Chapter 379 : All Tan Mo’s Fault
But no one wanted Butler Zhu to stop.
“Butler Zhu, you must detain Wei Keli,” Liu, the gardener, exhorted him. He was furious to the point of addressing Wei Keli by his name, and not using the term of respect, Young Master Keli.
To him, Wei Keli was not worthy of his respect.
“Zhu, if you could torture him a little more while you’re on your way there, I’ll make you your favorite hog maw and chicken soup,” Chef Wang whispered to Butler Zhu.
The latter was dumbfounded.
Is it appropriate for you to exhort me to give the Wei family’s young master a working over in front of their mansion?
“Zhu, you can’t let him slide just because he is the Wei family’s young master!” Aunt Zhang blurted out.
“Relax. Don’t you trust me?” Butler Zhu waved good-bye and left.
Everyone felt satisfied as they watched Butler Zhu work his whip slowly.
Li Xiangrong could smell that something fishy was going on by just looking at the pace he swung the whip.
Her years of living in their family had trained her eyes to notice such subtle things. Therefore, she could not help but realize something was out of place.
Unlike her dimwitted son, Wei Keli…
“Butler Zhu, could you please finish this quickly?” Li Xiangrong complained as she glared at him bitterly and continued, “Please make this easier for him. Stop tormenting him like this.”
Hearing her, Butler Zhu rolled his shoulders and replied, “Age is taking its toll on my body. I’m no longer as nimble as I used to be.”
“If you’re weary, I can take over,” Wei Zhiqian chimed in.
“Why, you little…” Li Xiangrong was brimming with anger.
Butler Zhu shook his head and muttered, “I can finish the last four lashes.”
Wei Keli couldn’t even muster the strength to beg for mercy anymore.
A mixture of tears, mucus, and saliva dripped on the ground and gradually accumulated.
The wound on his back got redder and redder. His body looked as if there was bleeding underneath his skin.
The redness intensified because he continued to shriek at the top of his lungs in anguish.
WHOOSH!
Butler Zhu cracked the whip once again.
At that, Wei Keli fell face first, as if he could not hold out anymore.
With no support for his face, his head bounced a little as it hit the ground.
The saliva in his mouth dribbled against the floor and splashed out in a spray.
Beads of cold sweat had soaked his hair and formed droplets on his hair tips.
“Keli!” Li Xiangrong yelled in anguish. “Stop it! Stop hitting him! He can’t take it anymore!”
“Grandpa!” Wei Zhijian gazed at Old Mister Wei in supplication.
Wei Zhijian felt relieved when he saw Old Mister Wei make a gesture, thinking that the latter was going to let Wei Keli off the hook this time.
But, to his surprise, Old Mister Wei merely commanded, “Butler Zhu, finish the last three lashes quickly.”
“Yes, sir.” Butler Zhu nodded his agreement.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
He struck three lashes in a swift motion within two seconds.
The sight rendered Li Xiangrong speechless.
Aging my *ss!
Aren’t you a fast one?
The leather whip was heavy and long, and it was rather backbreaking to swing it around.
Yet, neither did Butler Zhu’s face flush, nor was he breathless, after he was finished. Thus, it contradicted his claim of being decrepit and exhausted.
“Send him to the hospital,” Old Mister Wei ordered coldly, without a hint of concern about Wei Keli’s injuries.
Old Mister Wei could not interrogate Wei Keli now since the latter was unconscious, so he turned to Wei Zhijian and Li Xiangrong and lectured, “I hope that he has truly learned his lesson this time. It’d be best if he would stop doing foolish things just because someone else incites him once his wound recovers. He should keep his imbecility to himself and not cause harm to others like he did before.”
But Li Xiangrong could not care less about Old Mister Wei’s utterances.
Her heart was bursting with hatred toward the people there.
Although Wei Keli was at fault, they should not have inflicted such a heavy punishment on him.
After all, Tan Mo was not a member of the Wei family.
She was an outsider.
Her surname was Tan, not Wei.
So the Wei family members had thrashed one of their direct descendants for the sake of an outsider.
Li Xiangrong’s resentment toward them further escalated as she tried to pick her son up.
Wei Keli had long since blacked out. He had lacerations everywhere and was a bloody mess.
The sight of it broke Li Xiangrong’s heart.
She only grabbed his arm and dared not pull it, as she was afraid of hurting him, although he was out cold and wouldn’t feel a thing.
Conversely, everyone just stood and watched as the scene played out; not a single soul offered to lend her a hand.
Even if Wei Keli had been unharmed, it was still impossible for Li Xiangrong to carry a man of his height and weight.
At that moment, Wei Zhijian moved forward and bellowed, “Why are you all standing there? Help her out!”
Several moving silhouettes outside the door had just caught his attention.
The two bodyguards who had stopped Li Xiangrong earlier stood still and remained motionless.
All the people at the manor, who were hiding in the corners outside the door, turned a deaf ear to his command.
They figured that as long as none of them were visible, they could pretend to be absent.
That way, they didn’t need to respond to Wei Zhijian or Li Xiangrong’s demands.
Then, the two bodyguards who had been tasked to watch over Li Xiangrong turned to look at Old Mister Wei.
They only took action after Old Mister Wei bowed his head.
In a flash, the two picked up Wei Keli and carried him facedown to Wei Zhijian’s car, where they placed him in the back seat.
Wasting no time, Wei Zhijian followed behind Li Xiangrong and they took their passed-out son to the hospital.
Halfway to the hospital, Li Xiangrong, who was filled with abhorrence, hissed, “Aren’t the patriarch and matriarch a little too much? Regardless of what Keli did, he is still a Wei family member! How could they treat him like this when Tan Mo is just an outsider?”
At that moment, Li Xiangrong shifted her anger toward Tan Mo.
She had still had some hope in her heart that Wei Keli could marry Tan Mo one day.
However, after Wei Keli had been caught red-handed by the Tans scheming to harm Tan Mo that day, a marriage with the latter was now out of the question.
On top of that, the Wei family’s patriarch and matriarch even gave Wei Keli a severe battering because of Tan Mo.
Should they marry each other in the future, everyone would stand on her side if they had any arguments.
Tan Mo was the reason for all that had happened to Wei Keli that night.
As a result, Li Xiangrong could no longer love Tan Mo as she used to.
Marriage was not in the cards for them anymore.
If Tan Mo were to marry her son, she would have to treat the former like her ancestors.
If there were something not to Tan Mo’s liking at their abode, every person from the patriarch to Wei Zhiqian would have a hand in her affairs.
“All this time, I had been wondering why Wei Zhiqian despises Keli. So the reason behind it was that he knew Grandpa and Grandma’s thoughts about Keli. Now I finally see why he has treated Keli in this way for so long,” Wei Zhijian explained.
“Could it be that Wei Zhiqian has been badmouthing Keli, and this caused the patriarch and matriarch to become prejudiced against him?” Li Xiangrong questioned.
Perhaps, the causal chain should be deemed the other way round.
“Didn’t you see Butler Zhu and the other helpers’ attitudes toward Keli? That wasn’t something that could happen after Wei Zhiqian said a thing or two. It must be that Grandpa and Grandma often expressed their dissatisfaction toward Keli at the mansion. The subordinates imitate their superiors. If the patriarch disrespects him, the helpers will follow suit,” Wei Zhijian remarked.
Upon hearing that, Li Xiangrong turned back to glance at Wei Keli in sorrow.
She had not covered his back as it was a mass of bleeding flesh. She was worried that the blood might stick to the cloth, making it hard to remove afterward.
Li Xiangrong let out a long sigh. “If only this makes Keli awaken his true abilities.”