"Brother, do you have a dagger on you?" Shi Qingqing suddenly asked.
"Yes!" Shi Zhenghe replied readily.
Without asking his sister what she needed the dagger for, he reached into his left sleeve pocket, pulled out a delicate dagger, and handed it to Shi Qingqing.
Shi Qingqing quickly drew the small dagger her brother had given her, examined it carefully. The blade was sharp, the entire body was silver-white, and it emitted a dazzling cold gleam. She then let out a "tsk" and a satisfied smile spread across her face.
Immediately after, she rushed out of the crowd, quickly caught up to Lin Hongtao's prisoner cart, and then, with practiced ease, climbed onto it.
Shi Qingqing's actions startled Shi Zhenghe greatly, and he then followed right behind her.
The onlookers were completely bewildered. What was this young girl going to do with a dagger in her hand?
Was she going to kill Lin Hongtao?
Lin Hongtao was about to be taken to his execution, and it seemed rather pointless for the young girl to kill him now.
At this moment, Leng Ruoli, standing by the window on the second floor of a street-side restaurant, saw this scene and was also startled. She certainly didn't think Shi Qingqing climbed onto the prisoner cart to rescue the prisoner. Her main concern was that the onlookers might misunderstand Shi Qingqing's actions and attack her.
Little did they know, after climbing onto Lin Hongtao's prisoner cart, Shi Qingqing suddenly grabbed his ear.
Lin Hongtao, who was still dazed from the rotten eggs and vegetables thrown at him, was caught completely off guard when Shi Qingqing grabbed his ear. He immediately grimaced in pain.
At this, Lin Hongtao turned his head to look at Shi Qingqing. Seeing the sharp dagger clutched tightly in her hand, his eyes widened in terror.
"You… you… what do you want to do to me?" Lin Hongtao stammered, staring intently at Shi Qingqing.
"Lin Hongtao, do you remember me? I am Shi Qingqing, the one you threatened my brother with and vowed to sell into a brothel to settle a debt," Shi Qingqing said through gritted teeth, still holding his ear.
"Oh, oh dear, Auntie, I was wrong, I was wrong, I was really wrong. Please spare me!"
Lin Hongtao quickly begged for mercy.
"Hmph! Spare you! When my brother and I begged you before, were you willing to spare us? No, you weren't! If my brother and I hadn't been saved by the Cold King's Consort, I don't even know which brothel in the capital you would have sold me into by now."
Shi Qingqing said fiercely, her face filled with anger.
With that, she raised the dagger in her hand, intending to sever Lin Hongtao's ear.
Knowing Shi Qingqing's intention, Lin Hongtao desperately shook his head, trying to break free from her grip, and shouted loudly, "Father, Lord Yan, save me! This woman is a lunatic! She wants to cut off my ear."
However, when Lin Zhenfei heard his son's voice, he closed his eyes like a useless man. At this moment, he was unable to save his son. It was all his fault for trusting that slut Tao Xiangqing and falling for her trap…
Meanwhile, Yan Song, who was riding ahead of Lin Zhenfei and the other prisoners, acted as if he hadn't heard Lin Hongtao's plea and continued to lead the prisoners to the Meridian Gate for execution.
At the same time, Yan Song thought to himself, *If your ear gets cut off, so be it. Who told you to be so detestable in the past? Now that you're in trouble, it's only natural for people to vent their frustrations on you.*
As he was thinking…
A pig-slaughtering scream erupted from behind him, echoing through half the capital.
"Ah—"
"It hurts so much—"
"Ah—"
Witnessing Lin Hongtao's miserable plight, the onlookers felt immensely satisfied. After Shi Qingqing was pulled down by her brother, they continued to throw rotten eggs at Lin Hongtao and Lin Zhenfei.
Lin Zhenfei watched helplessly as someone used a dagger to cut off his son's ear. Lin Hongtao was in excruciating pain, and blood continuously flowed from the wound, eventually staining his clothes through the gaps in his heavy wooden cangue.
In the end, overwhelmed by the pain, Lin Hongtao rolled his eyes twice and fainted.
Soon, Yan Song had Lin Zhenfei and his father, along with the other prisoners, brought to the execution ground.
Yan Song immediately ordered all the prisoners to be brought to the execution platform. Lin Hongtao, who had fainted from the pain, was no exception.
After all the prisoners were brought to the execution ground, there was a scene of wailing and lamentation. Some prisoners even attempted to escape, but they were quickly recaptured by the fierce soldiers after taking only a few steps.
However, the area below the execution ground was already packed with a sea of onlookers. At this moment, Tao Xiangqing stood at the very front of the crowd.
Seeing Tao Xiangqing now, Lin Zhenfei's gaze was as if he wanted to devour her.
He blamed this slut for everything. If she hadn't made him consume the drug that caused him to lose his cultivation, these restraints wouldn't have been able to control him, and he could have escaped at any time.
But after losing his cultivation, he could only be manipulated like a useless person.
The weather was exceptionally good that day, with the sun shining brightly.
After standing under the scorching sun for a while, Lin Zhenfei, his son, Fei Pang, and the other prisoners became extremely thirsty.
"Lord Yan, I'm dying of thirst. Can you give me a bowl of water?"
Fei Pang, unable to bear it any longer, made his request to Yan Song.
"Drink what? Drink what! It's almost time for the midday hour."
After speaking, Yan Song had the soldiers at the execution ground remove the prisoners' wooden cangues and line them up at the front of the ground, kneeling in neat rows.
At this moment, Lin Hongtao was splashed with cold water by the soldiers and woke up.
As soon as he opened his eyes and saw the line of people in front of him, his two large elephant-like legs began to tremble. Forgetting the pain in his ear, he started shouting loudly again.
Afterward, he was kicked to his knees by the executioner.
At this point, Yan Song, the supervising executioner on the main platform, glanced up at the scorching sun, then looked at the hourglass beside him, and immediately wrote the character "斬" (Zhan - execute) on a wooden plaque.
He quickly threw it down to the platform below and bellowed, "Begin the execution!"
The heads of Lin Zhenfei, Lin Hongtao, Fei Pang, and the other prisoners immediately fell to the ground, rolling a few times, and blood splattered everywhere.
Before their execution, Lin Zhenfei and Fei Pang had closed their eyes, but Lin Hongtao and the others had their eyes wide open, appearing unwilling to rest in peace.
The onlookers below, witnessing the beheading of the Lin father and son, were also greatly terrified. In an instant, they scattered like startled beasts.
Only Tao Xiangqing watched the few heads on the execution ground with cold eyes, with no one there to claim them.
Tao Xiangqing stood there for a long while before deciding to leave.
However, after taking just two steps, several wolves suddenly rushed out of an alley. They ran like flashes of lightning towards the heads of Lin Zhenfei, his son, and Fei Pang, swiftly snatched up the three heads, and then vanished back into the alley from which they had emerged, again like lightning.
"Haha…"
"This is truly retribution. Lin Zhenfei, you committed many evils in your life, and even in death, heaven does not wish to see your bodies complete!"