Section 12

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  In a room of about 12 or 13 square meters, there was simply a table with four stools, and in the corner stood a rack on which were placed several wind-and-fire clubs and two sharp knives that had been ground to a shine.

  A large handful of fried golden peanuts scattered across the table, with two half-empty coarse bowls placed on top. Next to them stood a half-foot-high jar with a large wine character pasted on it. Beside the jar was an opened package of old fermented meat, constantly emitting a tempting aroma.

  Two people sat facing each other, both with their legs propped up on stools, wearing thin spring shirts open to reveal one of them had a dark chest hair.

  Li Wu respectfully poured a full bowl for Wang Sanman sitting opposite, and then poured himself half a bowl. He carefully picked up his chopsticks, picked up a slightly burnt peanut and threw it into his mouth, chewing slowly.

  People are as their names suggest, Li Wu was indeed a bitter and humble birth, and it was also thanks to many relationships that he entered this large prison and became a prison officer. By carefully serving in this way, he gradually became familiar with the head of the prison, Wang Wu, and gradually became his confidant.

  Tonight's matter, according to Li Wu's thinking, if something goes wrong, it will be a disaster, so by now, he has truly started to worry and fear, afraid that one mistake will ruin everything.

  What made him most anxious was that it had become dangerous, and what if it didn't work out... Thinking of Chun'er who had come at the command of Master Li and was still waiting in the upper room, Li Wu couldn't help but shudder: That guy was really a ruthless killer!

  "Boss, can you make it happen tonight? The young master has given a strict order to take care of that guy by tonight."

  Wang San raised his half-closed eyes and glared at Li Wu with a bad temper, saying: "What's the point of asking me about this?"

  He downed the wine in one gulp, not even bothering to wipe the remaining wine on his collar. With a weak tone, he said: "I'm just a servant of the Wang family, and you're just a small soldier. We do what our superiors tell us to do. Even if it's killing someone, that's their business, not ours."

  "What if he's a government official? If he dies, and people from the capital come to investigate, won't we all be in trouble?" Li Wu nervously refilled Wang San's cup with wine, voicing his inner concerns.

  "Hah, you think it's that simple?" Wang San chuckled a few times, his mouth spewing out thick wine fumes that made the candle flames flicker.

  "Anyway, you don't have to worry so much, it's not your turn to be on night watch tonight. What's the point of worrying unnecessarily? Even if someone comes from the capital in the future, we can just shift the blame onto Cui Yuan and that'll be the end of it. Besides, even if you die, it'll be for the sake of our young master, and when the time comes, considering your contributions to the Wang family, your wife and those two kids will still be taken care of."

  "Cough." Li Wu couldn't help but cough to cover up the complex thoughts in his heart: one moment he felt that as long as his wife and children had a good life in the future, it would be worth dying for; the next moment he thought that if he died, no matter how well his wife and children lived, he wouldn't be able to see it, who knows what kind of unexpected event might happen, maybe his wife would be taken away by someone else, and even the child would change their surname.

  "Look at that cowardly appearance of yours." Wang San looked at Li Wu's unpredictable face and couldn't help but slap the table, causing the peanuts to jump up half a foot high.

  "You're just a coward!" Wang San slapped Li Wu, leaving him stunned: "Do you think our young master is so stupid, just waiting for that guy in jail to make a move? Bah, do you think everyone is as timid as you? Just wait and see, there's still more to come tonight!"

  Just as Wang San's voice fell, a loud shout suddenly came from outside the window: "Someone has escaped from prison!"

  This good drink was like the river water on a cold winter day, and immediately awakened Wang San's slightly intoxicated nerves.

  He rushed to the window and saw a black shadow wrapping around a man in a Confucian robe, running out along the passage that had been set up early. Suddenly excited, he patted the windowsill and said: "Great! The young master's matter is done!"

  Saying that, Li Wu pulled the still dazed Li Wu and hastily instructed: "Go, order the people below, allow pursuit but not capture, allow shouting but not noise, just hang back at a distance like this, don't lose him. Wait until those two guys separate, then catch the one wearing the scholar's robe!"

  "Ah? Ah?" Li Wu was stunned for a while, and suddenly came to his senses: "Could it be that the one wearing the Confucian robe is actually Prince Ya Yuan?"

  "What's the matter with you? Get out!" Wang Wu kicked Li Wu out of the door and didn't bother to hurry downstairs to call for someone to go after him, but instead walked back to the window, his eyes fixed intently on the black shadow that was gradually escaping into the distance.

  "You've offended our young master and still want to be a hero? Just obediently be a duck instead!"

  The prison break quickly awakened the entire silent prison. From a high altitude, two fire dragons were seen chasing after the fugitives along the passageway, with shouting voices echoing through the air.

  "Wang San has handled this matter well, and Master can now rest at ease." In another room, looking at the gradually disappearing fire dragon, Chun Er burst out laughing, casually sending away the servant beside him to report the news, and then threw the girl in his arms onto the bed that had been prepared early on, laughing as he pounced on her.

  The pursuers had all been left far behind, and Cui Yuan only then lit a lamp and went down into the great prison.

  Strolling casually in the large prison, holding a sharp knife with a scabbard to intimidate and silence the rowdy prisoners, Cui Yuan finally stopped in front of a cell with an open door. Although his eyesight was not good, Cui Yuan could still see that there were only dead prisoners lying facing the wall corner in the cell now, but Ah-won Gong was nowhere to be seen.

  "What's going on here!" Cui Yuan slowly closed the prison door, sighed and walked away.

  Tan Zong's jailbreak was quickly reported to the Nanjing Prefectural Government and Wenyuan Institute, and Zhang Heyan and Cao Qiaomu almost simultaneously received the news. The two also made an impossible judgment at the same time, so they rushed to the main prison together.

  "How could Tan Yaoyuan be so foolish as to attempt an escape? And isn't the Nanjing Prefectural Prison too lax, allowing a scholar like Tan Yaoyuan to escape, is it not a case of dereliction of duty?"

  "These are just minor details. The key is, with this one move, he's likely to be convicted of the crime of arson! Those people from the Surveillance Bureau won't bother with such trivialities, they'll definitely pin the blame on Tan Menghua!"

  Listening to the conversation of two colleagues behind him, Zhang Heyan, who was already feeling annoyed, became even more irritated and couldn't help but shout: "Shut up."

  To say, in normal times, Zhang Heyan would never be so furious, let alone use coarse language towards two newly acquainted colleagues. But at this moment, Tan Zong's twists and turns had made him lose his composure, making him feel that he had misjudged people all along, thinking that his good intentions had been wasted on Tan Zong.

  "If this rumor is really true, I'm afraid I'll become a laughing stock tomorrow!"

  With this in mind, Zhang Heyan hurriedly rushed to the prison, only to find that Cao Qiaomu had already arrived.

  Zhang Heyan was anxious at this moment, and he didn't even bother to put on a polite face. He grabbed Cao Qiaomu and asked directly: "Lord Cao, what's the outcome of this matter?"

  According to the prison head and several guards, Tan Zong did indeed leave with a man in black. Cao Qiaomu looked down at the footprints on the ground and said, "However, I think there's some problem with this statement."

  Zhang Heyan heard that Tan Zong had really escaped from prison, and his heart was almost dead. Now hearing Cao Qiaomu say there's a problem, he quickly came back to himself and asked: "What's the problem? Could it be that these small officials still dare to deceive their superiors?"

  "It's probably about the same." Cao Qi Mu drew a few strokes on the footprint with his hand, and then stood up and said: "From the prison door to here, from head to toe, there is only one footprint. Obviously, one of them was taken by another. Even if not on their back, they were wrapped together."

  "Didn't you say you were following him?" Zhang Heyan's eyes lit up for a moment, and then he immediately ordered the two colleagues behind him to call over the prison head and the jailer.

  Moreover, it's not just that. Just looking at this footprint, deep and not scattered, I'm afraid the person's lower limb skills are extremely stable, probably a mid-to-high-level expert. However, this person seems to be carrying heavy objects, which is why their stride can't be large. And in these hundreds of steps, the footsteps don't show any signs of disorder, clearly another person hasn't interfered, otherwise the footsteps couldn't be so neat.

  "Magistrate Cao, I am not familiar with this case at all. Even if you tell me more, it will be of no use to me. Just tell me how it is." Zhang Heyan said, and suddenly saw the prison head leading several prison guards walking over, so he ignored Zhang Heyan and directly asked Wang San: "Are you the prison head? Tell me everything about this matter."

  Wang San had already received the order, and a word was said to be watertight. Anyway, he bit Tan Zong tightly and followed the man in black together.

  "Bastard!" Zhang Heyan suddenly slapped Wang San in the face, his face furious: "Do you think I'm ignorant?! There's only one footprint here, tell me how Tan Yaoyuan followed that black-clothed man, can't he leave any trace at all?!"

  Wang San was slapped by Zhang Heyan and was still in a daze when he was suddenly asked this question, his face changed instantly, only then did he realize that his words had been caught so quickly, his face was covered in sweat, and he didn't know what to say.

  Just then, someone in the group of prison guards suddenly shouted: "Report to your lordship, the prisoner indeed followed that man in black. However, it was not on foot, but rather the man in black carried the prisoner on his back. As they walked, the prisoner kept talking, reminding the man in black where there were guards."

  "Oh?" Zhang Heyan looked up hastily and glanced at Cao Qiaomu who was standing beside him in silence, apparently wanting to get some information from her.

  Cao Qiaomu, however, was completely unresponsive, still frowning and staring at the footprints on the ground, leaving Zhang Heyan seething with anger.

  At this moment, Zhang Heyan had made up his mind that he definitely could not let Tan Zong be labeled as the one who escaped from prison. However, Zhang Heyan also couldn't make it too obvious, and Cao Qiaomu was unwilling to speak at this time, so he could only change the subject and say: "You are a meticulous person, but I don't know what your name is; tomorrow you may be called upon to testify in court."

  "Reporting back to Your Excellency, I am called Chun Er."

  Wang San had already recognized that the speaker was Chun Er, although he didn't know when this gentleman had changed clothes and followed him. However, it wasn't the right time to acknowledge each other now, so he just lowered his head and eyes in front of Zhang Heyan, only using his ears to listen to their conversation.

  "Spring Two?" Zhang Heyan didn't have any particular feeling about this name, it seemed like the kind of person who would use this kind of name was quite normal, and it was all the same everywhere in the country. However, looking at Spring Two who seemed to be showing respect, Zhang Heyan still felt that he didn't seem like a prison guard.

  Here is the translation:

  It was just that no one here, whether it was the warden or other prison guards, made a sound, so Zhang Heyan could only extinguish his doubts and put this group of people aside for now. Just as he was about to ask Cao Qiaomu, he suddenly realized that Cao Qiaomu had somehow walked to the entrance of the large prison, and quickly followed up, saying: "Lord Cao, have you discovered some suspicious point?"

  "It's hard to say, but it seems that this person's footsteps are heavier on one side and lighter on the other, which doesn't seem like someone carrying a person. However, let's go in and take a look first." Cao Qiaomu said, not even waiting for the guard to light the way, he walked straight into the large prison.

  He had been here once before, so this time it was a familiar road, and he walked straight down the stone steps, looked at the two relatively clean cells at the entrance, one of which was traceless, while the other had many messy footprints, and suddenly knew that this should be where Tan Yong stayed.

  "Strange..." Cao Qi Mu looked at the marks on the door and pointed to the large patch of flattened white powder: "Lord Zhang, take a look here. It's clear that someone was lying down here, which is why this white powder is flat. This shows that someone must have been knocked to the ground, resulting in these marks."

  "Does Lord Cao mean that Tan Yaoyuan was knocked unconscious and kidnapped?" Zhang Heyan's eyes lit up again, feeling that Cao Qiimu had never been so pleasing to the eye before.

  "It seems it's going to be like this after all." Cao Qiaomu also let out a rare sigh of relief.

  Although he looked calm and collected, in reality he was just as tense as Zhang Heyan. The only difference being that he didn't believe Tan Zhong would be foolish enough to escape from prison. Now with this evidence, even if the Nanjing Prefecture wanted to convict Tan Zhong of escaping from prison, he had plenty to say for himself.

  However, he didn't know that he still underestimated Tan Zong.

  "It's no use guessing, those two gentlemen, it was I who hit him."

  "Huh?" Cao Qiaomu and Zhang Heyan were both stunned at the same time, almost unbelievably staring at Tan Zong, who was wearing a prisoner's uniform, flipping over from the corner of the wall, smiling at them.

  "I didn't expect the two of you to be so leisurely, at this time, you actually came down to the prison to visit a student, it's really making me feel ashamed." Tan Zong stood up, not caring that his hair was scattered and he had lost his scholar's demeanor, but only cupped his hands in respect towards Zhang Heyan and Cao Qiaomu. If one ignored Tan Zong's current attire, at this moment, he actually looked quite elegant.

  Zhang Heyan was an old official, and Cao Qiaomu was also an old prisoner. Although the two were puzzled for a moment, they soon thought that this matter might be suspicious.

  While waiting, Tan Zong also suffered a long wait for Zhang Heyan and Cao Qiao Mu. Seeing the two wake up, he hurriedly clasped his hands together and said: "I've only been stuck here for less than two hours, yet I've already gone through two life-and-death struggles. I hope you two gentlemen can take me out of here; otherwise, I also can't guarantee whether tomorrow will bring life or death."

  Tan Zong said that there were two groups of life and death, in Cao Qiao Mu's view, it was inevitable to have a sense of danger. However, looking at the whole prison break event, he also agreed that someone must be secretly framing Tan Zong. At this time, Zhang Heyan saw Tan Zong unharmed, already overjoyed, and after being spoken by Tan Zong, he couldn't wait any longer, just waiting for Cao Qiao Mu's agreement.

  After weighing the pros and cons, Cao Qiaomu could only nod slightly, indicating that Tan Zong could come out. When Zhang Heyan, who was extremely excited, called Cui Yuan to open the prison door, Tan Zong bowed his hands in gratitude to Cui Yuan, who had a disbelieving expression with wide eyes, and then followed the two men out of the prison door.

  "Adults...... this......" Waiting to see Tan Zong, who was following Cao Qiao Mu and Zhang He Nian with a calm face, whether it was Chun Er, Wang San or Li Wu, they all had the same expression as Cui Yuan.

  "We'll take Tan Yaoyuan back to the Wenyuan Institute. Tomorrow morning, we will naturally bring him to the prefectural government office. You can report it to your superiors." Cao Qiaomu gave a casual order and took Tan Zong away, leaving behind a room full of incredulity.

  As soon as Cao Qiao Mu spoke up, no one dared to stop them, and they could only watch with their eyes wide open as the five of them left.

  "Second Master, what's going on? Didn't that guy escape?" Wang San stuttered, feeling like he had really encountered a ghost tonight: the person who had clearly escaped had actually run back!

  "Escaped? It's probably fallen into that guy's trap of Li Daitao!" Chun Er spat and didn't bother to talk to Wang San, the fool, anymore. Without even changing his clothes, he called someone to bring over his horse and hastily headed towards the Wang Manor's other courtyard.

  "Unexpectedly, Tan Yaoyuan's plan turned out to be a good one."

  Sitting in a high-backed chair, savoring the aroma of freshly brewed tea, Zhang Heyan listened to Tan Zong's account of his experience. After Tan Zong finished speaking and apologized for his mistake, Zhang Heyan couldn't help but praise him, saying that he had released a dead prisoner.

  The prisoner's behavior was good or bad, whether it was a wrongful conviction or not, he didn't care. Anyway, this matter of the prison break, even if there were troubles, that would be the Nanjing government's problem, and had nothing to do with him. As for Tan Zong being involved in it, it could very well be that he was knocked unconscious, and those black-clad men originally came to rescue that prisoner.

  In short, Tan Zong's affair was settled without incident, and everything else was just some minor details that weren't worth mentioning!

  As for Cao Qiaomu, just looking at him willing to take Tan Zong back to Wen Yuan Institute, it's clear that this person won't bother with such trivial matters, and Zhang Heyan is even less worried.

  "This trick is indeed not bad, Li Daizong's move." Cao Qiaomu also rarely praised Tan Zong for a sentence, and then lowered his head again. Since Tan Zong came back, Cao Qiaomu had been lowering his head, and it was unknown what he was thinking about, but he just buried his head in drinking tea, and didn't care about the conversation between Tan Zong and Zhang Heyan.

  "So, Yuanyuan Gong took a short rest here, and at 7 o'clock, he went to the government office to meet with Wang Zhifu. I was really tired, this night was really long." Zhang Heyan shook his sleeve and walked out first, ahead of Cao Qiaomu.

  On the other side, Cao Qiaomu also seemed to have woken up and bid farewell to Tan Zong before leaving.

  Looking at the empty and deserted big house, Tan Zong was also satisfied with a stretch of his waist, found a few high-backed chairs to lie down in a row, this kind of thing he used to do quite often when he was reading books.

  "This is what it means to finish today's tasks today." Tan Zong sighed and turned over to sleep, too lazy to think about how many big things had happened in this short day, and how many times he had been born and died.

  As for Cao Qiaomu's transformation and Zhang Heyang's strong support, he couldn't be bothered to think about it anymore. It was just the usual officialdom, and as for the details, they could wait until tomorrow when he returned to sort them out slowly.

  All things wait for tomorrow!

  "Drunk Black" is an author who wrote a book called "The End".

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