Chosen as a Corporate Slave by Fate

Upon hearing that the prisoner had killed herself, Pei Zhe hurried to the prison. Two jailers stood beside a corpse lying on a straw mat, faces drawn as they said, "Forgive us, my lord. We failed in our duty. We looked away for just a moment, and she rammed her head into the wall and killed herself."

Pei Zhe examined the body, questioned several jailers and the prisoners in the neighboring cells, then confirmed that the woman had indeed taken her own life. He waved a hand and said, "It seems she understood that compared with beheading, suicide would at least leave her with an intact corpse. This is not your fault. Store the body in the morgue for now. This Official will report the truth..."

"If you knew it would come to this, why do it in the first place..."

Sighing at the corpse on the ground, Pei Zhe left with his hands behind his back. Just as he was about to walk out of the prison, a voice suddenly said, "This was not a simple suicide. She had been very calm, but after Yunmen music came from outside, she suddenly grew agitated. The moment the music stopped, she killed herself. That music was a signal. There must be others behind this case..."

Pei Zhe halted and glanced at the corpse being carried away. Then he turned to the young girl confined alone in a cell and said, "This Official was a jinshi in the Fourteenth year of Zhishang. Fifty of us passed that year. Fewer than twenty are still alive today, yet This Official has remained safe and sound all these years, receiving a small promotion every three years and a major one every five. Do you know why?"

The young girl asked in confusion, "Why?"

Pei Zhe said, "Because This Official never asks why."

"..."

As the young girl stared at him blankly, he slowly said, "Child, remember this: in Chang'an, you may have anything, but never curiosity. You never know what sort of whirlpool lies beyond the door of curiosity... Never mention what you saw just now to anyone, understand? Otherwise, This Official would have saved you for nothing."

Gu Yanran thought for a moment, then looked up at Pei Zhe and asked, "Since you are so cautious, my lord, why did you risk saving me?"

The Magistrate of Chang'an said nothing. He merely patted his chest lightly.

The young girl fell silent for a long while before finally nodding slowly. "No matter what, thank you for saving my life, my lord."

She knew very well that assassinating one's master as a servant was a capital crime in Great Xia.

Had the Magistrate of Chang'an not shown mercy, her head would already have fallen to the ground.

Pei Zhe waved his hand. "The one you should thank most is not me, but Li Nuo. You should understand that if it had been anyone else, you would never have had the chance to come to Chang'an County Office. You would have died in the dungeon of some grand Chang'an household, after suffering humiliation and torment before your death. And no one would ever know you had died..."

Gu Yanran bit her lip. Of course she knew all that.

Before taking action, she had already prepared herself for such an outcome.

Li Nuo had not killed her, nor had he done anything to her. He had merely sent her to the county office. That truly was beyond her expectations, but how could she thank the son of the man who had killed her father?

Pei Zhe understood her inner struggle. He sighed and said, "He should already know that This Official bent the law and spared your life, yet he did not expose it. So you should not have called him 'Dog Thief.' He is the one who saved your life..."

The young girl had bitten her lower lip until it bled. She murmured, "Why?"

Pei Zhe shrugged. "You will have to ask him that..."

Though he had known Li Nuo for only a day, the instincts he had honed through years in officialdom told him that the Minister of Justice's son did not seem to be a bad person.

Leaving the woman alone with her thoughts, Pei Zhe walked out of the prison with his hands behind his back.

Back in the county office courtyard, Pei Zhe habitually reached for his waist with his right hand. His expression changed, and he abruptly looked down in shock. "Where is my token?"

At the same time, inside a carriage on Chang'an Street, Li Nuo looked at the jade token in his hand and rubbed his brow with a headache. The Code of Law was useful, but its side effects were impossible to guard against. That elegant handwriting was one thing, but what was this habit of stealing things while passing by...

This unfamiliar token had most likely been lifted from the Magistrate of Chang'an without his realizing it.

Though Li Nuo had been extremely careful, he still could not avoid it entirely.

Steward Wu glanced at the jade token in his hand and earnestly advised, "Young Master, you should not carry a Phoenix Perch Tower token on you. If Young Madam sees it, you know what will happen..."

Li Nuo had heard of Phoenix Perch Tower while handling the case. It seemed to be a famous brothel in Chang'an.

He made an immediate decision. "Quick, turn around. Back to the county office!"

A short while later, at Chang'an County Office.

Li Nuo returned the Phoenix Perch Tower VVVIP Jade Token to the Magistrate of Chang'an and said, "I found this at the office just now. I hope Lord Pei can help find its owner."

Pei Zhe let out a breath of relief. After accepting the jade token, he smiled and said, "Rest assured. This Official will certainly find the owner and return it on your behalf."

After returning the item to its rightful owner, Li Nuo left the county office once more. He also borrowed that thick volume of the Great Xia Codex from the Magistrate of Chang'an. Since he intended to follow the Legalist school's path, he would need to handle cases often, so naturally he had to familiarize himself with Great Xia's laws.

Though the Great Xia Codex was thick, it was still nowhere near enough compared to the Bar Exam.

Great Xia government offices closed rather early, around four in the afternoon. Li Nuo went to bed at ten, and he could not waste all that time in between. Naturally, he had to make use of it and cram the knowledge he had missed.

Minister of Justice's Mansion.

His wife in name had been nowhere to be seen all day. His father, whom he had never met, was busy with official duties and rarely returned home. Li Nuo ate dinner alone again, but he found being alone rather comfortable. After eating, he shut himself in his room.

A stack of thick books lay on the table before him.

Besides the Great Xia Codex he had borrowed from the Magistrate of Chang'an, Li Nuo had also asked Steward Wu to find books on history, geography, and the various schools of thought.

These were the foundation for understanding this world. Great Xia's writing resembled traditional characters, making it somewhat difficult for Li Nuo to read, but he could understand most of it. When he encountered too many unfamiliar characters, he would first look them up and learn them.

This book, called Shuowen, had been written by a Confucian sage of old. It contained nearly every commonly used character and gave detailed explanations of each character's form and meaning. It was often used as a dictionary.

This world did not contain only Great Xia, but Li Nuo did not study the other nations in detail. He merely skimmed through them before turning his attention to the Hundred Schools of Thought.

These matters interested him more.

Among the Hundred Schools of Thought, not every school possessed the ability to cultivate. The overwhelming majority were merely names.

For instance, the Gourmet school was simply a group of ordinary people who enjoyed studying gourmet food.

The Fishing school was likewise only a self-styled name for fishing enthusiasts.

Only a little more than ten schools were truly mainstream and systematic, capable of cultivation and possessed of great power. Several centuries ago, each of these schools had once enjoyed glory at its peak. Yet as times changed, most had gradually declined due to the limitations of both themselves and their eras.

Among all the schools today, the Confucian school undoubtedly had the greatest number of followers, but the Confucian school of today was no longer the Confucian school of centuries past.

Though it had many disciples, most remained in the lower realms. Those in the fourth realm were already rare, while Great Confucians of the fifth realm were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. As for sixth-realm Half-Sages and seventh-realm Sages of Confucianism, there were none at all.

Modern disciples of the Confucian school cultivated Confucianism only to enter officialdom. This was also why the Confucian school was so sought after.

As for the Legalist school, oppression from nobles and those in power had left few people willing to cultivate it. Even in places such as the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Court of Judicial Review, most officials cultivated the Confucian school.

The Military School, Agricultural school, Mohist school, and Medical school had never lost their inheritances because they all had special uses. Their disciples remained active in government departments such as the Ministry of War, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Works, and Imperial Hospital, but they too had been kept far from the center of power.

As for the Syncretist school, School of Names, Yin-Yang School, School of Diplomacy, and Calligraphy school, few people even mentioned them anymore. The School of Diplomacy in particular had once traveled among the various nations during the Warring States period. With a few words, they could decide a nation's life or death; with a casual gesture, they could stir the tides of the world. At their height, they overshadowed all other schools. But after the Warring States ended and several powerful nations successively achieved grand unification, leaving only small neighboring states as buffers, there had been no great wars for centuries. The School of Diplomacy gradually withdrew from history's stage. Now, they could only live under the roofs of great households as retainers and advisers, their former glory gone.

If he did not need to solve cases to extend his life, Li Nuo might have chosen the Confucian school as well.

More likely, he would simply have lain flat. After all, with a father at the vice-national level, he was already rich and privileged, with no worries over food or clothing. Why would he need to work hard himself?

As long as he obediently acted as a second-generation official and did not run wild or bully the good and weak, he would already be contributing to the country.

Of course, that was only if.

Li Nuo glanced at the glaring countdown on the Code of Law's cover. Only twenty-six short days remained. Lying flat, for him, meant waiting to die...

What kind of fate was this, being chosen by heaven to be a corporate slave?