The Lingchi of Justice

In the State of Zheng, after Zichan's deathbed counsel on governing with balanced severity, a carpenter's minor flaw in a chariot axle triggers a chain of deadly coincidences. A widow, a fugitive craftsman, and a corrupt official are swept into an irreversible blood feud. As the state oscillates between leniency and ruthless crackdowns, true justice arrives decades late, not merely as lost time but as a slow lingchi cutting into the will of the living.