Related Cases (1)
Related Novels (2)
Related Chapters (10)
A Tail Never Cut
Words: 3326 · Source Novel:: Greed's Fatal Tail
Li Jian walks out of the Purification Hall with his land secured and his body scarred. Jing Zhang awaits execution, yet Li Jian feels no triumph, only the cold understanding that greed, like a phantom tail, continues to twitch in every heart of the village—and in the new magistrate sent to replace the last. As he sits on his reclaimed boundary stone, Li Jian realizes the true asylum is the world outside, where the fatal tail never stops growing.
The Tail Eats Itself
Words: 4573 · Source Novel:: Greed's Fatal Tail
Feigning catatonia to survive, Li Jian learns of a visiting imperial inspector. Jing, paranoid Li Jian will talk, visits the asylum with poison. Li Jian breaks character, offering Jing a deal: sign over the disputed land before witnesses, and Li Jian will remain “mad” forever. Greed makes Jing sign—but Li Jian reveals Doctor Zhao and a hidden scribe as witnesses. Jing's own greed-appendage has just whipped back and stabbed him. Director Guo and Magistrate Feng are promptly arrested.
The Doctor's Cracked Lens
Words: 2768 · Source Novel:: Greed's Fatal Tail
Doctor Zhao, the sole physician with a sliver of conscience, observes Li Jian's methodical behavior. Unlike the screaming inmates, Li Jian cleans his cell, composes poetry, and requests a copy of the land statutes. Zhao is trapped between scientific honesty and Director Guo's threats. In a tense private examination, Li Jian uses Zhao's own diagnostic logic to argue he is the only sane man in a system driven by collective greed. Zhao hesitates, marking Li Jian's first breakthrough.
A Trap of Needles and Paper
Words: 4021 · Source Novel:: Greed's Fatal Tail
Jing bribes Magistrate Feng with half the land, exploiting a dusty Han statute about “property lunatics.” Constables seize Li Jian at cockcrow, ignoring his logic. He is dragged to the Purification Hall, an asylum run by the venal Director Guo, where “madness” is treated with acupuncture needles hammered into joints and bitter herbal poisons. Li Jian realizes that inside these walls, proving he doesn't have the tail of greed is the new mark of insanity.
The Rich Soil Grudge
Words: 3147 · Source Novel:: Greed's Fatal Tail
Li Jian wins a land dispute against his neighbor Jing Zhang, who lusts after the farm's rich soil like a man starved. In court, Li Jian presents his land deed and village witnesses, humiliating Jing. That night, Jing stares at his own meager plot and feels the ancient pull of greed, a living tail he cannot sever. He decides Li Jian's sanity will be the soil in which he plants his revenge.