Chapter 788: Cowardly
A tall, mighty yamen runner with a fierce face walked up to the side of the bald man, stared at him and recited in a loud voice various tortures such as pinching fingers, nailing fingers, slicing meat, roasting over fire, etc.
Although most of these tortures have not been used since the last two county magistrates and the instruments have become rusty, they are still quite intimidating when mentioned.
At least the bald man was frightened, his eyes rolled back and he fainted.
County Magistrate Yang: ...
He looked at the yamen runner. The tall yamen runner touched his head and smiled innocently, "Sir, I didn't expect him to be so unfazed. How about I shake him awake?"
County Magistrate Yang looked at the bald man for a while, then waved his hand and asked him to wake him up.
Who knew that when Baldy woke up and saw County Magistrate Yang, his eyes rolled back and he was about to faint again.
County Magistrate Yang said, "If you dare faint, I will torture you."
Baldy tried hard to force himself to stay awake, but his shaky appearance was no different from that of a fainted person.
County Magistrate Yang was particularly pleased to have scared him so much. He nodded and asked, "Zhou Yin is Zhou Jin's younger brother. Your Qili Village doesn't even have a hundred households. Standing on the slope at the end of the village, you can see what's going on in the courtyards of the people at the head of the village. And your home is not far from Zhou Jin's. You should know whether he will come back or when he will come back, right?"
With tears streaming down his face, the bald man trembled and said, "Sir, I, I really have never seen Zhou Yin. He, he has been gone for so many years. I even forgot what he looked like."
"Then tell me how many years he has been gone?"
"Ten, more than ten years ago. I left when I was fourteen and never came back."
"How do you know it's fourteen?"
"I am only two years older than him. There was a severe drought in Shu that year, and our village was also hit by a drought. Many people starved to death, so I remember it."
"Why did he leave?"
"They're looking for a way to survive. They have a large family. If they stay, someone will definitely die. If they leave, maybe they can survive, and their family will have another chance to survive."
"So they have a good relationship as brothers?"
The bald man wasn't sure if this question was a trap, so he said with a wandering look, "It's, it's okay."
County Magistrate Yang said expressionlessly, "But I heard that Zhou Yin came back after leaving, and someone saw him."
Baldy's face turned pale, and he trembled as he said, "I, I don't know, I don't know anything..."
County Magistrate Yang stared at him for a long moment, then sighed, stood up, turned his back, and waved his hand, saying, "Torture him."
The bailiffs dragged the bald man out, howling like a ghost, and beat him with a stick.
"How many strokes of the cane, sir?"
County Magistrate Yang: "Try ten strokes first."
After the ten strokes of the cane, Baldy was dragged back. He cried out, "It's unfair, it's unfair, sir, I really don't know anything."
County Magistrate Yang said, "Try pinching your finger."
The yamen runners looked at County Magistrate Yang's expression and did not dare to kill him, so they tightened the splint.
The bald man screamed in pain, his eyes rolled back and he fainted again.
County Magistrate Yang frowned and looked at him. The bailiff went to pat him, but when he found no movement, he looked at County Magistrate Yang cautiously.
County Magistrate Yang frowned slightly, "Did you try your best?"
"No, it just hurts, but no bones are broken." Of course, some injuries are inevitable.
However, they thought that County Magistrate Yang seldom used torture and was a gentle person, so he used a clever method to cause pain without breaking bones.
Seeing that beating him to wake the man didn't work, County Magistrate Yang waved his hand and said, "First, put him in jail. We'll ask him tomorrow. Oh, and let the coroner take a look at him. Don't scare him to death."
"yes."
In order to save money, the coroner in the county government office occasionally had to work part-time as a veterinarian, treating the horses and prisoners in the government office.
The coroner pricked the Ren Zhong point and woke him up, but luckily for him, County Magistrate Yang was tired and didn't want to interrogate him for the time being.
But Lai Tou didn't feel good at all. He spent the whole night in prison in fear and cried for half the night. With his brain, he really couldn't figure out what the matter between him and Zhou Yin was.
Even if Zhou Yin's affair was exposed, shouldn't the Zhou family be arrested and interrogated?
Why arrest him?
The next day, Baldy was dragged to the lobby with red and swollen eyes. He still gritted his teeth and said he knew nothing.
County Magistrate Yang looked at him deeply for a moment, then stopped torturing him. Instead, he waved his hand and said, "Let him go."
The bald man was stunned and looked up at County Magistrate Yang with suspicion.
County Magistrate Yang asked him, "Will you tell Zhou Jin's family about this when you return?"
The bald man shuddered and shook his head repeatedly.
County Magistrate Yang smiled slightly, waved his hand and said, "Then you can go back."
The bald man who was kneeling on the ground tentatively climbed up half of his knees, but when he saw County Magistrate Yang looking at him intently, his knees went weak and he knelt back down.
County Magistrate Yang smiled at him and said, "Let's go."
The bald man lay on the ground and took two steps back. Seeing that the bailiffs in the hall did not stop him, he stumbled to his feet and ran out.
After running out of the county government office, he looked back and saw that no one was coming to catch him, so he immediately ran away as fast as he could.
County Magistrate Yang watched him run away. The tall yamen runner was puzzled. "Sir, he's a wimp. If he's locked up for two more days and beaten a few times, he'll confess. Why are you letting him go?"
"You said he was weak, but he remained silent after being frightened all night, didn't he?" County Magistrate Yang said, "Human bones are strange. If you knock him down, he'll confess, but if he doesn't, his bones will become stronger. If you want to get any more information out of him, you'll have to kick them hard. Otherwise, you won't get anything out of him with such a mild blow."
But can he really try his best?
Of course not.
Baldy hadn't done anything wrong. He was just lazy, a gambler, and very mean to his family. He could give them a beating, but if he really broke someone's arms, legs, or waist...
County Magistrate Yang is not a cruel official, his bottom line is there.
So he had no choice but to let the person go and think of other ways.
"What if he tells Zhou Jin that you're investigating Zhou Yin..."
County Magistrate Yang smiled slightly and said, "I actually hope he does. This is just my guess, and I don't have any evidence. If someone in their family has done something, I might be able to find out."
However, County Magistrate Yang's hope was obviously dashed. Baldy ran back home and fell asleep, not daring to say a word. When his father asked him where he had been last night, he was so angry that he kicked over the table at home.
He didn't even dare to speak to his own parents, let alone outsiders.
Whenever he met someone from the Zhou family outside, he would stay away from them.
This made Old Zhou narrow his eyes. He went home and told Qian about it, speculating, "Do you think Baldy stole something from our house?"
Qian thought about it carefully and said, "Nothing is missing from the house."
"What about the fields?" Old Zhou remembered something and sat up from the bed and said, "That kid wouldn't have secretly destroyed the privet trees on our mountain, right? Otherwise, why would he hide when he saw me?"
Qian also became worried. "It's late today. Let the eldest and third sons go up the mountain to take a look tomorrow. If they really dare to harm our medicinal herbs, I will chop them to death."
(End of this chapter)
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