Chapter 58 The Judge Gradually Gets on the Right Track

Cool fingertips nestled between warm fingers, two completely different temperatures strangely merging at this moment. The faint light of gold threads flowed and swirled between clasped hands, forming a tiny halo that was imperceptible to outsiders. Power was silently circulating, exchanging, and nourishing each other.

Bai Yan felt her response and his heart skipped a beat, followed by a surge of complex emotions that were hard to describe.

He closed his fingers, wrapping her cold hand even tighter in his palm.

Jiang Yuzhi's gaze slowly lowered, falling once more on the cloth and needle case. The sorrow in her eyes subsided, and a touch of ink appeared deep within her red eyes.

Although it was very inappropriate, Di Ting still interrupted them, "Zhi Zhi, this guy has finished eating all the snacks."

"It's alright, let it eat." Jiang Yuzhi hurriedly withdrew, suddenly remembering the matter of establishing a station in the underworld. "Mingze, Auntie said she's going to the Princess's residence tomorrow to welcome us. You should rest well first. I'll take Diting to the shop, and I'll leave Chichi to you."

Bai Yan knew she needed to calm down. "You need to rest too, Yu Zhi. I'll bring Chi Chi back next door. See you at the Princess's residence tomorrow."

Jiang Yuzhi forced herself to calm down and said, "Okay, I'll get some rest."

...

After explaining her destination to Zhong Yuxiu in the study, Jiang Yuzhi took Zhi Er, Zhi San, and Di Ting to the funeral clothing shop.

Despite the sluggish business at the shop, which hadn't been seen for several days, Jiang Yuzhi was quite satisfied.

Everything is about to get back on track.

Little Jin lay obediently on the counter, dozing off, its tail slowly and rhythmically patting the wooden surface.

Today, it was Madam Zhou who was guarding the counter. When she saw Jiang Yuzhi come in, she stood up happily and said, "Miss is back."

"How has Madam Zhou been lately?"

"Thanks to you, we have enough to eat and wear. It's just... I hope my son hasn't caused you any trouble?" Madam Zhou nervously gripped the hem of her dress with her hands hanging at her sides.

"No, he learns very quickly."

"That's good, that's good."

"If Madam Zhou misses him, come back to the Jiang residence with me later, and we can have a meal together."

"Okay, okay! Thank you, Miss."

Jiang Yuzhi nodded with a smile. She could see that Madam Zhou missed Zhou Yong. However, Zhou Yong had probably been reincarnated by now. Zhao Pingfeng was occupying the body and could not be considered a living person, but he was still Madam Zhou's hope.

The task of checking the accounts fell to Zhiyi and Zhisi, with the two ghosts working on the second floor, one counting and the other recording.

"Zhiyi, Zhisi, put the things down first, let's go to the backyard."

"Yes, miss."

As Jiang Yuzhi went downstairs, she gently woke up Xiao Jin, but didn't hold Di Ting in her arms for fear of upsetting him.

In the study in the backyard.

"After discussing it with Brother Fan, we decided to use the shop as a base for the underworld in the human world, responsible for regularly ferrying away ghosts that have been missed by the ghost messengers," Jiang Yuzhi briefly explained her idea.

The four weavers nodded as if they understood. Before coming to the mortal world, they were all veterans among the ghost messengers. If their souls hadn't been injured, they would still be busy on the road of collecting souls.

Zhiyi: "Miss, we are only able to travel in the mortal realm because we are relying on Lord Diting's barrier. I'm afraid we won't be able to last long without it."

That's true; normal ghost messengers aren't bound by these rules.

However, the four soul-weaving bodies have gaps. They usually stay either in the Jiang residence and shop or close to Di Ting and her. The barrier and the Soul-Soothing Bell can help the four soul-weaving bodies stabilize.

After being separated from both, the ghost's power will leak out and go berserk within half an hour, and then the soul will be scattered.

After learning of Jiang Yuzhi's plan, Di Ting had already come up with an idea: "It's alright. If the outpost is really built, ask the Great Emperor to give you more positions. Then you'll have the protection of the laws of heaven and earth."

The four weavers were overjoyed and thanked her repeatedly. They had thought that there was no hope for their survival and that they could only ask the young lady for a small favor, but they never expected that there was another way out.

"This shop in Kyoto is one, and there's another one in Wannan. You four can split into two groups and go to Wannan, taking Xiao Jin with you. What do you think?" With the biggest problem solved, the next step is to decide on the ghosts to go to Wannan.

Zhiyi and Zhier volunteered to take Xiaojin to Wannan.

Zhisan and Zhisi stayed in Kyoto to look after the existing shops.

Jiang Yuzhi had not received any definite news from the underworld yet, so she planned to wait until evening. If there was still no news, she would go there in person, but she would have to wait until Xiuxiu fell asleep before setting off.

After explaining the situation to Madam Zhou, Zhiyi and Zhier immediately set off, traveling to the outskirts of the capital city before heading from the underworld to Wannan.

The shop was run by a weaver named Zhi Si, and Zhou Niangzi returned to the Jiang residence with Jiang Yuzhi.

The Jiang residence was filled with flowers and plants that Zhou Niangzi had never seen before. Despite the sweltering summer heat, a chill permeated the house, causing Zhou Niangzi to shiver involuntarily.

"Madam Zhou, I'll have someone take you to see Zhou Yong. I'll call you again when it's time for your meal."

"Oh, okay, thank you, Miss."

The only two conscious maids in the Jiang residence are Zhi'er and Zhi'san. Now they are tending the shop, and only paper figures remain in the house.

Jiang Yuzhi said softly, "Someone come here." A dull-looking maid stepped out from the shadows, an unnatural smile on her lips, and bowed. "Take Madam Zhou to the backyard to find Young Master Zhou."

The maid nodded without saying a word, gestured for Zhou Niangzi to follow, and led the people away.

Zhou Niangzi felt a chill run down her spine, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what was wrong. The joy of seeing her son soon overshadowed her unease.

Di Ting followed closely to Jiang Yuzhi's leg, walking in the opposite direction from Zhou Niangzi.

Zhong Yuxiu was organizing the plot of the storybook in the study when she heard the creaking sound of the door opening and looked up from behind her desk.

"You're back, and A-Ting is here too." Zhong Yuxiu said in a calm voice, but she stood up abruptly, pounced on Di Ting, hugged it, and vigorously ruffled its fluffy long fur.

Di Ting twitched his nose slightly and indeed smelled a familiar scent on Zhong Yuxiu. He then subtly gave Jiang Yuzhi a look.

Jiang Yuzhi immediately understood that Xiuxiu was no longer an ordinary mortal. Why would a person from outside the secular world be chosen as a reserve candidate for the position of Judge Wen?

I'm completely baffled.

"Xiuxiu, you can sleep peacefully tonight. A-Ting and I will watch over you."

"Woof!" Di Ting barked in agreement.

"Waaaah, I'm so sorry to trouble Tamaki, and A-Ting, she's so cute, waaaah, let Auntie give her a kiss."

Di Tingsheng, utterly despondent, allowed her to touch him all over.

...

Next door at the Bai residence, a father and son sat silently with a sheep.

Bai Wulan, who was never idle, glanced at her son, who was silently feeding her, while looking at the urgent report that had just arrived.

"Was the sheep a gift from Miss Jiang? A token of their love?"

"No." Chichi enjoyed being fed by Bai Yan, lying on the tatami with a look of pure bliss.

"You're planning to give this to Miss Jiang?"

"no."

"If neither of those are the case, why did you decide to get one?"

"Sheep of Huai'an".

"Huai'an? Never mind, I'm too old to understand what you're thinking."

Bai Yan paused in feeding, then placed the whole plate of pastries near Chi Chi's mouth. He took out the handkerchief Jiang Yuzhi had given him from his bosom, thought for a moment, then put the handkerchief back into his bosom. Instead of going to great lengths, he asked the servant to bring him another handkerchief to wipe his hands.

"Father, how exactly did Mother fall for you?" Bai Yan sincerely wanted to know the answer, but as soon as he asked, he shook his head to himself, "Never mind, I've heard you tell me that many times already."

Bai Wulan stopped reading the letter and put down her pen. "What? Miss Jiang doesn't think much of you?"

Bai Yan sighed, hesitated for a moment, and then expressed his feelings, "Yu Zhi... she always has concerns. She wants to get close to someone but something is holding her back. Father, I want to help her."

Bai Wulan rarely saw her son looking so lost and helpless. She chuckled and took the letter back from his hand. "If you want to help her, then give her your trust. Everything else will fall into place naturally."

Bai Yan seemed to understand but not quite. After eating until he was almost done, he started nudging him with his head.

Bai Wulan: "Don't get in my way here, take the sheep out."

Bai Yan had no choice but to follow his father's suggestion and take Chi Chi for a stroll around the mansion.

...

After listening to Fan Wujiu's report, the Emperor of Fengdu stroked his non-existent beard with satisfaction and put the notebook in his hand on the table. "The idea is good. Let's do as Xiaozhi said. Now we will try it in Wannan and Kyoto. Xiao Hei, go and select four ghost messengers to help. I will put them all in the records. In this way, they can walk freely in the mortal world."

The Emperor's words clearly indicated an intention to create new positions in the Underworld. Heaven is generally quite lenient in this regard, and will not oppose any proposals that benefit Heaven and Earth. Fan Wujiu accepted the order and went to make the arrangements.

Several months later, the Central Ghost King, who was investigating the ghost messengers alone, finally found out the results.

Fan Wujiu had just left when he came in.

The Central Ghost King presented a list with a solemn expression. "Your Majesty, you guessed right. I checked all the ghost messengers against the list one by one, and I found two who were indeed problematic."

The Emperor of Fengdu abandoned his relaxed posture, picked up the register, and said, "Oh?"

The Central Ghost King recounted the whole story he had uncovered.

The two ghost messengers were well hidden, diligently collecting souls and taking turns guarding hell.

When ghost messengers are busy, it's normal for them to make mistakes or omissions in their tasks. They just need to report it and another ghost messenger will be assigned to clean up the mess, and there will be no punishment.

However, these two ghost messengers never made a mistake when they were traveling together. To be precise, they never made a mistake after bringing back Zhao Qingyun's soul.

The Book of Life and Death records that there should have been another soul brought back at the same time as Zhao Qingyun, so it's unclear why these two ghosts only brought back one.

The Central Ghost King secretly brought the two ghost messengers to the dark dungeon of Hell. Judge Lu never came, so the Central Ghost King had to interrogate them himself. To his surprise, he discovered that the two ghost messengers had long been corrupted by an unknown red power.

This force was both unfamiliar and familiar; the Central Ghost King recognized it—it belonged to Zhao Qingyun, who was imprisoned in the seventeenth level of hell.

Zhao Qingyun once released his ghostly power to incite other evil spirits in hell to riot, and his aura was exactly the same as that of the two ghost messengers.

The Emperor of Fengdu frowned. It was Zhao Qingyun again? It seemed he really needed to go see him.

On the other side, Zhong Yuxiu fell asleep, with Jiang Yuzhi and Diting keeping a close watch on her.

Before long, Zhong Yuxiu's soul seemed to be pulled away from her body by something, and a familiar-looking ghost messenger appeared out of thin air by the bedside carrying a box.

"It's you!" Jiang Yuzhi exclaimed in surprise.

The little imp's eyes almost popped out, and he hurriedly pressed them down, fixing them back in place. "Miss Jiang, what are you doing here?" His eyes rolled around in their sockets a couple of times, glancing at the white dog squatting to the side. "Ah! Lord Di Ting is here too."

"Xiao Wen, are you sure she is Judge Wen?" Di Ting asked calmly.

Xiao Wen was the ghost messenger who accompanied Jiang Yuzhi when she met Lu Zhidao in the underworld. Xiao Ji, who was Lu Zhidao and the Martial Judge, also had a ghost messenger named Xiao Wu by his side. At that time, the Martial Judge was dealing with the affairs of the Civil Judge, so Xiao Wen had no choice but to follow behind the Martial Judge and urge him to reduce the mountain of case files.

“Yes, my lord, the Emperor told me that my proper master is almost able to work,” Xiao Wen pointed to the sky and lowered his voice, “I have already received guidance, so the Emperor gave me iron pills and told me to hurry up and bring the man over so I don’t have to see Judge Lu’s dark face.”

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Author's Note: [Hugs]