Chapter 177 Filthy

Zhou Ze sent his sister-in-law's wallet back via an anonymous express delivery.

Of course,

The shipping fee was collect on delivery.

The two thousand yuan that was originally inside was pocketed by Zhou Ze. Anyway, this girl has a lot of pocket money, so he considered it his hard-earned fee for helping her find her wallet. Zhou Ze felt that his fee was very reasonable.

Then, the next day, Zhou Ze saw his sister-in-law post a message on WeChat Moments:

"This thief has such professional ethics, he stole my wallet but sent back all my cards and ID documents by express delivery. There are still so many good people in this society."

Zhou Ze looked at this WeChat post and was silent for a while.

Forget it, it's better for the silly girl to continue being silly. Fools are blessed.

Bai Yingying secretly sent the video USB drive, which had been heavily edited, to the home of the middle-aged man's sister. His sister went to the police station to report the case that very day, and a few days later, the local police's official Weibo account also released this message.

This matter also caused a small stir, and many people denounced the girl's shamelessness and ingratitude, but its heat was completely incomparable to when the incident first happened.

Moreover, the people who were scolding this girl now probably also scolded the teacher as a "beast in human clothing" back then.

In short, the days passed by peacefully for several days, business was still sluggish, Bai Yingying was even more addicted to the internet and improved rapidly, and she also gradually became obsessed with online games, spending a long time sitting there just reading a dungeon guide.

She was a complete internet-addicted girl.

At dusk, as usual, she ate at Xu Qinglang's place, paired with the grass juice newly developed by Xu Qinglang.

Zhou Ze felt that he was slowly starting to taste some flavor in his food.

After the meal, Zhou Ze and Xu Qinglang shared a cigarette as usual.

Xu Qinglang held his mobile phone, scrolling through Weibo, leisurely and carefree.

Zhou Ze noticed that Xu Qinglang's restaurant business had been getting colder and colder recently, and there were fewer and fewer delivery guys coming in and out. Of course, this wasn't because the business was bad or Xu Qinglang's restaurant's reputation had declined, but simply because the man in front of him was getting lazier and lazier.

But according to Xu Qinglang, the problem was with Zhou Ze.

He toiled away from dawn to dusk, while the neighbor sat in the bookstore without moving. How could he possibly feel balanced in his heart?

Please, he was a man with more than twenty apartments!

Why was he still not living as comfortably as the poor ghost next door?

So, he should live well, enjoy himself, and rest when he should.

He's fallen, ah.

Zhou Ze sighed in his heart.

"Hey, there have been a lot of strange things happening in the East District recently," Xu Qinglang said, exhaling a smoke ring.

The East District was located east of Tongcheng city, a little bit away from the city center. The Confucius Temple and the City God Temple were both there, and it was usually only lively during festivals, since there were many people who went to burn incense.

"What's wrong?" Zhou Ze asked, flicking his cigarette ash.

"Look at this, someone posted on Weibo saying that last night, when they were passing by the Confucius Temple, they saw several cosplayers dressed in ancient costumes. When they walked over to say hello, they suddenly disappeared."

"Here's another one, saying that when they were taking a walk with their parents in the woods behind the Confucius Temple after dinner, they saw someone there reciting poetry."

"And another one, posted by a driver, saying that when he was driving past the Confucius Temple, he heard a lot of people crying by the roadside."

Confucius Temple?

Zhou Ze frowned slightly. This matter seemed to have something to do with him.

"However, these things have made the Confucius Temple popular again. It is said that more people have been going to burn incense recently, saying that it has become more efficacious," Xu Qinglang said with emotion.

"Heh," Zhou Ze thought about his own affairs.

"Logically speaking, that shouldn't be the case. The Confucius Temple is a place where Confucian sages are. It's impossible for any lonely ghosts to cause trouble there," Xu Qinglang said.

"There should be some, but someone might have been managing them before," Zhou Ze said.

"What about now? What happened to the person managing them?"

"I killed him."

"..." Xu Qinglang.

——————

Reluctantly, Zhou Ze and Bai Yingying came to the Confucius Temple together after nightfall.

Last time, Zhou Ze had beaten that dwarf old man into oblivion here, and then patted his sleeves and left directly, without taking away half a cloud.

But combined with some recent events, it was clear that without the dwarf old man's control, those scholar ghosts who had previously served as honor guards were slowly becoming restless and gradually began to let go of themselves.

Zhou Ze was a grim reaper, and this matter should have been under his jurisdiction in the first place, not to mention that he was the one who killed the dwarf old man. It was indeed up to him to clean up the mess.

"Boss, these wandering souls can't actually amount to much. They'll disappear in a couple of months anyway. They used to be supported by the Confucius Temple's system. As long as they don't cause trouble, the grim reapers turn a blind eye and are too lazy to bother.

Now that they've lost their restraints, after they've vented their grievances for a few days, those who should dissipate will dissipate, and those who should go to hell will go to hell."

Bai Yingying had received Bai Furen's teachings and could actually see through these matters of ghosts and gods better than Zhou Ze.

"I can't rest assured without looking at the situation here. It's better to collect them all if I can," Zhou Ze said, tilting his head slightly, searching for scholar ghosts lingering nearby.

Those scholars from past dynasties who couldn't pass the imperial examinations and committed suicide due to setbacks in their studies, many of their souls came to the vicinity of the Confucius Temple with great resentment. Since then, they were drawn by the qi and became the Confucius Temple's "honor guard."

Of course, there must be others who were just filling the ranks. Not all of them were so-called scholars. After all, when the forest grows, all kinds of birds will come.

Those scholars were just reciting poems and crying. Li Baojia of the Qing Dynasty once wrote in the sixth chapter of his "A Brief History of Civilization":

"Scholars rebelling won't succeed in three years. Whether they have this in mind or not, there's no need to pay attention to them."

But Zhou Ze was worried that if other things also became "free," they might cause some trouble. If something really happened, he would definitely have to bear some responsibility in the end.

But tonight was quiet. Zhou Ze had smoked half a pack of cigarettes, and Bai Yingying simply lay on the grass, squinting her eyes. She couldn't see a single ghost.

After waiting impatiently, Zhou Ze said:

"Shout a few times and lure those ghosts out."

Bai Yingying rolled her eyes at Zhou Ze, obviously ignoring him. After spending a long time together, Bai Yingying had figured out some of Zhou Ze's personality habits and dared to push her limits just right, so that Zhou Ze wouldn't be annoyed.

"Life is like a dream, I pour a cup to the river moon. Wandering in my old kingdom, everything has truly changed."

A man's voice came from behind that tree.

Immediately afterward, a man wearing long boots and an official robe walked out. The man had a long beard that represented majesty, a square face, and a straight posture. He looked like an official at first glance.

No, he looked like someone who was an official in his previous life.

Moreover, he had a long braid behind his head.

Bai Yingying slowly stood up, looked at the man in front of her, and then said in surprise:

"Boss, I was wondering why I couldn't see those scholar ghosts tonight. It turns out they've all been swallowed by him!"

Zhou Ze could also see that this man looked extraordinary, but in his stomach, he could see many small specks of light, which should all be scholar ghosts that he had swallowed.

"Haha, a prime minister's belly can support a boat. I'm not a prime minister, but I was once a high-ranking official. This belly is more than enough to hold those failed imperial examination candidates from past dynasties."

"Alright, it's you. Go down."

Zhou Ze prepared to open the Gates of Hell and capture this guy.

The other party had swallowed a lot of scholar ghosts, and he did look energetic, much better than those wandering souls who often went to his bookstore to read.

But he really hadn't reached the point where Zhou Ze was afraid.

They were all ghosts, and whether or not they had a physical body was really a different matter.

Moreover, he still had fingernails.

"Are you the local grim reaper?" The man looked at Zhou Ze and said reservedly, "You do have the qualifications to sit on equal footing with this official."

"Yo, you've got a big mouth. Has the Qing Dynasty fallen?"

Bai Yingying mocked.

"When men are talking, is it your place for a woman to interrupt? Step aside, this official orders you." The man rebuked with authority.

Bai Yingying cracked her knuckles, making a series of crisp sounds.

The man looked at Zhou Ze, who was preparing to open the Gates of Hell on the other side, and said:

"This reaper, this official has a distinguished name and once held a leading position in a department. Even if I am to be sent down, it shouldn't be done so casually, right?

Moreover, this official once met a judge of the underworld in the mortal realm, and that judge said that this official would die on the nineteenth day of the third month of Jiashen year.

This official was apprehensive and lived in fear every day, and finally made it to that day, but after that day, this official did not die.

This is enough to show that this official is blessed with luck, and even the rules of the underworld do not apply to this official. Therefore, this official still advises you not to waste your effort in vain.

When this official is done touring my homeland, if I want to go down, I will naturally go down. Maybe after this official goes down, I can also get a job as a supervisor in the underworld. If we meet again in the future, you will have to kneel down and salute me respectfully, calling me 'Lord'."

"This person is really asking for a beating," Bai Yingying said with a smile.

"No, this shows that his hometown has a simple and honest atmosphere, otherwise he would have been beaten to death before he even grew up."

"How unreasonable, hmph, this official is too lazy to argue with you people, this official has not lied, if you intend to forcibly escort this official to hell, then be prepared to make an enemy of me.

Even the judges of the underworld can't accurately determine this official's death date, let alone you, a mere grim reaper?"

Zhou Ze wasn't in a hurry to open the Gates of Hell. He just found the person in front of him quite interesting, and, to be honest, modern ghosts weren't anything special, but ancient ghosts,

Were rare.

People often say that precious cultural relics are records of history, and the person in front of him was a true repeater of history.

"You have a braid behind your head, but you're not wearing a Qing Dynasty official's uniform," Zhou Ze looked carefully for a while and continued, "It should be a Ming Dynasty official's uniform.

No, you just said that you were once a high-ranking official, but this Ming Dynasty official's uniform isn't the kind worn by high-ranking officials. Instead, it's the clothing of a low-ranking official."

The man heard this and said proudly: "This official served in two dynasties, the previous dynasty as a censor, and the later dynasty as a high-ranking official, benefiting the people, and my official name is illustrious.

As for what clothes this official wears, what right do you have to comment?"

Zhou Ze took out his mobile phone, entered "March 19th of Jiashen year" to check, and then said with a smile:

"That judge didn't say anything wrong. You should have died on March 19th of Jiashen year."

"Nonsense, this official did not die on that day. This official eventually died peacefully in my bed and was given a beautiful posthumous title!" The man said disdainfully.

"You should have died that day, really," Zhou Ze repeated, and then a mocking smile appeared on his face, "But you shamelessly didn't go to die."

"Outrageous nonsense!" The man waved his sleeve, "Ignorant!"

"Think again about what day March 19th of Jiashen year actually was, and whether you should have died!"

Zhou Ze raised his voice and rebuked.

The man frowned slightly, as if he was thinking and recalling.

Finally,

Suddenly,

His body trembled, and he showed a look of surprise,

And then he looked at the Confucius Temple behind him again.

At this moment,

He finally understood why, after his death, his soul was detained within this Confucius Temple when he returned to his homeland, spending hundreds of years in a daze with those so-called imperial examination failures!

"This... this... this..."

The man sat down on the ground, lost in despair.

March 19th of Jiashen year,

This day was the day when the Ming Dynasty fell, Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself on Meishan Hill, and hundreds of officials of the Ming Dynasty followed their ruler in death.