The jailer frowned and thought for a while, feeling somewhat annoyed. Wang Li's storytelling skills were indeed amazing. During the more than a year he was imprisoned, Changyang Prefecture's prison had a lot more fun. Of course, Wang Li's value was not limited to this. For the jailer, it was good to have some fun, but real money was the real benefit, such as Miss Zhang, who was generous and seemed to have a good background.
"What a pity! With the storyteller gone, there will be fewer places to get money. Fortunately, I can still make some money by killing him."
There are naturally many benefits to having an order come down. After all, Shangshu Yin in the capital also said a word for Wang Li, so there is a certain risk in getting rid of Wang Li, but in fact the risk is not very big. As long as he does what he wants, the jailers will probably only be scolded a few times.
A prison guard would come over to take over the shift, allowing several of his colleagues to eat and rest. One of them walked directly to the head of the prison and asked a question.
"Boss, are you going to listen to Mr. Wang's "Yi Jiang Ji" later?"
The jailer took a sip of wine and said.
"Yes, of course. But you are late. We have already heard the second half. If we don't listen to the whole thing, we will miss it later."
"Yes, but fortunately there is still some time left. If you listen to a story every few days, you can listen to more. You don't even have to pay a copper here, just a bowl of tea will be enough!"
"Mr. Wang has so many stories in his head that you can never finish listening to them. He always comes up with new stories. No wonder he was so famous in the past."
Several jailers could not hear the hidden meaning in the boss's words, and naturally thought that he was talking about Wang Li's release after serving his sentence. In the afternoon, except for two who had to stand guard at the door, the remaining jailers and the boss brought stools and surrounded Wang Li's cell. After the lunch break, Wang Li was full of energy again.
…
Zhang Rui was still walking in the snow holding a white umbrella. After leaving the government office, she first went to the restaurant to return the lunch box, and then slowly left along the same route. However, this time, halfway through the walk, she suddenly saw a familiar person walking towards her in front of her.
Ji Yuan, who was walking in the crowd, showed no special aura at all, and was no different from an ordinary person. Zhang Rui was stunned for a moment and looked carefully before confirming that she was not mistaken. She quickly stepped forward and shouted from a distance.
"Mr. Ji!"
Ji Yuan originally came for Zhang Rui. When he heard Zhang Rui's voice, he nodded at her and looked in the direction she came from. After he took a few steps closer, he spoke in a normal voice.
"Did you go to the prison to see Wang Li?"
"Sir, do you know everything?"
Ji Yuan shook his head and pointed to the teahouse on the side.
"I only know that Wang Li is in prison, but I don't know why he is in prison. Come over there and talk to me."
"yes!"
Zhang Rui naturally obeyed Ji Yuan's words, and hurriedly followed Ji Yuan who had left first to the teahouse. After sitting down, Zhang Rui told him everything about Wang Li's imprisonment. The root of the matter was still based on Lao Gui's stories.
At the beginning, Wang Li was invited to a big restaurant to tell stories, which aroused applause from the whole room. There was a colleague in the restaurant who secretly memorized his stories. He had heard of Wang Li's great name and admired him very much. He patted Wang Li's horse hard and was later invited by Wang Li to go home to discuss the stories.
Unfortunately, one can never judge a person by his appearance. This storyteller seemed to have become good friends with Wang Li, but later he scouted the place several times and sneaked into Wang Li's room when he was not at home. He stole many of Wang Li's manuscripts. What's more, among them was the manuscript of a revised version of the story of the Xiao family and the old turtle.
After all, the storyteller was an insider in the industry. He knew it was a good story after just a quick glance, so he didn't think too much about it. Of course, he wanted to make a profit. Wang Li was in Changyang Prefecture, so the storyteller had to have some shame, so he secretly went to the capital and told the story using the story he stole from Wang Li.
It was true that he had accumulated some reputation, but the problem was that Wang Li's manuscript changed the dynasty and avoided the national surname Yang, but the part about the Xiao family remained unchanged. After a few scenes in the book, something big happened and he was targeted by the Xiao family.
Not only was he arrested privately, but the storyteller also shamelessly betrayed Wang Li. Wang Li was in Changyang Prefecture and the blame came from the capital, so he also suffered. If Yin Qing had not disliked the Xiao family for a long time and had not intervened after hearing about this, making the Xiao family restricted their hands and feet, Wang Li and the storyteller would probably have been in danger of losing their lives. However, they could not escape the charge of slandering an imperial official, so they had to go to jail.
The struggle for power is very cruel. Yin Qing was not well-known in his early years, and officials all believed that he could come to prominence because of the influence of his father. But in recent years, fewer people have this feeling. Many old foxes in the officialdom have vaguely understood that no one in the Yin family is simple. This is also the reason why the always arrogant Xiao family let the two storytellers go.
This was the whole story explained by Zhang Rui. After listening to it, Ji Yuan did not express any opinion, but just cracked melon seeds on the table.
"By the way, Mr. Ji, are you here to ask me to go pick up Sister Bai with you this time?"
He smiled and nodded.
"It is this matter. The deadline has come. It is time."
Zhang Rui hesitated and said.
"Sir, when exactly will it be? Wang Li will not be released for several months..."
"Haha, don't worry, there's still enough time to wait for Wang Li to be released from prison."
As Ji Yuan said this, his thoughts drifted to the prison in Changyang Prefecture. He had made a rough calculation before and found that Wang Li was in danger of bloodshed.
When the two entered the teahouse, the little paper crane had already flapped its wings and flew towards the government prison.
Considering the little paper crane's current speed, it reached the outside of the prison in a moment and circled above the two jailers' heads for a while.
"Huh..."
One of the jailers yawned, and yawning is sometimes contagious. When the other jailer saw his colleague yawning, he also yawned. A flash of white light flashed over the heads of the two men and flew into the prison.
The paper crane flew close to the roof of the prison. When it saw a patrolling jailer, it would immediately stick to the roof and not move. But it soon discovered that these guys holding sticks and knives didn't even look up, so it boldly flew directly to the roof of the cell where Wang Li was.
Arriving here, the little paper crane hung in a shadow on the ceiling of the cell and continued its favorite task of observation, watching Wang Li's expressive voice, as well as the attentive jailer and other prisoners around him.
A jailer who looked older was sitting among his colleagues. His facial expression changed slightly and he leaned forward obscurely. Seeing this, the little paper crane seemed to understand something immediately. He tilted his paper head to look at his tail, then looked down.
"Beep..."
The extremely subtle sound was drowned out by Wang Li's voice, but the little paper crane seemed to have heard it.
"Ouch, who of you farted?"
"Yeah, what did you eat..."
"It stinks..." "Please disperse for a while..."
The older jailer was the first to "start trouble", and the other jailers complained and dispersed. Although there was a peculiar smell in the cell itself, the loss of smell obviously did not include the smell of the new elements. After fanning the air with their clothes to drive away the smell, the jailers sat down again to listen to the story.
As time passed, it was getting darker and darker outside the small window bars on the top of Wang Li's cell. Today's story had already been told and the jailers had all dispersed.
Wang Li was lying on the bed in the cell, drowsy. At this moment, a jailer came over and slapped the fence twice.
"Mr. Wang, Mr. Wang?"
Wang Li woke up with a start and sat up.
"Ah? What's the matter, jailer brother?"
"Oh, a waiter from Menyanlou brought a food box, saying that it was ordered by Miss Zhang when she left during the day, and it is brought to you as dinner."
"Yeah!"
Wang Li showed surprise.
"Hehe, Mr. Wang is so lucky. Miss Zhang has a crush on you. You're the envy of everyone else!"
Wang Li scratched his head and smiled.
"You can't just say that. I'm not good enough to marry her. And I just didn't have enough for dinner!"
The jailer opened the cell door, handed the food box to Wang Li, and lit the candlestick inside.
"Then I won't bother you anymore. I'll clean up after you finish eating."
"Okay, take care, jailer brother!"
Wang Li rubbed his hands, and waited for the jailer to close the cell door and leave. Then he couldn't wait to open the food box, and then looked at it in the candlelight, and immediately frowned.
"This dish is far worse than what Miss Zhang usually brings... Oh, there's also wine?"
Zhang Rui seldom brought him wine, but seeing the wine, Wang Li was naturally happier. Thinking this in his mind, he grabbed the bowl and chopsticks and started eating. Then he reached out and grabbed the wine pot, intending to drink directly from the mouth of the pot.
But before the wine jug reached his mouth, a flash of white light suddenly appeared.
"Pah~"
"Hiss..."
Wang Li covered his hand and stepped back a few steps, looked at the broken wine jug and then looked around the prison suspiciously. What just happened
"What a pity for this bottle of wine..."
After a long time, Wang Li felt that it might be due to cramps and dizziness, and then he said something regretful.
…
After a while, the jailer returned to the hall outside the prison with the food box and shook his head at the jailer.
"The wine jug was broken."
The jailer's face turned serious.
"Hmm? He noticed?"
"Probably not. I was hiding not far away. It seems like it was an accident."
The jailer frowned, not knowing what he was thinking.
"let's talk tomorrow."
"Um."
The poison is quite irritating, so a suitable dose of laxative was actually added to the pot of wine to cover up the smell of the medicine. Wang Li would then suffer from diarrhea for several days, and then it would be proper to find a doctor to treat Wang Li and prescribe medicine, showing the jailer's concern, but the job of decocting the medicine must also be done by the jailer.
Continue to add appropriate laxatives to the medicine, and then gradually reduce the dosage. It won’t take too long before Wang Li dies in prison from a “serious illness” and even the coroner won’t be able to find out what caused it.