The Splendor of the Five Dynasties

Chapter 4 Flogging

"They don't distinguish between rewards and punishments, and they don't know how to use people effectively."

Upon learning that Shi Hongzhao had ordered him to be flogged twenty times, Xiao Yi's opinion of him plummeted, and he began to feel that the Shi family was not a good place to end up.

He felt a tap on the shoulder. It was Zhang Mantun, who stepped forward and asked curiously, "You're quite something. How can you be so sure the Commander-in-Chief won't kill you?"

"As Brother Mantun once said, when the emperor is young, the general assists the country. Assisting the country means governing, which requires talented people and winning over the hearts of the people."

Zhang Mantun shook his head repeatedly and said, "Nonsense, the commander hates scholars the most. You're only considered a talent if you kill that dog of a scholar."

Xiao Yi said, "Is that what you all think? No wonder the commander-in-chief has no advisors. I think what the commander-in-chief dislikes is the formation of factions by civil officials, not scholars who can be used by him. Look, Da Lang is a scholar."

“The eldest son, he likes to be called ‘young master’,” Zhang Mantun said. “The eldest son is a scholar, so the commander-in-chief doesn’t like him.”

"The commander-in-chief consults with the eldest son on everything; how could he not like him?"

"No, the commander-in-chief always stops the young master when he tries to speak."

"Does Brother Mantun know why this is?"

"How would I know?"

Xiao Yi lowered his voice and said, "Because the commander-in-chief knows that what the eldest son said is right."

"By the way, why did you stop me?"

What does Brother Mantun think?

"Tell me quickly, I hate being kept in suspense!"

"Everyone says the commander-in-chief dislikes scholars, so how can we let the eldest son, who is also a scholar, always be right?"

"I understand!" Zhang Mantun suddenly realized and said, "The commander-in-chief also has his pride. No wonder he always discusses things privately with the eldest son."

Xiao Yi held up a finger, making a shushing gesture.

"These words must not be spread. If others hear them, they will say that we are speculating about the commander-in-chief."

"Ah, my mother..."

Zhang Mantun gasped, feeling a chill run down his spine.

Xiao Yi remained calm and said, "Don't worry, I didn't hear anything."

Zhang Mantun finally relaxed, thinking to himself that if the boy pleaded for mercy, he would order his men to beat him less severely.

But when they arrived at the torture chamber, two guards came forward to take Xiao Yi into custody, but Xiao Yi didn't say a word, which put Zhang Mantun in a difficult position.

"and many more."

After thinking it over, and remembering that he was exempt from twenty strokes of the cane, Zhang Mantun simply said, "I'll do it."

"Yes."

"You, go inside!"

Zhang Mantun acted roughly, pushing Xiao Yi inside and pressing him down onto a bench.

The bench surface was dented from years of torture, and the floor tiles below were stained red with blood, with bone fragments embedded in the gaps.

On the opposite wall hung various instruments of torture. Zhang Mantun picked up a military baton with barbs, called "the one that cuts through the skin and exposes the bones." As the name suggests, it would tear the skin and flesh with a single blow.

"It's bitten solidly."

Zhang Mantun stuffed a handkerchief into Xiao Yi's mouth, then swung his military baton high and brought it down.

"Snapped!"

The sound was as loud as thunder, and could be heard throughout the courtyard.

Xiao Yi felt no pain. Military batons are divided into "real blows" and "loud blows". A real blow can kill a person with three blows, while a loud blow is all bark and no bite.

Not hearing a groan from him, Zhang Mantun pretended to be angry and immediately hit him a second time.

"You little brat, you've got some nerve, still trying to put on a brave face?!"

"what--"

Xiao Yi finally screamed in pain, his voice filled with agony.

For him, this was a good match for his major.

"Two, three..."

On the tenth strike, a commotion suddenly came from outside the torture chamber, and someone pushed the door open and entered.

Zhang Mantun gripped the stick tightly, veins bulging on his arm, and swung it heavily.

"Snapped!"

The baton was broken in two, and Xiao Yi's lower garment was stained with blood.

"unlucky."

Zhang Mantun turned around and saw that it was a beautiful maid who had come. He exclaimed, "Miss Chuntao is here. I still have ten more blows to give her."

"Chief Zhang, can we stop fighting? The young master said that although he is young, he knows how to protect the Shi family, and we must save him."

"I dare not disobey the commander's orders."

"I won't make things difficult for you. The young master has prepared medicine for his injuries. I'll wait here until you're done fighting so I can apply it to him."

After saying that, Chun Tao lightly covered her mouth and nose with her fingers, her eyes showing just the right amount of disgust, not for the blood, but for the filth of the place.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Mantun said, "This is hardly a place for Miss Chuntao to stay."

"If we're going to fight, let's do it quickly."

"Alright." Zhang Mantun switched to a short stick, quickly swung it ten times at Xiao Yi's buttocks, stepped aside, and shouted, "Twenty strokes are done."

"Thank you for your trouble, Chief Zhang. Chun Tao will remember this thoughtfulness from you, young master."

Xiao Yi pretended to be unable to get up and groaned, "I appreciate your kindness, Young Master."

Seeing his appearance, Chuntao smiled and handed him a porcelain bottle.

"You must be Xiao Yi? We've met today. Will you apply this medicine yourself, or should I do it for you?"

"I wouldn't dare trouble Miss Chuntao, I can apply it myself."

"Look at you, so capable," Chun Tao said with a double entendre. Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly remembered a small matter and casually asked, "By the way, Chief Zhang, have you seen the young master's golden-crowned babbler?"

"That bird isn't even enough to fill a tooth... I didn't see it, it must have flown away, flown away."

"It seems I don't need to go to Erlang's courtyard to look for him." Chuntao smiled meaningfully, curtsied, and left.

"Did you see that?" Zhang Mantun muttered, "Even a female mosquito flying out of the eldest young master's courtyard is quite formidable, unlike our second son."

He seemed to sigh when Shi Deyuan was mentioned.

--------

An erotic painting is unfolded, with meticulous brushwork and vibrant colors, and a short, chubby finger brushes across the beauty in the painting.

"This is my favorite painting, 'Spring Dawn in the Han Palace,' which cost a lot of money to buy from Jiangnan." Shi Deyuan stared intently at the painting, his expression becoming increasingly lewd, and muttered, "People from Jiangnan are strange. They have so many beauties, yet they insist on painting beauties from our Han Palace... Lustful, so lewd."

Zhang Mantun scratched his head. Even he knew that this Han dynasty was not the same as the Han dynasty. When the Southern Tang painter painted this picture, the current dynasty had not yet been established.

But he was too lazy to remind Shi Deyuan.

"Come here quickly." Shi Deyuan finally turned around and beckoned Zhang Mantun and Xiao Yi to come to the painting. "Come, look at it together and share my treasured beauty with you. From today onwards, the three of us are in the same boat."

“Erlang is a grasshopper on the same rope,” Zhang Mantun couldn’t help but correct.

Shi Deyuan glanced at him as if he were an idiot and asked, "Don't you understand what I'm saying?"

"I can understand it."

"Xiao Yi, you're such a lecher." Shi Deyuan turned to Xiao Yi and said, "Even after being beaten like this, you can still stand up and admire my painting."

Zhang Mantun immediately became nervous and hurriedly said, "It's not that I hit him lightly, it's that the young master sent Miss Chun Tao to save him."

Shi Deyuan suddenly said, "You seem to look down on me?"

"what?"

"You must be thinking, with so many beautiful maids around the boss, I only have a few erotic pictures..."

"How many?" Zhang Mantun exclaimed, "How many? If Erlang were willing to put more effort into practicing martial arts, I wouldn't have to live in constant fear."

"You go downstairs, I'll talk to Xiao Yi."

Zhang Mantun turned and left, muttering things like "honest advice is hard to swallow." When he reached the door, fearing that Xiao Yi might hurt Shi Deyuan again, he stopped, covered his ears, and stood in the corridor letting the cold wind blow on him.

Shi Deyuan ignored him, mysteriously went behind the screen and fumbled around for a while, then took out a whistle stick.

Xiao Yi, unsure of his intentions, asked, "Still want to fight?"

"No, I have something important to tell you."

Shi Deyuan's expression was mysterious and serious.

He tiptoed forward two steps, leaned close to Xiao Yi's ear, and spoke.

"At noon today, the kitchen made sashimi, and a fish bone got stuck in my throat. You made me swallow a mouthful of rice, which tore my throat open and made me so angry that I hit you. Do you know why I got a fish bone stuck in my throat?"

"Why?"

"It's crucian carp. Sashimi should be made with sea bass, which has fewer bones, and the kitchen said they were using sea bass, but I checked myself and it's clearly crucian carp."

"so what?"

Shi Deyuan's expression turned serious as he analyzed the situation, slowly saying, "Strange, isn't it? How did the perch turn into a crucian carp? I've thought about it for a long time and still can't figure it out, until you came back to life."

"What does it have to do with me?"

“You are the crucian carp,” Shi Deyuan said. “The perch turned into a crucian carp, Xiao Yi turned into you, the fish turned into another fish, and the person turned into another person. What a strange thing!”

These words were absurd, but what was even more absurd was that Xiao Yi understood them.

He transmigrated, and Shi Deyuan, who had been living with the original owner of the body day and night, noticed something amiss.

Xiao Yi remained silent, observing the situation without expressing his opinion.

Shi Deyuan became excited on his own, rubbing his hands together like a fly, and said, "You've changed, you...you're like...how should I put it?"

A complete transformation?

"Look, you admit it!" Shi Deyuan was overjoyed.

Xiao Yi countered, "What do you want?"

"You bribed the King of Hell, didn't you? I knew it! Tell me what to do so I can turn into a crucian carp too."

"You can not."

"Why?"

Xiao Yi feigned profundity, quickly considered the matter, and shook his head, saying, "The Shi family has committed too many murders."

“Zen Master Wenyan said the same thing, but I clearly listened to him and tried to kill as few people as possible. Even when I did kill someone, I would perform a ritual to help them pass on to the afterlife.”

"not enough."

"How much is enough?"

"Do good deeds and accumulate virtue, and you will enjoy perfect blessings."

"Really?" Shi Deyuan asked expectantly, waving his whistle stick. "Will I also be able to undergo a complete transformation then?"

“Of course.” Xiao Yi took the whistle stick and said, “When the time is right, I will knock on you…”

By appeasing Shi Deyuan, his secret was temporarily concealed.

Only temporarily.

That night, with other servants attending to him in the room, the injured Xiao Yi was able to return to the servants' quarters.

The room was crammed with more than ten people, and the air was thick with the stench of body odor. No one was in the mood to talk; they lay there like exhausted animals, and the snoring, teeth grinding, and muffled murmurs they made all sound weak and listless.

Xiao Yi lay there, letting the cold wind pierce through the thin quilt and sting his wounds, when he suddenly realized a truth he had never known until his death in his previous life.

Living strong and enduring hardship is far from enough. No matter how hard a servant can endure, she will only ever be a servant.

To change your destiny, you must create and seize every opportunity.

(End of this chapter)