Daming: Internship also counts as work experience

Chapter 43 Xie Dali

Cui Youzhi was accompanying him. His mouth was not much smaller than Gao Yuntian's. Hearing Jia Chuan calling him "big brother" over and over again, his heart was already in turmoil. Now he saw that Jia Chuan was trying to gain an opportunity for Gao Yuntian in front of Xu Gong, and his heartbeat quickened even more. He didn't know that Jia Chuan already knew Gao Yuntian's background. He was really afraid that Xu Gong would ask, "Who else is in your family?"

Fortunately, Jia Chuan only paused for a moment before continuing, "Captain Gao must be waiting for me to talk about the Dongxi Village case. I'm afraid it won't be possible tonight. When I'm done here, I'll go find Captain Gao and we can discuss it later."

Gao Yuntian nodded with his mouth open.

Xu Gong asked in confusion, "Are there any other cases on hand?"

"Not really. It's an old case from a few years ago. Captain Gao had always felt something was amiss, so he told me about it." Jia Chuan gestured for Xu Gong to move forward, saying as they walked, "I heard something was indeed amiss. Although it's been a few years, since we've come across this, we both want to get to the bottom of it. This will comfort the deceased and serve as a deterrent to the living, especially those with malicious intentions. It'll let them know that even if they can't escape punishment... they can't escape it."

Jia Chuan wanted to speak more passionately, but he didn't have enough words in his mind. Most of these words were said by the captain when he gave a report. He had heard them many times, and it was difficult for him to imitate them. After all, he was the captain, so it was enough to just say what he meant.

Xu Gong nodded and asked, "Murder?"

"Murder!"

"Are you confident that you can find the real culprit after all these years?"

"No."

Jia Chuan coughed lightly: "But we have to give it a try."

"It's rare that you have such a heart! I will report this to the Crown Prince. If the officials in every prefecture, city, and county could be like you..."

Xu Gong didn't continue, because this was something that should be said when no one was around.

How should officials deal with such active clerks?
Cui Youzhi, who was accompanying him, had begun to feel weak in the legs. Jia Chuan just wanted to change the subject to pave the way for introducing Gao Yuntian's life story in the future. Once Gao Yuntian's story was made clear, Li Shun's death could be put behind him.

But he forgot that after saying this, he was putting Cui Youzhi on the fire.

……

Han Zhen acted quickly this time because he followed Jia Chuan's advice and captured many people alive. He captured three bandit leaders alone and hundreds of their followers. It was because some of these followers wanted to make a contribution that they handed Xie Dali over.

The Jinyiwei only brought back three leaders and Xie Dali, and the others were not qualified for the time being.

The first person Jia Chuan and Xu Gong interrogated was Xie Dali, because only he could give the answer Jia Chuan wanted to know.

……

Seeing this colleague he had worked with for three years again, Jia Chuan thought he could be calm. He had been taking time to prepare himself mentally on the way here, so at least pretending to be calm should be no problem.

But when he pushed the door open and entered the room, and saw the man kneeling on the ground with his head bowed, the tragic scene of that day began to flash uncontrollably in his mind. Jia Chuan's emotions were a little out of control. He clenched his fists tightly, and his whole face became more angular because of biting his teeth hard.

Xie Dali still looked honest, kneeling on the ground pitifully with his head hung. No matter what Xu Gong asked, he kept his head down and remained silent, so he didn't know who was interrogating him.

This room was originally a torture chamber, with various torture instruments placed around it. Xie Dali's silence would inevitably be met with torture. Jia Chuan didn't understand why Xie Dali was willing to be tortured and didn't try to find a way to deal with it.

In Jia Chuan's opinion, since Xie Dali had not been exposed for three years and had survived the hands of the bandits, he must be very smart.

Does this mean you know you have nowhere else to go?
Xu Gong's patience was limited. After asking a few questions, he raised his hand to signal for torture.

Jia Chuan leaned over to Xu Gong and whispered a few words, then stood up and left the torture room.

He stood at the door listening to Xie Dali's screams inside, and subconsciously touched his pocket, looking for a cigarette.

He hated Xie Dali and had no sympathy for him...but some ideas had already taken root in his mind, and he couldn't change them just by telling himself to.

What he was afraid of was not the bloody scene, but the whip in the hands of the law enforcers.

Before the bandit suppression, Jia Chuan had imagined countless times what it would be like if he saw a traitor in the bandit's lair. He would lose control and avenge the deaths of over forty of his colleagues. Even if he knew killing this person would do him no good, but would only arouse suspicion from his superiors and even cost him his life, he would still do it! Therefore, Jia Chuan didn't want to participate in the operation, and of course, Han Zhen wouldn't let him participate either.

Only in that kind of place would Jia Chuan cover up some of the ideas engraved on his nerves.

But this is the torture chamber! The torture chamber in the county government office.

When he came to this life, he wanted to adapt to it in a confused way. The most ideal way to live was to eat and wait for death. The ideas of changing the sky, changing the earth, and changing the entire universe in those novels were never thought about by Jia Chuan.

Nothing is harder than changing the rules. Throughout history, both in China and abroad, those who have done so have always had the support of high-ranking officials. Yet, how many of them have had a good ending? They perish faster than rabbits.

He had a clear understanding of himself, just as he had in his previous life. He grasped what he could grasp, such as studying, and seized opportunities that came his way, such as performing in front of his superiors. He enhanced his professional skills to facilitate his presentation to his superiors. Whether or not this would lead to promotion was not something he could decide, so he didn't worry too much and didn't have any excessive aspirations.

Speaking of being a leader, he can't stand just attending meetings. He would rather perform an autopsy with the forensic doctor. After all, he just wants to be recognized, and he will be satisfied with that.

That sentence: This guy is good at criminal investigation!
It supported him through countless nights of squatting, and through those days and nights of doing scraps...

But what was this like in this world? He was given a chance, yet he risked his life; he was made to tread on thin ice, yet he saw a bright future ahead. Finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, he somehow got caught up in the interrogation. In this day and age, is torture even necessary for an interrogation? Or did he subconsciously believe Xie Dali would confess?

Jia Chuan patted his face. The screams continued, each one more miserable than the last. He told himself that he wasn't feeling pity for Xie Dali, but this method was very easy to torture into confessing. He would just follow the interrogator's instructions and answer whatever was asked, making it difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood.

Jia Chuan pushed the door open and whispered a few more words into Xu Gong's ear. Xu Gong waved his hand, and the executioner stopped and threw Xie Dali, whose skin was torn, to the ground.

Jia Chuan walked over and looked down at the man covered in blood in front of him. He felt extremely relieved. He snorted and asked in a deep voice: "Do you want to create the illusion of being forced to confess? Or do you think that as long as you don't say anything, someone will come to rescue you sooner or later?" Hearing Jia Chuan's voice, Xie Dali trembled all over. He tried to raise his head and look at him, his eyes first showing surprise and then slowly revealing pleading.

Jia Chuan laughed in anger and asked, "You've killed so many of my brothers. What do you want to ask of me now? Do you want me to kill you? Or do you want me to... let you go?"

Xie Dali was stunned for a moment, then lay on the ground without saying a word.

Xu Gong said: "He is determined to die in order to fulfill his master's wish."

Jia Chuan said coldly, "Helping the master? He should have died in Huangluling long ago, but he sold the patrol's weapons to buy his own life. At that time, I thought that even if I spared his life during the transportation, I would definitely kill him when we returned to the stronghold. But he survived. How did he survive?"

"Of course it is still useful."

Jia Chuan nodded and said:
"For bandits, the benefit is that they can find a backer. This means they can contact their master and provide support for these bandits, while also finding a lot of helpers for their master. What a great thing! But, how do you think you won't be discovered by the government? Why don't you run away? Leave Xiaodongshan and return to your master. We can't catch you, but you didn't leave. Why not? You still want to make a contribution, a greater contribution!"

Xie Dali trembled a little, but still said nothing.

Xu Gong said, "We'll know what he's planning after we interrogate those bandit leaders."

Xie Dali's whole body visibly tensed up.

Jia Chuan said, "I really don't understand what you're thinking. The Crown Prince will soon ascend the throne. What good will your master have after the new emperor takes the throne? He's already in trouble, so what hope do you have? If I were you, I would state my demands and then seek relief. The death penalty is inevitable, so why suffer such a painful punishment?"

Xie Dali raised his head slightly and lay down on the ground again.

Jia Chuan returned to his seat and sat down. Before he could speak, Xie Dali struggled to look up, glared at Jia Chuan fiercely, and said, "That's not what you said before."

Jia Chuan was stunned for a second, then blinked, turned his head to look at Xu Gong and smiled: "Interesting."

Xu Gong frowned and asked, "What does he mean?"

Jia Chuan shrugged and said, "I was wondering why he was still holding on after all this time. It turns out he was waiting here, but..."

Jia Chuan turned back to look at Xie Dali lying on the ground and said, "You probably didn't expect me to show up during your trial, did you?"

Xie Dali avoided Jia Chuan's gaze and looked at Xu Gong and said, "He knows best what I did. I did everything according to his wishes. Originally, I didn't intend to tell anyone, but he, he actually..."

"Torture him!" Xu Gong waved his hand, and two Jinyiwei immediately stepped forward and pulled up Xie Dali.

Xie Dali roared, "I've already said it, it's him, it's him and the inspector..."

Jia Chuan smiled and waved at the two Jinyiwei and said, "After listening to him, I also want to know what I said to him."

The two Jinyiwei looked at Xu Gong, and Xu Gong nodded. Then they loosened their grip and Xie Dali fell to the ground.

Xu Gong said in a deep voice, "I can't say anything else, but I can make you suffer. Every lie you tell will earn you the opportunity to experience different torture instruments before your death. The ones here... are too few. There are plenty in the Imperial Prison. I will definitely make you want to live but not die."

Xie Dali was shaking violently all over. He must have known the severity of the Zhenfu Division Prison. He did not speak immediately, as if he was carefully weighing the pros and cons.

Jia Chuan waited patiently with a sullen face. If it hadn't been for some coincidence that he had gotten to this position, would Xie Dali have acted like this to drag the three of them into hell along with him, or did he have other plans?
He has to figure it out.

After Jia Chuan deduced that there was a traitor, he often felt that this person must have been controlled by someone behind the scenes, either by using family members or high positions and generous salaries, so that the traitor had been hiding in the Inspection Office. Although Jia Chuan didn't know the meaning of staying in the Huangluling Inspection Office at that time, he still tried his best to think that this traitor had no choice, and even tried to stop those people from killing people from the Inspection Office.

When he found out that the traitor was Xie Dali, Jia Chuan felt that this person must have been blackmailed.

Although this reason cannot excuse Xie Dali for indirectly killing more than 40 people, Jia Chuan felt more comfortable thinking this way. But now he finally understood what the captain had said to him: Our biggest misunderstanding of human nature is that we think that as long as we are human, we will have some humanity and conscience.

Jia Chuan concluded from Xie Dali's expression when he spoke that he had prepared these words in advance, but he knew that he needed to be punished before people would believe him.

It’s just that Xie Dali didn’t expect to meet Jia Chuan in this place, which would have some impact on his plan, but he still said it.

Xu Gong was also waiting. He was waiting for Jia Chuan's reaction. The longer the time, the easier it would be to see the clues.

But Jia Chuan just kept looking at Xie Dali on the ground coldly, without urging, without being impatient, and without taking the initiative to explain, which made Xu Gong secretly relieved.

Xie Dali sorted out his thoughts. He felt that Jia Chuan's ability to stay here did not necessarily mean that he was valued. No matter how great the credit for escorting the prince was, it should have belonged to Dong Shuben. If someone had to stay here, it should have been Dong Shuben. How could it be Jia Chuan?
That is, Dong Shuben has been imprisoned. Ever since someone among the bandits pointed out him, he has been planning to find someone to share the blame for the crimes. As long as he is not punished for the time being, King Zhao will definitely find a way to rescue him when he arrives in the capital.

Xie Dali knew that with a traitor like him, the three people who left the Inspection Office would suffer, no matter whether they had made meritorious contributions in protecting the emperor. As Jia Chuan had just said, he had been racking his brains these days to think of ways to save his life.

At this moment, after a brief thought, Xie Dali felt that he had figured it out. Since Jia Chuan was not sitting here because he was highly valued, it meant that he was being interrogated in disguise, just like him. Then the excuse he had prepared before could be used. If he cooperated with the official and said what he wanted to hear, perhaps he could suffer less.

"Before leaving the Inspection Office, the Inspector General brought Jia Chuan to me and gave me some instructions. He said: If anyone comes, no matter what they do, don't worry about it. This is, this is the Crown Prince's order. You just need to serve them well. I don't know why those people want to kill people, but I have the Inspector General's order, which is the Crown Prince's order, so I dare not act rashly. I didn't sell the weapons, and those bandits killed..."

"You mean the inspector abandoned everyone but spared your life?" Xu Gong asked with a gloomy face.

Jia Chuan still looked at Xie Dali coldly with an expressionless face.

　On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival, I wish you all a happy and prosperous life, and may everything go well for you!

　　February is here!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)