Chapter 144: Eat Meat, Drink Wine, Curse Old Zhu! 【 Extra Chapter For S’s Ally 】
Ministry of Justice Prison.
A suffocating aura of despair permeated the air, as Old Zhu’s strategy was slowly eroding the will of Shen Lang and Sun Gui.
However, just as they were dazed and on the verge of giving up hope.
“Dong dong dong—!”
An extremely muffled yet incredibly penetrating loud noise, as if rolling in from the horizon, or perhaps exploding right above their heads.
Faintly, yet undeniably real, it pierced through the thick layers of earth and stone walls, reaching this underground prison.
“What sound is that?!”
Shen Lang and Sun Gui were startled awake almost simultaneously.
Sun Gui suddenly looked up, his bloodshot eyes filled with shock.
Shen Lang weakly propped himself up, listening intently to the rhythmic and heavy sound. A look of confusion, then sudden immense shock and disbelief, followed by wild joy, appeared on his pale face.
“It’s… it’s the Drum of Hearing Petitions! It’s the Drum of Hearing Petitions to the right of the Gate of Heavenly Acceptance!”
Shen Lang’s voice trembled with excitement and weakness: “Someone has struck the Drum of Hearing Petitions! At this hour… during the court session… it must be… it must be Li Mo and the others!”
“Hahaha!”
Saying this, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud, then turned to Sun Gui: “They succeeded! They’ve stirred up trouble!”
Sun Gui was stunned for a moment, then he too understood.
A surge of immense hope, like lava, instantly washed away the fatigue and despair of the past few days. He lunged towards the iron bars of the prison door, as if that would help him hear better. His voice was choked but roared:
“Good! Good! Strike it! Strike it with all your might!”
“Let that old… let the Emperor hear! Hear the voice of the world!”
The two could no longer sit still. They struggled to crawl to the cell door, tightly gripping the cold iron bars, their ears perked, greedily catching the drumbeats from above, which represented the last shred of hope and justice.
Although the sound was so faint it was almost drowned out by their heartbeats. Tears streamed from their sunken eye sockets, but they carried a burning warmth.
【 Brother Biao, did you hear? Li Mo and Wu Nai Da didn’t let us down! 】
【 We will always stand with you! Even if we die, we will die together! 】
……
At the same time, in Imperial Prison, Room Jia Zi San.
Zhang Biao, through the narrow ventilation window, clearly heard the drumbeats and clenched his fists in excitement.
【 My brothers, I, Zhang Biao, did not misjudge you. Well done! 】
【 I heard it, the Drum of Hearing Petitions! Finally… it’s been struck! 】
【 Li Mo, Wu Nai Da, excellent work! The timing of these drumbeats is perfect! 】
He knew his goal had finally been achieved. He took a deep breath, calmed his emotions, and then slowly turned around, unhurriedly sitting back onto the relatively clean bed.
He even had the leisure to use the glass wine set gifted by Old Zhu, sipping slowly on warmed wine, and eating the special Imperial Prison version of pig’s head meat from Wang Mazi’s house.
This was part of Old Zhu’s “grace.”
After an unknown amount of time, a series of extremely oppressive yet supremely authoritative footsteps, as if stepping on everyone’s heartbeats, approached from the entrance of the Imperial Prison.
All the prison guards had already prostrated themselves on the ground, not daring to lift their heads.
The footsteps finally stopped outside Room Jia Zi San.
The cell door was opened silently.
Old Zhu’s figure blocked the doorway, his imperial yellow casual attire an ostentatious glare in the dim prison cell.
His face was expressionless, only his pair of blood-red eyes, like two bottomless cold pools, stared intently at Zhang Biao within the cell.
Zhang Biao had already resumed his languid posture, even letting out a yawn, as if he hadn’t been the one eagerly straining his ears moments before.
“Oh? Isn’t this our Hongwu Great Emperor?”
He swirled the remaining wine in his cup, his tone as flippant as if he were greeting a neighbor:
“What? After performing a grand spectacle of ‘thunderous wrath, clearing the court’ in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, you have time to inspect my death row cell? Are you here to check on results, or to silence me?”
This bastard thing!
Truly walking on the edge of death!
Old Zhu’s facial muscles twitched, his eyes brimming with rage that was about to erupt, but he suppressed it. His voice was as deep as a muffled thunder: “Zhang Biao, you are very good. You have calculated very well.”
“Calculated?”
Zhang Biao let out a scoff, downed the wine in his cup, and casually tossed the exquisite glass wine cup onto the ground, shattering it with a ‘crack.’
“What have I calculated? I am merely a prisoner on the brink of death, bored and talking in my sleep, having some strange dreams.”
With that, he stood up, fearlessly meeting Old Zhu’s killing gaze. They were only a few feet apart.
“It is you, Zhu Chongba, who has a guilty conscience!”
“It is you who cannot sit still upon hearing ‘Shaanxi’ and ‘Crown Prince’!”
“It is you who insisted on digging up those old, unresolved matters!”
“It is you who insisted on dragging out those vermin under your son’s command and exposing them to the sun one by one!”
These four “it is you” statements made Jiang Huan, standing behind Old Zhu, his eyelids twitch violently. He placed his hand on his hilt, his killing intent palpable.
But Zhang Biao wasn’t finished speaking.
He then looked disdainfully at Old Zhu and said, “It is you who cannot play fairly and flips the table!”
“Now your court is rotten, your Crown Prince died under mysterious circumstances, you’ve lost face, and you’ve come to settle the score with me, the ‘instigator’?!”
“Hahaha, Zhu Chongba, what can you do besides kill?!”
“Presumptuous—!”
Old Zhu was finally completely enraged by this barrage of heart-piercing and lung-gouging questions. A roar shook the entire prison cell.
“You dog! Do you really think we won’t flay you alive right now?!”
“Very well! I welcome it—!”
Zhang Biao not only did not retreat but took a step forward, almost pressing against Old Zhu’s face. His eyes flashed with a crazy, gleeful light, and his voice rose, shouting back without yielding:
“Flay me right now! Have your Imperial Guard do it!”
“If you don’t flay me! I’ll look down on you! You damn idiot!”
Old Zhu: “……”
Zhang Biao: “……”
They stared at each other in silence.
After a long pause, Old Zhu impatiently pushed him aside and said coldly, “Where did that old lawyer get that item from? And that iron box, what exactly is inside?”
“You ask me? How would I know? I’m just waiting here in this death cell for your autumn execution!”
Zhang Biao sneered, then his tone shifted:
“But, Zhu Chongba! Look at your empire! Outside, there are starving people and cannibalism!”
“Inside, there are corrupt officials, forming factions and engaging in self-serving practices!”
“Your sons are all amassing their own armies, ambitious, all waiting for you to die!”
“Your ministers are all fawning and obsequious, cursing you, Butcher Zhu, behind your back!”
“You kill! Can you kill them all?!”
“You can kill corrupt officials, but can you kill people’s hearts?!”
“You can write the Great Proclamation, but can you mend the riddled mess of this empire?!”
“Silence! Silence! I said silence—!”
Old Zhu trembled with rage, his eyes about to burst. He raised his hand as if to smash this impossibly arrogant madman into pieces.
But Zhang Biao suddenly pushed his hand away, continuing to roar, unleashing all the pent-up resentment, disdain, and despair:
“What? Did I hit a nerve?!”
“Come on! Come kill me! Just like you killed Li Shanchang! Killed Hu Weiyong! Killed all the meritorious officials who helped you conquer and govern the empire! Kill me too!”
“Use my blood to paint another layer of red on your dragon throne! Make your Zhu family’s empire look more ‘righteous’!”
“Don’t you want to know how the Crown Prince died?”
“I’ll tell you! He was forced to his death by you! Forced to death by your endless suspicion! Forced to death by the mess you left him! Forced to death by the endless power struggles of you, the Zhu family!”
“You’re talking nonsense—!”
Old Zhu, like a tiger whose tail has been stepped on, completely lost his reason. He lunged, fiercely grabbing Zhang Biao’s neck and slamming him against the cold stone wall.
The immense force made Zhang Biao instantly struggle to breathe, his face turning red.
“Cough cough… huh huh…”
Zhang Biao’s eyeballs bulged from the strangulation, but he still managed to force out broken, mocking laughter from his throat: “Humiliated… and enraged? Zhu Chongba… this is all… you’re capable of…”
Old Zhu’s face was contorted with fury, the veins on his hand choking Zhang Biao bulging.
He truly wanted to strangle this demon who had so brutally ripped open his life’s merits and demerits, his deepest fears, and his scars.
But in the end, his last shred of reason, or perhaps the coldness of an Emperor, overcame his pure rage.
He abruptly released his hand.
Zhang Biao slid to the ground, clutching his neck and coughing violently, gasping for air. Yet, the same detestable smile, a mixture of pain and pleasure, remained on his face.
Old Zhu looked down at him, his chest heaving, the rage in his eyes gradually replaced by a deeper, bone-chilling killing intent.
“Sharp tongue won’t save your life!”
Old Zhu’s voice regained its calm, but beneath that calm lay an abyss of ice: “Nor will it save the lives of those five little brats!”
Hearing “five little brats,” Zhang Biao’s smile gradually turned cold.
“Zhu Chongba, do you want to die?”
“Hmm?”
Old Zhu was stunned for a moment, then acted as if he had heard the greatest joke. He then composed himself and said mockingly, “I will die, everyone will die!”
“Zhang Biao, you schemed and stirred all this up, but how it ends, I will ultimately decide.”
“You will see how Fu Youwen and the others spill everything they know.”
“You will see how those five little brats you desperately tried to protect die one by one in front of you!”
“You will see how I will drag out those rats hiding in the gutters, one by one, and crush them to pieces!”
“Finally, I will let you die last, so you can clearly see the consequences of following you and opposing me!”
Having said that, Old Zhu didn’t spare Zhang Biao another glance. He turned abruptly and strode away.
The cell door slammed shut behind him, the immense sound echoing through the deep Imperial Prison.
In the cell, only Zhang Biao’s heavy breaths remained.
He slowly got up from the ground, leaning against the wall, touching the clear finger marks on his neck. He gazed at the tightly shut iron door, the madness and mockery on his face gradually fading, replaced by calmness and indifference.
【 Idiot, I am immortal 】
【 However, you’ve finally shown your true colors. But this play, we are both in it 】
【 Fengman, Shen Lang, Sun Gui, Li Mo, Wu Nai Da have made their choices. Now it’s your turn 】
Meanwhile, in the archway of an abandoned stone bridge in Yingtian Prefecture.
The air was filled with dust, mildew, and the sour stench of unwashed body odor emanating from Zhao Fengman himself, who hadn’t washed for days.
He was curled up on the cold ground, tightly clutching the cold, heavy, and seemingly scalding-hot rusted iron box.
The outside world seemed distant, yet also within reach.
He could faintly hear the muffled clamor from the distant market, and closer by, the barking of wild dogs and the whimpering of the wind through broken window lattices.
Every unusual sound would make him flinch like a startled bird, his heart pounding as if it would explode.
He had been hiding here for two days and two nights.
Hunger, cold, and fear, like three vipers, had been gnawing at his mind and body day and night.
The iron box in his arms felt like a cursed object, constantly emitting an ominous aura, suffocating him.
The chaos that night outside the Ministry of Revenue, Shen Lang’s hoarse shouts of “Run!”, the fierce cries of pursuers behind him, and this iron box, unexpectedly acquired…
Everything felt like a nightmare.
He had thought countless times whether he should throw the iron box into the Qinhuai River, or bury it somewhere no one would find, and then flee far away, completely escaping this terrifying vortex.
But every time this thought arose, the resolute look in Shen Lang and Sun Gui’s eyes as they were dragged away, and Brother Biao’s seemingly crazy yet all-knowing smile in the Imperial Prison, would flash in his mind.
【 No… I can’t throw it away… this is what Brother Shen and Sun Gui exchanged their lives for… this is the hope to bring down those vermin… 】
But what should he do?
Hand it over to the authorities? Which authorities? Shuntian Prefecture? The Ministry of Justice? He would likely be cut to pieces by Fu Youwen’s men the moment he showed himself!
Even if he were lucky enough to reach some honest official, who could guarantee it wouldn’t be immediately suppressed by a greater power? He wouldn’t even know how he died!
Hand it over to the Emperor? How could he? Knock on the Drum of Hearing Petitions?
As a powerless minor official, he would probably be arrested as a troublemaker by patrolling soldiers before he even got close to the Gate of Heavenly Acceptance, or perhaps even meet with an “accident.”
The overwhelming sense of helplessness and fear was almost consuming him.
He hugged the iron box, his body trembling uncontrollably from the cold and fear, his teeth chattering.
“Dad… Mom…”
He murmured unconsciously, thinking of his elderly parents back home.
If he died, how sad would they be? If they were implicated because of him…
Zhao Fengman dared not think further.
Just as his spirit was about to break, he vaguely heard some scattered voices from above.
It was a few passing beggars chatting.
“Did you hear? Something big happened at the Gate of Heavenly Acceptance this morning!”
“What? Another official’s home was raided?”
“More than that! Some old lawyer knocked on the Drum of Hearing Petitions! He’s accusing… something within the palace! They say it even involves the Crown Prince…”
“Shh! Keep your voice down! Are you trying to die! …But I also overheard something, about forbidden medicine… and Shaanxi…”
“Tsk tsk, the sky over the Capital City is about to change…”
These words, drifting in intermittently, were like lightning bolts, striking Zhao Fengman’s almost frozen brain!
The Drum of Hearing Petitions?! Someone struck it?! Accusing of forbidden palace medicine and old matters in Shaanxi?!
It’s Li Mo! It must be Li Mo and Wu Nai Da!
They’ve made their move! They’ve truly stirred up trouble!
An indescribable mix of excitement and fear surged through Zhao Fengman!
Their action meant hope, but it also meant greater danger!
He suddenly sat up, clutching the iron box tightly, his knuckles turning white from the pressure.
He could no longer hide! He could no longer hesitate!
Li Mo and Wu Nai Da had sent their signal in their own way, possibly at great cost.
Now, all the pressure, the crucial key, rested on this small iron box, and on him.
【 So, what should I do? 】
【 Li Mo and the others beat the Drum of Hearing Petitions, attracting everyone’s attention, possibly even the Emperor’s. Is this an opportunity? 】
A crazy plan, like a flame struggling out of darkness, ignited in Zhao Fengman’s heart.
The Emperor definitely wants to know the truth!
But the Emperor doesn’t want others to know the truth!
Everyone who knows the truth will die!
Then choose someone he cannot kill to hand it over to?!
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Finally, thanks to Thick Latte for the 1000 reward.
Thanks to Dao Fa Zi Ran for the 500 reward.
