I'm not a fortune teller.

Chapter 40 Statue of God!

"Brother, are they all going to Beijing to take the imperial examination?"

The female family members naturally had two separate firepits from the male ones, which were located a little closer to the inside. After asking some details, Zhang Rui stood up and went to the family members' side, while the other side was left for the scholars and guards who came to rest.

Compared to Zhang Rui, a sorcerer who might have evil spirits, those tall guards made the scholars who came to Beijing feel more at ease, and they hoped that Zhang Rui would not come back.

Zhang Rui was also a sensible person and didn't intend to make trouble for himself. After returning to his family, he found a position with a better view and closed his eyes to rest. He had to think carefully about what the man named Yang wanted to do.

But he didn't expect that while he was thinking about it, his restless little sister came over.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Rui opened his eyes. He noticed that his mother not far away was also looking at this side. He immediately sighed and roughly understood what they were thinking.

"Mom asked you to have more contact." Zhang Meng said in a low voice with a red face.

Zhang Rui curled his lips and said, "My mother had told me before I came here that it would be best for my younger sister to find a husband from among those candidates who are taking the imperial examinations."

The reason was very simple. They could not marry into a good family in the capital. Although Zhang Rui was an official in the capital, he was only a sixth-rank official, which was nothing in the capital full of nobles. In addition, his family was poor, so it was not realistic for him to find a good family.

On the contrary, those Juren who came to Beijing had a wide range of choices. Juren all had the qualifications to become Jinshi and were potential stocks for the future. They also had the status of being Beijing officials. Not to mention looking for a student from a well-off family, there was still a good chance of finding a Juren from a well-off family.

Younger sister Zhang Meng was naturally very willing to accept their mother Huang's proposal. Since her brother became an official, the unmarried women in the family would benefit the most. Her third sister got married early, and even though her eldest brother became an official, she could not change the situation in her husband's family. She still had to help feed pigs in the countryside. It could only be said that her situation in her husband's family would be better, but her overall fate could not be changed.

She had waited for the right time. Before she got married, her eldest brother had become an official in Beijing, and her choices were much better than those of her third sister. This was why she agreed to her mother's move to cancel the engagement without hesitation.

Before, she had married a local scholar whose family was quite well-off, which was certainly much better than that of her third sister. But now she had the chance to marry a juren, and things would be different. With good luck, the juren might pass the imperial examination and become a county magistrate like her eldest brother. Then she could become the wife of a county magistrate. Her fate was completely different from that of her third sister back then!
"Too much is as bad as too little." Zhang Rui whispered, "I am a sixth-rank official, and it is still unclear whether those people can pass the imperial examination. Being too enthusiastic will only make you lose face."

Zhang Meng pouted when he heard this, and just as he was about to say something else, his mother nodded and said, "That's right, my son is such a young official in the capital, it was not easy for him to be so polite to them just now, and it's really wrong to be too enthusiastic."

Then he looked at his younger sister and said, "Don't worry. When you get to the capital, your brother will have plenty of opportunities to meet the scholars. He will naturally find you someone who satisfies your heart."

Upon hearing this, the younger sister immediately grinned and giggled.

"Hold it back, you've got nothing to show for it!" The old lady patted the girl on the forehead, and Zhang Rui also shook his head with amusement.

Compared to the second son Zhang Yu, the fourth girl is obviously more realistic, but her mind is not complicated. She is often a little silly. To be honest, he is a little worried that the girl will be wronged if she really marries a scholar. Unfortunately, neither the old mother nor the fourth girl would listen to them. He can only hope that his career will go smoothly. As long as he can support the girl in the future, she will not suffer much.

However, Zhang Rui is not considering the group of people outside for the time being.

The scholar surnamed Yang behaved strangely and deliberately led a group of classmates here. He felt that his purpose was not simple. His appearance was an accident, so the other party deliberately took the lead and made the group of scholars distance themselves from him. After today, he planned to set off early tomorrow morning. If anyone was willing to come with him, he could still take care of them along the way. If they were stupid enough to stay here, he probably wouldn't see them in the capital.
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"Brother Yang, I think that Mr. Zhang might be angry with us."

As more people came, a third bonfire was lit at the back. The guards and the group of scholars could no longer chat, so they simply sat together with the grooms. They and others were in the farthest corner, so they could talk much more freely.

"I think so too." A fat scholar next to him nodded while eating dry food.

The people around rolled their eyes and said what nonsense. He was such a young official from the capital and his attitude was so nice. He brought them hot soup and took the initiative to let them warm themselves by the fire, but in the end they still had such a cold attitude. Anyone would be annoyed.

"You can be angry if you want." Yang Jie said indifferently: "We are not the same kind of people anyway."

"That's true." Many people nodded in agreement when they heard this.

Only Qi Xuan, who took the initiative to say hello at the beginning, frowned secretly.

At the beginning, they were a little flustered by Lord Zhang's identity as a sorcerer, so they followed Yang Jie's pace for a while and ignored the other party, but now they think it is really unnecessary.

He was kind enough to entertain us and take the initiative to get close to us, but he was offended just because he was a sorcerer? Why?

Most of the officialdom is dominated by sorcerers, and only sorcerers can serve as the nine ministers in the court. Can you offend your superiors just because of your identity as a sorcerer?

Now that I think about it carefully, it seems that it was Yang Jie who guided everyone to do this from the very beginning, including now, many people are subconsciously following his pace.

Thinking of this, Qi Xuan smiled and said, "By the way, I haven't asked you before. Brother Yang has only been in Yuzhang Academy for a year, right? Where did you study before?"

"I studied in a humble academy before. After passing the imperial examination, I studied on my own. I didn't even go to the local prefectural school. I wanted to reduce the burden on my family." Yang Jie sighed, "I thought too highly of myself and thought I could pass the imperial examination by myself. Now it seems that I underestimated the students in the world. If I had known this, I should have made up my mind and spent money to enter Yuzhang Academy six years ago."

"I see." The others nodded. Most of them came from ordinary families. The tuition fees of Yuzhang Academy were not cheap. If they were children from farming families, they could not afford to study there. Even for small families like them, it would be difficult to study for a few more years. It was human nature to want to reduce the burden on their families. But Qi Xuan frowned slightly when he heard this. If they could pass the imperial examination, they would be sponsored by the gentry. At this point, they would naturally try their best to fight for the title of Jinshi while they were young. The worst option was to find a rich gentry to marry into, but they had to go to a good academy to study. They were juren six or seven years ago, and they might be in their early twenties if they passed the imperial examination. Was there no gentry willing to invest?

"Brother Yang, have you gotten married?" Qi Xuan asked again.

"Why are you asking this suddenly?" Yang Jie looked up at the other party and smiled.

For some reason, Yang Jie suddenly looked at him, and Qi Xuan felt an inexplicable chill in his heart.

"Oh, that's right. We've known each other for more than a year, but I haven't seen my sister-in-law come to visit. I'm curious and ask, I think Brother Yang should be married, but if not, I have some recommendations."

"Haha, I didn't realize that, Qi Xuan." The fat man next to him laughed and said, "You also have a hobby of being a matchmaker? I know everyone you know. If Brother Yang doesn't have a marriage, which girl are you going to introduce to him?"

Qi Xuan rolled his eyes at the fat man, then turned around and said with a smile: "I have a sister. If Brother Yang doesn't have a sister, you can consider meeting her."

"Uh" the fat man choked and stopped talking.

The others looked over curiously. It was obvious that Qi Xuan came from a well-off family and was the youngest among them. The teacher also said that Qi Xuan's essay had at least a 70% chance of passing the imperial examination. Considering such a future, why didn't the brother-in-law ask the young ones, but asked an old scholar in his thirties?
Seeing everyone's confusion, Qi Xuan explained with a wry smile: "It's like this, my sister was engaged before, but she died of an acute illness before she got married, which resulted in my sister being left alone at home for three years."

"Oh" everyone suddenly realized what was going on. That's what it was.

It is true that she has a bad reputation for killing her husband before marrying him, but considering Qi Xuan's family background and his own qualifications, he is more than qualified to be a match for Yang Jie.

"Is that so?" Hearing this, the coldness in Yang Jie's eyes disappeared, and he smiled gently, "It's rare that Brother Qi thinks highly of me. I really don't have a family. If I can pass the exam this time, I will come to your house and see you."

"Brother Yang, what are you talking about?" Qi Xuan said righteously, "Since you are talking about marriage, you should be sincere. How can you wait for the price? As long as Brother Yang agrees, whether he passes the exam or not, my Qi family will not regret it. Moreover, as long as the marriage is successful, our Qi family can also support Brother Yang to continue studying at Yuzhang Academy. What do you think?"

this.
Everyone looked over in surprise. Qi Xuan was very sincere. It seemed that his sister's marriage was not going well. Could it be that she was not good-looking? But Qi Xuan looked handsome.

"Okay!" Yang Jie laughed heartily. "Since Brother Qi thinks highly of me, it would be hypocritical for me to refuse. After this exam, regardless of whether I pass or not, I will go to the Qi family once."

"Then it's a deal!" Qi Xuan also laughed.

Although there was a hearty smile on his face, Qi Xuan felt cold deep down in his heart!
There is indeed something wrong with this Yang Jie!!

"Everyone, take a rest first. I'm going to go to the bathroom."

"Brother Yang, go slower." Qi Xuan said with concern, "It's dark outside, why don't you ask the groom to follow us?"

"Not that squeamish." Yang Jie waved his hand and went straight outside.

Qi Xuan looked at the other person's back, the smile on his face disappeared, and he began to think about something in his mind.

After Yang Jie went out, he went all the way to the back of the temple. When he got to the front, he looked behind him for a long time. After confirming that there was no one there, he pressed his hand lightly on the wall. There was such a delicate mechanism behind the dilapidated temple.

Not only did the wall move, but there was no sound at all.

The location where the wall moved was exactly where the statue stood in front of the temple.

The well-known Qingfeng Niangniang enshrined in front of the temple is one of the 96 Taoist gods in this world. She is in charge of wind and rain in all seasons, and has the same function as the Dragon God by the sea. People in the north pray for good weather and good harvests to worship this god.

But probably no one would have thought that there was another side behind the kind-looking statue.

It also looks like the Goddess Qingfeng, but the carving looks eerie and ghostly, with fangs, and especially the weird smile, which makes people's hair stand on end at first sight.

Yang Jie directly cut his wrist with a knife, dripping the blood under the statue, then he knelt on the ground, bowed three times and kowtowed nine times, chanting: "Ghost Gate Yang Jie, kneel and ask the goddess to show her power!"

At this moment, what Yang Jie could not see was that in a blind spot far behind him, a thin and frail figure was staring at this side coldly. It was Murong Yunji.

"Well, the guy named Zhang is right. There is indeed a problem."

　It's getting later, later. I didn't expect to update the second chapter after 12 o'clock. I will try to get up early tomorrow to start writing, and I will update on time.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)