Transmigrated as a Cannon Fodder Wife A in Ancient Times - Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Wei Lan sat on a chair and watched Cao Qiushuang get tied to a long bench. Several guards had already stripped open the clothes on his back. Two guards held thick wooden sticks and stood on either side of Cao Qiushuang.

Sixty heavy strikes, with the young miss personally overseeing, would ruin Cao Qiushuang completely. Since that was the case, they didn’t need to fear his retaliation. Even if Cao Qiushuang recovered, he likely couldn’t stay in the mansion anymore.

“Begin,” Lu Zijin said calmly.

“Young miss, I grew up in the mansion. Even without great contributions, I worked hard. Are you really going to punish me for this useless person?” Cao Qiushuang, tied like a suckling pig on a chopping board, had barely finished speaking when intense pain struck his back.

“Ah! Ah, my back! I’m the leader of the mansion’s guards! How dare you treat me like this? I’ll never let you off!” Cao Qiushuang screamed hysterically.

Hearing his threats, the two guards struck even harder. They used the thickest sticks, and as adult Qianyuan men, their blows were heavy. After seven or eight strikes, Cao Qiushuang’s back was already torn open.

His voice shifted from excited defiance to a tearful whimper. “Young miss, I’ve been loyal to you, utterly loyal! You can’t treat me like this for Wei Lan! Ah! It hurts! It hurts so much!”

“Hit harder. Have you not eaten?” Lu Zijin asked with a frown.

The two guards didn’t dare provoke Lu Zijin’s anger. They struck with all their might, as if nursing from a bottle. Even their arms grew numb from the effort. Wails filled Jingchen Courtyard.

By the thirtieth strike, Cao Qiushuang’s back was covered in bl00d. He no longer had the strength to shout, his breaths weak, looking as if he might faint at any moment.

One guard hesitated and asked, “Young miss, he seems to have passed out. Should we continue?”

Lu Zijin looked at the guard coldly and said, “Continue.”

If she hadn’t just threatened to sell them off, these guards wouldn’t have been so obedient. Since they weren’t naturally compliant, she had to make them obey. Cao Qiushuang was a perfect example.

The two guards exchanged a glance and continued. Among the remaining guards, one clever one fetched a basin of cold water from the kitchen and poured it over Cao Qiushuang’s head. The icy water soaked his wounds, waking him. Cao Qiushuang weakly looked at Lu Zijin.

“Young miss, I won’t dare again. Never again,” he said. Seeing Lu Zijin unmoved, he turned his gaze to Wei Lan. “Master, I was blind. I truly won’t dare again. I’ll never disrespect you again. Please save me, I beg you.”

Cao Qiushuang’s tears streamed down, his expression barely alive.

Wei Lan didn’t look at him much. This wasn’t the first time he had opposed her. Since Lu Zijin was handling the household, Wei Lan wouldn’t plead for him. That would disrupt Lu Zijin’s rhythm.

So, one strike followed another. The courtyard grew eerily quiet, with only the sound of sticks hitting flesh echoing.

By the sixtieth strike, Cao Qiushuang had fainted. His back was torn open, bl00d flowing freely. In this state, without immediate treatment, he wouldn’t survive a few days.

Lu Zijin hadn’t intended to kill him, but Cao Qiushuang’s arrogance, treating the mansion’s guards as his own, demanded severe punishment.

“Throw him aside. Don’t let him be an eyesore. You two, rest in the back. Send two others to continue the punishment,” Lu Zijin ordered calmly.

The guards rushed forward, eager to show their loyalty to Lu Zijin. After today’s display, it was clear the young miss was purging the mansion of disobedient people. They didn’t want to be sold off.

The few kneeling on the ground were terrified. The guard leader was nearly beaten to death. Their fate wouldn’t be much better. Among them, Wang Yiding regretted the most. If he had known it would come to this, he wouldn’t have dared disrespect Wei Lan, even if beaten to death.

Wang Yiding knelt, his head buried low, almost touching the ground, as if Lu Zijin wouldn’t notice him.

Seeing his cowardly act, Lu Zijin chuckled and said, “Bring him over. Cao Qiushuang said you tipped him off. What? Does this mansion belong to the Cao family now? Or does Cao Qiushuang, who pays your wages, make you so loyal to him that you’re less loyal to me?”

“Young miss, spare me! Master, spare me! I was blind and foolish. I won’t dare again. Never again. Only you and the master are my lords. I was wrong, so wrong. Please, young miss, spare my wretched life,” Wang Yiding said, kowtowing repeatedly. The heavy “thud thud thud” of his forehead hitting the ground echoed. His forehead bled.

Lu Zijin glanced at him and said, “Tie him up. Thirty strikes.”

Wang Yiding wasn’t entirely hopeless. A good lesson would make the mansion’s people obedient. Dismissing too many at once and bringing in new faces risked introducing spies, which would be more trouble.

Hearing thirty strikes, Wang Yiding felt a moment of relief. But then he realized thirty wasn’t light. Without quick treatment, he might lose his life.

“Young miss, spare me! Master, spare me…”

Before he could say more, the guards tied him to the bench. The new guards were strong, and the “thud thud thud” of strikes rang out, accompanied by Wang Yiding’s piercing screams.

By the twentieth strike, Wang Yiding’s back was torn open.

He cried and begged, “I won’t dare again. Young miss, spare me. Spare me, I won’t dare again. Ah!”

After thirty strikes, Wang Yiding was still conscious but could only gasp. His throat couldn’t make a sound, likely from internal injuries.

Lu Zijin waved her hand. The guards, now practiced, threw Wang Yiding aside.

Her gaze swept over the remaining people, and she smiled, asking, “Who’s next?”

Her words terrified those kneeling, especially the two old maids.

Lu Zijin’s eyes fell on Li Zhufeng and Zhao Linghui. “Since no one’s stepping forward, it’s you two.”

“Young miss, this old servant was wrong. I won’t gossip about the master again. Master, please, please beg the young miss for us. We won’t dare again, truly won’t dare. We’ll serve you well,” Li Zhufeng cried, tears and snot mixing.

Lu Zijin signaled the guards. They immediately grabbed Li Zhufeng and tied her to the bench. A clever guard brought another bench.

Lu Zijin nodded at him and said, “Tie her up too. Twenty strikes each.”

The guards, hearing Lu Zijin’s words, grabbed Zhao Linghui and tied her to the bench with ropes to prevent struggling.

“Young miss, no! This old servant’s frail bones can’t endure this. Spare me!” Zhao Linghui’s cries were shrill, audible outside Jingchen Courtyard.

Li Zhufeng’s gaze fixed on Yun Xiang. If Yun Xiang hadn’t misled them, they wouldn’t have sided with Cao Qiushuang. Li Zhufeng nearly hated Yun Xiang to death.

She gritted her teeth and said, “Young miss, I accept your punishment, but we were truly misled by Yun Xiang. She hinted you were angry at the master over this. Thinking she was your trusted maid, we believed she knew your intentions and slandered the master. Yun Xiang is scheming. You mustn’t keep such a person by your side.”

“You’re slandering me! Young miss, I’m loyal to you and the master. I never instructed her. She’s lying!” Yun Xiang panicked, defending herself.

Lu Zijin’s lips curved slightly. She hadn’t expected Li Zhufeng to be so clever, biting back at Yun Xiang before punishment. But knowing Yun Xiang, she likely said something.

Lu Zijin raised an eyebrow at Yun Xiang and smiled faintly, saying, “She makes sense. I recall you’ve disrespected the master more than once.”

“Young miss, spare me! Spare me! I won’t dare disrespect the master again,” Yun Xiang said, terrified. Cao Qiushuang still lay bleeding on the ground. She didn’t want to end up like that.

Lu Zijin glanced at her calmly and said slowly, “I treat everyone equally. But since you’ve served me since childhood, I’ll be lenient.”

“Thank you, young miss. Thank you…”

“Wait, I’m not done,” Lu Zijin said, looking at Yun Xiang. “I’ll spare you the beating, but you must be punished. One hundred slaps.”

“Young miss, no! I won’t dare again. I won’t dare,” Yun Xiang cried. She tried to stand and flee, but Qianxue’s assigned maids held her down. Qianxue stepped forward, rolled up her sleeves, and began slapping Yun Xiang.

The courtyard filled with the sounds of slaps and beatings, mixed with Yun Xiang and Li Zhufeng’s screams.

Wei Lan sat, stunned. This wasn’t what she expected. She thought she’d need to fetch witnesses from Yuya Pavilion to prove her innocence. Instead, without her saying much, Lu Zijin had disciplined the servants thoroughly.

No wonder she was the female lead—truly decisive.

Seeing Wei Lan looking at her, Lu Zijin turned and asked softly, “Are you hungry?”

Wei Lan shook her head. “Not hungry. I’ll eat after you finish punishing them.”

She felt satisfied, not wanting to eat. Yun Xiang’s face was swollen bigger than a pig’s head. Wei Lan found it refreshing, her mood uplifted.

She wanted to treat these people kindly, but they overstepped. Today, Lu Zijin trusted her, so she didn’t need to prove herself. If Lu Zijin hadn’t believed her, these beasts would’ve smeared her name. She didn’t think Lu Zijin’s punishments were harsh. Some people were vile—treat them kindly, and they’d climb over you.

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Li Zhufeng and Zhao Linghui’s backs were ruined. They were in better shape than Cao Qiushuang, still conscious.

Lu Zijin waved her hand. The guards, now skilled, untied the ropes and threw Li Zhufeng and Zhao Linghui to the side to lie on the ground.

Yun Xiang had fainted but was woken by Qianxue with a cup of water, then beaten again.

Qianxue, a martial artist, had sore hands from slapping. Yun Xiang’s face was beyond a pig’s head, too gruesome to look at closely.

“Spare me, young miss. My face, my face,” Yun Xiang wailed. Her arms were held back, forcing her to kneel for the slaps.

Yun Xiang regretted deeply. If she hadn’t spoken, Li Zhufeng wouldn’t have bitten her. She wouldn’t face a hundred slaps. Would her face be ruined? Would the young master still like her?

Qianxue didn’t care about her thoughts. She’d long disliked the disloyal Yun Xiang. If the young miss didn’t still need her, Qianxue would’ve slapped her to death.

Finally, after a hundred slaps, Yun Xiang spat bl00d and fainted.

Qianxue had the maids throw her into the courtyard to lie with the other punished servants.