Chapter 50

Chapter 50

The sun sank in the west, and the moon climbed above the willow branches.

The ancestral hall was perpetually filled with the scent of incense. The clan shrine stood solemn and imposing, ancestral tablets arranged upon the altar. Cold moonlight filtered through the carved wooden windows and spilled across the floor as incense smoke curled upward in thin, wavering streams.

Sheng Zhaoning was forced to her knees on the ground.

A servant brought over two disciplinary rods. Beneath the candlelight on the incense table, they gleamed with a faint, warm sheen.

Sheng Zhaoyan ducked off to the side. Just looking at those two rods made his back ache.

In all the Sheng Family, who knew better than he did what it felt like to be beaten with those things?

His father was always comparing him to Sheng Zhaoning, and Sheng Zhaoyan had long since hated her through gritted teeth. Now that he had finally waited long enough to see Sheng Zhaoning punished, he immediately settled into the perfect position to enjoy the show, craning forward eagerly.

“Beat her!” Old Madam Sheng snarled, leaning on her cane.

The long disciplinary rod came down with full force, striking Sheng Zhaoning’s back again and again.

“Thud, thud-”

The ancestral hall instantly filled with the muffled sounds of wood striking flesh.

“Do you know what you did wrong?” Old Madam Sheng demanded harshly.

Sheng Zhaoning’s lips were pale. Gritting her teeth, she said, “I do not.”

“Beat her. Keep beating her!”

Old Madam Sheng gripped her cane, her eyes almost spitting fire.

Lady Lu collapsed against Sheng Yuanzhong’s shoulder, crying until her voice was hoarse. She lowered her head and buried her face, unable to bear watching.

Sheng Yuanzhong’s face was filled with pain as well. It felt as if a huge hand had seized his heart and was squeezing it tight. He wanted to step forward and plead for mercy, but he feared it would only make things worse, so he did not dare speak rashly.

The disciplinary rod slammed down again and again. After more than a dozen blows, spots of blood had already begun to seep through Sheng Zhaoning’s back.

“Do you know your mistake now?” Old Madam Sheng asked again.

Sheng Zhaoning’s eyes were bloodshot. She lifted her gaze, and her thin lips parted slightly.

“I do not.”

Old Madam Sheng staggered back two steps and repeated “Good” several times. Her expression twisted into something savage as she let out a cold laugh. “Keep. Beating. Her.”

The long, thick disciplinary rod came down even harder. The servants carrying out the punishment were sweating from the effort, yet Sheng Zhaoning only clenched her teeth, not even letting out a single muffled groan.

Sheng Zhaoyan’s eyelids twitched at the sight of her blood-soaked back.

He knew better than anyone how badly that wooden rod hurt when it landed on flesh.

In the past, two strikes were enough to make him roll on the ground in agony, dignity forgotten, his face smeared with tears and snot as he knelt and begged for mercy again and again.

He had thought Sheng Zhaoning would be the same as him. No matter how stubborn she was at first, once she faced the disciplinary rod, she would have no choice but to kneel and beg.

He had never expected her to be so unyielding. Even beaten until her flesh was a bloody mess, she refused to beg for mercy. She had not even cried out in pain once.

The corners of Lady Liu’s mouth curved upward. Without saying a word, she watched Sheng Zhaoning suffer the punishment, unable to stop thinking that it would be best if they beat her to death.

The Second Master of the Sheng Family stood off to the side with an air of detachment, as though none of this had anything to do with him.

The members of the third branch were all timid by nature, and now they dared not make a sound.

The steward stood behind the crowd, watching Sheng Zhaoning’s face grow paler by the moment. Afraid that something truly terrible would happen if this continued, he no longer cared about his own status and anxiously advised, “Old Madam, the First Young Master is a scholar. He cannot withstand a beating like this!”

Hearing this, Lady He, the wife of the third branch, glanced at the blood on Sheng Zhaoning’s back and could not help saying softly, “That’s right. Ning’s health has always been weak. If this keeps going, someone will die.”

The words had barely left her mouth before Lady Liu shot her a dagger-like glare.

Lady He bit her lower lip and timidly shrank back, not daring to say another word.

Old Madam Sheng closed her eyes. Only after a long while did she open them again, take a deep breath, and wave her hand.

Seeing this, the servants holding the disciplinary rods stopped.

Leaning on her cane, Old Madam Sheng walked step by step to Sheng Zhaoning.

“I’ll ask you one more time. Do you know what you did wrong?” She stared into Sheng Zhaoning’s eyes and asked, each word clipped and deliberate.

Cold sweat covered Sheng Zhaoning’s brow. Pale-faced, she forced out a smile. “I… do not.”

At that, almost everyone sucked in a sharp breath.

Sheng Yuanzhong was both frantic and furious. Couldn’t this child just soften for once and give Old Madam Sheng a way to step down?

Lady Lu’s entire heart leapt into her throat. She even forgot to cry, her eyes fixed on Old Madam Sheng’s every move. If anyone dared raise a hand again, she would throw herself in front of Sheng Zhaoning even if it killed her.

Old Madam Sheng stood ramrod straight. Then, all at once, she lifted her head and let out a long sigh.

“You really are just like your grandfather.”

The same stubborn temper. The same refusal to bend once convinced she was right. When that stubbornness took hold, not even nine oxen could drag her back.

Lady Lu’s fingers clenched tight with nerves.

Old Madam Sheng looked at Sheng Zhaoning’s back, dyed red with blood, and did not strike again.

In the end, this was her own grandson. No matter how angry she was, could she really beat him to death?

Thinking of Elder Master Sheng as he had been when he was alive, Old Madam Sheng lowered her eyes, and the tension in her body slackened at once.

“Since that’s the case, you will kneel here before the ancestors of the Sheng Family and think carefully about whether you were right or wrong.”

With that, she stopped looking at Sheng Zhaoning. Her body slightly hunched, she leaned on her cane and left with slow, heavy steps.

As soon as Old Madam Sheng was gone, Lady Lu rushed over and gathered Sheng Zhaoning into her arms. Seeing her covered in blood, she wept as if her heart were being torn apart.

“Ning’er!” she cried out.

Seeing that there was no more spectacle to enjoy, Lady Liu gave a cold snort, twisted her waist, and left.

Sheng Zhaoyan swallowed and hurried after her.

“Go fetch a physician!” Lady Lu shouted, on the verge of collapse.

…

By the time the wounds had been cleaned, it was already deep into the night.

Lady Lu’s eyes were swollen red. With the gentlest of movements, she changed Sheng Zhaoning into a fresh set of clothes.

Only she and Sheng Zhaoning remained in the ancestral hall.

“Ning’er, do you resent Mother?” Sitting beside Sheng Zhaoning, Lady Lu stroked her hair and suddenly asked the question.

In her panic earlier, she had shouted for someone to bring a physician.

But when an old physician hurried in with a medicine box, she seemed to suddenly realize something. No matter what, she refused to let him examine Sheng Zhaoning. She only had him prescribe a few medicines to be taken internally and applied externally, then personally cleaned Sheng Zhaoning’s wounds and dressed them with medicine.

As Lady Lu touched her daughter’s mangled wounds, she finally regretted the decision she had made all those years ago.

One wrong thought, and her daughter had become a man in the eyes of the world, living for so many years in men’s clothing, cautious at every step. Even when Lady Lu had found her, she had been dressed as a man.

If not for the Moon-shaped Birthmark on her lower back, Lady Lu never would have recognized that this was her child.

And now, even with injuries this severe, they did not dare call a physician to examine her.

Her heart ached so badly she wished she could die in her place.

Sheng Zhaoning said nothing.

She did not know what answer the real “Sheng Zhaoning” would have given if she were still alive in this world.

She could not answer for her, so she could only remain silent.

“Ning’er, Mother has wronged you. I made you carry so much.” Lady Lu’s nose stung, but she forced back her tears.

“Mother doesn’t need you to achieve anything great. I don’t need you to take the civil service examinations or become an official. Let’s not go to Capital City anymore. Let’s stay in Xuzhou and live out this life safely and peacefully, all right?”

Lady Lu looked into her eyes, waiting for her answer.

Sheng Zhaoning’s eyes were dark and shadowed, black as a long night.

Her voice was dry and hoarse as she asked, “After everything has come to this, can I still turn back?”