Hanging Knife (9)
He Zhangjing was kicked to the ground. He quickly stretched out his hands to support his body so that he would not lie on the ground like a dog.
Even so, He Zhangjing was still not convinced. He was born as the only legitimate son in the clan and had enjoyed all the glory. How could he have suffered such humiliation?
He clenched his hands into fists as he leaned against the haystack. The dry grass dug deep into his skin, and the pain spread out from his palms in thin, dense bursts.
"It seems that Feng Siji is already praising you by saying that you are just his dog. A fickle and treacherous person like you is obviously worse than a dog!" He Zhangjing raised his head and stared at Chen Hu with his eyes red with anger, as if he wanted to stare a few bloody holes in Chen Hu.
Chen Hu clenched his cheeks, making a grinding sound. He stared at He Zhangjing with murderous eyes and kicked He Zhangjing on the leg.
He said nothing, but just kept kicking He Zhangjing in a dull voice, one kick after another.
The oil lamp in the cell burned dimly, and the hatred and disgust in Chen Hu's eyes were clearly visible. He Rucheng, who was lying on the side, was worried that his son would be kicked to death. He hurriedly got up, threw himself at Chen Hu's feet, hugged Chen Hu's calf, and wailed, "Stop kicking, stop kicking..."
He Rucheng couldn't utter the words to beg for help. It was extremely difficult for him to kneel down to Zhang Zhouzhu in the street for his daughter last time. Now he couldn't do that again. He just kept repeating the three words "stop kicking" and whimpered in his throat.
Chen Hu kicked He Rucheng away, pointed his finger in Li Qi's direction, glared at He Zhangjing and said, "Hurry up and crawl over there!"
He Zhangjing had been kicked to the ground. After hearing what Chen Hu said, he raised his head with difficulty and looked through Chen Hu at Li Qi standing in the corridor.
Her features were calm, her expression composed, and she looked back at him with a commanding air. She had always been incredibly beautiful, and even in this dank prison, wearing the coarse linen prison uniform, her peach blossom eyes still shone, her figure beautiful, her aura of nobility compelling.
"Oh..." He Zhangjing sneered. She wanted him to crawl over and beg her? Absolutely impossible!
For so many years, she had been fooled by him with a string of pearls. She was the defeated opponent. How could he kneel down and kowtow to a loser!
Just as the thought passed, he heard a series of chaotic footsteps coming from outside the corridor. If he listened carefully, he could hear the rustling sound of shackles dragging on the ground.
This attracted He Zhangjing's attention. He looked over and saw He Mu, wearing prison uniform and shackles, walking slowly towards this side under the escort of four jailers at the other end of the corridor.
There was a long bloodstain on her face, extending from the corner of her eye to her chin. Blood covered half of her face, and her hair was messy and piled on top of her head. In the dim prison light, she looked like a female ghost with her eyes open after death.
He Zhangjing thought he was seeing things. He rubbed his eyes, widened his eyes, looked over there carefully for several times, and finally confirmed that it was He Mu, his half-sister whom he had protected since childhood.
"Yuanmu!" He Zhangjing shouted her nickname in a hoarse voice.
He Mu's body suddenly stiffened, and he turned his head slightly to look at He Zhangjing. But then he suddenly thought of something and quickly turned around, facing He Zhangjing with his back.
She looked very ugly now, even worse than a beggar on the street, but her brother was the most sacred person in her heart, and she couldn't let her appearance tarnish his eyes.
He Zhangjing was confused by He Mu's sudden avoidance. He struggled to crawl over, but just as he moved, Chen Hu kicked him hard in the shoulder and he fell back in pain.
He Rucheng on the side just watched from afar. After all, He Mu was just a concubine's daughter to him. He was able to kneel down and beg Zhang Zhouzhu for her because He Zhangjing was not in danger at that time.
Now He Zhangjing is still under Chen Hu's feet. Between the concubine's daughter and the legitimate son, even a fool knows which one to side with.
So he didn't move forward, but stayed where he was, staring at Chen Hu vigilantly, fearing that he would attack He Zhangjing again.
Sure enough, he saw Chen Hu raising his foot as if he wanted to kick He Zhangjing again. He rushed forward and hugged Chen Hu's calf tightly: "Don't kick him again. His leg hasn't fully healed yet. It hurts every time it rains or is cold. If you keep kicking him like this, the old injury will relapse and he will die!"
He Rucheng's voice trembled as he shouted, sweat beading on his forehead. He was terrified, terrified that Chen Hu would change direction and kick him. He was old, but Chen Hu was still young and full of vigor. He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to withstand a kick, and if his son didn't die, he would be killed too.
He was afraid of death, but he was even more afraid that something would happen to his son.
When my son's legs were bitten by the big fish, he bled profusely and was in a coma with a high fever for nearly half a month. It took countless doctors to stop his bleeding and stabilize his condition.
He nursed the patient for half a year, and although he managed to save his life, he became disabled and developed a chronic illness. Whenever the weather was too hot or too cold, he would feel excruciating pain in his bones.
If they get hurt again by Chen Hu, who will find a doctor for them in this prison where they can't see the sky?
The more He Rucheng thought about it, the more he hugged Chen Hu's calves.
Chen Hu struggled two or three times but failed to break free. He couldn't help but lick his lips and laughed, "You old bones, you still want to protect your calf?"
As he said this, Chen Hu turned around and shouted to the jailer guarding the cell door.
The jailer came over, and Chen Hu threw the knife in his hand into the jailer's hand, then clenched his fist and hit He Rucheng hard on the back.
Hitting the head can easily lead to death, while hitting the back is the wisest choice.
Chen Hu almost didn't stop, punch after punch raining down like raindrops, "I told you to protect me! I told you to protect me!"
He Rucheng coughed up blood, but never let go.
He Rucheng sat up and reached out to pull He Rucheng away, but his hands were weak and he couldn't move them after pulling for a long time.
He Mu in the corridor heard all of this and couldn't help wanting to cry, but she didn't want to feel the pain of tears flowing into the wound on her cheek anymore. Not only would the wound be extremely painful, it might even rot.
He Mu tried hard to suppress the urge to cry, but her shoulders couldn't help twitching. She was afraid that she wouldn't be able to hold it back if she stayed any longer, so she hurriedly took a step and left.
As soon as she left, He Zhangjing's angry voice rang out from the cell: "I crawl!"
Chen Hu paused before he could strike again.
He lowered his head and looked at He Zhangjing for a long moment before saying, "Why not say this earlier? Why suffer so much in vain?"
As he said that, Chen Hu retracted his fist and stepped aside to make way.
He took the clean white handkerchief handed to him by the jailer and carefully wiped his hands that had hit He Rucheng. At the same time, he looked down at He Zhangjing coldly from top to bottom: "Begin."
He Zhangjing moved, turned over and lay on the ground, his red eyes full of unwillingness.
Chen Hu threw the handkerchief back into the jailer's hand and said with a smile to He Zhang Jingsen, who was crawling on the ground like a lizard, "Crawl more beautifully. Maybe the county lady will be so happy that she will let you go."
He Zhangjing didn't look at him, but crawled forward, rubbing the hay on the ground, making a rustling sound.
He Rucheng moved and tried to pull him. Seeing this, Chen Hu suddenly drew out the jailer's sword from his waist and held it across He Rucheng.
The blade was sharp as snow, reflecting He Rucheng's old eyes and brows. He looked at it, frozen in place, not daring to move.
He Zhangjing twisted his body and slowly crawled towards Li Qi who was standing in the corridor and watching.
With every step he took, a piece of his dignity was shattered. His legs were crippled by Zhang Zhouzhu because Li Qi provoked the relationship between him and Zhang Zhouzhu, which aroused Zhang Zhouzhu's suspicion.
Now he had fallen into the trap set by her and Feng Siji again. Even with a broken leg, he had to crawl in humiliation in front of her.
Time seemed to stretch infinitely at this moment. He Zhangjing had never been so tormented as he was at this moment. He felt as if countless pairs of eyes were staring at him, laughing at him, and looking down on him.
He Zhangjing, under the inexplicable pressure of humiliation, finally crawled in front of Li Qi like a dog.
He Zhangjing supported himself on the cold ground with his hands, raised his head, and looked at Li Qi with eyes full of deep hatred and unwillingness that was about to overflow.
Li Qi, who was standing high in front of him, bent down as if giving alms, holding a snake-shaped dagger, with the cold tip against his chin. With a slight flick, she lifted his face to face her.
Under the warm red and yellow candlelight, a sharp murderous intent flashed across Li Qi's beautiful eyes. She smiled and said, "Do you want to live?"
Of course he wanted to live, no one wanted to die, but if he agreed to her words, who knew what she would do to humiliate him?
He Zhangjing understood this. He stubbornly maintained the last bit of his dignity, gritted his teeth and said not a word.
Li Qi seemed to admire his stubbornness, yet also laughed out loud as if to humiliate him. Her index finger slowly tapped the hilt of the dagger's snake head. "What about He Mu or He Rucheng? Do you want them alive?"
Hearing her words, He Zhangjing suddenly began to tremble violently. He asked with rapid breathing: "What do you want to do? We haven't convicted you yet, I..."
"The Privy Councilor is right here. Feng Siji has already made your actions known to the world. How easy is it to convict you?" Li Qi interrupted him, thrusting the dagger forward an inch, the tip piercing the skin of his Adam's apple. "If you don't want them to live, I'll kill you now and let them both be buried with you later."
"Witch, let my son go!" He Rucheng roared from the cell, getting up and trying to rush over. Chen Hu quickly kicked him back and angrily warned, "Behave yourself!"
The movement of the two did not attract Li Qi's attention at all. Her eyes were always on He Zhangjing who was lying at her feet. She pushed the dagger deeper and said, "Think carefully, otherwise if I move forward, your throat will be cut."
He Zhangjing could already feel the sharp pain of the knife tip piercing his throat. He thought of He Rucheng's old face and He Mu, who had just passed by here and looked like a ghost.
He doesn't care about anything and can be cruel to outsiders, but he always has an inseparable feeling for his blood relatives.
Li Qi seemed to be very clear about this.
From the time he said He Mu was a blood relative and different from Li Qi during the confrontation at Xianglai Inn, and from the time she knew that He Zhangjing was very attentive to his half-sister and used all the money he earned to buy her fine clothes and food, Li Qi had already seen that He Zhangjing's weakness was his closest relative.
She was very sure that He Zhangjing would compromise, and waited patiently for his answer.
The air was silent for a long time, and He Zhangjing finally asked, "What are your conditions?"
"Use your crippled legs to crawl to the County Lord's Mansion and, as you crawl, confess the evil deeds you have committed. I want to see you outside the Mansion before noon tomorrow. Then, I will consider letting you go."
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