Chapter 53: Prisoner
“Bang!”
Accompanied by a thrilling crisp sound that echoed in the prison, Shen Zhejiang only felt that his flesh was torn into pieces. His drooping face was covered by his long hair, and his expression could not be seen. He looked like a walking corpse without a soul.
The jailer glanced at Magistrate Yang, who was sitting behind the trial table, and saw that he was resting calmly with his eyes closed. Without any orders, he raised the whip again.
After two more slapping sounds, Shen Zhejiang's body was covered with bloody whip marks.
The criss-crossing scars are shocking.
The jailer asked sternly, "Tell me! Where did you hide Zhao Xiaosi?!"
"......"
Shen Zhejiang remained motionless.
The jailer gripped the whip handle, and the veins on the back of his hand bulged, as terrifying as tree roots exposed on the ground.
He had never seen a criminal with his mouth sealed so tightly. In the past, those prisoners would cry and shout to confess after being whipped twenty times, but the one in front of him had been whipped a hundred times and there was not a single piece of good flesh left, but he still refused to confess a word.
"You're being stubborn, eh? Here are plenty of ways to pry your mouth open. Are you going to tell me or not?!"
He raised his whip to hit.
"Alright, what's the point of fighting any further? Back off."
Hearing this, the jailer put away his whip with a sullen look and stood aside.
Prefect Yang opened his eyelids and glanced at the bloodstained Shen Zhejiang indifferently: "How long has it been? Oh, almost an hour, Shen Zhejiang, this prefect does not have that much time to waste with you, you'd better tell the truth."
"......" Shen Zhejiang turned a deaf ear.
Prefect Yang was not angry. He leisurely picked up the celadon teacup on the table, took a sip, and showed a look of disgust: "The tea is cold. Tsk, it's really hard to drink."
Then, he put the teacup back to its original place with a bang, dusted off his clothes, stood up, and turned to Shen Zhejiang who was tied to the rack.
"The number one scholar of Shuncheng nine years ago, let's calculate the time, hiss..." Prefect Yang paused, as if thinking seriously, but when he spoke, his tone was full of sarcasm, "It has been so long, and no one in Yan Dynasty can surpass you. It can be said that there is no one before and no one after. Today, I see that you are really extraordinary, and you are very arrogant."
Shen Zhejiang finally showed some reaction. He coughed lightly, but the wounds all over his body were affected. He frowned slightly, and his voice was extremely hoarse: "...Where is Xiao Zhinian? I want to see him."
Prefect Yang put his hands behind his back and looked at Chen Zhejiang with great pleasure: "Why, you have become a prisoner and can't protect yourself, but you still think about others? It seems that you and he are really in love. This prefect wants to gossip, are you greedy for his youthful body, or his splendid country, glory and wealth?"
It was rare for Shen Zhejiang to be able to hold back his anger after hearing such humiliating words.
Biting his lower lip until it was torn and bleeding, he said in a deep voice: "What do you mean?"
"Okay, you still remember Chun Yi Tower, right?" Magistrate Yang walked back and forth, making rustling sounds on the damp and cold floor, and told all the plans that had been broken before, "Ziyun was originally arranged to be Xiao Zhinian's spy. If it weren't for you... Tell me, why did you run to Chun Yi Tower for no reason, and Xiao Zhinian ran into you? If someone didn't know, they would think this was a plot between the two of you. Fortunately, you didn't notice anything. In this case, Xiao Zhinian must have made you want to die. I, Yang, also played a role in facilitating your good deed."
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
It turned out that Yang Shihui had already known everything about how Xiao Zhinian lured Yang Sharen to show up through the Chunyi Tower incident, and the reason why Xiao Zhinian came up with this plan was because of Shen Zhejiang's suggestion. After all, they were just players in the game.
So who is the chess player and who is the spectator?
Shen Zhejiang had lost too much blood, his face was so pale that it was almost transparent. He forced himself to stay conscious and stared at Yang Shihui and said, "Yang Sharen is your nephew, and you were willing to let him take risks and even beat him to death in public."
Unexpectedly, Magistrate Yang paused, and a flash of grief flashed across his eyes. After all, he had raised her for so many years, it would be a lie to say that he was not sad.
However, instead of that, there was a venomous coldness. Prefect Yang said, "Those who ruin our plan should be beaten to death with sticks, which is the greatest mercy."
Upon hearing this, Shen Zhejiang took the opportunity to ask, "What's the big plan?"
Prefect Yang was not stupid either. He did not continue to follow his words. He turned around and sat back in his seat: "It's boring to say it directly. Shen Zhejiang, you are very smart, but there is a saying that goes 'too smart to be smart', you are just like..."
Before he could finish the word "this", Shen Zhejiang interrupted him bluntly: "The black-clad man sent to the capital three years ago was arranged by you."
It is not a rhetorical question, but an affirmation.
Whether it is Yang Sharen or the man in black, there seems to be no connection between them, but if you think about it carefully, there is something wrong.
If he had not been imprisoned today, he would never have dug out those details from every corner. On that day, Yang Sharen was arrested in Chunyilou and imprisoned in a cell. Huaiwu had reported the matter and Yang Shihui had gone to the prison at night to meet someone.
At that time, he and Xiao Zhinian both thought it was Yang Sharen, but Yang Sharen was not in prison from beginning to end. If the person Yang Shihui saw was the elusive man in black, then everything made sense.
Prefect Yang was stunned for a moment, but soon calmed down and said, "So what if it is, so what if it is not, this prefect..."
"That's it. I haven't even mentioned the man in black yet, but Governor Yang already knew what he was talking about."
"How dare you use the prefect's words?"
Shen Zhejiang took a breath, and his chaotic thoughts gradually became clear. The corner of his mouth pulled out a cold smile with a nine-day black ice: "I have never met you before, and I have never had any grudges with you, but you want to kill me. There is no other reason, unless you are already familiar with my father, you and him... Ugh!!"
A strong wind blew in his face, and with a whoosh, it cut through the thick smell of blood in the air. Then a residual shadow passed by Shen Zhejiang's face, and in an instant a string of blood beads splashed up and splashed onto the wall.
The chains that bound Shen Zhejiang's hands and feet swayed and collided with each other, echoing in every dark corner of the prison, like the resentful wails of lonely ghosts.
"Don't mention Chen Jinmo to me again! Why! Why can Chen Jinmo be appreciated by the master so easily! And I, the prefect, work so hard and be so loyal, but I can only work under his shadow forever!"
Magistrate Yang was holding the long whip that he had snatched from the jailer. Blood slid down the end of the whip and coiled around the edge of his shoes.
And he was breathing heavily, with a flame of anger ignited by jealousy in his eyes, which seemed to burn Shen Zhejiang into slag.
"......"
Shen Zhejiang was barely breathing, his head leaning on the rack, but he still looked at Prefect Yang with arrogance.
He really didn't expect that he would be able to learn about some of the things that happened back then through Yang Shihui.
"If you look at me like this again, I'll dig out your eyes! Damn it! It's those eyes again!" Prefect Yang threw away the whip and grabbed Shen Zhejiang's collar with both hands, his eyes bloodshot, "You are nothing like Shen Jinmo except these eyes. You are so arrogant, you are worthy of being the bastard he raised! I want to dig you out and crush you in my dreams!"
Shen Zhejiang's head was dizzy and he felt so weak that he might faint in the next moment. His throat was filled with the taste of rust and blood. He said coldly, "My father is kind to others. No one in the capital does not admire his character. It is you who is narrow-minded and petty."
"Say it again! Shut up!"
Magistrate Yang slapped him twice again. The jealousy in his heart was hard to calm down. He took a big step back, picked up the confession that had been prepared on the table, and quickly read it from beginning to end.
Then he raised his head, his eyes reddened from years of depression: "The criminal Shen Zhejiang has committed many evil deeds and has no intention of repenting. He has been tortured many times but still refused to confess and sign."
He paused, speaking each word.
"Put on the clamp!"
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