Chapter 1182: Feel Sorry for Yourself for Once

Sun Sun Daoning rubbed his brow, head aching.

Knowing full well he was no match for Chen Chen Guanlou in an argument, he conceded defeat without hesitation.

"Then what do you want? It's already happened — you have no choice but to take in the prison guards of the Imperial Prison. This is your duty, you can't shirk it."

"I really can shirk it."

Sun Sun Daoning didn't believe it. He stared at the other man. "This is an order from Zhengshitang. How could you possibly shirk it? Don't tell me you're planning to storm Zhengshitang."

"It won't come to that. The matter isn't as serious as you think." Chen Chen Guanlou sat down directly, preparing to have a heart-to-heart.

"Old Sun…"

Sun Sun Daoning's mouth twitched. After all these years, he still couldn't get used to hearing "Old Sun" come out of the other man's mouth.

"Old Sun, the prison guards in the few great prisons of Jingcheng are all pretty much the same. A bunch of thugs and ruffians, can't read a single character, steeped in every vice, short-sighted. A few coins is enough to buy them off. This means the prison guards make mistakes at a very high rate — basically making mistakes every day, mistakes in everything. When mistakes pile up, it's inevitable they escalate into crimes! You admit that, don't you?"

Sun Sun Daoning nodded. He agreed with this assessment. This was one of the main reasons the world looked down on the prison guard profession, treating it as a despised trade.

A team made up of thugs and ruffians — what good could come of it! If the prisons didn't need this sort of people, these guards ought to be locked up in cells themselves. In the world's eyes, prison guards and those vicious criminals are exactly the same — all of them should be locked up and beheaded. Line them up, behead every other one, and a hundred percent some will slip through the net. Behead them all, and at most three or five innocents would be caught up.

But he didn't understand the purpose of Chen Chen Guanlou's words. So he asked, "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Chen Chen Guanlou's expression was half-smile, half-smirk. "Old Sun, your brain doesn't turn as fast as other people's. You deserve to be schemed against. No wonder every thankless, offensive job always lands on your head. If I were talking to someone clever like Prime Minister Xie, I'd only need to say the opening and he'd already grasp my meaning, even start thinking of solutions. Look at you — still asking me what my purpose is. Every year, every month, every day, there are prison guards committing crimes. Tell me, my lord Sun, how many have you ever seen arrested and publicly executed according to the law?"

Sun Sun Daoning had been on the verge of erupting in fury at being belittled like this by the little thief surnamed Chen. How could he tolerate it? Just as he was about to let loose, his train of thought was hijacked by Chen Chen Guanlou's question, and he began to think it over.

Before he could answer, Chen Chen Guanlou spoke first: "Before coming here, I went through some files and asked some old-timers at the Heaven Prison. From what I understand, not going back far — just the last few decades — there isn't a single case of a prison guard being escorted to the execution ground and publicly executed according to the law.

In the common world, kill a person, and even a criminal must be escorted to the execution ground and publicly executed according to the law. But prison guards, even if they've killed dozens of people, will not be escorted to the execution ground. In this trade, there's an unwritten rule: prison guards sentenced to death are always dealt with privately. And dealt with by their own people! Never troubling the neighboring brother-units."

By this point, Sun Sun Daoning already understood the purpose of the other man's words.

He frowned. "What do you want to do?"

Chen Chen Guanlou chuckled coldly. "The prison guards of the Imperial Prison, whether dead or alive, should be dealt with by the Embroidered Uniform Guard themselves. There's no reason at all to push them onto the Ministry of Justice. The Heaven Prison has even less reason to take in this batch of people.

I don't know what unwritten rules other government offices have, but in this area of prisons and punishments, this rule cannot be broken. Otherwise things will fall apart later.

My lord, in recent years under my management, the Heaven Prison has become much more orderly. But you can't ignore that the other great prisons still have all kinds of problems. Almost every day some prison guard gets caught, and every single time a brother-unit has to step in to handle it — what kind of face is that? Do we still want any dignity?

This time, with such a huge incident at the Imperial Prison, the Embroidered Uniform Guard have lost both face and substance. On the surface, the Ministry of Justice cleaning house for the Embroidered Uniform Guard — they should be grateful. But think about it more deeply, and they'll probably hate the Ministry of Justice to death — a dog catching mice, meddling in other people's business.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard's own affairs — let them handle it themselves. Close the door, lose face, whatever — it's all fine, as long as it's handled internally. At least they can still put a gloss on things and salvage a bit of dignity.

Handing it to the Ministry of Justice to handle — what kind of thing is that? How can they put a gloss on things? How can they salvage face? They worked hard, and ended up earning hatred! Tsk tsk! Old Sun, you've committed a great taboo! You've clearly been schemed against."

Sun Sun Daoning's brow furrowed so deeply it could pinch a mosquito to death.

He was an official. Although he'd always served in the Ministry of Justice, he had never truly paid attention to prison guards — those at the very bottom of the dust — nor to the great prisons themselves, and rarely bothered to understand this group.

But, thinking carefully, these past years, it did seem that none of the great prisons had ever produced a case of a prison guard killing someone and being publicly executed according to the law. Clearly every great prison was steeped in sin, every kind of darkness. He knew very well that whenever prison guards were caught, it was always handled internally. Their own affairs — close the door and handle it themselves.

He rubbed his brow. "What you say makes sense. The Imperial Prison matter should indeed be handled by the Embroidered Uniform Guard. However, the problem is that Zhengshitang tossed this job to the Ministry of Justice. What do you want me to do about it?"

"Easy as pie! Have the Six Doors take those prison guards and toss them straight to the Embroidered Uniform Guard. If the Embroidered Uniform Guard try to refuse, toss the people to Xiao Xiao Jincheng."

"Xiao Xiao Jincheng took the court flogging. He's at home right now clinging to life."

Oh!

Chen Chen Guanlou suddenly grew excited. "The bastard surnamed Xiao has finally hit bad luck — heaven has eyes. But he's a martial artist, he definitely won't die."

"During the flogging, his martial meridians were sealed. A hundred strokes later, he was left with only a single breath keeping him alive. Fortunately, ginseng slices had been prepared in advance to keep him going, otherwise he would have died on the spot." Sun Sun Daoning sighed twice. He had been one of the spectators at the punishment, witnessing it with his own eyes. The scene was both bloody and strangely exhilarating.

It was the kind of thrill at seeing the usually arrogant, overbearing Embroidered Uniform Guard boss get stripped and spanked on the buttocks. The enormous contrast stimulated the nerves, making one so excited that one trembled all over.

It was like a person on the clouds suddenly falling into the mud — that scene, that excitement, that thrill, was even more… climactic than…!

People might not always kick someone when they're down, but schadenfreude is definitely required. Drawing exhilaration from a special figure, one suddenly feels life has hope again! One's own life is another wonderful day!

Chen Chen Guanlou clicked his tongue twice, a touch of schadenfreude.

Back to business — he reminded Sun Sun Daoning: "No worries! Once his martial meridians are unsealed, given his cultivation, as long as he still has one breath left, it'll only take a few days to fully recover.

Old Sun, stop feeling sorry for other people every time. You should feel sorry for yourself first. If you really can't manage that, feel sorry for me instead. Hurry up, give the order to the Six Doors, let them go pick a fight with the Embroidered Uniform Guard. In short, the Imperial Prison guards can only be handled by the Embroidered Uniform Guard themselves. Kill them, flay them — it's all their internal business, nothing to do with us."