In the sixth year of Jiaping, in September.
Yuancheng County, Yangping Commandery.
"I wish to bring charges against Shu Qu! That scoundrel dared order his wife to seduce me!"
"Offering up his wife-what a shocking outrage!"
"He has destroyed the bonds of human decency and violated the proprieties between men and women!"
"He has defied all that the world holds sacred! He sought to ruin my reputation!"
"Magistrate, send men to arrest him at once!"
Inside the county office, a young man stood straight before the magistrate, loudly denouncing the crime.
The officials throughout the office were already staring, dumbstruck.
The youth was tall and slender. Though still young, he already stood as tall as a grown man.
He wore a curved-hem robe wrapped three times around his body, a military cap atop his head, and a longsword at his waist. His complexion was fair as jade, his brows like swords, his eyes like stars-an exceptionally handsome, heroic figure.
Behind him stood a dozen or so fierce-looking, burly men in coarse clothing. Their hands rested on the sword hilts at their waists, their narrowed eyes fixed maliciously on the magistrate before them.
Beside the young man lay a beautiful married woman, motionless.
Her face was buried out of sight, but her figure was alluring and graceful.
Magistrate Shu Wan glanced at the beautiful woman, then at the youth before him.
His face turned livid, and bulging veins were almost visible across his forehead.
"Lord Cao... what is this about now?"
"Nothing more than bringing a complaint! What, Great Wei forbids members of the imperial clan from interfering in government, but surely it never said we couldn't file complaints?!"
Magistrate Shu Wan had a goatee, a lean frame, regular features, and an aloof expression.
But the youth's words shattered his composure in an instant.
In all the years of Wei, he had never seen an imperial clansman so outrageously bold!
"Duke of the Village, please do not bring ruin upon yourself."
Shu Wan narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "You hold the exalted rank of duke. You really should not come to the county office time and again to cause trouble."
"Perhaps the Noble Rural Duke does not know that the laws of Great Wei forbid imperial clansmen from associating with retainers."
"You spend money maintaining followers, befriend leaders of the common rabble, shelter prisoners, court Wanderers, command bandits, and collude with merchants. Any one of those offenses would be enough to warrant execution."
"My advice is that you go home."
The youth stood with his hands on his hips, his face flushed, the smell of wine still clinging to him.
At Shu Wan's words, he threw back his head and laughed.
"Who says I keep retainers? These are merely servants from my household. What, do Wei's laws forbid imperial clansmen from keeping servants too?"
"As for all this sheltering, courting, commanding, and colluding, you're simply inventing charges to pin on me."
"I have always valued righteousness over money. Whenever someone comes to me for help, I help them. That is charity. Those are good deeds."
"As for who those people asking me for help happen to be, how would I know?"
"All these good deeds of mine reflect the success of your moral instruction as magistrate, too! Of course, you can always submit a memorial accusing me. Hahaha, perhaps we'll even get to share a prison cart!"
Shu Wan stared at the utterly unrestrained imperial clansman before him, his fists clenched, his eyes all but spitting fire.
Brazen beyond belief!! A scoundrel!!
Great Wei had always kept its imperial clan under strict control, and its clansmen had always been deeply grateful for Emperor Wen, Cao Pi's, boundless kindness.
He had pioneered a new system for Great Wei's imperial clan.
Its clansmen possessed not a shred of real authority. They could neither conscript men nor collect taxes, much less maintain armies.
Even a princely lord had only a dozen or so old, weak, sick, or disabled men at his side.
They were always enfeoffed with the most barren lands, given no stipends, and forbidden to engage in trade.
Other dynasties appointed household stewards to care for their feudal lords. Great Wei alone actually appointed supervisory officers and state-monitoring envoys to watch over them.
They could not travel more than thirty li from their residences, meet relatives or friends, use luxuries, or write letters. Local officials could order them about, and frequent relocations and changes of fief denied them any peace.
In a word, Great Wei's feudal lords lived worse than dogs!!!
Yet among this group of lords leading such unbearably miserable lives, one bizarre exception had emerged.
He was recklessly bold and held the supervisory officers, state-monitoring envoys, and even local officials in utter contempt.
He had committed nearly every forbidden offense a feudal lord could commit, and now he had even come to the county office to raise a clamor.
"Cao Mao!! What exactly do you want?!"
Shu Wan demanded.
The young man-Cao Mao, Great Wei's Duke of Gaogui District-laughed, walked around Shu Wan, and took a few steps forward before sitting down in the magistrate's seat.
The ruffians followed him and stationed themselves at his side.
They began talking loudly as though no one else were there, utterly without restraint.
Only then did Cao Mao look at Shu Wan, standing below him.
"I want you to hear the case!"
"Go and arrest Shu Qu!"
"You know where he's hiding!"
Cao Mao frowned, his tone growing increasingly irritable.
Shu Wan merely raised his head a little and stared fixedly at him without speaking.
He knew why Cao Mao was acting this way. He was simply dissatisfied with the judgment Shu Wan had handed down in a case a few days earlier.
But he could not understand why this fellow would take such an enormous risk to stand up for that commoner and come here to call him to account.
Does he truly mean to fight our Yuancheng Shu Clan until the fish dies and the net breaks?
Neither spoke, and the atmosphere grew steadily heavier.
While the two faced off, someone suddenly stumbled into the county office.
At the sight of him, Cao Mao rose involuntarily, and the burly men around him all placed their hands on their sword hilts.
The newcomer was none other than Shu Qu.
Frightened by the threatening scene, he hurried behind the magistrate, only to catch sight of the beautiful woman lying unconscious to one side.
He immediately burst into tears, dropped to his knees before the magistrate, and clung tightly to his legs with both hands.
"Magistrate, please give this humble commoner justice!"
"Cao Mao, the Noble Rural Duke, has gone too far!"
"My wife was out with our servants when this scoundrel encountered her. Seeing her beauty, he conceived wicked intentions and openly harassed her! My wife refused and ordered the servants to drive him away, so he beat them, then rode off with my wife!!"
"Under the bright heavens, in broad daylight, how could anyone commit such an act?!"
"Magistrate, please give me justice!!"
As he sobbed out his complaint, he pounded his chest, tears streaming down his face. Even his voice sounded utterly wretched.
The officials around him shook their heads with cold smiles. So even you would live to see this day.
"Silence!"
Shu Wan said sternly, "Duke Cao has long been renowned for his virtue and carries on the spirit of his forebears. How could he possibly abduct another man's wife?"
Shu Qu felt aggrieved beyond words.
Everyone said Duke Cao carried on the spirit of his forebears. I thought they meant Emperor Wen-who could have guessed they meant Emperor Wu!
If you wanted women, you could have told me! There are so many beautiful unmarried women in town. We could have shared them! Why steal my wife??
Besides, we had no grudge between us. Why go this far for a mere lowborn wretch?
Cao Mao slowly rose and cast a sidelong glance at the magistrate.
"Magistrate Shu, surely you're not going to favor your younger clansman?"
"Lord Cao, stop persisting in your folly. If you leave now, I will treat this as though nothing happened."
"Certainly. No problem."
Cao Mao laughed and continued, "Once I walk out of here, by tomorrow everyone in Yuan City will know what a pure and distinguished family the Shu clan is! One of its worthy members actually offered up his wife to entertain an honored guest!"
"By the day after tomorrow, all of Yangping Commandery will know how your Shu clan treats its guests!"
"For at least the next hundred years, not a single member of your family will receive a recommendation from an impartial assessor!!"
Shu Wan trembled all over. "Why take things this far?! If I resolve to report you to the throne, you may not meet a pleasant end either!"
"You're utterly mad! Why go this far for a commoner?! Why go this far?!"
Cao Mao said, "I tried reasoning with you, too. You were the one who said imperial clansmen could not interfere in government, so this was my only option. Even if I have to give up my title and my life, I, Cao Mao, refuse to turn a blind eye..."
The magistrate stared into Cao Mao's eyes, the atmosphere unbearably heavy.
"Very well... I will reopen Zhang Sheng's case against Shu Qu."
Shu Qu's face filled with shock, and he hastily clutched the magistrate's legs again.
"Cousin!! Cousin!! You must save me! You must save me!!"
But the magistrate kicked him over and said furiously, "Guards, take Shu Qu and this wicked woman into custody!!!"
Soldiers immediately stepped forward and, ignoring Shu Qu's wails and pleas, dragged him and his wife out together.
Cao Mao narrowed his eyes and, paying no heed to the livid magistrate, swaggered past him.
Quite a crowd had already gathered outside.
Seeing Cao Mao emerge with his armed men, they surged forward and surrounded him.
At their head was a white-haired old man wearing a ragged short tunic. The wrinkles across his forehead formed ridge after ridge. He was thin as a rake, his eyes filled with profound sorrow.
"Lord Cao..."
"Sir, don't worry anymore. The magistrate has agreed to reopen your son and daughter-in-law's case. He will give you justice."
"And if he doesn't."
Cao Mao patted his sword hilt. "Then I will."
Tears immediately spilled down the old man's face. He tried to say something, but no words would come. He could only wipe away his tears.
At the sight, Cao Mao sighed again.
Ten days earlier, the magistrate Shu Wan's younger clansman, Shu Qu, had ordered his wife to lure the wife of one of their tenant farmers into the rear courtyard, where he raped her. After resisting in vain, the unfortunate woman had taken her own life.
Her husband, the old man's son, had gone to the county office to bring charges, only to find himself accused instead. They claimed he had ordered his wife to seduce Shu Qu for personal gain, and that his wife, unable to bear the humiliation, had killed herself.
They had laid the blame for the woman's suicide squarely on her husband.
Not only had the husband failed to avenge his wife, but he had also been saddled with this vile reputation. A few days later, he had thrown himself into the river.
When the old man knelt before him, sobbing about the wrongs his son and daughter-in-law had suffered, slapping his own face as he begged for help, Cao Mao had felt something explode inside his chest.
Holding his fury in check, he had gone to reason with the magistrate, but the magistrate refused to listen.
And Shu Qu, knowing Cao Mao was looking for him, had gone into hiding.
So that day, Cao Mao had drunk some wine, then mounted up with his household retainers. They galloped to the Shu residence, snatched Shu Qu's wife onto a horse in the street, raced to the county office, and dumped her before Shu Wan.
"Lord Cao..."
Unable to stop his tears, the old man gripped Cao Mao's hand and kept running his fingers over it. "I don't know how to thank you... how can I ever thank you..."
Even as the villagers helped him away, he kept repeating those words. The sight of his trembling figure from behind made the heart ache.
Though he had accomplished what he set out to do, Cao Mao felt no happiness at all.
"I really want to cut off that magistrate's damned head..."
Gritting his teeth, Cao Mao swung into the saddle, raised his whip, and galloped away.
The fierce-looking men hurried after him.
The crowd stood outside the county office, watching their figures recede into the distance, lingering long afterward.
"Lord Cao is truly righteous!"
"To have Lord Cao in Yuan City is a blessing for us all!"
"What are you standing around here for? Get lost!"
The bailiffs rushed out, brandishing heavy clubs, but unlike before, those clubs did not fall on the commoners before them.
The onlookers scattered and fled.
Peace soon returned to the entrance of the county office, just as always.
Before you continue