Death would be too good for them before the real despair even begins.
They wanted to crush all their hopes for life and let them die in despair. They had repeatedly sent assassins to kill him, not only imprisoning Mu Zhiyue for several years but also nearly killing him now.
Because Hongyu helped Ye Lingyu, Wang Tiezhu abandoned Hongyu and abused her for several years. If Ye Lingyu hadn't encountered the abused Hongyu in the county town, Hongyu would already be a corpse.
These incidents alone are enough to kill Ye Zongzhi and Ye Lingxi several times over.
Cheng Qingyan and Ye Lingyu didn't want to see this annoying person anymore, so they pointed to Ye Lingxi's cell and said, "Ye Zongzhi, you'd better return all the shops that your mother-in-law gave you as part of her dowry as soon as possible, otherwise, she will be the next one to scream."
"Now you are the fish on the chopping block, and I am the knife and chopping board. If you want the entire Ye family to die in front of you, then just wait and enjoy the show."
"Don't expect anyone to come and save you. Chen Yuanze is just a prefect, I don't even care about him."
After they left, Ye Lingxi climbed up to the bars of Ye Zongzhi's cell.
All resentment and bitterness were terrified and limp in the face of death.
The prison environment was hell for those who had always lived a life of luxury. It directly crushed them from the inside out. As for the punishment, apart from a few strokes of the cane in the main hall, they didn't suffer any other forms of torture.
Then there's Wei Yong. He's a county magistrate, after all. No one dares to mistreat him in the prison, and his quarters are cleaner than Ye Zongzhi's.
Although he was imprisoned, as long as the imperial court did not issue the document dismissing him from his official post, he still had a chance to turn things around, so the guards in the prison naturally dared not offend him easily.
If he were ever reinstated, these guards would be the first to suffer.
After Cheng Qingyan and the others left Ye Zongzhi's cell, they went to Wei Yong's cell. Although the guards in the cell did not dare to torture Wei Yong, the injuries he had sustained from being beaten by Shen Ziyu earlier had not yet healed.
Perhaps because he didn't expect anyone to actually dare to lock him up in jail, he is now somewhat afraid when he sees his enemies.
When he saw Cheng Qingyan and Ye Lingyu arrive, with Nie Yilin by their side, his heart skipped a beat. How could Nie Yilin have been found again? What bad luck.
Before he could even get arrogant, Cheng Qingyan had his cell door opened.
Seeing this, Wei Yong assumed that Cheng Qingyan and the others had come to release him, and that Chen Yuanze had arrived, and that Cheng Qingyan and the others were afraid and had come to beg for mercy.
He was being naive; because his cell was far from Ye Zongzhi's, he didn't hear Ye Zongzhi's screams at all.
He stood up from the stool triumphantly, glancing disdainfully at Nie Yilin: "Heh, now you're scared? I've said it before, I'm an official appointed by the imperial court, I have connections above me. You only realize this now, it's a bit too late."
Then he pointed at Cheng Qingyan and Ye Lingyu: "You, and you, what kind of expressions and attitudes are these! Why don't you kneel down in front of me right now? Maybe I'll be in a good mood and take pity on you and grant you a whole corpse."
Cheng Qingyan looked at Wei Yong as if he were watching a joke: "Are you done talking? If you're done, you can take him out. Doesn't he like to torture people? Don't leave those torture instruments in the torture hall idle. Let him use all the torture instruments he ordered to be used on Uncle Mu."
"Officer Nie, today bring those who tortured Mu Zhiyue to serve the magistrate. Tell them that I can overlook their previous actions because they were acting under orders. Now, let them come and serve the magistrate properly again."
"It will make me proud to talk about it in the future, after all, I'm someone who has used severe torture on the county magistrate."
The torture chamber was filled with various instruments of torture, and the charcoal fire never went out even in the sweltering summer heat. The red-hot branding iron lay quietly in the charcoal brazier, and the blood-stained whips of various sizes and thicknesses were neatly arranged to the side.
There were leg clamps, iron skewers, and a bunch of other random instruments of torture. A row of instruments of torture hung on the wall, and there were also strange and unfamiliar things on the floor that Cheng Qingyan didn't recognize at all.
But she still recognized that large wooden cross-shaped frame.
The prisoner's hands and feet are tied to a frame, and then torture is inflicted without worrying about the prisoner struggling to escape.
Wei Yong was brought over and tied to a frame.
The people Nie Yilin found quickly began working.
The red-hot branding iron trembled and burned Wei Yong's face, and his screams echoed throughout the prison.
Wei Yong panicked from the burn; he could even smell the burning sensation on his face.
He felt a wave of nausea wash over him: "Ugh! How dare you treat me like this! When I get out of here, I'll kill your whole family!"
The constables who were torturing him immediately dared not step forward. After all, he had been their superior, the one who held their lives in his hands. It was normal for them to feel fear.
Therefore, Cheng Qingyan and Ye Lingyu did not leave when the torture was first administered.
She feared that if she left now, the constables would truly be too afraid of Wei Yong to torture him. Just look at Wei Yong's cell; it had an oil lamp, a table, and benches, and was much cleaner.
The people here have lived under a feudal system since childhood, where social classes are clearly defined and the distinction between superior and inferior is ingrained in their very bones.
Even if you want to help someone who has been kneeling for a long time, it will take them some time to adjust.
Even when facing Wei Yong, the former county magistrate who had lost all power, Wei Yong's mere threat was enough to deter the constables from advancing; they all stared intently at Cheng Qingyan.
Cheng Qingyan tilted her head and looked at the brand on Wei Yong's face, asking a question that struck at the heart: "Who just branded this?"
A yamen runner knelt down, trembling, and pleaded, "Your Excellency, it was I who scalded the magistrate! Please spare my life!"
Cheng Qingyan said to Nie Yilin beside him, "Officer Nie, quickly help him up. It's no big deal. If it's burned crookedly, we can just redo it. How could it kill you?"
The constable was incredulous, even stunned, unable to believe what he had just heard.
Seeing this, Cheng Qingyan had no choice but to explain, "It's nothing, it's nothing. I mean, the brand on the magistrate's face seems to be in the opposite direction to the brand on Uncle Mu's face."
"You, just go and re-brand the other side of his face."
"Furthermore, he has been dismissed from his post by the Marquis of Ping Le, and has also taken off his official robes and hat. He is now just an ordinary criminal, so you don't need to feel guilty about torturing him."
"Just remember one thing: don't kill him. Of course, it doesn't matter if you do kill him, since it's his own fault for not being able to withstand the punishment, and it has nothing to do with anyone else."
After Cheng Qingyan finished speaking, Nie Yilin gave a wink to the yamen runners beside him, and then he went straight for Wei Yong and lashed him several times.
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