Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 224 Saint's Gift

Lu Zheng was standing at the edge of the square when he vaguely sensed a pair of eyes staring at him. It came from the main hall of the Confucian Temple.

He couldn't help but glance sideways and catch a glimpse out of the corner of his eye.

But the saint's shadow raised his hand slightly, and a colorful air flew out straight towards him.

Lu Zheng's heart trembled, but it was too late to avoid it.

The colorful energy immediately absorbed into his body, and a majestic aura emanated from inside out, but it was quickly suppressed by Lu Zheng.

But there is still a trace of aura leaking out, which makes people feel the majesty of the saint.

[You are recognized by the Saint, gaining a ray of Saintly Qi, Literary Qi +1000!]

"Uh……"

Lu Zheng quickly checked his own condition and found nothing unusual.

After adding a thousand literary energies, they all turned into righteous energy. Other aspects of his body also improved slightly, which was obviously also benefited by the ray of saintly energy just now.

However, he did not quite understand what he had done to be recognized by this Saint of Anguo.

When Lu Zheng came to his senses, he found that thousands of eyes were staring at him.

Seeing this, Lu Zheng felt a little strange. He had clearly come here to watch the fun, but now he had become the biggest excitement.

Zheng Yu next to him was so shocked that his mouth opened wide, big enough to fit a duck egg.

The scene just now happened very quickly, but the people in the Confucian Temple were almost not ordinary people, and they quickly noticed it.

In particular, Su Ming and the governor were the first to react.

Even though they were officials of a state, it was the first time they saw the sage bestow literary energy on Confucian and Taoist scholars alone. What an honor it was!

The governor was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at Su Ming and whispered, "Master Su, this..."

Su Ming subconsciously glanced at the statue of the saint in front of him and found that the saint's shadow was no longer there.

You ask me, who should I ask? Su Ming muttered in his heart.

The governor whispered again, "Who is that young man?"

"Lu Zheng, the Lu Zheng from Kaiyang County." Su Ming said.

"Oh, Lu Zheng..."

The governor heard something and said, "His name shouldn't be on the list just now, right?"

Su Ming's expression was stiff as he said, "No, it's clearly written on this document!"

Su Ming handed the silk book to the governor for inspection, and found that Lu Zheng's name was not added on it at all.

Su Ming thought that he had wanted to give Lu Zheng a place before, but he didn't apply in the end.

As a result, the saint now directly bestowed Lu Zheng with a ray of saintly aura.

Could it be that the big shot who is paying attention to Lu Zheng is the saint of Anguo?

Thinking of this, Su Ming felt extremely terrified.

The others were also shocked when they saw this.

Mr. Yang and his three sons were watching the ceremony. When they saw this scene, their jaws almost dropped to the ground in shock.

Fortunately, fortunately... Mr. Yang was glad that he had not had any conflicts with Lu Zheng before and they had already reconciled.

Elsewhere, Lin Sheng's eyes widened with disbelief.

He had been thinking about how to retaliate, but Lu Zheng actually received the gift from the saint, which made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

"How is it possible? He just... Ugh!"

Lin Sheng nearly bit his teeth to pieces, spitting out a few words but not finishing them.

Beside him, Master Lin reached out and covered Lin Sheng's mouth tightly.

If he had known this, he should have locked Lin Sheng up at home to recuperate. Why would he come out to join in the fun?

Lu Zheng has already received the gift from the saint, so how can others question whether he is worthy or not?
Even if the Lin family were a hundred times more powerful, they wouldn't dare to be so presumptuous!

"You want to die!" Master Lin said in a low voice.

Lin Sheng's chest heaved, and he finally swallowed his words, but he was still indignant.

Master Lin looked at Lu Zheng with complicated eyes and sighed in his heart. This person was gifted by the saint, and he was unique in the whole Hongzhou. Their Lin family could only bow their heads and make apology later, hoping that no hatred would be created.

When some people are sad, there are naturally some people who are happy.

Zhang Bo turned to look at Lu Zheng, his expression surprised and happy. He was worthy of being Brother Lu, as he could get benefits that they could not even imagine.

In a place in the square, several people looked at Lu Zheng.

One person said, "Is he the Lu Zheng that Li Yuan asked us to take care of? He has received the gift of the sage and is already a accomplished person. Why does he need our Li family to do anything for him? We should invite him to our home later. Don't be impolite."

A young man next to him murmured in agreement.

Yun Xiao stroked his beard with one hand and muttered, "Is this boy's luck so terrifying? No wonder I can't see through it..."

For a moment, everyone was whispering.

If it wasn't in the Confucian Temple, there would have been a commotion long ago.

The governor couldn't help but ask, "How do you calculate this?"

"How do you calculate it?" Su Ming was a little confused.

The governor asked, "Should we add him to the list?"

Su Ming thought for a moment and said, "He was granted by the sage, not by the imperial court, so we should make a separate record. If he wants to serve as an official, he can apply separately."

Su Ming didn't understand what the higher-ups were planning, so he decided not to do anything unnecessary, lest his good intentions lead to mistakes. He just remembered what he had said before and just watched. The governor had no objection to Su Ming's words. He was about to be transferred anyway, and the future affairs of Hongzhou had nothing to do with him.

Su Ming then said loudly, "This year, our Hongzhou has produced fifty-one successful candidates, and one has received a gift from the sage. This is a blessing for our Hongzhou..."

Su Ming continued to organize the final process of the ceremony.

After the ceremony, everyone left the hall.

Lu Zheng stood there without moving. If what happened just now had not happened, he could have left with some people.

Now that this has happened, I don’t know how many people are staring at him and want to surround him, making it difficult for him to leave.

Zheng Yu, who was standing beside him, couldn't help but say, "Brother Lu is truly remarkable. He's been granted the unique gift of literary energy by a saint. Looking across the entire An Kingdom, there aren't many people like him."

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "There are other people too, so it's not surprising."

Zheng Yu was amazed and said, "Young man, you are really patient. If it were me...ah, I dare not even think about it."

He found that Lu Zheng didn't react much to this at all, but the others were shocked. This kind of mentality is not something that ordinary people can do.

Some people would be so happy that they would faint after passing the imperial examination.

Zhang Boxing ran over excitedly, his eyes sparkling, "Brother Lu, you are really capable! We will all be successful candidates in the imperial examinations in the future."

Lu Zheng smiled slightly, thinking that he had already become a juren, and the saint's gift just now was just icing on the cake.

Some unfamiliar faces gathered around, wanting to talk to Lu Zheng and establish some relationship with him.

But soon, Su Ming and the governor came over.

When everyone saw this, they had to make way for him and greet him.

Su Ming looked at Lu Zheng with a smile on his face and said softly, "Come with me to the provincial government office to register you."

"it is good."

Lu Zheng nodded in response. He was very happy to see Su Ming come out to help.

So, Lu Zheng followed Su Ming and left the Confucian Temple.

Outside the Confucian Temple, there were soldiers maintaining order on both sides of the mountain road, but it was still crowded with people.

When everyone heard that someone had been bestowed with the saint's cultural energy, they all wanted to see who it was and to share in the good news.

As soon as Lu Zheng walked out of the Confucian Temple, he became the focus of everyone's attention.

Faced with so many people watching, Lu Zheng remained calm, with a calm expression and a smile on his face.

Su Ming saw it and couldn't help but sigh that even he couldn't be so calm.

Su Ming whispered, "Do you want to say something to everyone?"

"Ok?"

Lu Zheng looked at those pairs of eyes, and a ripple of emotion arose in his heart.

Then, he shook his head gently and said, "Forget it, there's nothing much to say. Even if I want everyone to remember me, it's not because I've benefited from the saint's influence, but because of what I've truly done for them."

Su Ming's smile became more friendly, and he said leisurely: "Young people don't care about false reputation, which is rare and precious."

The governor beside him also smiled and said, "If it were me, I would at least write a good poem and make a name for myself. But Lu Zheng is right. Compared to these things, it is better to do something practical that benefits the people."

Su Ming asked in a low voice: "Do you want to be an official?"

Lu Zheng shook his head and said, "Being an official and governing the people is not what I want."

Su Ming was surprised and thought to himself, you have proposed so many strategies for governing the people, but you still don’t want to be an official?
"Then what are you thinking about?" Su Ming couldn't help but ask curiously.

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "My current abilities are limited, and I'm afraid it would be a laughing stock if I told you about it. I'll tell you later."

Su Ming raised his eyebrows. Young people have great ambitions!

Some people in the crowd had complicated expressions when they saw Lu Zheng chatting and laughing with the governor and the provincial governor.

All the way to the foot of the mountain, Su Ming invited Lu Zhengtong to ride in a carriage.

Lu Zheng couldn't refuse and got on the carriage.

With ceremonial guards leading the way, the luxurious carriage headed straight for the provincial government office.

Lu Zheng was so popular at the time that the fifty newly promoted scholars were overshadowed by him, and not many people paid attention to him.

Yang Yuanwai watched the departing officials and whispered, "This boy will become a great man. Remember not to provoke him in the future. Change your bad habits. If he really kills you with his sword one day, even I, your father, will be helpless..."

The three young masters of the Yang family remained silent after hearing this.

Young Master Yang's face was gloomy and he touched his chest which was aching slightly.

As soon as Lu Zheng entered the provincial government office, someone prepared a new identity certificate for him and brought him several sets of Confucian clothing for successful candidates. The efficiency was very fast.

Su Ming asked Lu Zheng to accept the things and said, "Go inside and rest for a while. I have something else I want to talk to you about. I hope it won't delay your arrangements."

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "I don't have any plans today, otherwise why would I go to the ceremony?"

Su Ming smiled upon hearing this and said, "Come to think of it, if you didn't go to the Confucian Temple, the Sage..."

Su Ming felt that the saint would still bestow Lu Zheng with a trace of saintly humanity.

But in that case, it would probably take some time for them to find out who received the honor.

Su Ming said, "I heard that you were promoted to Tiandi Xiucai in early June this year, and now you have become a Juren. With this speed, you are already among the top three people I have seen."

Are there any more experts? Lu Zheng blinked.

However, he was not promoted to Juren today. He became a Juren a month ago.

(End of this chapter)