Chapter 1 A Subtle Difference

The bookstore had always been a peaceful place, so peaceful it exuded a strong aura of laziness.

But despite this, for ordinary people "blinded by a leaf" or other wandering souls,

this place was almost equivalent to the Yama Palace of the human world.

This was not an exaggeration.

Only in Tongcheng, and only on the basis of Boss Zhou's hard work over the years in picking up people everywhere, had the current lineup of the bookstore been created.

Compared with the bookstore in Tongcheng, the field offices of catchers in other cities, whether in terms of personnel configuration or hardware facilities, were total rookies.

You could casually drag out a little boy who could flatten their turf.

The female ghost was very flustered,

crying and shouting that the outside world was too dangerous and she wanted to go back to her grave.

Fortunately, Boss Zhou had always been kind.

He didn't make things difficult for the female ghost,

but squatted down in front of her in a very approachable manner,

his eyes revealing kindness,

his smile brewing compassion,

and his words rippling with gentleness.

"Going back is fine, but you have to tell me where you got all your hell money from."

This was a concern.

Wealth should not be flaunted; this is common sense.

The same goes for being a ghost.

Boss Zhou felt that a little wraith like her carrying so much hell money was simply inviting trouble.

For her safety and future,

Boss Zhou felt that he should proactively take over this danger and responsibility.

In fact, hell money has different forms of expression at different times.

In recent decades, it has been expressed in the form of banknotes, but in the long years before that, it was presented in the form of "gold ingots" and "silver ingots." Even now, many families still retain the custom of preparing gold and silver paper ingots before memorial days and burning them on that day.

The economic activities of the human world have indeed had a great impact and changes on many things in the underworld.

Perhaps,

in more distant times, the form of hell money was shells.

Of course, no matter what the form of expression, it is just a form. The real meaning of hell money is a value of merit, more like the most objective concluding remarks of your previous life.

When ordinary people die, unless you are a great villain, you will carry a little hell money with you after death, a bit like travel expenses, used to bribe the little ghosts on the road.

If you usually do more good deeds, or your children offer enough sacrifices, or your children themselves do more good deeds and also sacrifice to you, then the hell money carried by the deceased's soul will naturally be more.

But no matter how much,

there is a limit.

The female ghost’s generous manner of taking out several stacks of hell money clearly exceeded the maximum amount she could possibly possess, unless she had been doing good deeds from birth to the present, accumulating too much merit.

But looking at what she is doing now and her identity as a wraith, there is an obvious contradiction.

At this time, facing Zhou Ze's inquiry, the female ghost did not hide anything, nor did she need to hide anything, and directly answered timidly:

"I picked it up."

"Oh."

Boss Zhou slowly stood up,

his face beginning to become serious and firm,

and said in a deep voice:

"Demons and heretics, everyone has the right to punish them!"

The female ghost shivered,

and hurriedly said:

"I picked it up in front of a desolate grave, I can take you there!"

The sharp edges of his face softened again.

Boss Zhou squatted down again,

reached out and grabbed the female ghost's cold hand,

and said:

"Thank you for your trouble."

………………

Dinner was great. Yingying's skills had improved to the point that even Zhou Ze was a little surprised.

Although he had just woken up and his body was still recovering, it was not necessary to eat too much meat for the time being, nor was it suitable to overeat, but Zhou Ze tasted several bites of each dish.

After dinner, Zhou Ze thought about it and called Zhang Lao.

There was no other way. Lawyer An was not around; otherwise, it would have been most appropriate to leave this kind of thing to Lawyer An.

As for where Lawyer An was now?

He was probably still spreading his youth and sweat on a section of the provincial highway.

I don't know if he regretted nourishing the white fox with his Neidan and then fusing it back into himself.

It seems that this kind of "hybrid" attempt is very popular these years.

I hybridized,

and I became stronger.

Getting into Zhang Lao's car, Zhang Lao had already taken off his police uniform and changed into casual clothes. The car he drove back today was not a police car either, which made the female ghost feel much more comfortable.

In the eyes of ghosts, outstanding and upright police officers are shining with light.

After getting in the car, following the female ghost's guidance, Zhang Lao drove to a rural location below Lvsi Town.

This place was not very far from South Street, about an hour and a half by car. If it were in another city, Zhou Ze might have been too lazy to come over in person, or simply waited for Lawyer An to come back the next day and let Lawyer An take a trip himself.

Since it was still within the scope of Tongcheng, Boss Zhou felt that he had been a "plant" for a year, and he had to get up and make some money to supplement his family.

For ordinary middle-aged men, with a wife and children, as long as there is still a breath left, they are either making money or on their way to work.

Like an old ox, pulling the mill again and again.

Boss Zhou's side was a little better. Anyway, the employees in the bookstore were richer than him, but he couldn't give up on himself, could he?

He had only woken up for less than 24 hours, and he already had extra money to earn, which was also a good sign.

Arriving at the destination, the car stopped.

This was a standard Jiangnan rural pattern. The village was on the other side of the river, while this side was all farmland.

The female ghost walked in front, and Zhou Ze and Zhang Lao followed behind.

Boss Zhou yawned. His newly awakened body was still a little shaky when walking on the ridge path. Zhang Lao stood behind him, ready to support Zhou Ze at any time.

"What interesting things happened this year?"

Zhou Ze asked.

There were no major events; Yingying had already told him.

But it was late at night, and they were walking in the farmland, so he was itchy and wanted to chat.

"There's nothing big. As for interesting things, the Spring Festival Gala last year was even uglier than the year before."

"Oh, is that so?"

Boss Zhou still remembered that the Spring Festival Gala of Feng Xiaogang's year was criticized online for having too many songs and dances.

But looking back now, it seems that that year was the most entertaining Spring Festival Gala in recent years.

"Boss, actually, I really want to hear you talk about things in hell."

"Tomorrow, when Lawyer An comes back, let him tell you. He will embellish it, and it will sound better."

"Okay."

The two big men chatted idly like this,

finally,

the female ghost in front stopped,

pointed to the front,

and said:

"It's here."

In front was a corner of the farmland, with a bamboo forest, and the river ran through the bamboo forest.

Vaguely, standing outside and using the moonlight, you could see the scattered tombstones inside.

It was a bit of an exaggeration to call it a mass burial ground, but the graves here did look like they hadn't been taken care of for a long time.

In recent years, those two-story small house tombstones have become popular in rural areas, but most people still retain the structure of earthen graves.

And the dirt cap on the grave,

every year on the memorial day or Qingming Festival,

the people who come to worship will take a shovel and dig out a square mud cap from the surrounding mud, and after the paper money is burned, and the worship is over, they will put the new mud cap on it.

If there are many brothers in the family who need to worship,

sigh, during those memorial days,

the eldest brother or other brothers who go first will dig out the mud cap first, burn the paper money and leave, and after the last person who comes to burn paper money and worship finishes, they will put the mud cap back on.

But the mud caps of the graves here had long collapsed. Obviously, they were desolate graves.

"How did you find this place?"

Zhou Ze asked the female ghost curiously.

The female ghost pointed to a small mound in the innermost part and said, "This is my grandma's grave."

Zhou Ze nodded, but the place where the female ghost picked up money was not her grandma's grave, but a place near the river.

This grave had sunk down and could hardly be seen as a grave anymore.

But there was a relatively flat area here, with some traces of burning, indicating that someone had just sacrificed here not long ago.

"When I came to see my grandma before, I picked up a lot of hell money here, a lot, a lot."

"A lot, a lot?"

"I spent a lot."

She was able to escape from danger several times, naturally spending a lot of money to smooth things over.

Boss Zhou helplessly picked up a stone, threw it into the river, and smiled.

He thought he was coming to pick up money, but who knew it would be this result? Boss Zhou pondered, hesitating whether to open a grave now to see if there would be anything good inside.

In fact, he could let Zhang Lao investigate who had sacrificed here, and what kind of meritorious person could burn so much hell money.

But it seemed a little inappropriate to let a politically correct person do this kind of petty theft.

The evening breeze was blowing slowly.

Just as Boss Zhou was about to give up and go back empty-handed, his nose suddenly sniffed. He seemed a little unsure. He tugged at Zhang Lao and asked:

"Zhang Lao, did you smell any fragrance?"

"Hmm? It seems like there is a bit."

"Very close, very close."

Who would run to a desolate grave to cook at night?

Moreover, there wasn't a single person here.

Zhang Lao immediately lay down on the ground and began to smell with his eyes closed. The professional habits of an old criminal police officer were indeed terrifying.

Soon,

Zhang Lao opened his eyes,

and pointed with shock to the area that had long been sunken, saying:

"It's under here!"

"Are you sure?"

Boss Zhou also lay down with Zhang Lao, looking very unkempt.

"Beef stew with potatoes!"

Zhang Lao directly identified the name of the dish!

No wonder he "coincidentally" comes to freeload every day.

Or is this Wangcai's talent skill for Zhang Lao?

Seeing that the two adults had both laid down, the female ghost was too embarrassed to stand, so she also laid down, but dared not say a word.

Zhang Lao reached out his hand and looked at Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze nodded, indicating that he could.

Zhang Lao directly started digging with his hands, because it was close to the river, the soil here was very soft.

After digging for a while with his bare hands, Zhang Lao carefully lifted a clod of earth underneath and placed it aside.

Below,

a small hollow area immediately appeared,

very small,

about the size of an ordinary desktop computer case.

Inside were two bowls,

the big bowl contained beef stew with potatoes,

the small bowl contained rice,

and there were a pair of chopsticks next to them.

Boss Zhou picked up the chopsticks

and picked up a piece of beef from the big bowl.

"Boss, be careful of poison." Zhang Lao reminded professionally.

Zhou Ze nodded, deeply agreeing,

then put the piece of beef he picked up with chopsticks in front of Zhang Lao,

"You try it."

"…………" Zhang Lao.

————————

Something came up today, so I was delayed. There will only be one update tonight.

I owed two updates before, paid back one, and still owe one.

Adding the one I owe today,

there will be four updates tomorrow to clear all debts.

Don't panic!