The night passed and the day came. On the first day, it rained outside. The rainwater flowed in along the walls, soaking the already rotten cell into a damp state. Near and far, there were sounds of cursing, talking, and moaning. It was like the howling of ghosts.
The jailer banged on the cell and shouted loudly. After a while, the most violent prisoner was dragged out for torture. At some point, a new prisoner was sent in.
The wounded prisoner in the cell moaned for a while in the afternoon. He rolled weakly on the straw, moaning with a sobbing tone. You Hongzhuo was in pain and powerless. He was disturbed by the moaning for a long time. When he raised his head to look at the wounded man's appearance, he saw that the man's face was covered in knife marks. His nose had also been cut off. He was probably tortured by the jailer in this cell. This was a member of the hungry ghost. Perhaps he once had the identity of a Black Flag, but from some clues, You Hongzhuo estimated that he was only a young man in his twenties.
You Hongzhuo was not yet twenty, so he could not feel too much about the age of the person in front of him. He only stayed in the corner and watched the man suffer. His injuries were too severe. He would die sooner or later. The people in the cell did not care about him anymore. These Black Flag survivors would definitely accompany Wang Shitong to be executed in a few days. It was just a matter of dying sooner or later.
You Hongzhuo still couldn't figure out how he was captured as a Black Flag survivor, and he also couldn't figure out why the expert he saw on the street didn't save him. However, he already knew that in this Jianghu, not all heroes would be chivalrous and help the weak, helping people in danger.
He felt that he was probably going to die.
The young man had not even reached eighteen years of age in this world. In the last half year, he had tasted too many sour and sweet tastes. His entire family had died. He had risked his life against others. He had killed people. He had been cut up. He had almost starved to death. Now, he was locked up and tortured. The bumpy and bumpy road had made him quite spirited in the beginning. But now, being locked up in this cell, he gradually felt a sense of despair.
Because he could not think of a way to resist, the feeling of resistance in his heart had instead faded.
When night fell, the injured person in the same room started to talk nonsense. He mumbled and mumbled, but no one knew what he was talking about. It was late at night when You Hongzhuo woke up from his muddle-headed dream. He heard the crying voice, "It hurts … it hurts …"
"Father … Mother …" The injured man was crying. "I'm in so much pain …"
It turned out that these Black Flag survivors could also cry like this, even crying for their parents.
You Hongzhuo thought. The wounded man groaned for a long time, he was miserable and indescribable. Someone in the opposite cell shouted, "Hey, you … give him a quick death! Give him a quick death … "It was the man on the other side who was calling for You Hongzhuo. You Hongzhuo lay in the darkness in a daze, not wanting to move, but tears involuntarily rolled down his face. It turned out that he could not help but think, this man in his twenties was about to die, but he was only a teenager. Why must he die here?
After lying like this for a long time, he finally rolled up and leaned towards the wounded man. He stretched out his hand to strangle the man's neck. When his hand was in midair, he looked at the wounds on the man's face and body. He heard the man crying, "Father, mother … brother … don't want to die …" Thinking of himself, his tears suddenly fell uncontrollably. The man in the opposite cell was puzzled. "Hey, you're helping him by killing him!" You Hongzhuo finally turned back and hid in the darkness. He answered in a muffled voice, "I can't do it."
"You bastard, look at him like this … If I can get out, I'll beat you to death —"
"If you have the guts, come and kill me —"
You Hongzhuo shouted hysterically.
*****
The young man's sudden outburst suppressed the anger on the other side. Right now, the people in the cell were either about to die or would be executed in a few days. Most of them were filled with despair. But since You Hongzhuo showed that he was not afraid of death, and the other side could not really rush over, it was meaningless to say anything more.
After another day, the wounded man was on the verge of death. He only occasionally spoke some nonsense. You Hongzhuo felt pity in his heart. He dragged his injured body to fetch some water and gave him a few sips. Every time he did this, the other party seemed to feel much better, and his words became clearer. You Hongzhuo knew that he at least had an elder brother and parents before, but he didn't know if he still had them now.
In the evening, the two prison guards from yesterday came over and took You Hongzhuo out again to be tortured. During the torture, the head constable said, "I'm not afraid to tell you, which Master Kuang gave us money to teach you a good lesson. Heh, if you have someone outside who gives you money, the officer will also make you feel better. "
You Hongzhuo was a loner. There was no family in the world for him to find any relatives. In the Liang An Inn, there was still some money that Mister Zhao gave him before he left. But while he was sad and crying last night, facing these evil people, the young man was still stubborn and did not say anything.
The two constables beat him until his skin was lacerated and his body was covered in blood. Only then did they throw him back into prison. They also had a sense of propriety in their torture. Although it was unbearably painful, it did not cause any serious injuries. This was to keep You Hongzhuo awake so that he could endure more torture. They naturally knew that You Hongzhuo was framed. Since he was not a Black Flag surviving member, he might still have some money and valuables. Although they received money from torturing You Hongzhuo, it was also a good thing to be able to earn some extra income.
After being thrown back into prison, You Hongzhuo did not have any strength left. He lay on the straw for a while. He did not know when, but he suddenly realized that the heavily injured inmate next to him was no longer moaning.
He sat up with difficulty. The person next to him opened his eyes as if he was looking at him. But the eyes had more white than black, and his expression was hazy. After a long time, he moved slightly. He said in a low voice, "Why … why …"
"Female Zhenren … bad person … dog official … horse bandits … evil tyrant … army … Tian Hu …" The injured person muttered, as if he wanted to curse all the evil people in his memory before he died. After a while, he said, "Father … mother … don't eat, don't eat Guanyin clay … we won't give food to others, we …"
"Wait until big brother defeats Female Zhenren … defeats Female Zhenren …"
"Why are our own people beating our own people … beating Female Zhenren …"
This mumbling voice was sometimes high and sometimes low. Sometimes it sounded like he was crying. You Hongzhuo was in so much pain that he could not speak. He could only listen indifferently. The man in the opposite cell stretched out his hand, "Give him a quick death, give him a quick death, I beg you, I owe you a favor …"
You Hongzhuo was stunned and did not move. The man said a few times, and his voice gradually became higher, "I beg you! Do you know? Do you know? This man's older brother joined the army and lost his life fighting Female Zhenren. His family was originally a rich family. During the famine, they opened their warehouse and distributed food to the people. Later on, they were attacked by horse bandits. The food was distributed to their own family and they had nothing to eat. His parents died from eating Guanyin clay! Raise your hand, I beg you to give him a quick death … "
You Hongzhuo wanted to stretch out his hand, but for some unknown reason, he couldn't lift it. After a while, he opened his mouth and let out a hoarse and unpleasant voice, "Haha, you guys are miserable. Who hasn't seen worse? You are miserable. What happened to the people you killed? Many people did not offend you. Cough, cough, cough … the people of Zezhou … "
He choked on his words. The man opposite him was stunned for a moment, then he flew into a rage, "What did you say? Have you ever seen people starve to death! "
"I almost starved to death … cough, cough …"
"Have you seen what thousands of people look like without food!? They just want to go to the south … "
"If they want to go to the south, you have also killed people …"
"Then … what else can we do? People are going to starve to death …"
After shouting for a while, You Hongzhuo only wanted to argue, "… If Zezhou is in chaos, who will the people of Zezhou blame?"
"… If we are outside, I will kill you!"
"Haha, come on!"
"F * ck you! You will die a horrible death … "
In the midst of You Hongzhuo's dry laughter, there were curses around him. After a while, he was faced with the suppression of the prison guards. You Hongzhuo wiped away the tears on his face in the darkness. The tears fell into his wounds and it was too painful. Those words were not what he really wanted to say. It was just that in such a desperate environment, he could not suppress the evil in his heart. After saying those words, he felt that he was really a bad person.
His memory became hazy after that. His body couldn't support the excited emotions. After venting, drowsiness came rushing in like a tide. There were all kinds of nightmares. He could also see his parents in the fragments. His mother who went mad after being humiliated and his father who was killed in humiliation. He could vaguely see the family of three when he was young. Sometimes, when his memory was broken, he saw his parents starving to death after eating Guanyin clay. His mother fed him porridge and said, "Eat quickly, eat quickly. I am not hungry. I am so full …" His mother's stomach bulged slightly. However, in the dream, the terrible clarity made him understand that her stomach was filled with soil. He wanted to scream in his heart, but he could not. The little You Hongzhuo drank the porridge happily.
What kind of world was like such a dream? In the fragments of the dream, he also dreamed of those who were good to him. In the dream, his brothers and sisters killed each other, and blood was everywhere. The figures of Mr. and Mrs. Zhao flashed by. In the muddleheadedness, there was a warm feeling. He opened his eyes. He did not know whether he was in a dream or reality. It was still a dim light. His body did not hurt so much. Faintly, he felt that he was wrapped in bandages.
Before they were executed, they could not die …
There seemed to be such words. You Hongzhuo tilted his head slightly. He vaguely felt that he was in a nightmare.
— — At the other end of the prison cell, a figure sat on the ground. He did not look like the person he saw in the prison cell. He looked a bit like Mr. Zhao. He was wearing a long robe and there was a small box beside him. He sat there and was quietly holding the seriously injured young man's hand.
The young man who was on his deathbed was whispering something in the darkness. You Hongzhuo subconsciously wanted to listen, but he could not hear clearly. Then, Mr. Zhao also said something. You Hongzhuo's consciousness was sometimes clear, sometimes distant. He did not know when the voice stopped. Mr. Zhao pressed the injured man's body and got up to leave. The injured man also became quiet forever, far away from the indescribable pain …
The prison cell was noisy for a while before it became quiet again. You Hongzhuo could not completely wake up. In the end, he fell into a deep sleep again. Some words that he seemed to have heard, but also seemed to have not. They floated up in the darkness and sank again. When he woke up, they had almost completely sunk into the depths of his consciousness. He could not remember them clearly.
— — You are like your brother, an admirable and great person …
— — I am very honored to have existed in this world with people like you.
*****
Zezhou's prison gate. Ning Yi opened his arms and, like the other doctors, was searched by the prison guards again. Some of the prison guards passed by and looked at this scene in confusion. They did not understand why the higher-ups suddenly had a whim and wanted to organize doctors to treat the seriously injured in the prison.
When they walked on the street, it was the darkest time of the night. It was the end of June and there was no moon in the sky. After a while, a figure quietly came over and walked side by side with him on the street. "Do you feel that this place is like Hangzhou?"
"You feel that this chaotic place is like Hangzhou?" Ning Yi smiled. The woman named Liu Watermelon beside him turned around slightly. Her smile was clear, just like her eyes. Even after going through so many things, they were still pure and determined.
They walked on the dark street. The patrolling night watchmen and troops came over but did not see them. Even in such a night, in the dimly lit city, there were still all kinds of forces and intentions stirring restlessly. People went about their own arrangements and tried to meet with each other. In this seemingly peaceful but terrifying silence, the time of contact was about to come.
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