"oh."
"Buy it or not? It's a really prestigious thing to do. Besides, your younger brother will need it for school later." Xu Zhengyang urged.
Chen Chaojiang thought for a moment, then said curtly, "Will you reimburse me?"
"Damn it!" Xu Zhengyang spat. "Even Yang Bailao wouldn't treat his employer like this!"
Chen Chaojiang grinned.
"Alright, alright, I'll buy the computer, you pay for the broadband yourself." Xu Zhengyang stopped looking at Chen Chaojiang, waved his hand, and finished speaking. Then he focused on opening QQ and logging in.
As soon as I logged into QQ, Dong Wenqi's avatar started flashing.
Xu Zhengyang clicked on it out of curiosity and saw a crying emoji in the chat window, along with a line of text:
I returned my laptop to my friend. I'm sorry to keep using it, boohoo. I'll be so bored if I can't go online or chat. Zhengyang, remember to come visit me sometime!
Then came another mischievous expression with its tongue sticking out.
Xu Zhengyang scratched his head. "What fun would I have to come to you for? Otherwise, Master Dong and his wife would suspect I have ulterior motives."
So he didn't reply. After closing the chat window, he turned around and beckoned Chen Chaojiang to come over. Then Xu Zhengyang, this newbie, started pretending to be a big shot in front of another newbie, pouring out all the little he knew, and speaking in a very convincing way.
Unfortunately, he did not receive the admiration and praise he had expected from Chen Chaojiang, and his vanity was not satisfied.
Chen Chaojiang said coldly, "It's not fun."
"Is there anything fun for you?" Xu Zhengyang asked irritably.
Chen Chaojiang thought for a moment and said seriously, "Carving, let's drink together, Zhengyang, it's been a while since we've had a drink."
Xu Zhengyang sighed and shrugged, saying, "Don't go home for lunch today. Let's eat here and have a couple of drinks."
"Mm." Chen Chaojiang nodded.
Suddenly, my younger sister exclaimed in surprise from outside, "Oh!"
Xu Zhengyang's face darkened, and he abruptly stood up!
"Brother—!" Xu Rouyue exclaimed in surprise, "I love you to death!"
Xu Zhengyang breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that nothing was wrong. Xu Rouyue returned to her bedroom and was naturally surprised and delighted to find the newly bought computer desk and chair, the computer, and the network cable installed. After all, Xu Zhengyang had planned to give his sister a surprise.
Just then, his phone rang. Xu Zhengyang took it out and answered it. It was a call from Pang Zhong, the director of the Municipal Public Security Bureau.
Nothing much, just a simple sentence:
"Xu Zhengyang! If you keep doing this, I'm really going to lock you up!"
After hanging up the phone, Xu Zhengyang raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself: Don't give Old Master Li any face, there's nothing you can do about it...
Volume 3, Chapter 142: The Lone Commander, the Grand Judge
A cold wind howled, and the night was deep. Snowflakes danced in the air, turning the fields into a silvery expanse...
In a peaceful house in Cuiying Village, Wumiao Township, Ming County, fifty kilometers northeast of Fuhe City, a layer of white snow has been laid on the red-tiled roof. Everything in the courtyard, on the walls, in the yard, on the two elm trees, on the bus under the west wall of the yard, is covered with white snow.
Looking through the window into the house, it was pitch black; under the window of the east room was a simple doghouse, where a large, yellow-haired dog was curled up in the dry straw, fast asleep.
Suddenly, the big yellow dog's ears twitched a few times, it opened its eyes, and let out a warning growl.
Soon, the big yellow dog calmed down, whimpered twice like a spoiled child, and then closed its eyes and fell into a sweet sleep.
Unseen by the naked eye, amidst the swirling snow and howling wind, a figure in a dark red ancient official robe stood on the snow-covered ground in front of the doghouse in the courtyard. This was none other than Xu Zhengyang, the chief judge under the City God of Fuhe City. More precisely, it was Xu Zhengyang's spiritual consciousness.
He stood with his hands behind his back in the courtyard, looking through the window at the young man, Cui Manbao, who was sleeping soundly in the dark on the bed inside. He was the leader of the group of young men who had been brutally beaten by Chen Chaojiang at the train station during the day.
With a sigh, Xu Zhengyang slowly walked through the wall and entered the house.
"Cui Manbao".
Suddenly, Cui Manbao felt someone calling him in his sleep. He stirred slightly, then calmed down and continued to breathe gently, sleeping soundly.
However, in her dream, Cui Manbao stared in astonishment at a person dressed in what appeared to be a red official robe from an ancient costume drama. The person was enveloped in a soft, yellowish light, their face obscured, making it impossible to discern their features. Yet, they exuded an aura of authority that filled Cui Manbao with unease and fear.
Just as he was wondering who the other person was, he felt a wave of dizziness and was shocked to find himself in a large room. However, even though the space was spacious, he felt extremely oppressed.
The room was dimly lit. Looking around, one could see a very high ceiling with horizontal beams, creating a gloomy and dark atmosphere. The doors and windows were the kind of ancient wooden structures seen only in television dramas, but it was impossible to tell whether they were carved or decorated. Directly in front of them, on a platform, sat a large rectangular table. It was a deep black, old and heavy. On the table were the Four Treasures of the Study, a brown divination stick container containing dozens of dark red divination sticks, and a gavel.
Behind the table sat the man in the dark red official robe I had just seen, his head bowed as he flipped through several sheets of yellow paper.
Cui Manbao was increasingly surprised. He recalled the scenes in ancient government offices in TV dramas, but there were no yamen runners leaning against their disciplinary sticks around him.
While they were still wondering what was going on, they saw the man behind the judge's desk suddenly pick up the gavel and slam it down with a loud crack.
Cui Manbao was startled.
Kneel down!
After a reprimand, Cui Manbao, whether out of fear or out of control, knelt down on the ground with a thud.
"Cui Manbao, do you know your crime?" Xu Zhengyang asked coldly, but inwardly he was thinking how terrible it was to be uncultured. He couldn't think of a more imposing appearance, and... without the ghost messengers by his side, it wasn't imposing enough! Besides, using such a small-time hoodlum as an experiment, wasn't it a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, making a mountain out of a molehill?
Cui Manbao asked tremblingly, "You are...?"
"I am the chief judge under the City God of the Fu River! I am patrolling here tonight. Seeing you shrouded in evil aura and exuding a fierce spirit, I have come to judge you!"
"ah?"
"Cui Manbao, twenty-four years old, has grandparents, parents, a younger sister, and a younger brother." Xu Zhengyang spoke slowly, secretly pondering how to make his words sound more intimidating, authoritative, and convincing... "Cui Manbao, you disrespected your elders, insulted your grandparents, disobeyed your parents, and talked back to them—this is your first crime; while working away from home, you stole property from the construction site, bullied your coworkers, and caused trouble—this is your second crime; upon returning home, you saw a beautiful woman and harbored malicious intentions, bullying her and instigating others—this is your third crime; showing no remorse, you harbored thoughts of revenge and murder—this is your fourth crime..."
Xu Zhengyang spoke very slowly, feeling a headache coming on. He secretly thought that he must write a draft in advance when he had to do something like this in the future.
However, the slower he spoke, the more frightened and terrified Cui Manbao became. She trembled with unease.
After finally uttering a rambling, somewhat incoherent but intimidating statement, Xu Zhengyang breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing Cui Manbao struggling and terrified, he coldly sneered, "You are currently dreaming. I will not allow you to wake up, and you will not wake up."
In reality, Cui Manbao lay in bed with her brows furrowed, sweat beading on her forehead, her muscles tense, and her jaw clenched, yet her body couldn't even tremble.
Do you know your crime?
Cui Manbao hesitated for a long time, thinking that he must be having a nightmare. So he gritted his teeth, glared, got up and rushed to the table, cursing, "Confess to your mother's sins!"
He easily pounced on the table, and just as he raised his hand to punch the man, he saw that the man was just staring at him without moving.
Then, Cui Manbao found his body out of control, seemingly forced to retreat by the other person's gaze. He retreated until he reached the spot where he had been kneeling, and then, with a thud, knelt down again. This time, when he tried to struggle, he felt as if something was glued to his knees, rendering him unable to move.
In her terror, Cui Manbao looked up at the man who called himself the judge.
The judge rose, a dark, hard whip now in his hand. He walked slowly to Cui Manbao and said in a cold voice, "Dare to disrespect this official? In addition to the several crimes you have committed, you shall be punished with fifty strokes of the Soul Whip." As he said this, Cui Manbao seemed to detect a hint of smugness in the judge's tone.
Before he could think of anything else, the judge swung his dark, hard whip down. It struck him heavily on the shoulder with a loud crack.
Cui Manbao felt as if his shoulder had been shattered by the blow; the excruciating pain made him scream in agony, yet he couldn't even move his body. After a barrage of brutal beatings, Cui Manbao cried out in pain, his body frozen in place, kneeling there as before. He couldn't even dodge, let alone lie down and tremble violently.
"Your crime does not warrant death. However, if you do not repent and commit further sins in your conduct, I will surely take your soul and cast it into the eighteenth level of hell, where you will never be reincarnated!"
A flash of red light, and in an instant everything vanished, including the judge.
Cui Manbao sat up abruptly, feeling the room was as cold as a cellar, with chilling air seeping into the uncovered bedding. He quickly burrowed back under the covers, only to realize his body was in excruciating pain. He hissed as he gasped for breath, recalling his dream and wondering if it had really happened.
Suddenly, a dizzying sensation ran through his mind. The judge, with an imposing aura, forcefully squeezed into his brain, which had just awakened from its slumber, and warned somewhat hastily and fiercely, "Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed! Be careful!"
Then, the judge disappeared again, as if he had never been there.
Cui Manbao was stunned for a moment, then, enduring the pain, she reached out from under the warm blankets, grabbed the bedside lamp cord, and pulled the light.
Under the dim light, Cui Manbao's eyes widened suddenly. Ignoring the chill outside the covers, she abruptly threw them off, staring blankly at the dark blue whip marks on her legs and arms, the excruciating pain still radiating from them. Cui Manbao rolled out of bed, ran naked to the outer room, turned on the light, and stood in front of the dressing mirror. She turned sideways, turning her head to look at her back in the mirror…
This, this, this is all real!?
Cui Manbao plopped down on the cold cement floor, dumbfounded.
Meanwhile, outside Cuiying Village, Xu Zhengyang's spirit stood with his hands behind his back amidst the swirling snow, gazing up at the deep blue sky, seemingly lost in thought.
We won't go to the homes of the other young people.
Xu Zhengyang sighed. Just as Chen Chaojiang said, it really wasn't worth it!
However, Xu Zhengyang didn't regret teaching Cui Manbao a lesson at all. This kid had a long list of misdeeds and was truly hateful and despicable. If it weren't for the fact that taking a person's life would consume too much divine power and deplete one's merit by forcibly taking their lifespan, he would have torn this grandson to pieces just for daring to curse his grandparents!
Xu Zhengyang took out his judge's pen and wrote in the case book that if Cui Manbao could sincerely repent while he was alive, his ghost could be reincarnated as a human again after experiencing the poisonous invasion of the Sanzu River.
After noting these things down, Xu Zhengyang suddenly thought how awesome it would be if he had the Book of Life and Death of the King of Hell! That thing is a genuine artifact for determining a person's life, death, and lifespan. He figured that with the Book of Life and Death, he wouldn't need to expend divine power or diminish his merits when taking a person's soul or lifespan.
Ugh, why think about these things? Yama and his other Yama kings are long dead, who knows if the Book of Life and Death even exists anymore.
Xu Zhengyang muttered a curse, then picked up the judge's pen and began scribbling on the verdict book.
Although those kids can be spared the punishment of being whipped by the Unprepared Soul Whip, they will still suffer a little bit of bad luck for two months.
His soul vanished in a flash.
At Xu Zhengyang's home in Shuanghe Village, a hundred miles away.
In the pitch-black bedroom, Xu Zhengyang, lying on the bed, opened his eyes and a somewhat helpless smile appeared on his face.
For such a trivial matter to require the judge's personal intervention, wouldn't people laugh their heads off if word got out? It's a pity that although he has prepared the ghost messenger token, he can't find a suitable candidate. He has collected over a hundred ghosts in the past two days, but found neither truly wicked nor exceptionally good individuals.
As for ordinary ghosts, Xu Zhengyang has to respect them. He can't selfishly force ghosts to serve him, thus delaying their reincarnation, can he?
Xu Zhengyang did try asking the two ghosts, "Do you want to be ghost messengers?"
The answers were almost identical: after hesitating for a long time, the ghosts all shook their heads and refused. Since they knew that death would turn them into ghosts, and that ghosts could be reincarnated and reborn as humans, who would want to remain a ghost forever? Besides, most of them were ghosts who had died in their seventies or eighties after their lifespans had ended. Xu Zhengyang didn't want them to be ghost messengers. Good heavens, they were all hunched over, and they didn't have a shred of dignity about them. And… female ghost messengers were absolutely out of the question.
It's not that Xu Zhengyang is a chauvinist; the reason is still the same as above—he lacks authority!
Standing on either side during a trial is beneath my dignity; it would be beneath this judge's face.
...
The festive atmosphere of the Lunar New Year is getting stronger and stronger. Every household in the village has begun to prepare for the New Year, steaming rice cakes, steamed buns, dumplings, and stewing meat.
Although most households in the village have now abandoned coal stoves and switched to honeycomb briquette stoves, or even gas stoves if they are better off, they still habitually build a simple stove in the yard to boil water and cook while busy preparing food for the New Year. Firstly, they're cooking a lot, and using gas or honeycomb briquette stoves would be slow and expensive; secondly, isn't that what they want—the festive atmosphere?
So, wisps of smoke rise from every household in the village during the day, and one might even think that the smoke dispels some of the chill.
Xu Zhengyang's family was no exception. Xu Neng was in charge of boiling water and adding firewood, while Yuan Suqin and her daughter sat inside kneading bread, making buns, and rice cakes.
Xu Zhengyang, on the other hand, was responsible for going to the town or city to buy whatever his parents occasionally remembered they were missing.
After repeated urging and patient persuasion from Xu Zhengyang, Chen Chaojiang finally accepted the reason for taking a holiday during the Spring Festival and obediently returned home to help his family with chores. Considering Chen Chaojiang's personality, and that he was embarrassed to ask Xu Zhengyang for a ride when he needed to go out, Xu Zhengyang gave Chen Chaojiang his Yamaha 250 motorcycle, saying it was for him to use, but in reality, it was a gift.
When he's not busy, Xu Zhengyang asks his younger sister to teach him how to use the internet, such as how to browse websites, where to read news, and where to find books; she also teaches him some basic skills, like how to copy and paste, how to save, and how to download things...
As for typing, well, Xu Zhengyang managed to type three, five, seven, or eight words per minute, still using both hands and two fingers.
He wasn't in a hurry for these things, and he wasn't interested in chatting. He preferred to pay more attention to the news and look up information on unofficial histories, myths, and ghosts, which was not only convenient but also free.