Chapter 1 Whipping
The sun was blazing, cicadas were chirping, and the entire palace was shrouded in heat. The horses in the stables were listlessly wagging their tails.
The most valuable horse among them, Qingzhui, died.
Chi Qi looked at the people kneeling on the ground in front of her, tugged at the collar of her clothes that was pinching her neck in annoyance, and frowned tightly into her two arched black eyebrows.
The pawnshopkeeper supported himself on the ground with his hands, and caught a glimpse of Chi Lu's expression from the corner of his eye. Beads of sweat immediately appeared on his forehead.
He spoke in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty, Qingzhui died of heatstroke due to the laziness of the groom who was responsible for taking care of him. Please have mercy on me and spare my life!"
Chi Qi looked at the groom he mentioned. He was a thin young man with his forehead pressed against the ground, and his face could not be seen.
Because of his humble status, the groom didn't even dare to argue for himself. Only his slightly trembling arms revealed his fear.
It turns out that the life and death of these people all depend on her thoughts. It seems that the identity of the queen is still quite interesting.
Thinking of this, Chi Qi couldn't help but lower her head and smiled slightly.
But the smile disappeared in an instant, and when she looked up again, her face had returned to its cold expression.
"Drag them away and kill them all." Chi Li spoke softly, her tone rather nonchalant.
For a moment, the granary manager and the groom froze, looking up at Chi Luo with fear in their eyes.
At this moment, Princess Mingyue, ignoring the palace maids' attempts to stop her, rushed to Chi Lu and said loudly, "Mother, even if the grooms are at fault, they are not guilty of capital punishment. If you wantonly beat and kill them, I'm afraid it will only damage your reputation as a virtuous woman. Please think twice!"
Chi Qi's gaze fell on the little girl in light green clothes and she paused for a moment.
The princess had a fair, round face, curved eyebrows, a pair of dark and bright eyes, and her whole body was filled with vitality.
Should I say she's worthy of being the heroine? The light of kindness emanating from her simply makes her, a person drenched in darkness, feel ashamed.
Just as she was about to speak, a warning mechanical voice suddenly rang out in her mind: "Host, you have lost your status as a cleaner. Please give up the idea of killing. Work hard to win the favor of the heroine and strive to be a virtuous and kind stepmother."
006's voice was not as cold as the ordinary system's, but rather a bit of gnashing of teeth.
There is certainly a reason for this.
As an advanced system created by the Lord God, 006's main task is to assist the cleaners in eliminating the awakened people in the novel world who want to seize the world's fortune.
Chi Li is the cleaner bound to it, and also the best cleaner it has ever worked with. When she kills those awakened ones, she does it cleanly and efficiently, like an emotionless machine.
006 has never seen Chi Lan hesitate or show softness in her heart. It has always been proud of having such an outstanding host.
But it never imagined that Chi Qi would actually want to kill the Lord God.
You know, the Lord God is an invincible existence in the world of novels. How could he be killed by a host?
006 was so frightened that his data almost collapsed, and he wanted to commit suicide by hitting his head against tofu pudding. Of course, he failed.
Because it has no substance at all.
After Chi Lun failed in her attempt to kill the gods, 006 was implicated by her and downgraded to the [Evil Stepmother] punishment system. Along with Chi Lun, he was thrown into the punishment world by the Lord God.
This made 006 very angry. If it had as much emotions as a human, it would have strangled Chi Li, who had harmed it, to death a thousand times in its heart.
But the reality is always cruel. It has become a resentful system and must complete ten punishment tasks with the host before it can regain the favor of the Lord God.
The first Punishment World originated from a novel called "The Usurper General's Beloved." This is a sweet romance novel in ancient Chinese, telling the sweet love story of a delicate and kind princess and a devoted and loyal general.
The heroine Zhao Mingyue is the third princess of the Dayong Dynasty. After her biological mother Queen Li passed away, she and her younger brother Zhao Chun were raised by the successor Queen Chi Zhenyi.
Empress Chi treated the non-biological daughter of the emperor harshly and tortured her in every way. She was ambitious and not only interfered in state affairs, but also took advantage of the emperor's serious illness to seize power. She also regarded Zhao Chun, who had been appointed crown prince, as a thorn in her side.
The well-educated and well-mannered heroine despised Queen Chi's behavior of disrupting the government, and was also afraid that the prince would become a puppet emperor in the future. Therefore, she secretly contacted court officials to advise Queen Chi to return power to the court. Unexpectedly, she suffered even more cruel abuse and oppression.
When she just turned sixteen, the heroine was sent by Queen Chi to marry a prince from Xiqi. In despair and helplessness, she unexpectedly discovered that the general who was escorting her to marry - the hero, was actually the groom who had saved her life. She was very surprised.
On the way to the bride, the two experienced a series of hardships and their feelings quickly heated up.
The hero couldn't bear to see his beloved marry far away in Xiqi, so he risked being beheaded and ordered the wedding procession to turn back. He led his army into the capital in the name of conquering the evil queen, and tore apart the Queen Chi who had murdered the heroine.
In the end, the hero successfully usurped the throne and ascended the throne as emperor, and the heroine was canonized as empress and mother of the country. From then on, the two lived a sweet and shameless happy life.
After reading the story outline, Chi Qi's brows were furrowed so tightly that they could kill a mosquito, and she wished she could pick up a knife and kill someone.
She claims to be evil, and what she hates most in her life is the vulgar ending where the bad guys die tragically and the good guys live happily forever.
It was a pity that she failed in her attempt to kill the gods and was forced to reincarnate as her vicious stepmother Queen Chi, and finally had to suffer the torture of being torn apart by five horses.
The system spoke at the right time, "As long as the host repents and reforms, the tragic ending can be changed--" Before it could finish, it was silenced by Chi Li.
"I'm doing the task, when is it your turn to give instructions?"
The system was so anxious that it was jumping up and down in the sea of consciousness. It didn't say much in the past because the host was a very qualified cleaner, but now the Lord God wants the host to repent and reform. If it doesn't say something, is it going to watch her kill everyone in this world?
Once the Lord God is completely enraged, he will directly eliminate the two of them, and then it will be too late to regret!
The current plot is the beginning of the love story between the heroine and the hero.
The kind-hearted Princess Mingyue did not hesitate to offend Queen Chi and plead for the male protagonist who was still a groom. Queen Chi, because of her reputation for being virtuous, did not execute the groom, but only beat him with twenty sticks.
Princess Mingyue took pity on the hero who had suffered such an unexpected disaster, so she personally delivered medicine to him and took good care of him. The hero was deeply moved and fell in love with the princess.
However, Princess Mingyue was punished by Queen Chi for having too close contact with the groom. She was forced to kneel under the scorching sun and recite "The Instructions for Women" for an hour every day.
Thinking of this plot, Chi Qing couldn't help but sneer in her heart.
This first punishment world seems quite friendly. As long as she listens to the heroine's advice and gives up punishing the groom, her vicious image in the heroine's mind can be changed.
It’s a pity that kind and good people are really not suitable for her. Only playing the role of a vicious and evil queen can make her feel excited!
She looked coldly at Princess Mingyue standing before her, and said sarcastically, "Xianliang, how could I not know that I have such a good reputation? Princess, you think I am a good woman who cares about my reputation, but you are wrong. Bring me the whip."
Chi Qi stretched out her hand, and the palace maid Dan Ying who was serving beside her immediately took out the horsewhip and put it in her hand.
She gripped the whip handle tightly and raised her hand suddenly. The whip flew past Zhao Mingyue's cheek and hit the janitor behind her. The janitor immediately let out a scream.
"Snap!" Another whip followed, still passing by Zhao Mingyue, but this time it hit the groom, who groaned in pain.
The whole place was silent, with only the sound of whips and the noisy chirping of cicadas. The palace maids and eunuchs lowered their heads in fear, and even their breathing became cautious.
Zhao Mingyue's face turned pale and she bit her lips to hold back from screaming in surprise.
Queen Chi's reaction was completely different from what she expected. This superb whip technique was completely beyond her imagination.
The whip wind that quickly blew across her cheeks filled her with fear, and her body swayed, almost collapsing to the ground.
But in the end, she straightened her back and looked directly at Chi Li, her eyes proud and stubborn.
"Your Majesty, are you really going to kill them? Aren't you afraid that the servants who work for you will be disheartened?"
Chi Li sneered, "Oh, I can even kill a horse. If I still support such a waste, wouldn't it be even more disheartening for those who truly work hard?"
Zhao Mingyue opened her mouth, but for a moment she couldn't say anything to refute.
Chi Qi finished the eighteen lashes in just a few strokes, leaving a bloody mark with each lash. The two people who were whipped had already collapsed to the ground, and they didn't even whimper after the last two lashes.
Glancing at the groom who was twitching in pain, Chi Lu suddenly had an interesting idea in her mind: what would happen if she just beat the male protagonist to death?
She raised the whip again, but her hand paused in the air and she didn't whip it down.
The Lord God would definitely kill her if she did that, right? In the end, Chi Li threw the whip away, along with the dangerous thoughts in her mind.
Fortunately, she vented this, and the depression in her heart caused by the failure of killing the gods was relieved a little.
The maid Dan Ying swiftly caught the whip. Seeing Chi Yan twirling her wrist, looking a little tired, she lowered her brows and bowed, asking, "Your Majesty, are you still going to the hunting grounds?"
Chi Zhenyi came from a family of military generals and was quite good at riding, but she never had the opportunity to ride a horse after entering the palace.
After arriving at the Nanyang Palace, she learned that there was a hunting ground nearby, which immediately piqued her interest. However, she was told that her beloved horse had died of the heat. How could she not be angry?
But Chi Lan is not Queen Chi. At this moment, she cares more about Princess Mingyue, who often contradicts her, than the groom.
She looked at the proud little girl and saw that her fair face was splashed with several long and thin bloodstains. The bright red color was particularly pleasing to the eye.
Chi Qi leaned forward slightly and stretched out her hand. Zhao Mingyue trembled with fear, and there was a hint of fear in her eyes when she looked at her.
However, Chi Qi did not do anything to her. Instead, she gently wiped the blood off her face.
"Mingyue, since you care so much about the groom's life, I can let them off the hook for your sake. However, as compensation, can you accompany me hunting?" Chi Lu had a smile on her face, but her eyes were still cold.
Zhao Mingyue was stunned for a moment, then shook her head and said, "Mother, I don't know how to ride a horse, I'm afraid I'll spoil your fun."
"So Mingyue doesn't know how to ride a horse. I remember there are riding instructors in the palace. Haven't you learned that?"
Zhao Mingyue said: "That is what the princes should learn. As a princess, I should be a role model for women all over the world. Riding horses and hunting is such a disrespectful thing, it is not something I should do." At the end of her speech, her voice lowered.
Her personal maid Chun Ying's face suddenly changed. Wasn't this a satire on Queen Chi, who was the mother of the country but lacked decorum and could not be a role model for women?
Chi Yu's face remained smiling. "That's great. Princess, if you don't want to be the hunter, then be the prey. This hunting game will definitely be very interesting. In ancient times, people used to entertain their parents with performances. I think that Princess is a good and filial child. She will definitely not refuse my mother and make her sad, right?"
Zhao Mingyue widened her eyes in disbelief. She was the emperor's daughter after all. No matter how dissatisfied Empress Chi was with her in the past, she only dared to torture her by making her copy books and kneel. She would never treat her as a prey and tease and humiliate her like today.
She was so angry that she lost her mind and shouted, "I won't go! Even if I really regard the Queen as my mother, how can the Queen treat me as your daughter?"
Everyone was shocked. Following Princess Mingyue, the palace maids and eunuchs all knelt on the ground. Chunying apologized in a trembling voice, "The princess is young and ignorant. It was not her intention to offend the queen. Please have mercy on her, Your Highness."
Chi Qi admired the anger on Princess Mingyue's face, and the corners of her mouth raised even more.
Of course, resisting fiercely or submitting to it was more fun, wasn't it? She was already looking forward to the next hunting game.
Chi Yan averted her gaze, ignoring everyone's pleas, and turned to leave. "I should go change my clothes. Danying, I hope you'll have prepared your horse, bow and arrow, and prey by the time I arrive at the hunting grounds."
Dan Ying agreed, then walked up to Zhao Mingyue and said respectfully, "Princess, please."
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