The stick struck Du Bin mercilessly, causing him excruciating pain. However, he gritted his teeth and tried his best not to make a sound.
"Let's see how long you can hold out, Du Hu! Have you not eaten? Give it your all!" Madam Du roared. "Take off his shirt and beat him! Beat him hard!"
The servants took off Du Bin's clothes, and Du Jinghua did not stop them.
With the weather warm and people wearing thick clothes, Du Bin could at least cushion his blows when Du Hu hit him. But now, when Du Hu strikes him with a stick, every blow hits flesh, making it even harder for Du Bin to withstand.
After being hit more than a dozen times, his back became visibly red and swollen.
Xia Pingan, who was standing to the side, couldn't bear to watch and complained, "This is too cruel. Du Bin looks like he's only seventeen or eighteen years old."
Seeing Du Bin like this, Ling Xiaoxiao couldn't help but think of her own son, Du Shan, and sighed, "Who told him to be so outstanding? Madam Du would never allow her illegitimate son to be so excellent."
"Are you still being stubborn and refusing to tell the truth?" Du Jinghua said.
"No...it wasn't me!"
After saying this, Du Bin collapsed to the ground and fainted.
"Splash him awake, then keep beating him!" Madam Du said viciously. "He framed his own siblings and disregarded the family's reputation; he deserves to be beaten to death!"
“Master, Madam, if we continue beating him, the Second Young Master might not be able to withstand it. Since he denies it, we should lock him up for now and deal with him even more severely once we find out the evidence,” said Butler Du Hu.
Just as Madam Du was about to object, Du Jinghua said, "Then lock him up first and send someone to investigate immediately! Everyone else, please leave."
"yes."
After the servants had all left, Du Jinghua looked at Du Lanlan and said, "Now that something like this has happened, I can't let my sisters in the family be unable to get married because of you."
Upon hearing this, Du Lanlan trembled with fear, her first thought being that Du Jinghua wanted her dead.
Madam Du thought so too, since such methods were all too common in the inner quarters of the household.
"You and Fan Baowen will live in the banana grove outside the city. It's a beautiful place with clear waters and lush mountains, and no one will know you there. I will tell everyone that you committed suicide because you were wronged."
"I'm not going!"
Upon hearing that Du Lanlan had refused, Du Jinghua flew into a rage and roared, "Then go die!"
Du Lanlan burst into tears.
She was the second daughter of the Du family, and he was going to marry Fan Baowen and become an official's wife. How could she go to the countryside to live a poor life?
She was unwilling to accept it!
Du Jinghua's hurtful words rang in her ears: "Do you think Fan Baowen can still study and take the imperial examinations? Do you think the academy will accept him? Even if he can study, what about you? He can't marry a girl with such a tarnished reputation as your wife. If you don't go to live in the countryside, just wait for your clansmen to come and drown you!"
Du Lanlan's reputation has been ruined, affecting the entire Du family, especially the girls. The Du clan will not let Du Lanlan off the hook.
Moreover, given her current reputation, she can't even leave the house now.
If she dies, the Du family can claim that she died unjustly. Once she dies, they can hand over a "culprit," and Du Lanlan and the Du family can be exonerated.
The perfect solution is for Du Lanlan to fake her death and move to the countryside.
………………
At this time, in Yijia Village.
Everyone in the village knew that Xia Chunmei had broken off the engagement.
This matter couldn't be kept secret at all. Besides, Xia Chunmei was the victim in this matter. So Xia Xintian and his wife, as well as Xia Hongfen, didn't hide it from the villagers and told them about what Fan Baowen had done.
It's better to say it sooner rather than later, so that the Fan family won't turn around and accuse others.
"Wow, I really didn't expect that. Fan Baowen looks so refined and gentle, I never thought he was this kind of person."
"You really can't judge a book by its cover."
"Chunmei is really unlucky."
"Xia Xiumei is truly shameless. She got pregnant out of wedlock and even stole her fiancé from the foreign concession. She's shameless!"
"This kind of person should be drowned!"
"Chunmei, don't be sad. We'll introduce you to someone even better later."
“My nephew is a little younger than Chunmei, Hongfen, how about I take you to see him?”
"I also have several nephews on my mother's side..."
...
After condemning Fan Baowen and Xia Xiumei, the villagers started worrying about Xia Chunmei's marriage. Xia Chunmei was beautiful and could earn money, almost like a money tree, and everyone wanted to get their hands on her.
Xia Hongfen was Xia Chunmei's only elder relative. Everyone surrounded her, urging her to meet the man and, if he was suitable, to arrange the marriage.
"Girl, great news!" Xia Ping'an returned, very excited.
Upon seeing him arrive, Xia Chunmei quickly slipped away to a secluded spot.
Xia Ping'an said gloatingly, "Fan Baowen and Du Lanlan are finished, hahaha, I put those letters in different dormitories at Zhaoling Academy, and now I didn't expect..."
"I didn't expect what happened."
"Unexpectedly, a scholar in the academy saw the letter and wrote more than ten more in the same handwriting, and even drew some pictures..."
"Why aren't you saying what you drew?"
Xia Ping'an blushed slightly and said embarrassedly, "I drew some images of people without clothes and put them in an envelope. Now everyone in the academy says that the portraits are of Du Lanlan's nude body."
Xia Chunmei was stunned. With this, Fan Baowen and Du Lanlan could even make nude photos of people. Haha, that's ruthless!
"It seems that the scholar has a deep grudge against Fan Baowen or Du Lanlan, otherwise he wouldn't have done this."
"The Du family is in a terrible state of panic right now. No one will listen to their explanations, and no one will believe them," Xia Ping'an said with a hint of schadenfreude.
This kind of news is sure to attract attention, and now it's spreading within the academy. People who can afford to study at the academy are generally not poor. It's practically impossible for the Du family to bribe them and cover up this. So Du Lanlan is definitely doomed.
"How will the Du family deal with Du Lanlan?" Xia Chunmei asked.
"Du Tao wanted to go to Baoqing Academy to study, saying he couldn't stay here any longer. The Du family made Du Lanlan fake her death and let Du Lanlan and Fan Baowen live in the banana grove outside the city. The Du family had more than ten acres of land there, enough for Du Lanlan to live on. To the outside world, the Du family claimed that Du Lanlan had committed suicide unjustly in order to protect the Du family's reputation. However, Du Bin was a bit unlucky. Du Jiaren believed that Du Bin was the one who did it, so she beat Du Bin half to death."
Xia Ping'an felt somewhat guilty, after all, he was the one who stole the letter, and Du Bin was essentially taking the blame for him.
Hearing this, Xia Chunmei felt a little guilty and said, "We've let Du Bin down this time. Let's help him out in the future if we have the chance."
"That's all we can do."
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