“Chu Zhao?” “Ah Zhao?” “What are you doing?”
Why did she suddenly run off?
Was she frightened by the beating on the street?
“She’s not that timid—she beats people herself,” Qi Leyun said. “She probably wants to see more clearly from below.”
Really? The girls hastily crowded at the window to look down.
Chu Tang was among them, her hand gripping the railing tightly. Her intuition told her that when Chu Zhao made a move, there would definitely be trouble.
……
……
That young man bore the thorny branches and was being whipped, but he didn’t stumble in haste, nor did he shuffle unable to move. His hands were bound behind him, as if clasped behind his back, head raised, chest out, striding boldly.
Only when the whip fell on his body did the impact make his steps pause momentarily. Otherwise, his pace was always steady.
Step by step, he quickly walked past, leaving a trail of blood.
The new recruit watched with his heart pounding—amazed at the National Uncles’ audacity in disregarding human lives, amazed at the aristocratic family’s harsh punishment, and even more amazed at this young privileged descendant’s ferocity.
This was indeed a scene he could never see in a lifetime in the countryside.
“Chief Zhang,” he said, looking beside him, but couldn’t see Zhang Gu who had been tightly gripping him earlier.
Zhang Gu was already following that Xie family young master who had walked past.
“Chief Zhang,” he hurriedly caught up, this time it was his turn to grab Zhang Gu. “What are you doing?”
They’d seen enough of the excitement—it was time to go.
“Chief Zhang, even though you’ve been in the capital so long, you’ve never seen such a vicious person,” the new recruit asked, reluctant to stop watching.
Zhang Gu didn’t look at him, his gaze constantly following the young man bearing thorny branches and being whipped.
A vicious person.
Having done such unconscionable things, naturally he was a vicious person.
But A’Jiu—
The A’Jiu he knew—if he were truly a vicious person, when they bullied him so much back then, they would have been burned to death long ago, wouldn’t they?
He always felt there must be some kind of misunderstanding.
He wanted to go forward and ask, but—
Looking at the angry crowd around, the constantly swinging whip, he was like dust—what could he do?
A’Jiu, what exactly is going on?
He clenched his fist, breaking free from the new recruit’s pull, only wanting to follow this young man.
“A’Jiu—”
Zhang Gu was startled and instinctively covered his mouth. Did he shout that out?
But the next moment he realized this was a pleasant-sounding female voice.
A female voice?
This voice was particularly loud amidst the cursing, making the crowd pause their jeering and cursing for a moment. Then a girl squeezed out from the crowd, rushing toward the young man bearing thorny branches.
The young man also seemed startled.
At this moment, the man behind him was raising his whip, about to strike down another lash.
That girl flashed forward like lightning, blocking the young man’s back.
“Wait!” she shouted.
This was too sudden. Just as the whip was about to strike the girl’s delicate body, the young man in front spun around and shielded the girl.
The middle-aged man also at the last moment shifted his body, the whip flying to the side, making a snap in the air.
……
……
“—Are you fucking insane?”
The young man looked at the girl before him, his phoenix eyes full of fury, cursing in a low voice through clenched teeth.
He didn’t call out her name.
In broad daylight, in public, he couldn’t go crazy with her, couldn’t let people know he knew her.