The man pulled the jailer to stop him from going in, "Why do you care about him? He is highly regarded by the county magistrate, and his sister is his wife. Are you afraid that he will harm the county magistrate behind his back?"
He had something else in his heart that he didn't say. They were family relatives, and even if they really had some disagreements, they hoped to resolve them internally and not air their dirty laundry in public. We, the jail guards, should not get involved, lest we offend both sides in the end, which would end up in a bad situation for both sides.
The jailer was not stupid either. Although he did not express his words too directly, he still understood the implication of his younger brother's words.
Thinking about the people imprisoned in the prison who could interest Master Liu, the only ones who were from the Zhou family's father and son, the jailer didn't insist any more.
Anyway, he was looking for that father and son for the sake of arranging the marriage of his niece.
As a prison boss, it is really inappropriate for him to get involved in such matters.
Thinking of this, the jailer also sat down as his younger brother pulled him.
The four of them gathered together and continued drinking with pig ears. No one paid any attention to "Master Liu" who had already walked into the cell.
"Mr. Zhou, Master Zhou." Yu Zizhen, wearing the face of Master Liu, stood outside the prison door of her mission target, "You..."
Before she could whisper her identity, Zhou Fengnian in the prison had already stared at Yu Zizhen with a look filled with hatred. "Master Liu? Oh, what? Are you here to see if my father and I have been tortured to death?"
Zhou Fengnian is a local gentry with a strong family background. He is also an old scholar who has passed the imperial examinations for many years and is passionate about teaching and educating people. He is very influential in the local area.
The reason why he was imprisoned with his son Zhou Zheng was because he declined the marriage proposal to the new county magistrate.
The Zhou family is wealthy but has few descendants. The whole family regards Zhou Fengnian's only son Zhou Zheng as their own. Naturally, they are unwilling to let their young, talented, tall and handsome son marry the favored concubine of the county magistrate's family, who is rude and cruel, and would beat and kill servants and humiliate civilians when she is not satisfied.
But the favored concubine of the county magistrate was determined to marry Zhou Zheng. She said that she had moved her own mother, the third concubine who was brought to the post by the county magistrate.
The third concubine whispered some well-reasoned advice to the county magistrate, which made the county magistrate determined to get this marriage.
Since the literary talent was not good enough, this family started to have evil thoughts.
The county magistrate fabricated a false charge against the Zhou family and, under the pretext of an investigation, had the Zhou father and son arrested and taken to the county jail.
At first, the county magistrate just wanted to scare the Zhou father and son. If they "knew what was good for them", the county magistrate would not have intended to do anything to them.
But the Zhou family father and son seemed determined to go against him. Even when he locked them up in jail, they still refused to agree to the marriage.
The county magistrate was so angry that he not only resisted the pressure from Zhou's relatives and friends and refused to release the father and son, but also began to torture them in prison even more severely.
Since then, Zhou's father and son have lived a hard life where they either have little food and drink or are beaten and tortured every day.
The thick furry clothes they were wearing were stripped off, and the food, drinks, clothes and medicines sent by their families were confiscated as soon as they were brought in. In addition, they were hung up and whipped from time to time. The father and son watched as they were half dead.
According to the original book plot given by the system, Mr. Zhou was later tortured to death by the new Baofeng County Magistrate. After his death, the Zhou family's property was swallowed up by the Baofeng County Magistrate.
Because he hooked up with a big shot from the capital. Well, actually he wasn't that big a shot, he was just a minor official who married the niece of Empress Dowager Lu's cousin's husband's family.
Because they had gotten close to this minor official who could barely be considered a relative of the Lu family, the Baofeng County Magistrate was able to get away with fabricated charges against the Zhou family. Not only did Mr. Zhou die in prison in vain, but his son Zhou Zheng was also sentenced to exile by the Baofeng County Magistrate after the case was closed.
As for the women of the Zhou family, they collectively hanged themselves after Zhou Zheng was convicted.
Perhaps it was the hatred in his heart that gave him great courage, and Zhou Zheng escaped on the road to exile.
He fled his hometown and went to the prefect to file a complaint, but was caught by the prefect, who was the county magistrate's cousin, and was sent back to the county town.
He escaped again on the way to the capital, but was secretly chased and intercepted by officials from the Dali Temple who received a message from the prefect.
He could not enter the capital and was constantly threatened with death. He had no choice but to change his name and move south with the refugees.
When he reappeared, he had become a crazy and critical aide to Duke Jingguo.
Although he was born with thick eyebrows, big eyes and a righteous face, he was labeled a "madman" because he hated corrupt officials so much that he often ignored the wishes of Duke Jingguo and killed the surrendered corrupt officials without any explanation.
Because his reputation as a madman was so resounding, many corrupt officials with guilty consciences did not dare to accept his master's surrender.
They were afraid that they would be killed by Zhou Zheng, the madman who had lost control. They had no choice but to fight to the death.
If they fight to the death, the speed at which Duke Jingguo conquers cities will inevitably be affected.
Duke Jingguo did not want to spend more time and lose more people in the fight for hegemony, and he did not want the prestige he had spent many years building to be affected because of Zhou Zheng. So in the end, he executed Zhou Zheng, who had served him for more than ten years and made countless contributions, on the grounds of disobeying military orders.
This time, because the system issued a cannon fodder rescue mission, Yu Zizhen secretly jumped out to get involved, and at least the lives of Zhou's father and son were saved.
She looked at the prisoners in the other cells and said, "Master Zhou, you're joking. I'm here to let you and your son out."
As expected, as soon as she said this, the prisoners who had been secretly glancing at them suddenly looked at her with burning eyes.
Mr. Zhou was skeptical, "What does Mr. Liu want?"
He didn't believe that this bastard who was an accomplice to the evil would let them go for nothing.
Yu Zizhen cleared his throat and said, "That's too much."
She wanted the money and belongings that the Zhou family could not take away, and she also wanted Zhou's father and son to work for her for at least twenty years.
With the cheating device of the system, although it was her first time meeting this father and son, she knew that one of them was good at business and the other was good at strategy.
It just so happened that she was short of both money and talent.
When Master Zhou heard her say this, he couldn't help but sneer, "Master Liu, you can just say whatever you want."
Mr. Zhou, who had no idea that the Baofeng County Magistrate was about to take advantage of the Lu family and would soon torture him, still spoke and acted in a naive manner, as if he had never experienced the real punishment.
But Zhou Zheng had caught some clues from the private discussions of the jailer and others. He was very worried. He was afraid that the county magistrate would win the favor of those Beijing officials and eunuchs mentioned by the jailer. He was afraid that after he had greater support, he would be so cruel as to break off relations with their Zhou family.
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