Chapter 517 Spoiled and Willful Wife VS Cowardly and Fearful Husband 9
After hearing the whole story, Jiang Zhiyi frowned deeply.
No wonder Li Rou'er cried so miserably just now, and dared not look at her as if she had done something wrong. It turns out it was all caused by her maid.
"Then what should we do?" Jiang Zhiyi's voice was tentative, her eyes fixed on Jun Yu's reaction.
Junyu paused, his hand holding the medicine bowl, a hint of hesitation in his heart.
Logically speaking, according to the rules of the manor, the maid who committed the serious crime of arson should be executed as a warning to others.
But it is still a human life.
He recalled his mother's words from his childhood: "Heaven cherishes life," which taught him to have compassion for all living beings.
Now, facing a living, breathing person, I still can't bring myself to do it.
Seeing Jun Yu's hesitant expression, Jiang Zhiyi quickly realized that he was unwilling to take drastic measures.
Although they had only known each other for a short time, Jiang Zhiyi could tell that Jun Yu possessed a rare kindness in his bones.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have risked his own safety to bring Li Rou'er and the servant out when they were fleeing for their lives.
Now, he certainly doesn't want to kill that maid.
If that's the case, then she might as well take the opportunity to become a vicious villain.
"Go and beat Chun Tao to death with sticks immediately, then throw her into a mass grave." Jiang Zhiyi suddenly spoke, her voice as cold as ice, devoid of any emotion. "And Li Rou'er, she didn't discipline her servants properly, shave her head and send her to a nunnery."
As soon as she finished speaking, she deliberately raised her handkerchief and slowly wiped her slender hands, as if what she had just said was nothing more than wanting to crush an ant, nothing unusual.
Jun Yu suddenly looked up, and the surging emotions in his eyes made even the servant beside him tremble.
He picked up the paper and pen on the table and began writing characters on the rice paper.
“No.” Before the ink was dry, he hurriedly wrote, “Chun Tao was out of her mind and made a grave mistake, but her crime does not warrant death.”
"Then what do you want to do?" Jiang Zhiyi sneered, leaning closer and looking at him impatiently. "She made a terrible mistake, setting the study on fire and almost killing you. She should be beaten to death. You're just trying to protect them because you can't bear to see Li Rou'er sad, aren't you?"
Junyu frowned as he looked at her, his gaze already showing some displeasure.
Jiang Zhiyi remained unmoved and turned to the servant who was frozen in place, ordering, "Do as I say."
Jun Yu's eyes were sharp, and the servant dared not move.
The two remained locked in a standoff.
At this moment, Li Rou'er pleaded for mercy outside the house.
"Brother Yu! Please have mercy!" Li Rou'er's voice was choked with sobs.
She knelt on the bluestone slab, her forehead almost touching the ground, stray hairs clinging to her pale cheeks with sweat. "Chun Tao is delirious, she has no idea what she's doing... Please have mercy on her this time! She's my only family..."
Jiang Zhiyi looked up and said, "Let her in."
The maid standing to the side quickly lifted the curtain.
Li Rou'er immediately stumbled to her feet, her skirt sweeping across the threshold and carrying a few withered yellow leaves.
Li Rou'er knelt down with a thud. "Brother Yu, sister-in-law, please spare her life! Chun Tao... she was driven mad by that heartless man. If he hadn't lied to her back then, she wouldn't have become like this..."
Before she could finish speaking, she was already sobbing uncontrollably.
Jiang Zhiyi slammed her hand heavily on the table, startling everyone.
She angrily rebuked, "So many people have been deceived, why don't they all come and set fires? Today she burned down the Jun family's study. If it weren't for my husband's good fortune, you would all have perished in the flames! According to the Jun family's rules, she should be beaten to death!"
"Please spare her life!" Li Rou'er kowtowed repeatedly, her forehead almost bleeding. "Chun Tao has been with me since she was eight years old. After my father's accident, she accompanied me to beg and sleep in dilapidated temples... In the dead of winter, she gave me the only half of a pancake she had, and she was so cold that she was delirious..."
Large tears fell to the ground, wetting the dust.
"Sister-in-law, please have pity on me! Let her go!" Li Rou'er sobbed uncontrollably. "I can't live without her!"
She knew that if she didn't find a way today, Chun Tao might really lose her life.
She would rather die herself than let Chuntao die.
Just as Jiang Zhiyi was thinking about what to say, she heard the sound of tearing fabric. Li Rou'er had pulled down her sleeve, revealing a hideous scar on her forearm.
“This is from last year, when I was splashed with scalding tea while protecting Chuntao. I treated her like my own sister.” She choked back tears as she touched the scar. “When she was lucid, she always said she would save money to prepare my dowry, worried that I would be lonely and bullied… If she really left, I wouldn’t be able to live either!”
Jun Yu stared at the scar, then thought of the servant who had saved him earlier that day, who had also been seriously injured while saving him.
He sighed, having already made up his mind.
He wrote on the paper: "Let her live for now, but lock her up in the manor outside the city and have people guard her day and night. She shall not be allowed to take a single step out."
"Yes! Thank you, Brother Yu! Thank you, Sister-in-law!" Li Rou'er hurriedly replied, and then kowtowed deeply.
Junyu raised his hand to let her leave.
Li Rou'er stood up, her knees were numb from kneeling for too long, and she almost fell, but she quickly stepped back by holding onto the door frame.
Jiang Zhiyi did not stop her just now.
She has a father, mother, and three older brothers, all of whom dote on her.
But Li Rou'er and Chun Tao now only have each other and can only rely on each other.
They were two pitiful women, living such miserable lives, and she couldn't bear to see them suffer.
But she kept a straight face, ready to continue putting on an act in front of Jun Yu.
Jiang Zhiyi feigned sarcasm: "Why did you let them go? They were just maids, why go to all that trouble? Just kill them."
Junyu frowned and remained silent.
"I'm talking to you, didn't you hear me?" Seeing that he ignored her, Jiang Zhi kicked the low stool next to the bed.
Junyu finally raised his eyes, his gaze as cold as icicles in the twelfth lunar month.
Jiang Zhiyi then questioned, "Leaving aside the maid for now, why did you risk your life to save Li Rou'er in the study today? Is her life more important than your own?"
Junyu knew she wouldn't give up easily, so he could only respond.
He tore off a new sheet of paper, and with great force, he wrote: "No matter who it is today, I will save them."
Those were two lives lost.
Human life knows no distinction between high and low, noble and lowly. Whether it was Li Rou'er, the cousin of the Jun family, or a lowly servant doing dirty and tiring work, he could not stand by and watch them die in the sea of fire.
He couldn't just ignore two living, breathing people.
The look of disgust on her brow, and her earlier words, "She's just a maid, why make such a fuss?", greatly disappointed him.
He had thought she was just spoiled and willful, but now he realized that beneath that spoiled exterior lay such a cold-hearted attitude towards human life, without a trace of reverence or compassion.
Today's fire not only burned through a study, but also destroyed his expectations for Jiang Zhiyi.
Her actions were like a poisoned knife, shattering all his beautiful fantasies.
The woman he married was as beautiful as an angel, but inside she was arrogant, ruthless, and cold-blooded...
He seems to have misjudged her.
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