Chapter 1060: Everyone Muddling Through Together

Since the palace was willing to cooperate, things became much simpler.

That morning, after the Ministry of Justice and Huangmen Gan finished watching the execution, they left.

Afterward, the Ministry of Justice arranged for two minor officials to watch the execution and count the cuts.

The palace also arranged for two young eunuchs to watch the execution and count the cuts throughout the process.

Chen Guanlou ordered the kitchen to prepare wine and food, treating them with good wine and meat. Although everyone couldn't eat because of watching the execution, the Heavenly Prison had this intention, and the minor officials and young eunuchs were quite satisfied.

Especially after eating and drinking, there were benefits to be had, and all the resentment in their hearts dissipated.

Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen was indeed sensible.

And so, at night, the minor officials and young eunuchs all turned a blind eye to the scene of Lingchi by torchlight. When they couldn't hold on, they followed arrangements and went to the side rooms to rest.

In short, muddle through if you can.

In such hot weather and with such a bitter task, one must allow everyone to be lazy. As long as the result is correct, it's fine.

By the second day, everything became even simpler. The minor officials and young eunuchs were coaxed by the jailers to go gamble.

Wang Youfu and the others had no supervision and cut the meat on their own; the pressure was halved, and their hand movements became even more swift.

As long as three thousand cuts were made, the task was considered complete.

They worked until the third watch, and the three thousand cuts were completed.

The four executioners didn't dare to lie down on the spot, but hurried away to find a place to wash up.

The entire courtyard was no longer walkable.

It wasn't because the ground was dirty, but because the smell in the courtyard was something no one could bear. Even though there was ice to freeze the cut meat and ice to suppress the corpse.

However, in such hot weather, and with three thousand cuts of Lingchi, that smell...

Only the coroner and the corpse-stitcher could continue working in the courtyard with expressionless faces, provided they wore masks, applied ointment, and did protective work.

By logic, after the Lingchi ended, the Ministry of Justice's minor officials and the palace's young eunuchs had to count the cuts. Ensure three thousand cuts, not one less, not one more. Also ensure the Prince of Chu's facial features were complete and not damaged.

But...

"That smell—anyone who goes in will be smoked into a corpse. Everyone works hard for a month for only a few taels of salary; is it worth risking one's life? It's not worth it! Besides, the executioners wouldn't dare to fake it. And the corpse-stitcher knows the count; they will help count and guarantee not one cut less. Gentlemen, don't make things difficult for yourselves; come, come, continue betting!"

Lu Datou was responsible for greeting the four gamblers. With a bit of coaxing, the minor officials and young eunuchs listened. This task was miserable and had no bonus. With only a few taels of salary a month, it really wasn't worth risking one's life.

If it weren't for Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen of the Heavenly Prison being sensible and giving them benefits, the four of them would definitely be full of resentment. Now, with money to take and money to gamble, who cares if there were three thousand cuts; anyway, just report three thousand cuts. He didn't believe those officials would count them one by one.

Lu Datou fooled the people, and Chen Guanlou called people to hurry and remove the smell.

It was just bitter for the corpse-stitcher and the coroner; he promised to give them a big red envelope afterward, never letting their hard work go to waste.

"Still, Lord Chen is generous and willing to give money."

"Lord Chen fooled the people from the palace; without them picking on us, our work is much easier."

"The people from the palace are truly strange; the person is already dead, and they still want Lingchi. Isn't that taking off one's pants to fart—a superfluous act."

"Say less, don't cause trouble for Lord Chen. Whether it's taking off pants to fart or not, we just need to do the job well and take the money!"

The medicinal water prepared by Physician Mu himself was diluted with water and sprinkled all over the Heavenly Prison. Not asking for anything else, just hoping to cover the lingering smell of corpse rot.

Chen Guanlou washed with several buckets of water, but still felt uncomfortable all over, as if he had been soaked in a corpse.

He couldn't smell it himself, so he asked others to smell.

Others smelled it and told him there was no smell, but he didn't believe them.

Finally, he asked Physician Mu for medicine. "Give me some medicine to quickly remove the smell. I can't stand it; I can't go to a brothel for at least ten days or half a month. Lest I smoke the girls and get a stinking reputation."

Physician Mu leaned in and sniffed. "Basically no smell; you just can't get over the hurdle in your heart. Forget it, forget it, I will prescribe you some medicine, for external application and internal use, to adjust."

"A human nose can't smell it, but a dog's nose definitely can. That dog at the gatehouse barks loudly as soon as I get close."

"Cats and dogs are indeed more sensitive."

Physician Mu gave him a box of ointment that could be applied to the whole body. He said that if he applied it for a few days, it could cover any smell, and his body would also carry a medicinal fragrance.

The internal medicine was mainly used to reduce internal heat.

Because of the Lingchi matter, everyone in the Heavenly Prison, all the jailers, had been having a lot of internal heat recently, mainly manifested as irritability and lack of patience. If two or three sentences didn't fit, they would argue. Serious ones would fight directly.

In just these two days, seven or eight fights had already occurred.

All caused by excessive internal heat.

Chen Guanlou also felt he should reduce his heat.

From the moment he learned he had to Lingchi the Prince of Chu's corpse, he was incomparably irritable, wishing he could rush into the palace and kill someone.

In the hot weather, Emperor Jian Shi completely disregarded people's lives, acting willfully.

How infuriating!

Reduce the heat, control the temper.

The Lingchi task was completed and reported to the Ministry of Justice.

Early on the third morning, people from the Ministry of Justice and the palace came to accept the results.

After a night of hard work, the corpse-stitcher had finished sewing half of the Prince of Chu's corpse.

Think about that scene: a complete face, half a corpse sewn and patched, plus half a skeleton, and slices of meat frozen piece by piece.

The Ministry of Justice official vomited on the spot, his face gray and white, feeling like he was about to die on the spot.

The people from the palace were better off; after all, there were many perverts in the palace, and they were well-informed and could endure it.

They asked the two young eunuchs who stayed behind to count the cuts, "Counted, three thousand cuts, not one more, not one less?"

The two young eunuchs had stayed up all night gambling and had won.

Therefore, they looked okay early in the morning, except for the dark circles under their eyes, looking like ghosts.

When others saw this, they mistakenly thought these two young eunuchs were dutiful, staying up all night watching the corpse-stitcher sew the corpse and counting the number of cuts. Hmm, the two young eunuchs were very good; next time there was an important task, they would look for these two again.

"Reporting to the Huangmen, three thousand cuts, not one less, not one more."

"Since you have counted, I will register it as it is."

The two young eunuchs breathed a sigh of relief, muddling through.

After the procedure was finished, Chen Guanlou, with a face that clearly hadn't slept, asked: "Huangmen, how should the Prince of Chu's funeral arrangements be handled? After the corpse is sewn, who should it be given to?"

"Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen need not worry. The Prince of Chu's funeral arrangements will be arranged by the Shaofu. After we report the matter, the people from the Shaofu will come to connect. You just need to preserve the traitor Prince of Chu's corpse!"

"That is excellent!" ===== CHAPTER 1061 =====