Chapter 503: Only Takes Money, Guarantees Nothing

"What is it, you want to stick up for the cult bandits? Jailer Chen, your position is very problematic."

Jiang Tu suddenly spoke up and rebuked.

Chen Chen Guanlou laughed in spite of himself, "You're a prisoner right now, putting on what official airs, and questioning me. Whether I have a problem or not, would I not know myself, do I need you to tell me? Do you still want me to help you or not?"

"You have a way? You really have a way?" Jiang Tu was half-believing, half-doubting.

Chen Chen Guanlou said with a grin, "Whether I have a way or not depends on Lord Jiang's sincerity. How much sincerity you have, that's how big a way I have."

Jiang Tu gave a cold snort, full of contempt, "You jailers, as expected, are all people who only see money."

"Not so! We jailers do not merely see money, but rather abide by the principle of integrity. We do things with credibility, take money and do the job, we don't cheat old or young. There is absolutely no situation like Lord Jiang, where one takes money but doesn't do the job, or jacks up the price midway. We all have a fixed price, what it is is what it is. If we overspend midway, we swallow the loss ourselves, we absolutely will not blackmail halfway through."

Chen Chen Guanlou said in all seriousness.

Of course, before him, jailers truly were people who only saw money, with no rules and no standards, purely running wild. They specialized in bullying those without backing, or those with relatively low-level backing. The outside world's prejudice against the Heaven Prison was not fabricated out of thin air; jailers had indeed done many taboo things.

But ever since he became a jailer, he had re-established the rules.

At least the Jia-sized prison block, compared to the past, had long since been transformed beyond recognition.

For all things, prepare and you succeed; do not prepare and you fail.

Every prisoner, regardless of status or rank, was charged according to the fee schedule, with clearly marked prices, all treated equally. The jailers, every month, could receive ideal sums of money, everyone was happy.

Once the rules were set up, Chen Chen Guanlou was the first to take the lead in following them. Apart from the fee items on the schedule, for private fees, an assessment was made in advance, a quote was given, if the official prisoner paid then it was done, if not paid then it was not done. Absolutely no going back on one's word, absolutely no sullying the reputation of the Heaven Prison.

Over the past year, the effect had been very obvious, earning the trust of the official prisoners. Business volume had clearly expanded. It was regulated, yet income had increased.

Truly achieving the goal of "you good, me good, everyone good."

Jiang Tu gritted his teeth in anguish, with tears still hanging at the corners of his eyes. This person, one second still crying for the late Emperor, the next second thinking of defecting to the new Emperor, wanting to be the new Emperor's dog. The so-called heartfelt emotion was nothing more than a momentary touch. Sentiment and loyalty are priceless — not worth a single cent. In the end, it's still tricks that win people's hearts.

Jiang Tu seemed to have convinced himself, and asked directly, "How much?"

Chen Chen Guanlou held up two fingers, and Jiang Tu immediately burst out cursing, "Twenty thousand taels, why don't you just go rob someone? Chen Chen Guanlou, don't push it too far."

"Listen to my plan first, see if it's worth twenty thousand taels, how about it?"

"Go ahead."

"You must think I'm going through the Hou Fu's connections to deliver a message into the palace. Not so. I plan to go through the Ministry of Justice's channel to deliver the message. The Ministry of Justice is one of the Three Judicial Offices, and the explosion case is handled by the Three Judicial Offices. If a Ministry of Justice official is willing to speak for you, think for yourself — is it possible you could avoid summary execution?"

Hearing this, Jiang Tu's heart immediately stirred.

"Which official in the Ministry of Justice are you going through? Give me the name first, I need to know if this can work."

"That doesn't follow the rules. I can tell you what channel I'm using, and that already breaks the rules. If I tell you the specific person's name too, then how can I do business in the future, how can others still trust me? Do you think you're the only one in the Heaven Prison who needs a channel to save your life? So many official prisoners, so many death-row prisoners, they're all waiting to find me to pull strings. I can't ruin the cooking stove for the sake of one person, right?"

Chen Chen Guanlou's words left Jiang Tu speechless.

His demand was indeed unreasonable, thoroughly not in line with the unspoken rules of officialdom. The rule of officialdom is: don't ask what you shouldn't ask. Pay the money, wait for news. If the news doesn't come, you have to take the loss yourself, or if you have the ability, find your own way to recover face. Inquiring about other people's connections and channels is purely the move of a newbie, and it breaks taboo.

Jiang Tu wiped his face, "On what basis should I trust you?"

"You can choose not to trust me. You can find people outside to help, I don't care. Whether I make this money or not makes no difference to me. I'm not short of your money to spend." Chen Chen Guanlou smiled very casually, very freely. What he said was true, he really wasn't short of that bit of money to spend. He didn't dare claim to be rich, but comfortably well-off definitely met the standard, even far exceeding the standard of comfortably well-off.

He could perfectly well not make this money.

Besides, this money wouldn't fall into his pocket alone, everyone had to take a share. That was the rule of the Heaven Prison. It's just that some took more, some took less.

"Can the Ministry of Justice really speak for me?"

"You didn't carry out the explosion, you only need to bear the responsibility of poor oversight in construction." Chen Chen Guanlou said so.

"I'm just afraid Your Majesty won't believe me, and to please the court officials, will kill me to appease the heavens." Jiang Tu said pessimistically.

"So, you need to show loyalty to Your Majesty. Just tell me, do you want my help or not? I'm very busy, I can't waste a whole day on you."

"You're already a jailer, what could you possibly be busy with? If there's something to do, you can perfectly well hand it off to the people below." Jiang Tu muttered a complaint.

He had also been an official, how could he not know whether officials were busy or not. Busy was truly busy, but not busy was also truly not busy, it all depended on how one served as that official.

"I'm busy drinking tea, busy reading the court gazette, busy bragging and drinking."

Chen Chen Guanlou spouted a load of nonsense, and Jiang Tu was furious.

Thinking of the other person living it up every day, and still making money off him, Jiang Tu wanted to strangle the other.

He was jealous!

Madly jealous!

He gritted his teeth, and after a long while finally made up his mind, "Fine, twenty thousand it is." Consider it feeding a dog.

"No guarantee of success." Chen Chen Guanlou stated first, "No after-sales guarantee. When the time comes and things don't work out, don't come running to blame me, saying I tricked you. That's not how the game is played."

"Then what can you guarantee?" Jiang Tu laughed in anger. This was the first time in his life he'd met someone who took money but offered no after-sales guarantee. Back when the late Emperor was still around, if anyone dared to toy with him like this, he would surely repay tenfold, making the other person wish they were dead.

Chen Chen Guanlou said solemnly, "The only thing I can guarantee is that I will do my best to deliver your words. As for the officials over at the Ministry of Justice, whether they can do their best, I cannot guarantee.

Matters at court you understand better than I do, ever-changing and unpredictable, especially now — the new Emperor has just ascended and needs to establish his footing firmly. Pardoning you requires tremendous courage, and also involves tremendous risk. Not just anyone has that guts. Moreover, the new Emperor's reputation has always been that he is good at accepting advice. If court officials whisper in his ear, insisting on executing you, I reckon the new Emperor probably wouldn't object, would he?"

"You're not wrong. The new Emperor's temper, his specific style of doing things, is still not stable, very easily swayed by court officials." Jiang Tu's face was full of annoyance, "No matter what, I have to try. At worst, I'll think of another way."