Chapter 62 Li Xuanjing's Past

A moment later, Li Nuo walked out of the county prison.

This girl is quite clear about gratitude and resentment.

That stab was like paying him back for the blow he had stabbed me with.

Although Li Nuo didn't stab him personally, he didn't intend to argue with her about it.

Before leaving, Li Nuo instructed Pei Zhe to find someone to treat her wounds and move her to a better cell.

If her wounds were not treated, she might die in prison.

The conditions in the county jail were limited, and the single room she lived in was already of good standards. Only after the files were reviewed and approved by the Ministry of Justice and the prisoners were taken away from the county jail would they be put under unified management.

On the way back to the Li Mansion, Li Nuo was eager to know what his father had done over the years to deserve such a series of evaluations as forming a clique for personal gain, abusing power, being treacherous, taking bribes and perverting the law, murdering loyal and good people, and taking human lives lightly...

He glanced at Butler Wu standing beside him. He most likely would not tell him about these things in detail.

But he said one thing which was very true: there is no clear boundary between the upright and the treacherous. If Li Nuo wants to get the answer, he'd better find it himself.

To him, the answer is important.

When he returned to the Li Mansion and came to his own small courtyard, Li Nuo was surprised to find that his wife was there.

Just now on the street, although he had expected it, he still couldn't dodge the knife if it wasn't for the lady beside him. Li Nuo walked to her and said, "Just now on the street... Thank you, lady."

Song Jiaren said softly: "We are a family, there is nothing to thank you for."

What Li Nuo once said to her was returned to her.

She saved his life twice in critical moments. If there is one person in this world that Li Nuo trusts the most, it must be his wife.

Although Li Nuo also trusts Butler Wu, the latter is more loyal to his father and will not tell him many things.

As for the wife - based on Li Nuo's understanding of her, she is actually hard on the outside but soft on the inside, and is a good breakthrough point.

Li Nuo thought for a moment, sat down beside her, looked into her eyes, and said sincerely, "Madam, you are the one I trust the most in this world. Can I ask you a few questions?"

"ah?"

Song Jiaren was startled when she heard this.

She couldn't quite believe what she heard.

The person he trusted the most was actually himself?

Although the two were husband and wife in name, not only did she fail to fulfill her responsibilities as a wife, she also beat him without any reason.

How could the person he trusted the most be himself?

Seeing Li Nuo's extremely serious look, Song Jiaren lowered her head without leaving any trace and said, "You ask."

Li Nuo said: "I want to ask about my father."

Song Jiaren was silent for a moment and nodded slightly.

She hadn't originally intended to say that. Given her status, it wasn't appropriate for her to say those words.

But he has said so. If she doesn't agree, wouldn't she be betraying his trust?

Li Nuo breathed a sigh of relief. His wife grew up in Chang'an, and his father-in-law and his father were once close friends. She must know his father much better than he does.

He thought for a moment and asked, "I want to know what kind of person he is in my wife's heart..."

Song Jiaren sat there, her eyes wandering, still in disbelief. The person he trusted the most turned out to be her. How could it be her? Why should she trust him?

Li Nuo waved his hand in front of her eyes and asked tentatively: "Madam, Madam?"

…

Li Nuo just learned a lot of things from his wife.

Forming a clique for personal gain, abusing power, being treacherous, taking bribes and bending the law, murdering loyal officials, taking human life lightly...the crimes that the assassin put on him were not groundless.

Ten years ago, His Majesty the Emperor of Daxia began to ignore state affairs and pursue immortality, completely handing over power to various departments in the court. In this way, the power of top officials in the court was freed from the most important restrictions.

Since then, the power of important departments in the court, such as the Six Ministries and Nine Temples, has expanded rapidly and lost its constraints. The power of the heads of various departments has reached its peak since the founding of Daxia.

However, the powers and responsibilities of various departments in the imperial court were not exactly the same.

The Ministry of Personnel is in charge of the promotion of officials, and the Ministry of Revenue is in charge of the state's finances. The heads of these two departments abuse their power and are dictatorial. They appoint people based on personal connections and are biased in allocating funds. The worst that can be done is to demote them and have their salaries reduced.

But the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple can directly take people's lives.

Of the two ministries, the Dali Temple is the most respected.

Strictly speaking, the Ministry of Justice is not a subordinate of the Dali Temple. The Dali Temple Chief is at the same level as the Minister of Justice, but the authority of the Dali Temple Chief is much greater than that of the Minister of Justice.

The Ministry of Justice can only deal with civilians and minor officials below the seventh rank, and before any punishment is dealt with, it must be submitted to the Dali Temple for review.

The Chief Justice of the Dali Temple could directly deal with officials below the fourth rank without going through the three ministries, and his influence was actually related to the life and death of most officials in the court.

This is an abuse of power and dictatorship.

It is indeed an abuse of power and a dictatorship, but in the current court, the heads of various departments in the court are all abusing their power and being dictatorial.

As for forming cliques for personal gain, the Crown Prince died of illness ten years ago and His Majesty has ignored state affairs. The eight princes have been trying their best to develop their own cliques in order to fight for power. It can be said that most people in the court are forming cliques for personal gain, and this is not a big problem.

And corruption and abuse of power...

Although the position of Dali Temple Minister was high and his annual salary was not low, he could never afford to buy the Li family's current house or support so many servants and guards with his annual salary alone, so people were sure that he had embezzled a lot of money.

Li Nuo knew a little about this matter. Among all the princes, his father stood on the side of Prince Chun. This house was given by Prince Chun, and the silver was also sent by Prince Chun...

Murdering loyal and good people, taking human lives lightly..., he did kill entire families at any time, but if the loyal and good people here are all "loyal and good people" in quotation marks like the magistrate of Qinghe County, then these two sentences are actually praising him.

Reputation can be faked, but the Code will not lie. By beating the assassin to death, Li Nuo gained thirty days of life, which proved that the other party was indeed a man who deserved to die.

Moreover, he killed the entire family of the Qinghe County Magistrate, leaving only his unaware daughter behind. Strictly speaking, this even violated the laws of Daxia.

Li Nuo is now very familiar with the laws of Daxia. Although he is a local official, he colluded with bandits and abducted and sold hundreds of decent women in the county. This is a serious crime punishable by the confiscation of property and the extermination of the entire family. His entire family will be punished and no one can escape.

Of all his crimes, the one he was most criticized for was actually the most inconspicuous betrayal.

More than ten years ago, when he first entered the officialdom, he carried out reforms with more than a dozen of his colleagues, but it ultimately ended in failure. More than a dozen new Jinshi were charged with treason and were all executed.

And he is their executioner.

He betrayed his fellow disciples in exchange for a chance to rise to prominence, and over the past decade or so, he rose through the ranks and eventually became the all-powerful Chief Justice of the Dali Temple today.

It was precisely because of this incident that he became the object of everyone's condemnation in Daxia, and anything he did thereafter would be infinitely magnified.

Of course, his methods were truly cruel. Over the past decade or so, especially after His Majesty delegated power, the imperial court of Daxia was almost completely cleansed with blood by him.

Many loyal officials died in his hands, and even more corrupt officials, which made Daxia officials shudder at the mention of "Li", and he was therefore known as the "living king of hell"...

Officials in the court were so afraid of him that they didn't even dare to use silver to pardon their crimes.

Even if this is allowed by Daxia law.

If any official attempted to use silver to avoid punishment, within three months he would be demoted for other reasons at the very least, or even have his entire family exterminated.

So even though the examiner knew that his son could be exempted from punishment by paying three hundred taels of silver, he still sent him here with his son tied up.

Li Nuo thought that he didn't understand the law, but he didn't expect that he didn't understand his father.

It’s worth saying, Li Nuo supports him on this point.

We all have one nose and two eyes, and no one is nobler than anyone else. Why can some people who break the law be acquitted by paying some money? They regard human life as worthless and the law as nothing. Haven't you heard that kings, princes, generals and ministers are all of different species?

But if it is true that he sold out his friends for personal gain, then you can't blame others for saying that about him.

Since ancient times, people have hated traitors and treacherous villains.

Li Nuo sighed deeply, feeling conflicted and complicated.

From now on, when it comes to eliminating harm for the people and punishing the wicked, his momentum will be three points weaker.

Although the book says that killing one's relatives for the sake of justice can break through the bottleneck of the Legalists and quickly improve the Legalists' cultivation, does he have the ability to do so?

On the contrary, it might be Tiangang who would be destroyed.

Seeing him frowning and sighing, Song Jiaren couldn't help but say, "Others are others, and you are you. You do your thing, why do you care about others?"

Li Nuo was slightly stunned.

Yes, he judges his cases and amends his laws, why does he care about other people?

Does he stop practicing Legalism just because his father was a treacherous official?

Isn't that just waiting to die?

It made no difference to him whether his father was a traitor or a loyal minister. He needed to judge the case to save his life.

No, there is still a difference. If he didn't have such a father, would the officials of Chang'an County Court pay attention to him? Would the Langzhong of the Ministry of Examination be so cooperative as to send his son for trial?

Definitely not.

Without the treacherous minister Li Xuanjing, Magistrate Pei would not have paid any attention to him, and the Imperial Examination Official would not have killed his own relatives for the sake of justice.

It is precisely because of such a father that his journey to survival is so smooth.

Otherwise, he would die on the third day after traveling through time.

His eyes turned to Song Jiaren.

It really woke me up.

Although the lady is not educated, what she said makes sense.

Just a few words from her made Li Nuo's originally depressed mood suddenly become clear.

Li Nuo held her hand and said sincerely, "Thank you, my lady!"

Last time at the old lady's birthday party, although I held her hand, I didn't feel it carefully. Now I realize that her hands are so smooth and soft, and she doesn't look like a martial artist at all...

Seeing that Li Nuo had returned to his previous state, Song Jiaren finally breathed a sigh of relief. She then lowered her eyes to look at the two people's hands holding together.

Li Nuo let go of her hand at the right time and changed the subject: "Madam, let's go back to the Song family tonight..."

Li Nuo has complicated feelings towards his father.

The father and son were not familiar with each other to begin with, and now, he didn't know how to face him.

Compared to the deserted Li Mansion, he felt that the Song Family was more like a home.

There is the lovely Mu'er during the day and the fragrant wife at night.

Song Jiaren didn't respond immediately. In fact, she wanted to sleep in the bed tonight...

But thinking of Li Nuo's experience today, she couldn't help but soften her heart and nodded slightly: "Okay..."

[ps: There will be one more chapter added on Dragon Boat Festival. ]

(End of this chapter)