Zhang Gu was jostled about, nearly dropping the bundle he was carrying.
“Chief, what important personage is passing by?” a new recruit asked curiously, standing on tiptoe to look ahead. “Is it a National Uncle? I heard in the countryside that when National Uncles pass through the streets, the roads are paved with flowers—”
Zhang Gu spat: “If you don’t want to go back to the countryside, shut your mouth. This is the capital. If you keep spouting nonsense, watch out for your dog life. What rubbish—what National Uncles—”
The new recruit stuck out his tongue. He had worked so hard to come to the capital from a countryside postal station. Although it was still hard labor, even less comfortable than in the countryside, he was young and preferred adventure—he was reluctant to go back.
Not daring to push forward anymore, he was squeezed to the back, but he did hear a lot of discussion.
“It’s a young master from the Xie family.”
“The Dongyang Xie family, the Crown Princess’s Xie family.”
The new recruit was delighted. The Xie family—the Xie family were also National Uncles. Right now there were many National Uncles. Military Chief Zhang said he was spouting nonsense.
“Is it Young Master Xie San?”
“Of course not Young Master Xie San. It’s Young Master Xie San’s brother who caused great trouble and many people died.”
Hearing this, the new recruit was shocked again. He couldn’t care about seeing the National Uncles and squeezed through to these people to listen carefully.
“The Xie family’s young master was escorting goods from his own shop. Passing through Han Commandery, he got drunk and caused a great fire that burned down a village. The entire village, people and dogs alike, all burned to death.”
“My heavens! This, this is murder.”
“So what if it’s murder? Will the Xie family young master have to pay with his life?”
The new recruit listened with his heart pounding, but it was just as the legends in the countryside said—National Uncles could kill and set fires without consequence. He couldn’t help pushing forward, wanting to see what a National Uncle who could kill and set fires without consequence looked like—
Zhang Gu couldn’t pull him back and stamped his foot in anger: “Damn brat, you came from the countryside, how are you also as disobedient as A’Jiu?”
To prevent this ignorant and fearless country boy from causing trouble, he could only follow along.
The crowd before them stirred.
“They’re coming! They’re coming!”
The new recruit had already squeezed to the very front. Without standing on tiptoe, he could see a group of people walking over. There were no magnificent carriages and horses as the new recruit had imagined, but a procession on foot, with a young man walking at the very front.
The young man held his chin high, his expression arrogant and disdainful of others. He also wore no magnificent clothing, but was bare-chested with his upper body exposed, bound with vine branches.
What was going on?
“Xie family son, Xie Yanlai—”
Behind the young man, a middle-aged man called out loudly.
“Improper conduct, deficient character, harming human lives!”
He raised the whip in his hand and cracked it. With a snap, accompanied by the surrounding citizens’ startled cries, it fell on the young man’s bare back.
The whip struck the thorny branches, the branches jumped and scraped against his skin, and instantly blood beads seeped out, glistening like drops of dew in the sunlight.
The new recruit pressed his hand to his chest, too nervous to breathe.
Even National Uncles got beaten!
……
……
“This is Xie Yanlai.”
In a restaurant by the street, a group of young people stood by the window. The leader was Liang Qiang, holding a wine cup in his hand, looking down at the whip marks on the young man’s back, his expression both satisfied and resentful.
“He’s the one who said my younger sister was ugly and not worthy of him.”
The young people around looked at the street. Although they were far away and could barely get a glimpse of the young man’s appearance—well, what he said wasn’t wrong.
Liang Qiang frowned and sneered coldly: “Even if what he said wasn’t wrong, for a man to humiliate a woman’s appearance—what kind of gentleman is that?”
A companion beside him nodded: “That’s right, he’s certainly no gentleman. Look at what he’s done.”
“After he humiliated Miss Liang, Young Master Xie San was very angry and punished him by making him leave the capital to escort goods. And the result?” Another companion sneered coldly. “This time it wasn’t just humiliating people, but harming human lives.”
Liang Qiang’s servant hastily said loudly: “Dozens of people burned to death, and the dozen or so survivors were all burned beyond recognition. The entire village was finished. Not only did he not save people, he even wanted to sue the village and demand compensation for the goods.”
Truly terrifying.
Truly heartless and cruel.
Inhuman behavior!
“How could Han Commandery let him go! They should have beaten him to death on the spot!” the young gentlemen said one after another.
“Wasn’t he nearly beaten to death?” the servant said with animated expressions. “Unfortunately, the local prominent family, Young Master Wei, stepped in to stop it. Young Master Wei paid a lot of money to bury the dead and treat the injured. Only then could Xie Yanlai smoothly leave Han Commandery.”
The Wei family of Han Commandery—the young gentlemen all nodded: “Long have we heard their great name.” “Now that’s the bearing of a great family’s young master.”
Liang Qiang sneered coldly: “But that’s also just fearing the Xie family, playing the good person.”
This was being harsh. The others all laughed, “Don’t say that, Young Master Wei had no choice.” “Xie Yanlai is after all a Xie family member. If something really happened in Han Commandery, he wouldn’t look good either.” “Handing him over to the Xie family for punishment—isn’t that even better?”
Liang Qiang naturally wouldn’t truly resent the Wei family—he wasn’t crazy. He didn’t even blame Young Master Xie San.
“Young Master Xie San is still a proper prominent family young master,” he said. “He knows what should be done!”
With that, he threw the wine cup in his hand toward the street, shouting loudly.
“Well beaten!”
The wine cup fell on the street and shattered with a crash.
The middle-aged man behind Xie Yanlai also raised his whip again, fiercely lashing it across Xie Yanlai’s body.
“Xie family son, Xie Yanlai, improper conduct, deficient character, harming human lives!”
This lash made the young man’s bare back bearing the thorny branches stumble in his steps, but he quickly steadied himself, stepping on the shattered teacup on the road, striding forward, blood drops falling behind him.
At the same time, the citizens by the street also began shouting along, one voice after another, growing louder and louder.
“Well beaten!”
“Well beaten!”
……
……
The shouting rose noisily from the street like a whirlwind, swirling by the windows of the tall buildings facing the street.
However, at this moment the girls didn’t bother looking outside, listening to the maids’ accounts.
“That’s right, the Young Master Wei of Han Commandery pacified the villagers, which is how this Xie, Xie something-lai could safely leave.”
Young Master Wei of Han Commandery couldn’t compare to Young Master Xie San. The young ladies didn’t care about him, only asking about Young Master Xie San: “What will Young Master Xie San do?” “Won’t Young Master Xie San be implicated and harmed?” “Young Master Xie San must be worried sick, right?”
The maids naturally knew who the young ladies cared about and had inquired clearly about everything.
“Young ladies, don’t worry,” they said. “What Young Master Xie San did was no less than Young Master Wei.”
Young Master Xie San learned of this matter in the quickest time and immediately sent a great deal of money to the villagers, entrusting Young Master Wei to buy new land for the surviving villagers to settle.
Having obtained the surviving villagers’ forgiveness, and with Young Master Wei’s thorough handling, this matter would disappear within Han Commandery’s borders, wouldn’t spread outside, and the Xie family’s reputation wouldn’t be affected at all.
But—
“Young Master Xie San didn’t do that. Young Master Xie San said so many human lives couldn’t be ignored. He had the person tied up and brought back, paraded through the streets for public humiliation, as self-punishment and a warning to Xie family descendants.”
Hearing this, the girls were full of sympathy: “Young Master Xie San is truly strict with himself.” “Ah, how troubled he must be.” “Actually there’s really no need—what he did was already good enough.”
Qi Leyun turned to look at Chu Zhao, who hadn’t spoken from beginning to end.
“Chu Zhao, what do you think?” she asked.
Everyone now wanted to hear her opinion too. The girls all looked over.
Chu Zhao thought for a moment and said: “This is indeed something Young Master Xie San would do.”
In that lifetime, when the Xie family raised their arms and called out, countless people responded—all accumulated through daily reputation. When Xie family descendants did evil deeds, Young Master Xie San didn’t cover it up. It seemed the Xie family lost face, but it could also win them a good name.
Qi Leyun was displeased: “Who asked you about that? You don’t care about Young Master Xie San at all!”
Chu Zhao immediately pressed her hand to her chest: “I care! I care so much! I wish I could see him in person to express my concern.”
The girls immediately laughed uproariously: “Who doesn’t!”
“But no matter how good Young Master Xie San is, if his own relatives aren’t good, there’s nothing he can do,” a girl sighed, turning to look down at the street below. “What this Xie Yanlai did is truly unconscionable.”
“This Xie Yanlai!” another girl finally thought of someone besides Young Master Xie San. “He’s the one who said Liang Qin was ugly and not worthy of him.”
The girls were even more shocked: “It’s him?” “So it was him!” “That’s right, that’s right, I also heard. It’s him, which is why Young Master Xie San punished him by making him go out to work, not letting him stay home enjoying comfort.” “Who would have thought—this person harms people at home, and when he goes out, he harms even more people!”
“He’s truly too detestable,” Qi Leyun said hatefully.
Chu Zhao nodded. Someone who did such things was indeed very detestable.
The Xie family descendants were indeed not good people. In that lifetime after the rebellion, each one was like a wolf or tiger.
Even the now gentle and modest Young Master Xie San became the Yan Wolf.
Unlike these girls, she had seen another face of the Xie family, so she didn’t feel much.
The clamor on the street below the window grew thicker. The Xie family descendant being paraded through the streets and publicly punished was walking this way.
“Well beaten!”
“Beat him!”
The citizens’ shouts came one after another. The girls by the window looked over again, a few shouting along: Beat him!
Venting anger for Young Master Xie San!
Chu Zhao also looked over, catching sight of the approaching person at a glance—there were many people on the street, but where that person was, everyone avoided him like the plague, keeping their distance.
He was like a solitary island in a river, especially prominent.
He was bare-chested, his shoulders and back dripping with fresh blood. Besides the clamor on the street, people also threw vegetable leaves at him—
He didn’t avoid or resist the whipping from behind, but when these vegetable leaves were thrown, he dodged them and even looked up.
With just one glance, that person was frightened and didn’t dare move again.
The young man’s face was expressionless, but his eyes were fierce, like a beast hunting prey. Even though he wasn’t looking at him, the new recruit was still frightened into stepping back, nearly colliding with someone and falling. Fortunately, Zhang Gu grabbed him.
“Don’t move around,” Zhang Gu scolded.
The new recruit murmured: “This person is so vicious.”
Having done evil deeds and being punished, yet still so vicious, without the slightest appearance of shame or admission of fault.
“Of course he’s vicious, this kind of person—” Zhang Gu said from behind, but the next moment his words were gone, as if suddenly suffocating.
What’s wrong? The new recruit turned back to look and saw Zhang Gu’s gaze passing over him, staring blankly at the young man walking by, his expression terrified and incredulous, as if seeing a ghost—
“A’Jiu—” he murmured.
……
……
At the window, Chu Zhao suddenly gripped the railing tightly, looking at the young man on the street in disbelief.
He brushed aside the vegetable leaves, fiercely forced back the surrounding onlookers, then raised his head, looking at the people around, looking upward.
Above too were countless mocking looks, countless gazes.
When they saw his face, the gazes and mockery froze for a moment. Earlier, looking down from above, they couldn’t see this young man’s features clearly.
So this young man was this good-looking.
His face was like jade, like snow, his phoenix eyes like stars. Now bare-chested, reflected in the thorny branches and fresh blood, his whole person shimmered with flowing light and overflowing color, carrying a strange beauty.
Men, women, old and young were stunned, both amazed and regretful and contemptuous—
What a waste of such fine looks.
Xie Yanlai also saw the people observing from high up facing the street, saw their expressions, not much different from those on the street.
However, one was particularly striking.
That girl’s eyes were wide, as if seeing a ghost—
He saw her lips murmur something.
A’Jiu.