Chapter 588 Dungeon
Chu Jingqi paused and then said, "I went to look for the gold bracelet you mentioned. There is no gold bracelet on her wrist."
Where did the gold bracelet go?
Xia Zihan's face changed greatly, "Aqi, that bracelet... was given to me by Xia Ziying who wanted to harm me. That accident... was because of the bracelet. Later I found out that there was a poisonous insect hidden in the bracelet. I ...I took it and processed it, and let the secret guard secretly put it on Xia Ziying’s wrist.”
"That bracelet is specially processed. If you put it in, you can't take it out. How could it be missing... Aqi, you must find that bracelet and don't let it wander elsewhere, especially the palace."
Princess Zhengna was very close to the Queen, and she went to the palace almost every day to talk to the Queen and make the Queen happy. The reason why Xia Zihan was worried that the bracelet would fall into the palace was not unfounded.
If the bracelet was wandering outside, she wouldn't be so worried. She was afraid that Xia Ziying would discover the secret in the bracelet and deliberately give the bracelet to someone, such as the queen...
When he thought of that possibility, Xia Zihan couldn't wait any longer.
She shouted, "Hurry and prepare hot water. I need to wash up and change clothes. Prepare the carriage. Let's go to the Ministry of Justice."
Xia Ziying was about to die. As the murderer who beat her to death in her previous life, no matter what, she had to give her a ride.
Xia Zihan quickly took a battle bath. In less than two cups of tea, he even put on his clothes and hurried out of the Anjun Prince's Mansion.
At this moment, it was getting dark outside, and red lanterns were lit up in the yards of every house. The red lanterns hanging on both sides of the alley also lit up, illuminating the entire dark alley like daylight.
Chu Fei raised his head, looked at the round and bright moon girl in the sky, and said, "Master, curfew is almost here. I'm afraid if I go out at this time..."
Xia Zihan jumped on the carriage and said, "Because of this case, the Emperor even canceled the Lantern Festival. This shows how much the Emperor attaches great importance to this case. I am going out now because of this case. Even if I am killed by the Flying Tigers If someone is caught, the emperor will not blame him.”
In the past few days, the nights in the capital were not peaceful. The officials from the Ministry of Punishment were arresting people all night long. They arrested all the people who stayed in the Japanese country. They did not let anyone go, even those who were close to Princess Zhengna on weekdays. Some people were also imprisoned.
This case involves her. She is going to the Criminal Department to ask the mastermind behind the scenes. She believes that the people from the Criminal Department will not make things difficult for her. When she comes back, she can just ask for a pass from the Criminal Department.
Prince Anjun's carriage stopped directly at the gate of the Criminal Department.
Xia Zihan jumped down from the carriage and took Chu Fei and Chu Xing directly into the Criminal Department. By chance, Chu Jingqi was also there. In addition to Sheng Di Ma Bao, he also had two young father-in-laws with him.
I know Xia Zihan as the eunuch serving the emperor and the emperor's confidant.
When the two young father-in-laws saw her, they came over to salute her. Xia Zihan said, "Quickly excuse me." He turned sideways and only received half of the salute, and then returned half of the salute.
As the eldest concubine of Anjun Prince's Palace, she paid half a courtesy to the two eunuchs, which was considered the highest respect for them. They were flattered and quickly bowed and said they didn't dare, and then avoided her body, not daring to accept her courtesy.
Xia Zihan saw the actions of the two young father-in-laws, and the smile on his face became a little real.
Chu Jingqi came over, took her hand, and said, "Why are you here? You haven't slept well these past few days. Why don't you have a good rest at home? Don't worry about this matter. Just leave it to me."
He was referring to the bracelet.
He went into the palace and told the emperor about it. The emperor went to the queen's palace and asked the queen. The queen said she had never seen any gold bracelets.
The emperor asked him to ask Xia Ziying directly. I am afraid that only Xia Ziying knows the whereabouts of the bracelet.
"Why did I fall asleep? I was thinking about that matter and my heart was tightening." Xia Zihan said aggrievedly.
"Then let's go in together." As soon as he finished speaking, Chu Jingqi regretted it and said, "Xia Ziying is locked up on the second floor underground. The smell of blood is stronger there. You...otherwise, you'd better not go down and just wait here. ”
Worried that she wouldn't be able to stand the smell in that cell.
Not only was there a strong smell of blood, but there was also a smell of mold, stink, filth, rotten smells, etc., which all came together to make people sick when they smelled it.
Xia Zihan looked disapproving, "Isn't it just some smell, but can it be as strong as the smell of killing people?"
She has killed people and survived several attacks. How could she be afraid of the smell in the cell?
Seeing that she insisted on going, Chu Jingqi held her hand tightly and said, "If you can't bear it, just tell me and I will send you back first."
"I know." He said.
With Chu Jingqi taking the lead, and following the emperor's two young father-in-laws, no one in the criminal department stopped them, and they went straight down to the second underground floor.
When passing by the first underground floor, the unpleasant smell was not very nauseating, but when he arrived at the second underground floor, Xia Zihan almost vomited out the two cups of tea he had just drank at home.
The smell is so unpleasant that one would rather crawl into the cracks of the ground.
I can't tell what the taste is.
In short, it felt like I was in a toilet on the street, and there was a layer of fat dead rats soaked in feces and water floating inside. The feces was half mixed with blood.
Yes, that's the taste.
The smell is suffocating.
Xia Zihan hurriedly pulled off the sachet from her waist, put it under her nose and smelled it. The smell was immediately dissipated by the mint fragrance in the sachet. She took a deep breath and felt good. The smell of the air is back. Turning her head, she saw Chu Jingqi frowning and looking ugly. She put the sachet under her nose and shook it. Chu Jingqi's face looked better now. He pushed her hand back under her nose and said, "I'm fine. Be careful, there are a lot of rats here.”
"Can you still step on it?" Xia Zihan said in surprise.
Chu Jingqi only hummed lightly, but when she saw a flash of fear in Xia Zihan's eyes, she took her into her arms and let Ma Baosheng lead the way.
In the dungeon, all the light comes from a row of torches stuck on the walls around the execution hall. The torches are burning brightly, making the entire execution hall as bright as daytime.
This was the first time Xia Zihan saw the execution hall of the Ministry of Punishment. It was just as she expected. There were stone pillars and iron chains. In addition to torches, there were ropes and several whips embedded with upside-down iron wires on the surrounding walls. .
It is conceivable that when the whip is struck, people will be dripping with blood and their flesh and blood will be blurred. The color of the whip has turned into dark red. You can imagine how many people's blood they have eaten.
Xia Zihan also saw a few pools of fresh blood stains on the floor of the execution hall. Although they were a little dry, the color was very fresh and they should have been from the past two days.
Chu Jingqi said, "Xia Ziying was slightly injured and is being held in the innermost dungeon."
Xia Ziying woke up not long after Chu Yuexi took off her mask. She didn't know that Chu Yuexi had taken off the mask on her face, but she refused to admit that she poisoned the emperor and framed Princess Chu Yu.
She said that she would not confess, and she even said that her maid and her mother-in-law had joined forces with Prince Ping to frame her.
She also said that she had never met or knew the families of the two jailers, saying that Prince Ping did all this, and that Prince Ping wanted her to take the blame, so he put the blame on her.
Xia Ziying is a dead pig who is not afraid of being scalded in boiling water, and even if she is beaten to death, she will not admit it.
Later, it was Chu Yuexi who got so angry that he threw the mask that was taken off her face to her and called her, ‘Xia Ziying. ’
Only then did Xia Ziying become alert, her true identity was revealed.
I thought that her true identity was exposed and she should confess obediently.
Who would have known that when she saw him, she shamelessly called her brother-in-law, and said that she was forced by Prince Masada to become a princess in marriage. She also cried and asked him to save her, saying that he was her brother-in-law and should save her. Said that she liked him and was willing to be his concubine.
Hum...
This woman is simply hopeless and extremely shameless.
He became angry and ordered her to be whipped twice. One of the whips even hit her face deliberately, scarring her face that was always seducing people.
She was so frightened that she screamed in pain. After that, she obediently tried everything. ”
Of course, Chu Jingqi would not tell Xia Zihan about these things.
So that she wouldn't be unhappy.
The deeper the group of people walked, the darker it became. When they reached the innermost place, they were already out of reach of the torches. Chu Jingqi held Xia Zihan's hand and stopped in front of a dark cell.
Shengchi ran over and brought a torch over.
With the light of the fire illuminating it, Xia Zihan could clearly see the scene inside.
A woman wearing a bright red silk cotton-padded jacket, with her hair disheveled, curled up on the ground, shivering and sobbing lightly.
Although the woman had her back to this side, Xia Zihan recognized her at a glance. It was Xia Ziying.
Before, when she saw Princess Zhengna, she felt that Princess Zhengna's eyes looked like Xia Ziying's. It turned out that she didn't look like her, or that she was Xia Ziying herself.
The forty or fifty rats that were gnawing on her body swarmed away under the light of the fire, and in the blink of an eye, they got into the wet straw on the ground.
Xia Ziying seemed to have seen the light. She stopped crying and turned around slowly and feebly. The moment she saw Xia Zihan, Xia Ziying's eyes spurted out a strong hatred.
Hate to the extreme.
"Xia Zihan, you still dare to come, you... I will end up like this today, all because of you... If it weren't for you... I wouldn't be like this, why do you want to do this when you are still fine? In prison, rats have to chew on my fingers...why..."
The question was poignant, sad, and distraught.
He looked unwilling, unwilling to accept his fate, and unwilling to admit defeat.
"Xia Zihan, I won't let you go. Even if I act like a ghost, I won't let you go...I will come back to find you, I will..."
Her words were like a curse, every word, every word, every sentence, she was hoarse and heartbroken.
(End of chapter)