"ah?"

Li Jue broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this. If he were really slapped ten thousand times, wouldn't he just beat himself to death?

"Uncle Li, let's not do this. Let's just give it a few taps as a token gesture..."

"Ten thousand blows could really kill me!"

"Hmph!"

"You lazy grandson deserve to be beaten to death!"

This time, Li Shimin learned from his previous experience and carefully observed his grandson's movements after every few blows. Seeing that his grandson was crying and shouting with vigor, he knew that his grandson could still endure it, so he continued to whip him hard.

Before long, the stinky grandson was beaten until tears streamed down his face, and he kept begging for mercy.

"Grandpa, I was wrong. I'll definitely write again..."

"You said the same thing last time!"

"I promise I'll be good this time, waaaaah..."

What if they don't listen?

"If I don't behave, you can beat me to death, waaaaaah..."

"Too late!"

"If I don't teach you a lesson today, you'll dare to plot a rebellion tomorrow!"

"Ah, how could I dare to rebel? You're really wronging me, waah..."

Seeing Li Jue being beaten so badly, Zhang Anan was about to go up and try to persuade him, but upon hearing these words, he was immediately too frightened to do so.

His Majesty is transferring his regrets about Prince Chengqian onto his eldest grandson!

"Help! Old Li is killing someone! Waaaaah!"

Li Jue's wailing soon spread throughout Sanglin Village, attracting many villagers to come and see what was going on.

Before long, Hu Delu arrived with his eldest grandson. Upon seeing the men and women gathered outside the Duke's house, he immediately shouted at the crowd.

"Aren't they all doing their work? Coming here to watch the show?"

"Old Hu, our Lord is calling for help..."

"It's none of your business if the old man is beating his grandson!"

"Get back here, all of you!"

The adults chased them back, but a group of naked children peeked through the crack in the door to watch the commotion.

"Grandpa Hu, our Lord is being beaten by that old man who hung him from a tree!"

Hu Delu stepped forward and slapped a few little kids who were peeking through the door crack on the bottom, making them scream and yell.

"Look at this! This is what happens when you disobey!"

"If you ever dare to be naughty again, I'll have your father and grandfather spank you!"

Upon hearing this, the group of children immediately scattered in fright, afraid that Grandpa Hu would tell their parents.

Seeing that everyone had been chased away, Hu Delu pushed open the courtyard gate and went inside, bowing respectfully to Li Shimin.

"This old man greets your esteemed guest!"

"It's not right for this old man to interfere when the nobleman is disciplining his grandson. A light punishment is enough; wouldn't the nobleman be heartbroken if he were to get seriously injured?"

"We know how to be gentle when we use our strength!"

"This old man sees it clearly. Although the lord screamed so pitifully, he didn't even break a skin on his buttocks. It's obvious that the nobleman just wanted to make him suffer a little, hehehe..."

Seeing his nephew crying so pitifully, the prince was already heartbroken. Now that someone was pleading for him, he immediately stepped forward and tugged at his father's sleeve.

"Father, my nephew knows he was wrong, please forgive him this time..."

Li Shimin never intended to beat him to death; his earlier threat of ten thousand lashes was merely a bluff.

Now that he saw that his grandson's buttocks were swollen and his face was streaked with tears, and with the old man and his beloved daughter from the village pleading for him, he immediately took the opportunity to back down and threw the willow branch away.

"All right!"

"I'll give Brother Hu and your aunt face today, otherwise even if I don't give you ten thousand lashes, I'll still give you at least three hundred!"

"Yes, yes!"

"Thank you, Auntie! Thank you, Grandpa Hu! Waaah!"

"Yuchi Fan, put him down!"

"promise!"

When Li Jue was put down, the first thing he did was touch his buttocks. Although he hadn't bled like last time, his buttocks were still swollen and bruised from being beaten.

Just as he was clutching his buttocks and crying bitterly, he saw Old Li throw a pile of Xuan paper and a book on the ground.

"You may be spared the death penalty, but you will not escape punishment!"

"Kneel in the yard and copy the whole book. If you don't finish, I'll beat you up tonight!"

Upon hearing this, Li Jue burst into tears, crying even more bitterly than when he was being beaten.

This book must be at least tens of thousands of words long; I couldn't possibly finish copying it even if I worked myself to death!

However, Li Shimin didn't care at all, threw down his book, and led Sizi back to his room to sleep.

Sizi had no interest in sleeping; his mind was entirely on his eldest nephew in the yard.

"Father, you're being too harsh on your nephew..."

Li Shimin snorted coldly upon hearing this, and said with a displeased expression.

“I wasn’t strict with your eldest and fourth brothers. I’ve never even laid a finger on them since they were little, but what was the result?”

"One plots rebellion, the other schemes to seize the throne!"

"But...my nephew can't become emperor, so why are you being so harsh on him?"

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin immediately widened his dragon eyes.

"Who says he can't do it?"

"He is also the legitimate heir of the Li Tang dynasty, my eldest grandson. Why can't he be the emperor!"

"ah?"