Chapter 60: Interrogation: I really want to live.
Since that day, Song Jin never saw Ji Shubai again, not only because he was busy, but also because Song Jin was avoiding him.
She didn't want to see him. She would see him sooner or later anyway, so why bother going up to him?
What's more, she is so cruel.
What's more, there was no room for recovery in this matter, and she didn't want to be soft-hearted for any moment.
This day came quickly. One afternoon in mid-April, Song Jin was washing dishes in the backyard when Ji Shubai, wearing his official uniform and leading his servants, stormed into Shiding Building angrily.
"Capture Wen Zijin for me!"
The diners in Shidinglou dispersed, and Song Jin was carried out from the backyard without touching the ground. There was dripping water on his fingertips, but his face was very calm.
Ji Shubai stood opposite her, his beautiful eyes almost spitting fire: "Bring the man back to the government office, I will interrogate him personally. Search the rest of them, take away all the papers, don't leave a single one behind!"
There were screams and chaos in the Shiding Building.
Song Jin had someone take her to the government office, not to a court, but to a room used for interrogation. In the dim light, she could still see the torture instruments neatly arranged around her.
It was not until this moment that Song Jin finally experienced what it meant to have weak legs.
Since there was no crime charged, the runners simply tied the man to a pillar, and a clerk came over to question him.
"Who is this? What is the crime?"
"The former owner of Shidinglou was named Wen Zijin. Lord Ji ordered him to be arrested, and he will come to interrogate him personally." After saying this, the man left, leaving only a clerk facing Song Jin, whose lips turned pale with fear.
"What is the crime?"
The clerk asked questions, but Song Jin did not answer.
"It doesn't matter if you don't say it. When I torture you, you will say everything you want to say, whether you don't want to say it or not." After saying that, he looked Song Jin up and down and said, "I see that your body is so weak, I'm afraid you can't make it."
Song Jin also felt that she would not be able to survive this time.
About half an hour later, Ji Shubai came in from outside, alone, holding a bag in one hand, which was covered with a lot of dirt.
It's really digging three feet into the ground.
When the clerk saw someone coming, he bowed hurriedly to greet him.
"I will interrogate this man personally, you get out." After saying that, he threw the bag of silver on the table, making a clanging sound.
"Master Ji, this... this is probably against the rules, right?"
The clerk was a little embarrassed, but Ji Shubai insisted: "I will bear all the consequences. It has nothing to do with you."
Ji Shubai and Song Jin were the only ones left in the dim interrogation room. They stared into each other's eyes, and Song Jin did not hide. Ji Shubai was originally serious, and now he looked even more fierce.
When you get to this place, you realize that humans are ghosts and ghosts are ghosts too.
Song Jin is also going to become a ghost.
"Tell me, where is that piece of paper?" Ji Shubai walked up to Song Jin and asked, suppressing his anger.
Song Jin asked back, "Didn't you find it, sir?"
"Are you willing to implicate everyone?"
Song Jin turned his head away without answering.
"Tell me, where did that question come from?" Ji Shubai continued to ask.
"What is the subject?"
Song Jin asked knowingly, which made Ji Shubai even more angry: "You tricked me into writing down the topic that day just for today, right or wrong?"
"Your Excellency is wrong. No one wants to die. I just want to live well."
"No one wants you to die, you are the one seeking death! I have no grudge against you, why are you trying to harm me like this?"
Song Jin's eyes dimmed. "It doesn't matter who kills me, it doesn't matter who kills me. If I have to be a slave and a maid for my whole life, I would rather die in your hands."
"To die in my hands, is this what you want?"
Song Jin looked at Ji Shubai's face, which was flushed with anger, and asked, "If you kill me, what crime will you accuse me of?"
Ji Shubai was stunned. Crime? What crime? What crime could Song Jin be charged with? What crime could it be?
Song Jin looked at Ji Shubai's stunned expression and said to himself, "I haven't answered your question yet, so I will answer you now."
"I am the son of the Bai family. I went out to do business for my mistress under the pseudonym Wen Zijin. Over the past few months, I have been very close to the government office. The person I have had the most contact with is the governor of Suzhou, Ji Yun. I have also met the supervisory censor Luo Yuanzhong and the magistrate of Suzhou, Lu Junnian..."
"Shut up!" Ji Shubai shouted, his chest heaving violently.
Song Jin looked at the angry Ji Shubai and suddenly laughed: "It turns out that adults can also be angry, furious, hateful, and afraid."
"But how can you know my hatred and fear?"
"Your Excellency is from a family of officials, a Jinshi, and at a young age you have already become a fifth-rank official, bringing honor to your family. You returned home in glory and became a guest of honor in many wealthy families in Suzhou Prefecture. And what about me? I am a servant of the Bai family. I was born a slave, died a slave, and gave birth to children as a slave, and I am just a cook. In the family, let alone the head of the family, I am inferior even to the servants. Have you ever experienced this feeling of being inferior forever?"
"So you want to hurt me?" Ji Shubai's eyes turned red, like a man-eating beast.
"I've said before that things have right and wrong, and it has nothing to do with hatred. But what is right and what is wrong, and who has the final say? Emperor Hongwu reinstated human sacrifice, and many palace ladies died in vain. A hundred years later, human sacrifice was abolished again. Why don't you tell me, is human sacrifice right or wrong? Is Emperor Hongwu right or wrong? Do you dare to say it?"
Once Song Jin started talking, he couldn't stop.
"The so-called imperial rule is dictatorship, autocracy, and the opinion of one family is supreme, and no one can oppose it. I am a slave of the Bai family, and I recognize the Bai family as my master. You have studied for many years, participated in the imperial examinations, and served as an official. You think you are superior to others, but you are just a high-level slave, a slave of the royal family. You are a joke."
"Shut up!" Ji Shubai was shaking with anger. He turned around, grabbed a whip from the table, pointed at Song Jin and shouted, "If you dare to talk nonsense again, don't blame me for torturing you!"
Song Jin stared at the whip with blood stains on it for a while, then suddenly raised his head and asked, "Are you planning to beat me to death here, sir?"
Ji Shubai's hand holding the whip was shaking violently and he could hardly hold it steady.
He was just a civil servant and had never punished anyone.
"Since you are going to take action, why wait? But have you ever thought about how you would explain if I died here? If you let someone pick up that piece of paper, who would bear the consequences?"
"Let's not talk about Master Ji for now. Master Shen is almost fifty years old. If I remember correctly, he is also from Changzhou County and is from the same hometown as you."
Ji Shubai stumbled back a step, his face turning from red with anger to bloodless.
"I heard that this year's third place winner became the first place winner. I wonder what the officials in the court think. Can some people really cover up everything?"
"Shut up!"
Ji Shubai swung the whip in his hand fiercely, and with a snap, the whip hit Song Jin.
In April, the clothes were not too thin, so Song Jin could still withstand the whip. Unfortunately, the tail of the whip swept across Song Jin's neck, leaving a red mark.
"Why? Why on earth would you resort to such a despicable method to deal with me?"
Song Jin endured the pain and asked back: "If you were in my position, you would be a slave all your life, you couldn't read and write, you couldn't take the imperial examination, and you couldn't marry a good man. Wouldn't you also tell yourself to be obedient and not overstep the boundaries? In the previous dynasty, slaves were called "servants", but in my dynasty, they were changed to "servants". To put it bluntly, in the eyes of the world, we are just animals to be driven. If everyone can trample on me, how can I have self-respect and self-love?"
"My Lord, you asked me why I resorted to such a desperate measure and did such things to frame loyal people. It's just that the cattle and horses don't want to be cattle and horses anymore."
"Sir," two lines of tears fell from Song Jin's eyes: "If you want me to die, will you give me the proper trial and charges?"
"Charge?" Ji Shubai asked, panting: "What charge do you want? I want to ask you, was it you who started the fire that day?"
Song Jin said, "I didn't start the fire that day, but if someone hadn't lit it for me, I would have done the same thing. To you, sir, arson is a heinous crime, but to me, it was my only chance to show my loyalty to my mistress. I want to get out, I want to become a useful person, I want to save money to redeem myself, I just want to leave that courtyard and live a normal life."
At the end, Song Jin almost shouted out at the top of his lungs.
"A man's day? What do you consider a man's day?"
Song Jin answered almost without any pause: "Eat well and sleep well. Go out to see the spring flowers in spring, eat popsicles at home in summer, sweep the fallen leaves in the yard in autumn, and hold a stove in my arms in winter. This is the life of a human being, and this is the life I want."
Ji Shubai felt weak. The life Song Jin wanted was so simple, yet so difficult. Who wouldn't want to live that kind of life? But how many people could live that kind of life?
"On the fifth day of last month, the master took a day off and went out with his friends to enjoy the spring. He must have seen the beautiful spring scenery. Unfortunately, the spring scenery all over the mountains and plains has never had anything to do with me. Just because I am a slave, I have to obey my master's orders. I have to work from morning to night. I get up early in the morning to kill and cook chickens. My whole day is spent around the stove, but I am not willing to give up."
"The happiest time of my day is the stretch from Shidinglou to Gongsi. There is no smell of chicken feathers scalded by boiling water on that stretch of road. Sometimes I can even smell the fragrance of flowers."
"Do you know how it feels to always smell like chicken feathers?"
As Song Jin spoke, his voice gradually became softer and he stared blankly at the door, as if he was questioning, or as if he was lost in sad memories.
"Do you think there will be such days in the future?"
Song Jin blinked woodenly: "No, I have offended Master Ji, so of course I will have nothing."
Song Jin turned his head and looked at Ji Shubai: "Before I die, I only ask one thing from you, Master Ji, to give me the charges and interrogation I deserve, instead of letting me die here in silence. Do you dare?"
Ji Shubai slumped in the chair with his head lowered, making it impossible to see his expression.
The thing he fears most.
"What three virtues, what integrity, they are just your means." Ji Shubai looked up blankly, with a desperate smile on his face: "You are forcing me."
Song Jin's eyes were hot: "If we can choose, who doesn't want to be a good person?"
"But you..." Ji Shubai's voice was choked with sobs: "You have implicated too many innocent people, your crime is unforgivable! Don't you feel any guilt for doing such a thing?"
"Guilt?" Song Jin sneered, "When Emperor Chengzu seized the throne, Mr. Huang, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, was loyal to Emperor Jianwen and conspired to start a rebellion. As a result, he was captured, his entire family was beheaded, his female relatives were humiliated, and he was sent to the Jiaofangsi, and he was even tortured to death. But when Emperor Renzong came to power, he was pardoned and rehabilitated, and the official slaves were released to become good citizens. Mr. Ji, tell me, is Huang Zicheng guilty or not? Does Emperor Chengzu feel guilty?"
"Emperor Hongwu founded the Ming Dynasty, but what happened afterwards? All those meritorious officials were killed, and the blood flowed like a river. Lord Ji, tell me, who has ever felt guilty?"
"To you, my Lord, I am just one of the tens of millions of slaves. To me, my Lord is just one of the countless souls who died unjustly in the Ming Dynasty. My Lord feels powerless, and I also feel that there is no need to feel guilty."
Ji Shubai sat there, allowing Song Jin to question him again and again. His expression no longer had the excitement and anger that he just had, but instead became much calmer.
"You don't want to renounce your citizenship, you want to drag others to your grave."
"No, Master Ji, I really want to live."
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