Chapter 107 He is like a god
Meng Jinyao glared at him irritably and said resentfully, "You are also a beneficiary of this law."
Gu Jingxi chuckled, looking at the sulking girl with a bit of helplessness, but he could understand her sudden outburst of anger. It's no wonder that the exploited person would have a good face when facing the beneficiary. He said gently, "Madam, please don't be angry. If you are not happy, I can give up this benefit."
Meng Jinyao raised an eyebrow and asked with a displeased expression, "How do you plan to give up?"
Gu Jingxi replied gently, "If I commit a crime in the future, I will sign a divorce agreement. That way, we will end our marriage. When you do, my wife can take the evidence and sue me. You won't have to go to jail."
As soon as he finished speaking, Meng Jinyao froze, staring blankly at Gu Jingxi. After savoring his words, the anger on her face diminished. She was pathetic; she was pleased by his words, and her resentful little heart was soothed, and her irritable emotions gradually calmed down.
After a moment, she questioned, "Husband, do you also think this law is correct?"
Gu Jingxi shook his head slightly: "Madam, I don't think it's right."
Meng Jinyao was taken aback, looked at him without saying a word, and gestured for him to continue.
Gu Jingxi said calmly, "The first case I took on was a case of a father killing his mother, and the son suing his father."
Upon hearing this, Meng Jinyao was taken aback again and quickly asked, "And the result?"
Gu Jingxi narrowed his eyes, his tone revealing a hint of helplessness: "It was indeed verified that the father and mother had a dispute. Later, the father became angrier and angrier, and in his anger, he killed his mother. In the end, the father was sentenced to beheading for killing his wife. As for the son suing his father, it was considered unfilial, and he was convicted of the crime of unfilial piety and sentenced to twenty strokes of the cane and three years of penal servitude."
Meng Jinyao remained silent, finding it utterly absurd, and her anger surged even higher.
The father killed the mother, the son sued the father, but the son was then labeled an unfilial son.
If a father kills his mother and the son covers it up, does that make him a filial son?
The son is filial to his father, but the father kills his own mother. What about the son's attitude towards his mother? His mother is killed, and the son does not avenge her or report his father. Isn't that unfilial?
If a father kills his mother, protecting the father is considered filial piety, while reporting the father is considered unfilial. No matter which choice you make, you will be seen as an unfilial son by everyone.
Gu Jingxi glanced at her and asked softly, "Does Madam find this absurd?"
Meng Jinyao retorted, "Don't you find this absurd, my husband?"
As she spoke, she took a deep breath, her tone becoming increasingly indignant: "When a father kills his mother, and the son sues his father, it is out of a desire to uphold justice and protect his mother, yet he ends up being accused of being unfilial. His mother carried him for ten months and gave birth to him; if he watched his father kill his mother and then protected his father, he is still an unfilial son. The only difference is that if he doesn't speak out, no one will know."
Gu Jingxi echoed, "I also agree with what Madam said."
Meng Jinyao glared at him resentfully: "Then why did you sentence him to twenty strokes of the cane and three years of penal servitude?"
Gu Jingxi replied, "I was the presiding judge in that case, but I couldn't ignore the law. I felt that I shouldn't have made that judgment, but the law stipulated that I should. Even if I found him not guilty, the higher-ups would overturn my judgment during the review. When he was being caned, I privately instructed the executioners to let him off the hook. That was the only thing I could do for him at the time."
After listening, Meng Jinyao fell silent again. Suddenly, she realized that she shouldn't blame him. She looked at him with sympathy and felt that he had also been tormented at the time, feeling that something was wrong but unable to change the situation.
Gu Jingxi took in the girl's changing expression and smiled faintly. The girl was still soft-hearted. She was angry at his actions earlier, but now she felt sorry for him. He opened his mouth again and said, "However, I encountered the same case when I was the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. I was investigating a case and passed through Suzhou. It was also a case of father killing mother and son suing father, but the ending was different."
Upon hearing this, Meng Jinyao suddenly looked up at him, her eyes lighting up the instant she saw the smile on his lips. She quickly asked, "What was the outcome of that case?"
Gu Jingxi recounted the story in detail: "In the same case, the father and mother had an argument, which escalated into a fight. The father went into the kitchen, grabbed a cleaver, and stabbed the mother fifteen times, killing her on the spot. When the son returned home, he found his mother dead and his father holding the cleaver. He immediately called the neighbors, who arrested the father. In the end, the son accused his father of killing his mother. With witnesses and physical evidence, the father was sentenced to beheading, but the son was found not guilty and had not committed any act of filial impiety."
The result was what she wanted, but Meng Jinyao was still not entirely satisfied and raised a question: "Then why couldn't you have ruled the first case the same way? Since you could do it in the second case, why didn't you try harder to do it in the first one?"
Gu Jingxi replied, "There's a reason for that."
Meng Jinyao was bewildered after hearing this and asked in confusion, "They are all similar cases. They started with a dispute and ended up killing their wives. What could be the reason?"
Gu Jingxi shook his head gently and said slowly, "The difference between these two cases lies in the father. In the first case, both the father and mother were biological parents, while in the second case, the father and mother were actually a stepfather and a biological mother."
"In the second case, when the son sued his father, the presiding judge also sentenced him to twenty strokes of the cane and three years of penal servitude."
“But I think that although a stepfather is a father, he is different from a biological father. A stepfather becomes a father because of his biological mother. In the second case, the stepfather killed his mother. In the instant the knife fell, he had severed all ties with her and ended their father-son relationship.”
"Since the father-son relationship is gone, he should be charged with ordinary murder, not with 'filial impiety.' Therefore, the presiding judge's verdict was overturned, and the son was found not guilty, but the father's original sentence was upheld."
Upon hearing this, Meng Jinyao raised her eyes and stared blankly at the man in front of her. She felt that the image of this cheap husband had instantly become taller in her mind, like a god.
She had never really thought much of how the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review could solve cases so brilliantly before, but now, after hearing Gu Jingxi talk about these two cases and their different outcomes, she suddenly realized that Gu Jingxi was truly a god, a god who strived to make the cold and ruthless laws more humane.
This man is exceptionally capable; he uses his extraordinary talent to turn the tide and shine brightly in his field.
The little girl had just been angrily blaming him, but now she was looking at him with a surprised yet subtly admiring gaze, her eyes fixed on him without any attempt to hide it.
Gu Jingxi met those bright eyes, his expression froze slightly, then he smiled and said gently, "Madam, I told you about these two similar cases with different endings because I wanted to tell you that people are often helpless, bound by rules and regulations, but also protected by them."
"Some laws cannot be changed in a short period of time. We can only push them to change slowly through case after case, to innovate, to take the essence and discard the dross, or to make the most of loopholes to protect the interests of innocent people."
"As mentioned in the two cases, if the trial were conducted according to the law, the son in the second case would certainly have been sentenced to twenty strokes of the cane and three years of imprisonment. However, by exploiting the loophole of the stepfather, the son was successfully exonerated for his filial impiety, thus avoiding the three years of imprisonment and caning that would have been due to his filial impiety."
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