Princess, she is the one who facilitated the extradition.

Gui Yao, dressed in a judge's robe, now had a strong, angular face with thick eyebrows and a wide jawline. He wore a mustache and sat upright on the high platform.

Gui Yao glanced at the cautious head in the corner, then slammed the gavel down forcefully.

He changed his tone and said authoritatively, "Lin Huiru, you are a ghost. Tell me in detail all the evil deeds you committed in your life."

"Your Majesty."

The female ghost, her hair disheveled and face veiled, knelt on the ground, saying, "I have never done anything evil in my life; I am a good person."

"A good person?"

Xiao Huaijin, disguised as a ghostly official in charge of writing, shouted, "You like to eat live roasted fat ducks, and countless live ducks have been roasted alive on the fire because of your gluttony."

They suffered agonizing deaths because of your pursuit of a fresh bite; do you dare call yourself a good person?

"This is food, it's not like I did anything wrong, everyone eats like this."

The female ghost's fearful excuse.

The woman hiding in the corner was both surprised and frightened; it really was her mother.

My mother's favorite food is roasted duck.

She was overjoyed to be able to see her mother, but terrified that her mother was being interrogated.

And according to them, it seems the mother will be punished as well.

She clenched her fists to give herself courage. She had to go out, to stay by her mother's side, and to plead for her.

But as soon as she leaned out a little, she was pushed back down.

She looked up in alarm and saw it was her husband.

"Shh!"

Zang Lan whispered in her ear, "Disrupting the judgment of the underworld will punish us, and Mother will also be implicated."

He reassured her, "Don't worry, Mother is a good person. The underworld will judge fairly."

Lady Zang herself was willing to risk everything for her mother, but she could not implicate her husband.

She firmly believed that her mother was a good person, so she gradually calmed down and nestled in her husband's arms.

The judge's authoritative voice rang out again.

"All things have a spirit. Other living beings have lost their lives because of you. This is your evil, and the law of cause and effect will settle accounts."

Then came a sharp voice, "If someone dies because of you, the evil karma is even greater."

Madam Zang became worried again and peeked out once more, only to see a plump figure.

He flipped through the documents in his hand and said to the judge, "Your Honor, this Lin Huiru not only killed countless ducks, but she also killed her own second daughter. According to the laws of the underworld, she should be imprisoned..."

"No!"

The female ghost immediately protested, "When I died, my second daughter was still alive and well. She married the Prefect of Jingzhao and was living a very prestigious life as the Prefect's wife. How could I possibly have killed her?"

"snort!"

The sharp voice slammed the book shut, "The Book of Cause and Effect records that you were clearly ill long ago, but you concealed it from your second daughter."

You even condoned your youngest daughter drugging your second son-in-law, forcing him to have marital relations with his wife at his in-laws' house.

Afterwards, you pretended that you had fallen seriously ill because of your second daughter, which made her feel guilty and ultimately committed suicide.

A sharp blade that takes a life is killing, and so is false speech that pierces the heart; both should be cast into the hell of tongue-pulling.

"I will rip out your tongue with iron pincers, subject you to endless suffering, and make you witness your daughter's sorrowful deathbed for eternity—this is how you repay your debt!"

"No, I refuse to accept this."

The female ghost cried out, "I lied to her, hoping that she would feel guilty and help her family more, so I didn't let her die."

Her death is her own fault for lacking willpower; what does it have to do with me?

"Stop making excuses; the underworld only considers cause and effect."

Gui Yao glared angrily, "Besides, as a mother, you should know your daughter's temperament best."

The female ghost continued to refute, and the two ghost officials, one tall and one fat, exposed the family's deception and exploitation of Madam Zang.

Madam Zang turned to Zang Lan in shock, asking incredulously, "I... am dead?"

How did she die?

Was my husband drugged by my younger sister during that sexual intercourse?

Did her mother know? But she kept it from her?

The Tibetan woman was overwhelmed with a thousand thoughts, which all culminated in shock.

How could this be?

Sensing her emotional shift, Cang Lan comforted her, "Don't be afraid, my lady, your husband will always be with you."

"What do you mean?"

The shock on Madam Zang's face turned into horror and fear.

If she were dead, wouldn't it be wonderful if her husband were with her...?

Before Zang Lan could answer, a scream rang out from not far away: "Your Honor, something terrible has happened! The Book of Cause and Effect has been updated!"

Lin Huiru's second son-in-law, heartbroken by his wife's death, also succumbed to his grief. Now, Lin Huiru carries the burden of two lives taken; sending her merely to the Hell of Tongue-Pulling is insufficient.

The woman's blood seemed to freeze instantly.

Her fingertips trembled as she touched Cang Lan's face, her lips moving but no sound came out.

My husband is dead too?

Died of grief for her?

He shouldn't have died. He had lofty ambitions and wanted to be a good official who truly spoke up for the people. He also had to take care of his daughter, who was so young. How could she survive without someone to take care of her?

The thought had barely formed when Gao Guili said, "Your Honor, I'm afraid Lin Huiru's sins are not limited to this."

Her second son-in-law and his wife are dead, leaving only her two-year-old child to face a pack of wolves and tigers from her maternal relatives; he will likely not survive.

"I'm innocent, I'm terribly wronged."

The female ghost began to cry out her innocence again, "My daughter and son-in-law are not here, but my master and my children will take good care of Wanwan."

"Let me take a look."

With a wave of his wide sleeves, the judge conjured a golden light in the void.

The golden light slowly spread into a circle, and a picture began to appear inside the circle: a two-year-old child, with messy hair and a dirty face, was lying on the ground crying loudly.

Several adults sat beside her, one of whom, a young woman, said impatiently, "Father, this child is too noisy, deal with him."

The old man looked at his eldest son beside him, who stroked his beard.

"She is my brother-in-law's only child. If she were alive, her brother-in-law's business and connections would all fall into her hands, and we would get nothing."

The eldest daughter's face was full of resentment. "We put a lot of effort into planning, but our second sister and Zang Lan did not help us at all. It is clear that the two are heartless and ungrateful."

"That damned girl is their bloodline, what good could she be? My little sister and big brother are right, we should kill her to prevent future troubles. Anyway, she has no relatives and no one cares about her."

Madam Zang looked at her family in the mirror and trembled with rage. How could they have become like this? How could they be so cruel to her Wanwan?

What should she do every night? In her panic and anxiety, she saw her younger brother step forward.

"You're going a bit too far. Wanwan is, after all, Second Sister's biological daughter."

He rubbed his limp leg and suddenly smiled wickedly, "Wanwan is just like my second sister, she's quite pretty."

Rather than killing her, it would be better to sell her to a brothel in Jiangnan. That way, we can get some money and also ensure Second Sister has an heir.

The others agreed with him.

The hope that Lady Zang had just begun to have was completely shattered. Her eyes blazed with fury, as if she wanted to burn the world to ashes.

Cang Lan covered her eyes. "Don't look, Madam. We are ghosts now, we can't help Wanwan."

Can't help?

Madam Zang's anger intensified. She could only watch her daughter be sold and live the rest of her life in hell.

"It's all her fate."

Zang Lan sighed sadly and repeated the words of the two ghost officials once again.

"It's all my fault. I didn't care enough about you. I didn't know you were deceived by your mother and the others, and in the end, you hanged yourself out of guilt."

It's my fault for not telling you that my sister-in-law tried to get into my bed that night and drugged me.

My brother-in-law, a high-ranking official of the imperial court, was involved in the illegal salt trade, yet I only removed him from his post without reporting it to the court so that he would receive the punishment he deserved.

The brother-in-law forcibly took the good grades of a poor student, and the brother-in-law had long been disgusted with the arrogance of his sister-in-law, so he kept a concubine outside.

"It's all my fault for not exposing them in time, giving them the opportunity to harm you and your daughter. I deserve to die!"

As he narrated, Madam Zang trembled more and more violently. She didn't know, she didn't know that her family members were all so wicked.

"They lied to me!"

The anger in her eyes turned into resentment, burning fiercely.

Zang Lan choked back tears and hugged Madam Zang, saying, "I'm sorry, Madam, it's all my fault. I deserve to go to the eighteenth level of hell and never be reincarnated."

His words caused Madam Zang to completely erupt, "Ah!"

She let out a deafening roar, and those sealed memories flowed into her brain like rays of light...