Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 3: Worship at the Confucian Temple
Not long after, the county government registered Lu Zheng's scholar status and also sent him two sets of blue Confucian robes that only scholars could wear, as well as a rosewood plaque.

The wooden plaque is Lu Zhengxin's identity certificate. It has special carvings and seals on it, indicating that Lu Zheng is a scholar from Kaiyang County, Anguo.

With this identity, Lu Zheng can travel freely to various counties and cities in Anguo, and even if he goes to another country to study, he can avoid a lot of trouble.

Lu Zheng got what he wanted, and it was not appropriate for him to stay in the county government office for long, so he stood up and said goodbye to Li Yuan.

Li Yuan smiled and escorted Lu Zheng out of the reception room.

Leaving the county government office, Lu Zheng walked briskly with his things in his arms. He touched the little money he had on him and prepared to buy some good meat and vegetables to reward himself and replenish his body.

This body has had a lot of yang energy sucked away by the red-clothed ghost, so it needs to be properly nursed back to health.

Lu Zheng went to the market to do some shopping and then went home carrying a lot of bags.

When he arrived at the door, he found a carriage parked there.

Beside the carriage, a middle-aged man saw Lu Zheng approaching and said with a smile, "Is this Mr. Lu?"

"That's right, who are you?" Lu Zheng asked.

The middle-aged man said respectfully, "I am the steward of the Li Mansion. I am here on the orders of the master to deliver something to Mr. Lu..."

As he spoke, the middle-aged man presented a heavy wooden box to Lu Zheng.

It turned out that Li Yuan saw that Lu Zheng was dressed simply and looked weak, so he asked the housekeeper to send him fifty taels of silver and an old ginseng.

Lu Zheng never thought that County Magistrate Li would treat him like this. He was really flattered.

He thought about it, put down the things in his hand, took the wooden box, and said: "I dare not refuse the gift from the elder. Please ask the housekeeper to tell the master that I will remember your kindness today."

He was not interested in the money, but he had to live in Kaiyang County in the future and did not want to ruin his relationship with the county magistrate.

The middle-aged butler heard this and said with a smile, "I will tell the master the truth."

After that, he took out a voucher and gave it to Lu Zheng, telling Lu Zheng that if he took this voucher to visit Li's house in the future, he would be treated as a distinguished guest.

Then, the butler ordered the servants who followed him to help Lu Zheng carry the things back home.

Lu Zheng quickly opened the door and let them in.

The housekeeper did not show any surprise when he saw that Lu Zheng's residence was simple. Instead, he was somewhat impressed that Lu Zheng could become a talented person in such an environment.

The housekeeper helped put the ingredients Lu Zheng had bought into the kitchen and added, "By the way, the master also asked me to pass on a message: Mr. Lu, don't neglect your health for the sake of studying..."

Lu Zheng felt a little strange. His body was not like this because of reading sage books.

However, it is not easy to tell outsiders that my yang energy was sucked away by a female ghost.

Lu Zheng just nodded and said, "I'll remember that."

"I'm sorry to bother you. Goodbye." The middle-aged butler hurried away with his men.

Lu Zheng sent the people away and closed the door.

He went to the kitchen, added some fresh meat and vegetables to the porridge left over from the morning, and took a piece of old ginseng root, and stewed it all together into half a pot of meat porridge.

Soon, the fragrant meat porridge was ready. Lu Zheng had a big appetite and ate it all up.

"Huh, so comfortable..." Lu Zheng was lying on the bed digesting his food. He felt that his life was pretty good now and there was nothing to worry about.

Lu Zheng fell asleep in a daze.

When he woke up from his sleep, it was already dark.

Perhaps because he was really too weak, Lu Zheng felt hungry again and got up to make himself something to eat.

At night, the moon is bright.

Lu Zheng was eating in the yard with a large bowl in his hand. Looking at the dark surroundings, Lu Zheng wondered if Zhu Sha would come over again tonight.

Although he has become a scholar now and his literary talent has increased a lot, the other party is a fierce ghost, not an ordinary ghost, and his strength is not weak. It is possible that he will come to trouble him in the future.

I slept during the day but couldn't sleep at night.

Lu Zheng stayed in the yard all night, but Zhu Sha didn't come.

"You can only be a thief for a thousand days, how can you guard against a thief for a thousand days!"

Lu Zheng slapped his thigh and felt that he had to find a way to solve this hidden danger, otherwise he would not be able to sleep at night.

But the most urgent thing now is to go to the Confucian Temple to worship the saint.

He returned to the house to take a bath, change his clothes, and put on the scholar's robes. He suddenly looked dignified and imposing.

After taking care of his appearance, Lu Zheng walked out.

As soon as I opened the door, I saw a familiar carriage parked in front of it.

The butler from yesterday stood beside the carriage and invited Lu Zheng to ride to the Confucian Temple.

Lu Zheng couldn't refuse, so he got on the carriage and went to the Confucian Temple with a serious expression.

The carriage stopped near the Confucian Temple. Lu Zheng got out of the carriage and found that many students were gathered outside the Confucian Temple.

Li Yuan did not publicize Lu Zheng's affairs, but informed the students of several colleges in the county that a talented scholar had emerged in the county and asked everyone to come to the Confucian Temple to watch the ceremony.

Many students were curious and wanted to see who had become the scholar of heaven and earth.

Among these students, there are many of Lu Zheng’s former classmates.

However, because the original owner had mediocre qualifications and his family was financially struggling, he dropped out of the county school a few years ago and had long since become estranged from these students.

When these students saw Lu Zheng, they didn't recognize him for a moment.

When someone called out Lu Zheng's name, some people remembered.

They never imagined that the poor student in the county school would suddenly become a great scholar.

The students looked at Lu Zheng with different expressions, some surprised, some puzzled, some jealous...

Facing everyone's gaze, Lu Zheng was extremely calm. He smiled and remained composed.

He came to the outside of the Confucian Temple, saluted Li Yuan, and then saluted everyone else, very politely and without any pride.

Confucius said: "A gentleman is calm and not arrogant. You possess the demeanor of an ancient gentleman. Your literary spirit +10."

Li Yuan greeted Lu Zheng warmly, introduced Lu Zheng to everyone with a smile, and then took Lu Zheng into the Confucian Temple.

The Confucian Temple built in Kaiyang County is larger than the county government office. It has three main halls, and statues of seventy-two sages stand in the left and right side halls.

In the main hall, six holy statues are enshrined.

Among them, four Confucian saints are Confucius, Yan Hui, Zengzi and Mencius. These four saints have long passed away.

As for the other two statues, they are two living semi-saints.

One was a descendant of Confucius from the State of Qi and a half-sage of the Kong family, and the other was a half-sage of Confucianism from the State of An.

In fact, there are more than these two Confucian semi-saints in the world today, but in the Confucian Temple in Anguo, only these two semi-saints are worshipped in the temple.

Lu Zheng entered the main hall of the Confucian Temple and looked at the six lifelike statues in front of him. It was as if six towering mountains were standing in front of him, which made him feel awe and his own insignificance.

(End of this chapter)