(a)

After Xie Shuangcheng said this, he knelt there with a firm attitude, waiting for my will.

I looked at him with gray hair, and sat silently, unable to speak for a long time.

I was silent for a long time amid Xie Shuangcheng's sobs of remorse and rebuke.

I was finally able to say to him, "All right. I know your self-reproach and your faithfulness. Go back and wait for Your Majesty's will. ”

Xie Shuangcheng wept and thanked him, saluted repeatedly, got up, and staggered away.

After he left, I sat there in silence.

The chief chamberlain came over cautiously and said, "Queen, what should I do about this?" ”

I looked up at him and I said, "Where is Your Majesty now?" ”

The chief chamberlain said, "Your Majesty is reading the recital in the pavilion in the courtyard. ”

I stood up and I said, "I'm going to see him." ”

(b)

That day, after Xie Shuangcheng left, I went to the pavilion in the Imperial Garden to meet Liu Shen, who was watching the recital.

I told Liu Shen about Xie Shuangcheng's request to see him and his request.

I also relayed to Liu Shen what Xie Shuangcheng said about your past, except that you were flying all night on our wedding night.

After I finished speaking, I looked at Liu Shen silently.

Liu Shen asked, "Are you here to tell me these things?" ”

I nodded and said, "Yes." ”

Liu Shen said: "No other requests? ”

I nodded and said, "The concubine just came to tell King Han what had happened. Concubines, no other requests. ”

Liu Shen said, "What do you mean?" Shall I give this child a chance to mend his ways? ”

I said, "For a person to grow up, it takes 20 years of hard work from his parents, and it is only a short moment for his head to land. And if people can't be resurrected from death, there will be no more possibilities. ”

Liu Shen listened and was silent for a while.

Then he reached out and picked up his pen and wrote a piece of paper.

He handed the edict to the messenger beside him, and said, "Take it out and give it to the minister who is running an errand outside." Let's just say, this is my decision after thinking twice, don't come to advise again, just do what I want. ”

I didn't read the contents of the edict, but I knew that he decided to save Xie Shuangcheng's son from death and give him a chance to start over.

I lifted my skirt and knelt down to thank Liu Shen.

Liu Shen pulled me up. He looked at me and sighed.

He said, "Next time, don't let me know if there's something like this again." ”

I bowed my head and said, "Yes." The concubine understood. ”

(c)

That night, the chamberlain came to Xie Shuangcheng's house to announce the decree, saying that Liu Shen had decided to show mercy outside the law, and if the people involved in the case could repent of their mistakes, return the stolen money, parade through the streets with shackles for a month, confess their mistakes, show up to explain the law, and apologize to the local people in public, they would be dealt with leniently. Xie Shuangcheng's son can be pardoned for the death penalty, and he will be exiled to the border land and serve as the lowest-level official.

After receiving Liu Shen's will, Xie Shuangcheng was sad and happy, sobbing on the ground, and couldn't get up for a long time.

The chamberlain said, "Your Majesty has allowed you to visit your son in prison and tell him the news. ”

Xie Shuangcheng thanked him for his kindness, and sent away the inner chamberlain who announced the decree in tears.

Early the next morning, he was ordered to go to the prison to announce Liu Shen's pardon to his son.

The father and son saw each other on death row, hugged each other tightly, and wept tears.

Xie Shuangcheng said to his son: "Your Majesty's decision to pardon your capital crime is entirely because of the general. The general cared for you so much when you were not born, and left you a father, so that you can become a person who is cared for and nurtured by your father and worthy of the country and the world. ”

Xie Shuangcheng said to his son: "Now, Your Majesty and Empress have given you a second chance. If you don't know the preciousness of life and the preciousness of progress, and you still use your precious life to covet those things outside your body, do things that are corrupt and pervert the law, and don't punish you with the laws of the state, Father, will be the first to kill you! Father would rather never give birth to you! After killing you, my father will also give an explanation to His Majesty, the Empress, and the late general! ”

Xie Shuangcheng's son said to him with tears: "Father, don't worry! After this lesson, the son has understood the preciousness of life and what a person should do with his precious life. The son was very wrong before, deeply responsible for the country, deeply owed to His Majesty and the Queen, deeply owed to the late general, and deeply owed to the nurturing and teaching grace of his parents. The son will die without redemption! From now on, the son must change his mind and become a new man! Be a person who stands up to the sky! ”

(iv)

Xie Shuangcheng's son, after he was released from prison, was exiled to a remote county in the southwest border where various ethnic groups lived to become a miscellaneous official in charge of litigation and punishment.

He really changed his mind over there, worked diligently, was fair and honest, started again from the position of a miscellaneous official, and was promoted to the position of a county official within five years, and within seven years he was a assassin of history, and was transferred to the Qianzhou Jiedu to serve under his subordinates, becoming a famous capable minister in the southwest region.

In order to remind himself of his honesty and selflessness, he engraved the word "Lian" in the palm of his left hand.

After Liu Shen's death, I went to Qingchuan once before my 60th birthday, passing by the counties and prefectures under his jurisdiction, and received his escort and entourage. At that time, Xie Shuangcheng had also passed away.

This child has the contours of Xie Shuangcheng's face, but he has the characteristics of his mother's deep eyes and high nose.

He showed me the word "Lian" in the palm of his hand.

He's such a good boy who has changed his ways.

Seeing him change like this, I am very happy for Xie Shuangcheng and his wife.

As the matchmaker of his parents, if you are still in the world, you must be deeply gratified to see this child finally become a talent and become a person who knows how to deny himself.

Liu Shen's original decision to forgive the case was deeply inappropriate for some ministers. However, Xie Shuangcheng's son's performance in the rest of his life drew a perfect end to this special mercy pardon.

People can change, and people can be educated well.

Xie Shuangcheng's son was later reused by the new monarch after he ascended the throne, and successively served as the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Households, and finally became the cardinal minister of the cabinet, and was a famous generation of virtuous ministers at that time. He devoted his life to the country, and finally died of a heart attack due to overwork on the way back to Beijing to inspect the water control project. At the time of his death, he was still watching the planning of irrigation projects on the farmland on both sides of the river. After his death, because he had no longevity in his life except for money and rewards, and his family was very poor, he suddenly fell into an embarrassment, and his children could not even complete a decent funeral for him.

After hearing the news of his death and the poverty behind him, the new monarch was overwhelmed with emotion and deep grief, so in the name of the country, the emperor personally paid for him, gave him a beautiful funeral, and gave him a very honorable title, allowing him to enter the temple to enjoy the offering, and allowed his son to inherit the title, and gave his family many generous benefits.

He is the Wenzhong Gong Xie Daozheng recorded in the history books.

His statue has always stood in the middle of the river that he managed many times during his lifetime and last to inspect after his death, guarding the people on both sides of the river for hundreds of years. (To be continued.) )