Roselle Peony

A few days later, in the east of Chang'an City, Lu Mansion.It was a very hot day, so Lu Shangqiu and Li Renyi were free, so they set up a chessboard in the courtyard and fought vertically and horizontally.

"General! You lost again!" Li Renyi shouted happily.Lu Shangqiu turned out to be one of the best chess players in Bingzhou, so losing chess to him one after another made him dance with excitement.

Lu Shangqiu put down the chess pieces with little interest, took a sip of the teacup in his hand, and turned the lid of the cup without any reaction to Li Renyi winning three games in a row.

"Brother Qiubai, has something happened recently? Why do you always see that you are so preoccupied and undecided?" Li Renyi finally realized that something was wrong with Lu Shangqiu belatedly.

Lu Shangqiu turned the lid of the cup with a "clang" sound, but remained silent.

"Could it be that the siblings are pregnant?" Li Renyi observed after observing.

Mrs. Li said that Zhao Xiangling had morning sickness recently, and she must have been sick.

Lu Shangqiu nodded, finally reacting to his words.

"Congratulations, congratulations, this is a good thing. Brother Qiubai, you should be happy." Li Renyi cupped his hands and said, "Wait for me to ask your wife to cook some food and wine. We brothers can celebrate tonight?"

"It's not about this." Lu Shangqiu said.

Li Renyi was puzzled.

Lu Shangqiu sighed and said: "Oh, to be honest, Brother Renyi, I am afraid that I will not be an official for a long time."

Li Renyi was surprised at first, but then reacted: I have heard that Zhongcheng treats people harshly, brother Qiubai is upright, it must be unpleasant to work under Zhongcheng, it is normal.He said: "Brother Qiubai, don't say such depressing words. There are always difficulties in everything. Once you close your eyes and grit your teeth, you will get through it. If you want to make my wife laugh at you because you failed the provincial examination for many years, that is pain. .”

Lu Shangqiu shook his head, then nodded again: "Brother Renyi is absolutely right."

Li Renyi patted him on the shoulder and said, "Brother, you have to do a good job at Yushitai. Brother is still waiting for you to be promoted step by step, and you will be a brother in the future."

Lu Shangqiu smiled wryly.

When he came back from Di's mansion, he was worried for several days, for fear that the secret letter would leak out and put Duke Di in danger.Every time he thinks of this, he feels the cool wind blowing on the back of his neck, and he is worried that his head will be lost.How can this kind of worry be compared with failing the scientific examination?

Who would have thought that what he worried about day and night had actually become a reality.

It was night, suddenly a group of cavalry guards from the capital rushed into Lu's mansion.

"Under the order of Zhong Cheng, arrest the traitor Lu Shangqiu!"

Wearing only obscene clothes, Lu Shangqiu was dragged out of the warm bed, tied hands and feet in such a disheveled manner, gagged, and thrown on the horse's back sideways.

Li Renyi was sweating profusely from anxiety, and Zhao Xiangling cried like hell.

***

In the dark night, the cavalry guards tied Lu Shangqiu, but instead of going to the prison, they entered the mansion.

The envoy threw Lu Shangqiu, who was shivering in the cold wind, into a damp dungeon in the mansion.

Lai Zhongcheng has been waiting here for a long time.

"hang up."

Lu Shangqiu didn't wait for a reaction, the rope between his feet was hung on an iron hook, "Gululu" and there was a sound of shaking the handle, and the whole person was lifted upside down from the ground.

"Call me."

The cane fell on the back with a "shua".

Lu Shangqiu knew that Zhongcheng's methods were vicious, and immediately shouted: "Zhongcheng, I have been wronged!"

"Wronged? Why are you wronged?" Lai Zhongcheng approached him.The firelight reflected Zhongcheng's ghostly face.

Lu Shangqiu bit the bullet and said: "Working under Zhong Cheng as a slave, loyal and loyal, I really don't understand where I offended Zhong Cheng!"

When Lai Zhongcheng heard this, it was as if he had heard something interesting, and he smiled ferociously: "What a fair-skinned scholar, what a dog that loves to bark!" Then he held up a note to the hanging man.

On the note, in small regular script, "**** intends to assassinate Duke Yu on his way to Pengze".Although the first two characters are painted over, judging from the outline, it should be the word "Zhongcheng".

Lu Shangqiu was shocked, how did he get this note, and how did he know that he was the messenger?

Lai Junchen snorted twice, and said, "Mr. Lu must be curious about how the old man got this secret letter. To tell you the truth—" Lai Junchen bowed to the east, "This note is from the Holy One."

Lu Shangqiu's heart felt as if a heavy stone had fallen, the Holy Majesty actually believed in such a cruel and merciless person like Lai Junchen.

"You must also want to know why the old man is so sure that you are the one who sent the letter?" Lai Junchen stroked his fair face and said, "Only the old man can know about the assassination. Besides, that Chun Wei All the test papers are kept in my place, even if you use a different handwriting than what you usually record, this kind of small script, among the old man's subordinates, only you, a new Jinshi, can write it."

Lu Shangqiu turned his head and remained silent.If the note fell into the hands of Zhongcheng, it would be tantamount to putting Prime Minister Di Renjie in danger, and he felt very uncomfortable.

Lai Junchen turned his head to himself, and said harshly: "The old man finally got a servant who can do things, but this servant is disobedient and betrays the old man. Tell me, Lu, how should I deal with this situation?" people?"

Knowing that Zhongcheng would not let him go this time, Lu Shangqiu simply closed his eyes and did not look at him.

"Don't you admit it?" Lai Junchen held up his pair of jade feet that were bulging with veins due to blood loss, and his eerie voice was creepy, "This pair of slender jade feet, I still can't bear to destroy their beauty."

After Lai Junchen stroked and played with the jade feet carefully, he waved to the people around him and said, "Go to the punishment."

The executioner took the bamboo clip, separated his ten toes, and squeezed the clip hard.

"Ah—" Lu Shangqiu immediately screamed loudly.Blood dripped from between the toes.

When the executioner loosened the clamp, he only felt that all ten toes had lost consciousness, and that they were no longer his own.

"Lu Geshi, how does this 'Ten Fingers Connect Heart' taste?"

Lu Shangqiu turned his head and did not answer.

Lai Junchen grabbed his slender hands and said with a chuckle, "Lu Qing, you've finished testing your feet, let's try your hands."

The executioner placed the clamp between the slender fingers and squeezed it down.

This time, Lu Shangqiu couldn't even scream, he opened his mouth and breathed out desperately, sweating profusely.

"Still not recruiting?" Lai Zhongcheng said, "Let's Lu give a try to this old man's newly invented 'wild cat itching'."

"Wild cat itching" means that the executioner holds a very thin long bamboo stick and quickly hits the same part of the foot of the victim.At first it was extremely itchy, and then it became extremely painful. People who were tortured often couldn't bear the pain and fainted.

The lower "Ten Fingers Connecting Heart" was not removed, the palm and ten fingers were in severe pain, and the upper sole of the foot was in extreme pain. Lu Shangqiu began to have uncontrollable cramps, but because he was hung upside down, he couldn't find any point of strength, so he had to be like a fish on a chopping board. Generally, keep twisting left and right.

When the executioner stopped, Lu Shangqiu almost passed out.With what little strength he had left, he said, "I admit...I admit...I wrote it."

Lai Junchen saw this fair and clean scholar wriggling like a spirit snake under the torture he invented, which was very satisfying visually, and he was very proud to see that he confessed so quickly.He sat back on the only stone bench in the cell, looked around, and said, "Hmph, don't try to play tricks on me when you're working under the old man. Otherwise, you won't be able to eat and walk around!"

This was not only told to Lu Shangqiu, but also to those around him.

Lu Shangqiu finally got a chance to breathe, and said bitterly: "But, you wronged Prime Minister Di and caused him to be imprisoned, have you ever thought about retribution!"

Lai Junchen laughed loudly: "Retribution? When was the old man afraid of retribution!"

Lu Shangqiu said loudly: "Everything in the world has a cause and effect."

Lai Junchen was furious, and slapped the stone bench: "Still talking!"

Lu Shangqiu was not afraid, and met his gaze: "Prime Minister Di is deeply loved by the people, you can't kill him!"

"Hey, you are a yellow-mouthed child, how do you know that the old man can't kill that traitor? The plan is careful this time, forgive him for his wings." While speaking, Lai Junchen walked up to him and said with a sinister smile, "Even if you You saved that old thief Di, how did you know he would be grateful to you?"

"I saved Prime Minister Di for the sake of the Great Zhou Society, not for myself." Lu Shangqiu replied firmly.

"Presumptuous!" Lai Junchen was exasperated, he looked up to the sky and laughed like crazy, almost insane. "Okay, okay! The old man has worked hard all day for the Holy One, but no one is grateful to the old man, and even the people under him are criticizing the old man against that old thief!"

Lu Shangqiu spat: "You kill innocent people indiscriminately, so naturally you are unpopular!"

Lai Junchen stopped laughing, and slapped Lu Shangqiu on the mouth, slapping him around in a circle, and the sling made a "yayah".Blood trickled down the corner of his mouth into his eyes.

"You are so eloquent, I will teach you how to be obedient!" Lai Junchen said grimly, "Come on, put that muzzle on him for me."

This "muzzle" was originally a torture method invented by the cruel official Zhou Xing. Lai Junchen learned it and called it "Sudden Roar".

The executioner took an open cup-shaped iron vessel from the wall, with a round opening in the middle of the bottom of the cup and four straps around the cup rim.The executioner pinned down Lu Shangqiu's head, stuck the iron round mouth into his mouth, showing bright red tongue, and tightened the four ropes tightly from the back of his head.

Lu Shangqiu's lips and teeth were wide open, they couldn't be closed, and he couldn't even curse. He kept screaming "Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo" out of the round iron mouth unstoppable.

The executioner pulled his hair and lifted him face up.

Lu Shangqiu was blinded by the blood, and vaguely saw Lai Junchen walking towards him with a thing in his hand, before he could see what it was, Lai Junchen pressed the thing into the small tongue in the round mouth.

"Ah—" a shrill voice resounded through the prison.

It turned out that Lai Junchen picked up a burning incense stick from the censer, the thickness of his little finger, and pressed the burning end on his spiritual tongue.

Without waiting for his reaction, Lai Junchen picked up another piece of fresh meat, pressed down the incense stick again, and kept grinding it.

Lu Shangqiu roared heart-piercingly, his voice hoarse.

Lai Junchen pulled the incense stick away, and laughed wildly: "This trick of 'sudden roar' is the old man's favorite. People who are tortured often can't eat for several days, and finally starve to death. Zhang human skin."

Lu Shangqiu gasped again and again, with blood dripping from his mouth, he was almost choked to death by his own blood.

The executioner turned his head down and poured out a mouth full of blood.

Just when he thought that the punishment could come to an end, someone turned his head back and placed it face up again.

"With the sandalwood, but without the candle, the old man is afraid that he will be laughed at and treated poorly. This meal is not enough for Lu to eat—" Lai Junchen said with a grin.

This time Lu Shangqiu saw clearly what was in Lai Junchen's hand, it was a foot-long red candle with tears streaming down his face.

He held the red candle over his face and dripped into his wounded uvula.Lu Shangqiu growled hoarsely, but this voice was very sensational to others.

Lai Junchen slowly moved the hand holding the candle, and dripped the hot candle oil from his tender white skin and the tip of his handsome nose all the way onto his raised Adam's apple and fair chest, leaving mottled red tears.

The time interval of the red candle dripping is unpredictable, every time a drop of wax oil drips, Lu Shangqiu is like a fish on a chopping board, involuntarily puffing out his chest and gasping for breath.Lai Junchen deliberately lingered the red candle on the two bright red flowers on his chest, admiring his frantic twisting posture in the hands of the executioner.

The pain continued to deepen, and Lu Shangqiu finally couldn't restrain it, and fell into endless darkness.

Lai Junchen did not stop, admiring the beautiful body that bounced reflexively as the red candle dripped, until the whole red candle burned out.

The author has something to say:

For the content of this chapter, my stepmother has not yet cruelly abused her.Lai Junchen recorded in the history books is much more ruthless than this.My stepmother felt that this level of abuse was a bit beautified to come to Zhongcheng.