#30: Homicide (2)

Changsun Yuming was quickly invited back by Minister Changsun, who also ordered everyone not to spread the matter.

Song Li’s heart had just settled, but after lunch, things took an even more unpredictable turn—a large number of women flooded the Ministry of Justice, insisting that they were the ones who had been with Wu Ruian the night before. They all claimed to be Wu Ruian’s alibis. However, due to the sheer number of people, this was an impossible situation in Taiping Prefecture, which had a curfew. In other words, they were all lying.

In a fit of rage, Song Li ordered each of them to be given twenty strokes with a heavy plank. As soon as he said this, the leader of the women was tied to the torture rack. As the planks fell, their screams of agony echoed throughout the hall.

“It was a mistake, this commoner didn’t see the Prince the other night, please spare my life, sir!” The woman begged for mercy, but Song Li ignored her.

“Hit her. Keep hitting her.” Song Li’s brows didn’t even furrow as he looked at everyone with a cold, intimidating stare. All the women who had falsely claimed to be witnesses scattered like birds. The only people left in the hall were the woman on the torture rack, who was barely alive, and a woman in a green silk robe standing at the entrance. The woman showed no fear and was completely calm. It was Di Jiang, who had come after hearing the news.

“Another one who’s not afraid of death,” Song Li raised an eyebrow and said coldly, “Are you also here to provide an alibi for Prince Wu?”

Di Jiang nodded. “To answer you, sir, yes.” As soon as she finished speaking, there was a muffled thud. After receiving twenty strokes, the woman on the torture rack was lifeless, her skin and flesh torn open as she lay on the ground. A clerk then waved his hand in disgust and ordered someone to drag her out and dump her on the main street.

Song Li lifted his chin and said, “Did you see that? That’s what happens to liars. Do you want to try it too?”

Di Jiang shook her head calmly. “To answer you, sir, this commoner is not lying. I was indeed with Prince Wu the night before last, and we parted at midnight.”

“Heh, I see you won’t give up until you see your own coffin,” Song Li said expressionlessly and waved his hand. “Hit her for me, hit her hard!”

The guards followed the order and immediately stepped forward, one on each side, to tie Di Jiang to the torture rack. Di Jiang lay on the rack, looking at the mottled marks left by time. The dents in the wood were filled with crusted blood.

Soon, Di Jiang’s fresh blood was also staining the rack. As the muffled blows fell, a burning pain shot through her back and buttocks. A line of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, and her vision was covered in a scarlet haze.

Song Li was flipping through the documents his subordinates had handed him over the past two days, carefully reading the statements of every suspicious person, hoping to find some clues. As he finished the second page, a guard stepped forward and whispered, “Sir, she’s done.”

Song Li suddenly looked up, staring at Di Jiang in surprise.

During the beating, Di Jiang had not made a single sound of pain, so much so that Song Li had completely forgotten that there was someone being punished in the hall.

After the beating, Di Jiang just calmly wiped the corner of her mouth and said, “Sir, this commoner truly did not lie.” She seemed to be in no pain, her composure was incredible.

“Who... who exactly are you?” Song Li asked, puzzled.

“To answer you, sir, this commoner is Di Jiang, the owner of the Jiansu Clinic. I was with the Sixth Prince the night before last and we parted at midnight.” Di Jiang repeated her words, one by one. But this time, the fresh blood on her body made her words more believable.

“Song Li, are the records ready?” Just then, a person with a brisk walk came from outside the main door. His voice was tired, but also full of a murderous aura.

It was the Left Chancellor, Gongsun Miao, who had just lost his legitimate son.

“Reporting to the Left Chancellor, there was a delay this morning. This subordinate will go and organize them now,” Song Li replied, bowing and breaking out in a cold sweat.

Gongsun Miao’s expression was grim. He glanced at Di Jiang and asked casually, “What’s going on here?”

“Reporting to the Left Chancellor, she insists that she is the Sixth Prince’s alibi. This subordinate is trying to get her to tell the truth.” Song Li then highlighted the key points of the incident with the women who had flooded the Ministry of Justice after lunch, including Changsun Yuming who had come for the same reason that morning.

After listening, Gongsun Miao’s face became even uglier. He glanced at Di Jiang and said to Song Li, “How many types of torture devices does the Ministry of Justice have?”

“To answer the Left Chancellor, about one thousand seven hundred.”

“How can she treat the Ministry of Justice like a game? Try them on her one by one and see how long she can be so stubborn.”

“...Yes.” After Gongsun Miao spoke with indifference, Song Li waved his hand and ordered his men to take Di Jiang away.

The guards held Di Jiang on either side, dragging her to the prison and throwing her into a torture chamber.

In the torture chamber, blood stains were everywhere, indistinguishable from one another. The walls were covered with all sorts of torture devices, all of which Di Jiang had never seen before.

Di Jiang lay on the ground, her body clearly a mangled mess of flesh and blood, but her eyes showed no pain. Her eyes stared blankly ahead, like a broken, soulless doll, allowing herself to be tormented by others...

________________________________________

At that moment, outside the Ministry of Justice prison, Wenyao was anxiously waiting with a basket. After several inquiries, she learned that Di Jiang had been brought to the prison. Just as she was debating whether to go in and rescue her, she saw Di Jiang walk out, perfectly unharmed.

Well, she phased through the wall in an empty corner.

“Shopkeeper, are you okay?” Wenyao went up to her, intending to take her hand, but her hand passed right through Di Jiang’s body. She looked closely and realized that the person in front of her was just her conscious body, or her soul.

“Shopkeeper, what happened to you? Did they bully you?”

“It’s nothing,” Di Jiang said with a nonchalant shrug and a smile. “Mortals have mortal rules, and non-mortals have non-mortal methods. It’s fine as long as they don’t affect each other.”

“Are you really okay?” Wenyao asked, suspicious.

Di Jiang gave her a big smile and nodded. “Really.”

Wenyao breathed a sigh of relief, but then became anxious again. “What about the Prince? Is he okay?”

Di Jiang shook her head. “I haven’t seen the Prince yet, but as a Prince, I don’t think he will be in any great danger.”

Di Jiang took a deep breath and looked at the large courtyard walls in front of her. She suddenly remembered a long, long time ago, after Wu Ruian had gone through his life-and-death ordeal, she had predicted that his tribulations would come one after another. But at the same time, she also knew that with Wu Ruian’s charm, even if one person who was meant to take his place fell, there would naturally be thousands more to take their place. She never had to worry about there not being someone to take the hit for him.

She just never thought that one day, she would be one of those thousands of women.

She had already crossed the line too many times.

But so what?

In this one lifetime, in this one world, she would be with him for this lifetime.

She would protect him from harm and worry for the rest of his life.