Well, on hearing of his father's acquittal, Albert hastened home, and, as soon as he entered the house, clung to Mr. Morssen's feet, and wept.
At first, his mother resented him for stealing her jewelry, but he quickly made up a flowery story to make his mother easily forgive his act of stealing.
Arbeit said that ever since he found out that his father was imprisoned in the barracks in Whitestag, he had been trying his best to find a way to see his father.
He then met a man who claimed to be the deputy supervisor of the logistics department of the prefectural capital's garrison camp. The deputy supervisor told him that Mr. Morssen had been tortured and tortured in the barracks. He was seriously injured and on the brink of death. If his family did not send gifts and ask for someone to take care of him, Mr. Morssen might very well die.
When Arbeit heard that, he felt as if his heart was being cut by a knife. He felt pained at his father's suffering in the barracks and wanted nothing more than to help him.
However, the situation was dire and the only thing he could do was to save his father's life. So, he gave all his money to the vice-supervisor and asked him to make things easier for Morssen in the barracks.
However, the vice-supervisor said that it wasn't nearly enough to pay off the guards in the barracks, so Arbeit had to think of something else.
He had wanted to talk to his mother nicely and gather some more money from home, but he was afraid that Claude would interfere.
However, he was afraid that Claude would make things difficult for him. Ever since his father was captured, Claude no longer treated him as a threat and would threaten him at every turn.
Therefore, Abigail said that he had no choice but to come up with this plan. First, he would rob his mother's jewelry from home and sell it to the deputy manager to ensure that his father would not be mistreated in the military camp. No matter how precious those jewelry were, it was not as important as his father's life …
Fortunately, the deputy director of the logistics department of the garrison camp kept his word. Two days after the jewelry was handed over to him, he sent back good news to Albert, saying that Mr. Morssen was no longer suffering in the barracks, and that most of his injuries had been treated.
However, it would still be rather difficult for Arbeit to meet him. After all, he had only bribed the guards and he would have to spend more money to get past the patrols.
Abigail said that he had been collecting money outside, and no matter how much he had to spend, he had to enter the camp to see his father.
He did not expect to suddenly hear the news that his father had been pardoned and released today. He immediately felt a little strange and hurriedly went to find the deputy supervisor of the logistics department of the garrison camp, but found that the person was gone.
He then went to the barracks to ask, but the answer he got was that there was no such person in the Garrison Camp. Only then did he realize that he had been fooled …
Claude was speechless. He looked at Morssen, then at his mother, and finally at Arbeit, who was crying while hugging his father's feet. You actually believe something like that?
He's obviously lying to you. There are so many loopholes in this guy's story. Can't you hear it?
His mother had no choice. It was out of maternal love. She had always been willing to trust her eldest son. Even if he had done something wrong, she was willing to give him another chance.
What about Father?
You've always had the reputation of being a sly old fox. You wouldn't have fallen for Arbeit's simple tricks so easily, would you?
However, Claude was disappointed. He watched as his father sighed and stroked Arbeit's hair. He said calmly, "Get up. It's no big deal. It's fine if you were cheated. I'll buy new ones for your mother when I have money in the future.
Stop crying and go wash your face. You're already 22. As an adult, you have to be more careful in the future. Don't get tricked so easily. "
"You … You believe his words so easily?" Claude asked Morssen angrily as Arbeit went to wash his face.
Morssen didn't reply right away. After a moment of silence, he slowly said, "So what if I don't believe him? He's my son, your elder brother, after all.
Don't forget, we're family. We share the same blood. "
Claude was furious, but he couldn't teach Arbeit a lesson in front of his parents. His mother's health wasn't good and he was afraid that she would be bedridden again.
His father, on the other hand, seemed a little strange. He seemed to have aged a lot and didn't like to talk much. He would often smoke his pipe and stare out the window with a worried gaze.
Forget it, I'll let Arbeit off the hook for now.
When he read novels in the past, he couldn't understand why the antagonists in the novels would do such bad things. Indeed, from a normal person's point of view, the antagonists did seem a little perverted and anti-human.
In any case, he found it hard to imagine that when a person crossed the bottom line of morality, his actions would be akin to that of a beast and worse than that of a beast.
In his previous life, Morssen had once discussed with the transmigrator about the moral standards of the Chinese or the foreigners. The foreigners in question referred to the citizens of countries that called themselves the West.
Morssen firmly believed that the moral standards of the Chinese were far superior to those foreigners and that it was an insult to the Chinese to compare the moral standards of the Chinese to the Chinese.
Morssen found it strange. Back then, the consensus of society was that foreigners were more cultured than Chinese and that they were more civilized than Chinese. Why did Morssen think the exact opposite?
Morssen spat disdainfully. "Don't listen to those idiots. Those people have never come into contact with the real bottom rungs of society in the West. They only see the glamour on the surface and haven't seen the filth on the inside."
He said that he had lived abroad for a few years and the people he came into contact with were the lower rungs of society.
"Don't be fooled by the books and media that say all sorts of bad things about us Chinese and accuse us of having all sorts of bad habits. In fact, the foreigners are all the same. It's just that no one says it out loud.
"Also, no matter how many flaws we Chinese have, we still have a bottom line of morality. That's a precious heritage left to us by two thousand years of civilization.
For example, the Confucian school. Even though it has many faults, it still taught us Chinese virtues such as respecting the old and loving the young, filial piety to our parents and teachers.
"However, the foreigners don't have such a bottom line. Don't be fooled by the fact that they talk about being politically correct. They're all hypocrites.
Seriously speaking, they love the cannibals far away but not their neighbors. The slightest bit of conflict will lead them to court.
On the surface, they talk about justice, democracy, and freedom, but behind the scenes, they do all sorts of shady things.
When a person has no bottom line of morality, they'll be even more unscrupulous, perverted, and inhumane when they do their evil deeds.
If you don't believe me, you can do the statistics. This is what Boss said at the time. Is the crime rate exposed in the western civilized countries or is it China's crime rate that is higher? Then, if we compare our population base with that of their countries, we can easily come to a conclusion.
"The western countries' crime rate is many times higher than ours, and that's even with a population several times smaller than ours. I really don't know how those experts have the gall to say that foreigners are more cultured than us and that their society is more civilized than ours."
The transmigrator couldn't agree more. Even after he transmigrated to this world and became Claude, he still followed the morals he inherited from his previous life.
He was filial to his parents, loved his younger siblings, and stood up for his family when they were in trouble.
He wasn't like his elder brother, Arbeit, who ran off on his own in times of crisis and didn't think about doing anything for his family at all.
Claude thought that Arbeit was shameless and unscrupulous, but what he did was actually quite normal.
After all, Arbeit was the top liberal arts graduate from middle school. He wasn't stupid and knew what he wanted.
As the chief administrator of Whitestag, Arbeit knew how much convenience his father's position would bring him.
Just like how he became Sir Fux's personal secretary, most of it was due to Morssen's influence. Only a small part of it was his own hard work and intelligence that earned him Sir Fux's recognition.
Back then, Arbeit's thoughts were simple. As long as he took over his father's position and became the head of House Ferd, everything in the family would belong to him. Be it the redbrick house or the profits from his father's investments, they would all belong to him.
That was why he hated his siblings and believed that they would be rivals and losers in his future inheritance. It was only out of fear for his father that he managed to restrain himself.
But when Morssen was arrested by the prefectural city guard for endangering the kingdom's security, Arbeit panicked.
He knew just how serious the crime was. It was second only to treason and rebellion. All he had to do was remove himself from the picture and not get dragged into it because of his father's crimes.
If Morssen was convicted, his family's assets would be confiscated and he would be stripped of his citizenship. Even if Arbeit wasn't dragged into it, he would only have two choices. The first was to become the head of House Ferd and bear the burden of raising his mother and siblings.
The second was to break away from House Ferd and become an independent family. After all, he was already 22 years old and registered as a commoner with the town hall.
Even though he had never paid a penny of taxes for his status as a commoner, and it was his parents who did it for him, that didn't stop him from cutting ties with House Ferd.
According to the kingdom's laws, commoners had to register themselves as an independent family when they came of age to collect taxes and be drafted into the military.
Thus, Arbeit could totally refuse to become the new head of House Ferd. That way, he wouldn't have to worry about his mother and siblings — the three burdens.
But if he did that, he would have nothing to do with the rest of House Ferd's assets. This was something he was most unwilling to accept.
But Morssen's conviction and punishment weren't carried out immediately after his arrest. Arbeit could only wait.
During this time, he thought it through thoroughly. He would take whatever he could from his family and keep it all for himself.
So, he first swindled his mother's secret stash of money, and then set his sights on his mother's jewelry.
These were all trivial assets. If his father was convicted, they would all be confiscated. He might as well get his hands on them first.
Arbeit knew very well that the biggest asset in the family was the red brick house, followed by his father's investments in town.
But those were all under his father's name. Now that he was arrested, they would be frozen, just like his father's bank account. He wouldn't be able to withdraw any money from it.
In Arbeit's mind, he didn't think his father would be spared. Harming the kingdom was a serious crime and could easily implicate his family.
But he hoped that the best outcome would be for his father to be convicted without having his assets confiscated.
That way, he would go to the town hall and be officially registered as the head of House Ferd. He would inherit his father's assets and kick the adult Claude out of the family.
By then, he would own the red brick house and the assets his father left behind. That would be enough for him to live comfortably as a commoner for the rest of his life.
As for his mother and sister, he could make them his servants. As for his spoiled little brother, Booke, he would barely be able to raise him until he was eighteen. Just like Claude, he would chase him out of the family and become independent.
As for the snowhound, he could sell it on the market for a few thales.
Arbeit didn't expect his father to be spared from his crimes and be released from office.
This was bad news for him, but after thinking about it, he decided to go home and apologize to his parents. He would play the role of the obedient eldest son and say that everything he did was to save his father, but he was unlucky and met a scammer …