Chapter 320 Killing someone by destroying their spirit
Recently, all the prisons in the capital have been full and urgently need to make room for new prisoners.
A few days later, Xu Huaining, having been squeezed dry of his last bit of value, faced his final judgment.
Xu Huaining committed two serious crimes: hiring someone to commit arson and murder to cover up the crime, and cheating on the imperial examination. He was sentenced to death for both crimes.
He calmly accepted the outcome and asked Ning Sihan to meet Xu Jinnian.
Ning Sihan sent someone to ask Xu Jinnian for his opinion, and Xu Jinnian agreed.
On a bitterly cold afternoon, Xu Jinnian appeared in the prison cell of Dali Temple.
As Xu Huaining slowly walked towards him, his eyes sunken and his body emaciated, Xu Jinnian felt calm, neither pleased nor saddened.
Seeing this, Xu Huaining let out a short, mocking laugh: "You must be very proud of yourself for going to such lengths to bring me down."
Xu Jinnian said calmly, "You overestimate yourself."
From beginning to end, this person was not in his eyes; the only people he wanted to bring down were that mother and daughter.
"Ha, you're still as annoying as ever."
Xu Huaining stared at Xu Jinnian with hatred in his eyes, wishing he could break free of the cage and strangle him: "I have never done anything to wrong you, so why did you scheme against me like this?"
Seeing that this person was still trying to pin the blame on him, a hint of mockery appeared on Xu Jinnian's face:
"You didn't do anything to wrong me? No wonder you had to cheat to pass the exam, even though we both studied hard for years. It turns out you have a bad memory and your brain doesn't work well."
Xu Huaining's face flushed red, and he roared in a shrill voice:
"What makes you so great? What right do you have to laugh at me? If I had been the one adopted as a child, I would have been the one studying under Master Jiang, and I would have been the one who passed the imperial examination with flying colors and became the third-highest scorer!"
He had barely finished yelling when he heard undisguised mockery in his ear:
"So you should hate your parents. If they hadn't bribed a blind fortune teller to tell me that I was a cursed star who would bring misfortune to the whole family, I wouldn't have been thrown to the mountains to fend for myself, and my father wouldn't have taken pity on me and adopted me into his family."
Xu Jinnian looked at Xu Huaining with a half-smile, and each word he spoke was more and more cutting:
"However, your family will soon be reunited in the underworld. At that time, you can settle accounts with your good parents and tell them to be good people in their next life, otherwise they will easily suffer retribution in this life."
"Shut up, shut up!"
Xu Huaining was furious, feeling as if her family had become a laughing stock.
Xu Jinnian watched him go crazy with a blank expression, her eyes calm and unfazed: "You reap what you sow. When I was a child, you bullied me repeatedly and tried to kill me several times. Did you think I would forget because I was young then?"
Xu Huaining, who was shouting and yelling, suddenly stopped breathing and froze on the spot, not daring to turn around and confront Xu Jinnian.
Xu Jinnian, however, did not let him off the hook, continuing without any emotion:
“I can take your past bullying and scheming against me as your immaturity, but you should never have laid a hand on my wife. From the moment you harbored ill intentions towards her, you should have known this day would come.”
Having said that, Xu Jinnian didn't want to waste time with a dying man and turned to leave.
Xu Huaining, however, shouted at him sharply and burst into maniacal laughter:
"Hahaha, you think you can rest easy after killing me? I'm not the one who really wants to harm her. I'll see what kind of end your family will have!"
Xu Jinnian continued walking: "Then you can go downstairs and keep watch."
Seeing that he didn't turn around, Xu Huaining reached out and screamed, "Stop! Don't go! Come back here! Come back now!"
No matter how much he screamed, Xu Jinnian never turned around and walked step by step toward the place where the light was coming in.
Winter comes earlier in the capital than in Qingzhou. Today the weather was bad and terribly cold, so Sheng An didn't dare take Naituan out, lest she catch a cold.
The little dumpling was used to being carried out for a walk by an adult every day, and no matter how Sheng An tried to coax her, it was no use; she just kept whimpering and babbling.
After Sheng An was exhausted from coaxing her, he handed her over to the three elders and quickly escaped the sonic attack of the little dumpling. He ran to the kitchen in one breath, planning to make something delicious for the stinky dumpling that night.
Under her direction, Aunt Gui and her companion efficiently prepared the ingredients.
Sheng Anlian cooked several of her signature dishes and inadvertently turned around to see the man standing at the kitchen door.
She immediately handed the spatula to Aunt Gui, took off her apron, walked over, and looked up to observe the man's expression: "Are you alright?"
Xu Jinnian smiled and shook his head, then took her hand and walked outside: "Why did you cook yourself? Is it because Aunt Gui's cooking doesn't suit your taste?"
Sheng An truthfully replied, "I was just craving something sweet."
My craving for my daughter is secondary.
Seeing that the man was in a good mood and showed no signs of the gloom that followed seeing a terrible person, Sheng An's tone of voice also became lighter:
"The weather is getting colder every day, and the price of firewood and charcoal has gone up quite a bit these past few days. Dad is worried that we won't have enough firewood and charcoal for the winter, so he ordered another thousand catties from the shop. It won't be delivered for a few more days..."
Of the necessities of life, firewood comes first.
In winter, there was no firewood at home, and we couldn't even get a sip of hot water.
Winters in the capital are especially cold and long; a lack of firewood and charcoal can truly freeze people to death.
Listening to his wife's nagging, Xu Jinnian not only didn't find it annoying, but also felt a sense of security: "In a few days, the imperial court will distribute a batch of charcoal and cotton, so our family won't lack firewood and charcoal this winter."
Sheng An hadn't expected this benefit and asked uncertainly, "Does it cost money?"
Xu Jinnian smiled and said, "It's free. It's said to be available every winter. It was ordered by His Majesty himself after he ascended the throne."
The reason for this decree was that a low-ranking official with a meager salary could not afford expensive firewood and charcoal, so he gave the only charcoal he had to his parents for warmth, and he himself died of illness from the cold.
Sheng An, unaware of the reason, felt that Emperor Jinghe was showing compassion for his officials: "That's really good."
Xu Jinnian nodded: "That's right."
The couple walked towards the main room while talking. Sheng An breathed a long sigh of relief when he didn't hear the baby's sonic attack: "Looks like he's asleep."
After Xu Jinnian found out the reason, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "If she makes a fuss again, just ignore her. Grandpa and Grandma don't mind the noise."
Sheng An was speechless: "Once your daughter can understand human speech, would you dare to say that to her face?"
Xu Jinnian: "..."
Of course I wouldn't dare.
Xu Chenglin knew what his son had been doing when he went out in the afternoon, and asked him a few questions when he returned.
Xu Jinnian did not hide anything and repeated Xu Huaining's words verbatim to avoid upsetting his father for his blood-related nephew.
Upon hearing this, Xu Chenglin's face turned red with anger: "Just like his parents, they're no good!"
He himself was wicked and committed evil deeds, and even when he was about to die, he did not repent. Instead, he blamed his son. He was utterly heartless and inhuman!
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