Chapter 73 Imprisonment
After the Shi and Xue residences, and Dai Garden, were searched and confiscated, over four or five hundred people, from the masters to the maids who washed clothes, were taken to the government. Maids, servants, and servants with only minor connections were imprisoned in the Prison God Temple. Meanwhile, Xue Jia's attempted assassination of an imperial official was aborted, and Wang Xianyi and Xue Peng were handling the Shi family's affairs. As the daughter-in-law of the Xue family, Yanru was naturally treated as a major criminal and detained in the Ministry of Justice.
With every step, Yanru was driven into the cell at the deepest corner. The jailer locked the door. Yanru rushed over, grabbed his arm and asked, "When can I get out?"
The jailer, hearing this ridiculous joke, could hardly contain his emotion: "Are you in a hurry to get out? The journey to exile isn't as comfortable as being in prison."
"Exile?" Yanru was terrified.
The jailer pushed her aside and said, "You don't know anything about what your family has done? Who are you trying to fool?"
"Hey, hey." Yanru didn't let him go, "Zheng Sirui, is she from your Ministry of Justice now?"
The jailer squinted and said defensively, "Yes? The emperor approved it with his own handwriting. Doctor of the Ministry of Justice."
Yan Ruxi said happily, "Go and help me find her! Just tell her that her former savior is imprisoned in prison! Tell her to go and plead with the emperor to rescue me."
"What?" The jailer looked at the prisoner's list in his hand and tried to clean his ears to make sure he hadn't misheard the nonsense. "Are you Doctor Zheng's savior?"
Yanru nodded like a chicken pecking at rice: "Yes, yes! Without me, she would have died long ago!"
"Go, go!" the jailer pushed her away. "Who are you kidding? Everyone knows it was your husband who pushed Lord Zheng off the cliff. Two different people can sleep under the same blanket. How could you possibly save him? I bet you prepared all the ropes, didn't you?"
"Who said he was my man!" Yanru was anxious to cut ties, "I was divorced a long time ago! I was divorced last year!"
The jailer laughed: "Even if you were divorced, how could they still capture you from their home? You are quite interesting as a woman. I am leaving now. I don't have time to entertain you."
He completely shook Yanru off, turned around, and looped the arm-thick chain four or five times, locking the cell door. Yanru watched the jailer walk away, startled and frightened, at a loss for what to do. She could only sweep away the musty straw that had been thrown onto the stone slab in the past, making room for herself to lie down. Her neck gently pressed down, glancing at the tiny window in the stone chamber that let in the only light. In her long memory, Yanru found a trace of this place—
The cell where she was imprisoned had once held Zheng Sirui, who was involved in fraud rumors.
The trial was quick. The next morning, she was ordered to wear shackles, the chains clanging loudly. Yanru dragged her feet and knelt in the hall. The Supreme Court Minister and the Minister of Justice sat in front of the hall, and on both sides were soldiers with green masks and swords.
The Dali Temple official asked, "Who is this person in the hall?"
Yanru answered honestly: "I was originally from the You family of Baima Village in Jinling, and later married into the Xue Mansion in the capital."
The Dali Temple official asked, "Xue Jia, are we husband and wife?"
"Yes," Yanru answered, then changed her words, "No, no, no, no! He divorced me last year! I still have the divorce papers!"
The clerk presented the letter of divorce. The Grand Court Minister and the Minister of Justice reviewed it and asked, "But this one?"
The clerk brought it to Yanru and asked her to look at it. Without thinking, Yanru said, "Yes, yes, yes! This is it!"
"Nonsense!" the Supreme Court official shouted. "There's no signature on it! You think you can escape the laws of our dynasty with this divorce letter?"
"Unfair!" Yanru explained, "Your Excellency is wronged! That... that Xue Jia... he lied to me! He said that if he signed half of the letter, the divorce would be valid! Anyway, I'm no longer a member of the Xue family. Their family's illegal activities have nothing to do with me!"
The Minister of Justice asked, "According to Minister Zheng's confession, you and she studied at the two major academies in Jinling and Beijing?"
Yanru was eager to establish a relationship: "Yes, yes, yes! Lu Tianwen is my teacher! I am Lu Tianwen's last disciple! I also know Lu Zhiling! Lu Zhiling is also from one of your six departments!"
"You're still saying it's unfair?!" The Minister of Justice slammed the table, pointed at her and said, "You've been to school, how can you act like a country woman? Don't you know that a divorce letter must be signed and signed? Anything less won't count! Could Xue Jia have fooled you?! Are you treating everyone in this room like children? Or are you treating our laws as a joke and letting you play around with them?!"
Yanru's tone was filled with tears: "No, no! Your Excellency is wronged! Your Excellency is wronged!"
"Alright, alright," the Dali Temple official interrupted, returning to the point. "Youshi, whether you've been divorced or not, whether you're a Xue family woman or a Youshi woman, today in court you must clearly state everything you know, and not say a single word."
Yanru sobbed, frightened but obedient: "Yes."
The Dali Temple official asked, "The Xue family's Qixian Pawnshop is in your hands, and you manage it?"
Yanru was eager to clear herself from the matter as quickly as possible and make it clear, waving her hands frantically, "Your Excellency, that's not the case. The Xue family used my name to act wealthy and pretend to be good people, saying that the pawnshop was opened specifically for me, but in fact, not a single cent is in my name. Only once or twice, when something happened, did Xue Jia and his mother Wang temporarily give me the account books and keys for a few days. And! And the Qixian Pawnshop actually belongs to Shi Jian! It was Shi Jian who gave it to the Xue Mansion to manage! It has absolutely nothing to do with me! You can go ask the people in the pawnshop! The ones who call the shots are Wang Xianyi and her eldest son!"
The attendant then asked, "You said that Xue Jia and his mother, Wang, had given you the account books and keys. And you were unaware of the discrepancies between the accounts at Qixian Pawnshop, the concealment of ill-gotten gains and losses for the Shi family, and the large sums of money at usury. So, you didn't notice anything?"
"Inconsistent?" Yanru was bewildered. "Did they actually do so many things?"
The people in the hall were puzzled: "You don't know? How could you not know? You know that Shi Jian has close ties with the Xue family. You also know that Qixian Pawnshop is ostensibly named Xue but secretly Shi. You have the account books and the warehouse keys, but you can't see the shady dealings going on inside?"
Yanru bit her lip and whispered in shame, "Your Excellency, I actually can't read the account book—but I can read! I'm different from those illiterate peasant women! Do you know Ji Mingxiu? He's my teacher!"
The Dali Temple Minister thought about all the sorrows he had experienced in his life, a smile still leaking through his teeth: "You have studied and can read, but you can't understand account books? It's really hard to imagine, really hard to imagine."
The Minister of Justice said, "Youshi, I will assume for the time being that what you say is true. But how do you explain the case in the yamen where you forced the mother and daughter of the Tian family to pawn their belongings? You clearly stated in your complaint that you are the head of the Qixian Pawnshop. Moreover, everyone in the streets and alleys of the capital knows that the Qixian Pawnshop is run by the new bride of the Xue family. Youshi, you are the head of the Qixian Pawnshop."
"Your Excellency! It was the Xue family of three who used me as a pawn! They did it all to please Shi Jian! The idea was also from Xue Jia! Later, the truth was revealed, and they wanted to divorce me because I had a bad reputation! I beg you to look into this! My Excellency! I am being wronged!" Yanru was so panicked that her words were incoherent. She told how Shi Jian hinted at her, how Xue Jia used coercion and inducement after he went to the Tian family, how he tricked her into signing the petition, how he forced her to be divorced... She spilled all the beans about the past two years. Yanru never knew what the Spring and Autumn style of writing was, but in her words, she was able to use this technique to perfection, doing her best to portray herself as a pure and innocent white lotus that was ignorant, intimidated by her mother-in-law, deceived by her husband, harshly pressured, and bullied by the wind and rain.
The Dali Temple official was skeptical: "Is that true?"
Yanru swore: "Sir, every word is true."
The Supreme Court official said, "But your husband Xue Jia, your mother-in-law Wang Xianyi, and your father-in-law Xue Peng—these three people's confessions all point to you. They insist that everything, from the Tian family mother and daughter case, to the usury and loan sharking, to laundering dirty money for the Shi family, was your doing."
"I don't know! I'm innocent!" Yanru was speechless and almost fainted.
The Minister of Justice said, "Besides the above, what involvement did you have in the murder of fifth-rank official Zheng Sirui? According to Zheng Sirui's confession, it was you, Youshi, who invited her out under the pretext of reminiscing about the past."
Yanru gathered her strength a little, unable to speak or swallow, and after a long while she managed to utter a few words: "I made the appointment. But I really wanted to reminisce about the past with her. At that time, Xue Jia wanted to divorce me, and I was going back to Jinling, so I wanted to ask her out to reminisce about the past. My lord, Zheng Sirui and I have a special relationship. We are close friends and have known each other for ten years. How could I harm her? But I didn't expect Xue Jia to follow us and try to kill her when it was dark and raining. It really has nothing to do with me, my lord! I don't know anything, I don't know."
The two high-ranking officials in the hall looked at each other, speechless, and shook their heads. The Minister of Justice nodded his chin, and the Supreme Court Minister understood and ordered, "Let's stop the trial here for now. Come, take her away first, and we'll continue the trial later."
The jailer half-dragged, half-escorted, the limp Yanru back to the cell and tossed her into the room. As he clanged the chains and locked her up, Yanru froze and grabbed the jailer again, her tone much more polite than yesterday: "Brother, brother, please, please help me find someone. The Counselor's daughter, Wen Yue, is also a good friend of mine. We studied together at Guanyan Academy! Please, help me find her here."
The jailer sneered, "What an ugly donkey's bray! The pitch is too high. The woman you're talking about has a father-in-law who is also an official in the Ministry of Justice. If he had known about you, how could he not know you were imprisoned? He should have come to see you long ago!"
Yes, when Zheng Sirui was in jail, Wen Yue knew about it the night before, and the next day he hurriedly took her to the jail to see her.
Wen Yue didn't come, not because he didn't know, but because he didn't want to and was unwilling to.
Yanru bit her lip in resentment, gave an address, and said, "Then, help me go here and find the owner of this house, Ji Mingxiu, and ask him to come to the prison to see me."
The jailer asked, "Ji Mingxiu? Who is that?"
Humph, a vulgar person who can't even read, doesn't even know Ji Mingxiu. Yanru said disdainfully: "Ji Mingxiu, he is the most amazing painter in our dynasty, the emperor even likes his paintings! I am his goddess of painting, he painted many paintings for me, one of which was even collected by a prince!"
"Goddess of Painting?" The jailer laughed, glancing at Yanru, whose hair was disheveled and her face was unkempt. "Goddess? Are you a goddess? It seems that even a goddess in prison would stink of sweat. Hahahaha—I don't know her, so I won't go!"
Yanru continued to plead, "Then, then go find Bu Yibo—Bu Yibo is a lord. You must know his Fan Garden! Bu Yibo used to admire my talent very much. If you tell him, he will definitely come to pick me up."
This woman was either stupid, crazy, or foolish. She didn't want to give him a penny, but she was always bossing him around and asking him to run errands. Who did she think she was? The jailer's eyes curved in disdain. He quickly locked the door and said, "No! I don't know you! Your family's been involved in a big enough mess. You can't escape it. Just stay here and save your energy. Once the case is clear, you can go to the border to be a slave!"
Yanru watched helplessly as the jailer walked out of the cell without a backward glance. She covered her face and wept, but her tears had already dried. She howled a few times before slowly lying back on the dingy stone slab, staring at the cobweb-covered beams, her heart broken with regret.
What was she clinging to in the first place?! Why didn't she just ask Xue Jia to divorce her?
Why did they not separate Yanbao in the first place? If Yanbao could marry a powerful husband, how could she have fallen to this point?
Suddenly, Yanru stopped feeling upset, jumped up, knelt in front of the small window facing the light, bowed deeply, clasped her hands together, and chanted: "Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, please bless me, and help me escape this disaster. May Zheng Sirui still have a conscience, remember that I am her savior, and get me out; may my mother learn about me quickly, find a way to get me out. May Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva bless me, and help me escape this disaster..."
She was not desperate and didn't care about what the people in Xue's house were like. She only hoped that the gods and Buddhas would open their eyes, that Ji Mingxiu would consider his love from ten years ago, that her mother would ask someone to rescue her, that Zheng Sirui had not been eaten by dogs, and that Yanbao had found a good family... She forgot that her situation was already hopeless and only relied on this person or that official, imagining that anyone with omnipotent powers would come out to lend her a hand, clear her suspicion, and save her from the Ministry of Justice prison, a musty den full of mold and cockroaches.
In her earnest prayers, Yanru stared at the ray of light at the end of the prison corridor through the rough wooden door every day, hoping that someone would come from there and remove her shackles. But one day, two days, ten days... except for being given food and being taken away for questioning, there was no news, no good or bad.
No one even came to visit her.
Did Zheng Sirui abandon her? Did Ji Mingxiu forget her? Did her parents and sister, whose home was too far from the capital, still not know she was imprisoned?
Without news as fuel, the flame of hope will not burn brightly and will gradually turn into ashes.
Yanru refused to eat or drink, and felt no hunger or thirst. She simply slumped limply on the stone slab, drifting off to sleep and on to wakefulness, her days and nights reversed. When she was lucky, she dreamed of banquets and guests, of her high spirits. When she was unlucky, she dreamed of being sentenced to exile, shackled and chained to her legs. Southerners are sent north, northerners south. Since she was from Jinling, should she be exiled to Ningguta, or to Yazhou with the Xue family in the capital?
As for why I can’t enter the illusion of regaining freedom?
Perhaps she already knew in her heart that no one would be willing to argue for her with that divorce letter.
Where is the splendor now? The drifting things are gone. Seeing through the world is frightening and frightening, hurt by human nature is chilling to the heart.
After being imprisoned for several months, the flame of hope burned out, and Yanru was completely desperate. When the jailer unlocked the door again and called her out, Yanru was as calm as water and said lightly, "I want to interrogate you again? How long will it take?"
The jailer said, "You don't want to interrogate me? I've already finished the interrogation. A nobleman wants to get you out. Hurry up and be quick. Don't keep him waiting!"
Noble person?
Noble person!
Yanru shuddered: "Who? Who is it?! Male or female?"
The jailer said impatiently: "You will know when you get out! Hurry up! I'm busy!"
With a spark in her eyes, she put on her slippers and stumbled after the jailer.
If the jailer doesn't say it, it definitely can't be Zheng Sirui. Is that my mother? Is it Wen Yue? Or is it Ji Mingxiu?! Since she's a noble, it must be Ji Mingxiu!
Yes! It was Ji Mingxiu! Mother must have gone to find Ji Mingxiu!
Her heart was pounding so hard it was about to burst out of her throat. She took a deep breath, smoothed down her greasy, messy hair, and forced a shy and sweet expression onto her face, which hadn't been washed for a long time. Yanru ran out of the prison with hope. The bright and free sunlight outside was blinding. She widened her eyes and saw who was coming.
"Ji—Lu Zhiling? Why is it you?"
[Random Thoughts]: The story is coming to an end! I mentioned before that I would use some songs as inspiration when writing. Today I sorted out the playlists I used when writing and would like to share them with you~ I originally wanted to use Photoshop for layout, but I have been busy recently, so it is a bit rough.
Looking forward to your comments!
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