Zhang Baiyu's thoughts were not necessarily different from those of Zhou Yuanbai and Fu Yanqing.
Everyone had relatives, clansmen, and friends. If they committed a wrong, even an unforgivable one, then so long as one had the authority and ability to help them escape punishment, why would one not do so?
"The Son of Heaven commits a crime and is punished alongside the common people" and "the law does not punish the nobly born"—though the former was more meaningful, more worthy of praise, and fairer and more just, the latter was destined to find fertile ground because people's hearts differed.
Thinking about it, one could understand. If someone truly had no background, no connections, and no ability, others might not even think highly of them, much less pay a great price to entice them into betraying Sifang City. Only those who enjoyed privilege were more easily bewitched, and understood that even if someone caught hold of their weakness or leverage, they might not necessarily come to harm.
The same was true of Zhou Jiankang. Even though he was the City Lord, even though he wanted to be an impartial man of iron countenance who recognized neither kin nor kinship, he simply did not possess that kind of resolve, courage, or will.
For Zhou Jiankang, if one of his own relatives had also betrayed Sifang City and harmed its interests, he would most likely handle the matter lightly, or even turn a blind eye.
At this thought, Zhou Jiankang's expression turned ugly. His eyes held both shame and unwillingness.
This was precisely the contradiction. He desperately wanted to accomplish something, wanted to bring Sifang City back to the Northern Lands whole and intact.
Yet when faced with the mistakes of family and friends, he could not bring himself to put righteousness