Abandoned Woman Busy Farming

Chapter 1374: Chapter 1376 Still Selfish_1

Qi Qingfeng, having lived a life of luxury for many years, had put on weight, with flesh bulging at both cheeks. A slap to his face resounded loudly or not, that wasn’t certain, but the flesh on his face certainly quivered upon impact, and the fat on the other cheek wobbled out and then bounced back.

Bai Ruozhu couldn’t help but curve her eyes in amusement—the scene was quite comical indeed.

”Forgive me, Madam Bai. It’s my fault for not knowing how to speak properly and disturbing your peace. It’s all my fault,” Qi Qingfeng said as he delivered another crisp slap to his other cheek.

Qi Ting, who had fallen to the ground, sat up with a scornful look in her eyes. She found her father’s behavior utterly embarrassing. Surely, if she had been the daughter of her eldest uncle, she wouldn’t have been treated like this, right?

Qi Ting couldn’t help but glance at Qingyan. During the days she had taken care of her great uncle, she found that he was kind-hearted and took special care of the younger generation. In private, he had also given her much guidance, and she held great reverence for him in her heart. But...

She bit her lip. How wonderful would it have been if she hadn’t been coerced by her father to attack her great uncle? This was all her father’s doing!

Qi Qingfeng gave Bai Ruozhu and Jiang Yichun a sycophantic smile, while Bai Ruozhu gave him an indifferent glance and said, ”Don’t look at us. Aren’t you here to apologize to your elder brother?”

”That’s right, elder brother, please forgive me this once. I am your own brother after all, blood is thicker than water. It’s my fault for handling things improperly. However you want to punish me, I have no complaints,” Qi Qingfeng said to Qingyan.

After all, it was his own brother. Seeing Qi Qingfeng’s flattery, Qingyan felt both annoyed and distressed, and even some self-reproach. If he hadn’t left home back then, would his brother have turned out like this? If he had cared for his brother more, kept a tighter rein on him, might he have grown into someone more responsible?

With these thoughts, Qingyan found it hard to bear.

Bai Ruozhu noticed Qingyan’s reluctance, but she wasn’t one to let Qi Qingfeng off the hook that easily. She was very protective and considered Qingyan her friend, having already placed him in her camp. How could she let her people be bullied?

”No complaints about how you’ll be punished?” Bai Ruozhu asked with raised eyebrows. ”Remember, you said it yourself.”

Qi Qingfeng nodded desperately, ”No complaints, no complaints. An elder brother is like a father, and it’s right for my elder brother to discipline me.”

Bai Ruozhu chuckled twice, flashing a set of white teeth and grinding them menacingly at Qi Qingfeng, scaring him into a shiver as he suddenly felt he might have misspoken.

”Someone, close the doors and beat the dog!” she signaled to Jianqi and the others with a look. ”Since he says he has no complaints about his punishment, let’s make sure to discipline him properly.”

Now Qi Qingfeng truly panicked, urgently looking towards Qingyan and pleadingly shouting, ”Elder brother...”

Qingyan looked as if he wanted to speak, but Bai Ruozhu cut him off, ”Uncle Qingyan, when someone makes a mistake, he must be punished. If you feel too much heartache to punish him, he won’t remember his wrongdoings and won’t improve. So, loving your brother shouldn’t lead to spoiling him.”

”You’re right, punishment is due!” Qingyan came to a realization—a mistake deserved punishment.

At that moment, Bai Ruozhu turned to her husband and asked, ”Husband, if one of your subordinates were to attack a comrade and then defect to the enemy, what would you do?”

Jiang Yichun spoke coldly, ”Cut off their hands and feet, and then throw them to the dogs.”

”No, no, no, this is murder, you can’t just kill people willy-nilly,” Qi Qingfeng cried out in terror.

Bai Ruozhu smiled broadly, ”Since everyone here is mine, I could just kill you and dissolve your body with corpse-dissolving liquid. Then who could prove you died here, huh?”

This time, Qi Qingfeng started crying, sobbing as he spoke, ”Elder brother, save me, I really know I was wrong. I shouldn’t have foolishly sided with the great elder, let alone allow Ting’er to attack you. Please give me another chance, I’ll definitely change, definitely change!”

This time, he seemed much more sincere and didn’t try to push all the blame onto Qi Ting alone.

Qingyan didn’t speak this time; he feared his own soft heart might get the better of him, so he left it to Bai Ruozhu to deal with. He knew Bai Ruozhu wasn’t really going to kill Qi Qingfeng.

”Seeing as you told the truth, I’ll spare your dog life. The punishment can be lighter, just sever your limbs and don’t feed them to the dogs,” Bai Ruozhu said, giving Jianqi a look.

Jianqi, hailing from the dark guards and having killed plenty before, with his naturally cold demeanor, caused Qi Qingfeng to collapse in terror on the ground, endlessly begging for mercy.

”Hmph, now you know fear? Where was that fear when you were betraying your own elder brother? Jianqi, give him forty lashes, let him reflect properly!” Bai Ruozhu commanded.

”Yes.” Jianqi responded, then grabbed Qi Qingfeng, dragging him to a column inside the hall, where he tied him up before mercilessly whipping him.

With one lash, Qi Qingfeng’s clothes ripped, his flesh split open, and blood poured out. Most people couldn’t withstand Jianqi’s methods, and there were still thirty-nine lashes to go.

Bai Ruozhu returned to sit beside Jiang Yichun, who smilingly poured her a cup of tea, whispering, ”Wet your throat.”

She took the tea and had a sip, then set down the cup, her gaze landing on Qi Ting, who was looking down, yet there was a sense of satisfaction in her eyes.

”And there’s her, committing treachery and attempted murder of an elder, how should she be handled, huh?” Bai Ruozhu mused, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

At this, Qi Ting grew anxious, saying, ”I didn’t want to do it either. It was my father who forced me. These past days my conscience has been tormented, feeling guilty towards my uncle.” She looked pitifully at Qingyan, ”Uncle, can you forgive me?”

”I can’t!” Bai Ruozhu interjected, ”Don’t act so innocent. If you really were kind-hearted, even if your father forced you, you could have secretly warned your uncle and thought of a plan together. In the end, isn’t it just because you are selfish? Now you play the pity card, but if your uncle had died at your hand, who would have pitied him? And would you really have felt remorse for the rest of your life? I think you’d feel like it’d be over and done with!”

”I didn’t, it was my father who forced me, saying if I didn’t comply, he’d marry me off to an old man in the Lun Family as a concubine. I didn’t want that. I was truly afraid. My father is capable of anything,” Qi Ting said, with the nearby screams of Qi Qingfeng sounding like a pig being slaughtered intensifying her desperation.

Bai Ruozhu chuckled coldly, ”So, to avoid becoming a concubine, you would go as far as to kill your elder? There were plenty of ways to not harm your uncle, yet you still chose to do it. What does that say? It says that you don’t care about your uncle’s life at all, only about yourself!”

After saying that, she turned to Muyu, ”Break one of her arms, and then give her twenty lashes. Don’t go easy!”

Muyu’s mouth twitched. Why was it his turn to hit a woman? As guards, they were never soft-handed. The lady’s reminder seemed almost belittling, didn’t it?