In the Criminal Department, there are many petty officials doing their own jobs and they are very busy.
In the hall, Shang Shu Li An was holding a tea bowl and chatting with Xiao Chen with a leisurely expression.
Seeing that Xiao Chen's face was a little red, Li An chuckled: "Did you drink outside again today? It stands to reason that you only drink when you are in a good mood. What's going on with you and making yourself unhappy?"
"There's nothing to be unhappy about." Xiao Chen waved his hand, "Ma Yunshan is doomed. Jin Yiwei, a former rival, has become a friend and everything is under our control. Why am I unhappy?"
"When you came in just now, you had a dark face. I thought someone had offended you again."
"Did you just say that? Who else could it be? Xu Kaiying, the commander of the Jin Yiwei."
"He? What about him?"
"Let him go into the palace to see the emperor, but my mother-in-law didn't move after a lot of nagging. I was so angry that I cursed on the spot." Xiao Chen turned to look at Li An: "Do you have any money? Lend me some."
Li An was stunned, why did you start borrowing money just by saying this?
"How much do you want to borrow? I can't borrow more than ten thousand taels," Li An said.
"What do I need so much for? Ten taels, just ten taels of silver." Xiao Chen stretched out his hand towards Li An.
"Ten taels of silver? Ten taels of silver, you have the nerve to talk to me." Li An looked at Xiao Chen disdainfully, put down the tea bowl in his hand, reached into his arms with his right hand and touched it, and took out a large ingot worth ten taels.
"Today, I'm going to buy some old hens for my wife to make soup after I finish my work. I just happened to have ten taels of silver in my pocket. Take it." Li An placed the silver ingot on the table and pushed it towards Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen declined: "This is the money you are going to use to buy supplements for my wife, so forget it."
"Take it." Li An's face was stern, "You have never opened your mouth to me before. This is your first time. How can I refuse? I can't drink hen soup today, but I can drink it tomorrow. It's not bad.
One day. But what I don’t understand is, what do you need ten taels of silver for? Are you short of ten taels of silver?"
Xiao Chen scratched his head in embarrassment: "When I was angry with Xu Kaiying today, I accidentally smashed the table in the tavern. The shopkeeper said that the food and drinks totaled six taels of silver, so I thought I would pay ten taels."
Li An was stunned for a moment, and the influence on Xiao Chen in his heart quietly changed.
As the purple-clad captain of Dongchang, he has overwhelming power and has conquered many high-ranking officials. He has never shown any mercy.
But because he accidentally smashed the table in the tavern, he came to borrow money from him to compensate others.
Others asked for six taels, but he paid ten taels.
He is not a cold and heartless person, he still has kind thoughts towards these ordinary people living at the lowest level.
"Is ten taels enough? If it's not enough, I'll go back and get some more. My wife has just given birth, so I specially prepared some grain silver at home for easy use?" Looking at Xiao Chen, Li An asked seriously.
"That should be enough. The tavern is not big, and the table is just an ordinary Eight Immortals table. We didn't eat much food and wine." Xiao Chen said, taking the silver on the table in his hand.
Stand up and leave.
"Why are you going?" Li An couldn't help but ask, "I have almost added more charges regarding Ma Yunshan, and I plan to send them to you for review later."
"I'm not leaving. I'm going to the prison to have a look, and by the way, I'll have someone send this money to a tavern."
With his back to Li An, Xiao Chen raised the money in his hand, waved it, and walked straight towards the prison of the Criminal Department.
The prison of the Ministry of Punishment, in the cell where Ma Yunshan was imprisoned.
Duan Tianming had already woken up, sitting cross-legged on the ground, leaning against the wall, holding the wine bottle between his legs with both hands, looking at everything in front of him with hazy eyes.
On the bed frame, Ma Yunshan was completely fixed, trembling all over. His mouth, which was stretched wide by the whip handle, was full of blood.
Du Shangqin held the pliers in his right hand and raised them upward.
He reached out to the pliers with his left hand and took out a tooth that had been stained blood red. He turned around and gently placed it on a small wooden board on the ground.
There are already five teeth placed on the wooden board, including the one just put down.
Seemingly dissatisfied with his "achievement", Du Shaoqin looked at the wooden board, slurred his mouth, picked up the bloody pliers, and prepared to "strike" at Ma Yunshan again.
"Did you take good care of Ma Tongzhi today?" A voice came from the door of the cell, and Xiao Chen walked in with a smile on his hands.
Seeing Duan Tianming sitting cross-legged on the ground, and looking at Du Shaoqin not far away, holding pliers in his hand as terrifying as a ghost from hell, Xiao Chen couldn't help but froze on the spot.
"What are you doing? One is 'taking care of' Ma Tongzhi, and the other is meditating on the ground to give him salvation?" Xiao Chen laughed.
Seeing Xiao Chen come in, Duan Tianming was holding a wine bottle in his right hand and holding the ground with his left hand. With a little force on his legs, he stood up with a "snap".
He handed the wine bottle in his hand towards Xiao Chen: "Want a sip?"
Although he had almost finished drinking in the tavern, Xiao Chen still couldn't refuse the wine bottle Duan Tianming handed him.
He took the wine bottle, raised his head and took three big gulps.
As if he still had more to say, he slowed down for a moment, then started drinking again.
When there was no more soju flowing out from it, Xiao Chen shook the flask a few more times and poured the last few drops into his mouth.
He raised his sleeve and wiped his mouth, then threw the wine bottle towards Duan Tianming: "Your wine is good, where did you buy it? I'll buy some more for our Dongchang later."
"I bought it from an old man who specializes in making sorghum wine in the old alley of Huangchenggen." After catching the wine bottle and hanging it on his waist, Duan Tianming yawned, raised his hand and patted his mouth and said slowly.
"Huangchenggen Old Alley? Do you know the first tavern there?"
"I know. The place is not big, and there is usually not much business."
Xiao Chen opened his hand and threw the silver in his hand towards Duan Tianming: "When you go back to buy wine, go to this tavern and give these ten taels of silver to the shopkeeper."
Catching the silver and putting it into his arms, Duan Tianming chuckled: "Why, you didn't give anyone money for drinking there?"
"Bullshit." Xiao Chen rolled his eyes, "My thousand-tael banknote is still there, and the shopkeeper said he can't find it. When you go to give me the money, don't forget to take the banknote back."
"Drinking and paying the bill with a thousand taels of silver, aren't you making things difficult for others? This kind of place is not a luxurious tavern like Zhenzhen Restaurant. You may not be able to earn a thousand taels of silver in your lifetime."
"Why are you talking so much?" Xiao Chen rolled his eyes at Duan Tianming and walked towards Du Shaoqin, who was holding pliers and watching the two people talking quietly.
Duan Tianming lowered his head, smiled, and followed.
Seeing Xiao Chen approaching, Du Shaoqin closed the pliers in his hands and asked in a low voice: "When will Ma Yunshan be beheaded?"
"Ask Zhan? What do you mean? It will be at least three or four days later." Xiao Chen was stunned.
"I have to be careful and let him breathe before he kills me. If I accidentally kill him, it won't look good." Du Shaoqin smiled a little shyly.
"Has the heat reached its peak today?"
"It's time to extract three more teeth." Du Shaoqin replied.
"After that, give him the best healing medicine from Dongchang for internal and external use."
"Wouldn't it be a waste to give it to him?"
"No waste." Xiao Chen smiled faintly, "Ma Tongzhi's body is now numb and his sensitivity to pain is too low. With a good treatment, he will be able to 'enjoy' Dongchang's hospitality again tomorrow."
"Okay, I'll do as you say."
Xiao Chen nodded, walked to Ma Yunshan, and frowned: "Chief Du, take the bucket off Ma Tongzhi's hair. It looks so painful like this."
Ma Yunshan had already noticed Xiao Chen as soon as he entered the door.
Just now, the conversation between several of them was clearly audible.
Now, I actually say that it hurts me to look like this.
It's really ridiculous and shameless to show false mercy to a cat crying like a mouse in front of yourself.
Without saying a word, Du Shaoqin pulled out the saber from his waist and chopped off Ma Yunshan's hair that was wrapped around the barrel beam.
The bucket fell to the ground with a "plop", and water splashed all over the ground.
Ma Yuanshan's head, which had been hung for almost a day, was slowly lifted up little by little. His eyes were closed tightly and seemed to be unable to open them.
"Looking at Ma Tongzhi's condition, he has lost consciousness. Let's stop taking care of him now." Xiao Chen said, walked forward, held the handle of the whip in Ma Yunshan's mouth with both hands, and moved it left and right.
Take it out.
Du Shaoqin on the side quickly stopped him: "Don't take this whip, he will bite his tongue and commit suicide."
"You pulled out all your front teeth, so why did he bite his tongue to commit suicide?"
Using both hands, Xiao Chen ripped off the whip handle.
