Chapter 250: Rule 250 Chapter 250: Rule 250 The Ye Family ancestral hall had long been surrounded layer by layer. Inside, on a long bench, lay a skinny, frail teenager who was being spanked repeatedly with a board.
Next to him, a gaunt woman who looked almost disfigured wailed heartrendingly, reaching out her hands trying to rush toward the beaten boy. Unfortunately, she was tightly restrained and could only express her current anguish and indignation through her piercing cries.
However, the beaten boy clenched his teeth tightly and never made a sound of pain from start to finish, making him look pitifully helpless to the onlookers.
“Qinghua, Qinghua, this is the especially tragic fourth family of Grandpa Ye, who is being bullied. The one being beaten is Wenzheng, and the woman being restrained is Wenzheng’s mother, Fourth Aunt Wang,” Ye Qinghua clasped Ye Jiu’s arm tightly. Every time the board came down, the little girl’s hand trembled.
Ye Jiu silently freed his arm from her grip; however, she quickly grabbed hold of his sleeve again.
Luckily, clothing doesn’t feel pain, so Ye Jiu let her be.
In the meantime, someone who couldn’t bear to watch interceded for Ye Wenzheng, “Clan Leader, though it’s true that Wenzheng chasing his grandmother with a knife was highly inappropriate, the boy isn’t usually one to behave recklessly. How about we ask about the circumstances and reasons first, then we can still punish him afterwards.”
“No, within the Ye clan, there’s a rule that if a junior disrespects an elder, right or wrong doesn’t matter, we first administer 20 heavy blows,” said an old lady with a face full of wrinkles and down-turned, triangular eyes, obviously not an easy person to deal with.
The executor, who had stopped upon hearing the plea for mercy, however, restarted as soon as the old lady spoke, and the Clan Leader almost without thinking, reiterated the command, “Beat!”
The nation has its laws, the clan has its rules.
Moreover, there is no perfect parent under heaven. Regardless of whatever faults Third Grandmother might have, Ye Wenzheng daring to lay a hand on his own grandmother was a great act of disrespect, and he deserved to be punished!
As the paddle crackled down repeatedly, and after the twenty severe blows were administered, Wang was finally released. She immediately rushed over and collapsed onto Ye Wenzheng’s back, sobbing unrestrainedly.
Meanwhile, Ye Wenzheng weakly lifted his head, blood from his bitten lips spilling from his mouth, yet his eyes were filled with intense hatred.
“Wenzheng, without rules, there is no square or circle, the clan rule is as such, and you should not blame your fellow clansmen for being unkind,” the Clan Leader stepped forward, his face full of majesty, yet feeling sorry for the boy. Thus, he softened his tone and asked, “You have already suffered for your mistake. Speak what grievances you have in your heart. Even if it concerns your own grandmother, if she was too much, the clan will still take measures.”
The boy’s eyes flickered, the hate gradually disappearing, replaced by a deep hope.
Ye Wenzheng rose from the bench, his back covered in blood, and walked with a limp. Despite his pain, he gently supported his sobbing mother and moved toward the Clan Leader with difficult steps.
Ye Wenzheng knelt in front of the Clan Leader, his voice filled with sorrow, “Clan Leader, whatever punishment you decide, I will accept, but I beg you, I beseech the clan, save my sister. She is only thirteen, her life shouldn’t be ruined …”
“What on earth happened? What’s wrong with Ye Yun?” the Clan Leader asked sternly, a bad premonition already forming in his mind.
“My uncles lost money gambling in town. I was sent out at noon by them, and by the time I returned, they had already tied up my sister and sold her to the neighboring village’s Liu the Fool to cover their debts. Clan Leader, I beg you, save my sister,” Ye Wenzheng pleaded with desperation in his eyes.