CHAPTER 238: CHAPTER 238: WHY IS IT ALWAYS YOU WHO GETS HURT?

Thirty lashes, go home and recuperate!

Compared to beheading, this punishment is far too lenient, so much so that Empress Qiao looked shocked, her face filled with disbelief.

How could this be, how could it have turned out like this?

Thirty lashes would take away half a life, but it won’t kill him? This scheme was clearly set to end in death, how did it change at the last moment?

Wildfires never die, they burn anew with the spring wind; Li Qingmu is too tenacious, hitting him with a stick won’t kill him, but it could pose endless troubles in the future!

He must be put to death!

She quickly said, "Emperor, you are too lenient, this child is so disrespectful and confrontational, and you only give him thirty lashes..."

Her voice was gentle and soft, not at all sounding like she was dissatisfied, but rather as if she were speaking on behalf of Qi Yun, yet the Emperor saw through her ploy with sharp insight and coldly smiled, asking, "Empress has objections?"

The words were heavy, and once the Empress admitted to having objections, it would imply that the wolf pack incident was indeed not caused by Li Qingmu and his wife, and might even have something to do with her.

Empress Qiao sensed the anger hidden in the Emperor’s smile, immediately bowed and said, "The Emperor is wise!"

Two guards took Li Qingmu away instantly.

The Chief Eunuch Chen Zhong stepped forward and quietly asked, "Your Majesty, should it be the ordinary stick or the spiked one?"

There are two kinds of sticks used for flogging: the regular and the upgraded version.

The regular version is just an ordinary stick, which at worst would cause aches, bruises, and swellings but wouldn’t be fatal, whereas the spiked version with barbs and wrapped in iron plates would tear at flesh with each strike; a few hits could leave a person’s back bloodied and mangled.

Such a stick could take half a life from someone in poor health, and if they didn’t survive the ordeal back home, they would likely die.

Long Yue never expected things to evolve this way, and she bit her lip, nervously watching the Emperor.

It absolutely cannot be the spiked one, otherwise, given A Mu’s previously severe injuries, how could he endure it?

Qi Yun fell into deep thought; Li Qingmu dared to publicly call him a foolish ruler, which was truly hateful. If he wasn’t beaten until his skin split, it would make him seem too weak and easy to be taken advantage of as an Emperor.

Yet, beating him half to death somehow seemed unreasonable, especially since Li Qingmu had contributed significantly in the Xinan campaign and was Cao Yin’s grandson-in-law, and Qi Yun had a natural leniency toward military generals.

After all, he had followed the late Emperor to the battlefield and knew the hardships of the soldiers at the frontier, not wishing to dishearten the military.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty?"

Seeing Qi Yun not speak for so long, Chen Zhong boldly urged a little.

"The ordinary stick!" Qi Yun said faintly, then his tone shifted, "For the last ten strokes, switch to the spiked one, let him remember this!"

This was already a clemency beyond the law, but Long Yue was extremely anxious: "Emperor, A Mu sustained severe injuries two years ago and cannot endure such punishment!"

"Lady Jiao, do not be ungrateful. The Emperor has already shown great mercy; what more do you want?"

Consort Xue, seeing the opportunity to hit low, was not about to let it slip and immediately reprimanded.

Long Yue looked at these concubines, gradually calmed herself, and bowed, "It is my rashness."

"Begin the punishment!"

"One, two, three..."

Long Yue watched as the sticks were laid one by one on Li Qingmu’s body, and her heart hurt as well. She only hated why these sticks were not hitting her instead, allowing her to take the punishment for him?

The initial twenty strokes were bearable, but in the last ten with the spiked stick, flesh was ripped from the body at once, and in the blink of an eye, Li Qingmu’s back was a bloody mess.

"A Mu..."

Long Yue closed her eyes, unable to bear watching any longer. She felt that if she continued to watch, she would cry, but that would let others look down on her, wouldn’t it?

No, I must be strong!

Long Yue bit her red lips hard, nearly breaking the skin, and finally endured until the punishment ended.

Though thirty lashes didn’t take long, Long Yue felt as if countless years and autumns had passed by.

"A Mu!"

The evening breeze carried a faint scent of blood as Long Yue staggered out, panicking as she helped the blood-soaked Li Qingmu, who was barely clinging to life, to stand.

"What were you thinking at that time, how did you confront the Emperor? Now look, beaten like this, you, truly deserved!"

As Long Yue struggled to bring Li Qingmu back, she complained, and those beside her heard this and passed the words to Qi Yun.

"Hmph, she knows what’s right, at least she knows some bounds!" Qi Yun snorted, waving his hand, "Rest, tomorrow morning we head back!"

With these events leading to serious casualties and Qi Yun narrowly escaping a wolf attack, he had lost the mind to hold a spring hunt.

Chen Zhong beside him responded and prepared to pack up items.

"Wait a moment, we must investigate this matter; I suspect the perpetrator is not among these people, but someone external participated. Let the Yulong Pavilion people investigate later."

"Yes!" Chen Zhong prepared to withdraw but suddenly thought of something and couldn’t help but look at the Emperor, "Your Majesty, about Li Qingmu... what decision should be made tomorrow?"

Chen Zhong was naturally asking whether to continue making things difficult for this couple.

Qi Yun waved his hand, "Since the punishment has been meted out, no duplicity is warranted. Later, give them a carriage to go back. Hmph, that young man, he rather has some backbone, thirty lashes and he didn’t utter a sound!"

"That boy comes from the countryside, with thick skin; what’s a few lashes to him? Only yelling would show incompetence, unlike you, Emperor? As a descendant of the imperial family, each is a golden branch jade leaf, unable to bear any pain, but when you were young, even injured, you never cried out in pain?"

"Hmm, you old dog, you really know how to please me! Ah, I also don’t know why I would give him leniency?" Qi Yun mused, shaking his head, "Oh well, perhaps he bears some resemblance to me when I was young!"

...

In the tent, Long Yue was applying medicine to Li Qingmu.

Luckily, they brought a lot of golden sore medicine before they set off, prepared in case of accidents during the hunt, like being scratched or clawed by wild beasts, and they were all premium medicines specially made by her master.

Long Yue first carefully used warm water to clean away all blood and decayed flesh before starting to apply medicine.

The process of cleaning the flesh was the most painful part, and Li Qingmu bit down on a piece of cork, his body trembling slightly, though Long Yue was already being as gentle as possible.

Seeing his back drenched in blood, with one wound deep enough to see the white bone, Long Yue felt her nose turn sour, wanting to cry.

"Why are you so foolish, risking yourself just to save me?"

At that time, Empress Qiao wanted to break her leg, and Li Qingmu to save her deliberately attracted everyone’s fury, even angering the Emperor, resulting in him suffering this fleshly hardship.

Long Yue felt very sad, after being with him, every time something happened, it was always he who got hurt in the end?

Am I... am I toxic?

Feeling miserable, tears couldn’t be held in any longer and fell like raindrops.