Arthur Evans Is Found
It took more than half an hour, but Su Shimao finally climbed down from the high cliff. His hands and feet were numb from the cold. Looking around, he recognized that he was at the back mountain of the village.
Stumbling and staggering, Su Shimao headed toward the village. Just as he was about to lose consciousness from the cold, he finally ran into two villagers at the foot of the mountain.
Seeing people, Su Shimao felt like a drowning man spotting a lifebuoy. He thought to himself, "I’ve survived this disaster; there must be good fortune ahead!"
"Help! I’m Su Shimao from Haizi Village, please save me!" Su Shimao shouted with all his strength at the two villagers.
The two villagers heard this and thought, "What, Su Shimao? Isn’t he the one the village chief ordered us to find everywhere? Once caught, he’ll be branded and paraded through the streets!" They chuckled, thinking, "Who would’ve thought the hard search was unnecessary; this is a big accomplishment!"
"Hey, Su Shimao, we finally found you!" The two villagers immediately rushed out, feeling like they had found gold.
Seeing the villagers rush to rescue him, Su Shimao was deeply moved.
The two villagers each grabbed one of his arms and lifted him up, running and dragging him back toward the village.
"Hey, slow down! My legs are stiff; I can’t run fast!" Su Shimao said.
"Come on, hurry up! We still have to report to the village chief!" the two villagers said.
"Report?" Su Shimao was confused. He was so frozen and dizzy that his mind wasn’t clear. Only when they carried him to the village chief’s house and threw him on the floor did he see the butcher holding a branding knife beside him, and he suddenly realized something was wrong.
"So you know how to run, huh? Tsk!" The village chief rolled up his sleeves.
Su Shimao, trembling and scared, curled up on the ground. Once inside the warm room, he felt the numbness in his body turn into a prickling pain, but that one spot on him still had no sensation.
Su Shimao wanted to pull down his pants to check, but with so many people around, he felt it was inappropriate.
"Brand him on the face!" the village chief ordered, and the butcher immediately grabbed Su Shimao like catching a chicken.
Su Shimao was weak, unlike Su Laoye and Su Daqi who did hard labor and were strong. Frozen half to death, the butcher pressed him to the ground with one hand.
Looking at the branding knife in the butcher’s hand, Su Shimao finally understood—they were going to punish him by branding!
Terrified, Su Shimao cried with tears and snot running, begging, "Village chief, I want to study for the imperial exams. You can’t brand my face! If I pass, I’ll bring glory to our village and honor to our ancestors. You can’t ruin my face!"
"You call yourself a scholar? All that Confucian wisdom is stuffed into your dog’s belly!" The village chief spat. "Using the Twenty-four Filial Exemplars as a raft, you and your father and grandfather kidnapped your cousin and sold her to a brothel. Is that what a scholar does? You’re worse than a dog, yet you still study! Your face must be branded. People like you, full of evil schemes, shouldn’t be allowed to study or take exams. You’re a disaster to the community!"
The village chief took the knife from the butcher’s hand and pressed it to Su Shimao’s face himself. "Let me, the village chief, personally eliminate this scheming scholar!"
"No, no, ahhhh!" Su Shimao felt a sharp pain on his face. Something warm flowed out, sticky and messy, covering his face. Terrified, he screamed loudly.
The village chief was merciless, ordering his men without pause, "Hmph, let everyone know you’re a troublemaker, so you can’t use the innocent face of a scholar to deceive people!"