Harsher Penalties for the Mastermind 阅微草堂笔记：严惩主谋

The following story is from the book ‘Gossips From the Micro-reading Hall’.
In 1732, during the rule of Emperor Yong Zheng of Qin dynasty, there was a daughter-in-law from a respectable family. She did not appear to be a quarrelsome person.
One day there suddenly was a thunder storm with lightning. Lightning came through the window, pierced through the heart of the daughter-in-law, and went on to strike the son’s back. The young lady was killed instantly and the young man badly burned.
When he regained his consciousness, the son cried, ‘I am hot tempered and it is true that I often quarrel with my mother. But, you were not such a person. You merely quietly complained to me about your suffering and cried under the lamp at night. Why did the lightning kill you instead of me?’
He felt that the Heaven had unjustly punished his wife. However, he did not know that the law always punishes the mastermind more severely than the accomplice. It is the same here as in the netherworld.
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下面的故事来自‘阅微草堂笔记’。
雍正壬子，有宦家子妇，素无勃谿状。突狂电穿牖，如火光激射，雷楔贯心而入，洞左胁而出。其夫亦为雷焰燔烧，背至尻皆焦黑，气息仅属。
久之乃苏，顾妇尸泣曰：‘我性刚劲，与母争论或有之。尔不过私诉抑郁，背灯掩泪而已，何雷之误中尔耶？’
是未知律重主谋，幽明一也。