Su Xiuer was stunned by the bailiff's smile. Just now, this bailiff had a stern face, with an attitude of handling official business.
Now he was smiling, perhaps she had misread him.
Su Xiuer blinked. The bailiff took half a step forward, glanced at the execution bench, and lowered his voice, "Does the young lady have any other questions?"
The smile on the bailiff's face was still there; she wasn't seeing things.
Su Xiuer, believing she had nothing to gain for the bailiff, immediately guessed that this bailiff was simply easy to get along with.
Didn't the bailiff guarding the drum just kindly advise her to leave earlier?
So, good people are more numerous than bad people. Not everyone in the Capital City is like the Duan Mansion, bullying others with their influence.
"No," Su Xiuer came to her senses, bent down, and lay on the execution bench.
Seeing Su Xiuer lying down, the bailiff secretly wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He thought this young lady had quite a background and was quite easy to talk to.
He was afraid the young lady would find the execution bench uncomfortable. If she had asked him to get a soft cloth to cushion it, he would have had to do so, despite the implications for the Eldest Princess's Mansion and the First Prince.
However, doing so would have gone against the Drum Court Envoy's instructions to do it "secretly."
The bailiff raised the plank high, then looked up and saw his Drum Court Envoy returning, standing in the corner.
The bailiff's hand gripping the plank tightened. He looked up and swept his gaze over the surrounding common people.
As the plank fell, he silently recited, "half the force, half the force," which meant it would be completely canceled out.
With a "crack," the bailiff used full force on the first plank. The second and third planks felt like a tickle.
Su Xiuer lay on the execution bench, her fingers digging into the gaps between the bench legs, mentally prepared to endure it.
The first plank falling made her body tense up from the pain. Afterward, she only heard the sound of the planks falling.
Everything has its technique, and being beaten with planks is no exception.
How to make the plank fall with impact but not hurt when it strikes the body was not difficult for a bailiff in charge of punishments.
Even so, he was trembling as he did it. He looked up at Su Xiuer's gaze and then at the onlookers.
The bailiff tentatively asked, "Young lady, does it hurt a lot? This is the price one pays for striking the Dengwen Drum."
As he spoke, he quickly winked at Su Xiuer.
Su Xiuer's mind felt like it was stuffed with paste. She thought, it doesn't hurt at all. Has this bailiff encountered a ghost?
But she wasn't foolish; on the contrary, she was very smart. After receiving the bailiff's wink, she cooperated by shouting loudly.
"Ouch... it hurts so much... Ouch... it's killing me... Mother... it hurts!"
She had originally decided not to cry out even if it killed her, thinking it was too embarrassing. Now, she recalled the rhythm of a pig's squeals when she slaughtered them and began to wail.
Between losing face and pain, she was willing to lose face a little.
The experts watch the skill, the amateurs watch the excitement.
Those who knew martial arts could naturally tell that Su Xiuer was faking it, such as Shen Hui and Ye Jiu, and also Dong Mei and Dong Song.
Ye Jiu felt embarrassed and covered half his face, scanning his surroundings and whispering to Shen Hui, "Young Master, it's a good thing people don't know we know Miss Su, otherwise this would be too embarrassing."
After speaking, he noticed his Young Master hadn't responded.
His Young Master had always been indifferent to matters outside of official duties, so Ye Jiu found his silence normal.
But when he casually looked up, he found that the smile in his Young Master's eyes had not ceased.
At this, Ye Jiu's eyeballs widened, and then he heard his Young Master softly say, "Don't you think she seems so vibrant like this?"
"She is quite vibrant. I wonder where Young Master Shen dug up such a treasure."
A playful voice sounded from beside him. Shen Hui turned his head and saw a man in a scarlet robe, looking dashing and elegant, who had appeared beside him at some point.
Ye Jiu straightened his body and respectfully said, "First Prince!"
The First Prince, Su Jinghan, nodded slightly, his gaze returning to Su Xiuer.
When he clearly saw Su Xiuer's appearance, Su Jinghan's eyes lit up.
Even though he was a Prince and had lived in the Imperial Palace, which was full of beauties, since childhood, he was still stunned by Su Xiuer's appearance.
However, what didn't match her stunning appearance was her cry of pain, which was more unpleasant than a pig's squeal.
Such a beautiful woman, yet she had such a mouth.
The First Prince smiled at the corner of his mouth, and for some reason, his good impression of the woman before him increased, and he blurted out from the bottom of his heart, "Interesting."
The smile in Shen Hui's eyes had disappeared. He shifted his body slightly, skillfully blocking Su Jinghan's view, and his voice was aloof, making it impossible to discern his emotions, "Why are you here?"
Su Jinghan withdrew his gaze and looked at Shen Hui, saying seriously, "Since you sent someone to find this Prince, how could this Prince not show up? You suddenly returned to the Capital City, and by now, Father Emperor has likely received the news."
Soldiers guarding the border were not allowed to enter the Capital City without a summons. As the Heir of Prince Dong Jing, Shen Hui had been stationed in the Northern Territory with Prince Dong Jing since childhood.
Because he rarely returned to the Capital City, few people there recognized him.
He was familiar with the First Prince, Su Jinghan, because Su Jinghan had been sent to the Northern Territory by the Emperor since childhood to train with Prince Dong Jing. He had only returned to the Capital City in recent years. They were not brothers, but their bond was stronger than that of brothers.
"I will go to the palace with you now," Shen Hui said. "We can talk about some things on the way."
"Mm," Su Jinghan nodded. He looked up and noticed that the person sent by the Emperor had also arrived and was looking towards the entrance of the Dengwen Drum Academy.
In addition, people from various prominent families in the Capital City had been sent to observe.
After all, this was the first time the current Emperor had struck the Dengwen Drum since his ascension to the throne.
Naturally, they had to find out exactly which "immortal" had acted so unreliably, forcing someone to strike the Dengwen Drum.
Those who had done wrong deeds were also anxious in their hearts, holding their breath, reflecting on whether they had pushed people to such an extent.
After mentioning the experts, there were also the amateurs.
The common people watching did not understand the intricacies of being beaten with planks.
They only heard the "crack, crack, crack" of the planks shaking the heavens, and then Su Xiuer's harsh cries of pain, which made them feel as if they were being punished along with her. They concluded that Su Xiuer must be in extreme pain.
Each of them held their breath, feeling that Su Xiuer would likely not be able to endure the thirty heavy planks.
"This young lady is truly pitiful. She's only taken nineteen planks and is already in so much pain. How can she endure the remaining forty-one planks?"
"I also think she won't survive after sixty heavy planks."
"Alas, yesterday Scholar Wei's proposal to Minister Duan had such a grand display. Look at this young lady now, how pitiful. If Scholar Wei hadn't truly wronged her and bullied her too much, how could she have risked her life to file an imperial complaint?"
Those who had seen Su Xiuer in the market began to speak up for her.
The buzzing discussion mixed with Su Xiuer's cries of pain made the entrance of the Dengwen Drum Academy even livelier.
The bailiff carrying out the punishment, hearing the commotion around him, began to doubt himself, wondering if he had indeed hit too hard.
Therefore, he raised the plank higher in his hand, but brought it down even lighter, only daring to make a sound on Su Xiuer's buttocks.
Su Xiuer felt that it wasn't even a tickle now. She was also worried about being exposed, so she cooperated by howling even louder. She almost couldn't help but tell the bailiff, "Hit harder, I'm not that weak."
Just then, people from the Duan Mansion finally arrived.
Wang Quan, leading two house servants, squeezed through the crowd. He frowned as he looked at Su Xiuer, who was lying on the execution bench, seemingly in agony.
"Second Steward, it really is that Butcher Su," exclaimed a house servant beside him.
Although Wang Quan was a steward in the mansion, he had never been in charge of punishments and was not clear about the intricacies of these planks.
He observed carefully and frowned, "Why is she howling so loudly, yet there's no blood?"
Another house servant beside him said, "Second Steward, that Butcher Su is wearing black clothing, so the blood might not show through. The Dengwen Drum reaches the Emperor directly. Butcher Su is just an unpresentable country village woman; no one would risk bending the law for her."
"Mm," Wang Quan thought this made sense and dismissed his doubts. At the same time, he was afraid of delaying matters. Regardless, he returned to the Duan Mansion first to report this matter to Duan Zhenzhu.
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