Chapter 147: Progress Bar for Official Promotion 39/100
His hoarse voice, like a broken bellows, escaped one word at a time from the magistrate's wrinkled lips.
"A really...good-looking person..."
Hensheng politely stepped forward and gave the county magistrate a junior's salute.
Hello, sir.
Su Zhenzhen originally thought that the county magistrate should be vigorous and energetic in his old age, but judging from his appearance, he was clearly old and frail and his life was not going to last. How did he live alone?
"General, who usually takes care of the county magistrate?"
The leading soldier then seemed to remember something, "Oh dear, I almost forgot. The magistrate's family members all passed away before them, and there's no one to chop wood and fetch water for him. No, no, I'll get him some firewood later."
“No need… trouble…” The magistrate rose from his recliner, looking like a lump of rotten flesh come to life. “I… don’t need… food.”
Su Zhenzhen watched as the "rotten flesh" in front of her moved slowly, looking like it was in danger of falling apart at any moment, so she quickly took a big step to support him.
“Magistrate, you can give us juniors any instructions you may have.”
The magistrate probably found turning his neck too tiring, so he kept his eyes looking straight ahead while speaking.
"No... I dare not... take... things."
Su Zhenzhen dared not let go, nor dared to disobey the old man's wishes, and slowly moved into the room at the county magistrate's snail's pace.
Seeing this, Hensheng followed.
The leading soldier was completely bewildered, but he still followed them inside.
The room was pitch black; not a single ray of sunlight could penetrate.
Su Zhenzhen simply turned on her flashlight, and as the light came on, the scene inside the room came into full view.
The stove and bed were connected, and the floor was uneven. The only good thing was that there were no cobwebs.
The bedding on the bed was so old that its original color was no longer visible. The magistrate slowly moved over.
Su Zhenzhen seemed to understand and helped him lift the blankets.
A scroll was tucked among the bedding; its yellowish color was unclear, whether from age or from the dampness of the bedding.
The magistrate shakily picked up the scroll, turned around with difficulty, and faced the direction of Hensheng.
"Give……"
Despite not understanding why, Hensheng still took the scroll.
But the moment his fingers touched the scroll, the magistrate collapsed.
Caught off guard, Su Zhenzhen failed to catch the man immediately, and Hensheng was also knocked to the ground by the magistrate's movement.
"Grandpa, what's wrong?" Hensheng asked with concern.
The magistrate raised his head, his cloudy eyes staring intently at Hensheng.
"you……"
The bellows was stuck, creaking and groaning but unable to turn out any air.
Su Zhenzhen dared not be distracted at all, fearing that something might happen to the old man. Then she saw the magistrate hesitate for a long time before finally losing his breath and holding him tightly as his body completely lost its strength.
Su Zhenzhen carried the county magistrate to the bed, and it really felt like carrying a lump of meat.
The magistrate's eyes were closed, and his wrinkled face was obscured by his features.
Hensheng stood up, somewhat incredulously asking, "The magistrate... he died of old age?"
Su Zhenzhen nodded heavily.
The leading soldier was quite optimistic, saying, "It's good that he's gone. In the end, no one can escape turning into a handful of dust. The magistrate is finally free."
Su Zhenzhen thought she would have to argue with the leading soldier, since the magistrate had died after contacting Hensheng, and there was no chance that the man would be stubborn and extreme. Unexpectedly, he was quite reasonable.
"What do we do now? Prepare for the magistrate's funeral? Is there anything we can do to help?"
Su Zhenzhen thought that since the old man was so old, having Hensheng use his identity as a prince of the Jiang Dynasty to send him off would be a way to create good fortune.
“Just dig a hole in the yard. There’s no extra burial ground in Chuanbei City, and we haven’t had a newborn in our city for twenty years. We have no descendants, so why bother with this?”
After the lead soldier finished speaking, he went to find tools to dig in the yard.
Suddenly inspired, Su Zhenzhen quickly made a hand seal.
"Use yourself to guide the soul, and may the soul return!"
A phantom image appeared in the air; it was the magistrate's soul.
Su Zhenzhen was overjoyed; it seemed her abilities had returned.
Perhaps some things are drawn together by fate.
Without time to think, Su Zhenzhen quickly asked, "Grandpa, is there anything else you wish for?"
A long-lived person may not truly live a long life. Perhaps something binds them to the mortal world, for a cause or a person. The magistrate had already lived to this age; why did he choose to die just as he was born? This is too much of a coincidence.
The magistrate, now a spirit, no longer spoke like a broken bellows; his speech became fluent and clear.
"I had it before today, but I don't anymore, young lady. Please send this old man to be reincarnated. My old eyes are failing, and I'm afraid I won't be able to find the way to the afterlife."
Without hesitation, Su Zhenzhen immediately opened the Cycle of Reincarnation.
The magistrate's soul floated in without being hindered in the slightest.
Su Zhenzhen was certain that the magistrate's soul was not bound by causal threads. But if he had no causal ties, she would be able to find the path of reincarnation. Why would he say that he was old and blind and could not find the way to rebirth?
Unless the causal threads on his body happen to untie at the exact moment of his death.
The timely notification sound in her mind confirmed Su Zhenzhen's guess.
[Ding, progress bar for official appointment is 39/100]
Su Zhenzhen suddenly realized that the comments in her mind were not making a fuss. Usually, they would complain after seeing the magistrate's face, but today they were unusually quiet.
Hensheng picked up the scroll from the ground, carefully unfolded it, and his expression changed drastically at just one glance.
"Zhenzhen, come and see!"
Upon hearing this, Su Zhenzhen took the scroll from Hensheng's hand. Considering that the scroll might become brittle if left for too long, she gently unrolled it, revealing all its contents.
The paper has yellowed, and the person in the painting has also been weathered by time. Yet the painter's brushstrokes are powerful, and the painting is exceptionally lifelike. A peerless beauty meets future generations on paper through the long years. Such an encounter is both novel and awe-inspiring.
Why was Hensheng so terrified? Of course, it was because the person in the painting had the exact same face as him.
Su Zhenzhen recognized the person in the painting at a glance.
Hensheng's biological mother, Empress Jiang Yichun, was a woman from the Song family who came from humble origins.
There is also a poem on the painting. The content of the poem is not particularly strange, but the words themselves are thought-provoking.
Su Zhenzhen touched it to check, and indeed it did not have the stiff feeling of ink after it had dried.
These words were written with a carbon pen.
Could it be that someone else was sent here before me?
Let's look at these lines of poetry: "The ospreys cry 'guan guan' on the river's islet. A fair maiden is the gentleman's ideal."
No, does this poem even exist in this fictional era?
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