Carrying a lantern in one hand and a basin in the other, Zhang Yao passed the statue of the Prison God and turned his head slightly.
The kind-faced deity smiled benevolently at him. Beside it stood a green-faced guardian baring its fangs, a gut-hooking sword raised high in its hand, seemingly aimed directly at Zhang Yao’s forehead. A slightly warm night breeze swept through, setting hundreds of hanging bells above him swaying. Their ringing echoed throughout the prison corridor. Cold moonlight sliced through the iron web of suspended bells, scattering broken patches of light across the ground.
Zhang Yao walked toward the forbidden room.
The forbidden room was a temporary lodging for the prison guards inside the Ministry of Justice prison, situated right beside the Prison God statue. After only four or five steps, the rim of the basin in Zhang Yao’s hand touched the door.
The door was unlocked. A light push would open it.
Zhang Yao stopped and glanced through the crack.
Light shone through the gap, and no shadow interrupted it. Yet he still heard a controlled, restrained breathing from inside.
Someone was behind the door, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
His hands were full. After looking around, he found a relatively clean patch of ground and set everything down.
Then he stood still.
Faced with an environment like this, his body instinctively entered a state of alertness beyond his conscious control. For a moment, he didn’t dare enter rashly.
It wasn’t that he feared whatever danger lay inside.
On the contrary, he was worried that the instincts he had honed over many years would take over. Before the person behind the door even had a chance to act, he might reflexively kill them.
What should he do?
His eyes landed on the cloth draped over the basin.
Bending down, he picked it up and quickly twisted it into a tight tourniquet around his wrists.
He showed himself no mercy.
The cloth tightened around his wrists until the blood flow was cut off. His arms immediately began to go numb.
Only then did he raise a knee and push open the door.
Just as he expected.
The moment half his body crossed the threshold, a thin chain suddenly wrapped around his neck.
As expected, his first instinct was to smash the attacker’s head.
Fortunately, his hands were tightly bound, making his movements sluggish and preventing him from gaining the advantage. The attacker was thin and nimble. Seizing the brief opening, they quickly slipped into his blind spot.
Even after evading him, the person who had ambushed him clearly possessed no martial skill whatsoever.
What was interesting was that she had made use of the length of the chain.
She had fashioned it into a noose.
The moment the loop slipped over Zhang Yao’s neck, it tightened rapidly.
Instinctively, Zhang Yao lifted his head and glanced sideways.
He saw a pair of battered, scarred hands.
One look was enough.
Those hands had suffered finger-crushing torture. The fingers were swollen and bruised, nearly twice their normal thickness.
With hands like those, using a tool to restrain an ordinary man would not be difficult.
But if she intended to kill someone…
Zhang Yao assessed the situation and felt the chances were slim.
He seized the chain and quickly surveyed his surroundings. Spotting a metal ring on the door, he intended to use it as a point of leverage.
Originally, he planned to substitute that weakling’s strength with the ring and strangle himself.
Unexpectedly, the moment he exerted force, he heard a cry of pain.
“Ah—!”
Turning around, he discovered that in order to maintain control of him, she had wrapped the chain several times around her own hands.
Fortunately, he had not used his full strength.
Otherwise, that single pull might have cost her a few fingers.
Zhang Yao immediately stopped moving.
He planted his feet firmly, lowered his hands, and stood ramrod straight at the doorway, wearing the loop of chains Yu Lin had placed on him.
At the same time, Yu Lin quickly realized there was something unusual about this client.
He wore a veiled hat and a set of funeral clothes.
His hands had been tied together in front of his abdomen by someone.
At close range, Yu Lin caught the faint scent of wood on him.
That scent…
She had smelled it once before.
Last autumn.
On the man who had been flogged in front of Shenwu Gate.
Unfortunately, that man had already been beaten unconscious from the pain.
Even while unconscious, one hand remained at his waist, desperately clutching the undergarment soaked through with blood.
A few troublemaking officials from the Ministry of Punishments had wanted to take advantage of his unconscious state. The people from the Northern Pacification Bureau had not yet arrived, and they intended to lift his undergarment to see what exactly was hidden beneath the clothing he had chosen to protect at the cost of doubling his punishment.
Outside Shenwu Gate, in the cold wind, people came and went.
Yu Lin had sat beside him alone for a while.
No matter how fierce a person was, once they lost consciousness under torture, all that remained was misery.
At first, she had not intended to defend him.
She still had official documents to deliver to Du Lingruo.
She had come to mediate on behalf of the Northern Pacification Bureau at Du Lingruo’s request, partly to make future cooperation between the Directorate of Ceremonial and Zhao Heming’s faction in the Grand Secretariat smoother.
Originally, she had planned to finish the handover before dark and return to Zhao Heming’s residence for dinner.
Her teacher’s wife had cooked fish.
She had even bought peaches to celebrate Yu Lin’s birthday.
Yet as she passed the spot where Zhang Yao lay face-down, she heard him mutter through a mouthful of blood:
“The phoenix trees in the city are already… what was it…”
“The phoenix trees in the city are already half dead.”
She calmly supplied the next line.
“Heh… right…”
The man smiled groggily.
“The phoenix trees in the city are already half dead… Those civil officials… would it kill them… to write fewer damned poems?”
The poem he quoted had been written years ago by Chen Xinglin, the Hanlin scholar whom he had tortured to death.
Originally, it had never been intended as political criticism.
But that autumn, a disease had struck the phoenix trees throughout Liangjing, killing many of them.
The people of Liang had always loved mountains, rivers, trees, and flowers. They deeply felt the meaning of the old saying, “If even the trees come to this, what hope remains for people?”
As citizens gazed upon the dying phoenix trees, poems and essays about them spread once more through the city.
“The phoenix trees in the city are already half dead” was merely one of those lines.
It wasn’t even the most famous.
However, the imperial family of Great Liang bore the surname Wu.
That same late autumn, the Emperor fell ill.
While bedridden, he happened to read the line:
“The phoenix trees in the city are already half dead.”
Yu Lin had no desire to contemplate the chain of events that followed.
Looking at the man writhing in agony on the ground—the Northern Pacification Bureau’s imperial hound—she recalled his muttered complaint:
“Those civil officials… would it kill them… to write fewer damned poems?”
Suddenly, she found him both ridiculous and pitiful.
So she blocked the younger officials from the Ministry of Punishments, hugged her documents to her chest, and sat beside him.
The officials secretly mocked her self-righteousness.
She ignored them.
Sitting there with her knees drawn up, she remained beside him until the public display ended and men from the Northern Pacification Bureau arrived to carry the blood-soaked figure away from Shenwu Gate.
Throughout that time, that scent of wood drifted through the bloody air around the gate like a secluded orchid blooming in the dark.
It seemed to be thanking her on his behalf.
It was the scent of premium pinewood.
She had remembered it after just that one encounter.
Now, she had a rough idea of this man’s identity.
At the same time, she was surprised by how cooperative and compliant he was being.
She knew very well that in her current battered condition, she could not possibly restrain him.
Zhang Yao felt Yu Lin loosen her grip slightly.
The chain around his neck slackened enough for him to speak.
Suppressing the feeling of suffocation, he spoke first.
“Loosen the chain wrapped around your hands first. Unless you never want to write again.”
Yu Lin remained silent.
Keeping his neck stiff, Zhang Yao cautiously tested his range of motion and turned his head.
The veiled hat was still on his head.
Now the hanging veil had become tangled together with the chain around his neck, making him deeply uncomfortable.
“People like you don’t develop that level of handwriting skill easily. I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but don’t worry. I won’t do anything to you, and I won’t run.”
“Who are you?”
Yu Lin finally lowered her hand and asked.
This time, Zhang Yao was the one who fell silent.
“Zhang Yao?”
She gave him no room to evade.
Calling him directly by both surname and given name.
Behind the veil, Zhang Yao sighed.
He truly didn’t want to admit it.
After all, the identity Du Lingruo had arranged for him—a client buying sex—was one he disliked immensely.
Yet Yu Lin seemed determined to make things difficult for him.
“Did you come here to buy me?”
“No.”
The denial escaped him immediately.
But after denying it, he had no idea how to explain himself.
In truth, he had come looking for death.
But if he told Yu Lin that, would she think he was insane?
On second thought, forget it.
Zhang Yao’s habitual gloom returned.
Turning around, he raised his bound hands toward her.
“Untie me.”
Only then did Yu Lin notice the cloth twisted tightly around his wrists.
It had been wound so tightly that it compressed his skin. The backs of his hands were already turning blue.
“Don’t use brute force. Listen to me. I’ll tell you how to undo it.”
Looking down at his wrists, Yu Lin asked,
“Who did this to you?”
“Myself.”
“Are you sick in the head?”
Much to his surprise, Zhang Yao found himself both irritated and strangely pleased.
He had tied himself up because he was afraid of accidentally killing her.
Yet hearing her call him crazy somehow made him feel noticeably lighter.
The injuries left by the finger-crushing torture were indeed severe.
She could still endure pain if brute strength was required.
But this kind of delicate manipulation was another matter entirely.
Even with Zhang Yao instructing her, she couldn’t manage it.
Keeping his body rigid, Zhang Yao let her struggle with it for a while.
By the end, his entire body had gone numb.
“Forget it.”
He walked toward the only bed in the room.
“Leave it like this.”
As he spoke, he tugged at the chain around his neck with his bound hands.
“What do you mean, leave it like this?” Yu Lin asked.
Zhang Yao said nothing.
He walked straight toward the bed.
The loop around his neck was connected to the very same shackles on Yu Lin’s hands.
After he took a few steps, she had no choice but to stumble after him.
Sitting down on the bed, Zhang Yao finally had the chance to properly examine Yu Lin and the room where she was being held.
Her wrists and ankles were secured with unusually long shackles.
These were clearly not standard restraints prescribed by law.
More likely, they had been specially made to give paying clients greater freedom with a prisoner’s body.
As for the forbidden room itself, it was sparsely furnished.
There was only a wooden table and a narrow bed converted from a torture platform.
A clean mattress covered it.
There was even a soft silk quilt.
On top of the quilt sat a collection of disgusting objects that would frighten most women.
Zhang Yao guessed that because Du Lingruo had arranged tonight’s access, Wang Shaolian had misunderstood his identity and thoughtfully prepared these filthy “assistance tools” for him.
Zhang Yao glanced at Yu Lin.
She was looking at the pile as well.
In fact, she seemed to be examining it even more seriously than he was.
How could a woman stare at things like that?
With a sweep of his arm, Zhang Yao flipped up the quilt, intending to cover them.
Unfortunately, with his hands bound, his aim was poor.
Instead, he knocked the entire pile off the bed.
Clatter—
Everything hit the floor and rolled in all directions.
Zhang Yao froze for a long moment before awkwardly clearing his throat.
Yu Lin laughed.
Squatting down, she casually picked up one of the items from the mess and looked at him.
“I may be a woman, but I’ve spent my life in Great Liang’s official circles. I’ve dealt with the Directorate of Ceremonial quite a bit as well. I’ve heard of these things and seen them before. They don’t bother me.”
She tilted her head slightly.
“But you—why are you embarrassed?”
“You’re overthinking it.”
Zhang Yao replied coldly, attempting to hide it.
But she immediately said,
“Then take off the hat.”
Zhang Yao felt that at this moment, he could die.
But the hat?
The hat absolutely could not come off.
Yu Lin stood calmly before him, still holding that indecent object.
The female prisoner looked completely at ease.
Meanwhile, Zhang Yao was cursing Du Lingruo repeatedly in his heart.
He desperately wanted Yu Lin to put the thing down.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t bring himself to say it aloud.
Thankfully, when both his mind and composure had nearly collapsed, he remembered the peach Zhang Min had given him.
“Want a peach?”
“Hm?”
“A Li Gong peach.”
Hearing those three words, she smiled from the bottom of her heart.
“Where is it?”
“It’s in my…”
His left sleeve.
But how was he supposed to ask a woman to reach into his sleeve herself?
And yet…
She did exactly that.
Skin that had known abstinence for years, bones beneath flesh—
All were nearly bruised by that scar-covered hand.
Zhang Yao’s spine instantly stiffened.
“You…”
“Where is it?” she asked, genuinely searching.
His entire body had gone rigid.
Nevertheless, he raised his arm.
“In my left sleeve.”
Sure enough, within moments she pulled out the Li Gong peach.
Then she sat down beside him and eagerly took a bite.
The peach really was delicious.
Its flesh was juicy, sweet, and refreshing.
It deserved its reputation as a tribute peach from Huainan.
Watching her expression, Zhang Yao couldn’t help asking,
“Didn’t they give you a final meal?”
Yu Lin didn’t answer.
Her attention remained focused on the peach.
Zhang Yao gave a bitter laugh and quietly answered his own question.
“Right. They need you to serve people tonight. Of course they’d feed you.”
“Do you pity me?”
Holding the half-eaten peach, she turned toward him and asked.
Zhang Yao replied coldly,
“You’re overthinking it. What does it have to do with me?”
“Then what did you come here for?”
Zhang Yao turned his head as well.
Looking at the former Vice Minister of Justice beside him, now tortured until she was little more than skin and bones, he said evenly,
“To be honest with you, Zhang Yao seeks death.”
“Isn’t living good? Tomorrow I’ll be sentenced to death by a thousand cuts, but tonight I’m still desperately trying to find a way to survive.”
“You’re you. I’m me.”
Knowing that her death was near, Zhang Yao felt completely uninhibited.
The words he normally buried inside spilled out without restraint.
“I’ve lived long enough. And I’m sick of living.”
“When you came in, were you hoping I’d kill you?”
“Yes.”
“Sorry. I don’t know how to kill people. I only know how to judge crimes according to the law.”
Zhang Yao smiled.
“Haven’t I committed a capital offense?”
“Which one? There are many crimes in the Liang Code that carry the death penalty.”
Beneath the veil, Zhang Yao lowered his eyes.
“People outside the law cannot be judged by the Liang Code.”
After hearing that, Yu Lin looked down at the Li Gong peach in her hand.
She was silent for a while.
Then she smiled.
“No wonder.”
“What?”
He had expected her to call him insane.
Instead, she delivered a verdict.
“No wonder you’re wearing funeral clothes while still alive, Zhang Yao.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve had a miserable life.”