Calling to Apologize

Song Yu was deeply moved, feeling both touched and guilty.

He was touched that his brother-in-law had repaid his ill will with kindness, and guilty about his past actions. He explained, "Actually, I wasn't targeting you before. I just felt that you weren't worthy of my sister at the time, so I was a bit excessive. I hope you don't blame me..."

Li Nuo could understand Song Yu. If it were him, and his family was about to marry his sister to an idiot, he probably would have acted even more excessively.

He magnanimously waved his hand and said, "We're all family. Let's not bring up the past..."

Song Yu said gratefully, "Thank you, brother-in-law!"

As he spoke, two figures hurried into the County Office.

Song Yu turned his head and exclaimed in surprise, "Father, brother-in-law, why are you here!"

The slender young man walked forward and asked with concern, "Xiao Yu, are you alright?"

Song Yu smiled and said, "Fortunately, brother-in-law was here. Otherwise, I would have suffered a great loss today."

After Song Yu and the others were taken away by the Chang'an County lieutenant, Chen Ling immediately rushed back to the Song Manor to inform Song Lian. The matter involved the government office, which was beyond their ability to handle.

Worried that Song Yu would suffer, the two hurried over, only to see Song Yu completely unharmed, chatting and laughing with Li Nuo.

After listening to Song Yu recount the events, Song Lian breathed a sigh of relief and glared at him fiercely, saying, "You scoundrel, I'll settle accounts with you when we get back!"

Song Yu shrank his neck, not daring to say anything more.

Then, Song Lian looked at Li Nuo and apologized, "I'm truly sorry, this scoundrel caused you trouble."

Li Nuo smiled and said, "Uncle, there's no need to be so formal. We're family, it's all part of it."

Facing the gratitude of Song Yu and his father, Li Nuo felt a little awkward inside.

After all, his original intention was not to save Song Yu.

Although he was his wife's cousin, and one of his brothers-in-law, Li Nuo had no particular friendship with him, and there were even some conflicts.

However, since Song Yu had apologized so sincerely, Li Nuo was not one to be petty. In the end, he was doing it for his wife's sake, and Li Nuo could distinguish that. He had to admit, the Song family siblings were quite loving towards each other.

A moment later, the group left the Chang'an County Office together.

Li Nuo originally wanted to go straight home, but Song Yu grabbed his arm and insisted that he return to the Song Manor with them. Li Nuo couldn't refuse him, and coupled with the invitation from his uncle Song Lian, he agreed.

Returning to the Li Manor, he was once again alone, guarding the courtyard.

With Mu'er chattering by his side, the Song Manor was much livelier. Perhaps because he had never experienced such liveliness in both his lives, Li Nuo really liked the atmosphere of the Song family.

Before getting into the carriage, Li Nuo remembered something and looked at Song Lian, asking, "Uncle, have the thieves who stole the birthday gift last time been caught?"

Song Lian shook his head and said, "I've checked all the servants in the Song family, and there's still no clue. Those two Ruyi ornaments are probably lost."

At that time, the Song family had prepared many birthday gifts whose value was higher than those two Ruyi ornaments. Yet, the thief had only taken those two, clearly targeting his wife or Li Nuo. Therefore, Li Nuo paid special attention to it.

After all, no one wanted to be secretly targeted.

The servants of the Song family should not have had the guts to do this.

Li Nuo had suspected Song Yu and Song Qian. After all, in the entire Song family, only these two had conflicts with him and his wife. Now it seemed it wasn't Song Yu. After getting to know him better, Li Nuo knew he wasn't the type of person to do such things.

As for Song Qian, although she always targeted his wife, his intuition told him that she wasn't the one who did it either.

But if it wasn't Song Yu or Song Qian, then who could it be?

At the entrance of the Chang'an County Office, two carriages started and slowly drove towards the Song Manor.

Meanwhile, at the Zhou residence, the atmosphere was unusually heavy.

The brothers Zhou Yu and Zhou Tao knelt on the ground. Even though their buttocks still ached faintly, they didn't dare to make a sound.

In front of them, their father, the Director of the Department of Chariots, frowned and asked, "Are you saying that you and Song Yu fought over a prostitute, first in the academy, and then agreed to a duel outside the academy? As soon as you started fighting, people from the Chang'an County Office showed up?"

Zhou Yu argued, "Father, Miss Yuanyang is not an ordinary brothel woman..."

"But she's still a prostitute!"

The Director of the Department of Chariots glared at him and said angrily, "A prostitute that countless men have ridden, and you treat her like a treasure? You've disgraced the faces of eighteen generations of Zhou family ancestors!"

Zhou Yu wanted to retort, but seeing his father's gaze, he shivered and dared not speak.

The Director of the Department of Chariots continued to press, "Besides fighting over a woman, was there nothing else?"

Zhou Yu immediately replied, "No."

Hearing this, the Director of the Department of Chariots' brow relaxed slightly. He was truly afraid that these two brats had done something that violated the law and disgraced their family's reputation. Such matters could be big or small, and most of the time they were minor. The Zhou family had some influence in Chang'an and could handle some minor issues.

However, once it involved Li Xuanjing even in the slightest, minor matters could escalate into enormous problems.

Now, it seemed Li Xuanjing didn't intend to deal with him.

Otherwise, just those ninety strokes of the cane would have knocked these two scoundrels unconscious, leaving them no chance to kneel here and reply.

At this moment, Zhou Tao, who was kneeling, seemed to recall something and looked up, saying, "I remember now. The teacher who taught law said that the direct descendants of officials ranked seventh grade or higher in the imperial court can atone for their crimes with silver. Ninety strokes only cost ninety taels of silver..."

In law class, he didn't remember anything else, but he remembered this point very clearly.

After all, his father was the Director of the Department of Chariots, a fifth-rank official in the imperial court. As long as he committed a crime below exile, he could use silver to substitute the punishment.

Just now, at the Chang'an County Office, he was too nervous and forgot such an important matter.

Zhou Yu's entire backside was still burning. Hearing this, he glared at his brother and said angrily, "Why didn't you say that earlier!"

As soon as the words fell, the two brothers, whose buttocks had just been punished, each received another heavy kick. The Director of the Department of Chariots roared, "You damn brats, you don't learn anything good, only bad things!"

The kick landed on his injured backside, and Zhou Tao's forehead broke out in a cold sweat from the pain. He argued, "Father, why are you being unreasonable? This is what the law teacher taught us in the Great Xia Codex class. If I don't pay attention, you beat me. If I do pay attention, you still beat me..."

The Director of the Department of Chariots glanced at his two sons and said in a deep voice, "Fools, in this world, not everyone will reason with you. There were officials who used the Redemption Penalty for their sons who committed rape and adultery. They only spent a mere three hundred taels of silver, and the result was that a month later, he was dismissed from office for another case. His property was confiscated to the national treasury, and all the direct male heirs in his family, including himself, lost their heads. The collateral relatives were exiled, and the female family members were made official slaves..."

In Great Xia, county offices, prefectural offices, the Ministry of Punishment, and other government offices across the land can implement the Redemption Penalty.

Only the Court of Judicial Review cannot.

Li Xuanjing is a ruthless and obstinate man. If he sentences you to three years of Imprisonment, you'd best honestly confess and serve your full sentence. After your term is up, you'll be safe, and as long as you don't commit any new crimes, you can live without worry from then on.

If you try to buy your way out of punishment with silver, Li Xuanjing won't stop you, as the Great Xia Codex does indeed have provisions for it.

But if you defy him this time, you'll have to be careful. You'd better pray you haven't done anything that violates the law before, and that you won't do anything in the future. Not only you, but your family and relatives must also refrain from breaking the law, otherwise, you will soon learn Li Xuanjing's methods.

He is not only the Minister of Justice but also holds the reins of the court's largest intelligence agency, the Mirror Division. There are indeed many people in court he cannot touch, but there isn't a single person who can move against him without the Emperor's intervention, including the imperial princes who hate him to the bone.

The Magistrate of Chang'an is Li Xuanjing's man, and the Chang'an County Office has naturally become part of the Court of Judicial Review's sphere of influence. This is why the Official of the Ministry of Personnel, despite being able to absolve his son with three hundred taels of silver, still chose to abandon his son, resign from his post, and go into seclusion, donating all his property.

He must have known that some of his past actions wouldn't stand up to scrutiny. All of this was done merely to save his own life.

The Director of the Department of Chariots glared at them again and said coldly, "Not to mention far away, let's talk about recently. The Official of the Ministry of Personnel, his power is much greater than mine, right? His son committed rape and adultery, and the Court of Judicial Review found out. Do you know what the result was? The Official of the Ministry of Personnel personally tied up his son and handed him over to the government, donated all his property, resigned from his post, and returned to his hometown. This happened just a few days ago..."

When they learned these things from their father, the Zhou brothers' faces turned pale, and their bodies trembled like sieves. They stammered, "Father, you must save us!"

Seeing their state, the Director of the Department of Chariots knew his intention to shock and admonish them had been achieved. He waved his hand and said, "Alright, you don't need to worry. This is just a simple brawl, it won't involve the Court of Judicial Review. However, out of caution, we still need to prepare a generous gift and go to the Song Manor to apologize..."