"One, two, three...ten..."
"Didn't you eat? Start over." Rosen snorted coldly.
He stood by, watching the yamen perform the punishment.
The yamen had no choice but to increase their force. These yamen, who daily administered beatings, had long mastered the art of flogging.
Some blows sounded loud but caused no pain at all.
But how could their tricks escape Rosen's eyes?
"One, two..."
"Ah...ah..." Zhu Gaoxu screamed.
After a hundred blows, Zhu Gaoxu was on his last breath, almost unconscious, lying on the ground with his Byakugan rolled back.
An ordinary person would be severely injured after thirty blows. Although Zhu Gaoxu was strong, he couldn't endure a hundred heavy blows.
...
"Your Majesty, something has happened...something has happened..." Ji Gang rushed to Zhu Di.
"What happened?" Zhu Di had never seen Ji Gang so flustered.
"Han Wang...Han Wang was severely injured from the beating. Zhu Mingqing, the Zongzheng of the Clan Affairs Office, had an arm and an ear cut off, and is now also critically injured and near death."
Zhu Di's face showed shock: "Who did this?"
"Law Ming's biological father, Rosen."
Zhu Di's face was filled with uncontrollable rage: "Why?"
"This..."
"Speak!"
"Han Wang was harassing Rosen's daughter, Luo Mingyue, on the street. Then he couldn't defeat Luo Mingyue, felt resentful, and took Luo Mingyue to the Clan Affairs Office."
"And then?"
"Then Rosen came, took out a death-exemption iron scroll, and said that if the Clan Affairs Office couldn't give a fair judgment today, he would raze the Clan Affairs Office, and it would be no big deal to just use this death-exemption iron scroll."
Zhu Di was fuming with rage. Han Wang Zhu Gaoxu was his favorite son.
But now he was beaten half to death by Rosen.
Yet, he couldn't find trouble with Rosen.
Rosen was in the right, and that death-exemption iron scroll was given by him.
Most importantly, his son, who had endured many battles and was the most valiant and skilled in combat, couldn't even defeat a young girl and caused a scene at the Clan Affairs Office. This matter would not sound good if it got out.
"Suppress this matter."
"Your Majesty, the imperial clan is in an uproar now. They all demand justice from you."
"Tell them all to disperse," Zhu Di said calmly.
"But..."
"Don't you understand my words?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
No matter how much the imperial clan made a fuss, they were just tigers without Kiba.
At the beginning of his reign, he still needed the imperial clan to legitimize his throne.
But now everything had stabilized, so the imperial clan was dispensable at this time.
Although Zhu Di would not Carnage the imperial clan, dealing with a few disobedient ones only required a few words.
...
Zhu Di still went to the Luo Manor and found Rosen fishing by the lake.
"Old Law, you don't seem scared at all. You harmed a prince. What crime should you be punished for?"
Rosen lifted his eyelids and looked at Zhu Di: "So you've come to demand an explanation?"
"I don't have the face for that," Zhu Di said irritably. "It's fine that you don't let your daughter learn needlework, but why do you let her practice martial arts?"
"Who said women must do these things? My daughter, Luo Mingyue, can do whatever she wants and learn whatever she wants."
"How can such a fierce woman find a good husband in the future?"
"Different strokes for different folks. Besides, if my daughter fancies someone's family, he can't refuse," Rosen said confidently. "If she never finds a husband in this life, will her life be worse than others?"
"You don't have such a broad mind for your son. You even want to destroy him when he achieves success, but you spoil your daughter so much. Why is that?"
"Because I know he's wrong. What's temporary fame? If I wanted to, I could do better than him anytime, anywhere."
Zhu Di didn't believe Rosen's arrogant words.
After all, whether Rosen could be an official was up to him.
"Then are you willing to let him hate you for it his whole life?"
"Better than losing his life."
"With your means, protecting him is not difficult."
"Besides him, it's also because I think you're a better emperor than Zhu Yunwen."
Zhu Di was particularly pleased with Rosen's words, as this was the greatest praise for him.
He didn't say it, but the smile on his face couldn't be hidden.
"How about we become in-laws?"
"No, your family are all crooked gourds and cracked dates. They're not worthy of my daughter."
Zhu Di's good mood, which he had just because Rosen said he was better than Zhu Yunwen, vanished in an instant.
"What did you say? You dare to insult my imperial family!"
"So what if I did? How can your sons compare to my precious daughter?"
Zhu Di's fists clenched, and he got up to leave.
Rosen then said: "Sell me another death-exemption iron scroll, please."
"Didn't you say you didn't care for it?"
"I suddenly found it quite useful. Every now and then, I can beat Zhu Gaoxu up again, and then throw the death-exemption iron scroll in his face."
"You're asking me for a death-exemption iron scroll, and then you want to beat my son? You're not putting me in your eyes."
"I'll give you a white sugar production technique. If you don't earn a million taels in three years, I'll return the death-exemption iron scroll to you."
Hiss—
Zhu Di immediately put away his anger. He knew the price of white sugar; even he, as emperor, couldn't necessarily eat it every day.
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