Thirty whips and throw them out. "
Old Lady Ji coldly gives the order. Yu Shu is forced to kneel at the door. She forces herself to calm down and think of a solution. But when she looks around the room, she sees pairs of eyes or cold or bored eyes.
Indifference or annoyance in his eyes. She suddenly realized — —
She is in a terrible situation now.
Originally, she thought that if she was caught stealing fish, she would at most be punished. It was not like the family would kill her just because she ate two fish. She did things without considering the consequences, but she was used to taking risks. If the probability of the risk was not high enough, she would do it as she pleased. She would never be afraid of the slightest thing.
But now it seemed that this fish stealing plot was even more serious than she had imagined. This family was afraid that the old and young were
The thief who broke into the inner courtyard last night is not caught, so they vent their anger on her. Now she is just a thing to appease Old Lady Ji.
The Ji family, who was in a fit of anger, would not listen to her sophistry. Flowery words were no longer effective. Call for help? She only knows Taoist Qing Zheng, but the old man warned her not to reveal their relationship. As soon as this idea comes up, Yu Shu suppresses it.
And the only thing she can do now —
Beg for mercy, but the other party may not be softhearted.
。
She has no blood relationship with them. If she is beaten, they will not feel sorry. If she is kicked out, no one will say a word. Yu Shu clenches her sweaty palms. She gradually becomes flustered and suspicious. Has she naively imagined this sudden ancient life to be too easy and beautiful from the beginning to the end?
"Reporting to Old Lady Ji, the whip is here."
"Hit."
The supervisor swung the whip in the air to test the strength. The slight sound of the whip breaking through the air made Yu Shu shiver involuntarily. She recalled the rattan that fell on her arm not long ago. That kind of tingling pain was not enough to scare her, but she hated it very much. However, when the whip suddenly hit her back, she realized that the rattan was far from being able to withstand it.
"Ah!"
She heard a scream, and only then did she realize that it was her own voice. She subconsciously clamped her shoulders, and cold sweat dripped down her face. She tried to dodge, but she was firmly held by someone, and she couldn't move.
"Pa!"
"Pa!"
This was a whip, not a cane. It was a whip as thick as a thumb. The sound of it hitting her back through her clothes was still loud and clear. When it came to the third whip, Yu Shu still wanted to endure it. But after the third whip, she was already distracted by the bone-chilling pain and began to think about how to win the sympathy of this family.
She has a lot of pride, but she knows that a wise man knows better than to fight. After the thirty whips, she is afraid that she will lose half of her life. If she is thrown out, no one will take care of her. It is really a question whether she can live or not. Fingers on the door frame, Yu Shu holds her breath and says, "Old, Old Lady, I know I was wrong. Old lady, please forgive me — Ah!"
"Pa!"
This whip is exceptionally hot. It is so painful that she bites her lips and tastes salty copper rust. She can imagine that the clothes on her back are already torn. She grits her teeth and takes a deep breath, not letting her anger show on her face. She continues to beg for mercy, "… Old Lady, please, forgive me. I know I was wrong — Ah!"
Old Lady Ji sits motionless on the armchair. She is dressed in a finely embroidered robe and a green pleated skirt. She holds a cup of tea in her hand and looks coldly at Yu Shu who is kneeling outside the door, begging for mercy. The anger on her face subsides a little, but she has no intention of stopping her. However, when she sees that Yu Shu's clothes are torn and blood can be seen, she only frowns slightly and turns to speak to Ji Hyotani, "Xiaogu, it is not that I want to criticize you, but you are not even forty. It is time for you to remarry. Otherwise, those women in your courtyard will be left alone and make a mess in the house. If you are not careful, they will ruin the reputation of our Ji family. When your father returns home, how can I face him?"
"I know I was wrong. Please forgive me, Mother." Ji Hyotani immediately lifts the hem of his clothes and kneels down. He kowtows to Old Lady Ji, but he does not mention the matter of remarrying. Old Lady Ji looks at him and hears Yu Shu's weak cries. Finally, she sighs. After all, he is her son. How can she bear to scold him? She waves her hand and asks him to stand up, "We will talk about your matter when your father comes back."
"Yes, Mother." Ji Hyotani stands up and stands aside, but does not sit down.
Outside the door, Yu Shu has been whipped for almost twenty times and is about to faint from the pain. If it were not for someone holding her shoulders from behind, she would have already fallen to the ground. She is in a trance and her mind is filled with pain. She sweats like rain and the sticky sweat drips from her eyebrows to her eyes, replacing the tears that refuse to fall, making her dizzy.
This feeling suddenly reminds her of the time when she was a rebellious child many years ago. When she was beaten by her father, the feeling of the belt on her back is very similar to the feeling of a whip. It is almost the same pain, but different.
At that time, her mother and brother protected her. Even her father, who beat her, actually loved her.
But now, the people who loved her are all gone. Here, no one will care about her.
Yu Shu suddenly wants to cry. She does not remember the last time she cried.
How many years ago? She does not cry because she is in pain, but because she misses her family. She knows that she will never see them again. She never wants to be strong.
Since she came to this world, she has been telling herself to live happily and force herself not to miss her family. She is afraid that she will be weak when she thinks of them. She will be afraid to face this strange and unknown world.
"That's enough." Old Lady Ji sees that Yu Shu's eyes are unfocused and she no longer begs for mercy. She puts down the tea and stops when there are still five lashes left.
It is not that she is soft-hearted, but she does not want to kill anyone.
"Send her back. Apply medicine and change her clothes. Then, kick her out."
As soon as Old Lady Ji opens her mouth, Yu Shu is dragged out of the house. Her mother does not even know that she is being chased out of the house.
However, even if Aunt Cui knew about this, she would not dare to plead for leniency in front of Old Lady Ji and Ji Hyotani.
###
At noon, Yu Shu was wearing the blue shirt that Aunt Liu had made for her not long ago. Her hair was disheveled and she was not even allowed to carry a bag in her hand. She was pushed out of the house from the back door.
"Bang!" Seeing that the door was closed in front of her, the guard who was arranged to guard the door glanced at her curiously.
She stumbled forward a few steps before stopping. Turning around, she hunched her back and hobbled over to a tree on the opposite side of the street. Holding onto the tree trunk, she slowly sat down on a rock and stared at the tightly shut door in a daze. Her face was pale, and only her lips, which she had bitten so hard that they bled, were bright red. She sat there until dusk. For six hours, she did not move at all.
During this time, a few servants came in and out of the back door. Some of them noticed her and couldn't help but turn their heads to look at her. They pointed at her but no one came forward to talk to her.
With a squeak, the door opened again. A young maid ran out and looked around. When she saw Yu Shu, she said a few words to the guard. Then, she ran over and stood three or four steps away from Yu Shu. She whispered: "Miss, don't just squat here. The young master was making a fuss about coming out to look for you. He was scolded by Aunt Liu and locked in the room. Aunt Liu told you to go somewhere else and not wander around the house. Be careful not to be seen …"
Yu Shu did not listen to the rest of the sentence. She stood up with the help of the tree and staggered away. The maid called out to her a few times but she did not respond. She stomped her feet and turned around to enter the back door. On the way, she remembered that she had forgotten to give the money to Yu Shu. She hurriedly ran out but Yu Shu had already disappeared. She could only pick up the two pieces of silver and go back.
###
It was getting dark. Yu Shu unknowingly walked to Changmen Pu Street. She passed by Mianzhai and stopped. She looked at the closed door in front of her. She lowered her head and turned. She accidentally bumped into people several times.
"Don't you have eyes!"
Yu Shu did not care about the abuse behind her. She walked in the direction of the river bank in the east of the city. She was absent-minded and did not notice that there was a figure wearing a gauze hat not far away who noticed the movement here. He turned his head and the eyebrows under the bamboo hat moved. He turned around and followed behind her. He walked not too far behind her, separated by some pedestrians.
Yu Shu had just walked to the small bridge at the corner of West Street when it began to rain. The pedestrians on the street began to run.
It became heavy in the blink of an eye. She did not stand on the bridge for a moment. The rain hit her neck, making her shiver. She turned around and walked off the bridge.
Under the bridge, there were two beggars taking shelter from the rain. They stood there with disheveled hair and dirty faces. They were holding bowls and eating half a moldy steamed bun. Yu Shu slowly squatted down beside them. Her hair was disheveled. It seemed that she was with them.
The two beggars looked at Yu Shu who ran into their territory and took the initiative to talk to her. "Which street are you from? Why haven't I seen you before?"
Yu Shu did not say anything.
The two people were not interested, so they turned their heads to look at the people passing by under the bridge. They sighed and said, "It's raining. Everyone is rushing home. Only homeless people like us only want to squeeze in a corner. Hehe."
Yu Shu bent her legs and trembled as she buried her head in her knees. The wind blew hard and the rain swept into the bridge, falling on her body. Water droplets dripped down from her wet hair. She murmured in a low voice, but no one could hear her voice in the wind and rain.
"I want to go home. Dad, Mom, Xiao Lei …" The person who had been following Yu Shu stood on the opposite side of the bridge. He looked at Yu Shu who was curled up under the bridge. Seeing the rain coming, she did not hide. His eyebrows under the bamboo hat slowly frowned. He was about to go to the bridge in the rain, but an oil-paper umbrella snatched it from him.
"Ashu?"
Cao Zixin walked under the bridge. He inadvertently glanced under the bridge and saw the person squatting there. He felt that the person looked familiar. When he walked closer, he felt that the person's figure was like the child he knew. Unfortunately, the person's hair was disheveled. He could not see the person's face clearly. Half of the person's body was in the rain, so he hurriedly opened the umbrella and squatted down to cover it.
"Ashu?
Are you there? "
Seeing that the person did not respond, he hesitantly reached out his hand and gently placed it on the thin shoulder. He shook it. The next moment, he felt the person under his palm tremble. She raised her head, but …
A pale and frail face, a pair of mischievous and smiling eyes, at this moment, were filled with tears. The blank and helpless gaze shocked him, but his heart did not suddenly tighten.
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