Chapter 245: Chapter 104: The Judgment (3)

It was a catastrophe of the highest order!

Her son’s future was about to be ruined by her, his own mother.

Mr. Li wailed, her voice hoarse, as she prostrated herself on the courtroom floor. She looked as pitiful as one could possibly imagine.

As for Li Cun, he was already delirious with fever and had only entered the courtroom by mustering the last of his strength.

He could no longer make a sound, but he used what little energy he had left to tug at his mother.

’A man must pay the price for his actions. Perhaps this is my fate...’

As these thoughts crossed his mind, tears surged from Li Cun’s eyes.

The shimmering tears streamed down his fever-flushed face. His tragic appearance, combined with his deathly pale lips and his listless, haggard cheeks, was enough to make anyone who saw him weep in sorrow.

Many women and children were observing from outside the courtroom, and they couldn’t help but begin to sob along with them.

"What a sin. If they had known it would come to this, they would never have started it."

"Mr. Li is no good, but her son is a good boy. Your Honor, you can’t ruin this child’s life!"

"Your Honor, the mother and son are pitiful. They know they were wrong, so why not just spare them this once?"

Mr. Cheng, the County Magistrate, looked at Mr. Li and Li Cun in his courtroom and couldn’t help but let out a heavy, frustrated sigh.

Li Cun had placed fifth in the county examination, and Mr. Cheng had a high opinion of the young man’s talent.

Mr. Cheng had carefully read Li Cun’s essays and knew his weakness lay in the practical application of classical studies to governance. The path to prosperity he proposed was tinged with a scholar’s idealism—somewhat hollow and impractical.

He mainly lacked a certain down-to-earth quality, but this was a flaw that could be corrected. If he could truly humble himself and walk among the common people, Mr. Cheng believed that in three years, Li Cun could become another Zhao Jing.

But for such an outstanding young man to have a mother who held him back like this...

It was truly tragic, truly lamentable!

Just as Mr. Cheng was about to speak, there was a commotion in the distance. It was Qi Lan and a few others, escorting Mrs. Zheng, the wife of Mr. Zheng the Scholar.

Mrs. Zheng was a plump woman who looked like she had lived a pampered life.

However, Mr. Zheng’s imprisonment had made her life difficult.

The woman appeared disheveled and haggard. Even her clothes hung a little looser on her frame.

When the constables brought her into the courtroom, she was trembling with fear and confessed everything, explaining how she had conspired with Mr. Li.

But after saying all this, she still couldn’t swallow the grief and indignation in her heart. With tears in her eyes, she added, "My husband began his studies at the age of three and formally started learning from his father at five. He studied arduously for over forty years just to pass the exam to become a Scholar. My husband is already a man of rare talent, yet his path in the imperial examinations was still so difficult. I refuse to believe that some poor country boy, with no father to protect him and no master to teach him, could surpass everyone to take first place."

Mr. Cheng almost immediately shot back, "Ignorant woman! This world is full of brilliant minds. Just because you haven’t seen them, does that mean they don’t exist? Have you not heard that Gan Luo became Prime Minister of Qin at twelve, or that Xiang Tuo became a teacher to Confucius at the age of seven?"

Despite Mr. Cheng’s tirade, Mrs. Zheng stubbornly stuck her neck out, refusing to concede.

Seeing this, Mr. Cheng decided not to argue with her any further. It was like trying to talk to a summer insect about ice; wasting more words would only anger himself.

He turned to look at Mr. Li in the courtroom and the crowd outside, announcing, "Later, the constables will post all of the candidates’ examination papers on the outer wall of the examination hall. Anyone with doubts may go and verify them for themselves. If anyone is still unconvinced, they may come and seek clarification from me. I can also guarantee that Chen Song is cleared of any suspicion of stealing the examination papers. Guilt must be proven with evidence; one cannot slander another out of thin air."

He continued, "This case is now crystal clear. The guilty parties..."

Just as Mr. Cheng was about to announce the verdict, Li Cun fainted from his fever.

The fever had sent him into a seizure.

He lost consciousness, his eyes rolled back, his limbs stiffened and twitched, and he began to foam at the mouth. It was a terrifying sight.

Mr. Li was scared out of her wits. She didn’t dare touch her son, only stretching out her hands and weeping helplessly, "My son! My son!"

The unfolding tragedy stirred even more pity in the hearts of the townspeople.

Many of them knelt outside the courtroom to plead for the mother and son.

"Mr. Li knows her crime! We beg Your Honor for a lenient sentence!"

"Li Cun is innocent! Please, Your Honor, take his situation into consideration!"

They then kowtowed toward Chen Song, his father, and his father-in-law, "Please be magnanimous and spare them!"

Mr. Li’s crime was certainly not enough to warrant the death penalty. It was merely attempted slander, which at most would earn her three years in prison.

But if Mr. Li went to prison, Li Cun would be barred from taking the imperial examinations, which would completely cut off any future for the Li family.

Seeing the state of the Li family, the townspeople couldn’t bear it. Mr. Cheng, who valued talent, also didn’t want to push someone to a dead end. Besides, a harsh sentence would not be a good thing for Chen Song, his father, and his father-in-law either.

Chen Song was clearly aware of this, and he immediately kowtowed, saying, "I beg Your Honor to show mercy."

In the end, the main culprits, Mr. Li and Mrs. Zheng, were sentenced to thirty strokes of the cane. They were also to be paraded around the county town for a day with gongs and drums to clear the names of the three men from the Chen family.

The two servants from the Zheng Family, who acted as accomplices, were each sentenced to twenty strokes and had to follow in the parade. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

This sentence was lenient out of consideration for the people’s pleas and the magnanimity of Chen Song, his father, and his father-in-law in not holding a grudge. However, it was not to be a precedent. Any future offense would be met with execution without pardon.