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Home/ There’s A Beauty / Chapter 68 (Part 1)

The next day, as the villagers of Lijia Village were still on their way, You Shu went early to investigate the jailer who had been imprisoned for dereliction of his duty.  

Unexpectedly, the yamen servants, petty officials, and constables who had not been on duty for a long time all arrived together, claiming that there was a lot of injustice done in this case, and they asked the County Magistrate to investigate again.

The jailer’s wife also knelt at the door crying for grievances with snot and tears rolling down her face, looking very pitiful.

“Zhao Youshu” has a lot of criminal records in his name. Although You Shu made some compensation yesterday, it didn’t benefit the general public. Therefore, the people still don’t trust him very much, and there is a hint of doubt in their eyes. 

But they didn’t help the woman either, because the woman’s husband is an official servant, and he does a lot of evil things on weekdays to bully his neighbours. If he is sentenced, it will be considered retribution.

Everyone watched with cold eyes, waiting for the two groups of people in the hall to bite each other to death. It was evident that the hatred for the officials has penetrated deep into the bone marrow of the villagers. If it was another person, he would definitely have a headache right now, but You Shu would only do his best to deal with the situation as he saw fit, and he didn’t think too much about it.

He summoned the other jailers to recount last night’s incident. 

Unexpectedly, the jailer who said conclusively last night that Li Gui was the one who choked himself to death changed his words. Now, he is saying that Li Gui first rolled on the ground in pain, and then died violently. Perhaps he had some kind of urgent illness. 

Immediately afterwards, the coroner also stood up and said that he had just gone to examine the corpse and realized that Li Gui died very strangely, and he must have been beaten by someone.

Among the 20 strong men newly hired by You Shu, several showed fearful and guilty expressions, with cold sweat flowing on their foreheads like a waterfall, and their faces were as pale as paper.

At this moment, if You Shu didn’t notice any clues, he would’ve grown such a super brain in vain. All these people suddenly disappeared, and appeared one after another, undoubtedly preparing to deal with himself. The County Magistrate suddenly acted so justly that he had already obstructed their eyes and blocked their way. So how can they not think of getting rid of him?

In today’s Dayong Kingdom, the corruption in the government has reached the point where it is difficult to recover. On one hand, corrupt officials account for the vast majority, and as these officials protect each other, they become increasingly depraved. While the officials who originally had great enthusiasm and wanted to do something to benefit the common people had difficulty establishing themselves. They were either ostracised and suppressed or framed and conspired, and some were even killed on the road before they even took office.

You Shu understood that his current situation was very dangerous, but he was not completely helpless. Glancing at the starving ghost rushing in, he asked with his mental power, “How did the investigation go?”

“My lord, you were right. They are indeed planning to join forces to deal with you. Just as Li Gui died last night, someone sent a letter to Wang Fu’s confidants. Before dawn this morning, they ran to the place where the corpse was placed, and beat Li Gui’s body with hundreds of sticks, breaking all of his bones. Then they spent a hundred taels of silver to bribe the few people you hired yesterday, and let them testify in court that you ordered them to torture Li Gui to death. When Wang Fu returns, they will use this to impeach you.”

You Shu moved his fingertips slightly and shot out a yin-yang vitality talisman, sending the starving ghost away, and then looked at everyone in the hall expressionlessly.  

As the saying goes, “a lot of mouths make gold, but accumulation destroys bones.” He finally realised the true meaning of this sentence today. So many people spoke in unison, and even his own employees came forward to identify him. Whatever he says now would only sound like sophistry to others.

{“A lot of mouths make gold, but accumulation destroys bones”= Referring to the public opinion, which can reverse right and wrong, and cause people’s death}

He quickly thought about the countermeasures, but saw the four yamen servants carrying the corpse to the hall on their own initiative, and let the coroner examine it in front of everyone. Li Gui’s and the jailer’s wife cried uncontrollably that they almost fainted.

You Shu was really angry at this time. He took out the few yin ghost talismans that he just made last night to trigger them, thinking that since you used such cunning tricks against me first, don’t blame me for being ruthless.

However, just at this time, the air suddenly twisted for a moment, and a tall man wearing a black cloak and a purple mask appeared in the hall, walking slowly. But both the onlookers and the crying wives turned a blind eye to him, except for You Shu whose body was slightly stiff.

Doesn’t this lord have a lot of things to do every day? Why is he here? Could it be that he is here to monitor me? Or has he discovered my identity as an outsider? You Shu immediately hid the ghost talismans in his sleeve pocket. Then he picked up the gavel and prepared to slap it hard.

It’s good that he didn’t do any extra actions, otherwise he would’ve almost exposed his secrets. But because he was so frightened, a lot of fine sweat unconsciously broke out from the palm of his hand. As soon as he grasped the smooth gavel and prepared to slap it, he fell to the ground with a bang, looking extremely embarrassed. 

He quickly bent down to pick up the gavel, and while he was hiding behind the tablecloth, he immediately wiped the cold sweat from his palms and forehead. Then he straightened up and continued the interrogation, pretending to be calm.

Originally, he wanted to use the yin ghost talisman to create the illusion of a few dead people to scare this group, and then make them speak the truth in horror. But now, Lord Yama himself is in the hall, so it should be better than the ghost talismans, right? 

Thinking of this, he heavily slapped the gavel and asked, “Zheng Wuzuo, do you dare swear to heaven that there wasn’t a single lie in what you just said?”

“This villain swears to heaven that everything I said just now is true. Li Gui indeed died of being beaten.”

You Shu looked at the three coolies who had already knelt down and identified himself, “How dare you swear to heaven? You must know that heaven has eyes, and there will be cause and effect. If you deliberately frame this official, you will be sentenced to the eighteenth layer of hell and have your tongue pulled out.”

The three coolies hesitated for a moment, then raised their hands to swear. They were also forced and helpless. If their family members were not controlled by Wang Fu’s lackeys, why would they do such a shameless thing? It is said that good people don’t live long, and good officials don’t end well. County Magistrate Zhao wants to be a good official, which is his biggest mistake.

You Shu nodded, revealing a sad expression at the right time. As he had expected, Lord Yama, who had been watching coldly, finally took action. He first walked to the coroner and strangled his neck, making him stick out his tongue in suffocation before cutting it off. He then walked to the three coolies, repeating the same thing. But because these three people were also victims, he only cut their tongues in half, without cutting them off at the root.

After doing all this, he stared at his blood-stained palm for a long time without moving. Not knowing what he was thinking, he was stunned for a while before disappearing.

You Shu took a deep breath, and thought to himself: This Lord Yama is indeed a person with a strong sense of justice, and he will not allow any injustice to happen under his nose, that’s why he personally took action. 

This lord can even judge the emperor of the country, and of course he can also supervise the next successor. Under his control, there may still be a glimmer of hope for the Dayong Kingdom.  

The reason why he frequently interrogates corrupt officials who have not yet reached their lifespan is probably due to the corruption of the mediocre officials, and the fact that too many unjust ghosts have been thrown into hell must make Lord Yama feel pressured, right? 

The two realms of Yin and Yang are closely related to each other and are not completely isolated. When the rule of a mortal is beyond control, they can only be intimidated by ghosts and gods…

While You Shu was thinking all this, the hall was already in chaos. Imagine the terrifying scene where a few people who swore that they were not lying had their necks lifted, stuck out their tongues, which were then cut to pieces by someone out of thin air. Think about the warning of the County Magistrate, this is clearly the retribution from heaven, and their tongues must’ve been pulled out by the ghost messenger!

What this represents is self-evident. The people of Dayong Kingdom live a very difficult life, and they had to find some spiritual support in order to survive. Nine out of ten people believe in Buddhism and have a firm belief in the theory of cause and effect.

It is more effective to let them see a miracle with their own eyes than to justify with a hundred words in front of them. The crowd immediately boiled over, strongly condemning these people’s disrespectful behaviour to ghosts and gods.

“Just after taking the oath, the tongue was cut off. Heaven must be watching from above! If you want to survive, you should quickly tell the truth!”

“County Magistrate, there’s no need for an interrogation, they are all falsely accusing you, just take them out and behead them immediately!”

“Evil will be rewarded with evil, and kindness will be rewarded with kindness. When the time comes, these people will definitely be caught by the ghost messenger and sent to hell!”

These comments scared the souls of everyone in the hall, especially the four people who actually suffered from it. Although the pain was unbearable, they still kowtowed to You Shu, desperately hoping to be forgiven by him.

You Shu forcefully slapped the gavel and asked, “I’ll ask you again, how did Li Gui die?”

Zheng Wuzuo couldn’t speak, so he quickly wrote on the ground with his own blood: My lord, Li Gui was lying on his back after drinking, and was choked to death by his own vomit. The reason why the corpse’s bones were broken was because of the repeated beatings by the coroner and the others this morning, and it has nothing to do with you!

The three coolies couldn’t write. They covered their bloody mouths and spoke vaguely, making it impossible for others to distinguish what they were saying. But even if they didn’t understand half a word, everyone knows that they must be admitting their crimes.

The jailers, who had been continuously shouting about their grievances before, were so frightened that their hearts and livers were about to split. Without any interrogation by the County Magistrate, they explained everything about how they conspired to frame him. Several other petty officials also could not resist the pressure and knelt down to confess their crimes.

You Shu didn’t talk nonsense, he just ordered the people to be dragged down and beaten with sticks. After the beating, each one wrote down their own crimes, and then they were charged and sentenced according to the severity of their crimes.  

After handling Li Gui’s death, people from Lijia Village also arrived, and You Shu then proceeded to interrogate several partners of Li Ergou. Due to the dream of being caught in hell and subjected to extreme punishment last night, several people confessed their guilt and were willing to be punished.

Within an hour, all the cases were settled, and You Shu left amidst the cheers of the people. From this day on, the people of Suichang County have changed their impression of the County Magistrate, with some people praising him very much, some being grateful to him, and some people still carrying an attitude of wait and see.

After taking off his official hat, You Shu held it in his palms, and quickly walked towards the dining room. Having been busy all morning, he was so hungry that his chest was almost pressed against his back.

However, as soon as he walked around the rockery, he saw a man wearing a cloak and a mask standing less than a foot in front of him.

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