Chapter 13 Let's remove the nails first.
The interrogation room was a room that looked to be about fifty or sixty square meters. There was a pot in the center of the room. Li Zhong said that during the interrogation, boiling water or oil would be heated in the pot.
On one wall of the room hung various instruments of torture. In her previous life, Jiang Yu enjoyed studying history in her spare time and knew about the cruelty of ancient torture. Now, seeing these instruments of torture, her imagination from her previous life finally came to life.
The door was pushed open, and two arsonists—Zhang San and Yang Tianfu—were brought in. Neither of them was injured, but they seemed excessively nervous. Upon seeing Jiang Yu standing in the interrogation room, the two knelt down with a thud.
Zhang San kowtowed and said, "Miss, please forgive me. I didn't really mean to harm you. I only agreed to burn down your courtyard because I knew you had left. Miss, I know I was wrong, I really know I was wrong."
He kowtowed repeatedly, and blood soon appeared on his forehead, but Jiang Yu looked at him calmly without saying a word.
Xia He was quite angry. She pointed at Zhang San and said, "Your wife is so good to you. When your mother was sick, she even paid you several months' wages in advance so you could take care of her."
Upon hearing this, Zhang San stopped kowtowing, seemingly filled with resentment. Seeing this, Jiang Yu's lips curled into a cold smile. He walked to the armchair and sat down, saying, "What? Giving you money in advance so you can get medical treatment for your mother, is that a mistake?"
Zhang San lowered his head and remained silent. Jiang Yu said in a detached voice, "This is a dungeon. You should know the consequences of not speaking."
Upon hearing this, Zhang San turned his head and glanced at the gleaming torture instruments on the wall. He clenched his fist and said, "My mother is sick. Madam gave me four months' wages in advance, and I spent all the money on my mother's medical treatment. But my mother's illness has not been cured, and I have no money left."
Jiang Yu listened to these words without much expression on her face. She had seen plenty of ingratitude in her past life while handling cases.
Xia He was so angry she wanted to kick Zhang San a few times. She said angrily, "Your mother spent all the money and still didn't get better, how can you blame the madam and young lady? Have you lost all your conscience?"
"If Madam hadn't taken my monthly salary in advance, I wouldn't have spent all the money on my mother's illness," Zhang San said resentfully. "Besides, if Madam is truly kind-hearted, why didn't she lend me money so I could pay for my mother's medical treatment?"
After he said that, the room fell silent. Everyone looked at Zhang San in disbelief. Was he just trying to take advantage of the situation?
Jiang Yu chuckled twice, then asked, "Who told you that?"
Zhang San remained silent, his neck stiff. Jiang Yu said, "Let me guess, it must be Wu Damao, the clerk at the grain shop?"
Zhang San looked surprised. "How did you know, Miss?"
Jiang Yu: "About two months ago, Wu Damao came to my dad, wanting his son Xiaomao to work as a shop assistant, but the family business is not short of manpower right now, so we didn't let Xiaomao come. Wu Damao is a scheming person, and I'm thinking about when to fire him."
"I..." Zhang San started kowtowing again, "Miss, I was fooled by Wu Damao. I won't do it again. I will never do it again."
“A person with malice in their heart can have their malice brought out by a small pretext,” Jiang Yu said. “If you are kind-hearted, no matter how much Wu Damao tries to persuade you, you would never do something like conspiring with outsiders to burn me to death.”
Zhang San continued to kowtow repeatedly, blood flowing down his nose, looking both terrifying and pitiful, but Jiang Yu's expression remained unchanged.
She said, “By the law of the land, anyone who sets fire to a private residence and loses five bolts of silk shall be exiled two thousand li. Anyone who loses ten bolts shall be hanged. You should know my family’s situation. Putting aside everything else, the silk in my storeroom alone is more than ten bolts.”
"Please spare me, young lady! I really didn't mean to burn you to death. I knew you were gone before I started burning you. I really didn't mean to burn you to death..."
Zhang San kowtowed and begged for mercy. Jiang Yu watched quietly and said, "I decided to leave at night, while Yang Tianfu colluded with you during the day, right?"
Zhang San stood there stunned and stopped kowtowing. Jiang Yu said, "Your purpose is not to burn me to death, but to take advantage of the chaos to rob my family of their property."
Zhang San looked utterly defeated; it was clear that Jiang Yu was right.
Xia He gritted her teeth in anger, and finally couldn't hold back any longer. She rushed over and kicked Zhang San a few times to vent her anger. "You heartless bastard! If it weren't for Miss giving you work to do, you would still be starving every day."
Jiang Yu saw that her face was red with anger and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Suppressing the corners of her lips that were turning up, she turned to Li Zhong and said, "Send it to the government office later."
She would not let go of those who wanted her dead.
Zhang San was dragged away, while Yang Tianfu knelt on the ground, trembling. He still couldn't understand why he had been taken to the Duke of Chu's mansion when he had only intended to burn Jiang Niangzi to death.
He looked up at Jiang Yu and saw her sitting there in a long blue robe. Although she didn't have the typical frailty of a woman, she was still incredibly delicate compared to a man. Yet, he could feel the pressure emanating from Jiang Yu.
He lowered his head, not daring to look any longer, when he heard Jiang Yu say, "Tell me."
Yang Tianfu gripped the ground tightly, head bowed, remaining silent. He knew that if he persisted in remaining silent, Su Yuezhen might come to rescue him. But if he confessed, even if Su Yuezhen saved him, he would still die.
Jiang Yu had interrogated countless criminals in her past life and had a deep understanding of their psychology. She then said:
"Don't expect the Qingshan Marquis's Mansion to come to your rescue. This is the Chu State Duke's Mansion, not my Jiang family's little courtyard. Do you think the Qingshan Marquis's Mansion would come to argue with the Chu State Duke's Mansion for the sake of a servant like you?"
Yang Tianfu gritted his teeth and said, "Anyway, I'm going to die whether I talk or not."
Jiang Yu nodded, "But there's another phrase, 'worse than death,' you should have heard of it."
She turned to Li Zhong and said, "Let's begin."
"Yes." Li Zhong waved his hand, and the two men guarding the dungeon walked to the wall, took a whip and a pair of pliers, and asked Jiang Yu, "Miss, which one would you like to use first?"
Jiang Yu glanced at the blood-stained whip, then looked at the pair of pliers and asked, "What's this for?"
The man weighed the pliers in his hand and said, "It can pull out teeth and fingernails."
Jiang Yu nodded knowingly, then said, "Let's remove the nails first."
These words stunned everyone present. Removing fingernails was considered a relatively severe form of torture. Normally, torture is conducted gradually, starting with milder methods and progressing step by step. None of the people present had expected Jiang Yu to use fingernail removal as a form of torture from the outset.
Jiang Yu felt that if they were going to do it, they should go for the big thing; she didn't want to dawdle.
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