SGEIRS -Chapter 107 He Is Like a God

Meng Jinyao glared at him unhappily, her resentment evident. “You’re one of the beneficiaries of this law too.”

Gu Jingxi let out a quiet, wry laugh. Looking at the little lady, all puffed up with anger, he felt a bit helpless—but he could also understand her sudden misdirected wrath. After all, anyone who has been exploited wouldn’t be expected to treat the beneficiary kindly. He spoke gently, “My lady, please don’t be angry. If you dislike it, I can give up this benefit.”

Meng Jinyao raised an eyebrow, her expression guarded. “And how exactly do you plan to give it up?”

Gu Jingxi answered warmly, “If in the future I commit a crime, I will sign a divorce deed. That way, our marital relationship will end, and you can use the evidence to prosecute me—you won’t have to go to prison.”

At his words, Meng Jinyao froze, staring at him blankly. As she contemplated what he said, the anger on her face lessened drastically. She couldn’t help it—this remark pleased her. Her little resentful heart was calmed, and her previously agitated mood gradually softened.

After a moment, she asked, “Husband, do you also think this law is correct?”

Gu Jingxi shook his head slightly. “My lady, I do not believe it is correct.”

Meng Jinyao was stunned. She watched him silently, prompting him to continue.

Gu Jingxi spoke in a quiet voice, “The first case I handled was a father killing his mother, and the son reported the father.”

At this, Meng Jinyao was again taken aback. She hurriedly asked, “And what was the outcome?”

Gu Jingxi squinted slightly, his tone tinged with helplessness. “It was verified to be true. The father and mother had a dispute, and in his growing anger and resentment, the father killed the mother. The father was sentenced to death for killing his wife. As for the son reporting the father, he was judged to be unfilial and sentenced to twenty strokes of the cane and three years of imprisonment.”

Meng Jinyao was silent, feeling the absurdity of it all. Her anger surged again.

A father kills his mother, and the son reports him—but the son becomes the unfilial one.

If the father kills the mother and the son protects him, he is considered filial?

The son shows filial duty to the father—but what about the mother? She was killed, and the son did not avenge her or report the father. Isn’t that unfilial?

A father kills the mother, and protecting him is filial; reporting him is unfilial. No matter what choice is made, the son ends up labeled as unfilial.

Gu Jingxi glanced at her and softly asked, “My lady, do you find it absurd?”

Meng Jinyao retorted, “Husband, don’t you find it absurd?”

She took a deep breath, her tone growing increasingly indignant. “A father kills a mother, and the son reports him—out of justice, out of protection for the mother—but in the end, he’s branded unfilial. The mother bore him for ten months, gave birth to him, and he watched his father kill her. If he then protects his father, he’s still unfilial. The only difference is that if he doesn’t speak up, no one knows.”

Gu Jingxi nodded. “I agree with you.”

Meng Jinyao gave him a resentful look. “Then why did you sentence him to twenty strokes and three years’ imprisonment?”

Gu Jingxi replied, “I was the presiding judge of that case, but I could not ignore the law. I believed the sentence was wrong, but the law required it. Even if I had declared him innocent, higher authorities reviewing the case would have overturned my judgment. When the corporal punishment was carried out, I privately instructed the executioner to go easy—that was the only thing I could do for him at the time.”

Meng Jinyao fell silent again, suddenly realizing she shouldn’t blame him. She looked at him with sympathy, sensing the inner torment he had felt—knowing what was wrong but unable to change the outcome.

Gu Jingxi noticed her expression softening and smiled faintly. The little lady still had a tender heart—angry at him a moment ago, now sympathetic. He spoke again: “However, in the same type of case after I became Minister of Justice, I encountered a similar father-killing-mother, son-reporting-father case while traveling through Suzhou. But the outcome was different.”

Meng Jinyao’s eyes brightened the moment she saw the slight smile at his lips. “What happened in that case?” she asked eagerly.

Gu Jingxi narrated calmly: “The father and mother had a dispute, which escalated into a fight. The father grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed the mother fifteen times, killing her on the spot. When the son returned home, he found his mother dead and his father still holding the knife. He immediately summoned the neighbors to apprehend his father. The son reported his father; with both eyewitnesses and evidence, the father was sentenced to death, but the son was declared innocent—there was no unfilial behavior.”

It was the outcome she had wanted, yet Meng Jinyao still found it slightly unsatisfying. She questioned, “Then why couldn’t the first case be judged that way? If the second case could achieve this, why wasn’t effort made in the first case?”

Gu Jingxi replied, “There’s a reason.”

Meng Jinyao was puzzled. “Both cases are similar—arguments escalating, wife killed. What reason could there be?”

Gu Jingxi shook his head lightly, speaking calmly, “The difference lies in the fathers. In the first case, both parents were biological. In the second case, the father and mother were a stepfather and biological mother.

“Initially, in the second case, the presiding judge also sentenced the son to twenty strokes and three years. But I believed that although a stepfather, he is different from a biological father. The stepfather became a father because of the mother, and when he killed her, all father-son bonds were severed. Without the father-son relationship, the crime should be treated as ordinary murder, not ‘unfilial’ murder. So I overturned the presiding judge’s ruling, declaring the son innocent while maintaining the father’s original death sentence.”

Meng Jinyao looked at him in awe. In her eyes, her clever husband suddenly seemed towering and godlike.

She had heard of the Ministers of Justice who judged cases with divine insight, but it never struck her before. Now, hearing Gu Jingxi recount these two cases and their differing outcomes, she felt he truly was a god—someone who, in the face of cold, unfeeling laws, strove to give them warmth.

This man was extraordinary, using his talent to overturn the inevitable and shine brilliantly in his domain.

The little lady, who had scolded him in anger moments ago, now looked at him with astonishment and subtle admiration—her gaze open, unhidden.

Meeting her bright eyes, Gu Jingxi’s expression paused for a moment, then he smiled faintly. In a gentle voice, he said: “My lady, I told you about these two similar cases with different outcomes to show you that often, people are trapped and helpless, bound by rules—but also protected by them. Some laws cannot be changed immediately. Change comes case by case, slowly refining the law—keeping the essence, discarding the dross. Or, it can involve finding loopholes to protect the innocent. As with these two cases: according to the law, in the second case, the son would certainly have been sentenced to twenty strokes and three years. But by noticing the stepfather loophole, we successfully removed the charge of unfilial behavior, sparing the son from three years in prison and corporal punishment.”