"Scholar Bian, get in!"
A kick from behind, neither light nor heavy, sent Bian Deming stumbling forward several steps before he caught his balance. A clang sounded behind him. The heavy iron door had shut again, and the bolt slid home. Just like that, he became a prisoner.
This was Donghua County's jail, built deep underground. Its walls were natural rock, impossible to tunnel through. The cell doors and bars were made of iron rods as thick as a child's wrist. Even an Innate Master would struggle to bend or break them barehanded.
As for Bian Deming, the underground jail was more than enough to hold him.
He turned and watched the constables and Jailers leave. With a sigh, he made no protest of innocence. Instead, he gathered the scattered straw on the floor into a pile, made it as thick as he could, and sat down.
"Alas! Lord Wenchao said, 'Illness enters through the mouth; disaster comes out of it.' Truer words were never spoken! I'm bound to suffer for this. I just don't know whether I'll get out alive..."
He had passed the scholar's examination, so he was no fool. One look at those fierce, ill-tempered officers told him they had come with bad intentions. What was more, he did not recognize over half of them, despite being a local. The military officer leading them had eyes like knives; one sweep of his gaze left a man feeling a faint sting.
Such a show of force certainly was not for an insignificant scholar from an ordinary family. But now that they had arrested him, they would hardly mind slaughtering a chick while making an example of a monkey.
He shook his head and thought back over the day's events. Gradually, his expression grew firm.
"A gentleman knows what