Imperial Palace.
The early morning court session had just ended, and countless officials were walking out of the grand hall one after the other.
Although His Majesty hadn't attended court for ten years, the court sessions on the first and fifteenth of each month were still presided over by a prince, according to tradition. Officials of Chang'an fifth-rank and above were required to attend court to participate in the discussion and resolution of some important matters.
Today's early morning court session, as usual, was just a routine matter, with no special incidents, and it ended quite early.
Pei Zhe, the Chang'an County Magistrate, was one of the last to exit the Golden Hall. A County Magistrate, while unquestionably the top official in a smaller locale, was nothing in the noble-laden Chang'an—a fifth-rank County Magistrate could only stand in the most remote corner during the early morning session, like a lackey.
After the session dispersed, the officials gathered in groups of three or five, chatting and laughing on their way to their respective government offices.
In front of Pei Zhe, several officials were discussing something.
"What, Lord Li's son isn't stupid anymore?"
"More than just not stupid, that resourcefulness—few among the younger generation have it. Those two birthday congratulatory poems, even Lord Xu couldn't stop praising them, saying his talent in poetry and quick thinking are unmatched among the youth..."
"Really?"
"Could there be any doubt? I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears at Old Mrs. Song's birthday banquet last night. How could such a young talent possibly be a fool?"
"How very strange, how very strange..."
"What's so strange about that? Like father, like son—haven't you considered who his father is? In my opinion, he might have been intentionally concealing his skills these past years. Think about it, would the Song Family let the jewel of heaven marry a fool?"
"That makes sense..."
Following behind everyone, Pei Zhe didn't expect that this morning he would hear gossip about Li Nuo from the mouths of these senior officials.
From their conversation alone, he could imagine what had happened at the Song Residence's birthday banquet the night before.
He felt a small sense of pride in his heart.
After all, he had known about this matter earlier than anyone present.
However, this Li Nuo was indeed peculiar. Clearly not fully literate, yet his poetry was so good, and he was capable of writing such rare and skillful characters... Pei Zhe shook his head, noticing too many contradictions about him.
Taking his sedan back to the County Magistrate's Office, from afar, Pei Zhe could see shadows on the dais and hear the sound of the gavel.
He frowned. In this Chang'an County, he was the only one qualified to preside over trials. Today, whether it was County Magistrate Zhang or County Captain Wang, someone dared to overstep their place while he was away. These recent days, they were content just to gang up and give him a hard time, but today they were completely disregarding him!
With a stern face, Pei Zhe strode into the hall and looked towards the figure below the "brightly hanging mirror." After a brief moment of astonishment, the anger on his face was quickly replaced with a smile. Raising his hand, he said, "Young Master, good morning..."
...
Pei Zhe had seen countless sons of officials in Chang'an.
Some of them liked to visit brothels and were VIPs at all the major establishments in Chang'an, others preferred gambling and frequented all the big casinos, and yet others had a passion for food and drinks, lingering at various restaurants. Some loved to strut around Chang'an Street with a pack of lackeys, bullying and bossing around...
Of course, there were also young prodigies who had mastered the Six Arts at a young age.
But he had never seen someone like Li Nuo.
As the son of a top official in Chang'an, he had no interest in other pursuits but loved to ascend to the dais to handle cases, dealing with the trivial daily matters of the common people.
As the County Magistrate of Chang'an, Pei Zhe himself found these trivial matters to be annoying.
How does he derive pleasure from all this?
The predilections of these scions of the powerful, truly beyond ordinary comprehension...
Deep down, Li Nuo also preferred not to deal with these everyday disputes.
This morning, he had dealt with five cases in total.
But none were significant; either brawls or property disputes, or perhaps marital entanglements. The harshest punishment meted out was just a few lashes and a few days in jail. He had been busy all morning, yet not a moment had been added to his life span.
Cases that could increase his lifespan would at least involve sentencing to imprisonment.
Having completed the last case, Li Nuo looked at the standing County Magistrate of Chang'an County and asked, "I've overstepped and judged Lord Pei's cases, would Lord Pei be upset?"
Pei Zhe waved his hands repeatedly, responding, "No, no, how could I be..."
"That's good," Li Nuo smiled and then inquired, "Besides these, are there any other cases?"
Pei Zhe shook his head and said, "Not for today."
He certainly wasn't as idle as Li Nuo.
As the magistrate of a county, his duties included educating citizens, capturing thieves, promoting agriculture and sericulture, adjudicating lawsuits, collecting taxes and levies, fostering moral education, caring for orphans and widows, repairing bridges and roads, providing relief for disasters, and so on and so forth.
Adjudicating lawsuits was only a small part of his responsibilities, and being able to set aside a few days to attend to it was already commendable.
Unless it was a significant or capital crime, the cases for each day, including which ones to be heard, were typically scheduled two to three days in advance, requiring notification of relevant parties and preliminary investigations by the government officials. Today's cases had all been adjudicated by Li Nuo.
However, one must recognize that Li Nuo had a knack for judging cases, his approach was methodical, making him seem even more of a parent-official than Pei Zhe himself.
Although he wasn't very familiar with the Daxia Law yet, having to check the legal articles for every case, his confidence during the judgment gave Pei Zhe the impression of someone who had been immersed in this field for many years.
Li Nuo, being nearly a colleague of the County Governor, understood the procedures of the trade.
In the future, court wasn't something that just happened; there was a lot of pre-trial preparation. However, Li Nuo couldn't idle away an entire afternoon, so he requested the County Governor to move the cases scheduled for tomorrow to that afternoon and instructed the constables of the County Government to notify the relevant parties.
Pei Zhe had nothing to say against it.
Though he wasn't an official of the Chang'an County Government and had no right to judge cases, who was he to offend Li Nuo's father? Besides, helping the people was what mattered most, and here was one of Chang'an's top nobles, not like the other wayward young masters—neither harming the common folk nor endangering the court, abstaining from prostitution and gambling, not bullying others with power; so what if he had some peculiar enthusiasms?
Since the young master enjoyed adjudicating, why not let him? It was a way to lighten his own load, after all.
However, arranging these matters took some time. Coincidentally, it was time for lunch, and Pei Zhe courteously invited, "It's nearly time for lunch. My wife prepared dumplings today; would you care to join us for a bite?"
He would think that a noble young master like Li Nuo would be very particular about his meals, unlikely to accept the offer.
It was merely a polite gesture on his part, as he was going for his meal anyway.
"Dumplings?" To his surprise, Li Nuo's eyebrows raised instantly, saying, "I left in a hurry this morning and skipped breakfast; I am actually quite hungry..."
Pei Zhe hesitated slightly, then tentatively asked, "Then... shall we go to the back office for a bite?"
Li Nuo was famished and eagerly replied, "Let's go; I'm rather fond of dumplings—it will be a good chance to try your wife's cooking..."
Pei Zhe, looking at the decisiveness of Li Nuo, suddenly felt a smidge of unease.
He couldn't tell if what Li Nuo truly fancied was the dumplings, or something else entirely...