Liang Wenfu staggered home, threw himself on the bed as soon as he arrived in the house, rested for more than half an hour before recovering his strength, and then went to the well in the courtyard to take a bath, changed into clean clothes and came to the county office. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Although Liang Wenfu has spent most of his time in the county seat for more than a month, this is the first time that the county government has come. These notices, sea fishing documents, and the like are mentioned on the eight-character walls on both sides of the county government entrance; a pair of couplets are hung on both sides of the gate: Outside the door, the spring is warm and rainy, and the three-foot law inside the case is scorching and frosty. Liang Wenfu understands that this is to set off the difference in the atmosphere inside and outside the county government: it is precisely because the law enforcement in the government is as strict as the frost of the harsh sun that the wind and rain outside the door can be smooth, and the country and the people are safe.

The vermilion lacquer gate in the middle of the county government is closed all year round, and it will only be opened during major celebrations or when greeting the officials. There is a corner gate on each side of the gate, the east one is called the "human gate", which is used by the magistrate and his subordinates to enter and exit on weekdays, and the west side is called the "ghost gate", which is used for arraignment of criminals and escorting death row prisoners.

After entering the gate, you will face a majestic and towering main hall, hang a large plaque "Qinmin Hall" on it, and there is also a couplet hanging on the pillars on both sides: If you get an official, you will not be honored, and if you lose an official, you will not be disgraced, not to say that an official is useless, and the place depends on an official; This is the lobby used by the magistrate to hear the case.

But the lobby is only used when encountering major cases, so Liang Wenfu went directly through the door of the house on the east side of the lobby and came to the second hall where the county office on weekdays to find him.

At this time, Zhou Zhixian had not yet returned, so Liang Wenfu looked around in the second hall: in the middle of the hall was a screen of pine cranes for longevity, and in front of the screen there was a chair and a long case, on which there was only a shocking wood and a sticker -- this was the place where ordinary civil disputes were heard. Different from the lottery holder in the lobby, there are only black signatures and no red signatures here, which means that the cases tried in the second hall are generally not subject to execution.

There is also a large table behind the screen, which is full of various files and copywriting, which is where the county office is on weekdays. A large plaque hangs on the wall opposite the table, with the book "Retreat Hall", which means to retreat and think about one's own mistakes. There is a couplet hanging under the plaque: I came here because of the fate of the people, and I hope to live up to the people with a clear heart.

This couplet looks very new, the calligraphy is meticulous, square, neither dragon and phoenix dance, nor flying white pen, see words like people, this should be the motto that Zhou Zhixian wrote to himself.

Liang Wenfu turned around dozens of times inside and outside the second hall, and waited until it was almost dark, and Zhou Zhixian finally walked in, with Yu Jiusi behind him. Yu Jiusi was still very weak at this time, but he had already sobered up a lot.

Liang Wenfu nodded to Jiusi first, waited for Zhou Zhixian to sit down in front of the screen, and hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "The envoy is looking for a late life, I don't know what is going on?"

"Today, you have privately provoked demons, causing the tree demon to cause trouble in the county seat, killing two people, and damaging houses and roads, are you guilty?" Zhou Zhixian asked directly with a dark face.

Liang Wenfu was unconvinced when he heard this, raised his head and looked at Zhou Zhixian, and asked rhetorically: "When the demon was eliminated in the later life, a lot of houses were indeed destroyed, and he was willing to be punished for this matter, but the person was killed by the tree demon, if it wasn't for the late birth to save him, the killed person would only be afraid of more, why should this also be blamed on the late life?"

"That dryad just wanted to save the Painted Skin Monster, and he didn't want to hurt people in the city, but in the end he was provoked by you and went crazy on the street, yes or no?" Zhou Zhixian asked sharply.

Liang Wenfu's lungs were about to explode, and he held back his anger and asked, "How dare you ask how the tree demon didn't want to do anything in the city?"

"It seems that you are not convinced, then I will let you understand!" Zhou Zhixian slapped the table: "I already know everything about today, this official asks you: With the ability of that tree demon, if you directly attack you from behind when you are at home, can you dodge?"

Liang Wenfu thought for a moment, shook his head and replied, "Can't hide!"

Zhou Zhixian asked again: "Since a sneak attack can get you, why doesn't the dryad directly do it to you, but uses a trick to trick the Painted Skin Monster out of your hands?"

After listening to Zhou Zhixian's words, and then recalling the appearance of the dryad who left in a hurry after saving the painted skin monster, Liang Wenfu was confused: in this way, it seems that the dryad really didn't want to do anything in the city at first, could it be that he was really only provoked by himself to hurt people on the street?

Although he roughly agreed with this, Liang Wenfu was still unconvinced, and asked rhetorically: "According to the envoy's meaning, the late life should let the tree demon go alone, let it leave with the painted skin monster, and then go to harm others like the scourge of Jiusi?"

Yu Jiusi also helped on the side: "County Zun, this matter ......"

"Don't talk if you don't ask, just stand aside!" Zhou Zhixian said coldly to Jiusi.

This kind of amorous person deserves to die! Zhou Zhixian glared at Yu Jiusi in disgust, and almost blurted out this sentence, but in the end he endured it.

Zhou Zhixian turned back to Liang Wenfu and said: "I didn't let you ignore it, but you shouldn't have done it yourself from the beginning! You know that there are monsters in the Yu family, why don't you come to report to the official, but do it yourself? If you come to the official, not to mention the little painted skin monster and the tree demon, just a few more, and the official will also discipline it to ashes!"

Tell me what you are doing? Could it be that you are going to tell that monster a big reason and say it to death with your mouth? You are a seven-rank magistrate, not a nine-rank sesame official! Liang Wenfu endured it a few times, and finally asked: "May I ask the envoy, what do you want to use to make the monster go up in smoke?"

Zhou Zhixian heard the sarcasm in Liang Wenfu's words, and said angrily: "Crazy! What do you think the tree demon was scrupling about at first?

Liang Wenfu is about to roll his eyes, this Zhixian can't be stupid for reading, right? A righteous spirit and demons are not violated, that's just talking, are you really going to use the ethereal "righteousness" to deal with monsters?

"Why are you looking at this official like this?" Zhou Zhixian was very dissatisfied with Liang Wenfu's expression, anger sprayed out from his nose, and suddenly his eyes rolled, and he asked suspiciously: "Don't you know what righteousness is? Officials above the seventh rank in the world have righteousness, don't you know about this?"

Hmm? It sounds like this righteousness is different from what he understands? Liang Wenfu shook his head hesitantly.

Zhou Zhixian asked Jiusi again, and Yu Jiusi replied respectfully: "I've never heard of it!"

"Didn't the predecessor Lord Lu tell you?" Zhou Zhixian couldn't help but ask again.

"No!" "Not told!" both denied.

Zhou Zhixian gritted his teeth, the expression on his face changed several times, and then explained to the two of them what righteousness was.

It turns out that there is a very powerful thing similar to spiritual power in this world called righteousness, and there is only one source of righteousness - every year officials above the seventh rank can be bestowed by the emperor. This righteous qi is very powerful, and if Zhou Zhixian goes all out, the power will be at least five times that of Liang Wenfu, who can only practice the Tao! The emperor gave righteous qi to officials all over the world, in order to let them resist demons and evil spirits, and Qi Feng beg for rain.

Liang Wenfu suddenly realized: It is precisely because of the existence of this kind of righteousness that this world can be so peaceful, otherwise why would it be so rare to hear of demons blatantly causing harm in the world? Alas, he had never thought about this before, and with the cognition of another world, he habitually thought that there were no demons in the world to cause chaos! Liang Wenfu secretly scolded himself for being stupid in his heart.

"Since this righteousness is so useful, why haven't I ever heard anyone talk about it?" Liang Wenfu asked strangely.

Zhou Zhixian naturally understands this reason: Many officials are either lazy and afraid of trouble, or they are timid and afraid of things, wishing that the people did not know their duty to drive away evil spirits and ask for rain! Think about how tired the county magistrate must be if a bunch of old ladies surround the county government all day long, saying that they have a headache from evil spirits and that their homes are haunted and seek help from the county?

In addition, Taizu scared the demons in the world with his righteousness, and now although more than 100 years have passed, ordinary demons do not dare to make trouble when they enter the city, so the officials can rest assured and boldly hide their righteousness from the people. Over time, this practice has become a habit!

Zhou Zhixian himself hated this kind of unspoken rules of officialdom, but now is not the time to say this, at this time, he was full of anger and could no longer express his anger on Liang Wenfu, and sighed and said: "I can't control the affairs of my predecessor and others, but this official has not told you about this matter for so many days, and the fault lies with me! It is precisely because you don't know what righteousness is, that you don't know how to come to me, and it finally led to today's incident!"

Speaking of this, Zhou Zhixian looked upright: "Today's houses in the city are seriously damaged, let's talk about the compensation first: the official has not fulfilled his duty of education and the responsibility of defending the land, and the official will take sixty percent of the compensation, and the other forty percent will be borne by the two of you." Do you have any objections?"

Liang Wenfu regretted in his heart that he had not thought carefully before acting, and nodded in agreement.

Yu Jiusi boldly stepped forward and replied: "What Wenfu did was all to save the late life, and the late life was willing to compensate for him!

Although it is only forty percent, there is a lot of money, how can Liang Wenfu let him bear it alone? Just as he was about to step forward to stop him, Zhou Zhixian clapped his hands: "The compensation matter is so decided!"

Then Zhou Zhixian stood up and said to the two of them solemnly: "The matter of human life is not something that money can say, and today the two people were killed by the tree demon, now let's talk about how to punish everyone's guilt!

"As for the two of you—" Zhou Zhixian pointed at Yu Jiusi: "Taiyuan Wang Yuchen has a lot of friends, but why did that painted skin monster come to you thousands of miles away? Isn't it for the name of your romance and swagger on weekdays? But if you take the initiative to take responsibility, I will punish you for two years, and if you let the official hear that you have entered and left the Qinglou, it will directly ruin your reputation! Do you have any objections?"

"Late life is willing to be punished!" Yu Jiusi replied with trepidation, this time he was about to be killed, and now he was afraid of thinking of women, even if there was no punishment from Zhou Zhixian, he would not dare to go to the Qinglou again.

Zhou Zhixian looked at Liang Wenfu again: "Even if you don't know about righteousness, if you don't provoke the tree demon on the street, but wait for no one outside the city to do it, then how can Li Ergen be killed by the tree demon?

"Admit it. "Wrong is wrong, Liang Wenfu is not a person who is afraid of things, how to punish it!