Righteousness Before Family

The middle-aged man refused with absolute firmness. As Minister of Personnel, he held the rank of Principal Fourth Rank. He was not particularly afraid of Li Xuanjing, but that was because he conducted himself as an upright official. If he abused his power to engage in Corruption and Deception, wouldn't he be handing Li Xuanjing the perfect excuse to take him down?

Hearing the minister's words, Wang Duo shuddered, his back slowly stooping.

Looking at his longtime friend, the Left Minister of Personnel still couldn't help softening. "Send that beast to the Chang'an County Office. Remember, the Chang'an County Office—not the Ministry of Justice or the Court of Judicial Review. Let the county office handle him as it sees fit. As for you, immediately submit a memorial to the court, donate your entire fortune, resign from office, and return to the countryside. While you're still able, take a few young concubines and see if you can have another child to carry on the Wang family line..."

"Thank you for your guidance, my lord..."

Wang Duo fell silent for a long while. Then he cupped his fists, turned, and left.

At that moment, it felt as if something had been pulled out of him. He seemed to have aged twenty years in an instant.

As he walked out the gate, he looked up. Though the sun was nearly setting, the sky remained a clear, spotless blue.

Twenty years had passed, yet the sky over Chang'an was still just as blue.

He remembered it clearly. Twenty years ago, when he had led his fellow academy students on a demonstration through Chang'an Street, denouncing the then Magistrate of Chang'an for governing without benevolence and treating human lives like weeds, the sky over Chang'an had been just as blue.

In the blink of an eye, twenty years had gone by.

At last, a trace of regret stirred in Wang Duo's heart.

He had been born into humble circumstances. He had endured untold hardships and suffering on the road to learning. To seek a renowned teacher's instruction, he had trudged hundreds of miles in the bitter cold and scorching heat, all for a single word of guidance. Eventually, Qingfeng Academy had taken notice of him and admitted him as an exception. The fellow students around him all came from powerful, official families. They had enjoyed private tutoring from renowned teachers since childhood; they held exalted status, wore fine clothes, ate lavishly, and moved among the powerful and famous. A single night's drinking cost more than his wife could earn in a whole year of hard work...

Yet even with such a vast gulf between their backgrounds, his convictions had never wavered.

Under such circumstances, he had risen above tens of thousands of candidates in that year's Imperial examination, passed the Jinshi exam, and placed fifth on the list. He had begun as a county magistrate of Principal Seventh Rank. Over the next twenty years, he had climbed, Step by Step, from a low-ranking official posted far from Chang'an to the position he held now. Not only his former classmates, but even their fathers and grandfathers had to address him respectfully as "Lord Wang" when they saw him...

Over those twenty years, he had gained much, and lost much.

Looking back now, when had it all begun to change? When he first accepted a bribe? When he first used his authority for personal gain? Or when he first took corrupt money to pave the way for his career...

It had been too long. He couldn't quite remember...

He looked back one last time, then walked away with heavy steps, his retreating figure especially desolate.

At that moment, in the residence of the Left Minister of Personnel, the middle-aged man gazed in the direction Wang Duo had gone. A hint of reminiscence appeared in his eyes as he shook his head. "Wang Duo, oh, Wang Duo... How did it come to this? How?"

A young man emerged from the rear hall and said to the middle-aged man, "Father, I've been studying the Great Xia Codex lately. Uncle Wang is an official of Principal Fifth Rank, and Wang Yue is his son. The worst sentence for his crime is Three Years of Imprisonment, and he can redeem himself with money. Why doesn't he just pay the Redemption Silver and avoid punishment? Three Years of Imprisonment only costs a mere three hundred taels of silver. The Wang family can surely afford that..."

"Redemption Silver?"

The middle-aged man tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Given Li Xuanjing's temperament, if Wang Duo hands over Wang Yue, resigns from office, and donates his wealth, the Wang family might still survive. But if he tries to buy his way out of the crime, not only will Wang Yue surely die, the Wang family won't survive either..."

The young man protested indignantly, "Is Li Xuanjing really so lawless, treating the law as nothing? In this vast court, is there truly no one to stop him?"

The middle-aged man shook his head. "There used to be people who wanted to stop him, but they all died. He's still alive. After that, no one dared to interfere..."

"Outrageous!"

The young man swept his sleeve in righteous indignation. "As long as this fiend lives, Heaven's justice cannot stand! I'll study hard and enter the government. One day, I'll kill this fiend for the people and the court, and restore a clear sky over Great Xia..."

Before he could finish, a hard smack landed on his head.

Clutching his head, the young man asked in confusion, "Dad, why did you hit me..."

"I'll give you a clear sky! I'll give you a clear sky!" The middle-aged man pulled off his boot and beat him with it, cursing as he went. "You little fool who doesn't know how high the sky is! You dare provoke the very man even I won't touch? Why don't you become the father around here instead...

The Wang residence.

Inside the ancestral hall, Wang Yue knelt on a cushion while a woman stood beside him. "Yue'er, don't worry. Your father has friends everywhere, and many officials at court owe him a favor. He'll surely find a way to save you!"

Wang Yue's expression eased a little. Just then, slow footsteps sounded outside the ancestral hall.

The woman turned around and hurried over in delight, clasping his hand. "My lord, how did it go..."

As soon as the words left her mouth, shock filled her face. Her voice trembling, she said, "My lord, your... your hair..."

Her husband was forty, in the prime of his life. His hair had never had a single white strand, but now more than half of it had turned white, and he looked much older.

He had been gone for only an hour, yet he looked as if twenty years had passed.

Wang Yue slowly rose as well and walked over to Wang Duo. Seeing his father's head of white hair, his lips trembled before he managed to speak. "Father..."

A bitter smile appeared on Wang Duo's face. He patted his son gently on the shoulder. "A son's failure to be taught is his father's fault. I've failed you."

Wang Yue understood. Though his face remained pale, the panic and fear from before had vanished.

Seeing his father's stooped frame and head of white hair, he realized for the first time that his father had grown old.

His mother often told him stories of his father's youth. That father, who had seemed to him to tower above the world and be capable of anything, had single-handedly transformed the Wang family from impoverished folk in a remote mountain village into a prominent family in Chang'an. Even he had finally grown old.

At that moment, he felt no fear for the future, only heartache for his father.

He reached out to smooth his father's disheveled temples and shook his head. "No. I'm the unfilial one. I've disappointed you, Father. I'll bear the consequences of my own mistakes. Please don't blame yourself..."

On the streets of Chang'an, Li Nuo was hearing a case.

The surrounding streets were already packed with commoners.

It was their first time seeing a court brought into the street for a public hearing and verdict. They found it novel and entertaining. They didn't often get the chance to see the government up close.

At one point, the crowd stirred, and several figures pushed their way through.

At the front was the peddler who had left earlier and now returned.

Of course, Li Nuo knew perfectly well that the man was a peddler on the surface, but actually one of his plainclothes guards.

Two more figures followed behind the peddler.

On the left was a middle-aged man dressed in fine clothes, with the air of someone long accustomed to high office. His hair was entirely white, and he looked utterly lost.

On the right was a young man in his early twenties, bound hand and foot. He looked about five parts like the middle-aged man, and his face was just as pale, his expression blank and vacant.

"You unfilial son, kneel!"

Wang Duo said in a low voice, and the young man slowly knelt.

Then Wang Duo walked over to the Chang'an county magistrate in official robes. He cupped his fists and bowed. "My lord, this unfilial son has broken the law. I've brought him in chains to the county office. Please punish him according to the law..."

The sight left Li Nuo somewhat surprised.

This case... seemed to be going rather smoothly.

He had thought that so much time had passed and there was no direct evidence, so even with the Court of Judicial Review involved, convicting the man wouldn't be easy. He hadn't expected the other party to come straight to the county office and confess so soon.

That even saved them the trouble of investigating.

Could it be that this Ministry of Personnel official in charge of evaluating merit had known nothing of his son's crimes?

After being informed by his own guard, this righteous court official had immediately decided to put family before himself, drag his son to the county office, and have him punished according to the law—what a fine official indeed!