The scene in front of Wu Yinquan was very unfamiliar.
He even took a few steps back, carefully observed the location of this cell, and finally confirmed that he was in the right place. This was indeed the "ground-level private room" in the prison, which was enough to make people's faces turn pale, and not some model cell used to deceive Shangguan.
Wu Yinquan suspected that the person had already been beaten to death, and these scoundrels deliberately covered it up to make it look like he was sleeping, in order to evade responsibility.
Just as he was about to go out to call other prison guards - he really didn't dare to go in and take the person out by himself.
As he turned his head, the old prison guard Ding was walking over with something in his hand.
Upon closer inspection, what he was holding was actually a food tray, with a roast chicken, two steamed buns, and even a pot of wine on it!
"You sly old Ding!" Wu Yinquan reached out to grab the chicken leg. "Who's this, being so generous? You've made quite a bit of money, haven't you?"
"Sly" meant "comfortable" on the outside, but in the prison, it meant "willing to spend money."
"Made money" was also prison slang, meaning to accept bribes.
Old Ding held the food tray to the side, avoiding Wu Yinquan's hand, and said with a smile, "Boss, I brought some food for Mr. Qin."Wu Yinquan's hand, which was halfway out, paused, feeling a bit unhappy.
He considered himself very kind to his subordinates on weekdays, allowing them to accept bribes in private, and not being as selfish as other small prison heads. It was reasonable for him to take a share when he saw it. But this old Ding seemed to be so clueless!
"You won't even let me have a chicken leg?" he asked with a dark expression.
The cell was too dark, and Old Ding didn't pay much attention to Wu Yinquan's expression. He just smiled and said, "Mr. Qin is a clean person. If you touch it, he might not eat it. This meal wasn't paid for by me, it was pooled together by the people in the private room. The money for the wine wasn't enough, so I added some. I'll treat you to a meal later."
This surprised Wu Yinquan even more, and he even forgot to continue being angry.
The people in the "private room" were all tough and stingy, and they wouldn't even spit out half a knife coin, which was why they were all stuffed into the "ground-level private room."
Asking them to pool money to buy wine and food was like squeezing oil from a rock.
"What Mr. Qin?" he couldn't help but ask.
"I only found out this morning. The prisoner sent in yesterday is Mr. Qin, the son who inherited Mr. Qin's mantle from the Ze Ren Medical Hall in the west of the city."
"It's Mr. Qin's son?" Wu Yinquan's eyes widened.
Mr. Qin was a well-known figure in the entire Yuecheng, not only because of his superb medical skills and life-saving abilities, but also because of his compassion for others.
Compassion didn't mean that he didn't charge for his medical services. In fact, Mr. Qin's fees were very high, and ordinary people couldn't afford to hire him.
But his Ze Ren Medical Hall treated a large number of poor people who couldn't afford medical treatment every year.
Whenever there was a disaster in the city, or when a ferocious beast attacked, the Ze Ren Medical Hall was always the first to provide assistance.
Not to mention the relief of orphans, or providing porridge and medicine to beggars.
All the high fees Mr. Qin collected were used for these purposes.
Many of his disciples and grandchildren were homeless orphans, and he not only supported their livelihoods, but also taught them skills so that they could be self-reliant.
In short, in Yuecheng, there might be people who hadn't seen Mr. Qin, but there was no one who hadn't heard of him.
Wu Yinquan was no exception.
"Yeah!" Old Ding was a little excited. "My father was able to live until now, all thanks to Mr. Qin!"
Seeing the rare excitement of this old slicker, Wu Yinquan suddenly understood why the ground-level private room was so harmonious now.
He unconsciously stepped aside and let Old Ding walk over.
Old Ding handed the food tray through the small window into the cell and muttered under his breath, "Steady! You bunch of scoundrels!"
The people inside didn't mind at all, and they laughed as they took the food tray. "It smells so good!"
"Damn, when was the last time I had chicken?"
"Hurry, let me have a whiff too!"
A group of rude scoundrels, but when they walked to where Qin Nianmin was sleeping, their voices softened. "Mr. Qin? Mr. Qin? Get up and eat."
Qin Nianmin got up and sat on the bed. Wu Yinquan saw a dark bruise in the corner of his eye, indicating that he had suffered when he first entered the cell.
The man next to him placed the food tray in his hands. "Eat, Mr. Qin."
The sound of swallowing saliva filled the room.
Wu Yinquan couldn't help but wonder, how high was Mr. Qin's reputation to make a group of absolutely unkind prisoners treat him with such sincerity?
Qin Nianmin was also in his fifties, but due to proper care, although there were a few signs of aging, his face did not look old.At this moment, his expression was haggard, and he didn't touch the roast chicken, only tearing the white steamed buns into strips and eating them one bite at a time.
It didn't look like eating, but more like mechanically forcing himself to do something.
"Why eat if you don't want to?" Wu Yinquan asked from outside the cell.
Qin Nianmin didn't even look to see who was speaking, nor did he turn his head, simply saying, "I need to stay alive."
"A son of the esteemed Elder Qin shouldn't be breaking the law," Wu Yinquan couldn't help but ask, "What exactly got you in here? The person who handed you over was all over the place, I couldn't understand a thing."
This time, Qin Nianmin turned his head and looked at him for a while, his eyes filled with sorrow: "You're not too bad, I don't want to harm you."
Wu Yinquan wisely shut his mouth.
Having been in the great prison for so many years, he understood all too well that it was best not to know things that one shouldn't.
Qin Nianmin clearly carried such a burden. That's why, even with such a venerable father, he still ended up here.
Thinking this, Wu Yinquan asked again, "Do you want me to pass any message to Elder Qin?"
In his view, the son of Elder Qin was naturally worth the effort.
But as soon as he spoke, Qin Nianmin, who even in a cell had an air of transcendence, suddenly put down his food tray and burst into loud weeping.
A man in his fifties, crying like a child.
...
Wu Yinquan left the great prison, feeling utterly dispirited, and walked with Old Ding towards the west of the city.
Elder Qin was ninety years old, a venerable age.
Birth, aging, sickness, and death are the natural order of life. The people of Yuecheng should have been prepared for his departure.
But when the day truly arrived, it was still so hard to accept!
The reason for Wu Yinquan's distress was that he was very aware that he couldn't consider himself a good person, but he was also very aware that pure good people like Elder Qin were rare in the past and would only become rarer in the future!
Even a bad person wouldn't want to live in a world filled with only bad people.
When Wu Yinquan and Old Ding reached near the Ze Ren Medical Hall in the west of the city, they stopped.
The entire street was lined with wreaths, the ground covered with white funeral flowers. But there were hardly any people.
With Elder Qin's status today, the street outside should have been bustling with traffic, so why were there only funeral flowers everywhere?
It was eerily unsettling.
Full of confusion, Wu Yinquan and Old Ding continued along the street until they reached the front of Ze Ren Medical Hall.
They saw the gates were tightly shut, with a banner hanging above—
[Contagious disease within, no mourning allowed.]
Just that one sentence, nothing more.
Accompanying it was the deserted street, ten miles of white silk.
End of the chapter.