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Home/ There’s A Beauty / Chapter 66 (Part 1)

Seeing that the gate of the main hall was about to close, You Shu hurriedly got inside.

The scene inside the main hall was even more magnificent than he had expected. The dome was covered with nine-day star charts, each shining brightly; the surroundings were filled with panoramic murals of mountains and rivers in Kyushu, and the gurgling sound of flowing water seemed to absorb a vast expanse of heaven and earth into it. On top of the palace was a huge table, with the masked Lord Yama sitting behind it, opening a register to take a closer look.

The entire hall was shimmering with a faint light, leaving him alone in pitch black. Apart from the purple lines on his mask, only an extremely tall and majestic shadow could be seen. The twenty-four prison masters were also wearing masks, sitting quietly and waiting at the bottom. Judging from their stiff body language, they should be very afraid of this Lord Yama.

You Shu became even more cautious as he tip-toed on the black stone bricks engraved with flowers. He slowly moved behind a pillar, and poked out half of his head to look. On the day Zhao Youshu attended the Qionglin Banquet, he had met Murong Lian, Emperor of Dayong, and Murong Xuan, Prince of Li. He still remembered their appearance vividly. 

After searching through his memory, You Shu identified these two people as the two most powerful masters today, and the one sitting in the high place was also clearly verifying the identities of these people.

“Are you Murong Lian, the emperor of Dayong, Murong Xuan, the Prince of Li, and Sun Shi, the Imperial Concubine?” Lord Yama put down the register and asked in a deep voice. Due to the mask, his already cold and inorganic voice sounded even more hollow and strange.

“If you know it’s me, then why don’t you let me go quickly? Otherwise, I’ll definitely deal with your nine clans!” Murong Lian shouted angrily.

“Presumptuous! Do you know where you are? How dare you raise your voice and shout here?” The prison master sitting first on the left side spoke coldly. Only when another prison master pointed towards the dome did he notice a black plaque hanging on it, engraved with three big cursive characters – The Underworld Hall.

It was only then that Murong Lian and the other two realized that they had been caught in hell and couldn’t help crying and struggling. Lord Yama ignored them and took out an account book, recounting the crimes of the three people one by one. After reading a total of 3,688 articles, he stopped and asked, “Do you plead guilty?”

“I am the emperor, the son of the true dragon, the Emperor Star, even if I am going to be punished, I should be interrogated by the Jade Emperor himself. How dare you, a little Yama, question this king?” Murong Lian asked with a ferocious expression.

The other party seemed to think these words were very ridiculous, causing him to let out a short and strange snort. Then with a wave of his hand, he brought the person closer, and said word by word, “However, a fake dragon with not a single fully grown scale dares to claim to be the Emperor Star in front of this king. Today I will peel off your dragon skin and break all of your dragon bones, let’s see how this dragon body of yours will survive then.” 

After speaking, he inserted his fingertips into the base of Murong Lian’s neck, pulling out his pale spine, then he peeled off the skin and threw it aside.

Seeing this, Murong Xuan and Imperial concubine Sun Shi, who were still maintaining their royal prestige, woke up and screamed together. They immediately kowtowed and confessed their guilt.  

However, even if they pleaded guilty, the man didn’t let them off lightly. He ordered the first and the second prison master to take them down to gouge out their eyes and tongue, and flog them two hundred times.

The place of execution was located in a corner of the hall, and the tragic scene was quite shocking. Fortunately, You Shu has seen all kinds of scenes in his life, so his mood was quite calm. He squatted on the ground and silently watched for a long time, even counting the number of lashes.  

Unconsciously, it took several hours for the three of them to finish their punishment before Lord Yama ordered the prison master to send them back to the mortal world. 

You Shu immediately followed the crowd out of the hall. Looking back, there was only darkness left behind…

When he opened his eyes the next day, he couldn’t recover for a long time. After washing up, he slowly walked towards the front hall, analyzing the dream all the way. With the lessons learned from “Zhao Youshu”, he will never naively think that everything in the dream was an illusion. 

That is to say, last night, Murong Lian, Murong Xuan and Sun Shi were indeed brought into hell for trial. “Zhao Youshu” was beaten a hundred times, and the corresponding injuries appeared on his body. What will happen to Murong Lian, whose bones were broken and skin was peeled off? What about Murong Xuan and Sun Shi, who were flogged two hundred times?

Nine out of ten, they won’t live long, right? Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but show a thoughtful expression.

Walking into the main hall, he saw an obscene looking middle-aged man already sitting at the dining table, playing with the food with a pair of chopsticks, which was very rude. You Shu glanced at him briefly and recognized the person’s identity.

This person’s name is Wang Fu and he comes from the ancestral home of Shaoxing. He is very sinister and vicious, and is countless times more greedy than “Zhao Youshu”. The two often clashed over the unequal distribution of spoils, but Wang Fu was directly recommended by the superior of “Zhao Youshu”, and he had a relationship with that superior’s in-laws. 

Since this person was not easy to offend, Zhao Youshu had to endure it. As time went by, Wang Fu felt that the county magistrate was young and easy to bully, and he became even more aggressive, regardless of rank or status.

“Yo, the county magistrate is here. How is the injury on your buttocks?” Wang Fu didn’t get up to salute, only glancing at You Shu’s buttocks, his eyes full of malice. 

In the past few days, because the county magistrate wasn’t present at the government office, Wang Fu took care of all the major and minor matters by himself, which can be said to be very influential. But now that You Shu has recovered from his injuries and has taken away his authority, he is naturally unwilling.

You Shu stared at the messy tabletop with a very gloomy expression. If he remembers correctly, although Wang Fu lives in the county government office, he has to take care of his own food. That is to say, what he is eating now belongs to “Zhao Youshu”, and he himself is Zhao Youshu.

After living two lifetimes, You Shu’s habit of protecting food has not changed, but he has learned to restrain himself a lot. He twirled his slightly itchy fingertips and pressed the veins on his forehead before sitting down at the table and picking up a bowl to eat.

Wang Fu put the only remaining chicken leg into You Shu’s bowl and said in a low voice, “County magistrate, have you prepared all the silver taels that Lord Wang asked you to pay as a tribute? If you have, then I will personally deliver it to the capital myself.”

After thinking for a moment, You Shu understood what he was talking about. In a few days it will be the birthday of Prince Li, Murong Xuan. Although he hasn’t been officially established as the crown prince, he has already moved into the Eastern Palace due to his mother’s favor. He has many supporters in court, and it happens that “Zhao Youshu” and his superior are among them. In order to stand out in front of Prince Li, they naturally racked their brains to search for treasures and hand them over. But where could they find any treasures in a small place like Suichang county, aren’t they all in the hands of the imperial merchants?

A few days ago, Zhao Youshu’s superior took a fancy to a coral tree and asked for 300,000 taels of silver from several magistrates below him, saying that whoever shows more filial piety would be promoted next year. An insignificant person like Zhao Youshu can’t even touch the edge of Prince Li’s clothes. Therefore, the only way for him to get promoted is to please the higher ups. So when he heard this statement, he naturally attached great importance to it.

He has already greeted the major wealthy households in Suichang County and asked them to raise money. These people were exploited by the county magistrate, so they naturally went to exploit the tenant farmers under their hands. As the saying goes, with every layer that gets cut, each next layer becomes thinner, until the common people are cut into walking corpses before the villains are finally willing to give up.

Zhao Youshu had already raised 180,000 taels of silver earlier, but he didn’t let Wang Fu know. He was also preventing Wang Fu from taking advantage of it. If he hadn’t come here, the previous “Zhao Youshu” would have handed over the money long ago. But now, You Shu has his own plans. 

He said bluntly, “I have raised 180,000 taels of silver, but I have some other uses for the money. Let Lord Wang figure out a way for himself.”

Wang Fu could hardly believe his ears. He threw away his chopsticks and asked, “What did you just say?”

“I have the money, but I can’t give it out.” You Shu repeated every word.

Wang Fu’s face turned ferocious, but then he softened his expression again, and tried to persuade him softly, “County magistrate, why are you getting angry with your subordinates? You can’t joke about your official career like this! There are seven or eight county magistrates under Lord Wang. They have already gone to raise money, and whoever moves quickly will be favored in his heart. Perhaps the person would even be able to transfer to the capital in the coming year. How can you miss such a great opportunity? Do you want to be a seventh-rank official for the rest of your life?”

You Shu’s plan is to become a high-ranking official, so that he can get in touch with higher-level ministers and nobles. Maybe he would be able to find his master among those people? But he would never tell his thoughts to an irrelevant person, so he just said lightly, “It’s not your turn to ask me what I want to do. I’ll do whatever I want to do.”

“Okay, okay, you can do whatever you want. Then I’ll go to the capital to report this matter to Lord Wang and see how he handles it!” Wang Fu suddenly got up and turned over the table. He stared at You Shu angrily, then flicked his sleeves and walked away, completely ignoring the young and inexperienced fledgling like You Shu. Being a top scorer at the age of eighteen is indeed remarkable, but if you don’t know how to conduct yourself in the world, you will only be a stepping stone for others for the rest of your life.

You Shu stared at the food spilled all over the ground, and his facial features gradually became twisted. If Wang Fu had looked back at this moment, perhaps he wouldn’t have walked blindly towards his own death.

“From Suichang to the capital, it takes seven days by carriage, and seventeen or eighteen days by foot. You break the shaft of his carriage when he reaches a place where there is no village nearby. If he rents a carriage in the next town, you must break it again and delay him.” While ordering people to clean up the mess on the ground, he used his spiritual power to order a female ghost who he had just gotten under his command.

The female ghost used to be a cook in the county government office, but her life wasn’t good. Her husband abandoned her for another woman, and her children refused to recognize her. Although she had no obsessions, she had no place to be buried, so she became a lonely ghost who could not be reincarnated. You Shu agreed to save her in exchange for her help.

The female ghost repeatedly agreed and chased after Wang Fu, while You Shu ordered the servants not to prepare such a rich breakfast, but just a bowl of porridge and a few steamed buns. What he eats, wears, and uses now are all the hard-earned money of the common people. If he extravagantly spends it again, he will truly be punished by heaven. Not only must he be diligent and frugal himself, but the people under him must also do the same.

While thinking about how to reset the rules and regulations of the county government, he walked to the court to deal with government affairs. In the main hall, apart from a young servant who was sweeping the ground, there was no one else in sight. The constables, yamen servants and other small officials, they all ran off to somewhere.

“Where’s everyone?” You Shu looked at the boy, who was hesitating and couldn’t speak clearly.

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