Chapter Sixty: Progress Bar for Becoming a Regular Employee 13/100

General Huo, who had been listening quietly to the side, also opened his eyes wide and exchanged a glance with Su Zhenzhen.

“There are very few people with the surname Huo. Our ancestors were few in number, and some distant relatives died out in my generation. Even if she really has the surname Huo, she should be kept in the capital and protected.”

Everyone understands what this means. It has always been the case that military officers' families must be kept under the emperor's watchful eye.

Su Zhenzhen mentally estimated the time. The old man's youth was more than seventy years ago. Going back, it corresponds to the time of Jiang Yichun's father, the Chang Emperor, which is the generation of General Huo's father.

If the woman who fled here truly had the surname Huo, then she must be General Huo's aunt.

"Does your father have any sisters?" Su Zhenzhen asked directly.

General Huo shook his head, "My grandmother only gave birth to my father, and my grandfather..."

Just as he was about to say that the old man had never taken a concubine, General Huo suddenly thought of Huo Rouzhen.

Su Zhenzhen understood from his hesitant expression that he hadn't even figured out his father's concubine situation, let alone his grandfather's past.

Su Zhenzhen then looked at the old man, "Are you sure that girl's surname was Huo? Did she have any travel permits or anything like that at the time?"

The old man scratched his head and thought for a long time. Those things were too far away. If it weren't for his obsession, he would have really buried them with him and never been known to anyone.

“I didn’t see the travel permit, but when the matchmaker was matching the horoscopes, the girl took out the birth chart, and the first character on it was Huo.”

Su Zhenzhen didn't know much about the marriage certificates of this era and didn't know if they could be forged, so she looked at Hensheng.

Hensheng received the information and explained, "According to the records of the Jiang Dynasty, both household registration and marriage certificate require the official seal, and the marriage also needs to be registered with the government. This cannot be faked."

Things got interesting. During Emperor Chang's reign, a young woman from the Huo family fled to a border region.

It's possible that the girl's surname is also Huo, but that possibility is extremely low.

Su Zhenzhen felt her mind was a jumbled mess, as if some important information had flashed by, only to vanish just as she tried to grasp it.

The veterans were comforting the elderly.

“Uncle, we’ve lived in the same military camp for decades, and then hid in the mountains for twenty years. Don’t we brothers know your character? Don’t worry about this. We trust you.”

"Yes, we've encountered barbarian spies before. Those women are beautiful, but their hearts are wicked. I think that Miss Huo is probably a marriage swindler."

Fearing that Su Zhenzhen might not understand, someone thoughtfully explained the marriage scam.

“In some poor villages, people can’t find wives. When a girl who has fled from disaster comes to the village and is willing to marry her, the family will take out all their savings. On the wedding day, the bride’s parents, brothers and sisters and a whole family of relatives will come to the village and accuse the village of trafficking girls. The government has already been bribed. These people can only suffer losses.”

Isn't this just a honey trap from the 906th century?

Su Zhenzhen suddenly realized something, "In other words, these brides who commit marriage fraud don't genuinely want to get married."

"Of course, who would want to spend their whole life in a poor mountain village?"

Su Zhenzhen discovered a crucial contradiction: the old man's hometown was close to the front lines, where people frequently died in battle, which is why the butcher was able to steal barbarian corpses to adulterate the pork.

This place isn't much better than some poor mountain village. If another war breaks out, we might be the next ones to die.

Does Miss Huo really want to marry him? No, of course not! They've already come out to escape the war, why would they want to flee to a place where there's fighting?

Su Zhenzhen voiced her speculation, "Grandma, you were completely framed back then. Think about it, how much better could the front lines be than some remote mountain village? What did a perfectly good young woman want when she married an ugly, old, and ill-tempered butcher? There must have been more than just the butcher among the wealthy men back then, right? So she deliberately staged this scene of being humiliated in order to break off the engagement."

The old man thought about it carefully and it seemed to make sense. "So, I was really framed? I didn't do anything to bully anyone."

Su Zhenzhen quickly gave the other veterans a wink.

Everyone understood and chimed in agreement.

"Yes, Uncle, you've been wronged."

"Uncle, it was that bride who deliberately harmed you."

The karmic threads on the old man loosened, and Su Zhenzhen immediately opened the Cycle of Reincarnation and sent him inside.

In my mind's eye, the progress bar for becoming a permanent employee is updating in real time: 13/100

Fearing that Hensheng might misunderstand that she was only thinking about performance, Su Zhenzhen quickly explained.

“He can’t be reincarnated until the karmic threads on his body are untied. So many years have passed since this incident, and we can’t find the people from back then at all. The truth should be pretty much true. As long as the old man believes he was wronged, and we all believe him, his obsession will naturally dissipate. Don’t be fooled by his words that he’s forgotten; this injustice has haunted him for most of his life, creating karmic threads. Don’t worry, he fought and defended the country in this life, so he’ll definitely be reborn into a good family in the next.”

Upon hearing this, the veterans kept thanking Su Zhenzhen, saying, "It's good that you were reborn into this world. This life has been too hard. May you have a better life in the next one."

Hensheng knew that Su Zhenzhen was doing all this for the old man's good. After death, if one is not reincarnated, is the life of a lonely ghost really that easy? However, he was thinking about another question.

“Miss Su, according to your assumption, the bride framed Elder Da Dao in order to break off the engagement. Then why did she agree to the marriage in the first place?”

Su Zhenzhen had just had an idea too, but she was busy explaining to Hensheng and forgot about it in her haste.

"Wait a minute, my mind is a mess right now. I feel like there's something I'm overlooking. Let me think about it some more."

"This matter is now settled, so don't worry about it," Hensheng said calmly. "Our most urgent task is to return to Shanxian County as soon as possible."

As they were talking, Qingshan returned with the people who had buried the old man's body.

The others explained what happened next to him, and Qingshan and the others also expressed their gratitude to Su Zhenzhen. They said that old matters are just unsolved mysteries, and it is more important for the old man to be reincarnated and start a new life as soon as possible.

There were too many people on the way back, and if we took the official road in Dan County, it would inevitably attract the attention of others.

Hensheng decided to lead the Huo family army over the mountains into the border state and circle back to Shanxian County.

This is the route the Huo family army took when they fled back then. Twenty years later, walking in the opposite direction, everyone's state of mind is very different.

Su Zhenzhen was also unsettled, having thought about this matter quite a bit along the way, and also urged General Huo to think carefully about which relatives he had.

Seeing that Su Zhenzhen kept her brows furrowed, Hensheng couldn't help but comfort her, "Don't force yourself."

Just as Su Zhenzhen was about to say she wouldn't force her, a salty, metallic taste rose in her throat, and she couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood.