Chapter 1113: All Because of Money

"Reporting to my lord, the Ministry of Justice has delayed issuing the official document for a long time, so this person has remained imprisoned in the Heaven Prison."

Chen Chen Guanlou found it strange the moment he heard it. "Have you inquired why the Ministry of Justice keeps delaying the document? Could there be some special circumstance with this person?"

He even suspected the criminal might have some background or backing he didn't know about.

Huang Ye bowed slightly and said, "Replying to my lord, I boldly sent a document to the Ministry of Justice, and they replied telling me not to pry further. If it weren't for overcrowding, I wouldn't have wanted to make extra trouble either."

Chen Chen Guanlou raised an eyebrow slightly upon hearing this. "Bring me the case file."

A moment later, the jailer brought the case file.

Chen Chen Guanlou flipped through it from the beginning—the case was clear and straightforward. The criminal Zhao Ji, driven by jealousy turned to hatred, killed his neighbor's entire family. Upon investigation, the facts were clear, with both witness testimony and physical evidence complete; the sentence was immediate execution by beheading!

The verdict was handed down, yet execution was endlessly delayed. Just from reading the case file, no hidden circumstances could be discerned.

He closed the case file. "I will personally inquire with the Ministry of Justice about this matter. Whether he is killed or kept alive, there must be an explanation. He can't just be kept locked up in the Heaven Prison indefinitely without clarity. The Heaven Prison is not a charity hall—we don't have that much money to keep feeding idle people."

He kicked the cell door again and shouted, "Zhao Ji, do you know who is keeping you alive? By all rights, you should have been dragged to the execution ground and beheaded two months ago."

Zhao Ji was disheveled, with straw tangled in his hair, his face filthy beyond recognition.

He let out a snicker. "How would I know? I'm just lucky—the heavens are protecting me."

"Do you want another trip to the torture room, spouting nonsense right in front of me?" Chen Chen Guanlou demanded sternly.

Zhao Ji, who had been acting smug just moments ago, shuddered the moment he heard "torture room."

He smiled ingratiatingly. "Don't! Warden Chen, you're a man of importance—please don't lower yourself to my level. I'm going to die sooner or later, no need for you to trouble yourself. The brothers in the torture room are already worn out enough."

"Then tell me—who exactly is protecting you? Why is the Ministry of Justice delaying the document?"

"I really don't know! I truly don't know." Zhao Ji looked utterly bewildered, putting on an innocent face. "You know my background, Warden Chen—I don't even have a single decent relative. How could anyone possibly be protecting me? Maybe I'm just lucky and the people above simply forgot about me."

Chen Chen Guanlou scoffed. "You killed your neighbor's whole family out of jealousy over their happily married life and thriving household. What luck are you talking about? If you really had luck, you would have found a wife eight hundred years ago and wouldn't need to envy your neighbor's good fortune."

"Perhaps it's the turning of fortune's wheel. As the old saying goes, misfortune and fortune are intertwined—you can't just write someone off entirely." Zhao Ji refused to back down.

In his heart, he thought: the neighbor really was his nemesis—no wonder his own life had grown more wretched with each passing year.

After killing the neighbor, look—his luck turned good, he got to live two more months. Hehe!

Killed the right person!

If only he'd known earlier, he should have killed someone years ago and enjoyed the good luck sooner.

What a complete weirdo!

Since nothing useful could be extracted from Zhao Ji, the only option was to seek clues from the Ministry of Justice.

Once back on the surface and in his office, he had Mu Qingshan send a document to the Ministry of Justice, inquiring about when death row inmate Zhao Ji would be sent to the execution ground, in the interest of conserving grain. He hoped the Ministry would give an answer promptly instead of dragging their feet.

If they ran out of money tomorrow, he would certainly storm the Ministry of Justice and have words with Sun Sun Daoning.

Mu Qingshan polished the wording, then submitted it to the Ministry of Justice.

One day, two days…

Yet the Ministry of Justice kept stalling without acting.

He simply made a trip to the Ministry of Justice in person—only to find the Heaven Prison's official document being used to prop up a wobbly table leg. That was going too far.

He couldn't be bothered to argue with those officials and went straight to Sun Sun Daoning to resolve the matter.

He tossed the case file onto the desk. "This criminal has been left unprocessed for ages, wasting grain. Old Sun, just stamp an order for me—get him beheaded, quick!"

"You come to me with such a trivial matter? Am I that idle?"

"I followed procedure and sent a document to inquire, yet your people used the Heaven Prison's document to prop up a table leg. So tell me—what else could I do? If I don't come to you, am I supposed to pick a fight with those slippery old foxes? Are you sure? Are you sure you can handle the consequences?"

Chen Chen Guanlou pressed the question repeatedly.

Given his temper, if he were to kick up a fuss, things absolutely would not end peacefully. He wouldn't be the one to suffer—therefore, the outcome was self-evident.

Sun Sun Daoning's head ached; he had the illusion that his days were numbered.

He rubbed his brow and flipped through the case file. "There's no problem here. Why is it being held up without execution?"

"I don't know. Your people are stalling this case—whatever they're trying to do, you'll have to ask them."

"Fine, I'll handle this for you." Sun Sun Daoning agreed, wanting nothing more than to get rid of the man quickly.

"Three days, Old Sun—don't disappoint me." Chen Chen Guanlou reminded him.

Sun Sun Daoning was instantly so furious he nearly keeled over backward.

He, the dignified Minister of Justice—where was his dignity? Was there any respect for hierarchy left? Could anyone speak properly?

Outrageous!

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

The document for Zhao Ji's beheading came down—ten days later, he would be publicly executed at the execution ground.

At the same time, the Ministry of Justice stripped a few people of their posts.

Upon investigation, it turned out the reason the Ministry of Justice had delayed issuing the document to behead Zhao Ji was that someone had set their sights on the Zhao family property. More precisely, they had their eyes on a hidden tunnel beneath the Zhao house, where a fortune in ill-gotten gains was stashed.

It turned out the house the Zhao family currently lived in had once been wasteland.

With Jingcheng's population growing and the city limits fixed, real estate in the capital had pushed land use within the city to its absolute limit.

Some twenty years ago, the Zhao family had scraped together a sum of money and, looking for a bargain, bought a plot of wasteland as a foundation. With limited funds, they built only a shallow single-story structure on it. Later, more and more people followed the Zhao family's example, buying wasteland to build houses, gradually forming a residential cluster that had long since lost its original appearance.

Zhao Ji's crime happened to coincide with the very fellow who had dug the tunnel to stash his ill-gotten gains years ago suddenly remembering this hidden fortune and urgently needing to dig it out. That fellow, after extensive surveying, confirmed the tunnel lay right beneath the Zhao family house.

Originally, all he needed to do was buy the Zhao family house—but then Zhao Ji committed his crime, was arrested, and locked up in the Heaven Prison.

Zhao Ji's parents, wanting to rescue their son, saw that the house buyer was dressed in gold and silver, clearly wealthy and influential, so they set a condition: they demanded the other party save their son, and the house could be given away for free.

It was an outrageous demand to begin with—never in their wildest dreams did they expect the other party actually had connections to reach the Ministry of Justice and buy influence. And so arose the situation where Zhao Ji was sentenced to immediate execution yet endlessly delayed.

Seeing that their son's life was indeed preserved, Zhao Ji's parents didn't look into the details closely. Combined with being thoroughly sweet-talked by the other party, they willingly handed over the house.

Two months passed, and that fellow had long since dug out the ill-gotten fortune from the tunnel and vanished without a trace.

The Zhao family never imagined that the other party had merely delayed Zhao Ji's execution date without actually changing the verdict—his life had not been saved.

Now that the truth was out, no amount of weeping and cursing from Zhao Ji's parents could change anything.

Because the mastermind had already fled, the Ministry of Justice officials who had helped carry out the affair suffered the consequences and were stripped of their posts.