There are a total of 12 rooms in the West House, except for the main house where Xie Fanghe and his wife live, the left side room is occupied by Xie Ling, the son of the original hostess Xia Pan. The other ten maids and servants lived in four rooms, three of which were guest rooms for entertaining guests, and the last four had one for Xie Fanghe's study, one for storing trivial items, and one for Xie Ling to study. As for the last solitary hut to the north, it is mysterious to outsiders, because it is covered with thick curtains all year round, and not even a ray of light can enter.

In addition to the curtains, at the door of the hut were three large water tanks, which were filled with well water every day, but sometimes only enough for a day, and all of them were used in the hut.

It is said that someone once heard the screams of a child inside, but then they couldn't hear it, and Xie Fanghe's eldest son, Xie Ling, has never stepped out of the Westinghouse since he was picked up six years ago, and he wears thick clothes every day, wrapping his body and face inside, and behaves very strangely.

Soon after, rumors spread in the clan that Lingzhi abused Xie Fanghe's ex-wife's son Xie Ling, and some influential children of the clan moved Xie Ling out of the West House and was directly taken care of by the clan. But it was opposed by Xie Fanghe, and the most unexpected thing was that Xie Fangmo rewarded Lingzhi for his good teaching, so that the children of Yì had to give up.

At this moment, inside the mysterious hut, Chun Tao was directing several servants to pour buckets of black and fishy viscous juice into a huge wooden barrel in the center of the room, and in the center of the wooden barrel stood a boy about nine years old, and the black and fishy viscous juice had already overflowed his waist at this time.

Chun Tao is Lingzhi's personal maid, and no one is allowed to approach this hut except for her and a few servants. The once curious servant was beaten to death in the courtyard by a random stick, and since then he has not dared to come even half a step close to the hut!

"Young Master, if you hold on, we will be almost finished, I heard Madame say, this time may be the last time!" Chun Tao couldn't help but cover her nose and said.

"Chun Tao, didn't you lie, you should know how annoying this thing is. The boy in the barrel said.

Chun Tao remembered the first few times this young master's tragic situation, and the pain after being splashed on his body by a few drops of juice when he struggled, how she didn't understand his thoughts. The pain is unbearable even if he has been used to suffering since childhood, not to mention that he was only a little over six years old at the time!

Sometimes she couldn't help but say to Mrs. if it was too much, but Mrs. just shook her head and said that it was for his good, otherwise the original efforts would be in vain! .

She didn't quite understand, but she saw that every time the young master soaked in medicine, his wife's eyes were always red, and he was obviously secretly crying, so she wanted to defend the second lady.

"Madame, she—"

"Don't mention her, is there anything fun outside Chun Tao? I haven't been out in a long time, and this time if I don't have that disgusting flail again, I can go out and get some air!" the boy interrupted her, and when he looked up, his eyes shining.

Mom, how good it is for you to be still there! Ling'er won't be bullied by others, why can't you bear to leave Ling'er behind?

His eyes suddenly moistened, and two lines of tears came from his innocent cheeks.

The burning of the juice made his heart boil, and the blood was rushing, but the pain of his flesh was covered by endless sorrow.

Chun Tao's eyes couldn't help but moisten, how old he was! Many children may still be snuggled in their mother's arms at this time, asking for fruit to eat. And he has endured and experienced so much suffering.

"Young master, I'm out, if you have something to do, just ring the bell and call me!" Chun Tao sighed and turned to leave the hut.

The boy soaked in the barrel was naturally Xia Pan's son Xie Ling. He is nine years old this year, and he looks more and more like Xia Pan, with perseverance in his spirit.

After three years of painful suffering, he finally gradually got used to these black, fishy, and viscous juices, unlike fainting in them because he couldn't stand it at first.

However, these juices also seemed to be constantly strengthening the medicinal power, and the cheeks that had just recovered to normal turned purple under the smoke of those mist, and the body below was like a thousand ants devouring the body, and the pain was cracking.

This kind of ordeal will take an hour, and Xie Ling has been experiencing such 'devastation' again and again since he was six years old. After each time, the skin of his whole body will form a layer of hard shackles, and it will be very itchy, but if you scratch it, wait for it to be uncomfortable! The scratched place will be more itchy, and it will not last for a long time, and it will be painful. Xie Ling didn't dare to scratch after a few experiences, and when it was really itchy and uncomfortable, he wrapped his hand with a cloth, so as not to scratch his skin when he slept.

But every time the hard flail on his body fell off and soon after the new skin was born, he would be forcibly pulled by Erniang to soak in the bucket of black viscous juice again.

In the past three years, whether Xie Ling wants to or not, he has to go through this unbearable process.

An hour later, Chun Tao accompanied a beautiful woman to come in from outside the house, she walked to the barrel and said, "Ling'er stretch out your hand to show Erniang, okay?"

Xie Ling ignored her, but his whole body kept shaking inside, although the pain was unbearable, but at this moment he would never show half a bit of cowardice, this was a silent struggle, the beautiful woman naturally understood, and said with a wry smile: "I'd better see for myself." After speaking, ignoring Xie Ling's resentful gaze, he actually rolled up his sleeves, stretched a white jade-like arm into the black-brown viscous juice, and then took out a burnt arm like a yellow stewed prawn from it, and looked it up and down carefully. I saw that although the skin was red like blood, it was fine, and there was no sign of a hard flail. She put his arm down, and then said to Xie Ling, who was a little surprised inside: "Okay, you don't have to soak it in the future, Chun Tao, you can help Ling'er wash her body!" After speaking, she turned around and left.

Xie Ling blinked, at that moment he really wanted to splash the juice inside on her, so that she could also try the pain she had suffered all these years. But she actually put her hand into it, and scooped up one of her arms in it as if nothing happened, which made him extinguish this thought immediately, because it would not make her uncomfortable, but would provoke her father's scolding.

In the past three years, he has tried to fight, tried various ways to escape from soaking in the barrel, but each time he ended in failure, in this matter, his father, who has always doted on him, has no affection to say, and is completely on the side of Erniang.

The spring of March is bright, and the boys and girls who step into the spring wear beautiful clothes and are in a happy mood, and they can be seen in the mountains, in the wilderness, by the stream, as long as there is a green place.

Xie Ling stood on the highest lighthouse of the Xie family, and every year when spring came, he always stood here and looked out at the scenery outside the Qiulong Courtyard. In his memory, his mother once took him out of this oppressive square courtyard, counted the stars in the sky in the wilderness, and the children's songs he sang at that time were still vaguely echoing in his ears.

Suddenly, a group of children came running from a distance, they chased and frolicked each other, and the beautiful singing of several little girls wafted from afar with the faint fragrance of flowers. Xie Ling clung to the guardrail in front of him, he wanted to fly over to play with them, he wanted to fly over and sing with them, he wanted to fly over and pick the most beautiful flowers to give to his mother in his memory!

No, I have to go out and see how wide the world really is.

Xie Ling clenched his fists and swore secretly in his heart.