บท 409: Faith

The stench of blood was heavy in the air. Birds chirped in the background, its notes were eerie and grim. Occasionally, a maidservant would whimper, and another would sob. All of them were kneeling, but some were sprawled on the ground for their legs had given out.

"What is the meaning of this?" Li Xueyue breathed out, her eyes taking in the dreary atmosphere.

In the center of the open courtyard was a wooden platform. Blood dripped off the sides, as a brutalized body was bound to a wooden pole. 

Li Xueyue hadn't had breakfast but felt the urge to vomit. She didn't need to ask who was on the podium. Especially, when the color of the discarded clothes on the podium was exactly what Xu Jiaqi wore yesterday. 

There was so much blood that Li Xueyue almost did not see the rags worn by Xu Jiaqi. It seemed Xu Jiaqi had been stripped in public and forced to wear humiliating rags...