第四章 缇萦救父

During the Western Han Dynasty, there was a famous doctor named Chun Yuyi.

Chun Yuyi was very skilled in medicine, but because he offended powerful people, he was reported to the authorities.

The court found him guilty and ordered him to be taken to Chang'an to receive a punishment called 'corporal punishment'. Corporal punishment would harm a person's body.

Chun Yuyi had five daughters, but no sons.

On the day of departure, he was escorted out of his home. Looking at his crying daughters behind him, he sighed and said, "I have given birth to five daughters, yet at the critical moment, none of them can help me."

His youngest daughter, Ti Ying, was only a teenager. When she heard her father's words, she felt very sad.

She was not sad that her father said she was useless. What saddened her was that her father was right: they could only stand there and cry.

That night, Ti Ying made a decision.

She said to her sisters, "I am going to follow my father to Chang'an."

The sisters were all shocked: "You are a girl, what can you do if you go?"

Ti Ying said, "I don't know whether I can do anything. But I can't just watch my father be taken away."

She packed a few clothes and set off with the escorts.

When she arrived in Chang'an, Ti Ying found the government office, wrote a letter, and asked to have the letter delivered to the emperor.

The letter read: My father is a famous doctor in the countryside and has cured many people. Now he has committed a crime and is to be subjected to corporal punishment. A person cannot come back to life after death, and a body cannot recover once injured. I beg to atone for my father's crime and give him a chance to start anew.

Ti Ying was just an ordinary young girl, and no one spoke for her. She waited for a long time, not knowing whether the letter would be seen.

Later, the letter was really brought before the emperor.

Emperor Wen of Han finished reading the letter and was silent for a long time. He then issued an order: From now on, corporal punishment will be abolished.

Chun Yuyi was spared from corporal punishment and returned to his hometown.

Her sisters asked her how she had written that letter. Ti Ying said, "I just wrote what was in my heart."

Her father's sigh made Ti Ying understand. She didn't know whether she could save her father, but she couldn't just do nothing.