174 Cat-head and Horse-face

That night in Huan Yang village, the originally clear starry sky was suddenly covered by clouds. After a while, a gust of wind swelled and flew over the village, branches and stones flew everywhere over the roofs of the houses. Everything was silent and tranquil, even the most boisterous dogs were silent as if they were afraid of something.

Zhang family's son Da Niu was still working in the field and had not returned. Old madam Zhang walked out of her door into the wind, looked at the situation of the house, then shouted at her daughter-in-law not to weave the cloth, then she quickly closed the door, went back to her room, turned off the lamp and went to sleep.

The madam was so obedient after she had heard her mother-in-law through the window, she got up and massaged her shoulders as she walked back to her room, seeming to be relieved. The moment she got to her room, she freshened up and fell to her bed, and was asleep soon after, it seems she was very tired.

Little host fire fluttering through the wind entered the Zhang residence and snuck into Old madam Zhang's room through the window slits, it looked like a myriad of butterflies were dancing about in the room, the gem-like green lights illuminated her face and confirmed that she was in deep sleep and the unlocked the door for two figures to sneak in.

Then we yanked her with a chain and dragged her to the ground, like messengers of the underworld had come, the old madam was awakened, she opened her eyes and saw a tall man with a horse face wearing a long black coat and looking at her coldly with a pair of huge eyes.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Old madam Zhang's sharp scream pierced the air.

Standing next to the horse face was not an ox's head but a cute cat's head that was looking at her with green eyes and sharp fangs as if she was ready to bite out her throat at any time.

***(The ox-head and horse-face are guardians of the underworld, King Yama's (a.k.a Yan wang) subordinates...so meeting them means you're dead or about to die, usually LOL...)***

"No... don't hook my soul... don't kill me..." Old madam Zhang backed away to the bed, shivering.

The cat-head flipped over an account book and gently explained the discrepancy in appearance with a crisp and soft voice, "The underworld's ox-head has been dismissed, and the post has been taken up by this cat, so please call us cat-head and horse face, don't say it is ox-head."

The horse face impatiently said, "What are you explaining so much for? Let's quickly take her to King of the Underworld to be judged, the oil pot is already set, if we're late and waste the oil, they will deduct our wages."

The cat-head heard the words and shook the chains on old madam Zhang and said, "Do not bother struggling or protesting, any words you have you can directly tell to the Lord."

Old madam Zhang did not have time to refute when her whole body was carried up, and then there was a burst of sweet fragrance and she was knocked out and they were on their way without anyone knowing.

The cat-head and horse face carried her, and quickly mounted a four-legged fire breathing dog, and flew off into the distance

After flying for a long time, the strange dog put down in front of a magnificent palace. The cat-head and horse-face pulled down old madam Zhang, then pushed open a beautifully decorated door, above the door hung a plaque with the words 'Integrity and Honesty'. There was a large copper pot in the middle of the hall, brimming with boiling oil. On the side of the pot, was a servant holding a fire stick and stocking the fire. The entire scene is very powerful.

The horse-face brought a large bucket of water, poured it on the old woman waking her up. She looked up and saw the scene, she was so scared that she screamed and screamed. The cat-head could not help but cover her ears and frown.

The other official seeing the cat-head was not happy, immediately called out to start the trail. A tall and mighty figure wearing a yellow robe, with a bearded face and a crown with a bead curtain on his head, the King of the underworld came in. He sat silently on the high throne and looked down at old madam Zhang with a fierce expression. After a while, he spoke with a booming voice, "Who is this kneeling in the hall?"

Old madam Zhang was now in a mess on the ground and could not speak at all.

So the magistrate sitting close to the King stood up and opened the account book in his hand, "This woman is Zhang Si Niang from Huan Yang village, her personality is arrogant and cruel, is jealous and suspicious, she even kicked a cat. Her tongue is malicious, she has spoken words many words that have hurt others and so she has been brought to the underworld to be tried."

After that the judge laughed mischievously and suddenly stuck out his tongue a few feet from the old woman, she was so scared that she kowtowed, banging her head on the ground as if she was struck by lightning. The cat-head gestured for him to be serious, so he retrieved his smile and returned to his dignified demeanor.

The King coughed and said, "In that case, she is sentenced to the oil pot, take her away."

Cat-head and horse-face grabbed old madam Zhang, ready to throw her into the pot, seeing the hot boiling oil, she got scared again and crazily screamed, "The King is forgiving! Forgive me! I won't dare to do it anymore!"

"Wait!" The magistrate suddenly stood up and said to the king, "It seems that there is something wrong with this case."

So old madam Zhang was put down, her face was pale and she was gasping, she was so scared that she peed on herself, soaking her skirt.

The cat-head covered her nose and moved two steps back. The King frowned and asked, "Where is the problem?"

"This cruel woman's biggest crime is pushing her daughter-in-law to death, so she should be sent to the oil pan, but...it seems like there has been some mistake somewhere, her daughter-in-law is actually set to die two years later." The magistrate hesitantly reported.

Old madam Zhang suddenly regained her voice and immediately screamed insanely, "My daughter-in-law is still alive! She's not dead! Not dead!"

"It's better to just forget it." The magistrate enthusiastically said, "either way, after two years she would still push her daughter-in-law to her death so it can still be counted as her wrongdoing."

"It can't! I haven't killed my daughter-in-law yet! Please be magnanimous!" Old madam Zhang's cried with her tears and nose running.

After the King thought for a long time, he finally brought down the gavel and said, "Since this is an error of the underworld, it is not unreasonable to let you return and wait for the two years and persecute you after your daughter-in-law's death and send you to the oil pan."

"She won't die! She won't die!" Old madam Zhang kowtowed and asked, "If she doesn't die after the two years, would I still be sent to the oil pan?"

"Rubbish! With your record, even though you do not cause her death, at best you will be beaten with boards, why worry about the oil pan?" The magistrate dismissively said as he waved his hand, "If you accumulate more good deeds, you could still be forgiven...but looking at you, I don't think you have anything good in you."

"There is...there will definitely be in the future." Old madam Zhang said full of cold sweat.

"Take her away!" The King coldly ordered and waved his sleeve and walked out of the hall.

Another wave of sweet fragrance filled the air and Old madam Zhang fainted again.

Cat-head, that is me, finally turned her cat-head back to her normal face and squatted and looked at old madam Zhang to confirm that she had passed out cold and turned to face the horse-face and said, "You can take her back, it's fine."

Horse-face depressingly said, "She has pissed her pants. I already brought her over and don't want to touch her. Let the others do it."

Next, the others started to give excuses too, Xiao Cha took out the Palm-leaf fan we had borrowed from Lou Sha and said, "I fanned the wind for a long time, I am not sending her back."

Xiao Zi took out her handkerchief and covered her nose and said, "I released the ghost fire and the paper butterflies that opened the door and also provided the knockout powder, so I will not do the rest."

The magistrate - Shao Zhong also walked forward and held Xiao Zia and said, "I want to take my wife back to sleep. The rest of the scene, Miao Miao you can take care of it yourself." After he finished, he ran away without looking back.

The King also came back in and turned back to Jian Nan's appearance. He grabbed some dirt and made a mold and created two little monsters and had them send the old woman back. Also, told everyone to return the items we had taken from the government office and acting troupe.

Xiao Cha was so excited and said, "This method is really useful!"

"It's really useful" LoLo seeing that the others were gone, finally changed back to her normal self, "But it's too different. There had never been a cat-head as part of the underworld officials. Moreover, this trial is simply a combination of mortal court and theatre tricks, it looks incredibly fake."

"Don't worry, it should be good enough." I awkwardly said, "Why, was bull devil not at home? there was not enough time to find someone to play ox-head, making things difficult."

Xiao Cha spat out, "More importantly you wanted to have fun."

Seeing that my true intentions had been found out, I hurriedly switched the topic, "What about this pot of oil? It's not good to waste it."

"We can use it to fry fish cakes," LoLo suggested.

So we had a big feast to celebrate. After we got home, Xiang Qing smiled and laughed as he listened to me recount the tale, then he rubbed my head and said that I had worked hard.

In the days that followed, Xiao Cha and I went past the Zhang household in Huan Yang village. The old woman was not willing to assign her daughter-in-law any housework, every day she would smile at her and greet her family, and trying to curry her daughter-in-law's favor afraid that she would be unhappy and run away and go commit suicide. Madam Zhang was scared and not sure how to handle her mother-in-law's new attitude that she hurried to get to work.

Although it is wrong and not ideal, the long-term relationship between the two will actually be much better.

However, the people in Huan Yang village started to say that old madam Zhang had lost her mind, and the reason is because she says that it is a cat-head that hooks souls...