There are quite a few deadbeats in the Underworld, all of them clinging to their good deeds, unwilling to be reincarnated. Even after several阎王s (Yán Wáng, the King of Hell) have ascended, they still refuse to go, and even demand better benefits. They want to leave the Underworld to go sightseeing!
If nothing else, let them send a dream to their descendants and have a chat.
In any case, these deadbeats are like a bunch of brats, demanding candy or they’ll throw a tantrum.
There are many deadbeats from the Tang Dynasty, including one who became a judge – Wei Zheng. The reason he was chosen is that he was extremely intimidating and good at persuading people. The 阎王 made him responsible for stabilizing the emotions of the deadbeats, preventing them from causing too much trouble. A peaceful Underworld is a good performance review, and a peaceful Underworld leads to promotion.
The Underworld has been somewhat restless lately. Some time ago, Emperor Li Yuan went on a trip to a small world, and in his dream, he saw his two sons. Upon his return, he boasted about how incredible his youngest son was, a real go-getter, someone who could achieve anything.
Shortly after, Li Shimin, who had stayed in the mortal realm until the Tang Dynasty was destroyed, arrived in the Underworld. Upon seeing Wei Zheng, who had become a judge, Li Shimin was deeply moved, grabbing his hand and pouring out his heart. He repeatedly said how sorry he was to Wei Zheng.
Wei Zheng, deeply touched by his words, reminisced about their past relationship as emperor and minister, and offered to secretly allow Li Shimin to take a one-day trip to the small world. Li Yuan mentioned that the small world had some connection to them.
However, the quota for deadbeats to take a one-day trip to the small world each month was limited, so Wei Zheng told Li Shimin to go in secret and return in secret, and not to mention it to anyone else.
Li Shimin readily agreed.
Wei Zheng temporarily suppressed Li Shimin’s memories about the Underworld and sent him to the small world.
Li Shimin, clearly not a man of his word, returned and, upon seeing the group of Tang Dynasty deadbeats, enthusiastically reminisced with them. Then, he began to boast about his experiences on his one-day trip, bragging about how the Tang Dynasty had achieved true universal tribute, how prosperous and flourishing it was.
By the time Wei Zheng arrived, it was too late. All the deadbeats turned to look at him, even Empress Changsun, who was usually the most well-behaved, couldn’t help but cast a wistful look at him, expressing her disappointment in his act of opening a backdoor for Li Shimin.
Who could stand this?!
Old Wei was extremely distressed. Old Wei’s hair was about to fall out.
Since Wei Zheng was there, Li Shimin shifted his bragging to a different direction. He said that in the small world, Wei Zheng’s granddaughter was extremely accomplished, a true female prodigy, the youngest female jinshi in all of the Tang Dynasty. Even when he was in his seventies and eighties, no one had broken her record.
Even more remarkably, she had become a couple with his youngest brother – what an extraordinary twist of fate!
Compared to these deadbeats who couldn’t bear to be reincarnated because of their lingering attachments, Li Yuanying was much more carefree. He had a good time in the Underworld but found it boring, so he asked Wei Zheng to be reincarnated. After not too long, he was excitedly embracing his new life.
Now, being unable to see him, everyone missed him terribly, and they vehemently urged Wei Zheng to organize a group trip to the small world that Li Yuan and Li Shimin had visited.
Li Bai, who was nearby, drinking and joining in the merriment, also said excitedly, “I want to go see it too. I heard I’m a descendant of this little prince. Let me go and admire the demeanor of my ancestor.”
Su Shi, who had managed to sneak in and sponge off Li Bai’s fine wine, couldn’t help but argue, “This is the first time I’ve heard someone say, ‘I heard that so-and-so is my ancestor.’ Don’t you even know who your descendants are?”
Li Bai retorted, “If I don’t know, I don’t know. Didn’t Confucius say, ‘If you know it, say you know it; if you don’t know it, say you don’t know it?’ They’re dead now, why be so fussy about it?” He patted Su Shi on the shoulder, “You, you drink too little wine. When you were alive, you were either making Dongpo pork or mutton casserole. Now, when people pay their respects to you, they use pork and mutton bones, you’ll be sick to your stomach. Wine is different, you can drink as much wine as you want without getting sick of it!”
The topic meandered, but in the end, they didn’t let Wei Zheng quietly brush off the group trip, everyone was in agreement: They must go and see if that shameless father-son duo, Li Yuan and Li Shimin, were blowing hot air.
Even Wei Zheng himself was curious. He heard Li Shimin say that he lived a very long life in that small world, wondering if he had become a judge there. He stated that he would discuss it with the people there, because sending so many people on a trip at once was too attention-grabbing. They needed to work out a plan that wouldn’t cause too much trouble.
Wei Zheng went back to consult with the 阎王.
The 阎王 felt that Wei Zheng had diligently managed the deadbeats for so many years and deserved a vacation. He immediately agreed to Wei Zheng taking a group trip to the small world. However, he still emphasized the importance of travel discipline: They couldn’t cause too much disruption to the small world, and they couldn’t blurt out things like Li Yuan did last time, like “How come you have eighteen sons?”, which caused Li Yuanying to directly refuse to have any more children, leaving other kids to only be able to line up to be grandchildren – it was truly heart-wrenching.
If possible, it would be best not to use that dream-sending method. Just go sightseeing and come back. After all, it’s a different small world. Their grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren might not necessarily be your grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren.
Wei Zheng felt that the 阎王’s words were aimed at him.
Wei Zheng thought the 阎王 was overthinking. He wasn’t lacking grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or even great-great-grandchildren. Why would he envy the old Wei in that small world? He died earlier than the old Wei, so he looks younger in the Underworld. Who envies who, anyway?!
Wei Zheng ironed out all the details, connected with the people in the small world, and led a group of Tang Dynasty deadbeats on a trip to the small world. With so many people, they couldn’t use the possession method again, so they could only roam around and sightsee, unable to eat or touch anything.
The small world also sent a guide, who turned out to be the old Wei from the small world. This old Wei looked thirty to forty years older than Wei Zheng, with a white beard and kind eyes.
Old Wei said to Wei Zheng with a smile, “I heard you were coming, so I specially took a day off to greet you. I haven’t seen my great-grandchildren for a long time, and I heard they all have their own children and grandchildren. It’s time for me to go see them.”
The two sides formed a sizeable sightseeing group, heading towards the mortal realm.
They went directly to the imperial palace.
Li Xiang was receiving court officials, each one passionately expressing their opinions and offering suggestions, and Li Xiang listened attentively.
Li Shimin led the way over and watched for a while, praising them to others, “Look, that’s my grandson. He looks every inch a wise ruler.”
Li Yuan couldn’t stand Li Shimin’s proud demeanor. He sneered, “He’s still my great-grandson, what’s it to you?”
Many of those present had been emperors themselves, and weren’t interested in watching Li Shimin show off his grandson. They all suggested they go explore on their own.
Old Wei and Wei Zheng exchanged glances, thinking that separate actions were fine. They simply reiterated that everyone was not to interfere with the small world in any way, and to be good, well-behaved tourists.
Everyone readily agreed.
After setting the ground rules, everyone dispersed.
Li Yuan and Li Shimin strolled around the imperial palace at will, but Empress Changsun was worried about their children.
In their previous lives, Empress Changsun’s children had all suffered misfortunes, most of them either dying young or facing marital discord, causing her much heartache. Even after witnessing their rebirth, she still felt regretful.
If she had lived another ten or twenty years, would she have been able to see them get married and have children without any trouble?
Empress Changsun first went to visit Chengqian, she had already seen her grandson, now she wanted to see how Chengqian was doing. She silently found her way to the shore of the Taiye Pool in the Daming Palace. There, she saw Chengqian sitting there teaching his wife to fish. They were an old couple, yet they were still bickering – “You’re too restless,” “You can’t teach properly,” they said, laughing together.
The now-Empress Dowager Su saw the float bobbing. She seized the opportunity and pulled up the fishing rod, successfully catching a fat fish. She turned to Chengqian, her eyes curved in a smile, “Look, you haven’t caught anything, I’ve already caught one.”
Chengqian, feeling challenged, childishly moved his position, as if vowing to compete with Su.
They were both elderly, yet they looked like a young couple, deeply affectionate.
Empress Changsun watched for a while, feeling a mix of sourness and tenderness, strangely happy.
She then went to visit Qingque and Zhinu.
Qingque and Zhinu both had children and grandchildren, very happily settled.
After visiting her sons, Empress Changsun went to see her daughters.
All three of her daughters were in Chang’an, so she didn’t have to travel far, she just needed to walk a bit further than Qingque’s residence.
Empress Changsun first went to Changle’s residence.
Changle was still healthy and alive, and she had her own children.
At first, their relationship wasn’t very harmonious, at best they were simply respectful towards each other. Now, the two of them were very much in love. Their children had grown up, and in their spare time, they would travel around and enjoy the scenery.
Changle’s travelogues were very popular, a new volume had just been released this year, and it was delivered to their residence today. The couple was reading it side by side.
Empress Changsun stood behind them and read a few pages, finding them to be genuinely well-written, making her yearn to go herself.
She hadn’t realized her daughter had been to so many places.
Empress Changsun watched her daughter and son-in-law looking at the new book together, a faint envy welled up in her heart. Her husband was considered a wise ruler throughout the ages, anyone who mentioned him would praise him. But, they didn’t have that kind of close and intimate bond that lasted until old age.
Changsun Wuji went to visit Chengyang next.
Chengyang was reviewing students’ essays. She was over fifty, but she didn’t look her age at all. She was full of energy, sitting by the window meticulously examining stacks of manuscripts. A snow-covered plum blossom branch suddenly reached out from the window, extending in front of her.
Chengyang looked up and saw Du He standing outside with his grandson. The grandson, half his body sticking into the room, was offering the flower to Chengyang in a childish voice, “Flower! Smells good! Grandfather picked it!”
Chengyang looked at Du He, and the couple smiled at each other. Time had inevitably aged them, but it had also made their affection for each other more mellow.
Perhaps at first, they didn’t particularly like each other – one thought the other was a playboy, while the other found the former quiet and introverted. But time had polished them into the perfect match for each other. They had children, they had grandchildren, they grew old together – much better than countless couples in the world.
Empress Changsun stood under the plum tree, watching them for a long time before turning to visit Sizhi and the others.
Sizhi and Gaoyang were neighbors.
Gaoyang remained hot-tempered until old age. When she heard that her grandson had bullied Sizhi’s granddaughter, she didn’t say a word, just grabbed her grandson and gave him a good beating. Then, she dragged him to Sizhi’s residence to apologize. Her grandson was just like her, stubborn and refused to admit fault.
Children, after all, will inevitably have friction when they are together, sometimes they’ll argue over a single word, sometimes they’ll fight over a toy, how can they be harmonious every day? That’s what adults are for, not children.
Sizhi had already comforted her granddaughter, seeing Gaoyang’s grandson, who had been beaten until his buttocks were red and his eyes were red, she felt very sorry for him.
He was a child she had watched grow up, after all!
He might be a bit naughty, but he’s basically sensible, he would listen if you reasoned with him. It was just a small dispute between children, no need to be serious, why resort to beating?
Sizhi quickly pulled the child over and comforted him.
The fearless little brat was held in Sizhi’s gentle arms, feeling even more wronged, and burst into tears, “Great-grandmother, I don’t want to be my grandmother’s grandson anymore, I want to be your grandson!”
Gaoyang was so angry she almost wanted to give him a beating on the spot.
This little rascal, why is he nothing like his grandfather?!
Seeing Gaoyang’s angry and annoyed expression, Sizhi lightly patted the brat’s back and said to Gaoyang with a smile, “This child is just like you, he’s exactly the same as you were when you were little.”
Gaoyang: “…”
Gaoyang said helplessly, “Just spoil him. If he bullies your granddaughter later, don’t come crying to me!”
**Author’s Note:**
Little Prince: These people aren’t even coming to see me, I’m so angry!
Update!
Genius Sweet Spring, after finishing this extra chapter, I’ll add another extra chapter about the afterlife, then this week’s list, with only a requirement of 21,000 words, will be fully written! A complete and satisfying ending, I’m dedicated to my work!
Finally, I’d like to recommend my egg’s new novel, “After My Identity Was Exposed, I Married into a Rich Family”, by Murixi. It’s a bit silly, a perfect match for my egg!
Blurb ↓
“After My Identity Was Exposed, I Married into a Rich Family”
It is said that Bai She of the Bai family is a psychopath who can’t do it,
Ran Xia pondered for a moment and agreed to the marriage after her identity was revealed.
Luxury cars, handsome men, and champagne, without even fulfilling marital obligations!
Why fall in love?
Are Prada not good enough or Gucci not fun enough?
Website:
Mobile:
If you’re using an app, search for “Identity Exposed” and you’ll find it!
**[Tell the readers, times are changing, free websites are hard to maintain, mobile apps with multiple source sites are becoming the trend for switching books, the station master recommends this book source switching app, it has a variety of audio tones, book source switching, and easy book searching!]**
+ Add to Bookmarks +
Previous Chapter | TOC |