Xiyao

When Ruan Zhi woke up, he heard the sound of water ticking.

The side of his face was pressed against the wet and mossy wall, and he felt the dull pain that was gradually numb due to the slight movement.

That pain wasn't like that at first.

When the iron hook penetrated his lute bone, the pain was so sharp that it made a heart-piercing whine, like a bird being shot down, struggling in vain on the arrow.

This specially designed iron hook is specially used to deal with tough bones who have practiced martial arts.

The executioner thought that this frail young man would not even be able to survive the first test, and would collapse immediately, crying and screaming.

He still has some regrets.The son of this kind of embroidered pillow is the most wimpy and spineless, and he has no sense of accomplishment when he is tortured.

Easy to boring.

However, not to mention begging for mercy, those slender peach blossom eyes, without even blinking the eyelashes, remained calm as if the blood spattered was a trick used to conjure up eyes.

The jailer was puzzled by him, so he dipped some steamed buns and fed them to the dogs.The dog fed up with the abundant meat in the cell ignored the rice and steamed buns, but took the bloody piece away, which made him even more puzzled.

That is indeed blood, why the prisoner is so calm.

Ruan Zhi was even smiling.

Although it was a little thin, it was always hanging on the corner of his lips, which made several passing guards feel a little uncomfortable. They asked him if he had collected the money, and the brothers were a little bit shocked.

The executioner patted the hand stretched out in front of him, and said in a bad mood: The people who are specially taken care of above will report as soon as they have news, how dare I accept black money?

Iron whips, sticks, hunger, sleeplessness... After all the tortures available, the handsome young man with a pair of sentimental peach blossom eyes has been tortured out of shape.

But he was still laughing.

The executioner laughed so hard that his hair stood on end, suspiciously wondering if the person who had been interrogating him was a lunatic.

Normal people should know cold and hot, but they don't even know pain.

Later, he suspected that it was a mute, so he pried open the other person's mouth after a long time of effort, and inspected him roughly for a long time, but he couldn't see the reason why the person was tortured and kept silent.

As soon as he moved his hand away, the young man closed his jaw and smiled again.

He smiled very illusory, as if his soul had already broken free from the narrow bars of the dungeon and flew to the outside world.

All that was left was a husk that was about to decay.

The executioner with 40 years of experience was chilled by his laughter.

In the tavern at night, he was so drunk that he threw the jar of wine madly, yelling that he was not a human being, but a ghost.

One day, a well-dressed young man came up above, followed by a middle-aged man dressed as a policeman with a calm face.

The executioner rubbed his hands in fear and led them into the dungeon, and heard his prisoner smile and say the first sentence, "I said, you can't find them."

So he is not dumb, thought the executioner.

The young man sneered: "Chu Jiangli's catching of the demon is full of doubts. There is neither physical evidence nor witnesses. He is guilty of deceiving the world, stealing his name, and deceiving the public with demonic words."

"You not only shielded him, but also forged and destroyed the household registration documents. What you committed is already a capital crime. The city lord gave you a chance to reform. But you don't know how to flatter and deny it."

"It's needless to say the high-sounding words," Ruan Zhi tilted his head, pulled the chain, and made a rattling sound, "If you don't believe it, why is there such a big battle."

He glanced sarcastically at the middle-aged policeman standing aside: "Brother Li always says I'm naive, but he still doesn't understand that the naive person is actually himself. Yuan City, it's not as good as he thought. "

"Isn't that right, Brother Li?"

Li Zhu said calmly: "If it wasn't for this accident, Yuan City would always be a simple and peaceful town in his memory."

With a dignified look on his face, he said solemnly: "Because his self-assessed actions have aroused the suspicion and covetousness of outsiders, and put Yuan City on the cusp of the storm. If he is not captured, it will be difficult for everyone to stop talking."

"That's right, the city lord has far-sighted plans and has kept a low profile so far, so how could he be easily exposed for the murder of monsters." Ruan Zhi's smile deepened, "Only he is a fool, thinking that he saved Yuancheng."

"As everyone knows, this city is rotten from the bottom of it. He can save people, but not lives."

He clapped his palms and smiled, so arrogant that Li Zhu suspected that the shy and restrained master book he had seen was someone else pretending to be.

Ruan Zhi moved and pulled the iron hook on the lute bone, the wound opened and blood flowed out again.

The executioner strode forward, stopped the bleeding skillfully, turned his head to meet four questioning eyes, scratched his head and explained: "He has been tortured too hard, his body collapsed from inside to outside, and if the punishment is increased, he will not be able to bear it."

"I see him talking and laughing freely, quite freely." The young man said.

"You can't say that," the jailer said apologetically, "I'm also very surprised. It stands to reason that the body is completely injured, the meridians are broken, and even the spine is broken. It is impossible to stay awake, but he is alive and kicking like a flash."

"How many punishments have you never used?" Li Zhu asked.

"Of the five punishments, all of them were used except Dabi. The rest are soup wok, Ling Chi, car cracking and so on." The executioner counted on his fingers and managed to find a few.

"Then Lingchi," the young man turned his head, "don't let him die."

His eyes were abnormally dark, and when he stared at him, the executioner couldn't help shivering, "Can it be done?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" The jailer replied in repeated voices, seeing that he turned his head back in satisfaction, he breathed a sigh of relief.

The young man walked up to Ruan Zhi, and glanced at his bloody wound with disgust: "At the last chance, someone reported that Chu Jiangli would tell such a big lie, and you gave him something. He disappeared without a name, but you Gan took the risk to stay in order to destroy the household registration documents."

"He is an orphan, there is no problem with his identity, and you don't need to do this. Who are you protecting?"

He leaned forward and whispered: "If you say it, you can still die happily. Ling Chi, who is cut into pieces by thousands of knives, will not be able to survive or die."

Ruan Zhi was still smiling, his smile was not at all forced and hazy, it was joy from the heart, and his eyes were not dull and numb as if he had been tortured, but full of hope and joy.

"You can't find her." The young man with slender peach blossom eyes, a face that was horribly destroyed, the corners of his lips curled up, his eyebrows and eyes curved, and he smiled like a spring breeze.

"I destroyed 32 household registration documents, [-] of which you can match up with the memory of the people in Yuancheng, and the remaining two, you guessed it, is it because of suspicion, or does someone have more than one household registration?"

The young man was silent, and Ruan Zhi said again, "In addition to destroying, I also tampered with the remaining eleven copies. The changes are big or small. Some portraits have names beyond recognition, and some just add or delete a few words. You Guess, which one is the problem?"

"Of course, the above may be all mysteries, and the problematic ones may be the ones I haven't touched. So you even checked those, but still found nothing. So, you had to put all your eggs in one basket and condescended to ask me. "Ruan Zhi paused, and spit out the last four words, "My lord."

The executioner was startled, and tremblingly took a peek at the young man, and found that his face was expressionless, so unpredictable that he couldn't see his emotions, and said coldly, "Stubborn."

The city lord walked away, walked to the prison door, and suddenly remembered something: "You said that there is a theater owner among the people Ruan Zhi knows well?"

Li Zhu nodded: "She was among the first to move away with the theater troupe. Before arresting... Chu Jiangli caught the demon, there was not much suspicion."

"Then why did you mention her specifically?"

Li Zhu hesitated slightly, and said: "Ruan Zhi is quite obsessed with her, plus, her household registration..."

The city owner suddenly turned his head: "Which of the three situations is her household registration in?"

The policeman calmly said, "I don't know."

He saw that the city owner was dissatisfied with this answer, and added: "She is an actress, and her family background is low, and her family background and ancestry cannot be tested. The household registration is only temporary, and there may or may not be portraits depending on the situation. Most of her documents are Empty, and the name is a flower name, which changes three times a year. When registering, it only said the surname Ran, and the word "Xianchen" was given by Ruan Zhi."

"In other words, this person is acting suspiciously?"

"No, there is nothing wrong with her writing disc. I sent someone to ask about the source, and it was indeed from there." Li Zhu said, "Ruan Zhi is the master of my city, no matter how powerful he is, he can't control other cities. .She just doesn't know where she came from, which is very common among people who have nowhere to go."

The city lord snorted coldly: "After talking for a long time, there is still no clue."

In the distant place, Ran Xianchen closed his eyes and meditated, remembering the young man in plain clothes and lotus clothes, who at first glance looked like a dude with a smile and said shyly, "Your documents are perfect, and all the rules are tight."

Still laughing, he changed the topic: "It's so perfect."

The young man's smile remained unchanged, he raised his hand and lit the thick stack of papers on the lamp, took out a few thin pages again, and handed them to her: "I made a new copy for you."

The boss of Wuyuan scanned it again, frowned and said, "There are too many blank spaces."

Ruan Zhi insisted: "This is normal."

"How can a person in the theater whose background is like floating duckweed have a clear background? If it is not a last resort, who would give up his life to become a lowly citizen. Your share is acceptable at a rough glance, but it cannot stand a close inspection."

"But such a change does not match the disc."

Ruan Zhi said: "It's okay, I forged a copy, I just need you to detour to that city when you leave, and change the record."

The beauty in red looked at the papers again: "Dye Xianchen?"

She looked up: "What I said was——"

Ruan Zhi gently interrupted: "Although you are stained with dust, your heart is like a mirror, isn't it the most suitable name for you?"

He looked at this woman who seemed to be piercing his bowels seriously: "I want to do something for you."

"No matter what happens because of this, I am willing."

In the dungeon, after the city lord left, Ruan Zhi couldn't stop laughing, leaning back and forth, bleeding profusely.

The executioner was terrified by his laughter, and when he suddenly heard him laughing and saying something, he was refreshed.

He laughed like a maniac, madly wantonly: "Do you know why they can't find out which one is wrong no matter how hard they check?"

The executioner hurriedly asked, "Why?"

Ruan Zhi turned his head to look at him, and the corner of his mouth grinned upwards, the arc of which was beyond the reach of a normal smile, almost torn apart, joyful and ghostly: "Because, this is a play."

"They were in the play and thought they were on the outside."

"The truth in the play is true and false, and the false and true are true. People who don't know how to play can see through it."

He couldn't stop laughing, with blood gushing from his mouth.

Slowly his eyes became softer, a little clear and innocent, the corners of his lips were lowered, but slightly raised, staring at the void, as if seeing something that gave him endless hope, he closed his eyes peacefully as if extremely tired.

The executioner stared blankly, and it took him a long time to realize that he bit his tongue and committed suicide.

Originally, during the interrogation, I was afraid that the prisoner would bite his tongue and stuff something into his mouth, but Ruan Zhi endured all the punishments forcefully, and just now a big man came to visit, the executioner didn't think about it for a while.

But it's not right, he didn't stop Ruan Zhi most of the time, so why did the young man who didn't know what pain was relieved to end his life at this time?

What was the purpose of all the punishments and sufferings he suffered?

The city lord said he couldn't die, so what would happen if he died.

The executioner stood in a daze, feeling that the walls in all directions were pressing against him, hugged his head and screamed, and slammed into the wall.

Blood splattered everywhere, and the jailer, driven mad by the prisoner, fell to dust.

If Ruan Zhi was still alive, maybe he would have pity on his stupidity.

Why can't they find out which one is wrong?

Because there is no problem.

Ruan Zhi's imitation was flawless, and there was no problem at all.

He risked his life and stayed in Yuan City, telling Ran Xianchen that he wanted to destroy the evidence.

But in fact, the young master did not leave any evidence at all.

He deliberately destroyed and transformed it, just to force them to investigate and remove the suspicion of being contaminated.

The person people trust the most is themselves. Only when they have seen and checked themselves can they fully believe.

The reason Ruan Zhi helped Ran Xianchen was not to ask her for a promise.

And never, let a promise bring her any danger.

Everything that might endanger her cannot exist.

He could leave with Ran Xianchen and the others, but in this way, he was in love with that person, and there was a risk of being traced.

Ruan Zhi didn't allow this to happen.

He remembered Chu Jiangli's worried eyes, "Little Zhi, you're in too deep."

"There is a difference between drama and reality. It is not romantic and beautiful to die for others at all times. It is too contemptuous of one's own life."

"Life is a very precious thing, a person only once. After reincarnation, you are no longer you."

How did he answer at that time?

At that time, the young man smiled shyly: "I am willing."

I don't want to forget about the rivers and lakes with her and end up in a dull way.

This is my play, how can I be willing to be mediocre at the end, and use my death to fulfill its ending.

The author has something to say: Ruan Zhi can live, but he chose this ending himself.