The Only Other Survivor From My Tribe

'A criminal being paraded around prior to the execution?'

'This is a sick custom...'

Xiao Yue craned her head outside of the window to see more clearly. Indeed, she saw a lot of people crowding at each side of the main street while a cart pulled by two horses very slowly moved ahead. The criminal must be on the cart, but Xiao Yue could not see further.

"Can we not stop them? It is a horrible thing to do!" she exclaimed.

The guard momentarily gaped at Xiao Yue, not understanding why the madam would be against such activity. 

"This... Third Madam, this cannot be done. The tradition to parade the criminal before execution had persisted for hundreds of years."

Xiao Yue pursed her lips.

In her opinion, the guard was just a coward who hid behind the so-called tradition to justify his unwillingness to spare the poor criminal the unnecessary humiliation.

The young woman huffed in anger.

The Hong Kingdom people referred to the Xi'an tribe members as barbarians, but at least they did not have the custom to torture criminals before executing them!

Impatient, Xiao Yue barked, "I want to go out, step aside!"

The guards were horrified. They did not dare open the door out of fear that Xiao Yue would hurt herself in the crowd, but they also did not have enough authority to make her stay put. In the end, they could only helplessly beg her to pay attention to her safety.

Xiao Yue confidently stepped out of the carriage and mingled with the common folk. Her guards immediately followed, if only to keep unwanted hands to touch Xiao Yue.

With the help of her guards, Xiao Yue quickly landed in the front row of the crowd. A lot of people lined up at both sides of the street and threw rotten vegetables and eggs at the pitiful criminal.

The man was in his forties. Half of his thick, dark hair had changed into grey color. His neck was trapped between two thick wooden boards and his wrists were handcuffed and linked to the wooden board. While the crowd screamed insulting words at him, he held his head down and leaned at the iron bars that caged him in.

Xiao Yue screamed for the crowd to stop throwing and to let the man be but to no avail. Her voice was quickly drowned in the crowd. Xiao Yue then stepped forward to halt the procession, but guards quickly pushed her back.

"DO NOT GO CLOSER!!! STAND BACK!!! STAND BACK!!!"

Xiao Yue refused to listen, so an angry guard shoved her. He was in turn shoved by Long Zhao Xue's guard. The guards quickly got into a brawl. Xiao Yue turned to the criminal, who lifted his head to see what the ruckus was about. The moment their eyes met, Xiao Yue's blood froze in her veins.

The elderly man used to be a proud man in his forties, always standing straight in face of adversity. He was strict toward his people, but he was always ready to help those who needed him. To everyone, he was their Tribe Chief. To Xiao Yue, he was simply her Uncle Ma. Uncle Ma always kept some sweets in his tent just in case Xiao Yue wanted some.

"UNCLE MA!!!!" she screamed.

The man in the cage widened his eyes. His lips parted in surprise, he started at the lady from the Hong Kingdom who he did not know, but just called him the same way his youngest niece used to.

Xiao Yue was quickly dragged back into the crowd. The cart continued its procession down the road. The crowd continued hurling insults and items at the man. The man closed his eyes and leaned his head at the iron bars again.

The screaming and crying Third Madam was quickly stuffed back into her carriage. Now that the path was cleared, they were able to go back to the Long Residence just fine.

When the First Madam heard about what happened, she was livid with anger.