strikes have been completed.”

As soon as the words fell, Pei Yu and Pei Xiao rushed in, one reaching to check his pulse, the other reaching to feel his breath.

“Son, he still has breath!”

“Father, he’s alive!”

Pei Yu looked at his son with delight. “Quick, carry him back to treat his injuries.”

Pei Xiao crouched down while asking, “Father, with such severe injuries, can he be saved?”

Pei Yu slapped him. “His pulse is beating so strongly—if I can’t save him, what’s the point of your father living!”

How could this be possible?

Xu Lai looked at that mangled person, completely dumbfounded.

Something was wrong.

He had clearly seen that when the rod reached thirty-something strikes, Ji Lingchuan was already failing. How could he still be alive?

Xu Lai’s mind heated up, and he rushed forward to check Ji Lingchuan’s breath.

Just then, Ji Lingchuan, who had long since passed out, suddenly opened his eyes. Xu Lai was so frightened his eyes rolled back, his body staggering backward several steps.

“Lord Xu, you’d better stand steady. Be careful not to fall and be unable to get up.”

A withered, long hand gripped Xu Lai’s arm. Xu Lai looked sharply and met Cai Si’s sinister eyes.

Still shaken, now with added terror…

Xu Lai’s eyes rolled back and he fainted on the spot.

…

“Knock knock knock!”

Xie Zhifei got up to open the door. Outside was a young server.

“Someone asked me to relay a message to Third Master: the matter is done, the person is alive.”

Xie Zhifei silently chanted “Amitabha Buddha” and pulled out two taels of broken silver from his breast, pressing them into the server’s hand.

He closed the door and turned around.

He looked at Li Buyan with a ghostly expression. “You go guard the door outside. Your young miss and I have things to discuss.”

Li Buyan suddenly smiled. “I’ll just ask one thing—official business or private business?”

Hey, I really don’t understand, Third Master!

“What if it’s official business? What if it’s private business?”

“Official business, I’ll leave right away. Private business, well…”

Li Buyan curved her lips. “Your word doesn’t count. I still have to hear my master’s opinion.”

The master put down her teacup and very calmly closed her eyes once at Li Buyan. Li Buyan immediately stood up, said nothing more, and neatly exited and closed the door.

As soon as she left, the room fell into awkward silence.

Because their real bodies were still on the road back to the capital, and Cai Si’s manor wasn’t a place for a long stay, Xie Zhifei had Cai manor’s people send them here—

The inn where he had trapped Yan Sanhe like catching a turtle in a jar.

This was closest to the South City Gate. By spending two taels of broken silver to have some young beggars guard the city gate, as soon as the Xie manor’s carriages and horses entered the city, they could quickly rendezvous.

Everything was very logical, if not for the fact that the inn only had this one couple’s room left.

A so-called couple’s room was specially custom-made for wealthy people.

The bed was soft, the quilts were fragrant, the pillows came in pairs, and most deadly of all, the couple who had just stayed in this room had left not long ago, and the room still had a thick scent of aphrodisiac incense.

Xie Zhifei thought to himself: Already old husband and wife, still playing these games—clearly not decent people!

Yan Sanhe was also uncomfortable all over. “Third Master, speak plainly.”

“Still the old question.”

Xie Zhifei lazily leaned back, his gaze passing over her to look at the patch of blue sky outside the window.

“How to avoid the Zheng family case while giving everyone an explanation.”

Yan Sanhe looked at him for a moment. “You’re determined to hide Wu Guanyue’s matter?”

“Very determined.”

“Difficult!”

Yan Sanhe responded bluntly with a single word.