The chief steward smiled slightly. “No, there’s no assassin. But my lords, the two of you are in trouble.”
Seeing the aggressive looks in the guards’ eyes, Master Zuo felt his stomach turn.
“What do you mean…” Master Zuo’s voice trembled.
The chief steward took out his token of authority and gave a wave of his hand. “Take them down!”
Huh?
Master Zuo and Master Dugu were both dumbfounded!
The imperial guards only took orders from the people who held Emperor Wu’s token, and ignored everyone else.
Immediately, four stalwart men stepped out of the team and charged at the two masters.
“Sir, what’s this about?!” Zuo Ming glared at the chief steward.
It was quite a scene. After all, Master Zuo and Master Dugu were getting arrested.
With their official status, it was quite a terrifying thing to witness.
Hence, all eyes turned their way.
Even Feng Wu and Feng Xun, who had been messing around, looked this way with smiles on their faces.
The chief steward raised his token and said, “Fetch a bench, pin them down on it, and flog them fifty times each!”
OMG —
The others were still hoping that the chief steward was only joking.
But what was happening was so real that they didn’t know how to react.
Zuo Ming yelled, “This has to be a mistake! Sir, please let me explain!”
However, the chief steward looked very stern and was as grave as a judge.
“Flog them! Now!”
Now that he had finally gotten the chance, of course the chief steward would make sure that they paid the price.
The guards all had aggressive and murderous looks in their eyes, and they were incredibly strong.
No matter how Master Zuo and Master Dugu struggled, they were pinned down like helpless chickens.
“Flog them now! This is His Majesty’s order!” The chief steward brought up the emperor.
Master Dugu and Master Zuo felt like crying.
They had no idea what this was about.
The others all watched in astonishment.
Two high-ranking officials were being flogged in front of everyone, which was so humiliating.
What a disgrace!
Mrs Zuo and Mrs Dugu had been released, and they almost broke down when they saw their husbands getting punished from a short distance away.
“Sister-in-law… what are we going to do now?” Mrs Zuo was almost in tears.
Mrs Dugu was equally distressed.
If their husbands knew that they had to go through this all because their wives had said too much… It would be a disaster!
Their husbands would probably hate them forever!
“Sister, don’t say a word. We’re going to take this secret to the grave without telling another soul. Remember?” Mrs Dugu stared at Mrs Zuo.
Mrs Zuo nodded as she cried.
They couldn’t bring themselves to watch anymore, because they were worried that their guilt would give them away if they stayed any longer.
“Why?! Even if you have to kill me, we still deserve an answer! Sir, why is this happening? What did we do?!”
The chief steward smirked. “You didn’t do anything wrong except marry the wrong women! Ask them when you get back home!”
After the flogging, both Master Dugu and Master Zuo were too weak to even stand up, so the chief steward had someone carry them back.
“Go back to whatever you were doing!”
The crowd scattered, but the gossip wouldn’t go away that easily.
