Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 546 - 490: Nobility

Chapter 546: Chapter 490: Nobility
"Let go of me! Let go of me!"
A piercing scream drew nearer as a cultivator from the Supervision Department, his face obscured by a black conical hat, dragged Wang Jie over by his collar.
Wang Jie struggled desperately, punching and headbutting, but how could he possibly break free? Instead, he stumbled and fell, his white clothes tearing against the sharp gravel.
THUD.
The Supervision Department cultivator flung Wang Jie heavily onto the courtyard ground.
Having been pampered since childhood, Wang Jie had never suffered such humiliation. He cried out in pain, his body curling into a ball.
Li Ang looked down indifferently at the noble young man. His face, hands, and feet were still covered with numerous black spots and egg-sized swellings, clear signs he was still suffering from the plague. But aside from the black spots and swellings, he seemed otherwise unharmed—in far better condition than ordinary folk afflicted with the plague.
"Mr. Li," Wang Bojian’s forehead was beaded with cold sweat as he cupped his hands and said, "we did not intentionally deceive you. Yesterday, Wang Bo Fan, deeply acknowledging his grave sins and knowing they were unforgivable, realized he couldn’t save his son. He claimed he would personally end Wang Jie’s life. He took a rope to Wang Jie’s room and, when he came out, told us he had strangled his son to death. That’s why we told you earlier that Wang Jie was dead."
"Another new excuse?" Li Ang said calmly. "Am I to believe your words, or consider another possibility—that Wang Bo Fan agreed to come here with you to confess, taking all the blame himself, on the condition that the Wang Family find a way to save his son’s life? Perhaps by using the corpse of a beggar with a similar appearance as a substitute, then sending Wang Jie to some remote mountain village to live out his days, never to return to Taiyuan Prefecture, or even Hedong Road."
Li Ang shook his head, not dwelling on the issue. He glanced at the black spots and swellings on Wang Jie’s body and asked Wang Bo Fan, "Is this the effect of the Lihua Valley’s prescription? It can’t cure the plague, but it can prolong life, forcibly delaying the disease’s progression. If you had donated this prescription, or even sold it to Taiyuan Prefecture back then, it might have saved many lives."
The flames from the burning main hall reflected in Wang Bo Fan’s eyes. He gazed compassionately at his son, who was curled up on the ground, and murmured as if in a dream, "The medicinal ingredients used in the prescription are incredibly precious. Even if we had provided it, Taiyuan Prefecture might not have been able to use them..."
"At least it would have allowed me and the Academic Palace scholars to study its pharmacology and effects, to try and find substitutes," Li Ang interjected. "Even if it had only minimal effectiveness, merely delaying the disease slightly, it could have enabled more people to survive until a definitive cure emerged. That could have saved tens, hundreds, or even thousands of lives."
Li Ang paused for a moment, then suddenly smiled. "Did Wang Jie use streptomycin?"
Wang Bo Fan slowly nodded. "He did."
"Heh." Li Ang chuckled.
The Wang Family certainly wields immense influence,
he thought.
Despite every dose of streptomycin injection, its use, and its recipient being meticulously recorded at the sick houses, they still managed to acquire one for Wang Jie. Wang Jie brought the plague to Taiyuan Prefecture, yet he received the best treatment, outlived all other plague patients, and even, through privilege, used an invention created by his own enemy. What black humor.
Li Ang said lightly to Wang Jie, "Mr. Wang, your father made the decision yesterday to incite the common people to attack the Governor Mansion. If he had succeeded, I would have had to abandon the new drug research and leave Taiyuan Prefecture. And you, naturally, would not have been able to use the streptomycin injection. Did you know about this?"
"COUGH, COUGH—" Wang Jie staggered to his feet, coughing. He stared intently at Li Ang, his voice hoarse. "I know now."
Li Ang raised an eyebrow slightly. "You don’t hate your father?"
"Why should I?" Wang Jie countered. "If my father had succeeded, you all would have been driven out of Taiyuan Prefecture, the plague in Hedong Road would have remained unresolved, and next year, when the world crusades against the Yu Country, Taihao Mountain would not trouble my Wang Family. If my life can be traded for the benefit of the entire Wang Family, why not?"
"Ha." Li Ang laughed dryly. "Noble families... family over country."
"If the state does not cherish its people, why should the people cherish their state?" Wang Jie rasped. "The two books issued by the Yu Kingdom’s Court, ’Clan Chronicles’ and ’Genealogy,’ were both intended to suppress the noble families. Throughout the three hundred years of the Yu Country, not one person from the Five Families and Seven Hopes has ever served as a Garrison Commander, an Imperial Palace Tributor, or an Academic Palace Master. When has the Li Yu Royal Family or the Academic Palace ever truly trusted us noble families? When have they ever truly considered us part of the Yu Country?"
"If the noble families didn’t despise the Academic Palace and the imperial examination system so vehemently, I believe the Yu Country would have integrated them," Li Ang said calmly. "You just want to return to the era of the nine-rank system, don’t you? An era where social standing is determined solely by bloodline and birthright. Where the high-born remain forever high-born, the poor family stays a poor family, and commoners remain commoners for eternity. Even if a rare genius or two were to rise through Spiritual Vein Talent and brilliance, they’d be swiftly absorbed and assimilated by the established noble families, never forming a new Gate Valve. That way, the existing noble families could enjoy prestige and wealth for millennia, just like those remaining nobles in the Jing Country. You view the common people as livestock—pigs and dogs to be slaughtered at will, or as weeds to be cut down, only to grow back again."
As he spoke, cultivators from the Supervision Department dragged more people out from the Wang’s Mansion. They were placed in handcuffs and fetters that sealed their Spiritual Power, forced to kneel on the ground, their faces all ashen.