Manbao, carrying the dicine box, widened her eyes in disbelief and asked Tao Yi, "What, can’t see him?"
Tao Yi’s gaze fell on the basket and dicine box they brought, saying, "This is the order we received early this morning. We are just following orders. Although you cannot see him, the food and dicine you brought can still be delivered inside."
Manbao turned to Bai Shan and they exchanged glances, then both looked down at the basket of food and the dicine pack she was holding, frowning together.
Tao Yi seed to know what they were worried about and said, "Rest assured, the dicine and food will pass through my hands only, and I won’t let a third person touch them. I will deliver them directly to the cell."
The two of them reluctantly handed over the basket and dicine pack to him, "Lord Tao, could you please ask Xiang Chao and Mingxue if there is anything special they need? We will bring it to them tomorrow."
Tao Yi, carrying the items, went inside, and soon ca out and shook his head at the two: "They don’t have any requests."
Bai Shan’s eyes flickered and he coughed lightly, saying, "Lord Tao, this ti we also brought so items for Bapo. Can we go in to see him?"
Manbao imdiately nodded, "Yes, yes, we’ve only heard his voice but never seen him. This ti we must have a proper eting."
Tao Yi looked deeply at them and then nodded, "You may et him."
Bai Shan then turned to Manbao and said, "Wait for a while. I’ll go back to the cart to get the stuff."
Manbao nodded.
They watched as Bai Shan ran out to find Daji waiting outside and said, "Quickly go buy so buns, get the big pork buns, hmm, buy about ten or so, it doesn’t matter if they taste good or not; just as long as they are big and filled with a lot of at."
Although Daji did not know what the young master was up to, he turned and drove the carriage away quickly.
There were no stalls in front of the prison gate, as no one wanted the bad on, but once you turn the corner out of this street, there were places selling buns.
Daji quickly bought the buns and made the carriage race back, handing two paper bags of buns to Bai Shan.
The buns were just taken out of the stear, still steaming hot, and Bai Shan found them sowhat hot to hold.
He ran into the prison carrying the paper bags and Tao Yi, who had been waiting almost bored, saw him carrying two bags of steaming buns and knew by a guess that they were freshly bought.
He turned a blind eye, pretending not to see, and led them inside.
The prison was divided into three paths; usually, the officers moved around in the main hall, which was also very dark. Next door was the room of punishnt. Bai Shan and the others used to stay in the first path, but now he directly led them into the second path.
Unlike their path which only held four people, this side had many small cells cramd with people, and each cell essentially had just enough space for a single person squatting.
As Manbao looked around, she couldn’t help but quietly ask Tao Yi, who walked ahead, "Lord Tao, why are the cells on this side so small?"
Tao Yi answered expressionlessly, "These are high-profile criminals transferred to the capital for execution. They have already been sentenced to be beheaded in autumn."
He glanced at Manbao and said, "The place where you reside is generally reserved for criminal officials, and of course, those who are sent to the sky prison will mostly end up on the execution grounds."
Manbao and Bai Shan simultaneously felt a chill on their necks, swallowed their saliva, and asked, "What about the minority?"
"The minority will be exiled. Very few can get away unscathed, so you are quite lucky."
Manbao couldn’t help but mutter, "We are not criminals."
Tao Yi, without turning his head, said, "If the evidence you provide cannot be verified as true, then that would be slandering the royal kin, a cri punishable by the extermination of one’s family. Then, this sky prison will only gain more inmates, not less. Alright, we are here, this is Bapo."
The dark figure lying on the kang who heard his na lifted his head to look outside, eting the gaze of Bai Shan and Manbao with so confusion, "You’re looking for ?"
Bai Shan cleared his throat and said, "Master Ba, I am..."
"Oh, I know, the neighbors," Bapo replied with a chuckle even though he hadn’t t them before, recognizing their voices, "You went out yesterday, right? How co you are back in today?"
Bai Shan pushed forward a bun he was holding and said, "We ca to check on you and brought you so food as well."
Bapo imdiately stepped forward; unlike them, he was shackled even in prison, clanging as he walked. Reaching the prison door, he sat down, took the paper bag from Bai Shan, grabbed a big, white bun, and took a bite. The scent of at instantly wafted out, stirring up the people in the nearby cells, who crowd towards their doors, unable to help swallowing their saliva.
Bai Shan looked sowhat distressed, hesitating as he glanced at the paper bag in his hand.
Tao Yi said coldly, "Feel sympathy for them? There’s no need. Everyone who is brought to this prison has blood on their hands."
All cases sentenced to death must be sent to the Ministry of Justice for review, as life is of paramount importance. Except in special urgent cases, such as for disaster relief or soothing public sentint which allows local magistrates to override the Ministry of Justice’s decision, all capital cases must go through the Ministry of Justice’s review.
To save ti and improve efficiency, the Ministry of Justice generally conducts a collective review after mid-year, issuing the reviewed docunts before the autumn harvest so that executions can proceed locally, hence why most executions occur after autumn.
Only the particularly egregious cases, or those that are contentious, require local authorities to transport the convicted along with their case files to the capital for another round of review by the Ministry of Justice. If there are cases of wrongful or false charges, they are rectified. If confird, it serves to deter evildoers everywhere by executing them in the capital as a warning to others.
Thus, those finally detained in the Ministry of Justice’s sky prison awaiting the autumn decision are either people who committed heinous cris near the capital or those with particularly heinous influences.
Like Bapo, he has four lives on his back, all killed during burglary attempts when he was discovered, one of whom was an officer pursuing him, causing extrely bad influence, hence he was brought to the capital by the Ministry of Justice.
Bapo, unconcerned, continued munching on the bun and said, "The young master and the young lady are kind-hearted, Lord shouldn’t scare them. We might have killed people, but now we’re in prison cells, not harming anyone. Moreover, I should be grateful for the food they brought , how could I harm them?"
Tao Yi sneered, "Old Lady Ban from Qijia Village in Jiannan, Maozhou, also took you in and fed you twice, didn’t she? Just because her son ca back from the county town, looking like he recognized you from a wanted poster, you cruelly killed them mother and son. A single al’s kindness doesn’t seem to weigh much with you."
Bapo fell silent.
Tao Yi turned his head to Bai Shan and Manbao and said, "You guys talk; I’ll wait for you outside."
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