The imperial prison was not as gloomy and cold as the imperial prison, but it was still a place to imprison criminals and officials in the capital.
Ever since Pang Shao was brought to this place, he had not had a single day of peace. The soldiers under Huo Wujiu's command had all been trained to the point that they were adept at torturing prisoners of war.
They made Pang Shao endure the pain of having his bones corroded, but they also kept his divine sense and breath suspended, so that he would be awake all day long. He would not faint, and he would not die.
Pang Shao had been tortured for an unknown number of days.
As soon as they entered the dungeon, the distinct smell of blood assaulted their nostrils. Huo Wujiu frowned, seemingly dissatisfied. Then, as they approached the cell, he pressed on Jiang Suzhou's shoulder.
"Wait a moment," he said.
Jiang Suzhou did not know what was going on, but he still stopped in his tracks.
Huo Wujiu strode forward, walked to the door of the cell, and took a look. Then, as if he had seen something unclean, he frowned unhappily.
Then, he raised his hand, and a few soldiers came forward.
The soldiers busied themselves for a while before Huo Wujiu retreated. He held Jiang Suzhou's hand naturally and led him in.
Jiang Suzhou followed him in. After turning a corner, they came face to face with the cell where Pang Shao was being held. The smell of blood was very distinct. Jiang Suzhou looked in and saw Pang Shao sitting on a haystack in the corner of the cell. His shoulders were covered with a piece of cloth.
There was an empty chair at the door of the cell, and the soldiers lined up neatly behind it.
"This is …" Jiang Suzhou looked at Pang Shao, then looked up at Huo Wujiu, and asked in confusion.
Huo Wujiu said calmly, "It's nothing. Take a seat."
Needless to say, he was afraid that the person being tortured would look horrifying and dirty Jiang Suzhou's eyes.
He had seen a lot of it himself, and he had been locked up in prison for a whole month. He knew how filthy that place was, and how miserable the people who had been tortured were.
He had seen a lot of torture, but he acted as if he did not see it. He could even eat while interrogating the prisoner.
But what kind of person was Jiang Suzhou? He was the purest and most timid white rabbit in his heart.
Even if Jiang Suzhou was not as timid as he thought, he did not want Jiang Suzhou to see him.
Hearing this, Jiang Suizhou looked up at Huo Wujiu and then at Pang Shao.
At this moment, Pang Shao was looking at him with a pair of gloomy eyes. Blood was seeping out of the cloth on his body. It was obvious that Huo Wujiu was trying to hide something.
Jiang Suzhou did not refute him. He allowed Huo Wujiu to lead him to the chair and sat down.
"Lord Pang," he said. "How have you been?"
Pang Shao laughed. His voice was terrifyingly hoarse.
"Are you satisfied?" he asked.
Jiang Suzhou shook his head slowly.
"I should be the one asking you. Lord Pang, are you satisfied now? "
Pang Shao laughed coldly. His voice was as hoarse as an evil spirit that had crawled out of hell.
"Of course I'm satisfied that you've set me up to this point," he said.
Jiang Suzhou smiled faintly and said, "Lord, do you still not understand? The one who set you up to this point was not me, but yourself. "
Pang Shao stared at him fixedly.
Jiang Suzhou was not frightened by him at all. He continued calmly, "You were the one who sent Huo Wujiu's corpse to my residence, weren't you? You were also the one who forced me into a dead end and forced me to retaliate, weren't you? Lord Pang, everything that I've done, and everything that Huo Wujiu has done, is all thanks to you. Everything that you've done has backfired on you, that's all. "
But Pang Shao said, "Clever words and charming countenance. Now that things have come to this point, you're still saying these things. Are you afraid that I'll come after you after I die? "
Huo Wujiu clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction. He stepped forward and was about to open the cell door, looking like he was about to rush in and teach him a lesson.
Jiang Suzhou grabbed him and pulled him back.
He clearly could not pull Huo Wujiu away. Huo Wujiu paused for a moment, but still obediently retreated.
"You're just going to let him spout nonsense?" Huo Wujiu gritted his teeth.
"A person who is full of evil will never become a malicious spirit that comes after you," Jiang Suzhou said calmly. "Right now, I'm only here to claim your life on behalf of the people that you've killed."
He looked at Pang Shao and continued.
"You know how much money you have in your treasury, don't you? You know how much money you have, but what about the people that you've killed? Do you know how much? "He asked. "If you don't, then I can count for you. The people in the imperial court who disobeyed you, the ministers who stood in your way, the commoners who lost their homes because of your corruption, and the refugees who starved to death because of your greed, do you know how much you've counted? "
Pang Shao sneered.
"Do I still need to count the number of ants that have been crushed to death?"
"That's why you've been captured and locked up here for so long. No one came to your rescue. When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter," Jiang Suzhou said calmly.
"Oh, there might still be some." Jiang Suzhou changed the topic. "The late emperor, Jiang Sunheng, wasn't an ant, was he? He was waiting for you to come back and save him until his death. He believed in you until his death. You were the uncle that he could rely on the most. "
Pang Shao's gaze finally shifted.
Jiang Suzhou looked at him quietly.
He could even feel pity for Jiang Sunheng, but Pang Shao was a real bastard. A bastard had no sense of pity or shame. Only when he heard with his own ears how he was about to fall could he truly feel sorrow.
"Even though I did so many things to drive a wedge between the two of you, he still trusted you wholeheartedly because of your hypocrisy that day," Jiang Suzhou said. "Didn't you rely on his stupidity to gain all the power and wealth you had back then? It's a pity that you were so suspicious that you thought he was so smart that you wanted to pull him down from the throne so that I could take advantage of you. If you didn't suspect him so much, Lord Pang, who would be able to pull you down from the position of Prime Minister? "
With that, Jiang Suzhou stood up and said calmly.
"Think carefully before you die, Lord Pang. No one in the world is more gullible than Jiang Sunheng. Haven't you always been the one who pushed the throne away and put a knife to your neck? "
With that, he turned around and walked out.
The rest of the people filed out, and the surroundings quieted down.
Pang Shao stared at the empty space in front of him.
"Idiot," he said coldly and disdainfully.
Naturally, he was scolding Jiang Sunheng. In the past many years, he had scolded Jiang Sunheng in his heart and behind his back many times because he was too stupid.
But this time, the image that appeared in his mind was of Jiang Sunheng when he was a child.
A seven or eight-year-old child who was as fat as a ball. He looked a little stupid, but children were still somewhat childish and adorable.
He was timid, but his eyes were bright when he looked at Pang Shao. He sounded a little cowardly, but at least he didn't annoy him and asked, "Uncle, when will you come to see me again?"
A child like this would always be remembered and given a piece of candy to eat.
He was really stupid. He had been a coward all his life, and in his thirties, he was still an idiot who couldn't see through people.
He deserved to be used.
Pang Shao lowered his eyes and suppressed the slight sourness at the tip of his nose.
But at this moment, footsteps sounded.
Pang Shao looked over and saw that it was Huo Wujiu who had returned.
Huo Wujiu stood in front of the prison cell and looked at him coldly.
"Watch carefully," Huo Wujiu said. "I'm the one who harmed you, and I'm also the one who killed you. He's just a weak and sickly person. What can he do? I'm the only one who can kill you if I want to. "
Pang Shao frowned. He didn't know why he was saying this.
Huo Wujiu glanced at him coldly.
"So, even if you have the ability to become a ghost, you should see clearly," he said. "If you want to take my life, don't take the wrong one."
After saying this, he turned around and strode away.
Pang Shao only realized what he meant after a moment.
So, Huo Wujiu was afraid that he would really become a ghost and go to Jiang Suizhou, so he specially came to tell him this?
Pang Shao only found it laughable.
Huo Wujiu had fought on the battlefield for so many years and committed so many sins. Why would he still believe in ghosts and gods?
He had really become much more stupid.
Pang Shao only found it laughable. But as he laughed, he couldn't laugh anymore.
He could see how cautious Huo Wujiu was towards the sickly person in Jiang Suizhou. He could tell that he said this not because he was afraid of ghosts, but because he was afraid that ghosts would pester Jiang Suizhou.
It seemed that emotions were the best thing to blind people's minds.
Whether it was love or family, the most illusory things had the most destructive power.
He thought of Jiang Sunheng again.
He remembered that in a moment of desperation, in order to mobilize troops, he let Jiang Sunheng know that he was in contact with Huo Yuyan. Jiang Sunheng didn't pursue the matter at all. Instead, after handing the tiger tally to him, he asked him, "Uncle, no matter what, you will protect me, right?"
Of course, he wouldn't. Presumably, Jiang Sunheng might have been able to tell.
It was only because he was still that stupid child who didn't see his father all year round and only waited for his uncle to drop a few candies in his sleeve.
— —
That day, Huo Wujiu was released from the imperial prison. He said that he had forgotten something and went back for a while. However, when he came back, he didn't take anything with him. When Jiang Suizhou asked him what he was going to do, Huo Wujiu didn't say anything. He looked as if he was embarrassed.
Jiang Suizhou didn't ask any more questions.
A few days later, Pang Shao died.
He was famous when he was alive, but when he died, he died quietly. Now that Huo Wujiu was in power in Nanjing, the officials of the original Pang party couldn't wait to curry favor with him. Naturally, they wouldn't care about the life and death of their old master.
Jiang Suizhou really had nothing to do.
With Qi Min around, most of the affairs could be handled by the officials of the imperial court. Jiang Suizhou only needed to make decisions on the matters that were sent to the imperial court. Originally, he only needed to be busy for four to six hours a day. However, Huo Wujiu insisted on screening all the matters that were sent to him before he dealt with the military affairs. Huo Wujiu didn't let Jiang Suizhou interfere with the matters that he could decide on.
Jiang Suizhou was even more idle.
However, neither he nor Huo Wujiu knew that ever since the two of them went to the imperial prison together, there had been a rumor going around in the military.
Everyone in the military said that for some reason, the general had kept a pretty boy in the palace.
Some said that the general was attracted to that pretty boy because he was too pretty. Others said that the general was infected by Imperial Prince Jing because of her experience at Imperial Prince Jing's estate.
There were all kinds of rumors.
These rumors drifted into the ears of many generals. Some of them especially admired Huo Wujiu. They felt indignant, but they had no way to vent.
Until this day.
A ten-thousand-man commander in the military had some important military matters to report to General Huo. He went all the way to the imperial study.
However, when he entered the imperial study, he saw that the person sitting in front of the imperial table wasn't the general, but an unfamiliar man.
His facial features were exquisite, the ends of his eyes were raised, and there was a small red mole under his eye. He was obviously a man, but he was excessively beautiful.
The ten-thousand-man commander's heart trembled.
Looking at him … wasn't he the rumored pretty boy?
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
