Proud Feather

Chapter 40 Confession
After a while, the jailer came back, but saw Jinghui lying there half-dead, and the bowl of soup was untouched.

He was unhappy: "Why don't you drink? Are you wasting my time?"

Jing Hui was barely breathing and said with difficulty, "Sir, I can't drink any more..."

The jailer followed his gaze and found a pool of foul-smelling yellow water on the ground, which looked like vomit.

Jinghui is being tortured, so it's normal for him to feel like vomiting after being beaten like this.

The jailer didn't care, with a fierce look on his face: "Just drink if I tell you to! Do you still want me to serve you?"

As he spoke, he took out a whip, as if he was going to whip him again.

"Sir, please wait a minute. I want to drink! I want to drink!" Jinghui responded hurriedly and raised the bowl of soup to her mouth under the gaze of the jailer.

He frowned, took a sip, and then vomited it out with a "wow". Then he vomited continuously, even vomiting yellow water, with a sour and smelly smell that hit his nose.

Jinghui choked and coughed, wiping tears from her eyes. She said, "Sir, it's not that I don't want to drink, it's just that my stomach is burning. I'm sorry for your kindness."

The jailer was so angry that he wanted to beat him, but beating him wouldn't solve the problem. He turned around and walked out angrily: "Just wait!"

The crisis was temporarily resolved. Jinghui lay exhausted on the straw, staring blankly at the top of his head.

He had seen a lot in his life. He had escaped from the chieftain's house with his mother when he was young, and had struggled to survive in his stepfather's house as a teenager. In order to survive and live a good life, he killed everyone who stood in his way, including his master who had done him a favor.

But none of those times could compare to this time. Imperial City Secretary, why was he so blinded by greed that he had to fight for this wealth?
Jinghui recalled that during the day, he clearly heard the conversation between the jailer and the prison boss in the prison, and the source of the conversation was really suspicious.

But, could it be that he was deliberately deceiving himself?

But there is indeed a problem with the soup...

Jinghui thought about it over and over again, until his head hurt, but he still couldn't figure it out.

There was a squeaking sound in the corner; it was a rat. Then there was a commotion in the next cell, and someone exclaimed triumphantly, "Ha! We caught you!"

Jinghui raised her head and looked through the gap, only to see a disheveled prisoner with his back to her, seemingly biting the mouse.

Even though he hadn't eaten or drunk anything properly in days, Jinghui still felt nauseous. This Imperial City Prison was truly a terrible place for humans to stay. Living there made them lose their minds.

"What are you laughing at?" A faint voice sounded, startling Jinghui.

He raised his head with difficulty and found that the person next door had finished eating the mouse and was standing in front of the wooden fence, looking at him dimly. There was a trace of blood on the corner of his dirty mouth, which was particularly scary.

Someone like him who had been living in the Imperial City Prison for a long time was definitely not someone he could mess with. Jinghui forced a smile: "No, no..."

The other person snorted: "If you want to laugh, laugh more. You won't live much longer anyway."

Jinghui was puzzled: "Uncle, what do you mean by this?"

"Hey, you're quite polite, young man." The prisoner scratched his gray hair. "Isn't it obvious? Why don't you drink that bowl of soup?"

Jinghui's heart skipped a beat. He looked around and found that the other cells were either empty or the prisoners inside were half-dead.

The prisoner added, "But it's no use if you don't drink it. You've been targeted. If you don't have soup, you'll have something else."

Jinghui's scalp tingled. He was a man who cherished his life and really didn't want to die!
"Not necessarily? Maybe he just wants to scare me?"

The prisoner sneered, "Just to scare you, who are you? I heard it during the day. The one who came to interrogate you was the princess. Do you think your life is worth anything in the eyes of such a noble? Is it worth the bother?"

Jinghui's eyes moved, but he said nothing. The prisoner saw what he was thinking and continued, "Don't think too highly of yourself! Do you know who I am?"

Jinghui glanced over.

The prisoner chuckled and said, "I'm telling you, I'm a general of the Western Army, a fourth-rank officer. People like you normally can't even set foot in my mansion, but I've still been left here, with no one paying any attention to me for months."

Jinghui was startled, but on reflection it seemed normal. A fourth-rank official was certainly impressive in his eyes, but how many fourth-rank officials were there in the entire Daxiang Dynasty? The Imperial City Administration was directly under the emperor, so they wouldn't even consider third- and second-rank officials, let alone fourth-rank ones.

Thinking of this, Jinghui's heart suddenly turned cold.

"So, I have no way to survive..."

He had originally suspected that the jailer might have been sent to silence him, or perhaps the princess was deliberately trying to trick him into surrendering. As long as he found the right path, he could save his life.

But after hearing what the prisoner said, it turned out that this wasn't the case at all. He wasn't as valuable as he thought. The princess' words before she left might not have been meant to scare him. If he wanted to talk, she would listen. If he didn't want to talk, then he could die. Oh, my body hurts so much...

There was a knock at the outer door and the jailer came back.

Jinghui suddenly panicked.

The jailer was away, and he had no one else to turn to. He didn't know how the jailer would deal with him this time. He was afraid he wouldn't be able to get through this stage.

In a hurry, he struggled to lift his wrist and dropped the bowl with a clang, instantly breaking it into several pieces. He grabbed the sharpest piece and thrust it hard into his body. "Puff!" He screamed, and blood gushed out.

When the jailer heard the noise, he rushed over and saw broken porcelain stuck in Jinghui's abdomen, with blood gushing out.

"Oh no!" The jailer slapped his thigh and, after a brief hesitation, shouted outside, "Someone come quickly! Go call the warden! The prisoner has committed suicide!"

After hearing this, Jinghui let herself fall down with peace of mind.

His gamble paid off. Whether the jailer was joking or trying to silence him, he wouldn't dare to kill him openly. As long as he saw the jail boss, his life would be saved.

Seeing this scene, the prisoner in the next cell chuckled twice and sat back.

……

Early in the morning, Xue Wang walked into the office yawning.

"Sir, that thief has confessed," the jailer came over to report. "It was worth all our efforts, all that coaxing and deceiving."

Xue Wang was not surprised at all: "This person is cunning and suspicious. It's a pity that he comes from the countryside and has never seen the world."

"He's quite ruthless. To save his life, he actually stabbed a hole in his own stomach." The jailer tutted. "If he hadn't committed so many crimes, he'd be more suitable to be disciplined and sent out as a hawk."

Liaoying, a spy in the Imperial City Bureau, whose identities are all kept secret.

Xue Wang shook his head: "I don't believe the information sent back by such a person as a hawk."

Then he asked, "What did he say? Was it of any value?"

"Yes!" The jailer beamed. "The princess's guess was correct. The poison was indeed related to this thief. But his confession was a bit strange. He said that he poisoned the princess himself..."

Xue Wang's eyes flashed, and he said lightly: "I think the princess made up a story to deceive him. Well, since he confessed, let's report it to the princess!"

There's a cat downstairs I haven't seen in a few days. Today, I asked the neighborhood aunt and found out it was hit by a car. It's now in the flower bed. The aunt has covered it with a blanket and fed it. If it survives tonight, I'll take it to the hospital tomorrow. Life is so fragile, I hope God will give it some good luck.