In the morning, Chen Yu opened the publishing house doors to let in some air, only to be startled by the sight before him.
Dozens of Grand Confucians were curled up and squatting outside the publishing house entrance. Upon hearing the door open, they all looked over in unison.
As their pupils gradually widened, their expressions became increasingly respectful. Finally, they said in unison, "Good morning, Young Master Chen." "...Why are you here so early?"
One Grand Confucian sniffled and said with an embarrassed laugh, "We couldn't bear to stay at a hotel, so we made do outside for the night."
"You can't just make do with something like that! What if you freeze to death?"
"That's true. If we freeze to death by the roadside, we'll get fined."
Chen Yu's mind turned for a while before he finally asked, "Fined? What fine?"
"Abandonment of Corpse Offense, though we usually call it the Dead-Dumping Offense. Dying outside designated locations pollutes the environment and creates unnecessary work for sanitation workers, so there's a one-hundred-yuan fine and three Moral Score points deducted."
"What do you mean, three points deducted? Don't make it sound like illegal parking!"
"Three Moral Score points. If the person doesn't have enough, the points are deducted from their family members. Also, illegal parking costs two hundred yuan and doesn't deduct points."
"Don't tell me such useless knowledge! And why is this place like this? Longevity Prefecture doesn't have rules like that!"
A Grand Confucian well-versed in the laws of every prefecture said softly, "Corpses in Longevity Prefecture are more useful, so they get collected quickly. Righteous Qi Prefecture doesn't have those conditions, so it can only issue fines."
Chen Yu stood there dumbfounded for quite a while, unable to say which place was more absurd.
Checking the time,