This City Lord Seems Quite Humane
Su Jingyang lay down on the shop’s floor bedding to sleep that night, but his mind remained unsettled. What he had heard from Liang Lu still felt utterly unbelievable!
The man was called Ling Li, around twenty-one years old. He had been abandoned by his family as a child and raised by an old constable in town who had never married. Because Ling Li was a shuangrenzi, once he grew up, there were countless rumors in town about his relationship with the old constable.
Neighbors wagged their tongues everywhere, spitting gossip and claiming the two were father and son in name only, while secretly fooling around at home every day, behavior they said seriously offended public morals.
The old constable was a taciturn man, and Ling Li’s personality leaned cold as well. In short, neither of them paid any attention to those rumors back then, and neither ever stepped forward to respond even once.
No one knew how it started, yet when Ling Li was sixteen, he became involved with the son of a family surnamed Liu in town. That man was called Liu Yue. Aside from having a gambling habit, he looked quite distinguished and was very good at sweet-talking people to make them happy.
The Liu family’s own circumstances were not good, yet they utterly looked down on someone like Ling Li, who was rumored to have already been used up and ruined. They were heartbroken over their son getting too close to him. Liu Yue’s father flew into a rage and firmly opposed it, while Liu Yue’s mother cried, screamed, and rolled on the ground, threatening death to force the two to cut off contact.
The chaos dragged on for several months. Driven by despair and fury, Liu Yue eventually made a pact with Ling Li to commit suicide together for love. Unexpectedly, when the frantic Liu family broke down the door and rushed in, what they saw was Liu Yue already dead from poisoned wine, while Ling Li, as if his soul had left his body, sat collapsed beside Liu Yue’s stiff corpse, still very much alive.
The old constable stood nearby, eyes closed, his face devoid of life.
Liu Yue’s parents cried until the heavens shook. They then reported Ling Li and the old constable to the authorities, accusing them of deliberate murder.
This town was neither big nor small. Once news of Ling Li’s case spread, coupled with Liu Yue’s parents telling everyone they met, slapping their thighs and wailing loudly at every turn, the story of Ling Li maliciously killing the Liu family’s son quickly spread throughout the town. It became the talk of every street and alley. People expressed sympathy for Liu Yue as a devoted lover, while feeling disgust and contempt toward Ling Li’s despicable behavior.
Liu Yue’s parents hated Ling Li and the old constable to the bone. They refused to let the matter go and continued filing accusations. Later, the old constable took all the blame upon himself, claiming he was the one who poisoned Liu Yue. Before the verdict was even announced, he committed suicide in prison.
Blinded by hatred, Liu Yue’s parents snatched the old constable’s ashes from Ling Li and scattered them into a filthy ditch, where they were washed away. Ling Li did not even manage to keep a single trace. Still unwilling to let Ling Li walk away unscathed, they blocked his door every day, and hands on their hips as they hurled curses. When they tired of yelling, they splashed manure onto his door, filling the place with stench.
Other busybodies joined in as well. They were not sympathetic toward the Liu family at all. They simply wanted to stir things up and join the noise. Since everyone already thought Ling Li was vile, they felt he deserved no decent treatment. They copied the behavior, throwing filth, splashing messes, and scribbling graffiti around his home. Some children, egged on by adults, even made up rhymes and shouted them loudly outside Ling Li’s house every day.
Ling Li had never had a good reputation to begin with. Rumors said he had improper relations with an old man and conspired to kill the “promising young” Liu Yue praised by his parents. Then let the old man shoulder the blame and die while he shamelessly lived on. From that point on, whenever townspeople mentioned this debauched and vicious person, most would spit disdainfully and curse, “What a heartless, ungrateful wh*re!”
No one knew how Ling Li managed to survive. In any case, for nearly half a year after that, he rarely appeared in public. Many people thought he might have already died inside his house. One day, however, neighbors heard the cries of an infant coming from next door, and only then did they realize Ling Li had given birth to a child!
The child was born a little over half a year after Liu Yue’s death. That meant Ling Li must have already been pregnant before. Liu Yue’s parents immediately rushed over upon hearing the news. Convinced the child was their bloodline, they rallied several strong, enthusiastic helpers and barged into Ling Li’s home, snatching the baby without a word.
Ling Li had just given birth and was extremely weak. He was tied to a chair and could only watch helplessly as they took his child away.
Like a madman, Ling Li went to the Liu household every day demanding his child back. The Liu family had people guarding the place and backing them up. Ling Li screamed hysterically and threw himself into it without holding anything back, yet he was ultimately outnumbered and powerless. After exhausting every possible method, enduring endless abuse, and ending up covered in injuries, he still failed to bring the child back.
In the end, Ling Li went all out and directly declared that the child was not Liu Yue’s at all. After raising the baby for several months, the Liu family noticed the child’s features becoming clearer. The child resembled neither Ling Li nor any member of the Liu family. Suspicion had already taken root. Once Ling Li spoke up, Liu Yue’s mother felt he was insulting the Liu family with a bastard. Rage surged to her head, and she viciously slammed the child onto the ground!
Ling Li finally managed to take the child back. The child miraculously survived, yet the once lively and adorable boy had suffered a head injury. From that point on, he became dull and slow-witted.
Afterward, members of the Liu family spread rumors everywhere, claiming the child was the offspring of Ling Li and the old constable, and that the old constable had taken the blame to protect the child.
Some people believed it. Most did not. The reason was simple. Everyone had eyes. Many had seen the child themselves. Even though the boy showed signs of dullness, his features were exquisitely beautiful. The old constable had an extremely ordinary appearance. Even if reincarnated, he would never produce a child carved like fine jade.
Still, no one spoke up for Ling Li. Doing so would only further confirm, in their minds, that he appeared reserved on the surface while being licentious inside. Not a single person sympathized with his suffering.
Because Liu Yue’s parents had made such an earth-shaking spectacle back then, and because they continued to dig up the past over the years, the town could never forget. Five years had already passed, yet Ling Li still could not escape the pillar of shame. Every time he went out, people either pointed at him or avoided him like the plague. Hardly anyone was willing to speak to him.
He lived on like this, bearing infamy and raising a foolish child, struggling through each day in town.
When Su Jingyang heard all of this, he found it hard to believe. He had only exchanged a few words with Ling Li, yet for some reason, he felt Ling Li was not as vile as people claimed.
Su Jingyang had also asked Liang Lu why Ling Li did not simply leave with the child. After some thought, Liang Lu replied, “Probably because the old constable’s ashes have sunk into this land. He can’t bring himself to leave.”
Su Jingyang, who could sleep soundly even in a ruined temple, now tossed and turned on the shop’s floor bedding, unable to fall asleep. He thought of Ling Li. He thought of Ling Li’s slightly stunned expression when he showed concern, the persistent light coughing, the half bowl of porridge that day, and Ling Li’s calm words: “Don’t take it to heart. They’re deliberately targeting me.”
The more he thought about it, the worse he felt. His chest grew heavy.
Perhaps it was intuition. Perhaps his first impression of Ling Li had simply been too good. Either way, Su Jingyang felt there had to be hidden circumstances. He really wanted to see Ling Li again.
Putting everything else aside, he now had some wages advanced to him. Repaying Ling Li for lending him the bowl was something he absolutely needed to do.
Over the next few days, Su Jingyang found himself glancing outside the shop again and again, intentionally or not. Unfortunately, he never saw Ling Li pass by.
Liang Lu came by twice more. Su Jingyang wanted to ask about Ling Li’s residence, yet feared asking too much. Each time, the words reached his lips before he swallowed them back down.
Business at the shop was good. Most days were busy, and time passed quickly. The five-day deadline approached again, yet the red mole on Su Jingyang’s palm still had not darkened.
He did not know whether to feel relieved or distressed. Ling Li’s situation also left his thoughts in turmoil, making it hard to find peace.
Knowing sleep would be difficult that night, Su Jingyang decided not to lie down yet. With moonlight and starlight just right, he left the shop door half-closed and sat on the still-warm steps, chatting with an old beggar who slept outside the entrance.
The old beggar’s filthy hand held the half bun Su Jingyang had shared with him. He gnawed on it while his cloudy eyes gazed at the night sky, his expression gradually drifting far away.
Su Jingyang took one look and immediately knew it. This man definitely had a story.
Sure enough, his guess was right.
The old beggar had once been from Rongcheng. He said he had violated the laws back then and been expelled, unable to return. Now he could go back, yet his family was long gone.
Su Jingyang sighed emotionally and could not help asking, “What kind of place is Rongcheng exactly?”
Since arriving here, this was not the first time he had heard of Rongcheng. That place felt particularly special.
The old beggar did not mind being asked such an ignorant question. He gave a light snort and explained in a slightly hoarse and aged voice, “That place is somewhere hard to leave and hard to enter.”
Rongcheng was called a city, but it had existed independently for nearly two hundred years. Its population now numbered seven or eight hundred thousand. It had its own laws and systems. Farming and commerce were well organized. It was effectively a small nation. No one knew why the Rong clan, despite ruling the entire city, had never declared a king.
Rongcheng’s location and environment were extremely advantageous. Its resources were astonishingly abundant. It sat right at the border of the Great Lin Dynasty, separated from Su Jingyang’s current town by just one mountain and one river. From the highest tower platform in town, one could even see wisps of cooking smoke rising from Rongcheng. Such a desirable place remained unconquered by the Great Lin Dynasty for two hundred years.
Whenever rulers of the Great Lin Dynasty showed any intention toward Rongcheng, sudden illnesses would strike. Minds would become deranged. One emperor had nearly died before launching an attack. The soldiers he brought also became dazed and spiritless, as if bewitched. The situation was extremely eerie.
The Rong clan’s ancestors were originally shamans. Nearly everyone there believed in witchcraft. Some speculated that the Great Lin Dynasty’s repeated misfortunes regarding Rongcheng were due to powerful curses cast there, preventing invaders from succeeding.
Others said that attacking Rongcheng again would bring immense disaster upon the people. Thus, panic spread everywhere. In those days, Rongcheng was spoken of in the Great Lin Dynasty as something profoundly mysterious.
After suffering repeated setbacks, the Great Lin Dynasty eventually signed a peace agreement with Rongcheng and abandoned any further attempts to conquer it. The people of Rongcheng settled into their corner and never provoked trouble.
Peace lasted for a time.
Until over fifty years ago, when the Rongcheng lord at the time exchanged letters with the Great Lin Dynasty emperor, they finally began to gradually relax some policies. What was once difficult entry and exit turned into mutual exchange. After years of isolation, Rongcheng finally began interacting with the outside world more frequently.
The Great Lin Dynasty’s citizens feared the people of Rongcheng, believing their witchcraft could harm others. Rongcheng’s citizens in turn, were highly wary of outsiders. Mutual hostility hindered progress at first. Development only gradually improved over several decades.
To prevent excessive population loss, the city lord at the time issued a law forbidding Rongcheng’s citizens from marrying outsiders. Violators would be punished and expelled from the city, never allowed to return.
This law intimidated many. Generations of Rongcheng’s people had grown up there, their sense of belonging deeply rooted. For the sake of living peacefully with their families, they would never dare violate it. Still, some young people fell in love while outside and could not help themselves.
The city lord acted with iron resolve, mercilessly expelling a group of offenders and separating them from their families. With such bloody lessons laid bare, hardly anyone dared break the rule afterward.
The old beggar had been one of those expelled. Later, his wife divorced him and married someone else. Losing his lover and being separated from his family, unable even to approach the city gates, he wandered for most of his life, carrying boundless loneliness and sorrow.
Only in the past two years, after the Rong clan’s youngest city lord, Rong Ci, took power, did changes begin. Rigid rules were gradually revised. Recently, a new law was issued allowing Rongcheng’s citizens to marry outsiders. Those previously expelled could return and reunite with their families.
After hearing all this, Su Jingyang sincerely commented, “This city lord really does seem quite humane.” No wonder Liang Lu had said he had run out from Rongcheng. He had assumed Su Jingyang left to pursue an outsider romance.
The old beggar laughed until his whole body trembled. He wiped the bun crumbs from his beard and said in a deep, all-seeing tone, “Humane? I say that young city lord must have set his eyes on some foreign beauty and wanted to properly marry them as his city lord’s spouse. That’s why he rushed to change the rules.”
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