Chapter 40: Full of official airs

"Prison Clerk Wan is already urging." Chen Quan was cautious.

Damn it, what kind of mess is this.

"Then find that official from the Ministry of Works and ask him to hand over the remaining money."

"That person said he wants to talk to Chen Tou in person before he is willing to give the money." Liu She said, immediately shrinking his neck, looking very guilty.

Chen Guanlou frowned deeply, "Someone, tell me the truth, what exactly did Zhao Tou promise the other party before? You are all old slickers in the Heavenly Prison, I don't believe you have no way to deal with an official who committed an offense."

"Chen Tou doesn't know, that official's sister-in-law is a concubine of the Prince of Donghai, and it is said she is extremely favored." Qian Fugui explained.

This was the reason they didn't dare to use strong-arm tactics.

Chen Guanlou was left speechless.

Good fellow!

Truly a good fellow!

When he was on duty in the Bing-block prison, the most powerful person he came into contact with was just a martial arts gym owner or a small leader of mountain bandits.

He hadn't even been in the Jia-block prison for an hour, and he heard about the Prince of Donghai's favored concubine and the official's sister-in-law. Truly high-end!

"Since his sister-in-law is the Prince of Donghai's favored concubine, why is he still locked in the Heavenly Prison?"

The four prison guards were clearly stunned by this question.

Liu She muttered in a low voice, "It's not appropriate to lock him in the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Imperial Prison instead of the Heavenly Prison, is it?"

Chen Quan continued: "Yes, being locked in the Imperial Prison almost means there is no room for maneuver."

Wu Jin added: "Being locked in the Heavenly Prison at least gives a chance to get out, and maybe even return to his original post."

"Those lackeys of the Embroidered Uniform Guard are much darker than the Heavenly Prison. We are at most 'hemp black', the Imperial Prison is pitch black."

"Yes, yes!"

The four of them said one sentence after another, and the matter was finally clarified.

Chen Guanlou was left speechless again, information gap, cognitive error caused by information gap.

It turned out that officials being locked in the Heavenly Prison was actually care and preferential treatment. Not the bad luck he thought it was.

As for who is darker, he just wanted to say that all crows under heaven are black.

"So?"

"So, is Chen Tou willing to come forward?"

"Do you all treat the officials locked in here so carefully?" Chen Guanlou was too curious.

"More or less. These officials have relationships spread throughout the court, and no one can say when they might turn over. Being careful is never wrong."

Chen Guanlou nodded and continued to ask: "How much money did you collect before?"

"Three hundred taels."

"Meaning, there are still three hundred taels left to be collected."

"Exactly."

"Did Zhao Tou take his money?"

"Zhao Tou took twenty taels before."

Chen Guanlou raised his eyebrows, so he could still take forty taels.

"Lead the way."

He figured it out. For the sake of the silver, he would reluctantly wipe Zhao Tou's ass. Damn it, the style of doing things in the Jia-block prison was clearly different from the Bing-block prison.

The Bing-block prison believed in "if you don't submit, fight." Subdue the prisoners one by one, and you wouldn't have to worry about them not coughing up silver.

In the Jia-block, getting silver couldn't be done with force, only with civility.

It's all the Heavenly Prison, but the style of doing things is one with fists, one with politeness. Hehe, interesting.

In Cell 72, the former Ministry of Works official, Official Jin, was sitting upright on the bed board, reading a book with great interest.

Damn it, the cells in the Jia-block prison actually had bed boards. Some individual cells even had tables and chairs.

The Bing-block prison only had straw.

The smell in the Jia-block prison wasn't as foul as the Bing-block prison. Clearly, the handymen cleaned it up in a timely and diligent manner. Chen Guanlou secretly glanced at the chamber pot in the cell; it was truly clean.

The bigger difference was that more than half of the Jia-block cells were on the ground, with windows on the walls, and every cell had enough natural light.

This environment was indeed "hemp black," not pitch black.

"Official Jin, our Chen Tou is here. If you have anything to say, just tell Chen Tou." Liu She said somewhat flatteringly.

Seeing this, Chen Guanlou thought, is it necessary? Is it necessary to be so flattering to an official who committed an offense? Even if his sister-in-law is the Prince of Donghai's favored concubine, so what? Mr. Jin is still locked in the Heavenly Prison, which shows that his case is likely not something the Prince of Donghai will intervene in, or even something he can intervene in at all. At most, it's just giving some prison preferential treatment.

Officials arrested and thrown into the Heavenly Prison are never independent private cases; there must be other unseen connections behind them. The Prince of Donghai would have to be crazy to stand up for his concubine's brother-in-law.

Did he really think the old Emperor was old and couldn't lift a knife anymore?

When the old Emperor kills, he always wants to destroy them physically and humiliate them mentally. Destroy their bodies, extinguish their spirits. Courtiers privately say that the old Emperor is becoming more and more cold and ungrateful as he gets older, not like a monarch.

"You want to see me?" Chen Guanlou kept a straight face, sizing up the other party.

Official Jin was also sizing up Chen Guanlou; his first impression was that he was young, likely not even twenty years old. To be a squad leader at such a young age, he was either a pure lucky one or had someone behind him. He knew that the squad leader position in the Jia-block prison was lucrative, a position prison guards would fight to the death to get.

Then, he frowned; could someone so young handle things well?

No hair on the mouth, things are not firm.

Official Jin instantly looked down on Chen Guanlou a bit.

He waved his hand, and Chen Quan and the others sensibly all left.

Chen Guanlou frowned; damn it, his people actually followed the orders of a prisoner, and didn't even ask for his opinion as the squad leader before retreating.

After finishing this matter, he must properly discipline them and let them know what the rules are.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Is Chen Tou always this impatient?" Official Jin was about forty, looking steady and full of confidence. It seemed he had already decided on the other party.

Chen Guanlou didn't indulge the other party and turned to leave directly.

This time it was Official Jin's turn to be anxious, "Does Chen Tou not want to complete the task?"

Chen Guanlou looked back at the other party, "If you want to talk, talk quickly; if you don't want to talk, I'll go. I haven't studied much and don't understand your set of rules. In my territory, please follow my rules."

Official Jin was stunned first, then laughed, "Truly young and vigorous!"

"If you're not vigorous, can you still be called a young person?" Chen Guanlou returned to the cell door, "Speak, what do you want, before you are willing to hand over the remaining silver."

"When Zhao Tou was here, he once promised me one thing. It's a pity that the matter hasn't been finished yet, and Zhao Tou was dismissed because of the gathering to gamble. Now this matter naturally falls to Chen Tou."

"What matter?" Chen Guanlou didn't want to talk nonsense with the other party. He finally saw it; Mr. Jin was typically someone who climbed up the nose once given an inch. Zhao Tou and the others were too polite to this person before, making the other party have the illusion that he was still an official in the government office. Look at these official airs; he was locked in the Heavenly Prison, but his airs never fell. He had no self-awareness as a prisoner at all.

If this were in the Bing-block prison, he would have been pushed into the torture room long ago for torture. ===== CHAPTER 41 =====