I become a god in another world

Chapter 575 Old Case Revisited
Chapter 575

The moment Granny Xu saw the appearance of the Fan brothers, her calm face broke for a moment. She murmured something and instinctively moved her feet to move forward, but as soon as she moved, she seemed to realize her gaffe and stopped abruptly.

"The twins, the twins are back. Zhang Yunzhong's prediction of the Universe Pen was correct. I have really waited for it—"

At this moment, her eyes were blank, and she was muttering:
"It's actually true—"

After saying this, he couldn't help laughing again:

“Hahahaha, I’ve been waiting for this—”

Her appearance made Fan Wujiu's hair stand on end.

Fan Wujiu has well-developed limbs and is not very perceptive, but at this moment he was frightened by the look given by Granny Xu.

He moved closer to Zhao Fusheng:
"Sir, I feel, I feel that this woman may not be normal--" He pointed to his head.

"Don't talk nonsense."

Zhao Fusheng scolded him softly.

Granny Xu's defenses were broken at this moment, and her words revealed important information:

It is known that Zhang Yunzhong disappeared after the fire in the Former Han Palace. Even if he had a conversation with Granny Xu, it should have happened before the accident.

In other words, long before the fire in the Han Palace, Zhang Yunzhong, the wielder of the Qiankun Pen, had already predicted the strange events that would occur later, and even predicted that more than a hundred years later, the two brothers Fan Bisi would break in.

When Zhao Fusheng thought of this, his mind wandered, and he suddenly remembered that the one who really knocked on the gate of hell when he was in front of the ninth level of hell was Fan Bisi.

Is the reason why everyone entered the tenth level of hell related to the fact that Fan Bi died and touched the seal on the door?
"Twins—"

Zhao Fusheng thought to himself, "Lady Du was also pregnant with twins back then."

There is something strange on the access seal to the ninth level of hell.

One of the twins, Fan Bisi, must touch the bloody seal. Perhaps this is the key to truly open the tenth level of hell.

At that moment, he was affected by the blood-colored seal and was trapped in a ball of blood-colored Tai Sui - even Fan Wujiu, who had not touched the blood-colored seal, was trapped as well.

What exactly is this bloody Tai Sui? Fan Bisi said that at that time he felt like he had returned to his mother's original body.

In addition, Paper Man Zhang also broke into hell.

Zhao Fusheng thought of Sun Shaoyin's law of reincarnation again.

At the beginning, the law of reincarnation in Zang Xiongshan took everyone back to 58 years ago. Since this case involved the old affairs of the Zang family, Zhao Fusheng thought that Zang Xiongwu did this to cause chaos in the capital. In fact, he also wondered whether Zang Xiongwu wanted to use the help of reincarnation to try to let everyone intervene to change history and change the ending of the death of his wife and daughter.

But after entering the Zhongdu Ghost Realm, Zhao Fusheng couldn't help but think divergently - if the key to open the tenth level of hell is the twins, and the group went back 58 years and entered the Zhongdu Ghost Realm, was it planned by Paper Man Zhang?

Does this mean that in the city of Zhongdu, there is something that Paper Man Zhang wants?
Countless chaotic thoughts flashed through her mind one by one, turning into disorganized clues.

She stared at Granny Xu, but she saw that Granny Xu had stopped talking to herself and was staring at her:

"Sir? The one who dares to be called Sir is from the Demon Suppression Division?"

There are no women in officialdom.

Although Zhao Fusheng looked resolute, she had a childish face and did not look like someone who had been immersed in officialdom for many years.

Only in the Demon Suppression Division, ghosts are ranked according to their strength, and strength is respected. Only after taming ghosts can one become an adult.

"Correct."

Zhao Fusheng nodded.

After she guessed his origin, Zhao Fusheng did not hide it and nodded directly to acknowledge the identities of everyone:
"We are all from the Demon Suppression Department."

Her words made Granny Xu silent for a moment, then she asked:

"There is no time in the ghost realm. I wonder how many years have passed in the outside world?"

Everyone looked at each other, pondering the meaning of her words.

Zhao Fusheng said:

"Since the end of the First Han Dynasty, the Later Han Dynasty was re-established——"

Granny Xu looked startled:

"First Han -- First Han --"

"So, it turns out that what Master Qiankunbi Zhang said was right. The Han Dynasty will indeed perish because of this." After she finished speaking, her eyes were sad, but no tears came out. After a while, she couldn't help but sneer:

"It's not surprising that the world is like this. It's a pity for Miss Du. Such a good person didn't get a good result."

She finished speaking and sighed again:
"I'm sorry, I'm old and I talk a lot. What was the gentleman talking about just now?" After asking, he suddenly realized:
"The Later Han Dynasty was re-established. What year is it now?"

Zhao Fusheng was not annoyed by her interruption and replied:

"The fire in Yong'an Palace destroyed the Han Dynasty, and the government was rebuilt later. Until now..." She said this, glanced at Xie Jingsheng and others, and then continued:

"It has been 189 years since the Later Han Dynasty."

"189 years - 189 years -"

Granny Xu said it twice, and her expression darkened:
"I didn't expect that so much time has passed."

After she finished speaking, she was silent for a long time, and then her eyes fell on the child.

The child's face had been wiped clean, and Chen Duozi had used his fingers to comb his messy hair, roughly straightening it out.

Perhaps it was because she hadn't seen the child's true appearance for a long time. The moment she saw the child's face clearly, Granny Xu's eyes were stunned for a moment.

Then her gaze seemed to pass over the child's face and look elsewhere, with a gentle look in her eyes:

"Yeah, they really look alike - they say nieces look like their aunts, and Ah Yu looks more and more like a beauty -"

After she said this, she wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, but her eyes were like springs that had dried up long ago and could no longer shed tears.

After a moment, Granny Xu raised her eyebrows, lowered her eyelids, lengthened the distance between her eyebrows and eyes, looked at her hands clasped in front of her abdomen, and said:

"There is no time in the Ghost Palace. I didn't expect that so much time has passed in a flash. We have been trapped here and haven't talked to anyone for a long time. It's a rare occasion to have guests here today. I wonder if the guests are interested in listening to our past stories?"

Her words hit the mark exactly what Zhao Fusheng wanted.

The records of the ghost disaster in Zhongdu during the late Western Han Dynasty were not clear.

Originally, Zhao Fusheng entered this place to investigate the headless ghost case. The case in the Zhongdu ghost domain had nothing to do with her. As long as she knew the general idea and found the exit, she would be done.

But the case happened to involve Concubine Du in the palace.

At that time, Miss Du was pregnant with twins - and the Fan Bisi brothers had a strange life story, they were conceived by the living dead.

This case involves a ghost fetus. Originally, there was no clue about the ghost fetus case, but who would have thought that relevant clues would be found in the ghost realm 58 years ago.

In addition, the paper man Zhang appeared in the incident, which made the case more complicated and some minor details could not be easily let go.

Zhao Fusheng knew that this was a precious opportunity to talk to someone who knew the inside story of the ghost case in the late Han Dynasty. She reached out and pulled a stool and sat down, resting her elbows on her knees.

"I couldn't ask for an opportunity like this." Kuai Manzhou and the child squatted obediently at her feet, one on each side. They said nothing and looked extremely cute.

Granny Xu's eyes fell on the child. Although her expression was cold, she couldn't hide the kindness in her eyes. She pursed her lips and said:

"My Lords, this is a long story. I have nothing to offer you here, so I ask you to make do with what you have."

After hearing this, Meng Po was moved:
"I can make some soup to go with it."

Fan Wujiu was shocked by her words. Who would dare to drink Meng Po's soup at this time? Zhang Chuanshi, who drank the soup last time, had his ghost resurrected.

He waved his hand quickly:
"I'm not very hungry."

Others also implicitly stated:

"Don't bother, just talk."

Meng Po was full of enthusiasm, but she saw that no one was interested in her soup, and she couldn't help feeling a little melancholy. Zhao Fusheng said:

"We are all family, so there is no need to cook this soup."

"..." Meng Po said helplessly:

"Okay, I'll listen to you, sir."

Granny Xu looked at her strangely, somewhat puzzled by everyone's reactions, but she didn't ask any more questions.

After everyone sat down one by one, she said:

"Which year should I start from?" She thought for a moment:
"Let me start from the year I entered the palace."

"My ancestral home is from Puyang County, Yuzhou. When I was young, the Huzizi section of my hometown burst its dam, causing a disaster. My entire family was wiped out, leaving me alone. Eventually, I was selected as a palace maid during the reign of the previous emperor."

She was born in the countryside and was not very good at dealing with people. She was honest and trustworthy in her dealings with others, but she was not good at speaking. After entering the palace, she suffered a lot.

"After the death of the previous emperor, I offended someone and was punished to do hard labor in Yongxiang."

At that time, he offended a female palace manager in Yongxiang and had his leg broken.

In this age of lack of medical care and medicine, a broken leg is a serious matter. Once infected, one may lose his life.

Granny Xu was quite old at the time, and after her leg was broken, she had no choice but to wait for death - "But I was not destined to die, because I met Lady Du."

"She was a beauty presented to the palace by the Du family three years ago. She was pretty and had a good temper, so she was selected to serve in Yong'an Palace. In the end, she was favored by the emperor and enjoyed a very glorious life in the palace."

Although she is the emperor's favorite concubine, Concubine Du is not arrogant. Instead, she is kind to others.

"I was just waiting to die. I had no family, so after I died, I was probably wrapped in a straw mat and thrown into a mass grave, where wild dogs would tear my body apart." Granny Xu laughed when she said this:
"This is not bad. At least I can fill the beast's stomach."

"But when Lady Du learned of my situation, she lent a helping hand. She carried me out of the Eternal Lane, assigned people to wait on me, and asked my family to find a witch doctor for me. Perhaps I was not destined to die, and I survived."

Granny Xu did not mention in detail the past between her and Lady Du. She only briefly described what happened and then shifted the focus of the topic to the Du family.

"Speaking of this, we have to mention the Du family—" She looked at Zhao Fusheng with a strange look:

"Sir, is there any record of Du Shengming's case in later records?"

She smiled, but there was sarcasm in her eyes.

Zhao Fusheng met her gaze, neither humble nor arrogant:

“I have recorded it.”

Her words made Granny Xu stunned for a moment, and finally a look of surprise appeared on Granny Xu's face:
“It was actually recorded?”

"I remember, but it was recorded by the Demon Suppression Bureau. You can ask Mr. Xie about the relevant situation. He knows more about it." Zhao Fusheng pointed at Xie Jingsheng.

Granny Xu couldn't believe it:
"The Demon Suppression Department actually recorded it because Lord Du died with his eyes open and the evil spirit revived..."

Xie Jingsheng said:
"It is indeed recorded. At the end of the early Han Dynasty, Du Shengming was sued by the descendants of General Yin as a domestic slave, and his property was confiscated as a fine—"

"A family of more than a hundred people died overnight, and all their property was taken away, and only this short line of words was recorded?" asked Granny Xu.

Xie Jingsheng remained silent and was unable to respond to her.

Granny Xu sneered twice.

"If we want to talk about the Han ghost disaster, we have to start with Lord Du's matter. Do you have the time to listen to me?"

When the Du Shengming case was mentioned, Granny Xu's mood seemed very bad, and a strange smell came out of her body, as if it was the unpleasant burnt smell of human flesh.

The faint breath of ghosts spread in the palace, and the black robe that she had hung at the entrance of the hall seemed to be on fire at some point, and thick smoke poured out.

……

Zhao Fusheng saw all this and nodded calmly:
"What happened back then was burned to ashes in the fire. We are just later comers and don't know what happened back then. If we can hear your story, we can have a more detailed understanding of the situation back then. We can also re-record it in the future so that people in the future can know more about what happened back then."

Her words greatly comforted the indignant Grandma Xu.

The choking smell of fireworks from Grandma Xu's body instantly subsided, and the cloak that was emitting thick smoke also slowly went out.

"Your Excellency is right. I have a bad temper and it has been decades since I changed it. If I hadn't been like this, I wouldn't have been sent to Yongxiang. But if I hadn't been sent to Yongxiang, I wouldn't have known a good person like Lady Du."

Zhao Fusheng's attitude was gentle, and Granny Xu felt guilty:

"Lord Du's family is really a good family. Their ancestors were quite well connected and accumulated a fortune, but by the time it was passed down to Lord Du's generation, the family fortune had become very thin."

Du Shengming is a smart and far-sighted person.

He knew very well that in today's world, if he did not change and honestly farmed the land and collected rent, he might not be able to pay the taxes even after selling the ancestral property he had left in three to five years.

At that time, the Demon Suppression Division was above the imperial court. In addition to accepting offerings from merchants and officials, the ghost controllers of the Demon Suppression Division would also find ways to make money on their own.

Being a ghost rider is a short-lived job. It is normal to be successful today and die tomorrow.

Many people will try every means to make money while they are alive to ensure that their families will have no worries after they die.

Under such circumstances, many people would try every possible means to get fields, shops, and houses, and some small merchants who had land but no power were also in urgent need of finding a protector to rely on. The Du family also followed the trend under such circumstances.

"According to the rules at that time, the taxes of landowners who were not protected by the ghost controllers of the Demon Suppression Bureau were generally divided into several parts." The landlords rented the land to the tenants. After a year of hard work, the tenants had to give the bulk of the tax to the landlords. The grain they got was divided into several parts: 30% went to the court, 50% went to the Demon Suppression Bureau, and some of the taxes were paid by the head tax and autumn harvest tax. There was not much left in the hands of the tenants.

After a family works hard for a year, the remaining food may not be enough for the whole family to eat.

At the end of the year, after collecting grain and paying taxes, the grain would run out in the spring of the following year, so the people would have to borrow money from others at a high price and pay it back the following year. This cycle would repeat over and over again, and the people would have to owe high interest, which would be accumulated over and over again for generations, and would never be repaid.

The tenants lived a miserable life, and the landlords' situation was similar.

Although they have the land, those who have no right to protect are also divided into equal parts after collecting rent: the Demon Suppression Division and the imperial court get the lion's share, and the rest have to pay various taxes.

Landlords were unable to perform some harsh corvee labor, so they had no choice but to hire people - which meant they spent more money than they earned.

The huge fortune left behind by the Du family was taken away unnoticed under such circumstances.

They rented land every year, but the tax was not enough, so they had to sell their ancestral property to pay the taxes.

If the situation continues to develop in this way, within five years, the Du family will have no assets left.