That morning, the jailer Qiao Quezi, as usual, brought two apprentices, carrying food boxes, and delivered meals to the young men in the cells one by one.
For low-level officials like them, even if the nobles from the noble families were imprisoned, they could not afford to offend them.
Fortunately, Qiao Guizi's immediate superior also thought so. From the first day of receiving this group of prisoners, the prison warden asked the guards to serve them well.
Since ancient times, the people have not fought against the officials, and those who sued these young masters are ordinary people.
It’s not that Qiao Guizi looks down on them. Even if they lose their lives, the people in prison will not be punished more severely.
Some people are born with a world of difference, even if the ones beating the drum to report are all bannermen.
The lives of bannermen are a little more valuable than those of ordinary Han people, but in front of the superiors, status is determined by them.
Qiao Quezi walked to the front of the cell and gently knocked on the chain on the cell door.
"Uncle Xin, it's time for breakfast..."
In the cell, the young man, with his head resting on his arms, snorted impatiently.
"I know! Why are you yelling? It's so annoying!"
He drank too much with the people in the cell next door last night, and woke up with a headache today. He is in a very bad mood now.
"Hey! I've put the porridge at your door..."
Qiao Guizi smiled flatteringly, then served a bowl of thick rice porridge, a plate of pickles, and a hot egg, placed them at the door, and then went to the next cell.
"Master Zheng San, breakfast is left at your door."
"Get away from me!"
"Hey! I'll get out of here now!"
"Master Wen..."
Qiao Guizi and his apprentice continued to serve breakfast, being scolded all the way. It took them more than half an hour to finish serving breakfast.
After finishing, Qiao Quezi took a look at the porridge left at the bottom of the bucket, then turned to look at his apprentice.
"Let's go find Old Man Song and divide the rest."
"OK."
Qiao Quezi's apprentice responded, and the two of them carried the porridge bucket out of the cell. On the way back, Qiao Quezi and his companions took a look into the cell and found that most people were still lying in bed sleeping, and few of them were eating breakfast.
The three men were already used to this and quickly left the cell.
After walking a long way out of the cell, Qiao Quezi's eldest disciple complained in a low voice,
"Master, few people eat the breakfast we deliver. Why do we need to deliver it?"
Ever since these young masters were imprisoned, their families have always had servants bringing them food and wine. It would be completely unnecessary for them to send an extra portion.
“Bang!”
Qiao Quezi slapped the eldest disciple on the back of the head.
"You're a jailer, it's your job to deliver food. If you don't want to, just tell me and I'll send someone else to deliver it right away!"
"I want to send it, I want to send it. Master, please don't be angry. Isn't this a waste of food? I feel bad..."
Before the eldest disciple could even cry out in pain, he heard what Qiao Guizi said and his face suddenly became tense.
The jailer who delivers meals earns a low monthly salary of only two taels of silver, but he can still earn some extra money occasionally.
Just like this time, the people in the cell were all young masters from wealthy families. Just from bribes, he received more than twenty taels this month, which was equivalent to his salary for two years.
"Is it your turn to feel bad? You still feel bad!"
Qiao Quezi glared at his eldest disciple in annoyance.
"Remember this, both of you. The most important thing for a jailer is to do your job well. Don't get involved in things you shouldn't. Even if they're prisoners who are definitely doomed, we can't provoke them. Who knows if they have someone backing them up?"
"How has your master been able to work here for over twenty years? It's all thanks to this principle!"
The two apprentices quickly agreed.
In fact, Qiao Quezi had said this so many times that his two apprentices had calluses on their ears. But they had no choice but to bow their heads since they were under someone else's roof. No matter how annoyed they were, they had to grit their teeth and listen.
After the master and his two apprentices shared the remaining porridge with their colleagues, they carried buckets to the cell to collect the bowls and chopsticks.
When he reached the fifth cell on the left, Qiao Guizi glanced at the empty bowl and reached out to pick it up with an expressionless face.
Up to now, this gentleman was the only one who had eaten the breakfast they sent.
Glancing at the prisoner still lying on the bed, Qiao Quezi didn't take it seriously and continued walking forward until -
"Master! Master! Please come quickly!"
The second disciple's honest voice echoed in the cell. Qiao Quezi's heart jumped suddenly and he dropped the wooden barrel in his hand.
"What's wrong?"
"Something happened!"
Hearing the word "accident", the anger of the others who were woken up by the jailer suddenly subsided, and they all leaned over the cell door to check the situation.
"What happened?"
"Who is that?"
“I don’t know!”
"It seems to be Feng Saner..."
"That's him, what happened?"
"Who knows? Ask the person next to him!"
Feng Saner's full name is Dong'e Hafeng'a, and he is the third son of the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites.
While everyone was talking, Qiao Guizi had already arrived outside Ha Feng'a's cell. He looked inside and couldn't help but feel his scalp tingling.
Ha Feng'a was seen lying on his back on the ground, with blood oozing from his mouth and nose. Qiao Quezi no longer cared about the rules and ordered his apprentice to go and call the prison warden. He took out the key, opened the cell door and went to check on Ha Feng'a.
"Master Feng San! Master Feng San! Wake up!"
Qiao Guizi pushed Ha Feng'a twice, but seeing that he didn't react at all, he boldly sniffed Ha Feng'a's breath.
"ah!"
Qiao Guizi was so frightened that his whole body shuddered and he shouted loudly.
"Someone come! Someone come quickly! Someone's dead!"
Qiao Guizi had seen many dead people, but he had never been as scared as he was today.
This man was the son of the Minister of Rites, and he died in the cell inexplicably. It would be fine if the cause was found out, but if not, they, the jailers, would also be implicated!
When the people in the surrounding cells heard that someone had died, their expressions changed.
Feng Saner is dead?!
How did he die?
They were drinking through the cell door yesterday, how could he be dead?!
Everyone was speculating about the cause of Feng Saner's death, but before they could recover, several more dead bodies were found in the cell.
Without exception, they all had blood oozing from their mouths and noses.
The prisoners in the cell were suddenly in an uproar——
"Let me out! I want to get out!"
"Hey, come here. I'll give you the jade pendant. Go to the Honglu Temple and tell my father to rescue me immediately!"
"And me, I'm the grandson of the Imperial College Supervisor. If you can help me spread this message, I'll definitely reward you handsomely in the future. One thousand taels! I'll give you one thousand taels..."
"Damn it! You're trying to snatch this from me!"
"Who stole it from you? Who would care about a broken jade pendant like yours?!"
Listening to the noise in the cell, Qiao Guizi felt like the sky was falling.
A total of seven people died in the cell this time. Among these dead people, only two were criminals who had been detained in the Dali Temple for a long time, and the remaining five were all young masters who had just been there for more than half a month...
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