Volume One, Chapter 10: The Whipping

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Only then did the Ruan couple understand how their daughter had come by those injuries.

Master Ruan’s face flushed crimson with rage. “Chengze, there is no need for you to apologize. I understand. What she did was indeed wrong, and she ought to be punished. It was my fault for failing to raise her properly. This wretched child! Ah…”

Madam Ruan said, “My lord, stop speaking of Zhen’er that way. No matter what, she is still our daughter. Chengze, you must save her.”

Lu Chengze said, “Do not worry, Father and Mother. She will be fine.”

Ruan Liuzheng was already awake. She had heard everything they said, but she did not dare open her eyes. She feared that the moment she did, her parents would force her to apologize again.

When it clearly was not her fault.

Her lashes trembled faintly. The pain in her body was nothing compared to the pain in her heart.

Zhao Wanzhou had been summoned as the physician. When he saw the wounds covering Ruan Liuzheng’s body, he could not help drawing in a sharp breath.

He truly could not understand how a frail young woman could have been beaten so badly.

Ruan Liuzheng once more fainted from the pain. She had no idea how much time passed.

Half-conscious, she heard someone murmur beside her, “Miss, would you like me to report this to the authorities on your behalf?”

The man’s voice was gentle. His hand rested against her wrist, icy cool against her feverish skin.

Ruan Liuzheng saw his face clearly. “Thank you.”

But she knew that even if the matter were reported, no one would be able to help her.

The only person who could save her was herself.

Zhao Wanzhou could not bear to see her suffer. He sighed and began applying medicine to her wounds.

He was exceedingly gentle, and Ruan Liuzheng could feel how carefully he handled her.

“You have too many injuries. I hardly know where to begin. If it hurts, tell me.”

Every part of Ruan Liuzheng’s body was in agony, yet no one had comforted her until now. Perhaps because he was so gentle, all the grievances she had held inside suddenly surged forth, and tears streamed down her cheeks.

Zhao Wanzhou wiped them with a handkerchief, only to find that they would not stop. Growing somewhat flustered, he said, “I am sorry. Did I hurt you?”

Ruan Liuzheng shook her head, but her throat was choked with sobs, and she could not speak.

“I will call your parents. Perhaps you will feel less frightened when you see them.”

Ruan Liuzheng had no time to stop him. But the person who came was Lu Chengze.

Zhao Wanzhou said to him, “Madam Lu is extremely fragile at present. You should stay by her side.”

Lu Chengze had no mind to listen. He merely replied perfunctorily, “Thank you for your trouble, Physician Zhao.”

After Zhao Wanzhou left, Lu Chengze sat beside Ruan Liuzheng. Seeing her tears irritated him, yet he was also seized by an uncontrollable ache in his heart.

Whenever she had fallen ill in the past, he would go to the market and buy the candied fruits she liked.

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The little girl hated taking medicine, so he would coax her into drinking it.

At the end, he would feed her a piece of candied fruit. When she smiled again, he too would breathe a sigh of relief.

He had always been most afraid of seeing her sick.

Yet now, he himself had beaten her into this state. If she had not deliberately provoked everyone, how could he possibly have brought himself to strike her?

“Besides crying, what else can you do? You know that Mother is in poor health, don’t you? I was afraid you would anger her into falling ill, so I struck you in a moment of desperation. You must not behave this way again.”

Ruan Liuzheng summoned all her remaining strength. “Get… out.”

She did not want to hear another word from him.

Lu Chengze did not understand how she had become this way. It was as though she regarded him as an enemy.

“What an ungrateful wretch!”

He left in fury.

The Ruan couple saw the unpleasant look on his face and entered only after he had gone.

Her father said, “Zhen’er, you should not defy your husband. Have you forgotten everything we taught you? If Chengze had not been willing to marry you, you would have become a laughingstock throughout the capital by now.”

Ruan Liuzheng struggled to sit up. “But, Father, you also taught me that even as a woman, I must have self-respect. He has injured me so severely. What else do you expect me to do?”

Her father said, “Do not twist the truth. You are now a member of the Lu family and should bear children for them. No family could endure a daughter-in-law like you! If I were in his place, I would have beaten you to death.”

Her mother said, “Enough. Zhen’er surely knows she has done wrong. Listen to your mother, Zhen’er. Once you are feeling better, apologize to the Madam and Chengze. As for what happened with your younger sister, let us say no more about it. We all forgive you.”

At those words, a rush of blood surged up Ruan Liuzheng’s throat. The taste of iron flooded her mouth. Seeing this, her parents panicked and hurriedly fetched a handkerchief to wipe the blood away.

“Physician! Bring the physician here!”

Zhao Wanzhou had not expected Ruan Liuzheng to vomit blood during his brief absence.

Sweat broke across his brow. “Master and Madam Ruan, please leave for now.”

Her mother said, “No. I am staying here with Zhen’er. Whenever she was ill in the past, I was always by her side.”

Ruan Liuzheng remembered those days as well. When she was little and fell down, her mother would hold her and soothe her through the entire night.

“Zhen’er is Mother’s precious darling. Do not cry anymore. Seeing you cry makes Mother’s heart ache too.”

One year, Ruan Liuzheng contracted a grave illness and fell into an unresponsive sleep on her bed. For her sake, her mother had gone to Long’an Temple to pray for the Buddha’s blessing. The temple stood high upon the mountain, yet she had climbed every step on her knees.

Later, when she saw that her daughter had awakened, she had been beside herself with joy, weeping as she thanked the Buddha.

Once, she too had been the child her parents treasured above all else.

But now…

“Leave.”

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Ruan Liuzheng spoke coldly, then closed her eyes and refused to look at them again.

Madam Ruan could not restrain her tears. She did not understand why her daughter had become so cold and distant.

Seeing his wife’s distress, Master Ruan could not help blaming Ruan Liuzheng.

“Is this how you treat your mother? You are utterly incorrigible.”

How had she become like this?

Zhao Wanzhou was equally bewildered by the scene. Once again, he asked the Ruan couple to leave.

Only after they had gone did he notice that Ruan Liuzheng was silently weeping again.

It was clear that she was truly heartbroken.

Zhao Wanzhou did not feel it proper to question another family’s affairs, so he simply stayed beside her in silence.

From time to time, he wiped away her tears and gave her water to drink.

Ruan Liuzheng was consumed by sorrow, yet she did not regret what she had done in the Lu family ancestral hall.

The Lu family had bullied her to this extent. She would never bear children for them.

She suddenly realized that she had not seen Ru Yan. Turning to Zhao Wanzhou, she asked, “Physician Zhao, where is my maid, Ru Yan?”

“I will go and call her for you.”

He went outside to ask about her. The maid he questioned wore a strange expression.

“Ru Yan was locked in the woodshed by the young master. They said she had cursed the young mistress.”

Zhao Wanzhou told Ruan Liuzheng what had happened. The moment she heard, she struggled to sit up.

That beast, Lu Chengze! He was even refusing to spare Ru Yan.

She had to save her.

But her entire body was covered in lash wounds, and her legs were battered and bruised. She could not move at all. The instant she shifted, she fell straight to the floor, followed by a burst of excruciating pain.

Tears poured from her eyes as Zhao Wanzhou hurriedly lifted her up.

She clutched his sleeve tightly and pleaded, “Physician Zhao, I must go save her, or she will die!”

Zhao Wanzhou nodded and comforted her. “Do not worry. I will help you.”

At that moment, a voice came from behind them, filled with unmistakable fury.

“What are you doing?”