Sheng Tang: What is Liu Jianjun going to do today?

Chapter 74 Beheading
The West Market was a full twenty li away from the Prince Pei's residence. Li Xian originally intended to drive the Prince's palanquin there, but Liu Jianjun said that walking more was good for physical and mental health, so Li Xian followed him on foot towards the West Market.

Along the way, Liu Jianjun kept nagging: "Xianzi, the reason we're walking there isn't just for exercise, but mainly to keep a low profile, you know!"
"With your palanquin, six people clearing the way in front, twelve guards on both sides, and a whole bunch of people carrying sticks and flags following behind, parading through the city, it's too ostentatious!"

Li Xian ignored him; he felt like his legs were about to break.

I thought that once I got to Chang'an I wouldn't have to walk such a long distance, but it turned out to be the same as when I was in Bazhou.

"What sticks and flags? That's called a ceremonial guard," Li Xian said irritably.

"It's all the same." Liu Jianjun said nonchalantly, but suddenly he exclaimed, "It's so lively up ahead?"

Li Xian looked up in surprise. The two of them had arrived at the West Market. A large group of people in hemp clothing were gathered together in front of them. People standing behind them were even standing on tiptoe to look ahead, as if they were watching some kind of excitement.

Li Xian explained, "This place is the execution ground in the West Market; I guess someone else has been executed here..."

Before Li Xian could finish speaking, Liu Jianjun exclaimed with curiosity, "Tsk tsk! We should join in on this excitement!"

Li Xian was speechless.

What's so interesting about a person's head being cut off?

But he couldn't resist Liu Jianjun, who was still full of energy after walking twenty miles, and dragged him into the crowd.

Some people nearby showed dissatisfaction, but seeing the rich and noble clothes worn by the two men, they swallowed their complaints. Li Xian also heard someone in the crowd mutter, "When did officials start joining in this fun?"

Liu Jianjun ignored all of this, pulled an old man over and asked, "Old man, who is being beheaded here?"

"Who knows! They say he's a prefect, and they specially dragged him back to Chang'an to be beheaded. He must have committed some heinous crime!" The old man was very talkative, and perhaps noticing Liu Jianjun's luxurious attire, he continued, "We haven't killed such a big shot here in a long time! This world..."

Before the old man could finish speaking, a younger man next to him tugged at him and said apologetically to Liu Jianjun, "Young man, my grandfather is old and likes to ramble on. Please don't take it to heart!"

But Liu Jianjun didn't listen to him; he just gave Li Xian a wink.

Li Xian's feelings are also very complicated right now.

He already knew who was being executed when he heard the old man mention the governor.

Qiu Shenji.

In the prosperous and stable Tang Dynasty, it was rare for an official of the rank of prefect to be publicly beheaded. Apart from Qiu Shenji, Li Xian could not think of anyone else.

Nearly a month has passed; is he finally going to be executed?

Qiu Shenji's crime involved him, a prince, and required a joint trial by the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Court of Judicial Review. If the time for bringing him to the capital for interrogation was also taken into account, a month would not be too late.

Liu Jianjun pulled him and squeezed inside. The crowd was pushed and shoved, but they all chose to swallow their anger after seeing the two men's clothes, so the two quickly arrived at the front of the execution ground.

Li Xian also saw the person kneeling in the center of the execution ground.

It was Qiu Shenji.

The last time Li Xian saw Qiu Shenji was when Qiu was serving as the Left General of the Golden Guard.

As the commander of one of the Sixteen Imperial Guards, Qiu Shenji was once full of vigor and extraordinary in bravery. But now he is disheveled, with his beard and hair mixed together. If it weren't for his high nose bridge, Li Xian wouldn't even recognize him.

Qiu Shenji kept his head down, and Li Xian and Liu Jianjun were not particularly noticeable in the crowd, so Qiu Shenji did not see them.

The official in charge of the execution looked up at the sun and shouted, "It's noon! Execute!"

Then, Li Xian saw the executioner walk forward, grab Qiu Shenji by the hair, and pull his head up, so that his face was facing the people watching the execution below.

This is the process of verifying one's identity.

Qiu Shenji's head, held uncontrollably in the executioner's hand, turned towards everyone in the audience, and soon it looked in Li Xian's direction. Almost instantly, Li Xian knew that Qiu Shenji's eyes had met his.

Li Xian saw a smile suddenly appear on Qiu Shenji's face, his eyes widening in an instant, his expression ferocious as he stared in his direction. He laughed maniacally, the sound of which even chilled Li Xian to the bone.

"Hahaha……"

Even as the executioner raised his decapitation blade above his head, he was still laughing.

No one knew the meaning behind his sudden burst of laughter.

But the laughter stopped abruptly in an instant.

As the executioner's blade fell, Qiu Shenji's head rolled to the ground like a ball, rolling quite a distance, his eyes still wide open.

"Ghost, if this guy were still conscious, wouldn't he faint after being spun around like that a few times?"

I heard Liu Jianjun's exclamation.

Li Xian came to his senses and suddenly felt both annoyed and amused.

Liu Jianjun's thought process is indeed different from others.

Then, Li Xian saw the executioner pick up Qiu Shenji's head, hold it in his hand, and stick it into a wooden pole, hanging it high in the air.

Qiu Shenji's head spun around on the wooden pole a few times. Li Xian was even worried that it would fall off halfway, but in the end, the head was hung steadily on the pole, its gaze fixed on the crowd, like a person bowing their head in repentance.

His eyes were still wide open.

Li Xian wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt like that head was staring at him.

"Let's go!" Liu Jianjun suddenly patted Li Xian on the shoulder.

Li Xian followed Liu Jianjun in silence for a while, then suddenly asked, "Did you know that Qiu Shenji was to be executed today, so you specifically chose today to buy the Kunlun slave?"

"I'm not that amazing!"

Liu Jianjun rolled his eyes and said, "But this is good too, it puts one of your worries to rest!"

Li Xian pursed his lips, recalling the humiliation Qiu Shenji had inflicted on him and his wife and children in Bazhou, and suddenly felt a surge of joy.

Qiu Shenji died a good death.

Li Xian asked, "Didn't you say before that you weren't afraid unless someone died in front of you? Just now, Qiu Shenji's head was rolling right in front of you, weren't you afraid?"

"A little, but I didn't kill the person!"

Liu Jianjun, in a nonchalant manner, nudged Li Xian with his shoulder and said, "Xianzi, there are many ways to kill someone. Taking the knife yourself is the most foolish method. It's usually only done as a last resort."

"Just like the time we faced Qiu Shenji's second wave of lackeys in Bazhou."

Li Xian asked with a smile, "Then what about a less foolish method?"

"Kill with a borrowed knife."

Liu Jianjun paused for a moment, then continued, "If possible, I hope that in the future we won't have to personally wield the knives, but can just hide behind them and kill all those demons and monsters with their own knives."

"Then, he reigned supreme over the world."

……

(End of this chapter)