Chapter 252: Filial Piety (I)

Chapter 252: Filial Piety (I)

Although he had been granted a few days off by his superior, Le Wuya did not slack off in the slightest. He first sent Hua Rong to submit the leave request and complete all the necessary formalities, then retrieved several case files pending review from the office. Only then did he comfortably recline on the couch in his nightclothes, hair loose, reading through the documents.

When Wang Cheng entered carrying the freshly brewed Four Gentlemen tea, this was the scene that greeted him.

Though both were men, Wang Cheng abruptly lowered his gaze, feeling that even a single extra glance would be an impropriety.

Qin Xingyue, who followed behind him, was far less restrained—he announced himself before he even walked in: "My lord! Brother He picked up some newly arrived grapes from the Western Market, and they're wonderfully sweet. I specially picked out two plump, juicy clusters for you!"

Le Wuya: "I don't eat the skin."

With just those four words, he sent Qin Xingyue off to peel grapes.

Then he turned his gaze to Wang Cheng: "Captain Wang, just the man I need. There's a case file here. You're the most knowledgeable about criminal matters—come and help me review it."

Wang Cheng replied formally: "Lord Wenren, your subordinate is no longer a captain. Please just call me Wang Cheng."

Le Wuya: "It's easy for me to say, so just put up with it."

Wang Cheng went along with it without further argument, dropping to one knee beside the couch. He glanced at the case file, then lowered his eyes again: "My lord, this case file has not yet been closed. By regulation, it cannot be shown to others."

"Who said I was showing it to you?" Le Wuya gave him a sideways look. "It's simply that while I was reading, someone happened to be sitting down there and inadvertently caught a few lines."

Wang Cheng gave a slight bow: "Yes. Your subordinate understands."

Though he was not a stickler for the rules, being new around here, he was not as familiar with the lord as Qin Xingyue was.

Observing proper decorum could never be wrong.

Since the lord had made such a request, he sat down at the footstool beside Le Wuya as instructed and, reading along as Le Wuya held the file, went through the entire case.

By the time he finished, Qin Xingyue had already peeled a plateful of translucent grape flesh and obediently brought it to Le Wuya.

Wang Cheng, being quick on the uptake, smoothly took the case file from Le Wuya's hands, tucked it back into its pouch, and freed up the lord's hands so he could eat his grapes with clean hands.

"My lord, have the grapes first, and drink tea a little later, so it doesn't upset your stomach."

After giving this piece of advice, Wang Cheng finally broached the official matter.

"Regarding the case file itself, in my humble opinion, I don't see anything wrong with it." He quickly tied the cord. "This case is quite simple—both witnesses and physical evidence are complete. Might I ask what the lord specifically wishes your subordinate to do with this case?"

Le Wuya nodded in satisfaction.

He had not misjudged this man.

In official matters, this fellow was truly a sharp tool that hit exactly where you pointed it.

Le Wuya took up the plate of grapes and said while eating: "You say this case is simple—why don't you walk me through it."

Wang Cheng was accustomed to going over cases with Zheng Miao, and knew that having one person recount the facts while another listened and analyzed was the fastest way to untangle the threads of a case.

He hadn't expected Lord Wenren and Lord Zheng to work in such a similar way.

This gave Wang Cheng a bit of a connection.

Qin Xingyue didn't understand such matters, so he just crouched nearby, ears pricked up, listening like it was a story.

"The incident occurred in Zhangde Prefecture, Yuzhou Circuit..." Wang Cheng began. "The killer was a forty-year-old scholar of the area, surnamed Tian, given name Youde, courtesy name Liufang. He had failed the exams seven times, but was known everywhere for how dutifully he cared for his mother—he would test the temperature of every dose of medicine himself before presenting it to her. His elderly mother, over sixty years of age, suddenly fell gravely ill. He sought out famous physicians far and wide, and even, heeding the wild claims of shamans, cut a piece of his own thigh to heal his mother. When all treatments failed, he turned to the gods and Buddhas in desperation..."

This old scholar went to the local Medicine King Temple, where the incense was thick with worshippers, and made a desperate vow:

If heaven was kind enough to let his mother recover from her grave illness, he would willingly send his young son to serve beside the Medicine King Bodhisattva as an attendant tending the incense fires.

After sincerely praying, he took a pinch of incense ash home, mixed it into a "folk remedy" prepared by a wandering physician, and fed it to his mother.

Whether it was truly filial piety that moved heaven, after taking the medicine, his mother somehow survived against all odds.

...Which was awkward.

He'd made a promise to the Bodhisattva—how could he dare go back on it?

If he failed to fulfill his promise, what if the Bodhisattva, in anger, refused to protect his mother?

The scholar agonized for two weeks, and finally, steeling himself, brought his young son to the Medicine King Temple. He kowtowed three times, grabbed the child—no more than three years old—by the feet, and headfirst, smashed him down onto the stone floor before the Medicine King Bodhisattva.

Wang Cheng had seen and heard countless family tragedies in his wide experience, so he recounted all this without batting an eye.

Qin Xingyue, however, was stunned speechless, eyes getting wider and wider.

He too had been raised by his widowed mother all on her own.

If not for his elderly mother at home needing his care, he would have abandoned everything long ago and followed Lord Cheng away with Jiang He.

Qin Xingyue had thought himself filial enough, but who would have guessed—damn it all—there was always someone who took it even further.

Qin Xingyue choked back his words for a long moment, swallowed all the curses he wanted to say, and just barely managed to choke out six words: "That beast has lost his mind!"

Wang Cheng's expression did not change: "Foolish filial devotion has been around since ancient times. The Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars even includes Guo Ju, who buried his son."

Guo Ju was a man of the Eastern Han Dynasty. His family was so poor they had no food, and his mother often gave her portion to her grandson. Unable to bear starving his mother to death, Guo Ju planned to bury his son in the backyard to save a share of rations—but while digging the pit, he unearthed a jar of gold, resolving the dilemma to everyone's satisfaction.

Qin Xingyue protested, face red: "But Guo Ju never actually buried his child!"

Wang Cheng patted Qin Xingyue's knee by way of comfort, then continued his analysis: "According to the appendix of the case file, he confessed immediately without any attempt to deny the charge."

"His mother had indeed suffered a grave illness before recovering—there are prescriptions and physicians' testimony to prove it."

"His wife and neighbors all gave statements testifying that after his mother's recovery, he was distracted and despondent."

"He had this child late in life—his only flesh and blood—and had always doted on him. This does not appear to be pretense."

"His wife has always been conservative and old-fashioned, with no suspicion of adultery. The child also bore a strong resemblance to him, so the possibility of killing an illegitimate child born of an affair can likely be ruled out."

"On that day, the Medicine King Temple was crowded with people, and no small number witnessed him dashing the child to the ground. Even if he truly hated the boy to the point of wanting him dead, there would be no need for such extreme measures in public. As I understand it, in many places there are those who, displeased with a child's sex, drown infants under the guise of accident, and others who beat their children to death—why would anyone act so openly?"

Qin Xingyue was more concerned with the outcome: "So how would this be sentenced?"

Wang Cheng replied: "Any case involving loss of life must be submitted to the Ministry of Justice for verification, then reviewed by the Court of Judicial Review and the Censorate. Under Dayu Law, deliberately killing one's own child carries a sentence of seventy strokes of the cane."

Qin Xingyue: "..."

Qin Xingyue: "And then?"

Wang Cheng: "That's all."

Qin Xingyue: "...Huh??"

Wang Cheng: "For aggravated cruelty, add thirty strokes; for falsely accusing others, add one and a half years of penal servitude. Scholar Tian's case touches neither of these additional offenses."

Le Wuya was busy eating grapes and took the opportunity to mock him: "I say, Qin Xingyue, you've been at the courthouse for so long, and you haven't read a single law or regulation?"

Qin Xingyue couldn't even bother to feel embarrassed: "What about killing one's parents intentionally?"

Wang Cheng didn't even blink: "Death by a thousand cuts."

"...That's a living human life! A few lashes with a cane, and that's it?" Qin Xingyue clenched his fists, his knuckles turning slightly white, "A three-year-old child, just gone like that..."

Qin Xingyue lowered his head, as if he could see a naive child's head splattering on the ground into a mess of red blood and white brains.

That day, until he was brutally killed in front of the Medicine Buddha, the child probably thought his father was just taking him out to play.

After leaving the temple, he might have wanted candied hawthorn skewers or little dough figurines.

Seeing Qin Xingyue's look of distress, Wang Cheng sighed softly: "Earlier, Lord Zheng handled a case. A father suspected his son of stealing money, beat him to death, and only then discovered he was innocent. In the end, according to the law, it was ruled as 'improper discipline' and he was fined."

Qin Xingyue: "..."

...How could this be?

It was too absurd.

And Wang Cheng wasn't one to dwell on things.

After briefly comforting Qin Xingyue, he furrowed his brows in thought for a while, his gaze steady and calm.

"Sir," he suddenly spoke, "As we just said, this man killed his son in public, flaunting it—that alone is oddly deliberate. If I may, sir, there might be another possibility."

"Speak."

"Scholar Tian failed the imperial examinations repeatedly. If he could obtain an imperial commendation praising his kindness and devotion to his parents, not only could he erect an honorary archway and be exempted from taxes, but with any luck, he might even be recommended for a minor official post due to his outstanding virtue."

A commendation, in essence, was the court's way of honoring filial children, virtuous men, and faithful women.

"Clever." A flicker of approval flashed in Le Wuya's eyes. "When the prefect of Zhangde sent the case files to the Ministry of Justice, the petition requesting a commendation for Tian Youde had already been submitted to the Ministry of Rites."

Wang Cheng immediately seized on the key point: "Sir, how do you know about the Ministry of Rites' business?"

"Earlier, at the imperial court, I said a few words on behalf of the Imperial Observatory." Le Wuya played with the ends of his hair nonchalantly. "The Imperial Observatory is under the Ministry of Rites. Trading a bit of favor for some information—a good deal."

Wang Cheng remained silent.

This was indeed a simple case, but the undercurrents of human nature beneath it were truly hard to look at directly.

After a long while, he said, "Sir, what's your plan?"

"Plan?" Le Wuya smiled slightly. "This is the first case Lord Wang personally assigned to me. He said himself that he had already reviewed it and saw no problems. Yesterday, I threw up all over him, and today I'd find fault with his case? Would I be that clueless? ...At the very least, I should wait two or three days, right?"

With that, Le Wuya stretched lazily: "Fortunately, thanks to you, sir, I'm now bedridden with illness—can't use my official seal, can't access files, and can't summon the censor from Yuzhou Circuit to my home for questioning. Since everything is inconvenient, delaying this case for a day or two won't do any harm."

Wang Cheng was taken aback.

He wasn't sure if it was his imagination.

He vaguely felt that the lord had deliberately "fallen ill."

Even if Lord Wang hadn't invited him over for drinks yesterday, Le Wuya would have found some other excuse to claim illness and stay home, temporarily setting aside official matters.

Le Wuya finished his grapes and licked his lips with lingering satisfaction: "I called you here because there is indeed something. What I just discussed with Wang Cheng... Qin Xingyue, did you remember all of it?"

Startled at being suddenly called on, Qin Xingyue jolted: "R-remembered!"

"Take this matter and go gossip about it with He Qingsong and the others." Le Wuya paused, then added, "Remember, do it in front of the newly arrived tea boy named Lin An."

Qin Xingyue's expression turned serious: "...Is our house compromised?"

"In the capital, there's no such thing as a clean place." Le Wuya shrugged carelessly. "...Don't make a fuss—this spy was actually sniffed out by our Xiao Zhong."

He then raised two fingers: "Remember, focus on two things: first, I always follow the law to the letter, and this case will definitely be judged according to Lord Wang's wishes, but since I'm unwell, it's bound to be delayed a bit; second, the Emperor values filial piety most highly—years ago, Princess Xiaoshu avenged her mother by killing the murderer in the street and not only wasn't punished, but earned the Emperor's praise..."

Qin Xingyue and Wang Cheng exchanged a glance and said nothing.

Even the slow-witted Qin Xingyue could tell that Le Wuya had ulterior motives, let alone Wang Cheng.

"...Seventy lashes, and you want a commendation in exchange?" Le Wuya pressed his grape-scented finger to his lips, wearing a knowing smile. "In this world, there's no such thing as a deal that cheap."