Chapter 552: Life Is More Than Goodness and Distant Lands—There’s Also the Sordid Reality Before Your Eyes

The bamboo pig cage lurched violently from side to side, creaking as though it might splinter apart at any moment.

Below it, the dark river pool churned ominously. The water was unfathomably deep, currents twisting into vicious whirlpools that swallowed everything drawn into them. Inside the cage, the man and woman had both been shackled hand and foot with heavy iron chains, and stones had been tied to their bodies as additional weight. If they were thrown into the pool, there would be no possibility of survival. None at all.

The crowd surrounding the riverbank was boiling with fury.

An elder in his fifties raised his arm sharply and shouted in a voice full of righteous indignation:

“Drown them!”

“Heave-ho! Heave-ho!”

Eight broad-shouldered young men roared their work chant in unison as they swung the pig cage high into the air. The cage arced back and forth dangerously, inching closer and closer toward the edge of the riverbank, as though the next swing would send it flying into the black waters below.

“Stop!”

Zhu Ping’an stepped forward once again.

He simply could not stand by and watch two living people disappear before his eyes in such a cruel and barbaric manner. No matter what crime they had committed, this method of execution was too savage. This time, determined to stop them, his voice rang out far louder and more forcefully than before.

His shout cut cleanly through the noise of the crowd, abruptly interrupting the rhythm of the young men’s chanting.

The eight men froze mid-motion and turned to stare at him.

The elder in his fifties glared furiously at Zhu Ping’an, anger flashing across his weathered face.

“Again and again you interfere!” he barked. “You’re an outsider! What right do you have to meddle in the affairs of our Ma Family Village? If you keep causing trouble, don’t blame us for forgetting courtesy toward a stranger!”

“Right?”

Zhu Ping’an gave a faint shake of his head.

“Then let’s see whether I have the right or not.”

As he spoke, he calmly reached into his robes and produced his official credentials, holding the document up before the villagers—especially the village elders—so they could see it clearly.

Although the Great Ming had established unified laws that applied throughout the empire, the villages beneath that vast imperial system still followed their own traditions. Every village would elect a respected elder—or sometimes a village headman—to settle disputes and pass judgment. They determined right and wrong, decided punishments, carried out private penalties, and in many places effectively held the power of life and death over the villagers.

Today’s “pig-cage drowning” was one such private punishment.

And it was a death sentence.

Ordinarily, Zhu Ping’an might have respected local customs. But when human lives were at stake, he could not turn a blind eye. Especially not to such an inhumane execution.

With no other choice, he could only use official authority to suppress them.

After a brief thought, Zhu Ping’an realized these villagers might not recognize official documents alone. So he reached to his waist and pulled out a blackwood tally plaque as well—a symbol of rank and identity within the Ming bureaucracy. Engraved upon it were his personal details, official title, and even the insignia of the Hanlin Academy.

The moment the elder got a closer look, his expression changed drastically.

“Ah—!”

“This humble commoner greets Your Excellency!”

The elder hurriedly bent his knees, preparing to kneel.

These village elders had at least seen county magistrates before, and Ma Family Village itself had once produced officials. They recognized the authenticity of both the credential and the tally plaque immediately.

In ancient times, reverence toward officials was deeply ingrained into people’s bones. To common villagers, an imperial official was someone to be feared almost instinctively.

The instant the elder knelt, the surrounding villagers followed suit in a panic.

Even the eight sturdy youths hastily lowered the pig cage onto the riverbank before dropping to their knees with loud thuds.

Inside the cage, the two prisoners—whose eyes had long been filled with despair—suddenly showed a flicker of light once more.

Hope.

Zhu Ping’an’s heart tightened.

How could he bear to let an old man of such age kneel before him?

He quickly stepped forward and helped the elders up one by one. The white-bearded elder in particular had barely begun bending his knees before Zhu Ping’an caught him by the arm and lifted him upright. The other villagers had only just knelt when Zhu Ping’an hurriedly urged them all to stand.

The elder in his fifties no longer dared order the execution after learning Zhu Ping’an’s status, but the bitterness on his face only deepened. Looking toward the cage, he appeared heartbroken and furious all at once. The wrinkles on his forehead practically twisted themselves into a giant expression of stubborn refusal.

I refuse to accept this.

The villagers were much the same.

They had knelt out of fear of official authority, not because they believed Zhu Ping’an was right. Their gazes remained fixed on the pig cage with lingering hatred and indignation.

Outwardly, they treated Zhu Ping’an with reverence.

But in their hearts—and in their eyes—there remained resentment, fury, defiance, and a deep sense of unwelcome hostility.

Yet while everyone else shrank back under Zhu Ping’an’s authority, one figure instead stepped forward.

It was the white-bearded elder who had spoken earlier.

His back, once bent with age, now straightened little by little until he stood tall and rigid like an ancient pine tree weathering a storm.

“Your Excellency,” he said in a grief-stricken voice, “of all evils, lust is the worst!”

His aged voice trembled with emotion.

“Murder and arson may only bring disaster upon a few. But depravity corrupts both others and oneself. Once wicked desire takes root, all manner of evil follows behind it. In the end, it will destroy our entire Ma Family Village! These are not empty words—history has already given countless warnings!”

He took a deep breath before continuing.

“Our Ma Family Village has, generation after generation, valued farming and scholarship alike. Our customs are upright and honorable. We have five chastity arches honored by the court itself. County magistrates and prefectural officials alike have repeatedly commended our village for its virtue.”

The elder looked directly at Zhu Ping’an.

“Your Excellency is a scholar who has studied the Four Books and Five Classics. You should understand this principle well—starving to death is a small matter; losing one’s chastity is a grave one. And now this shameless conduct has openly corrupted our village morals! How can such a thing possibly be tolerated?”

The old man’s voice was hoarse with pain.

Though everyone else feared approaching Zhu Ping’an, the white-bearded elder stood before him without retreating, his face full of sorrow and righteous outrage.

Zhu Ping’an narrowed his eyes slightly as he studied the elder.

After a long sigh, the old man continued.

“Perhaps… Your Excellency does not yet know the full story.”

Zhu Ping’an nodded.

From the villagers’ furious curses, he had only pieced together fragments of the situation. But people in rage often exaggerated—or even distorted—the truth.

The white-bearded elder slowly began recounting the tale.

“This matter began nine years ago…”

“At that time, Old Master Wang’s business had only just started prospering. When he was young, his family was desperately poor. At barely ten years old, he went to work as an apprentice in a town shop to help support his household.”

“Because he was honest, hardworking, and eager to improve himself, he gradually earned the trust of the shop owner. Step by step, he rose from apprentice to steward, then shop manager. Eventually, his employer valued him enough to let him open a branch business of his own.”

“Old Master Wang conducted business with integrity. He never cheated customers, never short-weighed goods. Even if he himself suffered losses, he would rather satisfy others first. Relying on honesty and reputation, he quickly amassed wealth.”

As the elder spoke, the villagers around him sighed repeatedly in agreement.

“He purchased extensive property in the village. He repaired roads, built bridges, funded a school. Whenever a family encountered hardship, he helped without expecting repayment. Ah… he truly was a good man.”

“Then, nine years ago, he saved a certain family…”

The elder’s expression darkened as he pointed toward the woman inside the cage.

“Their household suffered calamity that year. Both her parents fell gravely ill at the same time and were on the verge of death. Old Master Wang heard of it and personally spent over a hundred taels of silver to hire renowned physicians from the prefectural capital to treat them.”

“After recovering, her parents saw how wealthy he was. Claiming they could never repay such kindness, they cried and begged to marry their daughter to him. And on top of that, they demanded a hundred taels of silver as betrothal gifts!”

His voice turned sharp with contempt.

“Greedy beyond measure!”

“After the marriage, they constantly found excuses to squeeze money from Old Master Wang year after year. But he was dutiful and generous—whatever they wanted, he gave. Over the years, their original thatched hut and three mu of poor land became a grand two-courtyard estate with three hundred mu of fertile farmland!”

“Old Master Wang himself was loyal and honest. Once she entered his household, he indulged her in every possible way. And after she bore him a son, he even entrusted her with management of the family fortune.”

The elder’s face twisted with rage.

“But who could have imagined… such a shameless, wanton woman! Old Master Wang treated her so well, yet she still seduced other men and disgraced the village!”

“While Old Master Wang worked tirelessly outside day and night, she secretly began an affair with his household steward! And whenever Old Master Wang traveled away on business, the two became utterly brazen, spending their days and nights together like husband and wife!”

“That steward is the heartless beast there!”

The elder jabbed a trembling finger toward the battered man inside the cage, his eyes blazing with fury.

“That animal lost his mother in childhood and his father at ten years old. He scavenged scraps alongside pigs and dogs, starving and half-naked. It was Old Master Wang who pitied him and took him in!”

“He taught him business. Taught him how to survive. Promoted him to steward despite his humble origins. Even paid for his marriage and household!”

“And yet this ungrateful beast repaid kindness with betrayal!”

“He ate Old Master Wang’s food! Took Old Master Wang’s wages! Lived under Old Master Wang’s roof!”

“But then he climbed into his master’s wife’s bed!”

The elder’s voice shook violently with fury.

“The two adulterers colluded shamelessly. Not only did they commit their filthy acts whenever Old Master Wang traveled away, this steward even deliberately encouraged Old Master Wang to leave home on distant business trips just so they could continue their affair!”

“Every time Old Master Wang stepped out through the courtyard gates, this adulterous pair would begin their depravity behind his back—making lewd sounds!”

“If these two disasters are not removed, not only will Ma Family Village be forever disgraced, but where will justice remain beneath Heaven?! Where will righteousness be found?!”

By the end of his speech, the white-bearded elder was practically trembling with grief and fury, as though he might cough blood at any moment.

Around him, the villagers erupted into waves of sorrowful sighs and bitter curses.