Between sleep and wakefulness, Tuqiu Jiu felt a faint chill. He couldn’t help but roll over, curling up as he muttered, “Has the temperature dropped again?”
As soon as he turned, something felt wrong. Why was his nose filled with the stench of sour rot with every breath?
That wasn’t all; he even heard a squeaking sound near his ear, as if a rat was crying out right beside him. Beyond that, he could vaguely hear the sounds of human weeping and cries of pain.
From touch to smell to hearing, this full-scale sensory intrusion forced Tuqiu Jiu to open his eyes.
Dazed, he saw only darkness at first. A few slivers of light filtered in from above, allowing him to faintly discern the outlines of things—uneven rammed-earth walls and straw scattered messily across the ground.
Most importantly, there was indeed a rat right in front of him!
Startled, Tuqiu Jiu recoiled and tried to sit up, but his entire body felt weak and aching. He didn’t even have the strength to push himself up.
What was going on? How did this happen? Was he sick?
He had been fine yesterday; how had he ended up like this today?
Furthermore, he was supposed to be sleeping in his own room. While his room wasn’t particularly tidy, it certainly wasn’t this filthy. As a northerner, he had never even seen a rat in his own home!
Just as a flurry of questions surged in his mind, before they could be answered, he felt a sudden, sharp pang in his head. The pain was so intense he curled up, clutching his head, a layer of cold sweat breaking out across his body instantly.
Simultaneously, fragments of memories that did not belong to him abruptly flooded his mind.
In a state of semi-consciousness, Tuqiu Jiu sifted through those memories and finally realized where he was.
He was currently in a prison of the Qin State—specifically, Qin during the Warring States period. The year was the 19th year of King Zheng of Qin.
He was certain of this because the original owner of this body was the son of a minor noble from the Han State. In his memory, Han had been conquered and destroyed by Neishi Teng over a year ago.
Based on that calculation, it had to be the 19th year of King Zheng of Qin.
As for why he was in prison, it was because his younger half-brother had been implicated in a homicide and identified as the killer.
The laws of Qin were severe; a life for a life was the most basic principle.
He had been dragged into it—not just him, but his entire family—because the victim was none other than Li Bu, the second son of the Tingwei, Li Si.
Furthermore, this person had recently been personally selected by the King of Qin as a royal son-in-law, intended to marry the eldest princess.
The nature of the case was heinous. Most significantly, they were former subjects of Han. After Han was destroyed, his father had been stripped of most of his property and had brought what little remained to Xianyang to make a living. Thus, their punishment was even more severe.
His two younger brothers were sentenced to dismemberment—that is, being torn apart by five horses. The adult males of the family were sentenced to the mutilation punishment of nose-cutting followed by exile punishment. The women were to become slave-concubines, the term for female slaves.
Because Tuqiu Jiu was still a minor, the court showed a measure of leniency, sentencing him to become a slave-official—a male slave.
As he finished digesting most of the memories, Tuqiu Jiu’s mind was filled with disbelief.
He had actually transmigrated, and he had been given a hellish start!
How was he supposed to survive this?
While he was lost in these thoughts, he suddenly heard movement. It seemed someone had entered. He slowly opened his eyes and saw two figures walking toward him.
He didn’t recognize these two men, and their attire was unfamiliar, but the memories that had just entered his brain told him that one was a prison official and the other was the prison doctor.
Qin’s judicial system was extremely rigorous in its organization. Even if a prisoner was convicted and jailed, a prison doctor would look after them if they fell ill. Otherwise, if a prisoner died mysteriously in jail, the prison official would be held responsible.
Seeing him wake, the prison doctor felt his pulse and spoke. “The boy’s fainting was due to a weak constitution and shock. It is nothing serious.”
Indeed, as long as it wasn’t a fatal illness, it wasn’t considered “serious.”
The prison official clearly looked relieved and asked directly, “Can you ensure he remains unharmed for three days?”
The prison doctor said curtly, “Just give him some soup and food.”
Dizzy and disoriented, Tuqiu Jiu listened to their discussion. The accent and tone these two used were very strange—he had never heard anything like it before. Logically, he shouldn’t have been able to understand them, but his brain seemed to act as a miraculous translator; the incomprehensible words were automatically translated into meanings he could grasp.
Perhaps this was thanks to those memories. However, he had no time to study those memories in detail now. He reached out, grabbing the prison doctor’s wrist, and said weakly, “I… I have been wronged… I want to petition for retrial.”
The prison doctor frowned and looked up at the prison official.
The prison official said coldly, “This case has already been concluded. The Wenwuhai has already examined it thoroughly. You want to petition for retrial now? It’s too late.”
Having said that, he prepared to lead the doctor away. Ignoring his physical weakness, Tuqiu Jiu struggled to hold onto the doctor’s wrist and said, “I… I truly have been wronged. This case… there are still suspicious points in this case!”
The prison doctor jerked his wrist free, stood up, and said, “If you were truly wronged, you should have requested a petition for retrial during the sentencing reading. It is too late now.”
In the Qin judicial system, a sentence was pronounced immediately after a case was decided; this was called the sentencing reading. After the reading, if the party accepted the guilt, the sentence was carried out. If they claimed to be wronged, they could file a petition for retrial—a request for a new trial.
A petition for retrial could be raised by the party involved or a third party. Tuqiu Jiu should have raised it then. Now that the execution was imminent, it was naturally too late.
Tuqiu Jiu knew this wouldn’t be easy, but he spoke urgently, “My life is of little value, but since the true culprit dared to strike at the nobility, they must harbor ill intent toward the Tingwei. If the killer is allowed to go free and the Tingwei’s family meets with danger again, who will take responsibility then?”
At these words, the prison official and the doctor paused slightly. The official turned back to Tuqiu Jiu. “If you were wronged, why did you wait until today to speak?”
Tuqiu Jiu composed himself and said, “I am physically weak. I have been ill since the day of my arrest, and my mind was muddled. I have only just become clear-headed.”
This reason wasn’t something he had just made up. Through the memories, he knew the body he now occupied was in terrible shape.
Although he was the eldest son of the first wife, his stepmother was unkind and viewed him as an enemy. His father was indifferent to him, only pulling him out for a beating when he needed to vent his anger.
Not only had he never received proper care since childhood, but his stepmother also withheld food and clothing. Even if he did get something, his younger half-brothers would snatch it away. When he fell ill, he had to endure it alone; no physician ever came to see him.
It was almost laughable that a prison doctor was the first physician to ever treat this body.
Perhaps influenced by the body and its memories, a sense of despondency washed over him at this thought. He felt that even if he died right now, it wouldn’t be such a big deal.
After all, there was no hope in such a life. This body was only fourteen, six years away from adulthood at twenty. Even if he wanted to separate from the family, he would have to wait a long time.
But he quickly pushed that thought aside.
Even an ant strives to live, let alone Tuqiu Jiu, who still wanted to find a way back.
Hearing his words, the prison official remained hesitant. He didn’t ask Tuqiu Jiu what the suspicious points were. Qin’s judicial system was extremely strict; staying within one’s duties was the most basic requirement. He had no authority to inquire about the details of the case, so even if Tuqiu Jiu said there were doubts, he couldn’t ask more. What he hesitated over was whether to go find the Wenwuhai.
The Wenwuhai was an official position specifically for re-examining cases. This case had already been reviewed by the Wenwuhai and found to be without issue. If a reversal truly happened, the repercussions would be significant.
The prison official found it troublesome and worried about offending someone he shouldn’t. He decided to ignore Tuqiu Jiu’s plea for help, but he didn’t say it outright, merely stating, “Just wait.”
Tuqiu Jiu felt uneasy. He worried the prison official wouldn’t actually seek out the Wenwuhai, but at this moment, he had no choice but to trust him.
He propped up his sickly body and bowed to the prison official. “This matter does not only concern the lives of my family; it concerns the safety of the Tingwei. I beg the prison official to reconsider.”
Before the official could answer, a voice came from nearby: “What matter concerns the safety of the Tingwei?”
Tuqiu Jiu turned and saw a middle-aged man dressed in green with a long beard walking toward them.
Whether it was the dimness of the prison or the poor eyesight of this body, Tuqiu Jiu couldn’t see the man’s features clearly, only his general outline.
He looked at the nearby brazier and felt deeply that it was likely an issue with his eyes.
The thought made him feel a bit frustrated. Why couldn’t he have been given a healthier body?
The thought circled in his mind before being tossed aside. Right now, he was more concerned with who this middle-aged man was.
As the man drew closer, Jiu saw his face. He was handsome, but his gaze was somewhat cold; he didn’t look like an easy person to get along with.
Of course, that wasn’t the point. The point was that there was no such person in the memories Tuqiu Jiu had inherited.
This was a stranger, likely drawn over by his words.
Tuqiu Jiu observed the man again and saw a cap on his head, which lifted his spirits.
According to Qin’s official system, only those with a peerage could wear ornaments on their hair. Those below the rank of Buge wore various headscarves, and only those at the rank of Buge and above, starting from Dafu, were entitled to wear a formal cap.
The higher the rank above Dafu, the taller the cap.
Tuqiu Jiu noted that the man wore a single-plated long cap, meaning his rank was likely Dafu. In the Qin peerage system, this was the fifth rank, a military officer’s rank. For a commoner, this rank was already quite high.
In fact, for a commoner, the rank of Dafu was almost the pinnacle.
He had to find a way to catch this man’s attention. This was the highest-ranking person Tuqiu Jiu had encountered so far. He couldn’t say it would change his fate, but at least it was an opportunity.
While Tuqiu Jiu’s mind raced with various thoughts, the prison official had already bowed to the middle-aged man and recounted the entire situation.
If only the official and the doctor had been there, the official might have truly buried the matter. But since someone had overheard—especially someone with a peerage—he naturally didn’t dare to play tricks.
After hearing the account, the middle-aged man pondered for a long while before saying, “What this boy says does have some modicum of logic.”
Tuqiu Jiu’s spirits rose, and he looked at the middle-aged man earnestly. By chance, the man also looked at him, and Jiu met a pair of eyes that shone like black gems in the firelight.
The man looked at Tuqiu Jiu and said solemnly, “But this is contingent on you truly being wronged and the wrong murderer having been sentenced in this case.”
Tuqiu Jiu said immediately, “I truly have been wronged.”
The man emphasized, “You must think carefully. If, when the time comes, all evidence still points to your family, the punishment will be doubled. You might be put to death.”
Tuqiu Jiu said firmly, “I understand.”
The man looked at him once more and said, “Good.”
With that, he turned and left. However, the slave-official by his side did not follow. Instead, he stepped forward and said, “This is a gift from my master to the young sir. Please take care of your health.”
Tuqiu Jiu looked at the bundle in the slave-official’s hands, momentarily stunned. So, this person had come specifically to see him? But his “memories” had no record of this man at all. Who was he?
He took the bundle with some hesitation and asked blankly, “Might I ask how your master is addressed?”
The slave-official bowed and said, “A slave does not dare speak lightly of his master’s identity. Please wait patiently, young sir. If you truly have been wronged, my master will surely not sit idly by. It is not convenient for this slave to stay longer; I shall take my leave.”
The slave-official left immediately. Tuqiu Jiu wanted to speak to stop him, but the prison official nearby cleared his throat and said, “The visiting hour is over. Since a noble has stepped in to help, just wait in peace, boy.”
Tuqiu Jiu had many questions, but for now, he could only suppress them. Holding the items, he slowly sat down, his body swaying with weakness.
Just the simple action of sitting down made him break into a cold sweat. Sitting on the ground and leaning against the cold wall, Tuqiu Jiu couldn’t help but sigh.
He suspected that even if the case were overturned, he wouldn’t live long given how frail this body was.
Of course, the bigger problem was that he didn’t actually know if the case could be overturned.
Just now, he had only relied on scattered, vague memories to say those things. He had no choice; he didn’t want to be a slave. Those sentenced to slavery for a crime were usually slaves for generations, never able to leave that class. Furthermore, he would be at the very bottom of the slave hierarchy.
Yes, in this era, even slaves were divided into various ranks.
Tuqiu Jiu didn’t want to think too much about the future; even as things stood, he might not survive if he became a slave. This body was naturally weak and likely couldn’t handle heavy labor. But once you were a slave, who would care about that? It was foreseeable that he wouldn’t live long.
Either way, it meant death, so he might as well take a gamble. Even if he lost, at least he could die quickly.
At this thought, Tuqiu Jiu came to terms with his situation. Since he was here, he would make the best of it; he’d get through this hurdle first before worrying about why he had ended up in this era.
He looked down at the bundle in his hands. It wasn’t very large and felt soft to the touch. Upon opening it, he found it contained a robe. The fabric was somewhat coarse, but it was much thicker than what he was currently wearing.
Tuqiu Jiu, feeling the chill of the prison, immediately wrapped the robe around himself and finally felt a bit better.
As his body warmed up, the lack of blood and energy in this body made him feel quite drowsy.
No, he couldn’t sleep yet.
Tuqiu Jiu pinched his thigh hard. Yes, it hurt; it wasn’t a dream.
Once fully awake, he began to diligently sort through the entire case, striving to find suspicious points to use as a breakthrough.
If there truly were no suspicious points… he would probably have to create some.
However, trying to purposefully find a target within memories that weren’t his own was no easy task.
Fortunately, the event had happened recently, and Tuqiu Jiu managed to find this part of his memory.
The victim, Li Bu, had been discovered in the latrine of his own private villa.
Logically, someone of Li Bu’s status wasn’t someone an ordinary commoner could easily associate with. Status-wise, Tuqiu Jiu wasn’t even worthy of stepping into his villa.
But his two half-brothers were actually quite capable in their own way. Not long after arriving in Xianyang, they had managed to become the hangers-on of several sons of officials. These officials’ sons could be considered Li Bu’s “fair-weather friends.” When they gathered to amuse themselves, they would occasionally bring his two brothers along.
Normally, such a good thing wouldn’t involve Tuqiu Jiu. However, they had happened to run into each other on the road that day. Tuqiu Jiu’s second brother, Tuqiu Zhi, had asked him to bring word home that they wouldn’t be back for dinner that night.
During this encounter, the officials’ sons they were following saw that Tuqiu Jiu was good-looking and decided to bring him along to add to the amusement.
The original owner was naturally unwilling, but he was just a commoner. Having been bullied at home for a long time, he had developed a timid personality. Even if he was unwilling, he didn’t dare speak up, so he was dragged along to Li Bu’s villa.
Recalling this, Tuqiu Jiu couldn’t help but touch his face. He seriously doubted the aesthetic sense of those officials’ sons.
Though he hadn’t seen what this face looked like, as a child who had never had enough to eat or wear, he was likely malnourished. Without sufficient nutrition, how superior would his bone structure have to be for these officials’ sons, who were accustomed to seeing beauties, to take an interest in him at a glance?
But it was thanks to them; otherwise, there would be no information about the crime scene in his memories, and Tuqiu Jiu would be helpless even if he wanted to overturn the case.
He tossed the useless, messy memories aside and focused on the scene at the time.
According to his memory, Li Bu’s body wasn’t discovered until the following morning. At the time, besides Li Bu’s body, Tuqiu Jiu’s two brothers, Tuqiu Zhi and Tuqiu Fei, were also at the scene.
Recalling this, Tuqiu Jiu felt the whole thing was absurd. Li Bu had been missing for so long—his fair-weather friends aside, as most of them had been drinking until they didn’t know what day it was—but how could his slave-officials and slave-concubines not have noticed their master had been missing for so long? Was that reasonable?
It wasn’t reasonable at all!
Unfortunately, he didn’t know the results of the subsequent interrogations of those slaves. He could only make deductions based on the known clues.
First, it was certain that those slaves couldn’t have truly ignored their master. There were only two possibilities for why this happened: first, Li Bu had given prior instructions not to be disturbed; second, someone had deliberately interfered with everyone, making them believe Li Bu was in a state where he shouldn’t be disturbed.
Tuqiu Jiu searched his mind for a long time but couldn’t find any relevant memories. However, part of the reason was that the original owner had been in a state of terror after being forcibly brought there, with no time to notice anything else. Furthermore, due to his status, the original owner was even more fearful of Li Bu, dreading he might say or do something wrong. Not seeing Li Bu actually made him feel more relaxed.
Since he couldn’t find anything, Tuqiu Jiu set this suspicious point aside for a moment and continued to study the next one.
According to the memories of the crime scene in his mind, Li Bu had died from being stabbed in the heart.
A stab to the heart doesn’t cause instant death; for a few minutes, there is still some capacity for movement. At the very least, there should have been a cry at the moment of the stabbing.
Yet no one had heard a sound, proving that Li Bu must not have been conscious when he was killed.
Thinking about the fact that the murder happened in a latrine, Tuqiu Jiu figured Li Bu probably didn’t have a habit of sleeping in toilets.
Even if the toilets of wealthy families in ancient times were luxurious, they were no place for sleeping.
So, either Li Bu had drunk too much and had fallen into a drunken stupor upon reaching the toilet, or there was a specific reason that caused him to faint.
Then the question arose: if Li Bu was unconscious, how did the Tuqiu Zhi and Tuqiu Fei who were with him also fall unconscious?
When the crime scene was discovered, the two of them were lying right next to Li Bu’s body. They only gradually woke up after several buckets of cold water were thrown on them.
If it were just a simple hangover, they wouldn’t have been that hard to wake. Therefore, Tuqiu Jiu was inclined to believe someone had used special means to make them lose consciousness.
So, how did the killer sneak in?
At these kinds of noble banquets, guests were absolutely forbidden from bringing sharp weapons through the door. Especially since Li Bu’s friends were all of lower status than him, they wouldn’t dare go against the master’s wishes. Even if they carried swords, they had to unbuckle them and hand them over to the slave-officials to be stored together.
From this perspective, it was impossible for Tuqiu Zhi and Tuqiu Fei to be the killers.
The two of them were merely hangers-on and commoners. Their status in Li Bu’s manor wasn’t even equal to that of the slave-officials and slave-concubines Li Bu trusted and favored. Even if they had ten times the courage, they wouldn’t dare bring a knife into Li Bu’s villa; if they were discovered, they would surely be beaten to death with clubs.
Thinking of this, Tuqiu Jiu suddenly sighed. The original owner of this body had too few clues. Suspicious points appeared one after another, and he had no idea what was recorded in the judicial record or what had been asked.
Oh, judicial record was the term used in this era for a judicial record.
Thinking about it this way, the difficulty of the petition for retrial was truly not minor. Especially since the “killers,” Tuqiu Zhi and Tuqiu Fei, had already confessed, it was normal for his own cries of being wronged as an implicated party to be ignored.
Now, he only hoped the Dafu who had sent him clothes would truly help him.
As he thought, his eyelids grew heavy. He was forced to close his eyes and fall into a deep sleep. When he finally woke up and opened his eyes, he heard someone ask, “Is the young master awake?”
Tuqiu Jiu turned and saw that it was actually the slave-official who had been following the middle-aged man that day. His eyes immediately lit up as he sat up and asked, “Did the Dafu send you?”
The slave-official bowed and said, “The Grandee is currently reviewing the judicial records. Please wait for a moment, Young Master.”