The first year of Xining.
Dengzhou Prefecture Prison.
The cell, which has never seen the sun or the moon, is damp, cold, and filled with a disgusting stench.
Wooden doors made of sticks separated the already small prison cell into more than twenty rooms.
There was only a brick bed in the room, with a kind of dry grass called a "mattress" piled on it. It could only accommodate a 1.6-meter-tall person with his legs stretched out. There was a tattered little wooden barrel next to the bed. Apart from that, there was nothing else, so no one knew whether the barrel was used for washing or peeing.
Just living here is a torture.
For those who have committed heinous crimes, this is what they deserve.
But there are exceptions to everything.
Not everyone who lives here is someone who should live here.
I heard a few clanging sounds.
The cell door opened, and two jailers came in. Even those who came here frequently couldn't help but cover their mouths and noses as soon as they entered the door, and glanced at every prisoner inside with angry and contemptuous eyes, as if they were blaming them, why are you so unclean, or wondering how you can live here for so long.
The prisoners in the cell did not make any move. Only a few of them glanced at it and continued to sleep. It was not like what was shown on TV, where as soon as the cell door was opened, a group of prisoners cried out that they were innocent.
It can be seen that their awareness is quite high, or they have already given up hope and will not have any expectations for this.
The two jailers suppressed their nausea and came to the door of the innermost cell, only to see a man sitting inside. He was sitting with his back against the wall, his head bowed, and his face covered by dishevelled hair, so their faces could not be seen clearly. However, his clothes were different from the others, with a round-necked grey shirt and cuffed trousers. On his feet, like the others, he wore a pair of straw sandals, which were dotted with many fresh blood scabs.
Like everyone else, this man had no reaction to the arrival of the two jailers.
I only heard one of the jailers shout, "Zhang San."
The prisoner then slowly raised his head. Although his face was a little dirty, it still showed his handsome appearance. He looked to be no more than twenty-four or twenty-five years old.
"You can go out now."
As he spoke, the jailer opened the cell door.
The young man named Zhang San did not show any surprise on his face. He just closed his eyes and exhaled, then slowly stood up and walked to the door. He stretched out his arms slightly, and he was more than half a head taller than the two jailers. Suddenly, he raised his sword-like eyebrows and questioned the two jailers, "That's it?"
The two jailers were confused by the question and looked at each other. One of them said with a puzzled look: "What else?"
The other jailer was not so easy to talk to. Seeing the prisoner's arrogant look, he immediately scolded him: "What else do you want?"
Zhang San suddenly laughed: "Don't misunderstand me, my two officers. I just want to say thank you to the governor for clearing my name, and thank you for your care these days."
"That's more like it."
The expressions of the two jailers eased slightly.
Zhang San suddenly asked again: "By the way, my two officers, which way should we go to the main gate of the government office?"
"Why are you asking this?" A jailer glanced at him warily.
Zhang San said sincerely, "It is like this. I know that the prefect is very busy with his official duties and it is not convenient for him to accept my thanks in person. Therefore, I want to go to the gate and pay my respects to express my gratitude."
After hearing this, the two jailers also felt that it was reasonable. After all, it was indeed their prefect who helped Zhang San clear his name, so they told Zhang San the direction of the government gate.
After leaving the prison, although it was early autumn, the sun hanging in the sky was still as scorching as that in summer. The strong sunlight made Zhang San unable to open his eyes for a while. He only felt a halo in front of his eyes and almost fainted.
The two jailers immediately stepped forward to support him, and then forcibly brought him to the gate of the prison. They pushed Zhang San out of the door and closed the door.
As long as you don't faint here, it has nothing to do with them.
To put it simply, it means dying as far away as possible.
Zhang San, who was already dizzy, was nearly knocked down by this push. He used up almost all his strength to stand steady. He bent over and took several breaths before he slowly straightened up. He suddenly raised his head, and the kind smile he had just had disappeared, replaced by a face full of grief and indignation.
He ignored the glaring sunlight, opened his eyes angrily, and cursed indignantly: "Even this sun is torturing me, it's really too much."
It turns out that his name is not Zhang San, but Zhang Fei. He is not from the Northern Song Dynasty, but a trainee lawyer from a thousand years later.
I still remember that afternoon, he went to the countryside to work, and on his way back, he unfortunately encountered a mountain flood. He was swept away along with his car. He struggled for his life in the car for a long time. Although he escaped from the car, he still could not withstand the raging torrent. He gradually felt his body getting heavier and heavier, and his consciousness gradually became blurred. But when he surfaced again, he was actually nestled in the arms of a young girl.
The woman rescued him to shore and left in a hurry.
Suddenly, he saw that the woman was dressed in ancient costume. He was very curious but did not think about it too much.
It took him more than half a day to recover from drowning. He searched his body and found that he had nothing on him. His cell phone and other belongings were all left in the car. Even his newly bought pair of sneakers were gone. He was about to borrow a phone from someone when suddenly several men dressed as ancient yamen runners appeared in front of him and captured him.
Zhang Fei was dumbfounded. Where did these lunatics come from? He fought back desperately and threatened them, asking them to go home and wait for the court summons. However, he was beaten until he vomited acid and was tied up.
What's worse is that he couldn't quite understand what the other party said. People he met on the road all avoided him, and these passers-by were all dressed in ancient costumes.
But when he saw the ancient city gate, he gradually realized that he might have traveled through time.
However, more magical things are yet to come, as he seems to be involved in a murder case.
However, due to language differences, communication between the two sides was extremely difficult, and he couldn't even pronounce his own name clearly.
Before he could figure out anything, he was thrown into jail.
It was only when he communicated with other prisoners in prison that he gradually learned the local language and finally figured out what was going on.
It turned out that he traveled back to the Xining period of the Northern Song Dynasty.
The woman who rescued him that day was named Ayun. She was from Penglai County, Dengzhou. Her mother died a year ago, so her uncle betrothed her to a farmer named Wei Ada from the next village.
This person was said to be extremely ugly and was famous far and wide, while Ayun was said to be so beautiful that she could make fish sink to the bottom of the water, geese fall to the ground, and the moon hide in shame on flowers, and was also a famous beauty far and wide.
Ayun was naturally unwilling, but this was a feudal society, and women were not allowed to make the decision on matters such as marriage. Most women would just endure it. After all, no matter how ugly a person was, he would not be ugly after seeing him many times, and no matter how handsome a person was, he would become just like that after seeing him every day.
A woman who is more stubborn will even commit suicide.
But this Ayun was no ordinary person. She took advantage of the cover of night and sneaked into the next village with a knife, trying to assassinate Wei Ada who was guarding the field. But she was a weak woman after all, and she swung the knife more than ten times, but none of them hit the vital points, and only cut off one of Wei Ada's fingers.
But because of fear and seeing Wei Ada covered in blood, Ayun thought he had killed Wei Ada and left in a hurry. On the way home, he happened to meet Zhang Fei, who he didn't know if he was drowning, so he rescued Zhang Fei.
A firewood worker who happened to pass by happened to see Ayun and Zhang Fei hugging each other. Therefore, when the authorities were looking for Ayun's motive for murder, they suspected that Ayun and Zhang Fei had committed adultery and that the two had conspired to murder Wei Ada.
What’s even worse is that Zhang Fei couldn’t understand what they were saying and couldn’t explain himself, so he was directly detained.
This stage lasts for three months.
Faced with this unexpected disaster, Zhang Fei was once in despair.
In the feudal era, if you were imprisoned, you would most likely not be able to get out. However, after he learned some of the local language, he immediately explained. During the explanation, he introduced himself as Zhang San because he did not understand the pronunciation of the word "Fei".
Fortunately, the prefect was not stupid. Now Ayun had confessed her crime and was sentenced to death. After repeated investigations, it was finally concluded that what Ayun confessed was true and Zhang Fei was not her adulterer.
As for Zhang Fei's fabricated explanation of the origin, due to the prosperous business in the Song Dynasty, there were many merchants traveling back and forth, and the cases of concealing household registration were everywhere. The government did not investigate it in detail because it was a very tedious task.
The key point is that this has nothing to do with this case.
So Zhang Fei was released today.
However, for Zhang Fei, the more he thought about it, the more he would lose!
The more I think about it, the angrier I get!
His chest was filled with anger and frustration, and he urgently needed a place to vent.
After leaving the prison, he took a detour and came to the government gate. Looking at the solemn gate of the government office, he took a deep breath and then went straight to the gate.
But after all, this is a provincial government office, not a county government office in a small county town, and there are always yamen runners standing guard at the door. Suddenly, he saw a man with disheveled hair and a black face rushing over, and he immediately stepped forward to stop him.
One of the yamen runners shouted, "Stop! This is an important government area, you are not allowed to enter without permission."
Zhang Fei's face was calm, but he said confidently, "I'm here to file a complaint."
As he spoke, he took out a letter written in blood in prison and handed it over.
He had previously specialized in the study of ancient judicial systems and had read a large number of books. He could still write most of the traditional Chinese characters.
"Complain?"
The two guards seemed a little surprised, but seeing that it was another letter written in blood, they did not dare to delay. One of them asked Zhang Fei to wait here, and the other immediately turned around and entered the gate.
After a while, a middle-aged man with a mustache came out of the door.
This man's name was Liu Hai, and he was a guest in the mansion, specifically responsible for reviewing and delivering petitions.
"Who is complaining?"
"it's me."
Zhang Fei answered immediately.
Liu Hai took a closer look and felt that the man looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen him before. Curious, he took the petition and looked at the signature first. Suddenly, he realized what was going on. He looked up at Zhang Fei and said, "It's you?"
Zhang Fei nodded and smiled: "It's me."
Liu Hai frowned and looked at the complaint again. After a moment, a look of horror appeared on his face. He immediately ordered the runners at the door to arrest Zhang Fei first, and he hurried inside.
Although the yamen runners in front of the gate had captured Zhang Fei, they were still very curious. They had worked in the government office for many years, but this was the first time they had seen such a situation.
He came here to complain, why should we arrest him
Could this be another shocking case
One of the yamen runners finally couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked Zhang Fei, "Young man, who are you suing and why?"
Zhang Fei replied: "The person I am suing is named Xu Zun."
Xu Zun
It sounds familiar!
Suddenly, one of the yamen runners reacted and pointed at Zhang Fei in shock and anger, saying, "How dare you, you rude commoner, sue our prefect."
It turned out that Xu Zun was none other than the prefect of Dengzhou.