46 Bloodstain
◎Afraid of hurting her◎
Normally, there was only one lamp that was always burning in the ancestral hall, but at this moment, it was suddenly bright inside, with several oil lamps flickering brightly, and shadowy figures of people were visible. From time to time, the sound of sticks hitting flesh could be heard, again and again, and Shu Yao's heart began to tremble.
The road was slippery due to the snow and she almost fell.
The door of the ancestral hall was open, and the scene inside was clearly visible. Ji Shijing was tied to a cross, wearing only a single piece of clothing covered in blood. His hands and feet were bound with iron chains. The rough chains kept rubbing against his skin, leaving several bloody marks.
He hung his head, dying, his lips pale and chapped, and his breath was barely there.
The two big men each took a wooden stick as thick as their arms and hit him again and again. The force was so great that even the cross shook.
Shu Yao's pupils dilated as she rushed to Ji Shijing. She didn't know where she got the strength from but pushed away the two big men on both sides. The two men were caught off guard and were pushed back half a step. They were a little bit unbelievable for a moment.
Shu Yao held up Ji Shijing's face and gently pushed away the loose hair on his forehead. Only then did she discover that he also had two more wounds on his face, which were hideous and terrifying, and shocking.
Ji Shijing was so weak that he didn't even have the strength to open his eyelids. Perhaps he knew Shu Yao was coming, he moved his lips and wanted to say something, but the sound was stuck in his throat and he couldn't make it out.
A tear flashed in Shu Yao's eyes. The man in front of her was covered in scars, as if he would break if he moved. Her hands were covered in his blood, warm and burning.
The old lady calmly sat in the seat of honor drinking tea. When she saw Shu Yao come in, she seemed to have expected it. She picked up the heater on her lap and said, "Shu girl, you're just in time. You live with this sickly guy every day. I'm sure you know about his theft."
Shu Yao then looked at her, her teeth chattering with anger: "Do you have any evidence?"
The old lady sneered, "In this huge mansion, everyone is clean, except you and that sickly guy."
"He was asking me for monthly allowance a few days ago, but who knows what, he stole my money the next day." She spoke with details.
Shu Yao glared at her angrily: "You said the Second Young Master took the money, but show me the evidence."
The old lady said: "You are so protective of him, could it be that you two stole it together?"
Shu Yaoqi's chest was heaving with anger. She kept reminding herself to stay calm in her heart: "Everyone can talk nonsense. You said we took it, so it's what we took. Then I said you used it yourself."
The old lady winked at the maid beside her, and the maid stepped forward and slapped Shu Yao: "How dare you speak to the old lady like that? This old servant will teach you a lesson on behalf of the old lady, this ignorant bride."
The slap came unexpectedly. Before Shu Yao could react, she was hit hard on the face. Her head tilted to the side and blood flowed from the corner of her mouth.
She used her full strength in this slap, and immediately, her left cheek began to swell up.
When she came to her senses, two old maids were already holding her on both sides, and she couldn't move at all.
Seeing her humiliated, the old lady felt very relieved, and even her anger over losing the money was reduced by half. "Tell me, where did you hide the hundred taels of silver?"
Shu Yao spat out a mouthful of blood: "The innocent are innocent. The old lady arrested me and the Second Young Master without any reason, just to seek revenge."
Feeling stabbed in the heart, the old lady immediately ordered someone to bring up the torture instruments.
She was certainly unhappy about losing the hundred taels of silver, but if she could take this opportunity to punish Shu Yao and Ji Shijing, then the money would be worth it.
Even if she was seeking revenge for personal gain, no one in this mansion dared to say "no".
One after another, shocking torture instruments were brought up. The servants turned their heads away when they saw them. There were ten-finger pliers, red-hot irons, and the most terrifying bloody hooks. They couldn't imagine how painful it would be to use these things on people.
It would be a lie for Shu Yao to say she wasn't scared when she saw these things. Her breathing became rapid and her body began to tremble unconsciously.
The old lady raised her hand slightly, and two big men approached her with a red-hot iron. The iron was steaming, and as it got closer and closer, Shu Yao felt the temperature all over her body rising.
But just when the branding iron was about to touch her skin, the old lady suddenly coughed lightly. The big man immediately understood, put down what he was holding and turned to pick up the more terrifying blood torture hook.
Holding the hook in his hand, he couldn't help but shake his head. Even men couldn't withstand such punishment, let alone the weak woman in front of him.
The Blood Punishment Hook is also called the Soul-Snatching Hook. It is covered with barbs. First, use the hook to hook the collarbone. When pulling outwards, the barbs will penetrate the fascia, making people's life worse than death.
Since the founding of the dynasty, this criminal law has been included in the Dali Temple's banned laws because it is too cruel and can never be used again.
"Madam, this is a forbidden punishment." The big man hesitated. If you use a forbidden punishment without authorization, you will be sent to prison.
Old lady: "Don't talk nonsense."
Shu Yao looked at the barbed hook in the big man's hand in horror. She could already imagine it pulling at her body. She looked up at the old lady and said, "You are abusing lynching."
The old lady smiled, her drooping eyes couldn't help but roll up, she looked in a very good mood: "This is my Ji family rule, even the king of heaven can't change it."
Shu Yao felt somewhat desperate. She struggled hard as she watched the torture device getting closer and closer to her, but it was all in vain. In an instant, something flashing with cold light penetrated deeply into her body. "Puff" - blood flowed out from her collarbone, and the hook stirred the flesh and blood inside her body.
The extreme pain almost made Shu Yao faint. Her face became paler and paler, her whole body was convulsing, her throat was sore, and she had lost her voice and could not make a sound.
At this moment, she was like a fish on a chopping board, and could only be slaughtered by the executioner at will.
She could even hear the sound of her own flesh and blood rolling. Great pain surrounded her. She gritted her teeth, her eyes full of anger.
With a "crash", the hook was pulled out of the body, covered in blood. There was a big hole in her collarbone, and blood oozed out like water.
The big man looked at the stubborn woman in front of him and couldn't help but admire her. Just as he was about to hook her somewhere else, a drunk figure rushed in.
Ji Tianbao was disheveled, holding a wine jug in his hand. He stumbled over to the old lady and said while burping, "Hurry, Grandma, give me some money."
Seeing him drink so much, the old lady felt distressed and quickly asked the maid to prepare some sobering soup.
"Tianbao, why do you want money?"
Ji Tianbao sat down, already feeling tipsy. "I lost money gambling and owed money. I went to ask my mother for it, but she said she gave it all to my eldest sister as a dowry. So I had no choice but to ask my grandmother."
When the old lady heard that Guo Cuiping had given all her money to Ji Zhao, she cursed angrily, "This prodigal woman actually gave the money to an outsider. Just wait and see how I'll deal with her tomorrow."
Ji Tianbao was a little impatient: "Where's the money? Give it to me quickly, everyone is still waiting for me to continue."
The old lady quickly comforted him: "I'll ask Mammy to get it right away."
Ji Tianbao casually threw the empty wine jug on the ground: "Grandma, I took a hundred taels from your room today, but I didn't expect to lose it all in less than half a day. I must win it back tonight."
The old lady grabbed his hand and said in shock, "What did you say? You came to my room today and took a hundred taels?"
Ji Tianbao shook his head, obviously drunk, and answered in a daze: "Well, a small broken box filled with one hundred taels..."
The old lady quickly covered his mouth and asked someone to take Ji Tianbao away. Ji Tianbao was drunk and acted crazy in the ancestral hall.
Shu Yao heard their conversation, covered her wound, and asked Ji Tianbao with difficulty: "Did you steal the silver from the old lady's room?"
Ji Tianbao looked at Shu Yao in front of him, and he chuckled, "Beauty." Then he rushed towards her, but he found that his steps were weak and he staggered and couldn't walk at all.
He said, "Yes, I took it at noon today, exactly one hundred taels, no more, no less." Anyway, his grandmother would not blame him for taking her things.
The old lady looked anxious: "Tianbao, stop talking."
The nanny who went to get the silver came back soon. After getting the silver, Ji Tianbao staggered out. The old lady was worried and asked two servants to support him.
Shu Yao stood up with the help of a pillar. She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and said, "Old Madam, your silver was taken by Ji Tianbao. Now that the truth is out, shouldn't you give justice to me and the Second Young Master?"
The old lady looked calm on the surface, but her heart was in turmoil.
Instead, the old nanny beside her said, "Young Master Tianbao has been drinking, so he's bound to talk nonsense. Don't take it seriously."
The old lady reacted immediately: "Yes, Tianbao was talking nonsense after drinking."
Shu Yao raised the corners of her mouth and couldn't help but sneer. She glanced at the people around her: "I'm sure everyone heard what Ji Tianbao said just now. As for whether it was drunken nonsense, I believe everyone can judge it. Today, the old lady abused lynching, which is also obvious to everyone. If what happened tonight gets out one day, I wonder if the government will hold her accountable for abuse of lynching."
When she heard the word "prohibition" earlier, she knew that what the old lady did today was dishonorable.
The maids, old women and servants looked at each other, and even the big man holding the hook lowered his hand.
The old lady's chest was heaving as she looked at the two big men who were invited to carry out the execution. She thought to herself that these two people were brought back from outside, and they might spread the news everywhere. It would not be so easy for Dayong to inherit the Ji Mansion.
When she thought about how this matter might endanger her son's interests, she could only release Shu Yao and Ji Shijing for the time being. However, she did not lose out by letting them both suffer a great crime today.
Thinking of this, she said, "Maybe there was some misunderstanding about what happened today. I will ask Tianbao about it tomorrow. Let's all go."
After a pause, she added, "If what happened today is accidentally spread by someone, don't blame me for being cruel and ruthless." She said the last sentence with gritted teeth.
Everyone nodded.
As the cold wind blew, the prayer flags in the ancestral hall fluttered, and only the faint light of the eternal lamp remained.
The surroundings were dim and the offering tablets looked eerie.
Shu Yao bit the tip of her tongue to prevent herself from fainting. She staggered to Ji Shijing's side and struggled to untie him. Ji Shijing seemed to have regained some strength. He raised his eyelids and his gaze fell on the wound on her collarbone. He opened his mouth and a voice escaped from his throat: "It hurts a lot."
Shu Yao's strength gradually ran out: "A Jing, let's go home."
Ji Shijing fell from the cross, his center of gravity was unstable, and he fell to the ground with Shu Yao. He fell on her, their skin touching and their blood mixing.
Shu Yao hissed, the wound on her collarbone hurting badly. Ji Shijing probably realized that he was pressing on her wound, and he lifted his body with great effort.
Shu Yao was already extremely tired. She lay on the cold ground, looking at the prayer flags floating above her head, and fainted.
…
In the following days, the gates of Chunhua Pavilion where Shu Yao and Ji Shijing lived remained closed. It was not that she had not thought about going to the yamen to file a complaint, but during her time in Ji's mansion, she knew that the high-ranking officials in the yamen had a deep connection with the Ji family. There was no need for her to be so foolish as to go to the yamen to seek justice for herself, as it might only get her into trouble.
Shu Yao's clothes were half taken off, and she was about to remove the gauze on her collarbone when a bony hand took over: "Let me do it."
Ji Shijing carefully helped her remove the gauze, moving gently for fear of hurting her.
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