Early in the morning on the 16th day of the first lunar month, the prison gate was crowded with people.
As the president of the Yongzhou Chamber of Commerce, Cai Ying is naturally very well-known, so when he was arrested, he made a fuss and became a topic of conversation at the dinner table during the happy moments of the people's families throughout the New Year.
Naturally, there were many people watching on the day of Cai Yingwen's execution.
The prison van slowly drove out from the prison. Cai Ying was handcuffed in the prison van with a dull look in her eyes. Her large prison uniform was empty. The torture of nearly a month had made Cai Ying's figure become emaciated.
Chen Jinjun sat on the rickshaw and watched with cold eyes as Cai Ying was pushed to the market entrance.
Xu Fanming, who was pulling the cart, lowered the brim of his hat: "Cai Ying looks so miserable."
He said this, but there was no trace of regret in his tone, instead it was full of gloating.
Chen Jinjun sneered: "The way he looks now is entirely his own fault, and he can't blame anyone else at all."
Xu Fanming chuckled, with unclear meaning in his eyes: "Master's method, he can survive for so many days, he is considered a talent."
"Have you met Du Yu?" Chen Jinjun looked away from Cai Ying and looked at Xu Fanming.
Xu Fanming nodded: "He has a good relationship with Master Yuanhui of Wangji Temple, and he even went out of his way to purify my heart yesterday."
"Have you forgiven him?" Chen Jinjun raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Xu Fanming smiled and shook his head: "Master and disciple are like father and son, how can father and son have an overnight feud?"
Chen Jinjun smiled knowingly: "Just talk about it. You and I are new to Yongzhou, so we don't want to make too many enemies."
"Making enemies? You knocked Cai Ying down as soon as you came up. It's obviously your boss who has made too many enemies for you."
Xu Fanming's mood today is visibly cheerful, and he speaks with lighthearted ridicule.
Chen Jinjun raised his chin: "Let's go, hurry up and follow."
Xu Fanming straightened his hat and pretended to be a rickshaw driver, dragging Chen Jinjun to the execution ground.
Along the way, many people had already brought various kinds of mud and smelly stones to greet Cai Ying in the car.
There is not a good spot under Cai Ying's prison uniform, and this is all due to Du Yu's methods. The eyes are tortured so much that there is no light in them, but with a layer of skin on them, it just looks like their eyes are dull.
The master is indeed a master, and there is nothing that dozens of people cannot gain from this experience.
Xu Fanming couldn't help but was speechless in his heart.
Chen Jinjun looked at Cai Ying, feeling a little dazed for a moment.
She couldn't figure out for a moment whether she wanted to see Cai Ying, a person who had done all the bad things, get the retribution he deserved, or whether she wanted to see how far a businessman could go to benefit himself.
To be fair, she is also a businessman. She can understand Cai Ying's reselling of opium for profit, but she will never forgive him.
Chen Jinjun and Xu Fanming followed the prison car slowly to the execution site. Xu Fanming took Chen Jinjun to the position reserved by Du Yu early in the morning.
Du Yu turned around and said to Xu Fanming: "It just so happens that Cai Ying today is the ninety-ninth soul of this old executioner."
Chen Jinjun glanced at the executioner who was wiping the ghost sword. She had heard that an executioner could only cut off ninety-nine heads in his career.
But in fact, few executioners can reach the record of ninety-nine heads.
Seeing that the executioner was not too old, Chen Jinjun squinted his eyes. It seemed that there were many beheading cases in Yongzhou.
As if he could see what Chen Jinjun was thinking, Du Yu explained to her.
"This man used to be the executioner in the execution hall of the Qinghong Society. Those days were very chaotic, so the number of times he was stabbed was naturally more."
Chen Jinjun nodded clearly: "Then from this point of view, is Cai Ying the person who committed the biggest crime under his knife?"
Du Yu smiled mysteriously and held out three fingers: "I can barely rank among the top three."
Chen Jinjun raised his eyebrows curiously and asked Du Yu: "What other heinous people can the Qinghong Society encounter?"
Xu Fanming lowered his eyelashes: "I remember that I beheaded a fourth-rank official of the Qing Dynasty."
Du Yu nodded and confirmed Xu Fanming's statement: "Traitors should be killed."
Chen Jinjun smiled, it seemed that Qinghong would be more powerful than she imagined.
The prison officer has already begun to have Cai Ying's crimes read out.
Chen Jinjun took a clear look at the sun in the sky. It was obviously approaching noon, but the sun hanging high in the sky was pale and white, without any warmth.
She moved her gaze away from the sun and looked down. A group of people were looking at Cai Ying angrily.
On the contrary, Yang Qing, who finally returned to normal, stood in the crowd and looked at Cai Ying indifferently.
Chen Jinjun nodded towards Yang Qing.
She felt a line of sight behind her, and Chen Jinjun quickly turned around and looked over.
Huo Tingyu was wearing a military uniform and just sitting in the car.
He is looking at her.
Chen Jinjun also nodded to Huo Tingyu.
Huo Tingyu looked at Chen Jinjun. Although he already knew that she was not afraid of this small beheading scene, he still couldn't bear to let her face this sinful and bloody scene.
The supervisor over there was always keeping an eye on the time, for fear of missing the best moment to question Cai Ying.
Chen Jinjun watched the shadow on the sundial gradually slip towards noon and slowly closed his eyes.
I could only hear the prison officer's voice singing: "Noon has arrived, the execution will be carried out."
The wooden sign fell to the ground, and a moderate sound fell into Chen Jinjun's ears.
She slowly opened her eyes and saw the executioner taking a sip of wine and spraying it evenly on the ghost knife with his mouth.
Then, the executioner raised the knife high, and the blade reflected the pale sunlight.
Chen Jinjun squinted his eyes reflexively, and saw the executioner's strong waist driving his arm, connected with the ghost knife, and swung it straight towards Cai Ying's neck.
I have to say that this executioner's skills were amazing.
I saw blood spurting out from Cai Ying's neck. The snow in the first month had not yet melted, and it was sprinkled on the snow. The red thorns made people's eyes hurt.
Looking at Cai Ying who was lying on the ground, there was still a layer of skin attached to her neck.
Chen Jinjun couldn't help but glance at the executioner again.
A meticulous executioner will not completely cut off the criminal's neck during execution, but will leave a little bit of skin and flesh connected.
It is said that this is so that the family members of the prisoner can take away the body in the dead of night and sew the prisoner's stolen ore to the body for burial.
The executioner's timing was just right. He was able to kill Cai Ying on the spot with one blow, but also left a layer of skin and flesh connected just right.
The people watching in the audience cheered loudly as they watched Cai Ying being beheaded.
Chen Jinjun frowned and looked over, and saw that the onlookers were in high spirits, and some were even dancing.
Looking around, among the group of onlookers, only Yang Qing looked at Yang Qing on the ground expressionlessly, with a hint of pity in his eyes.
Chen Jinjun shook his head. Should he say that these people were numb, or should he say that Cai Ying died well?