Little Cardamom

Chapter 5 – The Dungeon.

In fact, when they first fell into the water, Ming Tan and Liang Zixuan felt no different, only that the river water was cold, bone-chilling, and unbearable. She choked twice, struggling and coughing for a while, before she realized what had happened.

–She was hit by someone and fell into the water!

There are countless “accidents” that happen in big houses due to marriages. The most common of these are: being in the same room while changing soiled clothes, being rescued from the water and having skin-to-skin contact.

Since she was a child, Mrs. Pei has taught her how to be on guard against these shady things, and she also hired a female teacher to teach her about swimming when she went to summer vacation in a different village.

Because it is not used at all, and she has always been able to sit in a soft sedan and never touch the ground in a delicate nature, the people on the shore do not know that she can actually swim.

Unfortunately, the timing was not right, and before Ming Tan could tell them, Liang Zixuan had taken off her coat and jumped down.

In a hurry, she had to sink into the river, trying to get around Liang Zixuan and get to shore from the other side of the pier.

This hasty response has been considered smart, but the river water is too cold, and she is usually not a very active person. Not long after swimming in the water, from her lower body came a sudden burst of pain.

The throbbing soreness, combined with the biting coldness of the river, was like a needle prick, leaving only a white light in front of her eyes, making it impossible for her to swim any further.

At that moment, many thoughts flashed through Ming Tang’s mind.

At one moment, she thought, “It is better to die here than to let Liang Zixuan save, it is also regarded as saving the name”, and at another moment, she thought, “Forget it, it is better to ask for help, because dying here with a swollen corpse is simply a loss for the beauty of this lady who has not yet had the time to be famous in the capital”.

At the end of her hesitation she decided to surface to call for help, when suddenly a black belt without warning penetrated straight into the water, quickly wrapped around her waist, and then tightened. It pulled her to the shore and threw her on the quiet reeds some distance from the pier.

The force at the end of the belt was swift and sharp, with no intention of pitying the delicate. Ming Tan was thrown dizzy, and in a blur she only caught a glimpse of the end of the black belt that had been withdrawn from her waist.

According to her experience of more than ten years, the material of that belt must be extraordinary, the dark pattern on the top is exquisite and complex. It seems to use the dark gold silk thread, the silk is extremely fine, and still has a light luster under the heavy night.

Before she followed the belt to see the person standing there, the robe fell down, covering her body and blocking her sight.

……

“Then what?” Bai Minmin was busy asking after.

“Then, someone carried me back.” Ming Tan leaned against the side of the bed, pushing away the pungent ginger soup to dispel the cold, and took the hand-warming stove handed to her by the servant girl, recalling, “Halfway through, I asked several times who they were and where they were going to take me, but the man was silent, and put me at the back door of the Marquis Mansion and disappeared with his outer robe.”

“They? More than one person?”

“The one who stepped in to save me and the one who sent me back are certainly not the same person. The difference in clothing is great, and the one who sent me back looks very much like he was acting as instructed, like……an attendant bodyguard.”

Bai Minmin digested for a while, and still had a lot of questions, “Wait, so from the beginning to the end you didn’t say you were from the Marquis of Jing’an, but they accurately sent you back to the Marquis Mansion?”

“Well, that’s exactly what I find strange.” Ming Tan leaned on the pillow and sat up a bit, “to say that their purpose is not pure, after returning to the house I carefully checked, no personal belongings were missing.”

Those who have plans, will take a proof. Not taking, “that is indeed very strange.” Bai Minmin frowned in thought and muttered.

“Well, let’s not mention that.” Ming Tan remembered the more important matter at hand, “How is Liang Zixuan’s side now?”

“What can he do, you have sent Su Xin over, I would be too stupid to pick up a fight? Of course, he fell into the water and I had my attendant save him when I passed by. Don’t worry, I already had someone send him back to the Duke’s residence.”

After hearing Bai Minmin say so, Ming Tan’s hanging heart finally settled. The public’s word is that Liang Zixuan fell into the water, so no matter what happens afterwards, it can only be Liang Zixuan who fell into the water.

After all, the marriage relationship between the two families is still very strong. The accident to this unmarried son’s wife is not an honorable addition to the House of the Duke of Ling, and if they do not want to tear the face of the Marquis of Jing’an and fall short, they can only acquiesce to this statement.

In fact, she always felt that there was something fishy about this today. At that time, there were people rushing forward and backward to catch the thief, but she felt more like she was pushed by someone to suffer this rather than being hit.

Thinking of this, she said, “Minmin, you go back and find someone to help me check out the two people who bumped into me today.”

“You suspect that falling into the water was not an accident?”

“I do not know, that’s why I want to investigate properly.”

Bai Minmin nodded her head and readily agreed. When she saw that Ming Tan’s face was still bloodless, she tucked in the corner of Ming Tan’s blanket and took the ginger soup from the handmaid’s hand: “Don’t worry about it, come on, drink the ginger soup.”

The taste was too strong, so Ming Tan did not want to drink it.

Bai Minmin is also a stubborn person, and relentlessly she stuffed it into her mouth, also chattering: “Drink it, drink it, if you don’t consider it for yourself, you have to consider it for me. If you don’t drink this ginger soup, and later get a cold in bed, it will be my fault. And you still don’t know what my father’s bull temper is, can you bear to see me being punished to kneel in the ancestral hall? Kneel down and get married I’m afraid I can only ……”

Ming Tan’s brain ached from all the nonsense, so she took the porcelain bowl and swallowed it in one gulp with her eyes closed.

Bai Minmin has a face of satisfaction. Seeing that the incense seal has been half burned, she got up and clapped her hands: “In this case, you have a good rest. It’s getting late, so I’m going back to the house. Su Xin, Lu’e, take good care of your lady.”

Su Xin and Lu’e answered in unison and respectfully escorted Bai Minmin out of the Zhaoshui courtyard.

After this torment, Ming Tan’s body was a bit weak, and she really needed a good rest. She didn’t bother with the complicated maintenance before going to sleep, she only put some honeydew on her face and dipped her hands in fresh goat milk for a while.

In the middle of the night, it was raining lightly and the thick clouds were obscuring the full moon. Ming Tan covered with a brocade quilt has fallen asleep, the entire Marquis of Jing’an Mansion was also immersed in the dim light of the dense rain.

At the Dali Temple, it was dark along the stairs to the dungeon. Even though there was one oil lamp for every ten steps, it could not cover up the gloomy and cold silence.

The temple chancellor walked in front and bowed to lead the way: “Your Highness, Shu Er Gongzi, this way please.”

Shu Jingran, who had always been a noble and elegant man, came to this prison for the first time, and the oppressive, corrupting atmosphere around him made him extremely uncomfortable. He looked at Jiang Xu, thinking that the days of conquering the sands and wiping blood from the sword are a hundred times worse, so that he can walk with an indifferent look with his hands folded. He sighed, and was busily covering his nose to follow.

In the interrogation office, the wall hanging with torture instruments hanging glowed with a cold light, and the person to be interrogated has already been tied to the rack by the jailer. The man had not yet been tortured, and he was in a sorry state, but on closer inspection he was unhurt.

The temple chancellor pulled out a circle chair for Jiang Xu and respectfully invited him to take a seat.

Jiang Xu also did not put on a show, he lifted the hem and sat straight down. His fingertips tapped on the armrest, with little expression, as he looked at the torture rack in the dark.

“King… Your Majesty.” The man on the torture rack saw who came, and fear came to his heart, “Why, why did you arrest me here, Your Majesty? I’m not guilty!”

“‘Unjustly convicted.” Jiang Xu looked straight at him, “You can wait a little longer, and when the Marquis of Cheng’en is also imprisoned, you can cry to him.”

Marquis of Cheng’en!

The blood of the man on the torture rack froze for a moment.

In fact, as early as when he was arrested for no reason on his way back to the house and no one explained to him why he was arrested, he had a vague sense of foreboding. But he had been unwilling and did not dare to think about it. After all, if it was really related to the Marquis of Cheng’en, it would be a disaster for him.

“Although I have dealings with the marquis, but, but ……”

“Zhang Ji, the king thinks you are a smart person, so you are still intact. Are you sure you want to go around in circles with this king?”

Jiang Xu got up, walked slowly to the front, and inclined his head to look at him.

Probably because of being in the dungeon, the faint hostile aura of his body for conquering and killing diffused out, with a very heavy pressure of power. His voice is not high, but for no reason it gives people a chill.

Zhang Ji opened his mouth, and was suppressed for a moment that he lost his voice.

He knew that this is the beginning of the process of clearing, and he also knew the purpose of Jiang Xu coming here. Dead silence spread with the fishy and rotten air of the dungeon.

For a long time, he hesitantly squirmed his lips, still determined to get something for himself: “I have in my hands, indeed, some things that His Majesty can use. If His Majesty promises me a condition, I will …… ah–! ” He suddenly cried out in pain before he finished his sentence.

Shu Jingran was stunned, only to find that the wall with barbed torture blade has somehow avoided the vitals and stabbed into Zhang Ji waist and abdomen. Blood is gurgling out, and Zhang Ji’s white clothes quickly stained red, and the sticky blood is still dripping on the dirty dark floor.

“What qualifications do you have to negotiate terms with this king?” Jiang Xu leaned over, leaned into Zhang Ji’s ear and asked thoughtlessly.

He did not let go of the handle. The barb was pressed against the flesh and was still pushing inward, repeatedly rolling.

Zhang Ji’s face was bloodless with pain, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. In the end, he had not suffered much, and within half a moment, his eyes rolled over and he passed out.

Jiang Xu stood up straight and let the jailer splash Zhang Ji with cold water to wake him up.

The fireplace by the torture wall has also been lit, the iron burning red, and Zhang Ji just regained his senses. He saw the jailer holding a branding iron and approaching him. He could not even shout to stop, and the iron was branded directly on the wound just now.

Another heart-breaking scream of pain.

A hundred different torture tools in the prison, Zhang Ji peed his pants only after two sessions, and the fishy smell overflowed. He regretted not drinking the toast first, and shouted hoarsely: “Your Majesty! Your Majesty, I will say! Marquis Cheng’en has taken over the fields and opened a salt mine! The evidence is in the outskirts of the city, in my private house in Jiu Li Po! The evidence is buried under the almond tree in the backyard!”

At midnight, the dungeon door opened.

After leaving the Da Li Temple prison, Shu Jingran finally exhaled a foul breath. Perhaps it was because of a light rain, he felt that the breath in the capital tonight was exceptionally clean.

Just thinking back to the image in the dungeon, Jiang Xu did not blink to stab the barbed blade into Zhang Ji’s waist and abdomen, but also turned inside inch by inch. He always felt that there will be a series of nightmares tonight.

But then again, His Majesty the King of the Dongbei is notoriously cruel and ruthless. In the past, when the Ministry of Finance delayed the military payroll by embezzling the funds, he returned from the field of blood, and did not go to the palace, but the first thing he did was to take the head of corrupt official.

His wife knew she had no life to live, so in order to preserve the family’s beautiful twin girls, she asked her twin daughters to become slaves and serve at his side.

This is the kind of beauty that a man would be attracted to, and protecting the two women, for him, can be done with the snap of his fingers. But he was not moved, in accordance with the law to seize the family, he exterminated the family and beheaded, not a single one left.

So, “Earlier at the river, why did you save Miss Ming. You also let the secret guards send the person back to the marquis mansion, to pity women …… it does not look like something you would do, Qizhi.”

He thought that Jiang Xu had changed his nature during this trip back to the capital and had a compassionate heart, and after a trip to the dungeon, he realized that he had thought too much.

Recalling what he had overheard at the Tingyu tower, he laughed again, “Is it possible that you have fallen in love with that Miss of Ming family at first sight?”

Jiang Xu lowered his eyes, tugged his lips, while slowly and carefully wiping the blood stains on his hands, and said without haste: “As expected of the famous Shu Er Gongzi of the capital, really gentle and affectionate.”