Chapter 45

  At night, Hong Ye asked Si Tu to find that computer genius Li Tian.

  Chengzhou didn't understand, and when he was sleeping, he asked Hongye: "Why are you looking for Litian?"

  "Let him help make a website."

  "What website?" Cheng Zhou stretched out his hand to cover Hong Ye with the quilt.

  The red leaves felt stuffy and kicked the quilt open some more.

  "Don't make a fuss, be careful not to catch a cold." Cheng Zhou had been worried that his cold would infect Hong Ye, but fortunately, when he came back at night, He Sheng specially made him some ginger soup. After drinking it, he felt much better, and even his runny nose wasn't as bad.

  "I won't catch a cold." Hong Ye turned around to look at him, raised her small hand and pinched his nose, saying disdainfully: "Your runny nose is half a foot long, how unsightly! Your body is too weak, this weekend we'll go out for a stroll and see if we can find something for you to eat."

  "My body is fine, who doesn't catch a cold? You haven't said what website you want to find Lian Tian for yet."

  "A platform where both humans and ghosts can post tasks."

  Chengzhou was shocked, "What's the point of creating such a platform?"

  "Make money and support the family!" Hong Ye gave him a "who asked me to find such a poor useless father like you" look.

  Chengzhou felt a little sad and also a bit relieved. His son was so young but already wanted to earn money to support the family, how could he as a father not work even harder?

  "Come on, son, tell Dad what you're going to do specifically? How can this platform make money? Are we going to receive tasks from it in the future?"

  "Stupid! That's the most foolish and rigid way of making money! If it's just about completing tasks, why bother setting up a platform?"

  Chengzhou felt a little embarrassed but didn't mind his son calling him stupid, and kept asking him how he was going to make money.

  Hong Ye was annoyed by his questioning, kicked him twice, pulled over the quilt and went to sleep.

  "Red Leaf?"

  The red leaves rustled softly.

  Cheng Zhou gently pulled down his quilt, touched the tip of his little nose, kissed his forehead, and hugged his son to sleep. Forget it, if his son didn't want to say anything, he wouldn't say anything, anyway, he would know eventually.

  The next day when he arrived at the company, Li Jiacheng urged him anxiously.

  Cheng Zhou said he is a man of principle and never slacks off during work hours.

  Li Jiacheng was speechless for three seconds, turned around and went to report to the department head, saying he wanted to go with Chengzhou to develop new business, and half an hour later, he appeared near Yao's house with him.

  "Is this how you usually develop new business?" Cheng Zhou looked at him sideways.

  Li Jiacheng revealed a knowing smile, "As long as the business indicator completion rate is not lower than others, it's fine. To be honest, I've never seen a salesperson like Cheng Shixiong who is so diligent. But I advise Cheng Shixiong to properly increase his business volume, otherwise people will think he's just sleeping at home or doing a second job."

  Cheng Zhou's words are like arrows in his mouth. Listening to Li Jiacheng, it sounds like he is saying that he is pretending, but the problem is that his performance in the company is actually genuine!

  Li Jiacheng glanced at the two small spirit plaques hanging from Cheng Zhou's wrist with a red string, "You have both Sutu and He Sheng with you?"

  "Hmm." Cheng Zhou didn't like Li Jiacheng's tone of speaking, which seemed to treat both Sutu and He Sheng as objects rather than people.

  "See that old residential area in front? Yao Fangqing's parents live there, this is their home address. I'll wait for you here, if anything happens call me on my phone, it has been specially adjusted so that the boundary of ordinary fourth-level ghosts or below can be easily broken through. Has your phone been adjusted too?"

  Nothing.

  "Do you need me to find someone to fix it for you? Friendly price, just 20,000 and it's settled."

  “……Thanks, no need.” Cheng Zhou decided to wait for two more days until that computer genius Li Tian came and let him try it out. He would also adjust the mobile phone signal. Anyway, he didn't want to give Li Jia Cheng any opportunity to make money from him again.

  Li Jiacheng also didn't persist, he still hasn't fully figured out the ins and outs of Cheng Chou, and how to get along with him is still being explored. Although in these few days, no matter how he looks at Cheng Chou, there's a feeling that this is just an ordinary commoner.

  Li Jiacheng left soon, and Cheng Zhou quickly walked into the old residential area. Situ and He Sheng, two men, came out of a small alley not far away, and then naturally walked together as if they had met unexpectedly with Cheng Zhou.

  "What about Lian Tian? Will he be sentenced?" Cheng Zhou asked Situ, who had just returned after going out last night.

  Situ's hands were in his pockets, and he smiled as he replied, "No way. That kid has a good mental quality, no matter how the police interrogated him, he didn't change his story. The police couldn't get a handle on him, and he 'behaved well', basically if there weren't any other issues, after the detention period was over, he could go home."

  Cheng Zhou nodded, hesitated for a moment, and finally made up his mind. He opened his mouth and said, "Situ, tell me about the levels of evil spirits and some things I should know. I... also need to start facing reality, don't I?"

  Kan Chengzhou smiled bitterly, and Situ patted his back with his hand. It's easy to be a sacrifice - as long as you meet the conditions, but wanting to be a sacrifice that lives a long life, is healthy, and can keep one's personal freedom is not easy.

  He Sheng looked at Cheng Zhou with sympathy and understanding, "Cheng Ge, jiayou!"

  "First, don't keep the impression of the underworld in its legendary form, that's just a rumor. In fact, the underworld has always been keeping up with the times," said Situ with a smile, "otherwise, new ghosts wouldn't be able to adapt, right?"

  Cheng Zhou also laughed, "What kind of up-to-date law is that in the underworld?" Looking at He Sheng and Situ, if all ghosts were like these two, he felt that ghosts didn't seem so scary after all.

  Situ began to introduce some basic information about the underworld with Chengzhou, which is also common sense that every "Tianshi" needs to know.

  "In the underworld, there is a concentration camp for evil spirits that has existed for thousands of years, only with a few name changes. It's like a detention center in the mortal world. Those captured evil spirits will be detained there without a specific sentence. The concentration camp is divided into five levels, with level 5 being the weakest and level 1 being the strongest. Each level has its corresponding judges and ox-headed horse-faced guards."

  "What about ordinary people after they die?" Cheng Zhou couldn't help but ask.

  "Ordinary people also have to undergo judgment after death, and the dead are divided into evil spirits and good spirits, which are also five levels. However, because all words and deeds of each person in life are recorded in the underworld, there is no need for a complicated trial process after death. The verdict and result of the trial will be directly received on the road to the underworld, and then automatically assigned to where they should go."

  "You're saying that after a person dies, they won't be reborn immediately, but instead will have to stay in the underworld for a period of time?"

  "Yes, people have always taken the Buddhist saying 'doing evil in this life will lead to retribution in the next, doing good in this life will lead to peace in the next' as a guideline for the underworld's actions, but that is completely wrong! The underworld has never popularized the idea of cause and effect between this life and the next. They just wait for people to die, then directly let their souls take responsibility for everything they did when they were alive."

  Chengzhou was still trying to understand, while He Sheng, who had never been to the underworld before, already understood.

  "Are you saying that after we die, our souls will live in the underworld, and the quality of life is related to what we did before? After everything is settled, we will drink Meng Po's soup and be reborn into the next life, and then everything starts all over again?"

  Situ nodded, "It's roughly that meaning. If someone did great evil before their death, they would be sentenced to a long time in hell doing hard labor or receiving punishment; if they were kind and virtuous, they would be assigned to a very good living area, doing things they liked, with a relatively high starting salary, and the time for reincarnation could also be applied for extension or advancement."

  "Does the underworld also pay wages? Will they retain their memories from when they were alive?" Cheng Zhou asked.

  "Of course. However, for those who really don't want to retain their memories, as long as they are kind souls, they can also drink Meng Po's soup in advance after applying."

  Cheng Zhou suddenly thought of the paper money they burned during festivals, and couldn't help but wonder where it all went. "If the dead don't immediately reincarnate, does that mean all the paper money we burn will end up in their hands?"

  Situ burst out laughing, "How is that possible? If all those burnt paper money were effective, the underworld would have been plagued by inflation long ago."

  "What? So all the paper money we burned was for nothing?"

  "It's not a waste of burning either, as far as I know, the underworld seems to have their own exchange method, it seems to be calculated by the number of sheets, and not all the paper money burned can be delivered to the deceased ghost's hands, the underworld will determine a basic quota for the ghost to receive paper money based on its judgment in life."

  Cheng Zhou said he didn't understand, so Situ had to explain in simple terms: "Let's put it this way, if a certain ghost's relatives burn 100 sheets of paper money for the ghost, and 100 sheets of paper money can be exchanged for 100 yuan of underworld currency. If the ghost is a fifth-level good soul, then according to regulations, it can receive 6% of the underworld currency, with a maximum of no more than 600 yuan per year. A first-level good soul can receive 10%, with a maximum of no more than 1,000 yuan per year. If it's an evil soul, then a fifth-level one receives 5%, with a maximum of 500; a first-level one receives 1%, with a maximum of 100. Do you understand?"

  "That is to say, no matter how many or expensive paper money I burn in a year, if it exceeds one thousand, the extra ones are useless, right? This is because the person I want to burn for is a first-class good soul. If it's a first-class evil soul, then burning more than one hundred sheets of paper money would be useless, isn't that so?"

  Situ nodded, "That's right."

  "Can't the extra paper money be turned into underworld currency?"

  "It's okay, but the extra hell money will be distributed to other ghosts who don't have anyone burning paper money for them. Also, some lonely and wild ghosts lingering in the world of the living will rob money to get hell money. So when burning paper money, it's generally necessary to clearly say who is taking the money, which is very important."

  Cheng Zhou suddenly asked, "Have you ever received a pre-trial notice?"

  He Sheng shook his head, "I dodged the summons of the underworld and didn't enter the Nether Path, also known as the Yellow Spring Road, so I naturally didn't receive that thing."

  "Then you're not in the underworld, and the paper money your family burns for you, can't you receive it all?"

  He was born with a bitter smile.

  "Do you want to go see your family? In the past, we didn't have money and you couldn't take care of your parents, but now... From now on, I'll divide the money I earn among everyone. You can send some living expenses to your parents every month. If you're afraid of startling them, I can pretend to be a friend who borrowed money from you or received kindness from you and wants to repay it."

  He was clearly moved, but he didn't immediately agree, saying: "Let me think about it."

  Cheng Zhou didn't understand what else there was to consider in this matter, so Sutu explained beside him: "Although He Sheng died unjustly, he is after all a dead person. According to reason, the dead cannot interfere with the affairs of the living again. Once the underworld finds out, it's likely to harm He Sheng's parents' yangshou."

  When he heard this, Cheng Zhou didn't insist anymore. However, he thought that everything has a loophole to exploit, just like how He Sheng and Si Tu should have gone to the underworld long ago, but they were still living in the mortal world? Moreover, there was always a yin official lurking around them day and night.

  Maybe he should ask Li Jiacheng for advice on this matter?

  As they spoke, the three of them had already arrived at their destination.

  This old residential area called Wangjiajing doesn't even have a security room. Chengzhou held the address and asked two passersby before finding this independent old building located in the deepest part of the residential area.

  Yao Fangqing's parents live on the third floor of this building.

  Situ He Sheng grabbed Cheng Chou with one hand almost at the same time.

  Cheng Zhou stopped in his tracks, "What's wrong?"

  He Sheng furrowed his brow, "The yin energy here is very heavy!"

  Situ also said: "There is a boundary, and it's impossible to detect if you don't get close."

  Cheng Zhou raised his head, and for some reason, the old building in front of him seemed even more ominous than before. The mottled exterior wall looked like a row of ghostly faces, while the dark windows seemed to be hiding someone who was secretly watching them. The dimly lit entrance was enough to make even the bravest person hesitate.

  "Who are you looking for?" a hoarse voice suddenly came from the wall root beside.

  Author's note: Special statement:

  February 1st to 10th, updated daily, but at irregular times. After a long time of squatting in the background, it's too painful, please forgive me! So it will become brushing five times each morning, noon and night, and updating as soon as I brush.

  After the New Year's holiday, Ning will pay a breach of contract penalty and switch to a more robust telecommunications network, which will be determined at a later date.

  Put your palms together!

  Thank you to the flying eyeballs in the sky, will be determined, Korean fork, moon2272008, la yusou, sueread86887, xianlv, ji lan xiao mi, a wu, and Yunshan relatives' landmines.

  Thank you SuSu and MingMing for the hand grenades^^

  Thank you Xiong Chun and Yuan Rongrong for the rocket cannon

  Thank you jhen's deep water torpedo^^

  I've troubled everyone, thank you very much!