Chapter 39 Chapter Thirty-Five

Sima Qian finished writing in one breath, let out a long cry, lay down and gasped for breath, Qing'er picked up the bamboo slips to read, and exclaimed: "Teacher, this is a famous sentence through the ages!" In a room that smelled of blood, Sima Qian was stripped of his clothes and lay on a wooden bed in the torture room. His hands were tied to the wooden bed rails, and his legs were bent and knees apart and tied to the edge of the bed.The executioner came over with a knife that had been burnt in the fire, and a plate with anesthetics and cotton in his deputy. Sima Qian closed his eyes tightly...

The jailer asked: "Sima Qian, do you choose death or castration? Think about it, this is your last chance!" Sima Qianzheng opened his eyes to look at the jailer's contemptuous eyes, closed them again without answering.I thought to myself, I don’t care about my ambition with you villains. "If you don't speak, well, then execute!" Sima Qian trembled in his heart, almost passed out, cold sweat oozed from his back... The executioner went down with the knife expressionlessly, like a barrow, and cut off Sima Qian's penis in one stroke. Sima Qian let out a scream and passed out... Then the jailer skillfully cut off his two testicles, and after the jailer poured cold water on his head, Sima Qian woke up. Two knives were cut on the heart and the body at the same time, the severe trauma to the soul and the pain of castration tortured him to death...

When he woke up again, he had been carried to a dark hut. He opened his eyes and saw a soybean oil lamp flickering on a small wooden table. He was lying on the grass, and the wound seemed to have been sprinkled with salt. The same pain. "Ah, teacher, you've finally woken up." Qing'er, who was standing by the bed, choked up and said. "Qing'er..." Sima Qian wanted to cry but had no tears. "Teacher, if you want to open some more, the matter has come to this point, the teacher's body is important, and the teacher has to complete the history book."

"Qing'er, the teacher endured the humiliation and torture for "Historical Records"." "Teacher, Qing'er understands that from now on, Qing'er will be with the teacher for life and death, and the teacher's affairs are Qing'er's affairs." Qing'er sobbed. "Qing'er..." Sima Qian held Qing'er's hand and wept. "Teacher, drink some water." "No...don't dare to drink, what should I do if I urinate!" My stomach was empty, and I didn't dare to eat or drink, for fear that the wound would hurt sharply when I relieved my hand, so I had to endure hunger, thirst, and pain, and lay flat still...

In the afternoon, when he was urinating, the wound hurt like a knife cut. Qing'er was urinating for him at the side. Sima Qian was sweating profusely after he urinated. Oh, it hurts me to death..." "Husband..." Wang Wenzhen came, and she rushed to Sima Qian's side and cried. "Wenzhen..." Sima Qian also burst into tears. Husband and wife hug each other and cry... "Husband, come, have some porridge." Sima Qian shook his head: "Don't dare to drink, it hurts too much to relieve." "You have to drink it too, husband, you said you must live."

"...Yes, I can't die, feed me porridge." Wang Wenzhen fed the porridge into Sima Qian's mouth spoonful by spoonful. Sima Qian spent a hundred days in the silkworm room where the officials recuperated after being castrated, and the wounds healed. In addition to changing the dressing every day, he lay flat on a wooden bed covered with hay, and Qing'er stayed by Sima Qian's side day and night.As soon as Sima Qian could sit up, he asked Qing'er to bring the bamboo slips, and he struggled to write a book. Qing'er persuaded: "Teacher, wait for the wound to heal before writing!"

"No, write, write..." Sima Qian wrote silently. He looked up at the black wall of the prison... The black wall seemed to have turned into a high-rise building, where King Wen of Zhou was imprisoned by King Zhou for seven years. King Zhou killed his son and turned him into meat King Wen was forced to swallow the soup, and King Wen angrily deduced the gossip in the "Book of Changes" that has been passed down through the ages on the black wall... After a while, Confucius seemed to appear again on the black wall. He was trapped in Chendi and had no food for seven days. Wrote "Spring and Autumn"...

Ah, Confucius! "Spring and Autumn"... The black wall seemed to turn into the surging Miluo River again, and Qu Yuan stood by the river and asked the sky in grief and indignation: "There is no one in the country who can't find the knowledge, so why care about the homeland?" In the dark cell, Zuo Qiuming, who is blind, is writing history books with his hands... Sun Bin, whose kneecap was cut off, wrote the art of war under the flashing prison lights... After a while, the black wall seemed to turn into a difficult and difficult road to Shu again.Lu Buwei, who was expelled, held the bamboo slips of "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals" and lamented at Wangya...

In the dark cell, Sima Qian seemed to see Han Fei writing at his desk: "Say Difficulty", "Lonely Anger"... Ah, sages, tears filled Sima Qian's eyes, so he asked Qing'er to turn on the oil lamp and bring bamboo slips, and quickly wrote a page of blood and tears at his desk: Sima Qian finished writing in one breath, let out a long cry, and lay down gasping for exhaustion. Qing'er picked up the bamboo slips to read, and exclaimed: "Teacher, this is a famous sentence through the ages." Holding the bamboo slips in his hand, Qing'er knelt down to the prison window, and shouted angrily, "God, you are not fair, why did you let such an outstanding person suffer such cruel punishment..." After shouting, two lines of hot tears flowed from his eyes... …

"Qing'er," Sima Qian said painfully, holding Qing'er's hand, "I'm not a man anymore, Wenzhen is still young, I, I'm sorry for her... I think, let's just let the two of you get by from now on, okay?" "Ah, teacher," Qing'er knelt down, "Why did you say that, teacher? Although you and I are not brothers, we have already surpassed brotherhood. Qing'er treats you as brothers from beginning to end, in order to repay the teacher's family for their love. My great kindness, teacher, please stop thinking like this, otherwise how will Qing'er face the former master under the nine springs?"

Qing'er said again: "Furthermore, Madam and Teacher are as deep in love as the sea, and they will never disagree because Teacher is tortured. Teacher should trust Madam." Sima Qian was moved to help Qing'er up, "Qing'er, you are not only my younger brother, but also my confidant, and a good brother who has been with me in times of trouble. I am proud of having a confidant like you. Alas, there is a life A confidant is enough..." "Teacher..." Qing'er cried and said, "Teacher suffered such a catastrophe, it was too horrible to bear. This punishment is just like what Qing'er suffered. Qing'er is as sad as the teacher. I hope the teacher will take care of himself and fulfill the last wish of the late teacher. Qing'er is I have to share my worries for the teacher even if I am smashed to pieces." "Qing'er, my good brother..." Sima Qian and Qing'er hugged each other and cried. Sima Qian's wife Wang Wenzhen, daughter Sima Qiong and his wife, and grandson Yang Yun came to Jamsil. "Father,..." The daughter threw herself on her father and cried bitterly. "Qione, my child is not allowed to cry." "No, father, my daughter loves you and respects you." "My dear daughter." Sima Qian hugged his daughter and shed tears. Qing'er showed Sima Qiong and his wife the aphorisms that Sima Qian had just written, and they excitedly held the slips to their chests. Sima Qian said: "Qiong Er, Yang Chang, come here." "This history book was bought by my father with his life. If my father dies, you must pass it on to the world." Sima Qian and his wife knelt down and said, "We swear that we must pass on this history book to the world." Yun'er, who was only eight years old, watched all this in a daze... "Yun'er... come here." Yun'er stepped forward, "Grandpa." Sima Qian took Yun'er's hand and said, "Yun'er, you have been like your grandfather since you were young. You love history the most. Grandpa once told you stories about enduring humiliation, and now grandpa is also enduring humiliation. Yun'er will understand when you grow up." gone." Yun'er said: "Grandpa, Yun'er understands that Grandpa was severely punished in order to endure humiliation and complete the history books." "Ah! My good grandson." Tong Ma Qian hugged Yun Er emotionally. Sima Qian did not expect that it was this grandson who published this great work for him twenty years after his death. After Sima Qian returned home, he stayed behind closed doors and raced against the clock to write history books. On this day, Gongsun Ao was imprisoned for a crime. He asked the jailer to see the emperor, saying that he had something important to report, so Emperor Wu went to the prison to listen to him. Du Zhou yelled: "The criminal Gongsun Ao, the emperor has arrived, so report any important matters you have!" Gongsun Ao fell to his knees with a plop: "Your Majesty, the guilty minister Gongsun Ao has nightmares every night, dreaming that Li Ling came to question him, Your Majesty, because I hate Li's family, I falsely accused Li Ling of training soldiers for the Huns. In fact, it is Li Xu, isn't it?" Li Ling..." "Ah..." The emperor's face sank when he heard this. It was his false accusation that caused me to destroy Li Ling's door, and caused Sima Qian to be sentenced to the palace sentence... But the noble emperor immediately adjusted his mentality, because The emperor cannot be mistaken. "Then why do you hate Mrs. Li?" "Because... because of Wei Qing's kindness to me, Wei Qing took care of me everywhere in the army. In that decisive battle with the Huns, Wei Qing changed Li Guang from the forward to the east road in order to let me make military achievements..." "So Li Guang lost his way and was forced to commit suicide." Emperor Wu said angrily. Gongsun Ao continued: "So that later Huo Qubing shot General Li Gan to death." Emperor Wu was very angry: "It turns out that the conflicts between the two families of Li and Wei are all related to you. You really deserve to die, and your crime is unforgivable." Gongsun Ao thought that if he confessed, the emperor would pardon him, but he didn't expect that Emperor Wu's face twitched in pain... "Cut him in half!" "Follow the order." After Wudi finished speaking, he left angrily. Gongsun Ao ran to the prison fence, shook the wooden fence with both hands, and shouted: "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, please forgive me..." "" Emperor Wu returned to the proclamation room, sat on the chair, and put his head on the table, unable to recover for a long time... Since Sima Qian came home, Wang Wenzhen hid the bronze mirror and prevented Sima Qian from looking in the mirror. On this day, Ren An was on a business trip for several months, and came to see him in a hurry as soon as he came back. After entering the house and seeing Sima Qian, he was so shocked that he took three steps back. "Ren An...you?" Sima Qian understood. He went to look for the mirror, only to find that the mirror had been hidden by his wife. "Wenzhen, bring the mirror!" Wenzhen had no choice but to take out the mirror, and Sima Qian looked at it, oh my god, there is no beard, no Adam's apple, and the hair is starting to turn gray... a man who is neither male nor female! Sima Qian slammed the mirror down, then sat down slumped, buried his face on the desk and began to sob, Wen Zhen also turned her face away and wiped away her tears... Qing'er stood aside and wept... Ren An regretted his gaffe, and comforted him guiltily: "Sir, you said that there is nothing more sad than death, as long as the heart is not dead, everything can survive. Although you have suffered inhuman punishment, you can still write, You can still fulfill your long-cherished wish!" "Brother Ren An, I have become an eunuch, God! Tell me how to see people and how to live in the future!" Sima Qian cried bitterly... Ren An also wiped his tears with his sleeve sadly. He thought angrily, this kind of criminal law is too vicious. If a man's root is removed, how can he be a man? Ren An said angrily: "Zichang, I know that if this kind of criminal law is changed for me, I will never do it even if I die. I know that you bear the burden of humiliation. Those who can endure great humiliation must have great ambitions and can do it." To achieve a great cause, I believe that you have suffered a lot of humiliation, and you will be able to achieve an extraordinary karma." After hearing this, Sima Yuan stopped crying. He took the handkerchief from his wife and wiped away his tears, spread out the letter, and started writing again. "Brother Ren An, thank you for your encouragement, I will never fall down, son-in-law." "Well, it's really not easy to be an upright historian. Your misfortune this time is entirely the result of the grudges between the Li family and the Wei family. This ending is actually because the emperor is partial to the relatives of the queen and the concubine. You Yeah, that's too straightforward." Wen Zhen brought tea: "Master Ren An, please drink tea." Qing'er asked: "Lord Ren, what are the reasons for this?" "Well, it's hard to say. The emperor wanted Wei Qing, the younger brother of the empress Wei Zifu, to make meritorious service, so the chief general of the Western Expedition always appointed Wei Qing. Li Guang, the veteran general who shocked the Huns, felt aggrieved at first, and Wei Qing wanted Gongsun Ao Play forward, replace Li Guang with the Eastern Front..." "Then why did Wei Qing change Li Guang?" Qing'er asked again. "Because Wei Zifu was favored in the past, Empress Chen sent someone to arrest his younger brother Wei Qing in order to punish her. It was Gongsun Ao who rescued Wei Qing. Wei Qing and Gongsun Ao have a very special relationship. Of course, we must create opportunities for him to make meritorious deeds. Gongsun Ao Ao was already the emperor's servant at that time." Ren An also said: "Li Guang lost his way in the desert and failed to arrive on time. Wei Qing sent people to question him again, causing Li Guang to commit suicide. Li Guang's son Li Gan refused to accept and wounded Wei Qing. Wei Qing's nephew Huo Qubing shot dead again. In order to protect Huo Qubing, the emperor had to say that Li Gan was killed by a deer." "No wonder the Li and Wei families have such deep grievances." "That's right. Originally, it was possible for Li Ling to come back, so Tai Shigong would be able to avenge his grievances, but the emperor just sent Gongsun Ao to inquire. Gongsun Ao is on Wei Qing's side, and Li Ling is Li Guang's grandson. How could he really go? Where are you looking for Li Ling? By accident, he caught a prisoner and asked him, saying that Li Ling was teaching the Huns how to train soldiers." Ren An paused and said: "When the emperor heard this, he became angry and killed Li Ling's family, causing our Tai Shigong to be wronged and severely punished. Now someone came back and told the emperor that the man was Li Xu, not Li Ling. If there is a mistake, the emperor has cut Gongsun Ao in half. Therefore, I guess Tai Shigong's fate may turn around." "Really, that would be great." Qing'er said happily. Just as he was talking, he suddenly heard a voice from outside the gate: "The imperial decree has arrived, and Sima Qian will accept it." Sima Qian was stunned for a moment, but Ren An hurriedly said: "Sir, don't hurry up to receive the order, good things and bad things have to go!" Sima Qian then walked out.