Chapter 16: The Tiger Bench
As soon as Wang Wu Yi left, the villagers carried out that dusty old tiger bench. This tiger bench was the first torture instrument excavated when the Stone Horse Temple was rebuilt years ago, made of green pine wood, so it could be buried underground for so many years without rotting.
The elevation of Shimǎ Village is still relatively high, which is very suitable for the growth of cypress trees. Cypress trees are durable and resistant to rot, so in Shimǎ Village, families with some property all like to use cypress wood to make furniture.
"Let her sit on the tiger stool and see if she's still honest or not." Seeing the tiger stool being brought out, Liu Lame spoke up.
The tiger bench in the Shi Ma Temple is about 1.5 meters long and the backrest is about half a meter high. The backrest of this tiger bench, like other tiger benches, is perpendicular to the seat.
This tiger bench has been seen by many villagers. However, since the founding of New China, in the impression of Shimachang villagers, this tiger bench has never been used.
The villagers had only heard of the ferocity of the tiger bench before, but they had never seen it with their own eyes. Today, they can take this opportunity to satisfy that evil desire in their hearts.
This tiger stool was left by our ancestors, and the villagers of Stone Horse Village have always been very respectful of their ancestors. Therefore, before using the tiger stool, they not only wiped it clean of dust, but also offered incense to their ancestors, kowtowed, and respectfully asked for permission to use the tiger stool.
Since they are ancestors, they are all dead. Therefore, the ancestors will never speak out. In the eyes of the villagers in Shimǎ Village, since the ancestors did not stop them, it means they have tacitly agreed.
"Our ancestors have promised us to use the tiger bench on Li Tianzhen, as descendants of our ancestors, we must respect the will of our ancestors." Liu Quezi's loud voice shouted out the hearts of the people of Shimavillage.
In fact, some people in Shimǎ Village really believe in ghosts and gods, but there are also those who do not believe in that. However, at this time, the villagers of Shimǎ Village present chose to believe their ancestors.
The reason for this situation is that the one who sat on the tiger bench was Li Tianzhen. When you are on the right path, many will help; when you are not, few will. It can be said that except for Liu Renqing and Li Tianzhen, no matter who made such a mistake, the villagers of Shimache Village would not send him to the tiger bench.
Liu Quezi let out a loud roar, and by the time he finished, the villagers on this side had already forcibly carried Li Tianzhen to the tiger bench.
The villagers pressed Li Tianzhen's back tightly against the backrest of the tiger bench, then tied her hands behind the backrest, and then bound her hands tightly with a rope. After binding her arms, the villagers also wrapped Li Tianzhen's thighs tightly around the horizontal bars of the tiger bench.
After being tied up, it was time for punishment. At this point, Li the cripple had already gone to fetch three green bricks.
This tiger bench, although the villagers of Shimacun Village have not used it personally, they have also heard how to use it.
The ancestors of the Liu family in Shimǎ Village were quite strict. In a story passed down, there is an anecdote about the Liu family's education method. In that story, the Liu family's son made a mistake but lied and refused to admit it.
Liu knew that if he used force, he might hurt his son. However, to make his son admit his mistake, he had to punish him. Liu knew that the tiger stool would be very painful, but as long as it was not excessive, it wouldn't harm anyone. Therefore, Liu made his son sit on the tiger stool.
In the story, Liu gave his son a brick and his son admitted his mistake. From then on, Liu's son never told lies again.
Now everything is ready, only the brick is missing. Just as everyone was about to put a brick under Li Tianzhen's feet, Liu suddenly interrupted everyone.
"Wait a minute." Liu Quezi said. After that, Liu Quezi took up a rope and limped towards Li Tianzhen.
Liu Quezi walked up to Li Tianzhen and wrapped the rope around his knee twice, so that his knee pit was just stuck to the tiger stool. After wrapping it up, Liu Quezi tied a dead knot under the horizontal bar of the tiger stool.
"To make it work, you have to stick your knees on the tiger stool," said Liu Bozi with a self-satisfied expression.
"Liu Quezi, it seems you've studied this old tiger bench quite a bit!" Chen San teased Liu Quezi.
"Stop wasting words and get on with it." Liu was getting impatient.
"Good." Chen San responded with a sentence, then stuffed a brick under Li Tianzhen's feet.
"Ouch!"
As soon as the brick was stuffed under Li Tianzhen's feet, Li Tianzhen let out a miserable cry.
The more miserable Li Tianzhen called, the more comfortable Liu Cuozi felt in his heart. Just as Liu Cuozi was about to add a second brick, he found that Li Tianzhen's soles were moving wildly.
Li Tianzhen was still shouting, but Liu Zuo could tell that her cries were no longer as mournful as they had been at first.
Liu Quezi had heard many stories about the tiger bench before, and in those stories, as long as the soles of the feet of the person being punished could move, the power of the tiger bench would be greatly weakened.
Of course, for the problem of controlling the soles of the feet of the person being punished, there is also a solution in the story.
"Wait, it's not done well, have to redo it." Liu Quezi said, and then took out the green brick that Li Tianzhen had stuffed under his feet. After taking out the green brick, Li Tianzhen also stopped shouting.
The people of Shimǎ Village had only heard stories about the tiger stool, but none of them had actually used it before. So when Liu Suozi said no, everyone didn't react much and just quietly watched him to see what he was going to do next.
All that was seen was Liu Quzi taking a thin rope and coming over. He first took off the cloth shoes on Li Tianzhen's feet, then used the middle part of the thin rope to tightly tie together Li Tianzhen's two big toes.
After binding, Liu Quezi used his hand to press down on Li Tianzhen's toes. When Li Tianzhen's ankle joint was bent at 60 degrees, Zhang Quezi pulled the two ends of the thin rope downwards with force. After pulling, Liu Quezi wrapped the thin rope around Li Tianzhen's calf a few times and tied a dead knot.
After being tied up like this, Li Tianzhen's two big toes had already been pulled down by the rope with her toenails facing downwards. Now, Li Tianzhen's legs and feet were tightly bound together, unable to move. At this time, Li Tianzhen was not only unable to struggle when sitting on the tiger stool, but even if her feet were subjected to additional punishment, causing immense pain, she still couldn't struggle.
"Now she can't move her legs at all." Zhang Que said with great satisfaction to the crowd.
"Alright, this wicked and lustful woman Li Tianzhen will be dealt with in this way." Chen Widow took over Zhang Cripple's words.
After saying this, Chen widow picked up a green brick and stuffed it under Li Tianzhen's feet.
This time, because the two big toes were tied together, Li Tianzhen was completely unable to move. Therefore, this time's pain was more than ten times that of last time.
Last time, Li Tianzhen just wailed. This time, she not only cried out in pain but also shed tears and sweat from the agony.
As Li Tianzhen cried out in greater and greater anguish, Zhang the Cripple took another green brick to stuff under Li's feet. Just as Zhang was about to take action, Qian Yongfu stopped him.
"This brick can wait for now, she has already been punished, if she still doesn't confess honestly, adding this brick won't be too late," said Qian Yongfu.
Qian Yongfu asked Li Tianzhen after he finished speaking: "Did you ask Liu Da-kui to call the exterminator?"
It's been more than four hours since Liu Da-kui left, and Li Tian-zhen's mother should have arrived by now. Li Tian-zhen knew that her mother was about to arrive, and she had already been punished, so she didn't want to pretend anymore.
"What's the big deal? My mother is coming soon, if you don't let me go immediately, all of you will die!" Li Tianzhen couldn't bear it anymore. To be bullied by others was something she had never experienced before, as she was always the one bullying others in the past.
"Give her a brick, give her a brick!" Seeing Li Tianzhen being so arrogant, the villagers naturally didn't buy her account and immediately became agitated.
"The exterminator is coming, the exterminator is coming." Just as the villagers were clamoring to add bricks for Li Tianzhen, a piercing and chilling voice came.
It was Liu Siwa, who was so scared that his face turned pale and he ran out of breath.
