"What are you looking at?!"
A furious shout exploded beside his ear.
Chen Xuan abruptly came to his senses, shuddered all over, and immediately buried his head against his chest. "Forgive me, Young Lord! I didn't mean it! I really didn't mean it!"
"Didn't mean it? Those dog eyes of yours were practically glued to Miaoyin's legs!"
The heir, Xiao Yuxuan, looked livid. Reeking of alcohol, he charged over in a few strides, raised a foot clad in a cloud-patterned brocade boot, and kicked Chen Xuan hard in the chest.
Thud!
Chen Xuan flew a full ten feet, his back slamming into the bluestone street. His organs felt as though they had been knocked out of place, and a thick, bloody taste instantly burst across his mouth.
When the whip's shadow fell across Chen Xuan's face, his mind was still reeling.
I only looked twice.
Just twice.
Chu Miaoyin, the courtesan whom the young lord had just bought out, had stood beside the carriage. Her rose-red ruqun was slit high to the backs of her knees, revealing calves with skin as delicate as fine, warm jade. A string of golden bells tied around her ankle swayed gently in the breeze, chiming.
Just moments earlier, customers at no fewer than three tables in the streetside teahouse had stopped using their chopsticks at the same time. Even the chestnut horse whose reins he held had snorted heavily in agitation.
Holding the reins, Chen Xuan had merely shifted his eyes toward that clear chime of golden bells-it had not even amounted to a full glance.
"Cough, cough... Young Lord! Spare my life, Young Lord!" Without stopping to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, Chen Xuan scrambled and crawled until his forehead was pressed to the ground. "I only heard horse bells ringing and feared they would startle the chestnut! I would never dare steal a look at your honored lady! Please have mercy, Young Lord!"
"Spare your life? Have mercy?" Xiao Yuxuan looked down at him and gave a cold, sinister sneer. "Do you know who I am? A lowly stable slave bound by a lifetime servitude contract, a thing unfit even to carry my shoes-you think you're worthy of looking at her?!"
All four guards beside them kept their heads lowered and their hands on their sword hilts, not daring even to breathe loudly.
"Guard Li, you tell me!" Xiao Yuxuan suddenly turned, pointed at Chen Xuan on the ground, and demanded harshly, "Under the rules of my Marquis of Zhenbei's Residence, what punishment does a lowly slave deserve for ogling his master's womenfolk?!"
The guard captain stiffened at being singled out and hurriedly cupped his fist and bowed. "Young Lord! Under the residence's rules, the lighter punishment is gouging out his eyes, and the heavier punishment is... beating him to death with clubs!"
"Did you hear that?!" Xiao Yuxuan planted his foot on the back of Chen Xuan's hand and ground down hard with his sole. "Even the residence's rules say you deserve to die! And you still dare protest your innocence to me?!"
"Aah!" The agonizing pain in his fingers, linked straight to his heart, made Chen Xuan scream, his entire face twisting. "Spare me, Young Lord! I won't dare again! Never again! Please, just let me go like a fart!"
Chu Miaoyin stood beside the carriage step, her delicate brows slightly knitted, both hands clutching her rose-red sleeves so tightly that her neatly trimmed nails dug deep into her palms. She parted her lips, seemingly wanting to plead for him, but at the sight of Xiao Yuxuan's bloodshot eyes, brimming with a sickly madness, she swallowed her words in the end and merely gave an almost imperceptible sigh. "Young Lord, it's getting late..."
"Stay out of this, Miaoyin. Go sit inside first. Don't let this filthy blood stain your embroidered shoes." Xiao Yuxuan turned and spoke gently to her, the viciousness on his face instantly becoming an ingratiating smile. "If a vile, lowly slave like this isn't taught a harsh lesson today, every stray cat and dog in the residence will dare cast their eyes over you in the future. He simply won't learn!"
Having soothed the beauty, Xiao Yuxuan turned back, the gentleness on his face vanishing without a trace, and roared at those behind him, "What are you standing there for?! Go! Fetch my barbed whip!"
"Yes! At your command!"
Not daring to delay, a young guard jogged over and retrieved a glossy black leather whip woven with closely spaced iron barbs from a hidden carriage compartment. Holding it in both hands, he presented it to the heir. "Young Lord, here's your whip. Take your time beating him. Don't tire yourself out."
"Get out of my way!" Xiao Yuxuan snatched the whip and lashed it through the air, producing a piercing sonic crack.
Chen Xuan lay on the icy stone slabs, his ears buzzing as though a nest of startled hornets had been poured into them.
"Young Lord... I really didn't mean it... I deserve to die... I'm kowtowing to you..." He desperately banged his forehead against the ground while begging incoherently, "I still have to go back to the stables to feed the horses. Please spare this worthless life of mine, Young Lord..."
"Good, so you know you deserve to die! Feed the horses? Do that in your next life, when you're reborn as a beast!"
Crack!
The first lash struck Chen Xuan's back without warning.
His coarse cloth clothes instantly split apart. The iron barbs hooked into his flesh and tore hard, leaving his back a bloody mess on the spot.
"Aah! It hurts! Spare my life, Young Lord!"
"Screaming? You still dare scream?! I'll give you something to scream about!" A sickly flush rose in Xiao Yuxuan's eyes. His wrist whipped back and forth, and the whip's shadows fell like raindrops.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
"Lowly slave! I'll whip you to death!"
"You dared look at my woman! Go on, look! I'll let you look your fill!"
"It's bad enough putting up with that old man in the residence every day, and now even a stinking groom like you dares make my life difficult?!"
Lash followed lash, each carrying the blood-and-Qi strength of a ming jin martial artist, pouring every bit of his long-pent-up vicious anger onto Chen Xuan.
Chen Xuan lay in a pool of blood, his whole body convulsing violently. Every lash tore away a large chunk of flesh and blurred his consciousness a little more. Through the haze, he heard the tea drinkers watching from the street corner retreat several steps. Some sucked in cold breaths; others whispered in lowered voices.
"Hiss... isn't the heir of the Marquis of Zhenbei's Residence being far too vicious?"
"Keep your voice down! Are you tired of living? Didn't you see that's Miss Miaoyin, whom the young lord just took as his concubine? He spent a full five thousand taels of silver on that courtesan!"
"Alas, that boy leading the horse is done for. That whip is covered in barbs-even an immortal couldn't save him..."
"What rotten luck. One extra glance, and it cost him his life."
"Shh! Shut up! The guards are looking this way. Hurry, leave!"
A flurry of hurried bill-paying and fleeing footsteps rose from the teahouse. At that enormous street intersection, not a single person dared step forward to offer even half a word of dissuasion.
"Please... please..." Thick mouthfuls of bloody froth welled up Chen Xuan's throat. He could no longer even form a complete plea for mercy.
The more Xiao Yuxuan beat him, the more excited he grew. Veins bulged on his forehead, and his breathing came heavily. He raised his arm, poured every ounce of strength into one final lash, and shouted, "Die, you useless trash!"
Crack!
The lash struck squarely and heavily across the back of Chen Xuan's head.
Chen Xuan's body abruptly stiffened. Then his limbs went completely limp, as though their tendons and bones had been pulled out, and he moved no more.
Xiao Yuxuan froze for a moment, then leaned on the blood-dripping whip, panting in great gulps. "Huff... huff... Hey, playing dead? Get up and keep screaming for me!"