Chapter 17 Chapter 17 Climbing into someone else’s yard to “pick up”…
Inside the extradition office, You Yunyi continued, "Anyway, your brother is still urging your parents to sell their house back home. He'll take whatever he can get, since he doesn't mind it. Your parents are worried about their own retirement, so they've been reluctant to give in. They insist on your brother returning home before they continue to provide him with living expenses."
"Your brother completely lost his parents' support this month. He had no choice but to give up his little remaining dignity and work as a servant for his rich second-generation friends. He spends his days in your house, living a carefree life, eating, drinking, and taking drugs."
Cheng Jiao was speechless and said, "No wonder you just said that, Mr. You... the new owners of my house spend much more time at home than I did before. They really like my house..."
At this point, Cheng Jiao, who had not planned to die but was still thinking about her relatives in life, couldn't help but open up.
"My parents favor boys over girls, and I've known since I was little that they were particularly indulgent toward my younger brother. But I never expected that even after he became addicted to drugs, they still wouldn't give up on him."
Cheng Jiao shook her head and slowly said, reminiscing, "I wasn't actually called this before. My parents named me 'Shengnan' when I was born. Cheng Shengnan."
"Because of this name, I used to deceive myself by saying my parents weren't actually son-centric, that they were just a little influenced by old-fashioned thinking. But in reality, they had high expectations for me as a daughter, so they hoped I'd be named 'Shengnan'... It's much better than 'Zhaodi', right?"
"When I was in college, my roommates talked about their siblings. Actually, my dorm was pretty typical. There were four of us: an only child from Beijing, the eldest sister from a family with two older sisters and a younger brother, the youngest daughter from a family with two daughters whose parents had tried to have a son but failed, so they had a daughter instead. And then there was me, the older sister from a family with a brother and sister."
"When we were chatting, my roommates who came from families with two sisters and one brother, and those who came from families with two daughters, both openly admitted that their parents favored boys over girls, but I didn't."
"I just said that my mom was disliked by my grandparents at the time because she gave birth to a daughter like me. So she had no choice but to give birth to another child, my brother. Only then did my grandparents treat my mom better."
"Then my roommate, an only child in Beijing, was very blunt and pointed. She said, 'Actually, your parents are somewhat biased towards boys, aren't they?' ... I didn't want to start a fight, so I just didn't respond. But I was actually a little upset at the time. I thought my parents weren't biased towards boys as everyone says. They just had some stereotypes about the division of labor between men and women."
"...For example, our house has three bedrooms. The master bedroom is theirs, and the largest secondary bedroom was supposed to be mine. The smallest secondary bedroom was given to my brother. Is this how sons are favored over daughters?"
"Later, I learned that giving small, seemingly minor favors to daughters and actual benefits to sons is a common form of favoring sons over daughters. I had too little information on this before."
"One winter break during college, when I went home, I overheard my parents chatting. They casually said in front of me that when my brother got married, the master bedroom would belong to him and his wife, and my parents would sleep in my second bedroom. They even discussed how to renovate my second bedroom... They naturally excluded me from the discussion, and I could only retort in my heart, 'Your son definitely doesn't want to live with you in the future'..."
"It's actually quite troublesome to change my name after I start working. My parents tried to stop me when they found out. I also thought that it's just a name. As long as I know what I'm doing, there's nothing wrong with not changing it. But after much thought, I still want to change it. I see the new name as a fresh start."
Cheng Jiao looked towards the Zhiyin Wall, looking at the house that had been ruined to the point of being almost unrecognizable. She said, "This used to be my home, my own home... But now that I'm dead, it's only natural that it has another owner. But... by the way, the specific address of my home is—"
Cheng Jiao gave the address down to the street number, then turned to look at the camera: "If anyone in the mortal world can see the live broadcast, maybe they can call the police? After all, they're taking drugs, and who knows, they might even catch the drug dealers."
After finishing speaking, Cheng Jiao stood up and said, "Thank you, Mr. You. Can I go drink Meng Po soup now?"
You Yunyi nodded slightly: "Okay. But, don't you ask about the future of your parents and brother?"
Cheng Jiao laughed and said, "It's already like this, how can they still live well? Let's not waste this time."
Relaxed, Cheng Jiao left the extradition office and came to the Naihe Bridge.
Meng Po was in the form of an old woman today, smiling kindly. She served a bowl of soup to Cheng Jiao and said, "Good child, today's soup tastes like sleeping pills."
Cheng Jiao: "...Can Mengpo Soup be flavored?"
Meng Po nodded leisurely and looked at the live broadcast screen in the square in front of the extradition office in the distance.
In the live broadcast room, on the information wall of the Extradition Department office, images from the world of the living are being played.
The subject of this image is a police officer. She's been working non-stop for nearly seventy hours without sleep, and just now, persuaded by her colleagues to rest, she lay down on her cot. But even then, her mind was still preoccupied with the case, and she couldn't fall asleep. So, she simply took the documents and read them while lying down.
Then the picture from the live broadcast room appeared on the document. Logically speaking, paper is not a good choice for projection, and words on the paper will affect the projection effect. However, this live broadcast room is not the same as ordinary projection. It appeared on the document in an extremely clear form. The police were stunned for a while when they saw this picture.
After the live broadcast ended, she turned over and sat up without thinking. She had no time to figure out how the scene just now appeared. With the mentality of "it is better to kill by mistake than to let the criminal go", she walked out of the dormitory and returned to the office area, telling her colleagues the address mentioned by Li Chengjiao in the live broadcast room just now.
"I received news that some people are gathering here to take drugs. Come with me to take a look!" she said seriously.
Colleagues immediately stood up and prepared to go out on the scene, and then advised: "Sister Zhao, you really can't sleep any longer. We are the only ones who can handle this matter. Go to sleep quickly, go quickly--"
The decisive Sister Zhao originally wanted to insist on going together, but then she remembered Cheng Jiao who died suddenly from overwork in the live broadcast room just now... Could it be a warning that she would see this live broadcast room?
There are still so many cases waiting for her and her colleagues to solve. If she dies suddenly on the job, it will cause too much trouble for the bureau. Moreover, there are enough other people to catch a few people who are gathering to take drugs. Whether she goes or not will not have much impact at the moment.
So Sister Zhao nodded out of prudence and said, "Okay, I'll rest for a while and get up after you catch the person."
Seeing that she listened to advice and finally took care of her health, the other police colleagues felt much more relieved.
The ghosts watching the live broadcast on the big screen of the underworld were also happy when they saw the police going out to arrest Cheng Jiao's brother and the group of drug addicts.
"I didn't expect that among the dying people in the mortal world who were watching the live broadcast, there would be a police officer."
"Great, catch those evildoers!"
"They say raising a son is a way to prepare for old age, but if they raise someone like Cheng Jiao's brother, their parents might not even live to see old age."
"It's a different era now, and you still have such feudal ideas. This is retribution for what you have done."
"Alas, what a pity for Cheng Jiao. She was so ambitious and had a bright future. It's a shame that she died so young."
"So it's good to be ambitious, but health comes first. If you're not alive, what's the point of saving so much money?"
Amid the discussions among the audience, the live broadcast screen went dark, and You Yunyi said that today's two-hour live broadcast time was over.
However, You Yunyi's work was not over yet, and the extradition department continued to call numbers.
After this round of one hundred numbers was over, the extradition office temporarily closed its doors to visitors, and You Yunyi passed through the Zhiyin Wall and came to the world of the living.
"Is there anything you particularly want to eat today?" Lin Yujing smiled at him.
You Yunyi walked over and kissed Lin Yujing, his actions indicating that he only wanted to eat Lin Yujing's... Yin energy.
Meeting a hundred ghosts every day and listening to them talk about their joys and sorrows, and the daily necessities of life is really exhausting. You Yunyi really feels that he has had enough of this almost unchanging lifestyle for a thousand years.
Lin Yujing felt You Yunyi's emotions during his passionate kiss.
He raised his hand and gently massaged the back of You Yunyi's neck, allowing You Yunyi to kiss and bite him freely.
After You Yunyi calmed down a bit, he reached out and pulled out the wooden hairpin from Lin Yujing's hair, turning it over and over in his hand like a pen.
After a moment, he said, "I wish I were Sun Wukong in Journey to the West, and could fill in the book of life and death myself."
Lin Yujing: "...The King of Hell in Journey to the West didn't have an easy life. But, actually, I don't mind you using the Judge's Pen to mark the Book of Life and Death."
The position of Judge of the Underworld had been vacant for years. Since Lin Yujing took office as the King of Hell, there hadn't been a judge. Therefore, the Judge's Pen, which should have been in the hands of the judge, had always been in Lin Yujing's care. Earlier, Lin Yujing had asked You Yunyi to help him tie his hair. You Yunyi had casually used the Judge's Pen, which was on the desk in the King of Hell's office, as a hairpin for him. This habit had been maintained by Lin Yujing ever since.
You Yunyi pinned the wooden hairpin transformed from the Judge's Pen back onto Lin Yujing's hair, then moved closer again, absorbing the Yin energy from Lin Yujing to restore his energy and calm his mind.
Lin Yujing carried him into the bedroom.
Although he had been in a bad mood and lacked energy more and more frequently recently, after being comforted by Lin Yujing, You Yunyi recovered and calmed down. When he returned to the extradition office before work that day, You Yunyi still looked lazy.
The extradition office opened, and a new round of soul meetings began. Today, You Yunyi started the live broadcast from No. 005.
Number 005 was a white-haired old man. As soon as he came in and sat down, he sighed: "Xiao You, I died unjustly! Even the officials in the underworld have to make decisions for the ghosts of the common people, right? I think I should live a few more years."
You Yunyi looked at him listlessly.
Old Ghost No. 005 then complained, "Do you know how I died? I saw a really fresh fish next to the garbage dump. I felt sorry for it, so I picked it up and cooked it. Who knew it was called pufferfish? Was there anything wrong with me being frugal? Don't you think my death was unfair?"
The audience in front of the live broadcast screen had some controversy after hearing this——
"It seems like I'm pretty unlucky."
"What? It's right next to the garbage dump, and you picked it up and ate it. Don't you take your own safety seriously? If it's edible, why would they throw it away?"
"Oh, the elderly are indeed more frugal and have different consumption concepts. Some young people throw away food after the expiration date, but the elderly pick it up if they think it's still edible. Isn't this also to save money? If you have money, why would you stare at the garbage dump?"
"That's not necessarily true. Some elderly people are more frugal the richer they are. Digging through garbage dumps doesn't necessarily mean they are broke. The way the elderly man No. 005 is dressed doesn't look particularly poor."
"But it's understandable that he felt his death was unjust. The old man didn't know pufferfish, and how could he know it was poisonous if not handled properly? It sounds like only the old man ate it, and not the whole family..."
"That would have been a family tragedy, right? It was a close call. But I remember hearing that there are non-poisonous pufferfish. If they were all poisonous, how would anyone dare to buy and eat them?"
"It seems like farmed pufferfish don't have to worry about being poisonous if not handled properly, but farmed pufferfish don't taste as good."
"Well, you shouldn't pick up random things anyway, especially food. Even if it's not poisonous, can you guarantee that someone didn't put some rat poison in it before throwing it out?"
"Haha, sorry, it seems inappropriate to laugh at this time, but why do I feel that No. 005 wants the extraditionist to resurrect him?"
Then, the audience in the live broadcast room heard You Yun gloomily agreeing with the old ghost No. 005's statement about "thrift and diligence".
He said, "That's right. You even climbed over someone else's wall just to get this fish. You're not just frugal, you're actually living a simple and austere life."
The Zhiyin Wall vibrated, presenting the scene of the old man ghost No. 005 before his death.
——The old man, with white hair but nimble body, climbed into someone else's yard and stealthily took away a fish from a box of fish in front of the door.
Ghosts watching the live broadcast from the underworld: "...Uh, a garbage dump?"
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