Conversely, the exemplary stepmother prefers the stepson to her own child, in recognition that his seniority makes him superior.[17] The "righteous stepmother of Qi", faced with her son and stepson having been found by a murdered man, and both having confessed to shield the other, argues for her son's execution because her husband had ordered her to look after her stepson, and her son is the junior brother; the king pardoned them both for her devotion to duty.[17]