Chapter 648: Execution, Lively, Under the Flowers

Ermao, who was at the back of the crowd, knelt on the ground in frustration. The noisy and chaotic sounds around him came like a tide, with vulgar shouts, triumphant laughter, people yelling, women screaming at the top of their lungs, and he even heard the crying of a child.

There were so many different noises and they were so complex that Ermao thought that Caishikou was worthy of its name. Even the Caishikou in the south of the city was a hundred times better than the one near his home.

But he came all the way here to see the punishment of the tyrant ruler of the previous dynasty, not to listen to the messy noises and see these sweaty men.

So he stood on tiptoe, trying to get a glimpse of the scene ahead from among the countless backs.

But he was not the only one standing on tiptoe, and he could still only see those irrelevant people. Ermao had heard from his father that the tyrant was the most hateful sinner in this country because of his heavy taxes and extravagance.

She will be punished today and will be required to pay back in full.

Since she was going to be executed today, Ermao thought that she must be given the capital punishment, and this capital punishment was most likely lingchi.

Although Ermao had never seen what lingchi was like, he had asked others about it and learned that lingchi was a process in which a sharp knife was used to cut off the flesh of the prisoner bit by bit.

The executioner must be a highly skilled executioner, and he must try his best not to let the prisoner die during the cutting process.

It is said that a skilled executioner could cut the foot 360 times, and by this time there would be almost no skin left on the prisoner's body, but he would not have died yet.

This was truly an extremely horrifying method of execution. Just thinking about it made Ermao shudder, so this time he didn't dare to stand on tiptoe.

Only then did he realize that his hand was held very tightly by his sister, so he turned his head to look at his sister.

The little girl was looking at the ground with her head down. The gardenia in her pigtails had turned yellow and dry. She was almost sticking to Ermao, and she was trembling all over, causing Ermao to tremble as well.

Ermao was next to his father, so the man looked down at Ermao and joked:

"Hey, why is my man trembling?"

Ermao wanted to refute, but he didn't open his mouth in the end, because he was really scared in his heart. He regretted very much that he came to watch the excitement today, and was angry with himself for being so impulsive.

"Alas." He couldn't help but sigh.

"Brother." Wen'er glanced at him and called out timidly.

"Actually, there's really nothing to see." Ermao said in a low voice, and Wen'er nodded.

"Then why did you come along? Why do you want to join in the fun?" Ermao teased his sister in annoyance, using his father's words.

Just as Wen'er opened her mouth to speak, a loud gong sound suddenly came from the front, and with this sound, the noisy voices immediately faded away.

"Here it comes." said my father in a deep voice.

"Who?" Ermao tugged at his father's sleeve.

"Our Majesty." The one who answered Ermao was not his father, but Zhao Zhennan who was standing beside his father.

Ermao looked up at him. His uncle's face looked extremely solemn. Although his temples were gray and his face was full of wrinkles, he stood straight at this moment, like a soldier standing in formation.

"Come here, girl." At this time, the father suddenly bent down, picked up Wen'er and put her on his neck.

Ermao's eyes widened when he saw his sister, who had received preferential treatment and could see the scene ahead.

'What about me?!'

His father's neck could only accommodate one person, and Ermao would not compete with his sister for it, so he had to look at his uncle, the only person close to him at the moment. But his uncle was concentrating on looking straight ahead, because he heard unclear voices coming from the front.

Ermao knew that it was most likely His Majesty who was speaking, after all, everyone was listening quietly.

It seemed that his uncle's neck could not be raised, so Ermao had to stand on tiptoe, but he still could not see anything. He could not even hear clearly what His Majesty said, as he was too far away from the center of the execution ground.

He could only vaguely hear fragments, such as:

"...appointing people based on personal connections and persecuting loyal and honest people..."

"...absolute power will ruin the country and undermine the government..."

"...extortion and extravagance, oppression of the people..."

"... ceding territory to seek aid, paying compensation to please foreign powers, losing sovereignty and humiliating the country..."

"......"

Ermao initially wanted to write down how many charges there were so that he could have something to talk about when he returned, but after counting them all he could not remember clearly, so he had to give up.

But it was really boring not being able to see His Majesty and only being able to listen to him listing off charges. He squinted his eyes as he glanced at the sun in the sky.

It's almost noon.

Ermao thought that it should be about the same, so he pricked up his ears and listened attentively again.

As expected, after a shout of "His crimes are so notorious and intolerable, he will be beheaded today to serve as a warning to the people of the world," deafening cheers suddenly rang out.

There was no telling how many people were shouting and yelling, the sound was like thunder, Ermao's ears were about to burst, so he had to quickly cover his ears.

At this time, my father put my sister down and held her in his arms.

Ermao sensed something and knew that the execution was about to begin, so he quickly hugged his father's waist and pressed his face against him.

This was, of course, superfluous, since he could see nothing.

At this moment, the crowd was extremely agitated. Many people were walking forward, shouting excitedly. Then, the chaotic shouting suddenly turned into laughter.

Listening to the bursts of laughter, Ermao was confused.

The laughter did not last long. In a very short moment, all the human voices disappeared.

Ermao seemed to be aware of something and his whole body became extremely stiff. He had a premonition of something and quickly closed his eyes.

then.

With a "click" sound!

Almost instantly, a tsunami of vulgar shouts, applause, and joyful laughter swept over.

There seemed to be a wave rising in the crowd, and the air seemed to become increasingly hot amid the hustle and bustle of voices, like boiling water.

Ermao was caught up in it, and was in a daze, but his father was clapping and cheering. Ermao looked at his movements and expressions, and followed his lead mechanically and stiffly to clap and cheer.

The execution ended so simply.

-

On the way home, Ermao learned from his father that the tyrant was so frightened out of his wits after being executed that he looked like a frost-bitten eggplant.

After enumerating her crimes, the tyrant seemed to have lost her parents. She was so frightened by the last cry that she fell down and fainted. This was the reason for the laughter.

As for the capital punishment, that was out of the question. This tyrant did not suffer from the torture of slow slicing. She was just put on the guillotine after she fainted. Once the blade fell, her life was ended.

This was undoubtedly an extremely merciful way to die for such a tyrant.

Because of this, Ermao heard many of his companions complaining on the road, saying that this death was too easy for the tyrant emperor, and that even if she was not executed by slow slicing, she should at least be torn into pieces by five horses.

But Uncle Zhao Zhennan had a different opinion. He said that Your Majesty had overthrown the tyranny of the Jin family, and imposing capital punishment would only increase the bloodiness and cruelty. Your Majesty did not need such means now, so this one blow was enough to express punishment.

Ermao vaguely felt that what Uncle Zhao Zhennan said made more sense.

After all, he didn't dare to watch the cruel and bloody execution. If he really saw the tyrant being executed today, Ermao thought he would never forget it in his life, not to mention how many nightmares he would have after returning home.

"It's good like this." Ermao couldn't help but mutter, then looked up at the road ahead.

The deep red sunset paved the road, the distant sky was so gorgeous, and the charming scenery almost made Ermao unable to take his eyes away.

It's already evening.

We should have been able to reach home before evening, but after the execution, His Majesty said something about a general amnesty. There was a lot to say, and almost everyone was celebrating with joy.

Because of this, Ermao delayed his journey home.

But that doesn't matter, because this will be very close to home.

Ermao still held his sister's hand, but his sister could hardly walk now and her face was full of fatigue. Ermao asked her father to carry her back, but the little girl stubbornly insisted on holding his hand and walking together.

"How is it? Are you tired?" Ermao said with a smile as he looked at her listless appearance.

"Yeah." Wen'er made a bitter face.

"You came all the way here to see all the fun. Look how tired you look, little girl." Ermao squinted his eyes and said this for the third time.

Wen'er smiled at this time. She tilted her head and looked at Ermao, smiling and saying:

"Wherever my brother is, there will be a lot of fun."

“I feel like today was not in vain.”

These childish words startled Ermao, but he couldn't figure out the reason, so he smiled and rubbed his sister's head out of habit.

The setting sun became more and more red, and it was getting closer and closer to home. When they reached a low tree, Ermao had an idea and let go of his sister's hand and ran over.

"Brother, what are you doing?" The little girl looked at him puzzled.

Ermao went in a hurry and ran back in a hurry soon. He stood in front of his sister, smiling with his hands behind his back.

"What are you hiding in your hand?" Wen'er asked with a smile, her eyes curved into crescents.

"Dangdangdang!" Ermao shouted with a smile, then stretched out his hands from behind.

Those are two flowers.

After seeing the flowers, Wen'er smiled happily.

Ermao stretched out his empty hand, took off the two gardenias that had been sunburned and dried up from his sister's sheep-horn whip, and threw them on the ground.

Then he inserted the fresh flowers he had just picked from the tree.

Just like the flower that was thrown away, the flower that was put back on is still a gardenia.

The only difference is that they are still pure white.