Regardless of Dong Guizhi's hysterical screams, Zhan Feiyu still refused to compensate the Dong family, and left the prison with He Nuan in a cold manner.
Only after escorting Zhan Feiyu outside did Magistrate Wei speak in a low voice, "Madam Dong voluntarily pleaded guilty. No one can save her, so you don't need to blame yourself, young lady."
This was a case of one party willing to strike and the other willing to be beaten. If Magistrate Cheng had used torture to extract a confession, Magistrate Wei might have intervened, and Magistrate Zhu would not have ignored it. But the fact was that Dong Guizhi, out of filial piety for the Dong family and for her brother Dong Jizu, had confessed and accepted her fate. No one could save her.
Zhan Feiyu looked up at the majestic and solemn county office in front of her and smiled coldly, "Magistrate Zhu, as the parent official of this region, he just lets things slide. I am just an ordinary person passing through Liuxian County. Why should I blame myself or feel guilty?"
The young girl's words were quite sharp! Magistrate Wei was stunned for a moment. Looking at Zhan Feiyu, whose eyes were filled with coldness, she still had a childlike air, but her words were as sharp as an old fox in the officialdom.
"Thank you for your trouble today, sir. I bid you farewell." Zhan Feiyu exchanged pleasantries and then took her leave.
The saying "Water that is too clear has no fish" was indeed fitting for the officialdom, but when she truly encountered it, Zhan Feiyu found that she still felt a sense of unease.
...
As a distinguished guest of Magistrate Zhu, Zhan Feiyu's carriage had just stopped at the entrance of the county office when Magistrate Wei personally came to greet her.
"Thank you for your trouble, Magistrate Wei. I wish to see Dong Guizhi." After paying her respects, Zhan Feiyu stated her intention. Regardless of the reason Dong Guizhi had "confessed and accepted her fate," Zhan Feiyu still had to ask her personally.
"You are too kind, Miss Zhan. This way, please." Magistrate Wei gestured for Zhan Feiyu to head towards the prison.
An hour ago, Constable Cao had sent someone back to the yamen to report, so Magistrate Wei and Magistrate Zhu knew that Zhan Feiyu had gone to the Huang family first. Now that she was at the county yamen, they guessed she probably didn't want a miscarriage of justice due to a "forced confession."
Magistrate Wei subtly glanced at Zhan Feiyu walking beside him. She was clearly a soft and adorable young girl, but her demeanor was more noble than that of the scions of noble families.
Magistrate Wei couldn't help but wonder how the Zhan family, located so far away in Jiangnan Dao, cultivated their descendants. If a young girl was so outstanding, were the males in the clan even more extraordinary?
The moment the jailer and guards saw Magistrate Wei leading the way, their attitudes instantly became respectful. "Reporting to you, sir, Madam Dong is currently held alone in the innermost cell. Please watch your step, sir and Miss Zhan."
Liuxian County had good public security, with few bandits and ruffians daring to cause trouble. Therefore, the prison was basically a decoration, and very few prisoners were held there throughout the year.
Because the cells were almost decorative, the roof leaked, and the ground was also damaged. However, the county yamen had not allocated funds for repairs. Thus, the old jailer had repeatedly warned Zhan Feiyu to walk carefully and not to trip over the potholes in the ground.
Entering the musty-smelling prison, Magistrate Wei stopped. "Miss, you may ask whatever you wish. I will wait here."
"Thank you, sir." Zhan Feiyu accepted and continued into the prison with He Nuan.
In the dim prison, only the oil lamp hanging on the wall emitted a faint light. Dong Guizhi sat blankly on the ground. Hearing footsteps, she slowly raised her head.
Seeing no wounds on Dong Guizhi, Zhan Feiyu's guilt lessened somewhat. At least she had not been tortured.
"Is that you?" Recognizing Zhan Feiyu and He Nuan outside the cell, Dong Guizhi spoke with a hoarse voice, then lowered her head in silence.
Even though she had lived a life of comfort and security in the past decade, with the birth of her brother Dong Jizu, Dong Guizhi had been brainwashed by her parents' patriarchal beliefs for ten years. Zhan Feiyu was not surprised that she had developed such a personality.
"Miss Dong, do you know that according to the Great Qing Law: murder is punishable by death, especially the poisoning of children, which is a capital offense?" Zhan Feiyu spoke word by word, her clear voice echoing in the silent cell. "Since you have already signed and thumb-printed, once Magistrate Zhu reports this to the prefectural city, you will face execution in the autumn."
The body curled up on the ground trembled. Dong Guizhi opened her mouth but finally remained silent. She clasped her hands tightly together, her knuckles turning white from the force.
Zhan Feiyu finally understood the meaning of "pitiable people must have something detestable about them." For the sake of a wicked brother, Dong Guizhi was willing to give up her own life.
"Miss Dong, if you wish to retract your confession, today is your last chance." Zhan Feiyu looked at Dong Guizhi, who was hunched over. She was not exaggerating. Once the case was officially processed by the Provincial Surveillance Department, Dong Guizhi would have no opportunity to change her plea.
After Zhan Feiyu finished speaking, the cell fell into a deathly silence again. Dong Guizhi seemed to have resigned herself to her fate.
After waiting for a while longer, Zhan Feiyu took one last look at the unresponsive Dong Guizhi. Just as she turned to leave, a hoarse voice came from behind her.
"I know I'm taking the blame for you." Dong Guizhi looked up now, her eyes bloodshot beneath her disheveled hair. She stared at Zhan Feiyu with a somber gaze. "I know my life is cheap, but I'm dying for you."
"So what?" Zhan Feiyu turned around. She had thought Dong Guizhi was simple and honest, which was why she was willing to die for her brother Dong Jizu. But her words were filled with resentment.
Dong Guizhi raised her hand to wipe the dead skin from her lips. The slight sting caused blood to appear at the corners of her cracked lips. Dong Guizhi licked the blood from her lips, thinking that once she died, she would no longer be able to taste anything.
In that moment, Dong Guizhi was afraid. But when she thought of her brother lying on his deathbed, her mother crying her eyes out, and her father almost kneeling to her, the flicker of hope that had arisen in Dong Guizhi's heart was instantly extinguished.
"I earn one tael of silver a month at Meiren Zhuang. Jizu has been sickly since childhood. I, as an elder sister, was ignorant and ate up all the family's savings. That's why Jizu was not well-nourished in his mother's womb. After he was born, the family didn't even have a hen..."
Dong Guizhi recounted her perceived debt to Dong Jizu intermittently. If it weren't for raising her, her parents wouldn't have exhausted their savings. Dong Guizhi always remembered that she had a new set of clothes every New Year, and her parents would occasionally cook an egg for her.
Compared to her six older sisters and other girls in the village, Dong Guizhi felt she lived like a pampered young lady in the city. It was precisely because her parents doted on her that Jizu's health was poor, and now he was dying.
Zhan Feiyu listened in astonishment. The Dong couple's words were only meant to deceive the immature Dong Guizhi. Moreover, their kindness to her back then was only to keep her in the family to marry a son-in-law.
When a son was born and the family ran out of money, the Dong couple immediately took their anger out on Dong Guizhi, their daughter, beating and scolding her. Then they repeatedly told her that she had harmed her brother.
Now Dong Guizhi was a young woman in her twenties and still worked at Meiren Zhuang, yet she still believed these lies.
"One hundred taels of silver is equivalent to ten years of my wages," Dong Guizhi sobbed. Even though she was willing, when she thought of being beheaded, tears couldn't help but fall. However, at this moment, Dong Guizhi could only glare fiercely at Zhan Feiyu, "This hundred taels is also my blood money. Otherwise, I will not let you go even as a ghost!"
"Miss, let's go back." He Nuan couldn't listen any longer. This person was facing death but still didn't know how to repent.
As for the money for the Huang family, He Nuan felt it was reasonable. No matter how unruly Huang Baocai was, he was just a child. It was the Huang family elders who failed to discipline him properly. Huang Baocai did not deserve to die.
Zhan Feiyu had never seen such a filial person before. However, no matter how pitiable or sympathetic Dong Guizhi was, Zhan Feiyu would not agree to her request. "Huang Baocai was not killed by me. Since he was not killed by you either, and you have confessed, you are essentially harboring the real killer. Why should I sympathize with a female prisoner who has violated the Great Qing Law?"
You, you slammed your hands hard against the prison door, shouting and cursing at Zhan Feiyu hysterically, "It's all your fault, you killed me, you are the murderer..."
Magistrate Wei, Constable Cao, and the jailer were standing a bit far away, but with Dong Guizhi's shout, all three of them heard it.