Chapter 6 Punishing Yunxi with a Cane
The study was a forbidden area, rarely visited by anyone in the Prince's mansion, including the Prince and Princess. Now that this concubine wanted to enter, it was uncertain whether she would anger Gu Nanxiao.
The princess looked at her suspiciously, but seeing Yunxi's determined expression, she thought it was worth a try. The princess sent her first-class maid to take her to Gu Nanxiao's study.
As expected, the group was stopped by the guards outside the study, but once the guards learned that the princess had given them permission to enter, they could not stop them and let them in.
After entering the study, Yunxi closed the door and immediately went to Gu Nanxiao's desk to look at the weapon blueprints he had drawn.
In the past three days, she had learned from the servants that Gu Nanxiao's greatest hobby was his love for all kinds of weapons, and that he was also extremely good at making weapons, often drawing up his own blueprints.
Yunxi happens to share this interest and has some knowledge of historically famous cold weapons such as Tang swords and Qin crossbows.
With her photographic memory, Yunxi began to quickly draw precise sketches below the drawings made by Gu Nanxiao.
Half an hour later, Yunxi put down her pen, opened the locked study door, and strode away.
The guards at the door immediately went into the study to inspect it, and their gaze fell on the weapon blueprints that their master had spent three months designing.
Looking at the completely altered blueprints, even as a bystander, I was terrified and my legs trembled. The guards didn't dare delay for a moment and immediately rushed to the Jinwu Guard headquarters.
Only a quarter of an hour later, Gu Nanxiao rushed back to the mansion in a huff. After entering the mansion, he went straight to his study. When he saw the sketched drawings, he felt his blood rush to his head, and the veins on his forehead throbbed uncontrollably.
He picked up the inkstone on the table and smashed it hard on the ground. Looking at the shattered inkstone, his anger only increased. He shouted towards the door, "Go, bring that woman here!"
The guards left as ordered, and a few breaths later, Yunxi was dragged into the study by several guards.
After three days apart, Gu Nanxiao's agitation had subsided. But seeing Yunxi calmly meeting his gaze, he coldly questioned her with a mocking laugh, "You destroyed my blueprints?"
Facing the enraged Gu Nanxiao, Yunxi nodded without fear, offering no explanation for herself.
Seeing her fearless attitude, Gu Nanxiao was so angry that he said "good" three times in a row, and then ordered the guards: "Put her in the courtyard and beat her. Give her twenty lashes, no, thirty lashes."
Yunxi remained silent, guessing she would be punished. After all, in this feudal society devoid of human rights, to Gu Nanxiao she was nothing more than a bed warmer, a plaything, but she was unwilling to remain a plaything forever.
She intentionally wanted Gu Nanxiao to discover how exquisite her drawings were only after he punished her.
Yunxi wanted Gu Nanxiao to feel guilty, so that when he came to ask her about the details of the blueprints again, the two things could be combined to bring her greater benefits.
Gu Nanxiao watched as Yunxi was silently strapped to the bench, his fists clenching tightly in his sleeves. When the board struck her, the sound of flesh tearing made Gu Nanxiao unconsciously take a step forward.
He almost blurted out the words to stop her, but when he realized how lenient he had been with Yunxi, he hated his own soft heart even more. He coldly ordered, with a fierce but weak voice, "Beat her! Beat her hard!"
Contrary to his rage, Yunxi endured the excruciating pain in her body and stared at him silently, her eyes revealing a clear look of disappointment.
Gu Nanxiao found it impossible to meet those eyes, so he turned and went back inside, sitting imposingly behind his desk. He glanced angrily at the drawings on the desk, but the more he looked, the more serious his expression became.
A moment later, he stood up abruptly. Just as he was about to order the guards to stop, the sound of the wooden board outside the door suddenly stopped.
Mo Yu came in to report: "Master, Miss Yunxi has fainted. Do you think we should continue the treatment?"
Upon hearing this, Gu Nanxiao immediately went to the door. After seeing the bright red stains beneath Yunxi, he urgently ordered, "Find a few old women to carry her back, and then have the family physician examine her."
Yunxi was faking her fainting. She wasn't going to be stupid enough to take all the beatings. As long as she made Gu Nanxiao feel guilty and prevented him from sleeping with her, she would have already achieved her goal.
When Yunxi was carried away, her face was deathly pale, her forehead was covered in cold sweat, and her lips were bitten so hard they were bloody.
Seeing this scene made Gu Nanxiao feel breathless. But he didn't intend to follow. He simply took out a bottle of wound medicine from his sleeve and asked Mo Yu to deliver it to the side courtyard.
Soon, the physician prescribed a medicine for Yunxi and then reported to Gu Nanxiao: "Young Master, Miss Yun's external injuries are not too serious, and they have not damaged her internal organs or bones."
Judging from the young woman's pulse, she not only has some congenital deficiencies but also suffers from a cold-related ailment. Furthermore, she seems to have severe emotional distress and excessive worry. If she doesn't rest properly, it could damage her heart and blood vessels.
Gu Nanxiao hadn't expected Yunxi to be so weak; no wonder she fainted after only ten strokes of the cane. As for her distress, he remembered that Moyu had reported that Yunxi had attempted suicide by drowning herself in a lake not long after being brought into the Prince's mansion, feeling humiliated.
That woman must have been very unwilling to become his concubine. Moreover, after favoring Yunxi, he left her in the palace, which would only bring her more criticism.
Looking at the blueprints on his desk again, and recalling Yunxi's disappointed eyes, Gu Nanxiao felt a rare pang of regret.
The question that Gu Nanxiao imagined was exactly the direction Yunxi wanted to guide his thinking. The so-called mental block was just preparation that Yunxi had made in advance.
For three days and nights, she remained sleepless, constantly planning her next steps while replaying Shi Qingchen's betrayal and murder of her in her mind. As a result, her pulse naturally became constricted and her heart was filled with turmoil.
After Yunxi was punished with a cane, the servants who had initially tried to curry favor with her all turned cold. At this moment, only Zisu remained in the side room to take care of her.
Zisu wet a handkerchief with hot water and began to clean Yunxi's wounds. When she saw that her white, satin-like skin was torn and bleeding in many places, her eyes immediately welled up with tears.
This concubine is truly inhuman; she beats you without warning. Even if the young lady had married a commoner, she wouldn't have ended up like this.
Gu Nanxiao's wound medicine was very effective, stopping both bleeding and relieving pain. After Yunxi felt the pain in her back lessen, the exhaustion from not sleeping for three days and three nights came over her all at once, and she quickly fell into a deep sleep.
When she woke up again, it was already noon the next day. Yunxi was woken up by extreme hunger. As she groggily opened her eyes, she murmured, "Water...water..."
Soon, a large, well-defined hand brought a glass of water to her lips.
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