Chapter 8: Paid Leave

Injured in the line of duty, paid leave.

During the leave, he attended several funerals and sent funeral gifts.

These unjustly dead colleagues, although their relationship was average on weekdays, and they had some friction, but good people suddenly became cannon fodder, and Chen Guanlou was also sighing with emotion. Little people, no human rights, couldn't even decide their own life and death.

Lu Datou didn't die; he was alive and well—this was an unexpected surprise.

On the night of the incident, because Lu Datou had no money in his pocket and owed gambling debts, he didn't participate in that night's gambling. Seeing it made him unhappy, he secretly ran to the office to sleep and slack off, so he was lucky enough to escape a disaster.

Lu Datou brought two pounds of meat to visit Chen Guanlou.

Elder sister Chen Xiaolan was very happy and warmly welcomed him into the house.

Ever since Chen Guanlou was injured, Chen Xiaolan felt like the sky had fallen, and she ran back to the Chen house to take care of her injured brother. If Chen Guanlou hadn't stopped her, she would have just stayed.

After much persuasion, he finally stopped his elder sister, who was worried and confused; she came over to take care of him during the day, and still returned to the Su house at night.

Chen Guanlou knew his own situation; his injuries weren't serious, just looking miserable—that was the effect he wanted. He couldn't let his elder sister be in a difficult position in the Su house because of him.

Actually, his brother-in-law was quite a good person, but the Su family hadn't divided the family, and the housework and inner residence were all decided by Mother-in-law Su. Mother-in-law Su was a vicious mother-in-law common in novels, a snob.

Back then, when the male and female owners of the Chen family died within two years, Mother-in-law Su wanted to break off the engagement. It was Guo Dachun who made the decision, saying they couldn't do things like kicking people when they were down or looking up and down, insisting that his youngest son marry Chen Xiaolan, and even bringing Chen Guanlou along to eat free meals in the Su family for two years.

Fortunately, his elder sister and brother-in-law had always had a good relationship. Otherwise, just Mother-in-law Su's difficulties would have made this life impossible to live.

"Just come; what gifts are you bringing? You are too polite. Little Lou is waiting for you in the room; he has been looking forward to your coming. You two talk slowly. I'll burn two side dishes for you. However, Little Lou is injured; you can't spoil him by drinking."

"Sister, don't worry; I have a sense of proportion."

Lu Datou entered the study and saw Chen Guanlou holding an expired government gazette, reading it with great interest.

"Datou-ge is here; sit down." Chen Guanlou stood up to welcome the guest and took the water pot to pour tea.

"Don't be busy; you are injured—how can I let a wounded person serve? I'll do it myself."

Lu Datou grabbed the water pot and drank two cups of tea first.

In the blink of an eye, the weather became hot. Coming from the government office, although the distance was short, he was still covered in stinky sweat.

*Alas*!

Lu Datou put down the teacup and sighed heavily. "Jiang Jiang Yucheng Jiang is gone."

Chen Guanlou was shocked and very surprised. "Gone?"

"They said he drank too much wine, fell into the river, and drowned." After speaking, Lu Datou sneered. "Do you believe it?"

Chen Guanlou opened his mouth; he naturally didn't believe it. Such a ghost-talking reason—those people were too lazy to even cover it up, and they might as well have written "murder to silence" on their foreheads.

He sighed along with him. "Too many people died; I don't know when it will end. How did the superiors handle the prison break?"

From the night of the incident, from beginning to end, he never mentioned the three words "Ghost Domain Sect." From beginning to end, the government office expressed that this was a vicious prison break event, and the Jianghu bandits were violating the ban with martial arts.

The three words "Ghost Domain Sect"—no text, no oral mention. The Ghost Domain Sect Hall Master who escaped from the Heavenly Prison was just a bold bandit in everyone's eyes.

Chen Guanlou wasn't sure if the people above knew the truth, or if Jiang Jiang Yucheng Jiang was innocent. But analyzing this matter with his two lifetimes of experience, a proper Ghost Domain Sect Hall Master hiding his identity as an ocean-going bandit, robbing tax silver, and being caught by the Six Shanmen and thrown into the Heavenly Prison, suffering heavy torture—no matter how you look at it, it was strange and not normal.

It was more like a statement, or more accurately, a "name-submitting certificate."

Who he was submitting the certificate to—the water here was too deep, and Chen Guanlou couldn't guess it.

The big figures above were fighting, and the result was that innocent prison guards were implicated and died unjustly—who could he reason with? Those who died were dead in vain. Who said the Heavenly Prison was safe? A prison break happened from time to time—who could withstand it?

Chen Guanlou secretly made up his mind that he would keep a few more eyes in the future. This time, thanks to his timely reaction, he luckily escaped a disaster. He also had to seize the time to practice martial arts and improve his realm. Even if he couldn't beat those martial arts powerhouses, at least he could fight for a chance to escape for himself.

Only by living could there be a future.

"Since Jiang Jiang Yucheng Jiang was used to take the blame, will the superiors continue to pursue it?" Chen Guanlou asked.

Lu Datou, as an old oil-slicker, had many news channels. He said: "The next things are not something we at our level are qualified to participate in. The big shots in the Ministry of Justice have plenty to be busy with; I don't know how many people will go down, and how many people will climb up."

Hearing this, Chen Guanlou breathed a sigh of relief; as long as they didn't continue to dig deep and implicate the Heavenly Prison, he would be at ease. He decided to cancel his leave and go back to work in a few days.

"You are a thick-hearted person; I heard that you sent a funeral gift to the families of those who died." Lu Datou only treated Chen Guanlou as a wine and meat colleague before. It wasn't until this time, learning that Chen Guanlou sent funeral gifts even to people he wasn't familiar with, that he looked up to the other party and intended to treat the other party as a true friend.

Chen Guanlou said sincerely: "After all, we were colleagues; I'll help if I can."

"I finally know—you are truly thick-hearted. Unlike others, *teme* of it, we were colleagues for so many years, and when people died, they didn't show up, and didn't even send a funeral gift—it's truly chilling. If I die one day, I won't count on that bunch of bastards; I'll have to rely on you, brother, to organize things for me."

"Pah, pah, pah—everyone will live a long life."

Chen Guanlou suspected that Lu Datou had suffered a big stimulus, which was why he was so negative; mentioning death while living well—it wasn't particular at all.

"Fine, I won't mention life and death. Good brother, there will definitely be good things in the future that I won't forget you."

"If you lose money gambling, don't come to me to borrow money; I'll thank God."

"I don't lose every time. Next time I'll win it back."

Chen Guanlou:...

He and gambling/drugs were incompatible.

After recuperating for half a month, Chen Guanlou officially canceled his leave and went to work.

New faces were at the floodgate; the old faces were implicated and died unjustly. Arriving at the familiar duty room, it was as smoky and chaotic as ever, with new faces and old faces mixed together.

At lunch, Xu Fugui rarely found him and said he wanted to chat.

Since the first day of reporting, Chen Guanlou rarely saw Xu Fugui; they didn't work in the same place, and if they wanted to meet, they had to specifically look for an opportunity.

This time, Xu Fugui suddenly took the initiative to find him; Chen Guanlou secretly thought, with his current bad luck, it was probably not a good thing.

Sure enough.

"Little Lou, someone reported that you don't follow the rules, not only bringing food and drink for the prisoners but also loving to help pass messages to the outside." ===== CHAPTER 9 =====