Chapter 250: Chapter 237: Unwilling

Translator: 549690339 |

Chu Jinnian was assisting the Fourth Prince, yet Mr. Wei was not on their side. As they competed with each other, Chu Jinnian and the Fourth Prince naturally saw Mr. Wei as a thorn in the eye. He worked for Mr. Wei, and though not his confidant, he indeed served as his genuine henchman and knew about some of their affairs.

Chu Jinnian wanted to know about these affairs.

“You mean…” Du Yingwei’s voice was somewhat hoarse.

“I can’t spare your life, you reap what you sow. At best, I can leave your body intact for burial back home,” Chu Jinnian said. “But I can promise you to spare the lives of your wife, children, parents, and your entire family of thirty-two, and not only that, they can also live without any worries about their food and clothing.”

“As for what I want you to do…”

“I’ve already said it, Magistrate Du is a smart person. You should understand

what I want you to do.”

Du Yingwei certainly understood.

What Chu Jinnian wanted was that he must spill out all the information he knew, and as a family dog, he had to bite back at the master who once raised him.

Bite as hard as he could.

“I know that Magistrate Du is a person of loyalty and righteousness, fearing the tremendous power of Mr. Wei, but don’t forget, under heaven’s high arch, all land is the king’s; on its every inch, all folk are his servants. Mr. Wei can’t block out the sky with one hand alone.”

“Moreover, for all these years, you have been serving wholeheartedly without any fault, your merits and hard work are not small, but you haven’t yet exchanged for a golden token of immunity from death, which is a bit regrettable.”

Chu Jinnian said: “If Magistrate Du feels troubled, you don’t have to agree immediately. You can reply after some time.”

“Of course, I will protect you, Magistrate Du. I hope you can wait until that

day.”

What did this statement mean? Was he implying that he might lose his life and couldn’t wait until that day?

Does that mean…

Suddenly, Du Yingwei’s eyebrows furrowed.

That night, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse, with intermittent winds blowing.

The thin fog was complexly interwoven, making the originally bright moonlight increasingly blurry.

At this moment, Du Yingwei was locked up in the prison, sitting on the cold and damp stone floor, watching the moonlight, pouring in from the small window, gradually dim.

Would he lose his life? Then, how would he lose it?

Would Mr. Wei send someone to silence him?

Or was it just a threat from Chu Jinnian…

The clanking sound of the prison guard opening the iron chain interrupted Du Yingwei’s thoughts. A prison guard entered the prison and delivered a bowl of water to each jail cell.

The same was done for Du Yingwei’s cell.

Serving water on time was a rule in the prison. The weather was hot in summer, and the prison was very stuffy. An extra bowl of water was added at night to prevent prisoners from getting dehydrated and delaying the case.

The dinner was a dried and hard cornbread, the vegetables were as salty as road kill, and Du Yingwei was extremely thirsty at this time. He picked up the bowl to drink.

But when the bowl of water was lifted to his mouth, Du Yingwei paused.

This water, brought by the prison guard in the afternoon, was given to prisoners as a routine check, so it wasn’t particular. It was obviously fetched from a shallow well, and it wasn’t boiled, you could smell the earthy taste of mud and sand.

But the water tonight, did not have an earthy taste. Instead, there was a faint, osmanthus-like fragrance, very subtle and hard to detect.

Du Yingwei’s sense of smell was very sharp from childhood, often he was able to smell things that others couldn’t notice. At this moment, he was absolutely sure of the smell he perceived, which made him frown.

The difference in the water could only mean one thing.

Someone had poisoned the water in an attempt to kill him.

As for who did it, it was self-explanatory.

After all, the dead can never talk, and people can only feel relieved when they are dead.

As expected, Mr. Wei had never completely trusted him. Even though he was loyal to Mr. Wei and worked like a dog, he was still not as favored as those who would flatter Mr. Wei. Even at this moment, Mr. Wei was afraid he would leak any word and wanted him to keep his mouth shut completely.

If he died in prison today, then his family would be the ones at risk in future days.

According to Mr. Wei’s cruel nature, he was capable of doing such things.

Du Yingwei’s face darkened, putting the bowl on the ground.

“Doesn’t Master Du want to drink water?” The prison guard who had poured the water earlier returned, staring at Du Yingwei.

“I’m not thirsty at this time.” Du Yingwei sneered, poured the water from the bowl directly onto the ground in front of the prison guard, then even threw the bowl through the gap in the bars onto the ground.

The coarse porcelain bowl broke into pieces with a “crash”.

“What’s the matter!” The guard on duty outside heard the noise and came in.

“You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!” The prison guard hummed coldly, pulled a short dagger from his sleeve, and stabbed at Du Yingwei.

Du Yingwei was prepared, he nimbly dodged to one side, using the heavy shackles on his wrist to block the attack. He kicked at the prison guard’s knee causing the guard to cry out in pain, his hand losing strength. With the shackles blocking, he couldn’t hurt Du Yingwei at all.

During the fight, other prison guards had arrived in the cell and seeing the situation, they immediately shouted, “Assassin!”

in the blink of an eye, the guards outside rushed in, quickly apprehending the prison guard who had intended to stab Du Yingwei.

However, the prison guard who was bound tightly collapsed almost instantly, and when a hand reached out to test his breath, there was no sign of life.

“What happened?” Jing Zhao, who had rushed to the scene, frowned at the fallen prison guard.

“Sir, someone attempted to assassinate Magistrate Du, we discovered it in time. When we arrested him, he bit a poison capsule in his mouth. He is now dead and unable to be interrogated about who was behind the hit,” someone replied.

“Is Magistrate Du badly injured?” Jing Zhao asked.

“No serious harm.”

“That’s good.” Jing Zhao sighed in relief, looking at Du Yingwei with a forced smile: “You gave Magistrate Du quite a fright.”

“I wouldn’t call it frightening.” Du Yingwei coldly sneered.

Having already guessed that someone was going to kill him, how could he be surprised?

“I respectfully request a conversation with Master Chu.” Du Yingwei bowed his hands, his attitude could be described as very respectful.

“Since it’s a request from Magistrate Du, I will definitely convey it. Please wait for a while, Magistrate Du.” Jing Zhao agreed, ordering people to clean up the prison and carry away the prison guard who had died after taking poison.

In the prison, everything quickly returned to calm.

Du Yingwei paced in the prison, thinking about the words he would say to Chu Jinnian later.

The fog quietly dissipated, revealing the bright moonlight that shined on Du Yingwei. He looked up to see the bright, golden crescent moon outside the window, and sighed deeply.

Was it anger, or unwillingness?

At this moment, he himself did not know, but he was bound by fate.