One day, Mudan County reported that several girls had gone missing, and the suspects were suspected of fleeing to Luocheng.

The county magistrate of Mudan County wanted the prefect of Luozhou to investigate.

Before Gao Wenjie could even begin investigating the case, Du Ziming came knocking on his door, offering to let him stay out of the case in exchange for the medicine his son needed.

They even swore it would only happen once.

On one side is her son, who is suffering terribly; on the other is her conscience.

He hesitated... and he also fell into depravity.

But this kind of thing doesn't just happen once; once it happens, it happens again, and once it happens again, it happens a third time.

The more he realized Du Ziming and Pan Cong's ambitions, the less he hated himself.

I hate myself for compromising that one time.

This deal ultimately couldn't be kept secret from his son, Gao Qingpei.

Gao Qingpei overheard their conversation.

Afterwards, Gao Qingpei endured the pain and knelt before him, and the father and son embraced and wept bitterly.

Let's go to hell together.

This was Gao Wenjie's only thought at the time: to drag the Du family and the evil spirit Pan Cong down with him and die together.

But Gao Qingpei stopped him.

“Father, if this position in the prefecture doesn’t belong to you, it will belong to someone else.”

“My illness, our situation, will be repeated in the new state government.”

"What we need to do now is to try to survive and hold on until an opportunity arises."

“Father, I will quit taking that drug, you believe me.”

These words were etched into Gao Wenjie's mind, and over the years, they have been the driving force that has kept him going despite his disgust.

He's waiting for an opportunity.

He gently stroked Gao Qingpei's sparse hair, "Pei'er is so great."

“Today, Lieutenant General Cao Gu of the garrison has arrived. He lacks the qualifications and skills, and I don’t want him to get involved in this mess.”

"But he... I don't know if what he's doing is right."