"Stinking intellectual! Get your brat out here, now!"
Although Lang Ling had never been favored before, the palace maids and eunuchs had never dared speak to him like this.
Hearing the crude shouts outside, Lang You struggled to prop himself up.
Because he had been sent down to the countryside, he not only had to work but was also dragged out for public humiliation parades from time to time.
Every time he was paraded around, heavy shackles were fastened around his neck and wrists.
Today, he had just been dragged through two villages. The moment he sat down, the aching in his legs became unbearable.
The Eagle Brigade and the Bluebird Brigade were not far apart, with only a river separating them.
The cowshed where Lang Ling and his grandfather lived stood in an out-of-the-way spot, right beside the river.
Lang Ling had just helped Lang You to his feet when the man outside ran out of patience. He barged into the cowshed and roughly hauled out the boy, who was not even ten yet.
"How dare you glare at me!"
Lang Ling stared hostilely at the man holding him. The man was so burly that, compared with the still-growing Lang Ling, he looked as though he could kill the boy with a single punch.
Yet as he dangled in the man's grip, there was not a trace of fear or guilt in Lang Ling's eyes. Instead, they held contempt.
Feeling his authority threatened, Liu Yiyuan raised his hand and left a palm print on Lang Ling's face.
The slap did not satisfy his anger, so he tied the boy to the post normally used to tether cattle. Pulling a whip from somewhere, he lashed Lang Ling again and again.
The whip struck the boy solidly. Apart from the sound