False evidence

Chapter 422 Rekindling the Bond (7)

After hearing what Eunuch Sun said, Lü Xin and the others seemed to understand.

Suddenly, a woman said in a reproachful tone, "Why are you eating this kind of thing again?"

I suddenly returned to reality and saw that Xiao Huan had arrived at the street corner at some point, frowning and staring at me.

Turning around, I saw Erpang and Gu Haitao each munching on a scallion and meat-filled sesame seed cake.

Gu Haitao said sheepishly, "I... I can't get full just from drinking porridge."

Xie Xiaohuan looked helpless. "Did you not put in chili sauce?"

"No."

I wondered to myself if Gu Haitao had some special physique that allowed him to attract women like Xie Xiaohuan.
I asked Jie Xiaohuan, "Where are you going?"

"I'm just going out for a walk. I haven't been out in a long time."

Aside from being somewhat special to Gu Haitao, Xie Xiaohuan has always been very shy around everyone else. After what happened last time, she's even more afraid to look me in the eye.

Having been through this myself, I knew perfectly well what she meant by "going around" when I saw her gaze drifting towards Gu Haitao.

"Then follow."

I didn't want to talk to her anymore, so I had Erpang drive us to Shen San's shop.

On the way, I said to Lü Xin and the others in my mind:
In Yang Wudao's account, there is a saying about exchanging a life for a book of the heart. At the time, I didn't understand what it meant, but when Lü Xin mentioned "the connection between life and death" just now, I suddenly thought of the murals in the second group. At the same time, I suddenly understood its meaning.

If I had to say what impressed me most about the Heart Book that could change one's life, I would have to mention a story my grandfather once told me.

It is said that on his way to the capital for the imperial examination, Bao Zheng missed his lodging and was caught in a heavy rain, so he had to stay overnight in a mortuary.

The mortuary was a temporary place for storing corpses in earlier times.

Ordinary people wouldn't dare to stay there, but Bao Zheng was upright and incorruptible, unafraid of ghosts and gods, so it didn't matter to him.

In the middle of the night, Bao Zheng was awakened by a strange noise. When he opened his eyes, he saw the lid of a coffin in the mortuary slowly opening!
A dead man sat up from his coffin, nodded to Bao Zheng, and stepped out of the coffin.

Bao Zheng sensed something was amiss, so he got up and followed them out.

When I arrived at the door, I saw that the rain had stopped sometime earlier, but the large wasteland in front of the door had been transformed into a bustling market.

The dead man led Bao Zheng into the market, took him to a bookstall, and pointed out the books to the stall owner.

Bao Zheng noticed that the stall owner, who was engrossed in writing, was holding a rather strange pen, so he went closer to take a look.

Upon seeing it, I was greatly surprised.

What the stall owner used to write was not a brush, but a bloodied human heart!
Bao Zheng was no ordinary man; he immediately examined the blood letter written by the stall owner using human hearts.

After the stall owner stopped what he was doing, he had seen the whole thing and said angrily:

"Heaven sees all, how can the sacred Buddhist sanctuary tolerate such wicked and lewd people!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the corpse that brought Bao Zheng merged with the stall owner, knelt down before Bao Zheng, kowtowed three times, and said:
"I implore the Heavenly Official of Literature to uphold justice for me. I am willing to endure three lifetimes of poverty and hardship in exchange for that lewd person receiving his just deserts in this life!"

Although Bao Zheng was a righteous man, he also knew the principle that karma was predetermined by Heaven. After pondering for a moment, he said:
"As the saying goes, karma is cyclical and retribution is inevitable. Now that you are dead, how can you take the life of a living person?"

The man stopped speaking and kept kowtowing to Bao Zheng.

Bao Zheng was in a dilemma, and after thinking for a moment, he said to him:
"I will go to the Huan Yue Nunnery first thing tomorrow morning. I cannot guarantee that the scoundrel will be punished in this life, but I promise with my life that I will clear your name!" The next day at dawn, Bao Zheng recalled his dream and asked his page to help him open the coffin he had seen in the dream. He found that the corpse in the coffin was exactly the same as the person he had seen in the dream, and then he confirmed that it was not a dream, but a vengeful spirit seeking revenge with the blood of reincarnation.

After leaving the mortuary, Bao Zheng inquired along the way and eventually arrived at the Huanyue Nunnery, which was written in the blood letter.

At that time, Bao Zheng had not yet achieved official rank. Although he was discerning and could see that the nunnery was not a pure place, he could not do anything because of his status.

After much deliberation, he gritted his teeth and first bribed the officials with all the money he had brought. Then, he pounded the grievance drum three times. Despite enduring ten strokes of the cane, he managed to get the county magistrate to bring all the nuns from Huanyue Nunnery to court.

Following Bao Zheng's instructions, the magistrate asked the nun: Who is Qingyue?
Four out of the seven or eight nuns claimed to be Qingyue Nun.

The county magistrate was perplexed, finding it difficult to unravel this Buddhist riddle.

Bao Zheng looked at the group of nuns and was at a loss for what to do.

Having lingered in front of Huanyue Nunnery for several days, he had already discerned that these nuns all had a flirtatious air about them and were definitely not proper Buddhist monks.

Among them was a nun named 'Qingyue', who was the culprit.

According to the blood-written letter, Qingyue was actually a man who not only committed adultery in front of the Buddha, but also repeatedly raped and humiliated women who came to offer incense and worship the Buddha.

Hong Defang, who poured his heart and soul into seeking justice, was originally a commoner. He was beaten to death by the mob after he stumbled upon an illicit affair. He was falsely accused of blaspheming the Buddha by the nuns for his lewd behavior.

Hong Defang was willing to endure three lifetimes of poverty to clear his name, and Bao Zheng believed him. However, at that time, monks and nuns held a special status, and it was impossible to summon an old woman to verify the identities of these nuns as if they were ordinary people.

The county magistrate was already corrupt and unscrupulous, so to avoid trouble, he decided to let the matter drop.

Bao Zheng was even more wronged than the original owner of the house. He had spent all the money, failed to accomplish the task, and even lost his own life.

Seeing that the magistrate was about to leave the court, he flew into a rage and shouted, "If Heaven is blind, what use is it for me to gain fame and fortune? Since that's the case, I will go to the underworld again. I won't go to the King of Hell to reason with him, but I will go to Hong Defang's face to tell him, 'I know the truth, but I am powerless!' I will kowtow to him and apologize!"

After saying that, Bao Zheng buried his head in the corner of the desk and started banging his head against it.

Not all the yamen runners were good people, but they all accepted bribes from him.

One of them, quick-witted and agile, saw that he was about to commit suicide and grabbed him by the back of his clothes.

Bao Zheng's forehead bumped against the corner of the case, but because of this pull, he didn't die. Blood gushed from his forehead, but his mind suddenly became clear.

Turning around, Bao Zheng's gaze sharpened as he surveyed the nuns, pointed at one of them, and said sternly:
"Old woman, come here! Verify the identity of this sorcerer who has bewitched this sacred Buddhist sanctuary!"

By the time Grandpa got to this point, I had already presumptuously guessed the ending.

I couldn't help but show off to my grandfather, saying, "You finally told the story of Bao Gong in a coherent way. He didn't die from the collision, but it gave him a crescent moon-shaped eye, making his eyes clearer so he could see right from wrong, right?"

The old man pursed his lips and shook his head. "Little brat, don't try to be clever. Let me finish."

Bao Zheng directly pointed out that the most beautiful nun among them was Qingyue.

But the clerk beside the magistrate suddenly said to him, "This Bao Xiling (Bao Zheng, courtesy name Xiling) is a madman. He should be imprisoned to prevent him from harming the people."

The county magistrate listened to his advisor's words and immediately ordered his men to detain Bao Zheng, whose face was covered in blood, and imprison him.

"Ugh……"

Upon hearing this, Liang Kaiyuan sighed deeply, but before he could speak, Lü Xin interrupted him, saying, "Everyone has a youthful past."

(End of this chapter)