Da Suining

Chapter 103 Shi Bao
When the gambling house is open for business, it is not afraid of you winning, but afraid of you not coming.

Once they come, it's like a fish eating the hook, and they can only be at the mercy of them in the future.

For gamblers, once they win, of course they want to win more.

Once you lose, you will do everything possible to win back.

The first few times when I went to Bisheng Fang, Baxi won more than 100 taels of silver. With the silver, the gang was willing to flatter him. say what.

Later, he lost money one after another, lost all the 50 taels of silver he borrowed, and pawned his valuables. He was poor and empty, and he was very miserable. Although he was working as a servant in the palace, what was the monthly allowance enough for?

In order to make money, he wanted to borrow money from the gambling shop, but the gambling shop refused to borrow money. He even made a fuss in there once, and said he wanted to trouble the gambling shop. Because of his prestige, the gambling house lent him a few hundred taels, but it was a pity that he lost everything.

Except for those who owed money to the casino, almost all those who gambled in Bishengfang had borrowed money from Baxi.

In the past, he didn't pay back the money, and Eunuch Chang was used as a shield. Now that Eunuch Chang is dead, how can he be taken advantage of?
There was an endless stream of people who came to ask for the bill.

Changfu.

Master Zhou understood the ins and outs, and secretly sighed in his heart that he played well.

The yamen servant quickly brought up Bai Er and Bai Si.

Bai Er and Bai Si have been in the cell for a long time, and they are hardly human.

He was beaten with a killing stick, and his hands were pinched again. The white prison clothes he was wearing were soaked in blood, and his blood was fermented, smelly and thick.

The two of them knelt there with disheveled hair, the blood on the corners of their mouths hadn't wiped off yet.

"You——" Master Zhou hadn't finished speaking before Bai Er and Bai Si nodded their heads on the ground: "Whatever your lord wants to ask, we must answer honestly. If you have any reservations, we won't lose if your lord beats us to death."

After a few days in prison, my consciousness improved.

The attitude of pleading guilty is very good.

Master Zhou didn't ask, so he rushed to answer.

Can't be trained.

Master Zhou is also very satisfied: "Eunuch Chang's death, please tell me again."

"We strangled Eunuch Chang to death that night..." Bai Er opened his mouth, and Bai Si retorted: "Actually, we didn't strangle Eunuch Chang to death."

"Huh? You will be beaten for talking nonsense."

"We didn't talk nonsense." Bai Si glanced at Baxi, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, and said, "That night we thought we had strangled Mr. Chang, and we tried to escape through the window when we saw a person sneaking over. I had to squat under the window and stay still. After the man went in, I heard him call Chang Eunuch twice before lighting the lamp. If he saw Eunuch Chang’s miserable condition, he would naturally call out. We were worried about being exposed, but unexpectedly he Not a sound came out."

"We thought it was strange. We peeped around quietly and saw that he touched Eunuch Chang's breath, untied Eunuch Chang from the noose and put him on the bed. Eunuch Chang said that he was murdered and wanted him to catch the murderer. But he didn’t panic, he just made a bag to clean up the vases, calligraphy and paintings in Eunuch Chang’s bedroom. Eunuch Chang wanted to stop him, but he said, “I’ll catch the murderer for you, and I’ll definitely get some of it. It might not be enough if I exchanged these things for money.” .'"

"Eunuch Chang coughed twice and scolded him at that time, saying that he was a prodigal, a good gambler, and actually asked for things from the seller. He also said that several families entrusted their servants to come to Chang's mansion to ask for a bill, and said that if he did this again , don’t let him work in the palace, lest the emperor know what he committed, and punish him at that time. Eunuch Chang didn’t let him take things, but he wanted to grab them, so Eunuch Chang scolded him as a little bastard, and said he was worthless , he got annoyed, soaked a towel in the copper basin and put it on Eunuch Chang's face, Eunuch Chang had no strength, couldn't move, and was suffocated to death by him."

Hearing what Bai Er and Bai Si said, everyone was surprised.

Master Zhou rolled his eyelids: "Tell me, who is he?"

Everyone looked at Ba Xi unanimously.

The eyes of the masses are still discerning.

The incense burner is dense.

The coffin carried back was placed eeriely in the nave.

The paper money on the ground turned white again.The filial hat on Baxi's head is also white, and his face is also pale.

"Don't wrong people, how could I suffocate my father-in-law to death? My father-in-law is my dearest person." Baxi helped the coffin and squatted down, then hugged the coffin and cried: "I have been with my father-in-law since I was a child, and my father-in-law treats me like a parent. , I said that I wanted to provide for my father-in-law until the end of my life, but unexpectedly my father-in-law was murdered by an adulterer, I could not avenge my father-in-law, and I would be framed for murder, my father-in-law—”

It's heartbroken.

In an instant, Baxi pointed at Bai Er and Bai Si again: "I'm afraid you are deliberately spreading rumors when you are about to die. I didn't suffocate my father-in-law with a towel at all."

"It's you, we can see clearly."

"My lord, my father-in-law must have been killed by these two people. They framed me to clear themselves up." Baxi's face turned red like a pig's liver.

"It's time to talk about the configuration of our cell." Master Zhou stretched his waist and yawned: "Qingcheng Prison is not a gentle town, there are only mice and cockroaches there, and the three meals are rotten. You also have to suffer ten sticks every day. The stick clamps the kneecaps, which can crush the kneecaps. Press the red-hot iron on the skin, and it can burn the teeth in one go. If any of you tell lies, or hide them , or lying and deceiving, wait for me to find out, and send them to the prison together."

The crowd was silent.

The thugs from Bishengfang saw that the situation was not good, so they slipped away with oil on their feet.

The little panic that Baxi showed just now was quickly suppressed by him.

Maybe it's because she has been serving in the palace for a long time, and she can be considerate even in the vortex of intrigue, let alone the current scene?
Although Xiang Suining explained how Bai Er and Bai Si framed Ba Xi, he just wanted to lead Ba Xi to commit suicide, and he never expected him to be so calm.

What Bai Er and Bai Si said couldn't frighten him at all.

Instead, a few half-grown children from Changfu knelt down.

These children are usually taciturn. They say they are children, but in fact they are no different from a vase or a stool.

Usually they are only responsible for taking care of the father-in-law, or running errands, or doing odd jobs, and they don't say a word if they are redundant.

Kneeling in the hall at this time, several people said in unison: "We are willing to expose."

"Don't talk nonsense." Baxi clenched his fists, showing a fierce look on his face.

"Let's just tell the truth, Mr. Zhou will judge everything." Xiang Suining encouraged the children.

The child who was a little taller in the lead kowtowed and said: "Eunuch Chang was suffocated to death by Eunuch Baxi, but he was not smothered to death with a towel soaked in water, but with yellow paper, which was used by the palace people to go to the toilet. The paper is soft and thin, and can absorb water very well. Baxi’s father-in-law came very late that night, panicked, not knowing what had happened, and came in and asked if he had slept. We didn’t know, either. He came to the father-in-law's room by himself, and the father-in-law doesn't like to be disturbed when he sleeps at night, so we followed from a distance, for fear that he would bump into the father-in-law."

"Later, the light in the father-in-law's room was turned on, and we didn't hear the father-in-law talking. We just pretended to be okay, so we went our separate ways. After half an hour, the father-in-law Baxi hadn't come out yet. We were worried, so we secretly went to see Seeing what happened, through the crack of the door, I saw Eunuch Chang lying on the bed. Eunuch Baxi used yellow paper soaked in water. Several pieces of yellow paper were soaked enough to cover Eunuch Chang's face. Eunuch Chang It's already gone. Eunuch Chang was killed by Eunuch Baxi."

"We wanted to report to the officials when a human life happened, but Father Baxi said that Father Chang would dare to kill him. If we dared to talk nonsense, he would kill us. Although our lives are cheap, ants are also lives. We Regret your life... Eunuch Baxi also said that he kept our deed of selling our lives, if we dare not obey, even if we are killed, no second person will intervene."

"Then why are you telling the truth now?"

"We are also children of poor families. We sold ourselves to serve in the Chang Mansion when we had nowhere to go. Eunuch Chang never beat us just because we were servants. Instead, he treated us very well. Although we are afraid of death, we still have a little conscience."

"You guys, how dare you betray me?" Baxi picked up the incense burner on the table and threw it at a child's head. The child didn't dodge, and blood flowed from his forehead immediately.

"The grasshopper after autumn is pretty good at jumping." Mr. Zhou said coldly: "Baxi, there are so many witnesses, what else can you say?"

Baxi didn't answer.

There was a wind in the nave.

The wind picked up the paper ash in the copper basin and danced in the air.

Several pieces of yellow paper were blown onto the coffin by the wind, and the white cloth covering the coffin was lifted.

The gate was crowded with common people, and everyone said that this must be the manifestation of Eunuch Chang.

"Take him back and interrogate him well."

"I won't say anything."

"You don't need to say it, I have a way for you to say it." Mr. Zhou still has this bit of self-confidence, his mouth is tough, can it be tougher than a soldering iron?He has seen a lot of tough-mouthed guys, and if he enters his cell, isn't he as obedient as a cat?
Of course, when entering the Yamen, a meal of sticks is indispensable.

Baxi served in the palace, he was more noble than ordinary servants, and Eunuch Chang had protected him for so many years, so he was also raised to be fine-skinned and tender.

After these sticks fell, he couldn't get up on the ground. When he was thrown into the cell, he could only be dragged by two people by his arms, just like dragging a sack.

The people in the cell watched all this silently.

The yamen servant reassured Yueniang and the others: "The real culprit has been caught, it's this guy named Baxi, you can go out after two days."

Everyone looked sideways, wanting to see what Baxi looked like.

Yueniang held on to the wooden door with both hands, and saw Baxi lying on the ground, looking at her young age, why would she want to kill someone with such deep hatred?
It seems that he was beaten, and the beating was very bad.

Who let him kill.

The yamen servant took Baxi and threw her into a room next to Yueniang.

Yueniang ran over, held the wooden door and looked at Baxi.

Baxi raised her head slowly, and spat out the dirty blood in her mouth.

His robe was battered and sticky to the flesh of his ass.

Yueniang frowned.

Mr. Nie was going crazy in the cell. When he was first arrested, he still had some things to do, such as get some beatings. Now he is not beating him, and he is not going to be released. The Nie House refuses. Spend money to visit and manage, and spend a day locked up with these prisoners, eating and drinking, it is smelly and dirty, and even Yueniang has become so black and fishy that I can't take it seriously.

Master Nie picked a longer straw and bit it in his mouth: "This is the one who caused us to be beaten. Where is he from? Why did he kill Eunuch Chang?"

Baxi didn't raise her head either.

"Why, do you dare to do it or not? Are you still a man?"

Hit people without hitting them in the face.

Ba Xi hated people calling him not a man the most in his life.

Baxi raised his head, the flames in his eyes could set the cell on fire.

Master Nie knew that he had made a slip of the tongue, and was afraid of Baxi's ferocious gaze, so he sat down with his knees wrapped around him, not daring to raise his head.

Yueniang quietly looked at Baxi's face, small eyes, dark pupils, and a slightly collapsed nose.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on it, and then looked over carefully. She had a thin body, narrow shoulders, and a pair of gray boots on her feet were stained with blood.His fingers have thick knuckles, just like Xu Jun's. Maybe he has worked hard for his life in these years.

Yueniang's tears flowed down: "It's you."

"You got the wrong person."

"It's you, and I won't admit it wrong. You have a red scar like a copper coin on the back of your neck. It was accidentally scalded when I held you in the fire when you were young."

Baxi snorted coldly, and simply turned her back, not looking at Yueniang.

When he turned his back, his robe fell, and sure enough, there was a red scar on the back of his neck.

Yueniang was so excited that she wanted to squeeze through the wooden door to hug Baxi: "Shi Bao, you are not Baxi, you are Shi Bao, I am your mother, I am your mother—turn around quickly, let mother look at you."

Baxi was indifferent.

Yueniang was happy and sad at the same time, the hand holding the door was trembling, and the copper lock on the door was also rattled by her belt.

"Shi Bao, why did you kill someone? Shi Bao——"

"Don't make noise." The yamen servant patted the wooden door with a knife, telling Yueniang to keep her voice down.

Why are you so excited.

Have relatives come out of prison?
But Yueniang grabbed the servant's scabbard: "Masters, you must have made a mistake. He, my Shi Bao—how could he kill people? He won't."

"What Shi Bao? This is the prisoner who killed Eunuch Chang. His name is Baxi, and he is a eunuch."

"I don't care who he is, he is my Shi Bao. He won't kill people. He was very timid when he was a child. If I killed a chicken, he would cry in fright. If I killed a fish, he would beg me to release him. You must It was a mistake."

"It can't be wrong, the witnesses and material evidence are complete, and he won't be wronged."

"I don't allow you to say that he killed someone." Yueniang shook the door: "Can you let him go, please let me go to Mr. Zhou, man... I killed Eunuch Chang, I killed him. No Do someone else's work."

"You treat it like killing people for fun." The yamen servant drew his sword and left.Several people sat back at the table, drinking tea and punching.

There are people doing everything in the cell, some talking in their sleep, and some being beaten and scolded.

Anyway, there are all kinds of prisoners in the cell, and the yamen servant only thought that Yueniang said this strange thing because she was out of her mind, and didn't take it seriously.

Yueniang went to call Xu Jun again: "Look quickly, quickly see if he is Shi Bao."

Xu Jun recognized Ba Xi after just one glance. Although he was older and taller than before, he was still so dark and had the same eyes.

Baxi quietly watched Yueniang crying there, as if watching a stranger.

(End of this chapter)