When the acid in the stomach surges to the throat, emitting the stench of rotting food, people will realize from this physiological signal that their spiritual barriers are being cruelly eroded. The senses are always one step faster than that thing called "spiritual". The records about the imperial prison that Yang Wan recalled were almost all sensory.
Torture is related to the dignity of the (harmonious) body, and historical research on it requires a strong sense of detachment and boundaries.
However, Yang Wan could feel the sour fear constantly rushing up her throat. The fear came from her knowledge of the tortures of the Ming Dynasty and from this body's memory of pain, making her tremble uncontrollably.
"Lock him up, and Mr. Zhang will interrogate him personally."
Yang Wan looked around. In order to conduct the interrogation, no prisoners were left in the entire torture room. The thick walls blocked out all the sounds from outside. It was so quiet that the people inside could not hear anyone else's pain and could only concentrate on thinking about their own situation.
Two captains grabbed Yang Wan's arms, lifted her up from the ground, and untied the torture instruments on her wrists.
In the center of the torture room stood a torture rack that had been splashed with water. The lieutenant tied the woman to it without hesitation. One of them said, "Just tie her waist with a rope. A woman can't be that strong."
"Okay, strangle me a little bit."
Yang Wan felt the rope around her waist suddenly tighten, and she began to dry heave.
The captain standing in front of the rack said, "Be a little gentler. His face has turned pale."
The man behind the rack half-poked his head to look at Yang Wan, "You've softened your heart because you see how pretty she is, right?"
The man didn't respond. The person who spoke saw that Zhang Luo had sat on the chair in front of the rack without knowing when.
"neck."
He raised his hand and pointed at Yang Wan, and the lieutenant quickly put the iron chain around Yang Wan's neck. Yang Wan was forced to look up, and her breathing instantly became very difficult. She couldn't help coughing a few times, and the rack shook, and the chains that bound her body collided together, and the cold knocking sound echoed back and forth in the quiet torture room.
"Everyone, be prepared."
"Um."
Zhang Luo looked up at Yang Wan on the rack.
was wearing a gray-white prison uniform, with his hair loose and tied casually around his shoulders with a plain ribbon. His chest was heaving up and down because of his difficulty breathing. Unlike the other prisoners, didn't seem to be ready to speak first, but just looked down at him, and the emotion in his eyes was not the hatred and panic that Zhang Luo was familiar with.
"You know what I'm going to ask."
"I have no idea."
"Well, then give me three lashes first. You will be more sober after seeing the blood."
After he said that, he threw a sheepskin whip at hand to the captain in front of the rack.
The captain took the whip without any hesitation, took three steps back and whipped Yang Wan on the waist and abdomen.
Yang Wan's first scream of pain was completely muffled, not because the torturer spared any tears, but because the pain of bursting flesh had almost wiped out modern civilization.
After the fall of the feudal era, civilization gave up some of the physical discipline and turned to a more humane way to discipline people. Later, medicine continued to advance, and the duration and scope of physical pain were reduced as much as possible. After living for nearly thirty years, Yang Wan could not find any sound to match the pain at this moment. She exhaled in one breath, almost draining her entire lungs. She couldn't even breathe again. Only tears naturally seeped out, along her cheeks, and into her trembling lips.
The second whipping forced Yang Wan to scream. The rack shook violently with her body shaking. No one spoke. Besides the sound of whips and chains, Yang Wan could only hear her own voice. Just like everything was illusory, only the real pain could make her feel clearly that she was under the knife like a fish.
The third whip landed on Yang Wan's legs. Although her neck was bound by an iron chain, she could see with her peripheral vision that the shocking wound had torn the fabric of her prison uniform. The whip pulled out a string of extremely fine water droplets, which fell directly into her eyes. Yang Wan felt that her whole body seemed to be pulled by the three whip wounds, and there was a spicy smell from her lungs to her nasal cavity.
The captain put away his whip and made way for the rack.
Zhang Luo stood up and reached out to steady the shaking rack.
"I didn't want to do this to you, but you are too cunning a woman, so I had to torture you."
Yang Wan panted and looked at Zhang Luo, "Let go of... my neck..."
"OK."
Zhang Luo reached out to untie the chain around her neck. Yang Wan's head drooped down, and the blood that was unable to flow into her head quickly flowed back, suddenly making her face and eyes red.
Zhang Luo lifted Yang Wan's head and said, "Listen, the first question I want to ask is whether Zheng Yuejia and Concubine Ning are old acquaintances."
"You...how many questions do you have? Ask them all at once and I'll answer them all."
Zhang Luo exerted force with his hand so hard that Yang Wan trembled all over in pain.
"What tricks do you want to play?"
"What can I do... I just want to avoid getting whipped..."
As he spoke, he bit the skin on the wall of his mouth, using this slight pain to fight the fear in his heart. At this moment, he could not let Zhang Luo break his mental barriers, and he had to find a way to infer the truth behind the Heju case from this interrogation of himself.
Zhang Luo looked into Yang Wan's eyes, and at this moment he finally saw the emotion he wanted to see - sadness.
This was the first time he saw a look of weakness and helplessness on this woman's face since he met her.
He did not restrain Xi's chin any longer, and even loosened his grip and took a step back, giving Xi some time to relax.
"Okay, let me ask you at the same time, did Zheng Yuejia and Concubine Ning have an affair? Was it Concubine Ning who instructed Zheng Yuejia to strangle the prince?"
Yang Wan endured the pain and forced herself to stay focused. Based on these three questions, she traced back to the source of the Hei case.
The purpose of the last question is to pin the blame on Concubine Ning. Once Concubine Ning is found guilty, Yang Lun must immediately return to Beijing for trial, and the Southern Qingtian he led will be directly shelved. This should be the ultimate purpose of the Tsurui case. As for the previous two questions...
"Zhang Luo..."
Yang Wan raised her head and looked at Zhang Luo. "Who asked you to ask your first question?"
After hearing this, Zhang Luo took the sheepskin whip from the captain's hand and swung it towards Yang Wan's abdomen with his backhand.
Yang Wan's body suddenly leaned forward, her fingers and toes clenched instantly, but she could not suppress the scream in her throat.
"Stop hitting me... please..."
Zhang Luo placed the whip on Yang Wan's shoulder. Even with such a light contact, Yang Wan couldn't help but tremble.
"I am the one asking you."
"Yes... But... Don't you want to know who is using you..."
There was a hint of confusion in Zhang Luo's eyes. He didn't understand why the woman on the rack, who was obviously very scared and trembling with pain, could still engage in verbal warfare with him behind his back.
"Use? What do you mean?"
Yang Wanyi had a hard time calming down from the pain of the whip, "What palm print... is that what made you ask that?"
Zhang Luo was stunned, but Yang Wan caught a flash of panic in his eyes.
"Even if you interrogate Zheng Bingbi in the direction of Concubine Ning's instructions, you will never be able to ask whether Concubine Ning and Zheng Bingbi have a private affair. Zhang Luo, think about it, why didn't the person who told you this report to His Majesty himself, but let you interrogate me?"
"… "
Zhang Luo did not answer, and Yang Wan took advantage of this opportunity to add, "It's been less than a year since the incident at Tongjia Academy, have you forgotten about it?"
Zhang Luo felt a chill run down his spine. He suddenly saw Yang Wan'er on the rack looking at him. He was stabbed by the same look and shouted to his left and right: "Flog him ten more times!"
Yang Wan almost despaired when she heard the number from his mouth.
He was indeed afraid of the kind of pain that would make him lose his composure, but he was more afraid that he would collapse in front of Zhang Luo after receiving those ten lashes.
Zhang Luo is a person who can really make people betray their lifelong spiritual beliefs.
At this time, Yang Wan finally understood that the title "Yuduguan" was not a joke, but someone really went to purgatory naked (harmony), and after coming out, people drew such a ghost image of him.
Zhang Luo turned around and walked to the chair and sat down, watching Yang Wan's prison uniform being torn by the whip.
After four whips, the beast could hardly cry out anymore. It shrugged its shoulders and made a sound from its nose that was not like that of a human. It sounded like the frightened young animal and the weak chirping of a baby bird.
"stop."
The captain stepped aside in response.
"Are you willing to talk now?"
Yang Wan's heart was broken, and it was difficult for her to speak, "Zhang Luo... let me eat something..."
This sentence was said in a breathy voice, "Or let me drink a sip of water..."
"How long do you want to delay?"
Yang Wanchan coughed a few times, "Please..."
Zhang Luo raised his hand and said, "Let me have a drink of water."
The captain dropped the whip, scooped a bucket of water from the barrel and handed it to Yang Wan's mouth.
Yang Wan ignored the pain in her lungs and drank all the water in the wooden ladle in gulps.
With this hint of coldness, he gathered up his last bit of rationality and spoke incoherently, "Zhang Luo, you tortured me to this point... If I really confessed that Concubine Ning... and Zheng Bingbi had an affair, would you... dare to report it to His Majesty? This would be... a great shame and humiliation for His Majesty. Concubine Ning and Zheng Bingbi would definitely not survive... As for you... you might not survive either. Zhang Luo... don't let the Imperial Household Department use you, understand?"
After saying this, the last string in his brain was finally broken by the pain all over his body.
When he opened his mouth again, tears welled up in his eyes, and he finally revealed the fragility of human nature.
"Please forgive me, don't be so mean to me..."
She looked at Zhang Luo sadly, her tears wetting the hair on her face.
The young and beautiful skin, even though a little distorted by the pain, is still attractive.
"Put it down."
"yes."
The captain responded by untying the ropes on the man. After he was freed from the shackles, he fell to Zhang Luo's feet lightly like a cloud.
"Why are you so cruel to people..."
Zhang Luo did not answer the question that was not necessary. He squatted down and asked, "Why are you saying this to me? Don't you hate me?"
"Hate, but not all hate."
"Why."
"Because... Deng Ying told me that although the Northern Pacification Office is like hell, it is also a place for the powerless to seek redress. It is a way for poor slaves to make their voices heard. In this regard, he said... you should have done well."