The Ministry of Justice has always been a place where prisoners are interrogated and torture is allowed. As for a juren like Wei Min, even if he was suspected, he should be detained in the Dali Temple and wait for interrogation.
However, Wei Min and others were imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice.
When being taken away by the Imperial Guards, Wei Min observed carefully that all the candidates who were dressed in gorgeous clothes were invited to leave respectfully, while candidates from poor families like them were pushed forward, and anyone who showed any intention of resisting would be suppressed violently.
Wei Min knew that he had to go, so he cooperated and thus avoided physical pain.
The Ministry of Justice's prison was dark, damp and without sunlight, with only candlesticks with flickering candles on both sides of the aisles between the cells. Through this faint light, you can vaguely see the prisoners in the cell.
A confined, dark place is most likely to destroy a person's will. If you are locked up in such a place for a long time, you will think that you are just a rat that cannot stand the light of day, and you are only worthy of living in such a dark place.
According to the princess, cheating is a serious crime, so Wei Min and others had heavy chains on their hands and feet.
As he moved his feet, the clanging sound of the iron chains on his feet hitting the stone slabs in the cell seemed particularly crisp in this dark and quiet place.
Hearing this sound, the prisoners squatting in the dark of the cell seemed to be awakened. They all crawled out, grabbed the iron bars with both hands, squeezed their heads hard to look outside, and shouted, "Sir, sir, I know I was wrong, let me out! Let me out!!"
After finally seeing someone coming, the prisoners stretched their arms out from the iron bars, reached out to grab the jailer's clothes and shoes, and begged like a madman: "Please let me out, I will do anything you ask me to do! I've had enough, I've had enough, if you keep me locked up I will go crazy!"
The jailer retracted his legs in disgust, frowned as if he was looking at something disgusting, picked up the iron rod hanging at his waist, and hit the outstretched arm mercilessly.
Wei Min and others stood among the jailers. They were so close that they could almost hear the "crackling" sound when the iron rod broke the bones.
The prisoner let out a wail, and his arm dropped limply.
The group of scholars who were imprisoned had never seen such a scene before. They were so frightened that they hunched their shoulders and turned pale. Those who were a little timid cried with their legs trembling.
Wei Min watched all this coldly, his hands hanging by his side and tucked into his sleeves slowly clenched into fists.
This stick was like a deterrent, silently telling these people that if they didn't obey, this would be their fate.
All the suspected candidates were locked up alone, each in a cell, awaiting questioning.
Wei Min didn’t know when the other candidates were brought in for trial, but it was the same day she came in.
Wei Min was taken by the jailer to a torture room filled with torture instruments.
The light in the room was dim. There was only a desk with a candlestick on it facing the door. In front of the desk sat an official in purple official uniform. The orange candlelight reflected on her greasy face, making her look even more disgusting.
In this dynasty, the only minister who could wear purple official uniform and appear in the Ministry of Justice was the Minister of Justice of the second rank.
Wei Min was held down by the shoulders and sat on a chair in front of the desk, with a piece of white paper neatly spread out in front of her.
"Tell me what your relationship with the prisoner is." The Minister of Justice was afraid that Wei Min didn't know, so he kindly reminded him, "He was the kitchen manager who was caught by Master Jin on the spot for helping the examinee cheat and leaking the test questions."
Wei Min first lowered his eyes to look at the white paper in front of him, then raised his eyelids to look at the person opposite him and asked, "What is my relationship with her?"
The Minister of Justice couldn't help but raise her eyebrows when she heard this, and a slight smile appeared on her face, as if to satisfy Wei Min's request. She tapped a piece of densely written paper on the desk in front of her with her right hand and said, "He Wu has a cousin who is taking the provincial examination. She is exactly seventeen years old this year."
Wei Min immediately understood why the captured candidates looked so young. But he is exactly seventeen years old, the same age as her. Isn’t this too much of a coincidence?
Wei Min pondered for a moment, stared into the eyes of the Minister of Justice, and asked, "What if I have this cousin?"
The Minister of Justice smiled and leaned back on the chair behind him, crossing his fingers on his bulging belly, "Cheating is a serious crime... but considering that you took the initiative to confess, there is no need to torture you. Naturally, your family will not be treated unfairly."
This meant that Wei Min could not expect to survive, but she would be spared physical pain before her death, and her family would receive a few taels of silver after her death.
Wei Min felt heavy in his heart, he clenched his fingers, frowned and showed hesitation and struggle on his face, it was obvious that he couldn't make up his mind for the time being.
Seeing Wei Min like this, the Minister of Justice said leniently: "I'll give you a day to think about it. You are a smart person and you know what to do. Don't let me down."
After leaving the torture room, Wei Min felt that her feet were extremely heavy on the stone slabs. The shackles on her ankles seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, weighing down her raised legs. Every step she took seemed to use up all her strength.
Wei Min sneered in his heart and his breathing became unstable due to anger.
It's ridiculous. If she just accepted it, she would die comfortably, but her Wei family would be finished.
Cheating in the provincial examination was ordered by the emperor to be thoroughly investigated, which is a serious crime. With this "cheating" relative like her, her sister's daughter will no longer be able to take part in the imperial examinations in the future, and this "stain" on the Wei family will implicate several generations of the Wei family.
Does the Minister of Justice think that she has become stupid because of studying too much? You don’t even know this?
She was just an ordinary person. How much money could these people give to Ah Ruan after she died taking the blame for someone else?
One tael or two taels?
Can he live a life without worries about food and clothing?
No, because she, Wei Min, is just a poor person with no power or influence, and her life is as lowly as an ant!
Wei Min clenched his teeth, clenched his fingers into fists, and the veins on the back of his hands were exposed.
She will not and cannot bear the consequences of this crime.
She wanted to buy time and wait for Master Jin or the princess behind her to take action.
The day passed quickly. Wei Min had three meals a day, and no one tortured or interrogated her.
On the morning of the next day, Wei Min straightened his wrinkled clothes, lowered his eyes to look at the shoes on his feet, with a soft look in his eyes.
This was made for her by Ah Ruan using the only good cloth in the house, stitch by stitch, over several nights.
She was reluctant to wear it on her way to Beijing for the exam, and only wore it a few days before the provincial examination.
The jailer stood in front of the iron bars and said, "Wei Min, the master wants to see you."
Wei Min straightened his back and walked out.
Although she is a scholar from a poor family, the poor have the pride of the poor and the scholars have the character of the scholars.
…
Years ago, A'ruan was counting the days, wondering where Wei Min would be today.
When winter came and the snow and wind were raging, Ah Ruan stood at the door of the main hall with his hands tucked into his sleeves, looking at the white sky, but he was thinking about whether Wei Min's clothes were warm and whether the shoes on his feet fit his feet when he was traveling in the snow. Do you keep your bed warm at night?
On New Year's Day, Wei Luo came to pick up A'ruan and take him to his house early in the morning.
Afraid that Wei Lian and Sun would worry, A Ruan always had a smile on her face during the day. But after returning from Sun's house at night, A Ruan looked at the lights of thousands of houses on the road from a distance, then looked at the two lonely lanterns next to her own door frame and the dark yard. Her nose felt sore and her eyes were wet.
It was so hard to make it to the fifteenth day of the month. During the Lantern Festival, people light lanterns, watch fireworks and eat rice dumplings.
In the evening, A'ruan took Wei Luo out to see the lanterns. They were afraid of being crowded, so they stood in a less crowded place and watched a group of children in the open space laughing and playing with lanterns of various shapes and colors.
In addition to watching the lanterns, you can also see the fireworks set off by the county while standing here.
Just when A Ruan was holding Wei Luo's hand and waiting to watch the fireworks, a naughty child from some family threw a firecracker at A Ruan's feet, then turned around and ran away.
A Ruan was caught off guard and heard a loud "bang". He was immediately startled and his heart suddenly contracted. He pursed his lips in shock, and reached out to protect Wei Luo beside him, looking with displeasure at the group of laughing children next to him.
The adult next to the child saw Ah Ruan looking over and said with a wry smile, "Children just love to make trouble. As an adult, don't bother with them."
With the protection of an adult, the child who threw the firecrackers made a face at A Ruan and slightly stuck out his tongue.
As an adult, A Ruan didn't want to argue with a child, so he turned around and left with Wei Luo.
I don’t know if it was because I was scared by the firecrackers at night, but Aruan had nightmares all night long.
In the dream, Wei Min was falsely accused of fraud and she was forced to admit to the false charge.
How could his wife agree?
A Ruan stood by like a bystander and watched the jailer take his wife, who had shackles on her hands and feet, away from the cell.
A Ruan felt a little uneasy and glanced towards the road his wife was going to take. Candles flickered on both sides of the dark, endless passage, and the shadows they cast were like monsters with bared fangs and claws, just waiting for someone to come and tear them apart and eat them.
——You can’t go, you can’t go!
Ah Ruan shouted in her heart and reached out to pull Wei Min's arm. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't touch the corner of his wife's clothes. He seemed to be fixed in place by something, unable to move. He could only watch his wife being taken away.
Ah Ruan was so anxious that tears were streaming down her face, and anxious, broken sounds came out of her throat.
It was unknown how long it took before A Ruan was able to move. He hurriedly ran in the direction where his wife was taken away, but it was pitch black all around him and he could not find where she was taken.
Ah Ruan stopped in the darkness at a daze. Just when he was about to move forward to look for something, his heart suddenly ached for no apparent reason. The pain was so sudden that he had difficulty breathing. He reached out and grasped the clothes at his chest, his fingertips turning white from the tension.
Just when Aruan was feeling helpless, a light suddenly came from not far away, and a group of soldiers wearing armor and swords at their waists walked out of the light.
Only then did A Ruan notice that the place with light turned out to be a door that had been pushed open.
The group of people had their backs to the light, and A Ruan could only vaguely see that the person walking in front seemed to be a woman in her sixties with gray hair. The woman was wearing a dark purple official uniform, which looked purple and black in the sunlight.
After she came in, she said nothing, but just raised her hand, and the soldiers behind her rushed into a room in a certain direction.
Ah Ruan followed unconsciously, and when he stood at the door, he saw a room full of scary things, some of which were even stained with fresh blood...
A fat woman in the room, also wearing purple clothes, was so frightened when she saw the man in his sixties at the door that she immediately jumped up from her chair and bent over to greet him.
When A'ruan saw her come out, she put her hands behind her back and made a gesture to the people next to her, as if she wanted to block something deep in the room.
The sound of scolding and quibbling continued outside the house. Ah Ruan could not hear clearly, and only heard one sentence, "How dare you, a dog, torture a scholar!"
Juren?
Ah Ruan's heart suddenly sank. He looked deep into the room, away from the light, and vaguely saw a person hanging on the wall with his limbs spread apart...
Ah Ruan's tears just flowed out and she ran towards that person like crazy.
The woman on the wall, covered in blood, lifeless and with her head drooped, was none other than his wife - Wei Min!
Ah Ruan was so distressed that he couldn't breathe. Just as the tip of his outstretched finger was about to touch the person hanging on the wall, he stepped on something and fell to the ground with a plop...
A Ruan was woken up by the fall. He sat up from the bed with sweat and tears on his face, and his chest was still aching.
Without even stopping to breathe, Ah Ruan threw back the quilt and got out of bed. Without even putting on his shoes, he ran to the drawer of the cabinet and took out the almanac. He lit the candlesticks, and with trembling fingers turned to February 20th. He placed his fingertips on the two big bright red words on the almanac, and his face instantly lost all color.
Very bad!
The author has something to say: Wei Min: One day, I will roast these people like roast ducks! （▼へ▼メ）
————
Princess: Do you want a pot? The kind that can be fatal.
Wei Min: ...I can't afford it, I can't afford it_(:зゝ∠)_
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