Chapter 869 Punishment, Marriage
The village had always been carrying on the ancient tradition of working and resting. In the past, they had all gotten up at this time to prepare for the exercise. However, at this moment, just as the rooster crowed, the fire on the stone platform was instantly extinged.
This action made everyone believe that the evil children’s curse really existed. Therefore, since everyone was present, the clan leader directly said to everyone,”Since the evil children have arrived, now we have to punish the person who brought disaster to our clan. The clan has a thusand-year rule that we cannot kill our clansmen. Therefore, we will flog Ah Gen and Ah Tawa.”
“Bring them up.”
Ah Cai ran back at the right time. Just as he stood in the corner, he heard the clan leader’s words. He looked anxiously at the pa.s.sage to the side. Ah Gen and Ah Tawa were escorted up.
The two of them knelt under the stone platform. They were supposed to be punished on the stone platform, but the stone platform had just experienced a big fire, so no one dared to go up at the moment.
Two long stools were placed in front of everyone. The two people who carried out the whipping were the adult guards of the tribe. According to the rules, the highest punishment was 50 lashes for Ah Gen, and Ah Tawa was a child and a girl. Therefore, she accepted 20 lashes. However, for a child, this was also the scariest punishment.
Ah Tawa lay on the bench, her eyes searching through the crowd. When she saw that Nang Kokang was standing beside his parents, not saying a word and just staring at her blankly, the chill in her heart could not be blocked.
She had harmed her father and the two children. Nang Kokang was a coward.
But who could say that Nang Kokang had done something wrong? In the eyes of the villagers, Nang Kokang’s family’s actions were the most correct and the best.
Ah Gen did not say anything. He did not even plead on behalf of Ah Tawa because the rules of the village were there. If he pleaded, Ah Tawa would definitely receive a heavier punishment.
He looked at Ah Tawa worriedly. Ah Tawa also turned her head to look at her father. She was not afraid. This was the punishment she should receive. It was not that she had done something wrong, but that she was blind. She actually went to save a heartless, ungrateful wolf.
The four elders held a bottle and sprinkled water droplets on their heads with willow branches. They spoke eloquently, as if they were using a unique sacrificial method to clearly understand the sins of the two people.
After this action was done, the clan leader stepped forward and said a few old words. Then, the punishment began.
The long whip was made of snake skin. It was thick and long. Each whip would cost half of one’s life. It was not an exaggeration to say that the skin would be split open.
Fortunately, Ah Tawa was a girl. There were few girls in the clan, so the whip was relatively smaller. Even so, each whip would leave a red mark on her body.
Ah Tawa bit her lips tightly. Twenty lashes seemed to be an extremely long time. After all, she was only a 10-year-old child. After twenty lashes, she could not hold on much longer.
However, she kept looking at her father. When Ah Gen had pa.s.sed out and the punishment had been carried out, she fainted from the dizziness.
After the punishment was carried out, the chief warned everyone that they were sinners in the clan and could not receive treatment from a doctor. They could only be thrown back home and wait for death. Of course… if you had the ability to go up the mountain and pick your own herbs, no one would say anything. But now that Ah Gen had become a sinner in the entire village, no one would save them.
However, the clan leader showed his kindness in front of everyone, and still got someone to carry the two of them back to their homes.
Ah Cai had been following behind everyone. When he saw that Ah Gen and Ah Tawa were thrown into the room, he immediately took out the herbs that he had prepared earlier to treat the two of them.
It was extremely difficult for him to take care of two patients by himself. Moreover, Ah Gen’s injuries were extremely serious, so he did not look good. After all, Ah Tawa was too young, so it did not look appropriate.
In the end, Ah Cai had no choice but to carry the two people back to his own home and take care of them nearby.
Anyway, the clansmen would not care about them. Ah Cai did not want to see the two people die just like that, so he carried them back to his own home.
When Ah Cai settled the two people, it was already afternoon.
Everyone went up the mountain and continued to search along the river. Ah Cai didn’t dare to hide in his room and not go out, but he still followed the others to search. He couldn’t show any difference so as not to be suspected.
The day slowly pa.s.sed like this. It was evening again. Yan Kuan and Shen Xiaoxiao had rested enough and slowly climbed out of the secret compartment.
In fact, Yan Kuan had gone out during the day to inquire about Ah Cai’s address. He also knew that Ah Cai was not a bad person and had saved the father and daughter.
Therefore, after Shen Xiaoxiao climbed out of the secret compartment, he immediately brought her to Ah Cai’s house.
Ah Cai was very anxious at the moment. Ah Gen was fine. After all, he was an adult, and his physical fitness was there. However, Ah Tawa was too young. After receiving twenty lashes, she was already starting to heat up. If she could not get rid of the fever… it was very likely that she would die from the inflammation.
In their village, there was a lack of medicine. Many common medicinal herbs were picked on the mountain. Ah Gen had obviously improved a lot after taking the medicine, but Ah Tawa was getting weaker and weaker.
“What should we do? Ah Tawa is still unconscious.”
“Uncle Gen, I have to take off Ah Tawa’s clothes before applying the medicine on her wound.”
This was also one of the reasons why Ah Tawa was not doing well. The village had strict rules and placed great importance on a woman’s chast.i.ty. Not to mention that Ah Tawa was only 10 years old, as long as she was over 7 years old, she would be treated as an adult woman. If one had to take off her clothes, unless it was her husband, even her own father could not do it.
Therefore, this was also the reason why Ah Cai did not dare to apply the medicine on Ah Tawa.
How could Ah Gen not know the problem? He thought about it and realized that Ah Cai was actually not even 20 years old. He was only 18 years old. He was not much older than Ah Tawa. Moreover, he had watched her grow up and had always been the closest to her. After such a big incident, the only person who had shown kindness to save them was Ah Cai. After thinking about Nang Kokang and Nang Kohua, Ah Gen simply asked:
“Ah Cai, Uncle Gen will betrothed Ah Tawa to you. Do you accept?”
Ah Cai was stunned. It couldn’t be, right? Ah Tawa was so young? But if it was Ah Tawa, his younger sister who he had grown up with, she would be much better than the girls in the village. He had liked Ah Tawa since he was young
“Doesn’t Ah Tawa like Nang Kokang?”
“That ungrateful person is not worthy of my Ah Tawa. I will make the decision to betroth Ah Tawa to you.”
“This, what about Ah Tawa?”
“Brother Cai, I am willing.”
A soft sentence came from the side. Ah Gen was stunned, and Ah Cai was also stunned. However, Ah Tawa’s face was too red, and she was already a little confused from the fever. However, if she could still say that, it meant that she was really willing.
Ah Cai did not hesitate and nodded immediately. Then, he took the medicine and walked to the side. With his back facing Ah Gan, he started to apply the medicine on Ah Tawa.