RPAGF Chapter 482 Whipping
Chapter 482 Whipping
Xie Zhiyan's expression remained calm as usual, with no reaction, as if he hadn't heard anything.
However, beneath his calm appearance, his slender fingers still clenched the wine cup in his hand, with his fingertips exerting slight force.
Only he himself knew how uneasy he was when he heard about Jiang Wantang.
It was clearly just an ordinary, insignificant sentence, but his heart ached inexplicably and his heartbeat stopped for a moment.
Xie Zhiyan frowned, his eyes dark.
I already know that she is living a good life now, so why do I still feel sad?
Why can't I control my emotions when I hear something about her?
Xie Zhiyan closed his eyelashes to hide the darkness in his eyes, then raised his hand calmly and drank the wine in the cup.
Zhao Yi had been with his brother for more than ten years and could tell at a glance that something was wrong with his mood.
Lu Jinan has been with him for quite some time, and he is also an experienced person, so how could he not understand?
But when it comes to love, only the person involved can truly understand the joys and sorrows involved, and no one else can persuade them.
Xie Zhiyan is an absolutely smart man. He knows more and is more sober than anyone else.
But his kind is the most terrifying. He is completely sober and watches himself sink step by step, and is willing to do so.
Knowing that it is impossible and fruitless, I still...feel the love and am trapped by love.
Thinking of this, Lu Jinan couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion in his heart.
A favored son of heaven, trapped himself in a cage for a woman.
But when he thought of that stunningly beautiful, cold and aloof, fox-like, yet tenacious and courageous woman, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
It seems that only such a wonderful woman can touch Xie Zhiyan, the flower on the high mountain.
Unfortunately......
At this time, a light snow suddenly began to fall from the originally gloomy and cold sky.
Lu Jinan looked at the falling snow outside and said thoughtfully, "It's snowing. I should go pick up Ayun and take her home."
After he finished speaking, he patted Xie Zhiyan on the shoulder, said goodbye to him and Zhao Yi, then left Xunhuan Tower and went to the palace.
After Lu Jinan left, Xie Zhiyan gently placed the wine cup in his hand on the green jade table beside him.
Judging from the situation, he should be leaving.
Zhao Yi grabbed his arm and asked in surprise, "Are you leaving now?"
"Why don't you stay and have a few more drinks with me?"
Xie Zhiyan put down the wine cup in his hand and said indifferently: "No, today is New Year's Eve, I have to go home early, and the whole family will gather together for a reunion dinner tonight."
According to the rules and customs of the Great Sheng Dynasty, New Year's Eve is a time to get rid of the old and welcome the new, just as the name suggests: to get rid of the old year and welcome the new year.
On New Year's Eve, people pay attention to the old customs of "reunion" and "staying up all night around the fire". Family members gather together to have a reunion dinner and stay up all night.
The candles must be kept burning all night long, and those who stay up to see the New Year must sit around the warm stove and wait for the bell to ring at midnight before drinking the warm Tusu wine.
Zhao Yi said dissatisfiedly, "It's only 1:45 to 2:00 PM, and the banquet hasn't ended yet, why are you so anxious?"
Xie Zhiyan looked up at the snow falling outside the window. His eyes, which were already superior and cold, looked particularly cold and indifferent under the reflection of the snow.
He spoke calmly, "Grandmother specifically instructed me this morning to wait until I return... and offer sacrifices at the ancestral hall before the banquet begins."
"Others may not know, but you know the rules of our Xie family..."
Zhao Yi seemed to suddenly remember something, and withdrew his hand awkwardly, his eyes gradually turning red.
The Xie family is a century-old prestigious family and can be said to be the leader among all the aristocratic families in Shengjing City.
They attach the most importance to etiquette and rules. The head of the family in every generation must be from the direct lineage. Therefore, the eldest legitimate son and the eldest grandson have the highest status in the clan.
Similarly, the requirements and rules for them are extremely strict.
However, as the next head of the Xie family, Xie Zhiyan insisted on withdrawing from the clan, and the price he paid was undoubtedly huge.
He took off his fancy clothes, put on white clothes, left his upper body bare and his hair loose...knelt in front of the clan ancestral hall, and was whipped with a nine-section vine whip in front of all the ancestors of the Xie family and a group of Xie family members of all ages.
The nine-section rattan whip is made of nine-section rattan that has grown for a hundred years, symbolizing the inheritance of nine clans. The surface of the rattan is covered with tiny barbs. The older the rattan is, the darker and sharper the barbs become.
Generally, this punishment is only imposed on those who have committed serious and unforgivable crimes in the clan, such as treason, betrayal of the clan, etc.
It can be said to be a deadly torture.
But no one in the Xie family has ever tried this in the past hundred years. Even those who made serious mistakes were eventually expelled from the family.
But Xie Zhiyan was different. He was the pride of the clan and the next heir to the family head. If he wanted to leave the clan, it would be tantamount to betrayal, which would not be an easy task.
Thus, he became the first descendant of the Xie family in a hundred years to voluntarily ask to be whipped with a nine-section vine whip.
The head of the family and the elders, considering that Xie Zhiyan was injured at the time and had made contributions to the clan, deliberately postponed the punishment and waited for Xie Zhiyan to recover so that he could take the punishment himself.
Even after His Majesty issued an edict allowing him to return to the clan, the elders of the clan deliberately turned a blind eye and took the punishment lightly.
However, his father, Xie Chong, the head of the Xie family, Xie's grandmother, and Xie Zhiyan himself had no intention of revealing the matter.
In their words, it is:
Xie Chong, the current head of the Xie family, said: "If you leave the clan, the punishment will be serious. We, the Xie family, treat everyone equally in the face of rules and laws!"
Xie's grandmother: "If you do something wrong, you should be punished accordingly. As the heir of the Xie family, Ah Yan should set an example!"
Xie Zhiyan: "I, the unfilial descendant, Xie Zhiyan, am willing to accept the punishment myself!"
Zhao Yi still remembered that day when Xie Zhiyan took off his Dali Temple official robe, put on white clothes, left his upper body bare, and let his long hair down. He knelt on the bluestone steps in front of the Xie clan's ancestral hall and was whipped by Xie Chong, the head of the Xie clan.
With one whip, flesh flew off and blood splattered everywhere...
Xie Chong hit with whip after whip, showing no mercy, and each whip made the flesh bleed.
But Xie Zhiyan gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and refused to say a word.
Soon, he was whipped into a bloody mess, his white clothes soaked with bright red blood, and the blood flowed down the high bluestone steps in streams...
At first, some of the angry elders felt a little relieved when they saw Xie Zhiyan was about to be punished.
Later, when they saw the whip being hit again and again, until his back was covered in blood, they were all stunned and gasped.
The younger people who were watching had already turned pale with fear, and some of them even fainted with a scream.
They had only heard about it, but had never witnessed the lethality of this century-old vine whip!
If the fight goes on like this, Xie Zhiyan will be crippled at least if not killed!
Xie Zhiyan is the next head of the Xie family that the entire family has already recognized and trusted. He is young and promising, and his prestige in the family is several times higher than that of his father Xie Chong.
The younger generations in the clan all regard him as a role model.
Therefore, everyone thought that it was just a formality, a minor punishment and a severe warning. After all, Xie Chong and Xie's grandmother had agreed to let him leave the clan so easily.
Who would have thought that it would be a real fight, a real fight...