There were a lot of people gathered around the Su Clinic, most of them just there to watch the scene, not to seek medical help.
The clinic was named after the wife of the doctor, who was called Doctor Su.
Right now, Doctor Su was angrily driving away a young boy in a faded blue robe.
The boy's face was pale like paper, but his deep eyes showed no sadness or emotion, making him seem cold and distant.
He lifted his long robe and knelt on the ground, his voice clear like spring water. "Please, Doctor Su, come and take a look at my father. I'll repay your kindness by working like a slave for you."
Even though he said that, his face showed no sign of sadness.
Mira observed for a while and guessed that he must be what people online would call a "poker face."
Doctor Su, seeing that the boy wouldn't leave, got even angrier.
"You speak as if it's me who doesn't want to help. I kindly gave you medicine before, and your family went and reported me to the authorities. I barely managed to explain myself. Now you come back again. Do you think my family is easy to bully?"
The boy lowered his head and gave a deep, heavy bow.
"Denim doesn't dare. My father has a high fever that won't go down. I have nowhere else to go, so I've come to beg you again. I know you have a kind heart, please save my father one more time."
He bowed again.
Among the crowd, some people started to feel sorry for him, while others thought he deserved it.
"That's Mr. Mo's son, Denim, right? Mr. Mo has lasted this long and still hasn't died?"
"No, he tried to kill himself by hitting a pillar, knowing he couldn't escape his crimes. Maybe he didn't want to drag his son down with him. But he didn't die, and now he's unconscious, just lying there."
"That's really tragic. He used to be such a generous man. Now everything's gone, and his son has to kneel and beg."
"Yeah, many people here have probably received his help before."
Most of those speaking were men and middle-aged women.
"Tragic? Don't forget what he did to that woman! Have you forgotten why he tried to kill himself? He kept a woman locked up for nearly seventeen years. If she hadn't bravely spoken out, she'd still be suffering now."
A young woman interrupted the man, clearly not agreeing.
"Thanks to the Empress who spoke out for us and encouraged us to report people like him, we now dare to walk freely on the streets and live our own lives."
When she spoke, everyone went quiet.
But she still wasn't satisfied with the silence and kept speaking angrily. "You all talk about how good Mr. Mo was and pity him and his son, but have you thought about that woman? Shishin may be free now, but she lost her mind. Her whole life is ruined. Do you think she deserved that?"
She looked sharply at the men who had spoken earlier. They quickly looked away.
"We didn't mean it like that."
"Right, Mr. Mo got what he deserved!"
Some people, wanting to avoid her gaze, started shouting at Denim.
A few even tried to please the woman by doing so, looking at her with hopeful eyes after they spoke.
"Your father deserves what happened. Even if you kneel here to death, we'll still support Doctor Su not going to help."
"Yeah, if you know what's good for you, get out of here!"
"You've embarrassed all of us men. Like a worm."
"Useless," "Shameful"—more and more ugly words followed.
As the crowd started yelling at Denim, the young woman finally looked satisfied.
Denim stayed kneeling there, his fingers tightly gripping the edge of his robe, turning pale.
Mira sighed as she watched the woman's excited expression. The words "fanatic" flashed through her mind.
On the surface, the woman seemed like a devoted supporter of the Empress, speaking up for Shishin. But Mira clearly saw the flicker of malice in the woman's eyes. It looked like she was using the Empress's name as an excuse to target the young man.
Since the Empress had taken the throne, she had pushed for many legal rights for women: the right to lead households, start businesses, open all-girls schools, and even support women participating in national exams.
One of the policies allowed women to report men who abused or controlled them. If the claims were found to be true, the women would receive help to start a new life, while the men would face punishment.
This was meant to fix the mess left behind by the previous male rulers.
Before the Empress, men held most of the power.
Men were expected to support the family financially, so they held control over money. Women were considered precious, so many men, after marrying a wife-lord, would treat her very "carefully," rarely letting her leave the house and completely controlling her freedom.
On top of that, the buying and selling of people was very common.
Women were often kidnapped right off the street and sold. Some were forced into brothels, while others were bought by men who wanted children. These men would hide the women away, and they'd never see the light of day again. Or the men would make up a fake identity for the women, claiming they were foreign slaves, which allowed them to fully control them. Protection laws for women didn't apply to slaves or foreign-born women. Many women died after being treated like this.
Except for those born into noble families, most women lived in constant danger, never knowing when their lives could be taken.
To Mira, the relationship between men's and women's rights in this world was always very imbalanced. Whether under the old rule or now, criminals always found ways to commit evil. Both men and women.
The Empress's new policies were good. They gave women a chance to break free and live their own lives. But such policies needed time to settle, and strict oversight to prevent misuse.
Because when these laws were first introduced, many women saw them as a sudden, overwhelming freedom—like a farmer suddenly winning a major exam, or a servant suddenly becoming a master. Some lost control and did things they'd later regret.
At the lower levels of power, people were too eager to show results. Lacking proper checks, many officials didn't even investigate complaints. If a woman reported a man, they would arrest him right away.
This led to extreme enforcement and caused many tragedies.
Mira had seen one of those tragedies firsthand in the village she had lived in before.
There was a family next door with three brothers who shared one wife-lord. Life was hard, but they were content and happy.
When the Empress's policies took effect, their wife-lord got greedy. She secretly went to the county and reported the three brothers.
The county official didn't bother checking anything. He immediately had all three brothers arrested, tortured, and thrown into prison.
The family had two kids. With their fathers taken away and their mother sent off for "rescue," the children were left to survive on scraps from neighbors.
A few days later, word came out that the youngest brother had been beaten to death after refusing to admit to any crimes. The eldest had his legs broken.
No one knows what changed the wife-lord's mind, but she came back later, crying and begging the official to release the men, saying it had all been a mistake.
But the county official refused. He was hoping to gain recognition for handling such a case. Even though he was just a small official, he wanted to build a strong position in the new regime. He wouldn't give her a chance to regret.
Luckily, the two surviving brothers didn't die. A year later, the Empress must have noticed the problems with her new policies and sent people to investigate. Only then were the brothers released.
But the eldest was already on the edge of death and passed away within half a year.
The second brother had once been a warm and smiling man. After that, he became silent and cold.
Their wife-lord knelt and begged for forgiveness, but he only nodded quietly, always looking terrified. He never dared to raise his voice or hand around her again. At the slightest change in her mood, he would go pale and kneel, asking for forgiveness.
The words he repeated most often were: "It's our fault. I'm sorry. I was wrong. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
No matter how many times she asked to be forgiven, he never stepped close to her again.
Even the children understood. They were scared of their own mother and wouldn't go near her.
Before Mira left to seek refuge, she still heard the wife-lord whispering to herself. She kept saying she was wrong, that she shouldn't have gotten greedy for a comfortable life and ended up destroying her family. A life with enough food and shelter might have been nice, but it didn't compare to the happiness and freedom they had before.
But the damage had already been done. There was no going back. The mistake she made would haunt her forever.