Chapter Eleven: The Jailbreak

  Nanjing Prefectural Prison

  The dim light made the interior space of this underground building seem a bit gloomy, which made Tan Zong feel somewhat unadapted for the first time in the big prison. Especially the stench mixed with the air, the smell of urine and the faint smell of corpses, all violently impacting Tan Zong's olfactory nerve endings, making him helplessly try to control his breathing - using his nose less and his mouth more.

  "At first, I thought the guy who built this huge prison underground was an excellent criminologist and psychologist, but it's really depressing. If you stay here for too long, even people with good mental quality will collapse." Tan Zong muttered to himself as he looked around the prison, seeing that the situation inside was similar to some ancient dramas, and his aversion was forcibly put down - it could be seen that this place had been cleaned up beforehand, so the two prisons at the entrance were relatively clean.

  "This is the benefit of having someone backing you up." Tan Zong gave himself a boost, and only then did he bid farewell to the several inspectors who had escorted him here.

  Tan Zong only turned around after the person left, first shaking off his brand new Confucian robe and then touching the bandages wrapped around his body. After confirming that everything was fine, he said to the prison guard holding the lamp: "Sir, please lead the way."

  In fact, following the usual practice of past dynasties, a prison guard like this is not actually an official, but can only be considered a kind of clerk. As the old saying goes, "Reasoning too much won't kill you", and flattering people won't hurt either. Tan Zong, who deeply agrees with this, wouldn't nitpick someone's identity endlessly like some book-smart protagonists in certain period dramas.

  Yuan Gong smiled and said, "The prison guard smiled at Tan Zong, obviously having received Tan Zong's gift. He then continued, 'This humble Crui Yuan is just a small underling under the command of Wang Lao Tou, what kind of big shot is that? If you keep addressing me like this, it will shorten my lifespan.'"

  "Look at what Officer Cui said." Tan Zong unconsciously narrowed his eyes, feeling that this prison guard named Cui Yuan was emphasizing how insignificant he was, but there was clearly more to it. Then he thought of the mention of Wang Lao Tou and suddenly understood a bit.

  "It seems that the Wang family still has some lingering hopes." Tan Zong sighed inwardly, but he knew this was also inevitable. After all, the Wang family had been operating in Nanjing Prefecture for many years, and although they hadn't managed to make the entire prefecture as solid as a iron plate, they were almost like a water bucket - if you wanted to secretly kill someone, there were ways to do it everywhere, and it was really too easy.

  Fortunately, I am also one of those who have a good relationship with Zhang Heyan and Cao Qiaomu, so I'm not afraid that they will do me harm. Otherwise, this lawsuit would be a big deal to fight, after all, plotting against the second place winner of the Nanjing Fu Provincial Examination is a serious matter. If it gets out, even the Grand Council wouldn't dare cover it up. The inspectors would likely report it directly to the Emperor at the first opportunity.

  At that time, there is no need to check the accounts of Nanjing Prefecture. The inspector only needs to verify the procedure and can directly take people from Nanjing Prefecture: from the prefect to the prison guard, not a single one will be able to escape.

  In short, this Yuanyuan from Nanjing Prefecture will at least be a jinshi and become a seventh-rank official in the future, unless he becomes muddle-headed. He is bound to be appointed as a county magistrate in some place.

  Moreover, the Daxiang Dynasty had been in power for more than four years, and the Yuan of Nanjing Prefecture had never produced a "Tong Jinshi" graduate. The most unfortunate one was also the 13th place in the second class that year!

  Thanks to Zhang Heyan's reminder, Tan Zong was not worried that the Wang family would dare to send someone to cause trouble for him in this prison. Although his heart was not light, he was not too worried either. Instead, he had the idea of experiencing a bit of growth and broadening his horizons.

  Down the stone steps with two bends, Tan Zong was already standing in front of the prison cell of the Nanjing Prefecture of the Great Shun Dynasty. There were about a dozen or twenty cells on both sides, separated by thick wooden bars as thick as a child's arm. The wooden bars between the cells were slightly denser, making it almost impossible for an adult's arm to pass through. In contrast, the walking path on this side was relatively sparse, allowing prisoners not only to stretch out their arms but also to stick out their heads.

  "Cui Dage, where am I staying tonight?" Tan Yong still had a smile on his face as he patted the brand new Confucian robe on his body again, and the polite words in his mouth were like they didn't cost him anything.

  Tan Zong deliberately tidied up his clothes, not because he thought it was dirty here, but rather to consciously remind himself of his identity in front of Cui Yuan - a Confucian scholar, a child prodigy, a top scholar and a second-place winner!

  This is a simple psychological hint, Tan Zong used it when he was an official in later generations.

  "Uh..." Cui Yu looked around and seemed to be struggling with his thoughts, taking a moment before responding to Tan Zong: "To be honest with you, Yuan Gong, due to Wang's hasty orders, I didn't have much time to clean up either. I only managed to sprinkle some white powder and lay out some dried hay in the two cells at the entrance; there was no time to do anything inside."

  He looked up and saw that Tan Zong had already seen the situation here early on. It was just that this meeting with Cui Yuan brought up that prison head's order again, so Tan Zong didn't feel like leaving any room for distraction, but he also didn't interrupt, only letting Cui Yuan continue speaking.

  "But these two cells aren't that convenient either." Cui Yuan said, casting a meaningful glance at the empty cell on his left: "This one's not auspicious, the previous few inmates all went mad and died, and the last one was just a few days ago."

  Chuiyuan finished speaking and suddenly added: "This matter cannot be told to outsiders, but it is not dare to hide from Ayuan Gong."

  When Cui Yuan said this, Tan Zong's heart also couldn't help but add a few more gloomy thoughts. If it were put in the future, as an excellent Communist Party member, Tan Zong would absolutely be the most extreme atheist. But now that even soul transmigration has appeared, what else can't happen? This kind of geomancy talk still makes Tan Zong's heart beat rapidly.

  "It's fortunate that it was just one of them." Tan Zong comforted himself and quickly looked at Cui Yuan.

  "This side of the room also has a problem." Cui Yuan consciously paused for a moment, but saw that Tan Zong had not asked any questions, and his heart felt a bit embarrassed. He rubbed his nose and coughed a few times before continuing: "There is a prisoner inside who was just taken out of the death row, and tomorrow he will be taken to the capital to verify his identity and receive his sentence. If Lord Ya Yuan does not want to go to that room, I'm afraid tonight can only be spent in this room."

  "Dead prisoner?" Tan Zong raised his eyes to look at the prisoner in the cell, and saw that the prisoner was hanging his head low, not speaking or looking up at anyone. A head of grayish-white long hair fell on his shoulders, and a grayish-black beard dragged all the way to the ground. If you add the tattered prison uniform on the prisoner's body, it would be a perfect image of a dead prisoner waiting for death.

  "It's a dead prisoner." Cui Yuan continued, "According to the rules of our Nanjing Prefecture, this kind of dead prisoner should be brought to the main prison gate a day in advance before being taken away. Firstly, it allows us to set off early tomorrow, and secondly, it is convenient for body examination, so as to avoid any mistakes when we arrive at the capital, which would be unbearable even for our prison head."

  "That's really convenient." Tan Zong's face twitched involuntarily, but in his heart he couldn't help but curse: "Does this guy take me for a monkey? Is he deliberately trying to disgust me? And to make matters worse, he even brings up a dead prisoner to humiliate me."

  At this thought, Tan Zong's heart suddenly skipped a beat and he exclaimed: "Could it be that the other party wants to take advantage of this opportunity to give me a surprise attack tomorrow morning, using the tactic of 'borrowing a knife to kill' to get rid of me? This is too bold, isn't it? If they do this, it's almost the same as killing me directly."

  His mind was filled with uncertainty, and Tan Zong suddenly felt a sense of hesitation. He couldn't help but look around again. The corridor was quiet, but the candlelight revealed that there were people lying in the cells, some of whom stared at him with their eyes fixed on him, as if they wanted to drink his blood and eat his flesh.

  This scene suddenly made Tan Zong's heart tighten - who could penetrate the dark corners inside, whether there were any killers brought in by the Wang family or not. On the contrary, this so-called dead prisoner looked more like a veteran prisoner, otherwise he wouldn't have such long and unkempt hair and beard.

  After thinking back and forth for a while, Tan Zong also made up his mind. He nodded to Cui Yuan and said: "Then trouble Cui brother to open the door, I will spend tonight in this prison cell."

  "Has Yuanguo thought it through? Is he really in this prison?" Cui Yuan glanced at Tan Zong with some profound meaning, making Tan Zong feel a chill run down his spine.

  "That's it." Tan Zhong said in a hard voice, without even looking at the empty cell behind him.

  After Cui Yuan opened and then locked the iron chain as thick as a child's arm, Tan Zhong was already waiting in his own personally selected prison cell.

  The cell doesn't seem to be small, about fifteen or sixteen square meters. Most of the space is empty, with only a few piles of clean straw stacked against the wall, apparently for people to sleep on at night.

  "It's quite quiet here, suitable for those scholars to study."

  Tan Zong glanced at it roughly and didn't bother to take care of the fierce eyes in the adjacent cell, but instead arranged a few stacks of dry grass on the ground and lay down with a thud.

  The stiff grass stem pressed against the bandage, making Tan Zong feel a bit sore on his back, but he didn't dare to turn around and show his back to others. As the saying goes, "Don't have a mind that harms others, but don't lack a mind that guards against others." Tan Zong may not be good at other things, but he still understood this basic precaution.

  In just a moment, Cui Yuan had already taken the oil lamp out of the prison cell. The entire prison was left with only a few meters of torches casting a faint light, and even Tan Zong's place seemed dimmer than before.

  "Aren't you afraid I'll hurt you?"

  Tan Zong was lying in wait, when he suddenly heard the words, and almost subconsciously sat up. But as soon as he made this movement, it pulled on the wound on his back, and a wave of scorching pain shot through him, causing Tan Zong to involuntarily grit his teeth.

  "Do you know or don't you know, there's someone in the Wang estate who has a price on your head?" The dead prisoner said again.

  The question was abrupt, but somehow it made Tan Zong's guard drop, and he found himself asking along with the other person: "What price? Is there five taels of silver?"

  "No." The dead prisoner still spoke in a voice devoid of life.

  "Damn it! Not even five taels of silver? Is my life really so cheap?" Tan Zong muttered to himself, then suddenly looked up and said: "Could it be that he promised you, as long as you kill me, he'll let you out?"

  "You're quite clever for a young man." The dead prisoner's voice finally carried a hint of surprise, and he even lifted his head, revealing his true face.

  By the firelight, Tan Zong did see the appearance of this person, although it couldn't be called clear, but he also took a good look.

  This dead prisoner should be a man in his forties, with a face that is quite heroic and not at all lewd. If he were wearing military uniform and carrying a long sword, he would look more like a military officer. But that head of gray hair makes him look much older.

  "This brother is indeed a good-looking man." Tan Zong couldn't help but praise from the bottom of his heart.

  As for physiognomy, Tan Zong also has some insights: people with this kind of face are rarely involved in treachery or crime, most are loyal and righteous, and a few are hypocritical. The person in front of him didn't suddenly explode, but instead brought it up in conversation, and Tan Zong felt that he was probably a truly loyal and righteous person.

  As for how such a loyal and righteous person ended up as a prisoner in jail, Tan Zong was not surprised at all - whether it's a prosperous era or a chaotic one, whether it's this life or the next, wrongful convictions are always inevitable, let alone in Nanjing Prefecture!

  In Tan Zhong's eyes, the current Nanjing Prefecture Governor Wang Ren has already become a heinous villain, and it's no wonder that such things have happened under his rule.

  "I don't know what crime you committed to end up in prison, brother?" Tan Zong saw that the man had no intention of taking action, but now he seemed to have a few more curious thoughts.

  "Are all bookworms as garrulous as you nowadays?"

  Those few words from the dead prisoner were like a slap in the face to Tan Zong, causing his face to suddenly flush red.

  It's not that he had such gossiping thoughts, but rather it was something he learned from reading books and going online in later generations. Especially when a few close brothers got together, they would gossip nonstop. Now that he felt safe, Tan Zhong's gossipy thoughts were burning hot. But before he could even open his mouth to speak, someone shut him up with a retort, leaving him speechless.

  It was silent for half a cup of tea, and Tan Zong became bored again and lay back on the hay. The dead prisoner suddenly spoke up: "Do you know why I didn't kill you?"

  "I'm not a tapeworm in your belly, how would I know?" Tan Zong said this coquettish remark and immediately came to his senses, realizing that probably no one knew what a tapeworm was at this time.

  Unexpectedly, that person took over and said: "I didn't expect you to have heard the dialect of the former Dragon Army General, it seems you're not just a bookworm."

  "Long Jun Shi"? "Liu Yu"?

  "What's going on here?!" Tan Zong only felt that his mind was suddenly dazed.

  "The king promised me freedom, saying that as long as I secretly harm you tonight, he will let me go tomorrow morning." The dead prisoner seemed to be unrelenting and continued to ask: "Do you know why I don't want to harm you?"

  "It's just a case of the rabbit dies and the dog is cooked. If you kill me, I'm afraid you'll die even faster, and there's no freedom to speak of." Tan Zong thought to himself that he had seen this kind of scenario countless times before, but you're taking it as a treasure, and actually thinking you're some kind of expert.

  That dead prisoner indeed let out a light hum, and couldn't help but move his steps to Tan's front and say: "How did you know?" Immediately after that, he raised his hand and pointed at several prisoners in the adjacent cell, saying: "Look at those idiots, they heard Wang Lao Tou's words, so from the beginning they've been eyeing you, now they probably can't wait to eat you up and get out early."

  Tan Zong secretly breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he hadn't gone over there, or else he might have been throttled to death. Although Tan Zong was inwardly frightened, his mouth still refused to concede defeat: "You already know those people are fools, what's the point of saying anything? Are you trying to show off how much smarter you are than these fools?"

  As soon as the words came out, Tan Zong couldn't help but scold himself. He knew that this clever remark might bring him fatal disaster if it wasn't well received. He immediately became cautious again and fixed his eyes on the face of the dead prisoner.

  As long as there was a hint of evil on the face of this dead prisoner, Tan Yong would take the initiative to strike first, even if he knew that he had no chance of winning.

  Ke Tan waited for a while, but didn't get any reaction from the dead prisoner. Instead, the dead prisoner muttered something to himself and sat back down in the corner of the wall.

  "Freak!" Tan Zong couldn't help but give this dead prisoner a comment in his heart, feeling that if he came a few more times, he would be scared to death.

  Before he knew it, Tan Zong was shaken awake from his daze. As he opened his eyes, he found a man in black standing before him.

  The man in black held a knife in one hand and a bunch of keys in the other. The keys were familiar to Tang, they were the same ones that Cui Yuan had hanging from his waist.

  "Tan Xianggong, hurry up and follow me, if we're late, the guards here will be on high alert."

  The black-clad man's voice was quite low and muffled, making it difficult for Tan Zong to hear clearly.

  Tan looked around and found that except for the dead prisoner who seemed to be still awake, everyone else was lying down and seemed to be asleep. He also asked in a low voice: "Who are you? Why did you come here to save me?"

  "The little one is here to rescue Mr. Tan on behalf of Miss Su. This is not a place for conversation, it's better if you leave with me now. If we're late, the assassins from the Wang Mansion will arrive."

  "Assassin?" Tan Zong was taken aback for a moment, and suddenly he smelled a strong scent of cosmetics from his nose.

  The smell of cosmetics is faint, but in this big prison, it's pungent. Tan Zong almost subconsciously found the source - it was the black-clad man in front of him.

  Tan Zong, although not in contact with Su Jin much, remembered clearly that Su Jin never applied any makeup. At this moment, Su Jin should be waiting at the inn, and even if he wanted to see Su Jin, he could only meet her at the inn, so how could there be a hint of makeup on him?

  Seeing the man in black still with a loyal dog-like expression, Tan Zhong sneered inwardly and put on a grateful face: "Then thank you to these brave warriors."

  He cupped his hands and said: "Since time is pressing, I'll trouble you, brave warrior, to lead the way quickly. I will follow you out."

  The man in black saw the situation and didn't say much, then wanted to go out from the prison gate, but unexpectedly a gust of wind came from behind, and immediately felt a pain in the back of his head, and he fainted instantly.

  "How did you knock him out?" The dead prisoner had been watching from the side for a long time, and now seeing Tan Zhong knocking the black-clothed man unconscious, he couldn't help but ask.

  "Are you going to let him take you away just like that?" Tan Zong sneered and said: "I didn't commit any crime, why should I become a fugitive? If I'm caught again later, it'll be even harder to explain. It's better to stay here. Besides, this person is wearing a black veil over his face, he doesn't even dare to show his face, why should we trust him? Even if they've got the wrong person, I have confidence that I can rescue him again in the future and apologize then."

  At this point, Tan Zong suddenly smiled and said: "However, I'm not going out now, but you can go out just in time." As he spoke, he expressed his thoughts.

  "Didn't expect you to be quite resourceful." The dead prisoner smiled slightly, and a rare hint of amusement crept into his voice.

  After half a cup of tea, a black shadow suddenly emerged from the big prison, holding a single-handed knife in his right hand, and under his left arm was a person wearing a Confucian shirt.

  "Some prisoners have escaped, go quickly and report it to the master!"

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