Chapter 345: Criminal Prison, Sun Dali Temple

The Marquis's mansion.

Jia Cong changed his clothes and went to Seeing Yingchun's courtyard.

Passing the pond in front of the courtyard, clear green ripples revealed vibrant lotus blossoms and red hibiscus; beside the waterside pavilion stretched a covered walkway with an embroidered pavilion, where a round table and embroidered stools stood.

Qingwen, Sister Yuanyang, and other maids sat around the table, their laughter like silver bells, red silk threads in hand, silver needles glinting as they competed in threading needles.

Threading needles for skill was a traditional custom of the Qixi Festival, most beloved and esteemed by young maidens.

In this contest, women raced to thread red silk through a seven-holed needle; the more needles threaded and the faster they did it, the more dexterity they were said to have begged from the heavens—the slowest woman was called "Shu Qiao."

Most of the maids present came from Jia Mu's and Lady Wang's chambers; these two households imposed strict rules, and their maids dared not learn gambling or drinking like other servants.

Their excess energy went into needlework, so such needlework competitions were a common pastime when they gathered idle, let alone today being the Qixi Festival.

Within the entire household, Qingwen's needlework was famed as the finest, her skill unmatched.

When the maids saw Jia Cong arrive, Jin Jin Chuan noticed his new clothes and couldn't help smiling, ready to tease Qingwen.

He had been thrown into the Yafu Pass military office prison; the guards were tightly posted, and in Liaodong he was a stranger in a foreign land—with no chance of escape whatsoever.

Tan Chun teased: "I heard Third Brother washed someone's hair today—and not just one person's, but several."

You thought fleeing to this remote place like Liaodong would let you escape everything? Too bad the net of heaven is vast, yet not a single thread is missing—you've finally run straight into the hands of the Lord Weiyuan Marquis."

Love Shenjing, the Sun Dali Temple.

Upon entering the Sun Dali Temple prison, the officials spent days interrogating him, but he only revealed trivial matters, trying to deceive and evade.

Hearing this, Jia Cong knew the scene in his courtyard must have been reported by Hearing Zi Juan and others; recalling Jin Jin Chuan's jest, he instantly understood the "hair-washing" had far deeper meaning.

Yang Yang Hongbin entered the interrogation chamber; the prison attendant hurried forward to greet him.

Originally, he had fled to Liaodong, settled in Yafu Pass, hired the town's best female swordsman, Ai Li, as his bodyguard, planning to wait a few years until the heat died down before dealing with his unfinished business in Jin Ling.

If not for the protection of powerful figures in Jin Ling, you could never have achieved this!

It wasn't until June that someone came to escort him, and he heard the court had suffered a major defeat against the Jurchens beyond the pass.

Jia Cong entered Seeing Yingchun's courtyard and found Lin Daiyu, Tan Chun, Xue Baochai, and the other sisters all present.

Though he found Jia Cong's absurd behavior slightly distasteful, he didn't take it to heart—after all, Zhi Shao and Zhen Ying Lady Lian in Jia Cong's quarters had unusual origins; who in the Jia household didn't know?

As he entered the chamber, he held a document in hand, staring at the bloodied, disheveled prisoner on the rack.

Yang Yang Hongbin had served as a judge in the Sun Dali Temple for years, excelling in investigation, criminal interrogation, and case adjudication, and was long favored by his superiors.

The gloomy prison reeked of damp mildew, mixed with the sharp stench of blood and the weak, labored breathing of dying men.

Even though Lin Daiyu sometimes acted petulant, the intimacy and tender reproach in her tone were unlike anything the other sisters showed…

"My lord, we've interrogated him for days, but he evades every question and refuses to confess. We've had to resort to torture—if he still won't talk, we'll have to apply the major punishment."

Seeing Yingchun laughed: "Third Brother, you're talking nonsense. On Qixi Festival, young ladies' hair isn't just washed casually."

Hearing this, Tan Chun blushed and couldn't help giggling.

He never expected to meet that strange young man at Yafu Pass—who knew every detail of his past in Jin Ling—and so inexplicably fell into the net.

He had been imprisoned for two full months in the Yafu Pass military office jail; the boy who captured him had vanished after locking him away, never to reappear.

A man was bound to a wooden rack, his undergarments shredded by whips, his body streaked with blood, looking utterly pitiful and broken.

…

Beside him, Lin Daiyu frowned slightly, her lips puckering.

Later, he heard rumors from the jailer: at the time, the Zhou dynasty was locked in a stalemate with the Jurchens, and no one had time to care for him.

He traveled for half a month before learning he wasn't being sent back to Jin Ling, but to Love Shenjing—this filled him with dread.

Cuimo and Hearing Zi Juan, attending nearby, smiled as he entered.

The prisoner on the rack lifted his head, gazing at Yang Yang Hongbin—he seemed unfamiliar with the title "Lord Weiyuan Marquis."

Unexpectedly, when Qingwen saw Jia Cong arrive, she grew uneasy and preemptively glared at Jin Jin Chuan, silencing her before she could tease.

Yet Lin Daiyu came from a noble family, accustomed to the affairs of aristocratic households; when her mother was alive, her father had no shortage of concubines to ensure the Lin family's lineage.

But he didn't mind, laughing: "If you're so fond of it, I'll wash your hair too."

A brazier beside him burned red-hot, driving off some of the prison's dampness.

Seeing Yingchun and Tan Chun sensed Lin Daiyu's resentment and smiled quietly; Xue Baochai smiled too, but her expression held a touch of melancholy.

Even as the Sun Dali Temple began torturing him, he gritted his teeth and endured.

He dared not reveal a single detail about Jin Ling, for he had left behind a fatal vulnerability there—forcing him to tread with caution.

While others threaded seven or eight needles, hers already held over ten; though she teased others for being slow, her small hands flew up and down without pause.

"Zhou Zhou Suqing, when Zou Zou Huaiyi was executed, how many others were implicated? Yet you slipped away unscathed, vanished without a trace—Yingtian Prefecture and the Embroidered Uniform Guard scoured Jin Ling but never caught you."

He had originally been promoted to Left Director of the Sun Dali Temple after collaborating with Jia Cong to solve the Water Surveillance Office case in Jin Ling; now he was a trusted officer under Sun Dali Temple Director Wei Wei Guanyao.

He teased: "I thought Third Brother was sharp-witted—hah! Turns out he's just a dull goose, fooled by his precious maids without even realizing it."

The branding iron in the brazier glowed purple-red, emitting a cruel, metallic heat.

But he didn't know how much longer he could hold out—the Sun Dali Temple officials didn't seem in a hurry, merely whipping him dozens of times daily before stopping, letting him recover, then tormenting him again the next day.

He had traveled for years and had some experience—he knew the whippings were merely appetizers, far from the true horrors to come.

Once the major punishment was applied, confession meant life, silence meant death.

Yet the Sun Dali Temple officials seemed confident, not in a rush—as if waiting for something, unwilling to kill him too easily.

Zhou Zhou Suqing knew the officer's surname was Yang, the lead investigator in his case; he had been imprisoned nearly ten days, and Yang had visited several times, always saying little.

The young man who captured him in Liaodong—apparently he was the Lord Weiyuan Marquis… such a young man, yet a marquis…

…

Yang Yang Hongbin said coldly: "Zhou Zhou Suqing, you've traveled far and wide—you've seen enough. After days of interrogation, you still refuse to confess. You know your crimes merit death, yet you hope to deceive your way out."

But I haven't been idle—I took this time to go to Jin Ling and found a woman named Chunlian, and a one-year-old boy."

Yang Yang Hongbin smiled grimly: "You Zhou family has good fortune—the child is sturdy, and his mother's milk is plentiful; he'll grow up easily…"

Hearing this, Zhou Zhou Suqing's face turned ashen; a chill surged to his crown, his bloodied body convulsed involuntarily on the rack, as if trying to break free.

…

Zhou Zhou Suqing knew his capture meant no good end.

The Japanese pirates' uprising at Longtan Port in Jin Ling was tied to him; he deeply colluded with Jin Ling's high officials to fence stolen foreign goods.

Either charge alone would seal his death.

Once, he was merely a servant of the Zhen family of Su Zhou; on Lantern Night, he lost his young mistress and fled to Japan to escape legal retribution.

After a lifetime of wandering, he finally saved enough to marry a wife—but for years, she bore him no children.

Later, he took a fancy to Chunlian, a courtesan from Xingxiu Pavilion in Jin Ling, bought her freedom, and made her his concubine—few knew of this.

Unexpectedly, after months of intimacy, she became pregnant.

The child was his only bloodline—and a boy at that—the sole remaining heir of the Huo family.

When he fled Jin Ling, Chunlian was heavily pregnant, on the verge of delivery—he could not take her with him.

That child was his greatest vulnerability, his fatal weakness.

His master behind the scenes was immensely powerful; after his escape, that man would surely investigate—and would inevitably uncover this secret.

At the time, he was desperate to flee—he had no other choice.

He also assumed that as long as his whereabouts were unknown, those in Jin Ling would hesitate—should they find his woman and child, they'd see them as valuable leverage and dare not harm them.

He had planned that after several years, once the matter had cooled, he would find a way to take them both to the open sea.

Precisely because of this, since entering the Sun Dali Temple prison, despite repeated whippings and coercion, he had clenched his teeth and refused to confess.

He never imagined things had reached this point—how had the Sun Dali Temple official learned of this? From his tone, Chunlian and the child were already in his hands.

…

Yang Yang Hongbin waved toward the door; a female jailer brought in a woman and child.

The woman was beautiful, graceful, holding a chubby, adorable baby.

The woman entered the chamber, terrified; she stared at the bloodied Zhou Zhou Suqing on the rack but failed to recognize him.

Yet Zhou Zhou Suqing recognized her at once: "Chunlian!"

Only then did she react, crying out: "Master! How have you come to this…?"

Yang Yang Hongbin waved to the jailer; the mother and child were dragged out of the chamber.

A cold voice echoed: "You've seen your wife and child. I brought them all the way from Jin Ling—I think you know what I want."

With them, I no longer need to use the major punishment…"

At this moment, Zhou Zhou Suqing's spirit shattered—he never imagined an official of the Sun Dali Temple could be so cruel and vile.

"My lord, spare them! If you let them live, I'll confess everything—no lies, not a single word!"

Hearing this, Yang Yang Hongbin breathed a quiet sigh of relief—no one knew how much of the Jin Ling Water Surveillance Office case Zhou Zhou Suqing truly knew.

He knew well that under torture, Zhou Zhou Suqing would likely confess—but coerced confessions, or wild accusations under pain, were all too common.

The Battalion Commander Zou Zou Huaiyi of the Jin Ling Water Surveillance Office had been executed; if there was a higher mastermind behind him, that person must be of high rank and immense power—Jin Ling was the secondary capital of Zhou, and any fallout would spread widely.

Jia Cong had repeatedly devised brilliant strategies in Jin Ling, yet as soon as Zou Zou Huaiyi was executed, he withdrew promptly—precisely because of such concerns.

Yang Yang Hongbin had shared danger with Jia Cong in Jin Ling and deeply agreed.

Now, the Sun Dali Temple Director himself had assigned him to lead Zhou Zhou Suqing's case—placing him squarely atop a powder keg.

If Zhou Zhou Suqing's confession under torture contained falsehoods or omissions, triggering unrest in Jin Ling's bureaucracy or even across the Six Prefectures and One Circuit of Jiangnan, Yang Yang Hongbin would become the sacrificial offering—dead with no burial.

Yang Yang Hongbin, expert in interrogation, knew well that torture was the crudest method.

Coercion works—but for a case of this magnitude, it was not the safest approach.

…

Fortunately, heaven had not abandoned him—just as Zhou Zhou Suqing arrived in the capital, the Zhongche Office's Love Shenjing branch received word and swiftly delivered a crucial piece of information.

A staff member of the Zhongche Office, linked to the major case of the Shui Yunwu Jian Office, had learned some of its secrets: Zhou Zhou Suqing had important family members left in Jin Ling, and they could be used as leverage!

Yang Yang Hongbin, acting on leads provided by the Zhongche Office, dispatched officials from the Sun Dali Temple to secretly travel to Jin Ling; without much effort, they found the mother and child.

After Zhou Zhou Suqing was imprisoned, Yang Yang Hongbin never resorted to severe torture—he was merely buying time, building psychological pressure on Zhou Zhou Suqing, waiting until the mother and child were found so he could strike with certainty!

For even the toughest, most cunning, and ruthless man, when faced with his only bloodline descendant, would abandon all hope of escape and be forced to submit.

Only in this state would Zhou Zhou Suqing's confession be as utterly reliable as possible.

The risks Yang Yang Hongbin faced would also be reduced to the absolute minimum…

…

That night, the candlelight in the Sun Dali Temple's interrogation chamber burned all night; Yang Yang Hongbin summoned a physician to treat Zhou Zhou Suqing's wounds lightly.

He ordered all jailers to leave the chamber, leaving only himself and one Sun Dali Temple scribe.

The entire interrogation room was eerily silent, save for the occasional cries of an infant from the adjacent room.

To Zhou Zhou Suqing, this was the most heart-shattering sound in the world…

That night, the scribe wrote over a dozen pages of testimony based on Zhou Zhou Suqing's confession; each page completed left him drenched in sweat…

Yang Yang Hongbin, upon hearing Zhou Zhou Suqing's confession, was stunned.

He cross-examined Zhou Zhou Suqing repeatedly on every detail, verifying every point until he was certain.

As dawn broke over the eastern sky, Yang Yang Hongbin handed the revised and verified confession to the scribe for formal transcription.

He could not wait for the Sun Dali Temple Minister Wei Wei Guanyao to arrive at court—he went directly to the minister's residence.

He needed Wei Wei Guanyao to confirm the confession before it could be swiftly submitted to the palace for imperial decree!

(End of Chapter)