Chapter 355: Chapter 355: Jacqueline Spann Takes the Blame
CRACK!
A whip lashed out, cutting short Phoenix Golding’s smugness. She shrieked in pain. Jethro Golding announced, "Fourteen lashes to go!"
Phoenix Golding was drenched in a cold sweat. ’She knew she couldn’t possibly endure another fourteen lashes.’
"Stop hitting me..."
Phoenix Golding wailed, begging for mercy. Her mind was growing groggy.
"You should have thought of the consequences when you made the report!"
Jethro Golding struck again. He was furious and resentful toward Phoenix Golding. She had brought utter shame upon the Golding Clan. ’From now on, that old codger Preston Thorne will surely use this incident to hold something over the Golding family.’
"I... I... I didn’t mean to! It was Vernon Spann who told me to report them! And Jacqueline was the one who told me about the rabbits. Vernon Spann hates the Thorne family for taking his cattle-herding job, so he told me to go tell the town authorities about them raising rabbits. I... I must have been possessed at the time... Uncle Jethro, I know I was wrong... Please don’t hit me anymore!"
Phoenix Golding couldn’t take it anymore. Her body felt like it was being sliced by a thousand cuts, an agonizing pain that pierced her to the core. Right now, all she wanted was to escape the whipping. She wouldn’t survive if it continued. The best way she could think of was to shift all the blame onto Vernon Spann.
’She had supported that good-for-nothing for over a decade; it was about time he made himself useful.’
Besides, she also resented Jacqueline for telling her about the rabbits in the first place. ’She must have done it on purpose to harm me.’ This daughter of hers was just as selfish as Vernon Spann, wishing for her misfortune. And now that she was in trouble, the father and daughter were nowhere to be seen. Phoenix Golding was consumed by hatred for them, and the accusation flew from her lips without a second thought.
Down below, the color drained from Vernon Spann’s face. ’That damn bitch was actually framing him.’
"Nonsense! I didn’t know anything about raising rabbits. So what if the cattle-herding job is gone? What’s there for me to be angry about? And there’s no way I’d tell her to report it!"
"You’re the one who instigated this! I only did something so stupid because you tricked me and muddled my thinking! Vernon Spann, don’t you dare try to shift the blame!" Phoenix Golding shrieked, her eyes filled with hatred.
Vernon Spann let out a cold laugh and said mockingly, "You’d listen to me? When have you ever listened to a word I’ve said? You and I haven’t... for over a decade..."
"It’s all my fault! Grandpa Jethro, whip me instead! I’m the one who let it slip. If I hadn’t said anything, none of this would have happened! Use the whip on me! I’ll take the remaining fourteen lashes for my mother."
Jacqueline rushed forward, crying, cutting off the rest of Vernon Spann’s sentence. She shot him a warning look.
Vernon Spann’s heart skipped a beat. ’He had almost blurted out the fatal truth. Doing that would have earned him the Golding family’s undying hatred. He still needed the village to issue a certificate for him to return to the city. If the Golding family decided to cause trouble for him, he’d never be able to go back in this lifetime.’
"Jacqueline, come back! This has nothing to do with you."
Vernon Spann tried to pull Jacqueline back. He didn’t want his daughter to take the whipping for Phoenix Golding. But Jacqueline was too fast. In an instant, she was up on the platform, shielding Phoenix Golding with her own body, tearfully begging Jethro Golding to whip her instead.
Such filial piety was enough to move heaven and earth. Many people were touched by the deeply devoted and filial Jacqueline. Some even envied Phoenix Golding for having such a dutiful and capable daughter.
Jethro Golding looked at Jacqueline with gratification. ’His niece was a disappointment, but the daughter she’d given birth to was a good one.’
Phoenix Golding, however, felt no gratification at all. She loathed Jacqueline, shrieking, "It was her and Vernon Spann who bewitched me! That father and daughter have malicious intentions! Uncle Jethro, hit her and Vernon Spann!"
Jacqueline bit her lip hard, burying her hatred deep in her heart. She nodded through her tears. "It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have said we should raise rabbits at home like Grandpa Byron’s family. We haven’t had meat at home for so long, and I thought if we raised rabbits, we’d have meat to eat. I was wrong... Grandpa Jethro, please, whip me. I was truly wrong!"
