Rise From the Humble

After receiving the news that the prisoner had been silenced, Zhu Pingan took Liu Mu to the Shuntian Mansion Prison without eating breakfast.

Originally, Zhu Pingan was planning to go by himself, but Liu Mu and Liu Dadao were worried. Zhao Daying sent someone to harm Zhu Pingan last time, and this time he went to the Shuntian Mansion Prison to silence him. For a ruthless guy like him, who knew? Will he do any dirty tricks again, so Liu Mu, Liu Dadao and the others strongly opposed Zhu Ping'an going out alone.

Zhu Pingan thought for a while and took Liu Mu to the Shuntian Mansion Prison. Liu Mu was a calm man and had the best skill among the six. As for Liu Dadao and Zhu Pingan, they had other plans and did not bring them all.

Their identity has been solved and they are hanging on a farm below the Linhuai Marquis Mansion. They no longer have to worry about road guidance and other issues.

Like other county yamen, the Shuntian Mansion Prison is also located at the Shuntian Mansion Yamen. After entering the Shuntian Mansion Yamen, you pass through an open flat area and arrive in front of Yimen. You pass through the "Ghost Gate" corner passage on the west side and enter the second gate. Shuntian Mansion Prison.

The drainage system of Shuntian Mansion is not very smooth. There is a lot of water in front of the prison door of Shuntian Mansion. A passage is built through blue stone bricks to enter the prison.

"prison"

In front of the prison, there is a blue and black stone brick with the word "Prison Prison" engraved on it, which is embedded in the bluestone brick wall. Ancient Chinese character books are read from left to right. These two characters are also the two characters "prison", which is simple and clear.

Four words were engraved on both sides of the prison's outer wall. The left side said "There is no punishment for punishment" and the right side said "Crime must not be concealed."

Zhu Ping'an looked up at the engraved stone bricks, and then walked along the passage lined with blue stone bricks towards the cell.

"Master, be careful of the moss." Liu Mu followed behind and reminded Zhu Ping'an to be careful of the moss on the stone bricks. He soon entered the role of a long follower and performed his duties conscientiously.

However, Zhu Pingan has not gotten used to it yet. Zhu Pingan has never been used to the feudal landlord class, such as long followers, book boys, and maids.

Zhu Ping'an showed his waist card, took the procedures he went through when entering the Yamen, and successfully entered the Shuntian Mansion Prison.

As soon as he entered the Shuntian Mansion Prison, Zhu Ping'an smelled a strong musty smell. The prison was much lower than the outside, as if it were underground. It was already extremely damp. Coupled with yesterday's heavy rain, the prison was even more humid at this moment. , the ground is a little muddy, I wonder if it was rained down last night.

The sky was gloomy outside, and the light inside the prison was even dim.

This place is like a corner cast aside by the world. The smell of sourness and mustiness has become the main smell here, and darkness has become the main color here.

The wind from outside came in through the vents. If the wind was stronger, it would sound like ghosts crying and wolves howling, penetrating into the prison. The wind that blew in was so gloomy and biting that it hit people, making goose bumps all over their bodies and making them very uncomfortable.

"Ah, let me out, let me out"

When the prisoners in the cell saw someone coming, some looked up numbly, some huddled on the musty hay in the corner of the cell and did not move, and some were nervous and clinging to the cell railings, shaking and crying. .

"Please be honest!"

The accompanying jailer waved his whip and scolded one after another to maintain order in the prison.

Liu Mu entered the prison and looked at this scene in a daze.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Ping'an patted his shoulder, knowing that he was worried about his fellow villagers in prison in his hometown, and comforted him, "Don't worry, your fellow villagers will be free in a short time."

"Thank you, sir." Liu Mufu cheered up again.

Before meeting Zhu Pingan, he felt as if he was trapped in an endless darkness. He had no hope of rescuing his fellow villagers. Now that he met Zhu Pingan, he saw hope again. I don’t know why, but I just saw hope. Zhu Ping'an's figure was not tall, but in his eyes it was unusually tall, lighting up the darkness like a lighthouse.

Under the guidance of the jailer, Zhu Pingan led Liu Mu to the cell where the accident occurred.

Magistrate Zhou Houjie was presiding over the work in the cell. Two coroners from the government office were checking the cause of death of the prisoner. Several officers were checking carefully in the cell. Zhu Pingan came forward and greeted Magistrate Zhou and stood aside quietly without disturbing them. work.

"Your Majesty, these eight prisoners died of poisoning. Their halls turned black, their lips turned purple, and there were bruises on their teeth. These are typical symptoms of poisoning. They were stiff but not hard. Judging from the time, it did not exceed two hours. .”

After the inspection of the work is completed, report it to Zhou Houjie.

This is really unreasonable!

He was actually poisoned and died in my prison!

Zhou Houjie's face was gloomy when he heard this. He felt as if something like this had happened under his command, and he felt like something was stuck in his throat. He glanced at the jailers who were on duty yesterday and ordered them to tell the story from the beginning without hiding anything.

"Sir, because of the violent storm last night, it was very cold in the cell. I drank two glasses of wine to warm myself up, locked the cell door and went to sleep. This morning, I got up to inspect the cell as usual. , seeing these prisoners lying on the floor of the cell in weird postures, the younger one felt something was wrong, so he stepped forward and called them up. Unexpectedly, there was no response after calling for a long time. The younger one was worried that something had happened, so he opened the cell door and went in to check. When I entered, I felt that something was wrong. The prisoners were green and black and motionless. When I squatted down and touched them, I found that they were not breathing. Then, I hurriedly reported them."

The two jailers fearfully reported the whole story truthfully in front of Zhou Houjie.

"I have repeatedly given orders that prison affairs are of great importance, so be extremely careful. You are not allowed to drink alcohol while serving in prison! Why do you commit the same crime again and again?!" Zhou Houjie's expression became even worse.

"My lord, please forgive me. I dare not lie to you. In order to warm myself up, I drank two cups of lard that burned my heart. I really only drank two cups." The jailer knelt down to admit his mistake and begged for mercy again and again. He regretted it very much. The two of them were on duty last night. The prison was dark and damp, and they were wearing thin clothes. They wanted to drink two glasses of wine to warm themselves up. Two glasses of wine would not make anyone drunk and would not cause any trouble.

"Only two drinks?" Zhou Houjie was confused and glanced at the two of them. If he only drank two drinks, how could he not hear any sound last night? This is very unreasonable.

"It's really two cups. I don't dare to lie to you." The two jailers were like mincing garlic.

"Where is the wine you drank yesterday?" Zhou Houjie asked in a deep voice, "Bring it to me and let me inspect it."

The jailer did not dare to hide anything and shirk the blame, so he brought over the wine he drank last night and the remaining food and wine.

The two men each took a silver needle, stepped forward to inspect the wine and food, and inserted the silver needle into the wine and food respectively. The silver needle did not change color. The two gangsters looked a little doubtful, and then tried to check again, but there was still nothing wrong.

In confusion, a man stepped forward and put his finger into the wine, then took it out, put it under his nose and sniffed it. Upon sniffing it, he looked shocked.

The other man did the same thing, dipped his fingers into the wine and food, put them under his nose and sniffed them a few times, and his expression also changed.

"Replying to your lord, the wine and food are not poisonous, but someone has added something to the wine that can cause drowsiness." After the two checked, they came to Zhou Houjie and reported back.