Chapter 2
The chains rattled, and the only cell door that let in the daylight swung open. The jailer entered, his face red with anger and fury, swinging his club at the people. Fearing a beating, Sui Yu immediately let go of the old woman and hid in a corner. From the shadowy corner, she watched people coming and going outside. A woman with blood gushing from her forehead was dragged out, only to be dragged back in moments later. A handful of black ash covered the bleeding wound, and she was left on the ground, her life or death uncertain.
"You want to die?" The jailer laughed sinisterly. When he saw the guards bringing the ropes, his face fell and he cursed viciously, "If you want to die, you'll have to die on the road. Tie them up!"
The woman who had been shouting about committing suicide a moment ago fell silent, crying silently as she watched herself being tied up and thrown to the ground like a pig.
The soldier came over, and Sui Yu honestly stretched out her hands and feet to make it easier for him to tie her up. Then she leaned quietly against the wall, and when the sobbing and cursing in the cell died away, she fell asleep.
The prison was dark and damp year-round, with rats often roaming the cracks in the walls. When the overturned bowl of porridge made a noise, a few screams startled Sui Yu awake. She opened her eyes and felt something scurry past her feet. She instinctively lifted her foot, and the rat squeaked a few times, but it disappeared beneath the straw in an instant.
"Why are you yelling? They're just a few pests." Someone said.
"Is Sister Qing awake?" Sui Hui asked cautiously. She knew everyone hated her now, so she didn't expect anyone to respond. She only whispered in a trembling voice, "Sister Qing? Aunt Yu? Sister Qi? Are you awake?"
No one said a word.
"Sister Yu? Are you awake?" someone shouted again.
"I'm awake." The girl lying on the ground at the prison door spoke weakly.
"Have Qi and Qing woken up?"
If no one answers, it means he is not awake yet.
The cell became quiet again.
Sui Yu listened silently, and when no one spoke, she closed her eyes and went back to sleep. She didn't wake up until her hands and feet felt numb. Her bound hands and feet had lost all feeling, so she quickly leaned over on the haystack to change her position, rubbing her hands and feet slightly.
There were people whispering in the cell. Sui Yu just listened but didn't say anything, trying to get some information from their words.
Someone's stomach rumbled a few times, and someone asked, "What time is it?"
"It seems to be getting dark."
Sui Yu looked up, and the few rays of light that had seeped in through the gap above his head had disappeared at some point.
After the commotion in the morning, no one came into the prison again, but he could vaguely hear the noise outside while sitting in the cell. At this time, there was no sound of footsteps on the ground above his head, and no human voices outside the wall. Sui Yu judged that it was already late at night, which also meant that there would be no food to eat tonight.
"Sister Yu." Sui Hui called out, and then asked for something to talk about: "Does your neck still hurt?"
Sui Yu pretended to be asleep and didn't hear anything. She was new here, so it would be best for her to avoid interacting with people she knew well, so as not to reveal her true identity. On the other hand, she didn't want to get involved in the current situation. There were so many people and so many different minds, so she had to keep a low profile to avoid being used as a pawn.
Sui Hui shouted again, but when she saw that Sui Yu didn't respond, she understood what she was thinking and shut up.
"Where is your mother?" an old voice sounded.
"She died of illness two days ago. She couldn't endure the torture." Sui Hui sobbed softly, "The two concubines at home couldn't bear the shock and also hit their heads against the pillars and died."
"Oh, you were so happy when you were enjoying wealth and glory, but you all deserve to die. Those who deserve to die didn't die, and you caused innocent people like us to die with you. It's a pity that my child hasn't grown up yet..." A woman cried and cursed, and the child in her arms also cried.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the prison became tense again.
Sui Yu was thankful they were all tied up, otherwise they would have been beaten. She couldn't help but sigh heavily. The ancient law of punishing the entire family for the crime of one person was truly harmful. How many innocent people had suffered in vain, or even lost their lives.
The mice came again, but this time no one screamed. The night was long, and listening to the mice chewing wood and licking leftovers was enough to pass the time.
She was woken up by the cold, and fell asleep again when she couldn't bear it anymore. In a half-asleep state, Sui Yu heard someone breathing heavily. She thought of the three people who hit the pillar, and suddenly woke up. When she sat up, she found that someone had moved over little by little.
"Yu Jie'er? Wake up, you have a fever. Qi Shi..." When she reached out, her aunt exclaimed and cried, "Qi Shi is gone, and her body is cold."
"Where is Sister-in-law Qing?" Sui Hui asked hurriedly.
“No more.”
Sui Yu felt cold all over, and she stared blankly in the direction where the crying came from. Just two days later, she faced death again, and two lives left her quietly.
The prison seemed even colder. After the initial grief passed, the fear of the living and the dead sharing a room surged into Sui Yu's heart. She didn't dare to sleep anymore. She used her elbows and knees to support herself and crawled to where there were more people.
"Afraid? Sit next to me." An aunt asked in a low voice in the darkness.
Sui Yu said "hmm".
"Is that Yu girl? I'm your Aunt Chun." Aunt Chun is Sui Jiushan's cousin. She lives in the same alley with Sui Yu's family, so they meet more often. She recognized the person as soon as he showed his figure from a closer distance.
"Don't do anything stupid. It's better to live a miserable life than to die. When the time comes, the emperor will be far away and the country will be far away. Going to the northwest may not be as difficult as we imagined." Aunt Chun warned.
"I think so too... ahem... " Sui Yu spoke, his voice hoarse and harsh to the ears.
With these two sentences, the people in the prison started chatting. When things had come to this point, those who didn't want to die could only think of the bright side, comfort each other, and slowly believed it.
When footsteps were heard again overhead and voices appeared outside the prison door, the jailer brought breakfast and untied the ropes for the people in the prison.
Sui Yu took this opportunity to quickly stretch her frozen limbs. Once she was able to move, she stepped around the corpse and hurried over to grab her bowl of porridge. This time, she didn't pick and choose, but simply gulped down the porridge. Her last meal had been yesterday morning, and the food in her stomach had long since been digested. She was so hungry that her heart was pounding and her hands were shaking.
The others also drank the porridge silently, not bothering to pick out what the porridge in the bowl was made of. If they continued to be hungry, they would drool at the sight of a mouse.
The jailer laughed in an ambiguous manner and knocked on the fence deliberately when collecting the bowls. He almost made the "lo-lo" sound that he used to call the pigs.
"Boss, they're dead, all three of them." said the soldier.
"Drag him out and throw him into a mass grave to feed the dogs." The jailer said this deliberately for others to hear, to see if they still dared to commit suicide.
Indeed, no one dared to commit suicide by banging their heads against the pillars anymore, nor could they. After eating, their hands and feet were tied up, like a group of chickens and ducks locked in a cage.
"Mom, I want... I want to poop." A timid voice sounded.
"Go to the wall, come here."
Sui Yu looked over in horror. With the light leaking through the gap, she vaguely saw a short figure crawling to the base of the wall, and then a foul smell came over her.
She pressed her stomach and closed her eyes in despair.
The rats came again. There was no food left in the cell. The rats ran around squeaking, and the sound of them gnawing on wood sounded like they were gnawing on human bones.
Sui Yu kicked away a rat that ran to her feet. There was a thud. She was wondering how big the rat was when she heard a rustling sound approaching. The next moment, she felt a pain in the back of her foot.
"Get out." Sui Yu kicked again. She stood up and pricked up her ears alertly to listen to the movement.
These lawless rats were not afraid of humans at all. After being kicked twice, they became hostile and turned around to bite her.
"Don't touch these pests, just drive them away." Aunt Chun said to others.
Sui Yu hopped around the cell, others worried she might attract rats and told her to stay away. Feeling disliked and with the urge to urinate, she found a place to sit down and slapped the ground with a handful of straw to keep the rats away.
After an unknown amount of time, the rats left. Sui Yu sat with his legs bent, staring at the people in the cell, sighing, and then moved to the wall to untie his belt and poop and pee.
The smell in the poorly ventilated cell was even worse.
It was evening, and when it was time for dinner, Sui Yu, starving, only dared to drink half a bowl of porridge. Taking advantage of this opportunity to untie the ropes, she walked to the fence and asked, "Sir, how do I poop? Can you give me a piece of linen?"
"Do you still think you are a daughter of an official?" the jailer sneered.
The other jailers laughed out loud.
Sui Yu shut up.
Her hands and feet were tied again, and when the cell door was closed again, Sui Yu huddled in a corner and loosened the hemp rope with her teeth bit by bit. After everyone else fell asleep, she untied the rope covered with saliva, tiptoed to the wall, untied her belt, and squatted down.
"Pah, ugh—" The prison uniform had been worn by countless people. It was dirty and smelly, and it made people nauseous when they put it in their mouths. Sui Yu suppressed the nausea that rose in her throat. She gritted her teeth and tore at the prison uniform on her body, sweat trickling down her forehead.
With a "hiss" sound, the linen cloth broke. Sui Yu retched, wiped his eyes, wiped his butt in silence, stood up and pulled up his pants.
Sitting back on the straw pile, Sui Yu cried quietly. She wanted to go home. She missed her parents. Even though they didn't love her, they had never let her suffer like this.
The rat came again, crawling up from the back, its nails digging into the linen clothes, making a rough and harsh sound. Sui Yu tensed up, and when it climbed onto her shoulder, she grabbed it with great speed and slammed the fat rat to the ground with her backhand.
The mouse howled sharply, but before it could run away, Sui Yu grabbed it and threw it to the ground. She repeated this several times until the mouse died. Then she sat down with a grim look on her face.
Hearing the noise, most people woke up, but no one spoke.
When Sui Yu tied her hands and feet and lay down, she heard someone crying.
…
After five days, Sui Yu could no longer bear it. She was tied up in a dark and damp underground cell day after day, eating, drinking, defecating, urinating and sleeping in there, with her eyes open and closed day and night. If there were not so many people around to talk to her, she would have collapsed long ago.
"When will I be exiled to the northwest?" Sui Yu asked impatiently when it was time for dinner.
"It's still early." The jailer said lazily.
"How long is early? When it gets cold and snowy, won't it be even more difficult to walk on the road?" Sui Yu asked again.
"That's not your concern."
"Yu girl, come here." When Aunt Chun saw the whip in the jailer's hand moving, she hurriedly shouted.
After dinner, they tied their hands and feet again. Aunt Chun said, "Behave yourself and don't talk to the jailers. They flatter the powerful and bully the weak. Be careful of getting whipped."
"He has the guts to kill me." Sui Yu's pent-up anger exploded as if encountering a spark when she heard this. She shouted, "I can't stand it anymore. I haven't done anything wrong. Why should I suffer this? Let me out, let me out, let me out quickly—"
She lay on the ground, kicking her feet madly and struggling with the rope on her hands. Her hair, which was already a mess, was even more messy with dirt and grass. The straw sandals and socks on her feet were kicked off.
"What are you making a fuss about? Shut up." The cell door opened.
"Let me out, I haven't done anything wrong." Sui Yu got up and shouted.
"Tell the governor of Sui County about this in your grave." The jailer came over with a whip in hand, pointed at the man and said, "Be quiet! If you make any more noise, I'll send you to see your ancestors early."
"Kill me, kill me." Sui Yu stiffened her neck. She just lacked the energy to commit suicide.
She thought that if she died, she might return to the time when she lived. With this thought, she jumped forward twice and said provocatively, "Come on, kill me."
"She's talking nonsense, sir, don't take it seriously." Aunt Chun couldn't stand it anymore, so she spoke up quickly.
But it was too late. The jailer unlocked the door, pushed open the wooden door and came in, swinging the whip at Sui Yu. The burning pain made Sui Yu subconsciously dodge, and she tripped and fell to the ground. She curled up and hugged her head. When the whip stopped, she lay motionless and burst into tears.
"If anyone makes trouble again, this will be your end." The jailer said, locked the door and left.
Only after the footsteps faded did the others dare to approach. The straw whipped up by the whip slowly fell, and the choking dusty air was filled with the smell of fresh blood. Aunt Chun stroked Sui Yu's hair and said, "Why did you go through all this trouble? I thought you were a smart girl. Now that it has come to this, you should just be obedient."
Sui Yu didn't answer, she cried louder and louder, she thought she could make it, she accepted the rats running on her body, but in this dark cell, there was no water to wash, and she had to smell feces and urine when eating and sleeping. The most difficult thing was the endless time. She stared at the light through the cracks and waited day by day, and her heart began to feel pricked. If she didn't scream, she would go crazy.
But after being beaten, she cried and felt better.
The swelling on her neck subsided, and Sui Yu began to take care of the whip wounds on her body. These whip wounds gave her something to do. She looked forward to the wounds scabbing and then falling off. With hope, she settled down and was obedient.
The jailers looked on coldly, and seeing that these wives and daughters of officials were suffering like chickens suffering from the plague, they felt relieved and untied the ropes that bound their hands and feet. Except for delivering meals, no one entered the cells every day.
Sui Yu didn't know how many days had passed, and just when she thought she was going to die of old age in the cell, the jailer brought in a young man.
"Miss Yu."
Sui Yu sat up from her straw bed and asked in a hoarse voice, "Looking for me?"
"Are you stupid? Your fiancé is here." Aunt Chun recognized him.
"The engagement has been cancelled." The young man explained anxiously, fearing that if he was a step late, the other person would stick to him.
Sui Yu remembered that there was this person. She walked over and looked through the fence. The people outside raised their lanterns and waved them, frightened by her appearance and quickly stepped back.
Sui Yu didn't care. She could imagine what she looked like now, which was definitely scarier than a ghost.
"How long has it been since I was locked up?" she asked.
"Twenty-three days, what's wrong with your voice? What accent is this?"
"Voice? I tried to hang myself but failed, and my throat was damaged." Sui Yu was glad to have this excuse to cover it up, otherwise she would not be able to explain why her accent changed.
"You'll be leaving Yu County tomorrow for exile in the northwest. I'll bring you a meal." The young man slipped some silver to the jailer, who opened the chain securing the prison door. He handed the basket inside and said, "Our engagement is broken off. My family doesn't want the token you gave me. I've put the token your father gave me at the bottom of the basket."
Sui Yu peeked into the basket. Inside the coarse earthenware bowl was yellowish rice, steamed meat patties, and boiled pork. She took a look and thanked him first. Anyone willing to visit at this time must be someone with good intentions.
"You said we will be exiled to the northwest tomorrow?" She was very concerned about the news.
"Well, refugees from all over the country and volunteers willing to go to the Western Regions have arrived." The young man looked at Sui Yu a few more times, then turned away reluctantly and whispered, "I begged my father, but he couldn't do anything. Take care."
After saying that, he left in a hurry.
Sui Yu was extremely happy to be able to leave this dark prison. She sat down on the spot, picked up the bowl and ate the boiled meat in big mouthfuls. She had been hungry for as many days as she had been in prison. She finished the boiled meat in one breath and then started to eat rice.
"Sister Yu, I'm hungry." A little girl about ten years old came over.
Sui Yu sighed. She was afraid of this. She broke off a piece of meat pie for her and said, "I wanted to save it for tomorrow morning."
"The children have been hungry for several days, Sister Yu, please be kind." Another person pushed a little girl out.
The two meat patties were divided into eight portions. While no one was asking for more, Sui Yu hurriedly ate some rice. After a few bites, she realized something was wrong with the bowl. She dug it out with her fingers and pulled out a dime. She looked around and secretly took out all the silver coins from the bottom of the bowl and hid them in her socks.
At the bottom of the basket was a silver lock, the longevity lock Sui Yu had worn since childhood, given to the Wang family when the two families were engaged. That evening, the jailer came to distribute the thick linen clothes worn during exile. Sui Yu slipped the silver lock inside and, through his good words, begged for a linen raincoat and an old pottery jar.
The next morning, Sui Yu and his group of twenty or so ate a thick bowl of hot porridge, then each carried their daily bedding, carrying their straw, and walked out of the prison. The moment they emerged from the cell, the glaring sunlight blinded them, their eyes brimming with tears, and they began to cry uncontrollably.
The prisoners in the men's prison had already come out. Sui Hu pulled his son and stood behind the crowd. When he saw Sui Yu, he frowned.
"Where is your aunt?" he asked his silly and silent son again.
Again, no response.
When the two groups came together, Sui Hu found an opportunity to walk over to Sui Yu and asked in a low voice, "Where's your aunt?"
"You don't know?" Sui Yu asked back.
Sui Hu stared at her seriously, shook his head and said, "You are so disobedient."
Sui Yu rolled her eyes. She was right. It was indeed his idea that the original owner was persuaded by her aunt to hang herself.
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