little son-in-law

"Get up, everyone is up, lunch is here." I vaguely heard the door above open and close, and three jailers in gray cloth clothes with a big "prison" on their chests and backs were shouting as they walked.The person in front held a face gong in his hand, and beat it as he walked. The sharp and ear-piercing sound brought Rong Jin back from his drowsy consciousness to a little sobriety.

"Hey, hello, hello, the people inside are coming to get food, do you hear that?" The leading jailer impatiently tapped the black iron fence with a wooden gong, urging the people inside who hadn't moved to come and get food by themselves.

"Brother Song, earlier today, the people from the Ministry of Criminal Justice just arrived and were severely punished. I guess he doesn't even have the strength to walk now. Let's put his food outside? Wake up later and let him come over by himself." Take it?" said the short young jailer with a bucket of rice behind him.

The man called Brother Song looked at the thin figure huddled in a corner of the water prison. The brown prison clothes were thin, and the water prison was cold all year round. His hands and feet were huddled together, and his exposed skin was stained with blood, which could no longer be distinguished. original color.He still remembered this young man, probably very few people could forget him quickly after seeing him, he was as handsome as jade, with a graceful demeanor.Although there is a trace of fatigue between the brows, what cannot be concealed is the excellent demeanor.At that time, he was still wondering what kind of heinous crime this weak young man from a family who looked like he came from a good family had committed such a heinous crime to be imprisoned in this water prison where only prisoners with heinous crimes and strong martial arts were imprisoned.

The water in this dungeon is drawn from cold springs outside the city, and the temperature is low all year round. In addition, the water dungeon is built underground and does not see the sun all the year round, so even if it is hot summer outside, you will shiver when you enter the dungeon. It was said that it was the twelfth lunar month of winter, and he came down wearing three layers of cotton-padded clothes, but he still felt chilly and chilly.

But having said that, this water dungeon was built to consume the physical strength and will of these felons. If you stay in a cold and dark place for two months, even if your iron body is almost destroyed, the rest is to be obedient After the confession and hearing, it was dealt with.What's more, in the past few days since the young man came in, the people in the punishment department tortured him every day. New wounds piled up with old wounds. He had seen this young man tortured. Can't last long.What a pity...

Brother Song shook his head, sighed, and walked inside beating the gong again.

"Xiao Mo, why are you dawdling there? There are still a few people behind who haven't delivered it yet. If you dawdle here again, we will freeze to death here." Another young man with a vegetable bucket looked at the boy who was holding the rice. Still standing there in a daze, come over and give him a hand.

"Let's go, let's go, what are you looking at, you can tell who you have offended by looking at this, otherwise the people in the Ministry of punishment will use severe punishment every day." "Xiao Mo, what the hell are you saying this year is really It’s evil, not to mention the heavy snow every now and then, and it’s freezing cold.”

"Xiao Mo, look at this water prison. In this winter, no one wants to come, and they will bully us newcomers. By the way, Xiao Mo, didn't I hear that you have some relationship with Mrs. Mo's family? Come to work in such a ghost place as Tianlao?"

"..."

The voice of talking gradually faded away.

Rong Jin raised his head from between his legs and looked at the meals placed outside the black iron fence. His lips were chapped and bleeding, and blood oozed out. He sucked the corner of his lips, it was salty.Today's breakfast was taken out by the people from the Ministry of Criminal Justice. Now he was really hungry. He tried to support the wall and stood up from the stone bed where he was currently living. There was a tearing pain in his leg, and he shook his body. He couldn't stand still, and fell back again. In the morning, his leg was splinted again. The wound hadn't healed yet, and the bloody flesh stuck to his clothes. He tore off a corner of the hem of the prison clothes that was still intact, dipped it in some cold water, and took a picture. on the wound.

"Hiss..." Rong Jin gasped in pain, gritted his teeth, and continued to slap, the clothes were soaked, and then slowly peeled off from the flesh.Because the torture area on the body was large, the process in the middle was extremely slow. By the time everything was done, in the cold weather, Rong Jin's forehead was already covered with thick beads of sweat.

After roughly bandaging several deep wounds, Rong Jin tried to stand up again, although it was difficult, but fortunately he succeeded, leaning on the wall, stepping off the boulder, and stepping into the water, the cold was overwhelming , the cold water did not reach the calf, walked about two feet in the water, stepped on four steps, the black iron fence was in front of the eyes, there was a bowl of rice, a small bowl of vegetable soup and a pot of water outside, the rice was a little rusty Hui, it tasted musty in his mouth, but Rong Jin was really hungry now, so he didn't care about it, so he poured the bowl of vegetable soup with only a few vegetable leaves floating on the surface into the rice, mixed it I mixed it and ate it very quickly. I didn't have a teacup, so I had to pour half a pot of warm water into the spout of the teapot before I felt a trace of heat on my body.

The three jailers who delivered the food came back inside.

The young man carrying the vegetable bucket muttered as he walked: "I'm freezing to death, I'm freezing to death, hurry up and warm yourself..."

The man called Brother Song reprimanded him: "You talk too much. Look at Xiao Mo, who is younger than you and has only been here for a few days. He never complains. Every time he is asked to deliver food in the water prison, he complains a little. No."

Xiao Mo looked at the man lying on the side of the fence covered in bruises, his eyes turned red quietly.

"Master, you must hold on, everyone outside is trying to get you out." Xiao Mo sneaked another look from the ends of his hair, and quickly followed the two people in front.

Rong Jin heard the sound of the heavy iron door closing again.

Today, the people from the Ministry of Punishments came to torture him again, and they reminded him that as long as he admits that the killing of Prince Beiyuan was ordered by Nangong Jingshen, his life can be saved. Who it is is obvious.

Rong Ji, Princess Dachang, Empress Liu, Nangong Jingnian, what roles did you play in it?

Your Majesty, what do you want to get out of this game of chess, or in other words, this time... Who are you going to get rid of?

There seemed to be the sound of firecrackers in the distance.

"What day is it today, why are there so many firecrackers?"

"You've been confused? It's the 27th of the twelfth lunar month today, and it will be New Year's Eve in three days." The man in the opposite cell who couldn't see his face replied angrily.

"It turns out that another year is going to pass." At this time last year, my mother also said that she would steam plum cakes by herself. In Linyang, there is a temple fair from the 25th of the twelfth lunar month to the 28th day of the first lunar month. As the year approaches, the father and king will go to southern Xinjiang Once, he didn't come back until the ninth day of the [-]th. His mother was not in good health, so he took care of all the New Year's affairs.Now that his mother has passed away and his father is gone, he is in the sky prison in Shengjing, and the prince's mansion has been set ablaze.

"I'm talking to you. You're also a scholar. Why did you come into this water prison?" Listening to the voice is also young, only in his early thirties. These days when Rong Jin came, this person seems to be very lively , I really like to shout from the air, but most of the time Rong Jin really doesn't have the strength to answer him.

"I was wronged." Rong Jin replied casually.

"Hahaha..." There was a burst of laughter from the opposite side of the darkness: "You little brother's temper suits my appetite, and I was wronged too. The hundred people in Liujiazhuang are not my hands."

"I said, why do you ask for trouble? You have done it quickly. If you can save yourself a little bit of trouble, ask how many of the people who entered the water prison survived? You have a stubborn temper," said the person opposite. .

Rong Jin replied with a smile: "But I was really wronged, how can I recruit?"

The person on the opposite side seemed to be choked up, and after a pause, he said, "Forget it, I've convinced you, let's get to know each other once, and I'll give you a gift, you can take it."

A gust of finger wind came over, and a small purple pill the size of a grain of rice appeared in Rong Jin's hand.

Rong Jin asked: "What is this?"

The person on the opposite side replied quite complacently: "Speaking of this, the reputation has grown. This is the number one poison in the Jianghu, loose soul. It is said that there is no cure for it. The poisoned person has three souls." The seven souls are all gone, how do you solve this? It was passed down by the Nanshao witches. I finally got this one. I kept it for myself just in case. It happened very quickly, so I couldn’t save it. Less pain, it’s useless now, my sentence is about two days away, I don’t know if I can survive this New Year’s Eve, this medicine, you put it away, if you can’t hold on, just take it Don't think about redressing your grievances every day, no one can get out of the water prison alive, that's why this water prison is called the dead water prison. By the way, you haven't heard of this medicine, have you?"

"Well, the name is quite strange." Rong Jin replied.It turns out that this is the scattered soul. The poison he had been poisoned was precisely the scattered soul, but he had never seen it before. There are rumors in the world that the poison is extremely poisonous and there is no cure for it. Maybe this is the rumor. That person never suspected that he had died. The fact of her death, how could she not know that Yu Xuanxuan was born in the Wu clan of Nanshao, so there is no solution, but the practice of changing one life for another is actually the same as having no antidote.

New Year's Eve

Inside and outside the palace, the lights were brightly lit, the sound of firecrackers, and the whole country celebrated together.Most of the people in the palace knew that the emperor liked to be quiet, so the surroundings of Taihe Palace were extraordinarily quiet amidst the bustling scene.

"How is it? Have you recruited?" Daning respects black and bright yellow. Today, the emperor wears a black Daning traditional dress as usual, with a five-clawed golden dragon, pure gold thread, and finely drawn embroidery. Wu Guo squatted down and put A warm yellow dragon-shaped jade pendant is tied around the emperor's waist.The other two maids in pink palace clothes knelt on the ground and stretched their skirts.

Nangong Qiuhu casually picked up a memorial on the desk, glanced at it for a while, frowned, and threw it back on the desk with a "snap", nothing new, most of it was for the case of Prince Beiyuan's murder. The crown prince of the country died in Daning, and the whole court was full of uproar. Some advocated sending Rong Jin to Beiyuan for disposal, some advocated the Fa-rectification on the spot, some argued that there were other secrets that needed to be thoroughly investigated, and some advocated that Rong Jin might be killed. Wronged, there are people who hope to give him a chance to speak.

"No, these days, people from the Ministry of Criminal Justice are interrogated every day, and the punishment is severe, but Rong Jin never let go." said the black-clothed man who was kneeling at the bottom.

"This temper is quite tough." Nangong Qiuhu paused the pen in his hand, and outside the main hall, fireworks suddenly appeared in the sky in the distance.

"What's going on with Liu Yuanmin?" Looking away, Nangong Qiuhu asked again. The red Zhu Zhu was circling the memorial, and the eunuch serving the pen carefully put it away on a small tray wrapped in embroidery, stacked it, and put it away. On the small corner table at the bottom.

Xuan Yidao: "Recently, Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice, Yang Wen, has come and gone frequently in Liufu, and people from the Jianghu have begun to appear in the Liufu." "People from the Jianghu?" Nangong Qiuhu raised his head, "What kind of people from the Jianghu?"

Xuan Yi thought for a while, and replied: "I can't see the way for now, I feel that the kung fu is not very high, but it is somewhat evil, not like ordinary outsider kung fu."

"In this case, you should pay more attention and report when there is something else." Nangong Qiuhu said again, hooking the corners of his lips.

"Father." The girl in the apricot-yellow palace dress trotted in from outside the palace, holding up her skirt.

Xuan Yi, who was kneeling under the desk, had long since disappeared.

"Yun'er, what do you think this looks like? One day, she will look a little bit like the princess of the Tian family." Nangong Qiuhu stopped the pen in his hand and said with a helpless expression.

Nangong Qingyun stopped in front of the book case, put down her skirt, stopped in her tracks, her red lips pouted slightly, and she said in a somewhat spoiled daughter's tone: "I want to see if my father has tidied up here, and I want to be with you." Let's pay New Year's greetings to the emperor's grandmother together."

She knew that although her father doted on her more, even more than the brother of the future crown prince, he would not allow her to lose her sense of proportion.

"Come here and let me have a look. It's Chinese New Year today, and my youngest daughter is one year older. She will be a newlywed in the spring of next year." Nangong Qiuhu smiled and waved to her while sitting behind the desk.

"Father, you are making fun of me." Nangong Qingyun blushed upon hearing this, she was still the same as when she was a child, holding Nangong Qiuhu's sleeve and shaking it.

"Today's new clothes are very beautiful."

"This is Jinyun Satin, which is new to the palace in the south of the Yangtze River this year. The queen mother cut some clothes for me and my brother."

"..."

Wu Guo looked at the scene of the father being kind and the son filial and happy, not only thinking that the child of Prince Rong was still in the water prison at the moment, and his fate was still unknown.

Your Majesty, what exactly do you want to do?

Even if you killed everyone in the Rong family, what would you gain, after all, Prince Rong has gone, and everything is for naught.

There is a small window one foot square on the top of the water prison, black iron grids are formed horizontally and vertically, and even a bird cannot fly in, but you can see the sky outside, and the fireworks suddenly appear, lighting up the night sky.

The person on the opposite side had already been beheaded yesterday afternoon, and it really didn't wait until this year's New Year's Eve. Before leaving, he joked with Rong Jin: "Little brother, hold on longer, don't go down so fast, I just separated, I don't want to go so soon See you again."

After he left, the prison fell into darkness and silence again.

Despite the cold weather, Rong Jin felt that the wounds on his body were festering due to new wounds superimposed on old wounds. Fortunately, the water in the dungeon was cold and he scrubbed frequently, so he would not be infected. It's just that he has clearly felt his own wounds recently. There are some abnormalities in the joints of the limbs. Sometimes they are numb and feel nothing, and sometimes they feel pain like needles burrowing into the bones.The people in the Ministry of Criminal Justice should also rest today, it is rare that there is no interrogation today.

The dungeon was surrounded by water that did not reach the calves, and there was only a stone bed for one person placed against the wall, with straw and a quilt placed on it.

At noon today, the jailer distributed two meals to each person. Tonight on New Year's Eve, it should be a reunion at home. Two small fishes as long as palms, two bowls of rice, and two small chicken legs are rare and rich these days. .

It is a rare experience to spend New Year's Eve in prison alone.

Thinking that she still had such thoughts at this time, Rong Jin couldn't help pursing her lips and laughing silently.

His fingers were so blue that he couldn't hold anything.Rong Jin added the small fish and chicken legs to the rice bowl, held the rice bowl with one hand, and held the chopsticks with the other hand, leaned over and slowly pulled them into his mouth.

One hand was unsteady, the rice bowl rolled off the stone bed, and fell into the water with a "plop".

Rong Jin smiled wryly, but fortunately she didn't have an appetite at noon, and there was still a bowl of rice, otherwise she would be hungry this year.

At midnight, firecrackers blared, and everyone got up to celebrate the New Year.

From the depths of the water prison came a deep singing voice, it was a dialect that Rong Jin could not understand, the voice was majestic and sad...

I don't know the sun and the moon in the prison.

The wall is covered with moss, every day, Rong Jin draws a line with his nails on the wall. After New Year's Eve, more than half a month has passed, but Rong Jin feels that the days are as long as a lifetime, as if he is Those who have been staying here have been interrogated, tortured, and dragged back to prison every day for so long. The people in the punishment department have no intention of giving up at all, but Rong Jin can feel it from the repeated torture. He is becoming more and more impatient, Nangong Jingshen should be progressing smoothly in Northern Xinjiang, otherwise these people don't have to be so anxious to make him let go.

Nangong Jingshen, I originally wanted to wait for you to come back, but in recent days, my spirit has become worse and worse, and sometimes I am in a trance, and I can’t see clearly. I can't hold out until the day you come back.

"Ugh..." Rong Jin covered her mouth and lay on the side retching for a while, her stomach was empty, and she only vomited some water.I don't know what I ate these days, and my stomach was ruined by eating, especially in the morning, the nausea was severe, and my already tired body now felt that raising my hands was a heavy thing. Could it be that the time limit is really approaching.

"Rong Jin, the Ministry of Criminal Justice is asking."

Rong Jin knew that the daily routine interrogation was about to start again.

It was rare for Rong Ji to lose his composure, and he stood up from his chair all of a sudden, staring at the man who was dragged up by two yamen servants.A few steps away, the strong smell of blood can be smelled. Almost no piece of exposed skin is intact. As far as the eye can see, the flesh is hideous, and some places have begun to fester. The face is still intact, but pale and thin. Terrible, not a trace of blood, faintly revealing the grayness of dead people.

This is still the Rong Jin who he has to admit is absolutely gorgeous even though he is jealous.

"Your Majesty, I have found out the origins of those Jiang Hu people. They are from a cult in Xiling. The people of this cult are not very good at martial arts, but they are good at one kind of kung fu. I don't know their names yet, but they can split muscles and bones. Human meridians."

"What?" Nangong Qiuhu thought of something, and his face froze. "Where are those Jianghu people now?"

"I have followed Yang Wen to the prison." Xuan Yi replied.

Wu Guo stood quietly by the side, but seeing the emperor's face turned pale instantly.

Rong Jin's limbs were separated and tied to the pillars on both sides.

"Rong Jin, this is your last chance to tell me how you tried to kill Prince Beiyuan?" Yang Wen, who was in his forties and had a long thin face, stroked his beard, got up and walked in front of Rong Jin.

"I still said the same thing, I didn't kill him." Rong Jin looked up coldly and said, this time the minister of the Ministry of punishment personally came out, did it conclude that he would definitely compromise this time? .

"Rong Jin, don't be stubborn. It's been more than a month, and my patience has been exhausted by you. If you don't recruit again, I won't let you go back as easily as in the past."

"What's the trick? Said that Nangong Jingshen and I partnered to kill Prince Beiyuan, or did I kill him under Nangong Jingshen's order?" Although Rong Jin asked Yang Wen, her eyes were fixed on Rong Ji.He had an intuition that Rong Ji should have been concealed part of the truth, he could not deceive him by looking at Nangong Jingshen, Rong Ji wanted him to die, he believed it, but he also believed that he should not harm Nangong Jingshen like this .

Sure enough, Rong Ji snorted coldly when he heard the words: "What do you mean?"

"King Rongjun, don't listen to him sowing dissension here." Yang Wen quickly explained with an apologetic smile, turning his head to Rong Jin with an expression of anger: "It seems that if you don't give you some trouble today, you won't do it. Come here two, let him taste the feeling of breaking his veins, otherwise he won't submit obediently."

"Rong Ji, you can find out the truth of the matter once you investigate." Nangong Jingshen, the first time may be the last time to help you.

Hearing this, a trace of unbearableness flashed in Rong Ji's eyes, but he didn't make a sound to stop him after all.

From the moment she entered the door, Rong Jin noticed that these two skinny men were not like Daning people in appearance and clothes.Most notable are their nails, about two inches long, curved like hooks.

I saw two people standing beside Rong Jin, one on the left and the other on the right.

Yang Wen winked over.The two nodded knowingly, looked at each other, stretched out their hands tacitly and curled their nails to cut a seemingly shallow wound on Rong Jin's two wrists, without a drop of blood oozing out.Rong Jin's face was pale, and he felt that the blood vessels in his whole body were being torn apart, the blood was flowing backwards, and the pain like a knife scraping came from the bone marrow in waves, which seemed to burst out of the meridians of the whole body, his hands couldn't use any strength, and his whole body was convulsed and convulsed .The lips had been bitten, and big drops of blood slid down the corners of the lips.

"To recruit or not to recruit?" Yang Wenji said sharply.

Rong Jin didn't bother to look at him again, but shook her head slightly.

"continue."

The two waved their nails towards Rong Jin's ankle.

As soon as Nangong Qiuhu reached the gate of the prison, he heard a scream, which seemed to be the last pain of a dying person.Nangong Qiuhu felt like a whip had been whipped on his heart, the pain was so painful that he couldn't breathe, he touched his heart unconsciously.

"Your Majesty, what's the matter?" Wu Guo also heard the scream, seeing the emperor's expression turned pale, thinking that the old illness had recurred.

Nangong Qiuhu ignored Wu Guo, unconsciously used kung fu on his feet, leaving the attendants far behind.

"Rong Jin, are you going to recruit or not? If you don't recruit, it will not only break your veins, but your bones will be wrong. At that time, even if you recruit, you will be paralyzed for life, just like a useless person."

Rong Jin was woken up by the cold water, but her head was still far away.

"If you don't know what's good and what's wrong, keep going." Yang Wen gritted his teeth and said.

"stop."

"Your Majesty." Everyone inside knelt down and saluted.

"stand up."

"uncle."

"Your Majesty, why did you come here in person? This place is not good. If you have any questions, just summon the humble minister." Yang Wen approached and said.

"Who allows you to use such insidious means? Untie him." Seeing Rong Jin's current appearance, Nangong Qiuhu's anger rose.The noble young man in a purple robe and a white plum aura that month was just dying.

Rong Jin heard the emperor's voice, raised her head, and looked at him fixedly, admiring, longing, wronged, and begging for help.Nangong Qiuhu felt that the heavy eyes were hammering at the softest place in his heart.

Reflexively catching Rong Jin's body that slipped due to loosening the restraint of his hands and feet, and hugged him in his arms.

"Your majesty, dirty, let go quickly." Yang Wen looked on in shock, and stepped forward two steps.

"My body hurts a lot..." Rong Jin clutched his sleeve, and leaned limply in Nangong Qiuhu's arms.

"Your Majesty..." Wu Guo exclaimed, with tears streaming from her eyes, choked up and unable to speak, she just pointed her trembling fingers at the right arm exposed by Rong Jin's sleeve raised up.

A crescent-shaped birthmark appeared impressively on the inner side of the relatively intact arm.