(Minghui.org) Su Qiong was a man who lived during the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589 AD). One day, young Su Qiong accompanied his father to a visit with an official.
When asked by the official if he would seek a position in the government, Su answered, “The government should seek to recruit talent rather than ambitious people seeking to hold offices.”
The official was astonished but very much impressed, and made Su Qiong one of his advisers.
In 532 AD, Su was put in charge of prosecuting criminal cases.
He took over a case from another official in Bing County who used torture on his suspects accused of stealing. Despite the forced confession, the suspects did not reveal where the stolen goods were hidden. Su dug deeper into the details of the case, and eventually found the real thieves and recovered the stolen goods. The wrongfully accused suspects were all grateful to Su.
Later, Su was promoted to be the magistrate of South Qinghe County. One day, a villager accused a neighbor of stealing his cows and brought the case to Su's office. After hearing arguments from both sides, he released the neighbor and made an effort to seek out the real criminal. After he successfully arrested the thief and solved the case, everyone in his county was amazed and appreciative of his talent and resolution to uphold justice.
After that, no thieves dared to commit crimes in his county. Over 100 people who used to be thieves flocked to work for Su and assist him in his governing and pursuit of justice.
One year, there was a disastrous flood in Su's county. Thousands of families were starving. Su gathered those families with plenty of food and borrowed rice from them to distribute to the starving families. The higher officials came to the county and intended to impose a tax on the starving families for receiving the borrowed rice. One of Su's aides warned him that the investigation by the higher officials could implicate him and negatively impact his career.
Su said, “As long as these families can be saved, it does not matter if I am reprimanded.”
Later, Su managed to persuade his superiors to forgo the tax, saving his people from further financial ruin. He always ranked very highly among fellow officials in terms of his people's satisfaction.
Soon Su was promoted to an office in the capital. He presided over many cases of rebellion and cleared the names of many who were wrongfully accused of attempting to overthrow the government.
A fellow official advised him, “If you want to move up in your career, you should think twice about vindicating the honor of those accused of rebellion. Your own life could be at risk.”
Su replied, “All of those I helped to vindicate were wrongfully and unjustly accused. That's the end of the story.”