Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 68 Classmate
Under an oil lamp, four heads huddled together, staring at a test paper.

"It's so difficult."

A Yuan sighed, and soon gave up, staring only at the several portions of food on the table.

Gu Jingnian thought that Feng Niang might be able to answer it... Not necessarily. That woman looked very smart, but her education seemed to be very poor, and all her intelligence was used on how to show her charm.

On this side, the two yellow-haired girls had a quarrel.

"Zhangbu Wu should be able to answer it. Let's ask him."

"Pei Nian, you don't want to get rid of me, do you?"

"You'd better not get involved in Kaipingsi's case."

"This paper is mine." Shen Lingshu said, "If you get rid of me, I will tell everyone that Pei Ji is investigating the Gentlemen Society and alert the enemy."

Pei Nian had no choice but to let Shen Lingshu and A Yuan change into servants' clothes and took them to the Kaiping Division's bookkeeping office.

"Wu, the bookkeeper, do you know the god of Shouyang Mountain? Why do you worship him?"

"What a tricky question. Let me think about where I have seen it before."

Wu Mozhi had an excellent memory and quickly remembered something, and found an ancient book from the vast bookshelf.

"We have found it, but there are few sacrificial utensils, and we are ashamed to hold a wine festival. We will use a rooster to bury the hair, and five kinds of rice to make the rice."

Shen Lingshu admired him, but still refused to hand the paper to others, saying, "I'll copy it, my handwriting is good."

Gu Jingnian stopped her and said, "Write it down and ask Zhuang Ziyuan to copy it again."

Even with the extraordinary memory of Wu Mozhi, the clerk of Kaiping Division, it still took him two hours to finish answering the paper.

Shen Lingshu brushed off the answer with satisfaction and said, "I'll do you another favor. Tomorrow I'll let Zhuang Ziyuan take me to the Gentleman Society."

The next day.

"No, no, no."

Zhuang Ziyuan looked at the answer in Shen Lingshu's hand. He was pleasantly surprised at first and wanted to snatch it away immediately. But when he heard her unreasonable request, he was suddenly embarrassed.

"My classmate, I'm not trying to burn bridges, but the admission to the Gentlemen's Society is very strict. This paper is specially given to me. I have been in the academy for a year and applied to join the society for half a year. I have cleaned for them every day to show my sincerity. Only then can I be qualified. You are not qualified yet."

Shen Lingshu frowned slightly when he heard this, and said with his hands on his hips, "Don't worry about it, take me with you to meet their people."

"OK then."

Zhuang Ziyuan happily copied the answers and finished the test. Shen Lingshu scolded him, "Your handwriting is too ugly." He didn't care and said with a silly smile, "Come on, I'll take you to find Senior Brother Yu Cang."

Shen Lingshu didn't know who Yu Cang was. When she saw him in Yide Zhai behind the library, she felt that he looked familiar.

While Yu Cang was reviewing the papers, she whispered a few words to A Yuan.

"Girl, this is the man who was so arrogant when we came to see Master Gu last time."

"Oh, that's crazy."

Unexpectedly, Yu Cang'er was very strong and said without raising his head: "Although Yu is arrogant, he has the qualifications to be arrogant. What do you two want to do with me?"

"We also want to join the Gentlemen's Society."

"Why?"

"I only associate with outstanding people." Shen Lingshu said as a matter of course.

Zhuang Ziyuan was stunned when he heard this, and wondered why the same words did not have such momentum when they came out of his own mouth.

"Not bad." Yu Cang nodded and said, "In that case, I'll give you a chance."

After hearing this, Zhuang Ziyuan was even more surprised.

Ever since he entered school, he had been determined to join the Gentlemen's Society. He really spent half a year with Yu Cang before he was qualified to take the exam. Unexpectedly, Shen Lingshu was able to surpass him in half a year with just one sentence.

"I know your identity. If you can find an outlier within two days, I will allow you to join the society."

"Why are you looking for an alien?"

"Prove that you can do things that ordinary people can't do."

"Okay, then it's settled."

Zhuang Ziyuan couldn't help but ask, "Brother Yu, what about me?"

"She helped you answer this test, that's easy, if she can get in, then you can get in too."

"what?"

Zhuang Ziyuan was overjoyed for nothing and couldn't help feeling very upset.

Instead, Shen Lingshu began to find the Gentlemen's Society interesting, so he turned around and ran to discuss it with Pei Nian and Gu Jingnian.

Upon hearing this, Pei Nian frowned, took a few steps, and whispered with Gu Jingnian.

"It's called the Gentlemen's Society, but they keep discussing things that are out of this world. It's definitely related to the sect."

"If Chu Danqing is really a great pharmacist, then it's not surprising."

"Yes, in the decades since the master was expelled, those who wanted to learn alchemy turned from the open to the secret and formed the Gentlemen's Society."

"I'll go check it out." Gu Jingnian said, "I can disguise myself and pretend to be an alien."

Pei Nian keenly sensed that something was wrong and asked, "Are you not afraid of the secret being leaked now?"

Since Gu Jingnian was planning to leave, he really didn't care about these things that much. He just wanted to clear up some troubles before leaving.

He then smiled bitterly and said, "Anyway, more and more people know about this."

"Well, you guys try to sneak in. If anything goes wrong, I'll take action at any time." Pei Nian said, "They are just a few academy disciples. At the very least, arrest them all and interrogate them."

After the discussion, Gu Jingnian went to find Yi Yan. This time, the disguise was very simple, just to avoid being recognized and look sicker.

--------

Yu Cang narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the pale, haggard and weak young man in front of him. He felt vaguely familiar with him, but he was sure he had never seen him before.

"I asked you to find someone different. Did you find someone?"

"Because he is an outlier." Shen Lingshu said as a matter of course.

"How to prove it?"

"Then take a look."

Shen Lingshu took out a small dagger and walked towards Gu Jingnian.

She had heard Shen Jichi say that Gu Jingnian survived the serious injury that time because he had a unique martial arts skill, and this time Gu Jingnian wanted to use his unique martial arts skill to disguise himself as an alien.

But when it really came to this moment, she hesitated. She placed the dagger in Gu Jingnian's palm and did not cut it for a long time.

In the end, it was Gu Jingnian who held the dagger and took the initiative to slash.

Blood dripped onto the ground.

"look."

Shen Lingshu couldn't bear it and turned aside.

Yu Cang stepped forward and watched Gu Jingnian's palm gradually heal. He widened his eyes in surprise and muttered to himself, "Pig man?"

Gu Jingnian was even more surprised.

He had been looking for his mother's family for years, reading books and looking for information. But he never thought that his classmates who passed by him every day knew about the pig people.

After going around in circles, the two of them, one who keeps to himself and the other who is arrogant, have never spoken to each other.

"Is this the captive captured by Marquis Wu Ding from the Kingdom of Yue?" Yu Cang was a little excited and murmured, "I have heard that after the destruction of the Kingdom of Yue, many strange creatures were captured in the army. This is the first time I have seen one today."

Although Shen Lingshu was not a hook, he was curious enough to ask, "Where did you hear that?"

"These things are not secrets in the Gentlemen's Society."

"Can I join the club then?"

"You come with me."

Zhuang Ziyuan trembled involuntarily and was extremely excited. He quickly supported Gu Jingnian and followed Yu Cang's footsteps.

"The pig man is weak and docile." Yu Cang said, "Don't worry about him running away."

"You know a lot." Shen Lingshu asked, "What do you want the aliens to do?"

"Research and record."

They walked through the backyard of the academy, went out through an inconspicuous little door, and went along the steep mountain road to the back of the mountain.

After passing a dangerous road along a cliff, the view ahead suddenly opened up. There were pavilions and towers built in the mountains, which was a completely different world.

Two scholars who looked very pretentious were leaning against the rocks and chatting, their behavior casual and unrestrained.

Zhuang Ziyuan looked around, amazed, and heard Yu Cang casually introduce a few words.

"This place was originally a residence opened by a wise man in the academy, but later it became unused and abandoned. Since the Gentlemen's Society is the best among all the societies, we use it."

"It's really extraordinary!"

Zhuang Ziyuan envied these outstanding people so much that he was excited to think that he would become one of them in the future.

Shen Lingshu also felt that the scenery here was nice. From a distance, he could see the capital city on the banks of the Shui River, yet the distance was high enough that if he lived here often, he would naturally develop a detached state of mind.

As we entered the building, we saw a man and a woman playing chess. The man was about 25 or 26 years old, and the woman was in her early 20s. They were both dressed like students from an academy and had extraordinary temperaments.

"Brother Lou, Sister Guan, these are the two new recruits. We also found a pig man."

Hearing the word "pig man", Senior Sister Guan turned around to take a look and said, "It's really rare... sit down against the pillar."

The pig was weak, so Gu Jingnian obediently sat on the ground as she instructed, lowered his head, and looked around the place secretly.

There is a calligraphy hanging on the front wall, which reads "Heaven moves with vigor, and the gentleman strives to improve himself unceasingly", which must be the origin of the name of Gentlemen Society.

Shen Lingshu and Zhuang Ziyuan sat down behind two low tables respectively. Yu Cang took out a scroll from the altar and said solemnly: "Since you want to join the society, write your names. Remember, the Gentlemen's Society only discusses academic matters. You must not violate the rules of the academy, let alone the laws of the king."

"it is good."

Shen Lingshu took the pen and slowly wrote his name, glancing at the scroll and muttering something softly.

"So it's the list of our Gentlemen's Society."

In the twenty-seven years from the Gengchen year to the present, except for the seven people in the first year, there were often only one or two new members in the following years, or no one joined the society at all. So far, there have been only more than fifty people in total. It seems that the vacancies are indeed scarce.

The name at the top is "Chu Danqing", while "Liu Heng" mentioned by Pei Nian is only listed seventh.

The name listed second looked familiar, it said "Long Minzhi", it should be a woman. Shen Lingshu thought about it and remembered that it was the female teacher who gave the lecture the day before.

She then tried to write down these names one by one, especially the seven people who first formed the association.

Gu Jingnian sat leaning against the pillar, watching Shen Lingshu write, and thought of what Feng Niang said. Chu Danqing and the cage owner were classmates and friends, so the cage owner's name must be on the list.

Looking at the appearance of this Gentleman Society, I am afraid that besides the herbal farmers, herbal dealers, pharmacists, and drug supervisors, there are also people who are training pharmacists...

Not far away, Senior Brother Lou waved his hand, and a sparrow landed on the chessboard. He took out a cloth bag from his sleeve and fed it a few grains of food.

The little sparrow flapped its wings, flew across the mountains covered with red leaves, and landed on Chongjing Academy.

(End of this chapter)