Chapter 76 Painted Skin
The two men changed back into court robes and walked out of Wuying Hall.

Emperor Zhengde looked at the palace and sighed inexplicably, then turned to look at Ou Zanghua behind him and said, "Ou Qing's "The Legend of White Snake" and "Lü Dongbin Plays with White Peony Three Times" are both very interesting. Now that you are going to be away for more than a hundred days, why don't you write a storybook for me to relieve my boredom on weekdays."

"Your Majesty, I am an editor, not a storyteller." Ou Zanghua refused decisively.

Emperor Zhengde waved his hand and said cheerfully: "I grant your wife the rank of seventh-class pleasant lady."

Ou Zanghua clasped his hands together, bowed deeply and said, "Your Majesty, please withdraw your order. I will not accept any reward without any merit."

"Now you are serious now?" Emperor Zhengde was a little amused, and then said: "Then I will give you an even number of days off. I will give you 120 days. You have to hand in two scripts."

Ou Zanghua gritted his teeth and said, "One."

"Oh, Mr. Ou."

Emperor Zhengde patted Ou Zanghua on the shoulder and said sarcastically, "You are the first minister to bargain with me like this, but I never joke. Two."

"Then I would like to ask Your Majesty for an oral instruction." Ou Zanghua thought about it and decisively changed his request.

"You said."

"My humble master Liu Zhengfeng is kind-hearted and well-known, and is also a well-known good man in the Huguang area."

"You might as well just say it."

"Master, your majesty, has trained me to be a loyal, patriotic, wise, brave, and unrepentant minister. Shouldn't your majesty be grateful?"

Emperor Zhengde stared at Ou Zanghua with eyes wide open. He suddenly had the urge to read. He wanted to look through the history books to see how many such unscrupulous ministers there were in all dynasties.

Ou Zanghua raised his head and glanced at Emperor Zhengde, his eyes were very frank: "Your Majesty asked me to speak frankly."

"Okay, okay." This time, Emperor Zhengde finally saw the shamelessness of his civil officials. He waved to a young eunuch behind him and said, "You go back to Huguang with Mr. Ou and pass on my instructions. I heard that Liu Zhengfeng from Hengshan said,

Emperor Zhengde paused for a moment, because there were some things he couldn't say, so he simply copied Ou Zanghua's words: ".Your benevolence and good reputation are gratifying to me, and I grant you the name of 'Benevolent Hero'."

"Yes, Your Majesty. I will keep in mind your instructions." The eunuch kowtowed immediately.

When he came out of the palace, there was a young eunuch behind Ou Zanghua. He looked at him and asked gently, "May I ask the eunuch's name?"

"Thank you, Lord Ou. My surname is Lu and my given name is Fang." Lu Fang bowed slightly and answered very politely.

Ou Zanghua was a little confused. Why did this name sound familiar?

But it doesn't matter. He bowed and said, "So it's Envoy Lu. From now on, you and I will go together, but I can't wait to go home. I hope Envoy Lu will understand."

"Don't worry, Lord Ou. I also practiced martial arts in the inner court, so traveling will be no problem." Lu Fang smiled and said in a casual manner.

"That way, I feel relieved."

After returning to the Ou Mansion, Ou Zanghua immediately called Xiang Danian and told him to go back to Hengshan first and let his master Liu Zhengfeng and his mistress Ouyang Hui make preparations, and then he would go back to his hometown to visit his relatives.

After hearing this, Xiang Danian's eyes lit up and he immediately agreed.

Everything is good in the capital, but his master and mistress are not here, and he misses them often.

Qu Feiyan didn't have any special reaction when she heard that they were going back to Hengshan. She had only been in Hengshan County for a few days and didn't have any special impression.

But after knowing she had to go back, she started packing her things.

After Xiang Danian prepared some luggage and travel expenses, he set out early the next morning, perfectly demonstrating in front of Lu Fang what it means to be "eager to go home."

Ou Zanghua still had some work to hand over and he also had to write a storybook for Emperor Zhengde, so he planned to leave two days later.

Xiang Danian left, and now Qu Yang became the person driving the carriage for Ou Zanghua.

After arriving at the Hanlin Academy, Ou Zanghua checked in as usual, and when he turned around, he saw Yang Shen and Zou Shouyi staring at him. "Wow!" Ou Zanghua was startled and woke up from his sleep.

He asked with some amusement: "What are you two doing?"

"Jingyu, you actually asked for leave without telling me." Yang Shen sighed, "And it was to go back to your hometown to get married. Do you think you are not your friends?"

Zou Shouyi also said with a disappointed look on his face: "Yes! You didn't even tell us about such a big event as getting married."

"You two brothers are my best friends, how could you hide this from me?"

Ou Zanghua said quickly: "It's just that the invitations haven't been made yet, so I haven't informed you. Besides, Huguang is too far away from the capital. If I ask you two brothers to accompany me back to get married, it would be too much to ask!"

"So, I originally planned to invite all my friends to a banquet after I got married in Huguang and brought my wife back to Beijing."

The two looked at each other and both thought it was a good idea.

Ou Zanghua also coordinated some work with Zou Shouyi. Of course, he did not push all the tasks to others. Ou Zanghua put some of the tasks into a box and prepared to check them on the way.

It took two days to arrange all the affairs in the capital. Before Ou Zanghua could leave, he was blocked by the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

When he saw the Embroidered Spring Knife, Ou Zanghua was shocked and almost thought that he was impeached by the Censor again.

The other party bowed and said, "Sir Ou, I am the captain of the Jinyiwei, Shen Zhou, and I have come here to ask for the script in accordance with the order of His Majesty."

Ou Zanghua looked embarrassed, it turned out that the person came to urge him to submit his manuscript.

However, he was busy with official duties these days and delayed this matter. He could only say, "Please wait a moment, Your Excellency."

Then he walked towards the study and began to think about what story to write.

He had no idea at first, but when he thought of the absurd things that happened after Emperor Zhengde, he suddenly had an idea, so he spread out the paper and began to write:
During the Han Dynasty, Captain Wang Sheng led a garrison in a fierce battle with sand bandits in the Western Regions and rescued a stunning woman, and brought her back to the Jiangdu Palace.

However, the stunning woman was transformed into the Nine Skies Fox Xiao Wei by wearing human skin, and her skin had to be maintained with human heart blood.

Therefore, Xiao Wei's invisible assistant Xiao Yi, a desert lizard-turned-demon, kills people every few days and takes their hearts to offer to Xiao Wei to express his love for her. As a result, Jiangdu City fell into terror.
Of course, Ou Zanghua will definitely make some adaptations. For example, the character of the former commander Pang Yong is designed to be arranged by the court to serve as a protector general on another front line.

After discovering the abnormality in Jiangdu City, he decisively returned with a cavalry of a hundred men.

Because Jiangdu City is the most important logistics supply station on the front line, if something happens in Jiangdu City, there will inevitably be chaos on the front line.

Instead of being all about love and affection like in the original novel, with no structure at all.

And what about The Exorcist, who is also a character who loves to come and go, and has a hammer to use?

Therefore, Ou Zanghua changed this character into a righteous Kun Dao, and also deleted the romantic content.

Therefore, in this version, Pang Yong first killed Xiao Yi with a military formation in the desert. The bloody and masculine energy in the army made Xiao Wei feel scared even from a distance.

However, due to military orders, soldiers on the border were not allowed to enter the city and could only be stationed outside the city.

Pang Yong brought four confidants into the city. When they saw Xiao Wei, they discovered that she was abnormal. However, Wang Sheng had been bewitched and did not trust his former brother at all.

Under the temptation of beauty, Wang Sheng made many wrong judgments and finally killed his beloved wife before he came to his senses.

After helping Pang Yong kill Xiao Wei, Wang Sheng committed suicide out of shame and anger
It took Ou Zanghua more than two hours to finish writing "Painted Skin".

After drying the ink and handing it to Shen Zhou, Ou Zanghua looked at the sky and said, "I suggest you hand it over to His Majesty tomorrow."

"But Your Majesty has been waiting for two days, and I'm afraid he can't wait any longer." Shen Zhou put away the script, bowed to Ou Zanghua, and turned to leave.

(End of this chapter)