Chapter 145 A sudden thought flashed through my mind

Zhang Moyan spent the night half asleep and half awake, not quite sure whether she was asleep or not. She seemed to be always worried about missing something, and was paying special attention to every movement outside, even catching the first bird call in the yard.

Since I couldn't sleep anyway, I got up, washed my face, brushed my teeth, changed my clothes, and then stood in front of the window to look at the beautiful flowers, plants and trees below.

At half past seven, I heard the sound of the door opening next door, and immediately ran out like a rabbit, appearing in the corridor at the first moment.

"Good morning, Teacher Xiao!" Today I finally caught Xiao Xingyu going out. He always goes out very early every day.

Xiao Xingyu was adjusting his collar. He seemed to have just taken a shower, and his black hair was still half wet. Seeing Zhang Moyan appear as if she had come prepared, he was a little surprised: "So early?"

"Yeah." It's still early for you. Zhang Moyan walked forward and said, "Teacher Xiao, are you wearing such thin clothes today?"

Xiao Xingyu looked down at his outfit in confusion. He was wearing a white shirt, black trousers, and no tie. He looked classic and upright, and his figure was naturally impeccable. He didn't understand where the disgust in her eyes came from.

"It's so thin," Zhang Moyan stared at the fabric of his clothes, "Why don't you change into something thicker? Or put on a coat over it."

Xiao Xingyu finally understood her intention: "Then would it be better for me to wear a cotton-padded coat?"

Zhang Moyan thought about it seriously, frowning, "But it's not suitable in this season. It would look too deliberate."

"Are you so afraid that I will get hurt?" Xiao Xingyu looked at Zhang Moyan, his eyes as black as glass beads. He really wanted to ask her: Didn't you say yesterday that you wanted to control yourself? Have you ever controlled yourself or not?

But I thought that if I said it out loud, I would no longer be able to enjoy such care, so I held it in.

"Aren't you afraid of getting hurt?" Zhang Moyan asked.

"There's no point in being afraid," Xiao Xingyu smiled, a hint of helplessness radiating from him. "We have standards for how we handle things. We can't just get away with it."

Zhang Moyan was nervous: "Standards? What standards?"

Xiao Xingyu didn't respond actively. After a while, he said playfully, "This is our Xiao family's secret. We can't tell anyone else."

Zhang Moyan muttered upon hearing this: "Why does your family have so many rules?"

Her tone was full of dissatisfaction with the Xiao family. Xiao Xingyu's brows moved slightly, and he stroked her slender shoulder with one hand: "It's not much, you already know basically everything." He was a little worried that she would have some prejudice against the Xiao family because of this.

Zhang Moyan was half-believing and half-doubting. Xiao Xingyu patted her shoulder gently and took it away: "After breakfast, you can do whatever you want, but don't watch me get beaten. Can you do that?"

"I don't want to watch." She wanted to explain that she was definitely not there to watch the fun, but when she saw Xiao Xingyu frowning slightly, she swallowed what she was about to say.

Even a child with a little self-respect would not want others to see him being beaten, let alone Xiao Xingyu, who is already an adult and such a proud and unruly person. Of course, he does not want to be seen in such an embarrassing state.

"Okay, I'll wait for you in the house."

Xiao Xingyu bent down and stared at her for more than ten seconds: "Why are you waiting for me?"

Zhang Moyan said as a matter of course: "Of course I'm taking care of you!"

"Oh." Xiao Xingyu raised his eyebrows, and a fantasy suddenly flashed through his mind. He was actually looking forward to being beaten badly.

When Xiao Xingyu arrived at the breakfast room, it was already crowded. It was clearly Sunday, but none of the Xiao family members slept in. Even Sasa and the little aunt sat at the dining table early in the morning. The air pressure in the room was unusually low, and it felt like the last meal of one's life. Xiao Xingyu had to endure his meal again and again and not overturn the table.

After dinner, Xiao Xingyu went to Xiao Guotao's yard accompanied by Xiao Weizhou and Xiao Weiyu. None of the others dared to follow him because of his cold and arrogant attitude.

As agreed, Zhang Moyan returned to the small building. She estimated that the 10 strokes of the cane would take no more than half an hour, but she waited and waited, and three hours had passed, and Xiao Xingyu still hadn't returned.

Unable to contain herself, she went out to find out what was going on. She was told that the punishment against Xiao Xingyu had not yet ended. She wanted to ask more questions, but everyone was very secretive. Zhang Moyan had no choice but to find Xiao Sasa, who was doing homework, and asked her some questions. She emphasized the concept that the forum owner is the big brother and the group members are their own people, and only then did she get some important information from her.

It turns out that the Xiao family has a strict process for enforcing family rules. Not only do the person being punished and the person enforcing the rules have to bathe and change clothes, but there is also a ceremony to solemnly invite out the family rules. The so-called 10-stick punishment is not as simple as hitting with a ruler 10 times. Instead, the person has to kneel for 2 hours to reflect on his mistakes before being beaten, which means he has to kneel for a full 4 hours.

Zhang Moyan's hair stood on end. "After kneeling for four hours, how can you still stand up? For most people, kneeling for an hour will cause blood circulation in their legs to become clogged. People with special physical conditions might lose their knees after ten minutes, and their lower body would be completely crippled after two hours!"

Therefore, the scenes in costume dramas where men and women kneel down for a whole day and night without moving their hands and kneeling and still be alive and kicking are pure fabrications.

Sasa didn't seem shocked by this story, instead she groped the meat bun lying on her desk. Zhang Moyan guessed that she might have known the seriousness of this situation long ago.

"This is not the scariest thing." Sasa sighed heavily.

Zhang Moyan's pupils trembled as she stared fearfully at Sasa's mouth as she spoke. Then she heard her say, "The most terrifying thing is that after you kneel down, the 10 strokes of the board you'll receive must be so severe that you cough up blood!"

"Gold coughing up blood? What is that?"

"These 10 blows mean 'beating until someone vomits blood.' The five internal organs correspond to the five elements: gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. The lungs govern metal, and 'coughing' means vomiting blood. So, beating until someone vomits blood is necessary. Well, if there's no blood after 10 blows, then we'll have to keep beating them..."

Zhang Moyan listened in disbelief, her heart filled with turmoil: "Beat him until he vomited blood?!"

Only then did she understand what Xiao Xingyu meant when he said that the Xiao family rules were not something that could be gotten away with by simply giving them 10 hits, and she also understood what the standard was that he said could not be told to outsiders!

The world is bright and clear, the sun and the moon are shining! In the civilized society of the 21st century, how could such inhumane corporal punishment still exist?

Zhang Moyan was furious. "Ten blows with a stick made him vomit blood? How serious would the injury have to be to cause vomiting blood? Can the men of this discipline be so careful? If they break a rib, puncture a lung, or trachea, it would be fatal!"

Sasa let out a long sigh, put her head on the table and pulled Roubao's ear, as if she had known this would happen.

Zhang Moyan immediately understood why everyone looked as if they were uncertain about his life or death so early in the morning. It turned out that it was because no one could predict how badly Xiao Xingyu would be injured after he went in and came out!

"And Brother Xingyu has gone crazy," Sasa said, "He even specifically asked Brother Xiaohuai to execute him..."

Zhang Moyan turned around and stared at Roubao. After hearing this, her heart, which was already thundering and lightning, exploded!