After receiving the news that the prisoner had been silenced, Zhu Ping'an took Liu Mu to Shuntian Prefecture Prison without even having breakfast.
Originally, Zhu Ping'an was planning to go alone, but Liu Mu, Liu Dadao and others were worried. Last time, Zhao Daying sent people to harm Zhu Ping'an, and this time he went to the Shuntian Prefecture prison to silence him. With a ruthless guy like him, who knows if he will come up with any more sinister tricks. So Liu Mu, Liu Dadao and others strongly opposed Zhu Ping'an going out alone.
Zhu Ping'an thought about it and took Liu Mu to the Shuntian Prefecture Prison. Liu Mu was a calm person and had the best martial arts skills among the six people. As for Liu Dadao and the others, Zhu Ping'an had other arrangements and did not take them all with him.
Their identities have been resolved and they have been settled on a farm under the Linhuai Marquis Mansion. They no longer have to worry about issues such as travel permits.
Like other county yamen, the Shuntian Prefecture Prison was also located in the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen. After entering the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen, you walked through a wide open area to the ceremonial gate, passed through the "Ghost Gate" corner passage on the west side, entered the second gate, and arrived at the Shuntian Prefecture Prison.
The drainage system of Shuntian Prefecture was not very smooth. There was a lot of water in front of the gate of Shuntian Prefecture Prison. A passage was built with pieces of green stone bricks, leading to the prison.
"Prison"
There is a blue-black stone brick in front of the prison with the words "Prison" engraved on it, embedded in the bluestone brick wall. Ancient books were read from left to right, and these two words are the words "Prison", which are simple and clear.
There are four characters carved on each side of the prison's outer wall, with "No joke in punishment" on the left and "No concealment of sin" on the right.
Zhu Ping'an looked up at the stone bricks with inscriptions, then walked towards the cell along the passage paved with green stone bricks.
"Young master, be careful of the moss." Liu Mu followed behind and reminded Zhu Ping'an to be careful of the moss on the stone bricks. He quickly stepped into the role of a long-time attendant and did his job conscientiously.
However, Zhu Ping'an has not yet adapted to the feudal landlord class's system of having permanent attendants, book boys, maids, etc. Zhu Ping'an has never been used to it.
Zhu Ping'an showed his badge and took the documents he completed when entering the yamen, and successfully entered the Shuntian Prefecture Prison.
As soon as he entered the Shuntian Prefecture Prison, Zhu Ping'an smelled a strong musty smell. The prison was much lower than the outside, as if it were underground. It was already very damp, and with yesterday's heavy rain, the prison was even more humid at this moment. The ground was a little muddy. He wondered if it was due to the backflow of rain last night.
The sky outside was gloomy and the light inside the prison was even dimmer.
This place is like a corner that has been spurned by the world. Sour and moldy smells have become the main smells here, and dimness has become the main color.
The wind from outside came in through the vents. If the wind was stronger, it would sound like ghosts howling inside the cell, which was creepy. The wind that blew in was gloomy and biting, and when it blew on people, goose bumps appeared all over their bodies, which was very uncomfortable.
"Ah, let me out, let me out..."
When the prisoners in the prison saw someone coming, some looked up numbly, some curled up on the moldy hay in the corner of the cell without moving, and some grabbed the cell railings like a neurotic, shaking and crying.
"Behave yourself, everyone!"
The accompanying jailer waved the whip in his hand and scolded again and again to maintain order in the prison.
Liu Mu entered the prison and was dazed as he watched the scenes.
Zhu Pingan patted his shoulder when he saw this. Knowing that he was worried about his fellow villagers who were in prison far away in his hometown, he consoled them, "Don't worry. It won't be long before your fellow villagers will be free."
"Thank you, sir." Liu Mu regained his spirits.
Before he met Zhu Ping'an, he felt like he was trapped in an endless darkness. He saw no hope of rescuing his fellow villagers. Now that he met Zhu Ping'an, he saw hope again. He didn't know why, but he saw hope anyway. Zhu Ping'an's figure, which was not tall, was unusually tall in his eyes, like a lighthouse, illuminating the darkness.
Under the guidance of the jailer, Zhu Ping'an led Liu Mu to the cell where the accident happened.
The prefect Zhou Houjie was presiding over the work in the cell. Two coroners from the government office were examining the cause of death of the prisoner. Several officers were carefully checking the cell. Zhu Ping'an walked forward to exchange greetings with Prefect Zhou, then stood quietly by the side without disturbing their work.
"Your Excellency, these eight people died of poisoning. Their foreheads are black, their lips are purple, and there is blood on their teeth marks, which are typical symptoms of poisoning. They are stiff but not hard. Judging from the time, it is no more than two hours."
After the coroner finished the examination, he reported to Zhou Houjie.
This is outrageous!
He was poisoned to death in my prison!
Zhou Houjie's face darkened when he heard this. He felt very upset that such a thing had happened under his watch. He glanced at the jailers who were on duty yesterday and asked them to tell him the whole story from the beginning without hiding anything.
"My Lord, because of the violent storm last night, the cell was extremely cold, so I drank two glasses of wine to warm myself up, locked the cell door, and went to sleep. This morning, I got up to inspect the cell as usual, and saw these prisoners lying on the floor of the cell in strange postures. I felt something was wrong, so I went forward to call them up. Who knew that there was no response after calling for a long time. I was worried that something had happened, so I opened the cell door and went in to check. As soon as I went in, I felt that something had happened. These prisoners had dark complexions and were motionless. I squatted down and touched them, and they were all dead. Then, I hurried to report."
The two jailers trembled as they reported the entire incident truthfully to Zhou Houjie.
"I have repeatedly stressed that prison matters are of great importance and you must be extremely careful. You are not allowed to drink alcohol while on duty in prison! Why do you keep committing the same offense again and again?!" Zhou Houjie's face became even worse.
"Please forgive me, sir. I dare not lie. I drank two cups to warm myself up. I was so drunk that I was drenched in lard. I really only drank two cups." The jailer knelt down to admit his mistake and begged for mercy. He regretted it so much. They were on duty last night. The prison was cold and damp. They were wearing thin clothes. They thought that drinking two cups would warm themselves up. Two cups of wine would not make people drunk and would not cause any harm.
"You only drank two cups?" Zhou Houjie wondered, looking at the two of them with burning eyes. If they only drank two cups, how come they didn't hear any noise last night? This was very unreasonable.
"It's really two cups. I dare not lie to you." The two jailers worked like pounding garlic.
"Where is the wine you drank yesterday?" Zhou Houjie asked in a deep voice, "Bring it to me and have the coroner examine it."
The jailer did not dare to hide or shirk his responsibility, and brought over the wine and leftover food from last night.
The two coroners each took a silver needle and went forward to check the food and wine. They inserted the silver needle into the food and wine respectively, but the silver needle did not change color. The two coroners looked a little suspicious, and then tried again, but there was still no abnormal color.
Confused, a coroner stepped forward and put his finger into the wine, then took it out and sniffed it. He was shocked when he sniffed it.
Another coroner did the same thing, dipping his fingers in the wine and dishes, then sniffing them a few times, his expression also changed.
"Reporting to you, sir, there is no poison in the food and wine, but someone has added something that makes people sleepy into the wine." After checking, the two men came to Zhou Houjie to report.