I was forced to cultivate immortality when I just wanted to lie down

Chapter 43 Related Households

Other people took the examination to become a scholar for fame and fortune, but Xu Qing took the examination purely to live a more peaceful life. Their starting points were different.

"Brother Xu, why are you joining in the fun?"

"I'll lead the way for my two nephews. I know the way to the government office very well!"

Xu Qing didn't mention that even this "old hand" of his was going to take the imperial examinations; it wasn't worth discussing. He just treated it as a normal thing; if the opportunity arose, he would register. When the county and prefectural exams came around, he'd close the shop, take a day off, and pass the exams for the Tongsheng and Xiucai degrees, and that was it.

In this way, if officials came to collect various taxes or asked him to perform labor service, he could show his medal of honor.

Look, I am also a scholar after all!
On the first day of March, a drizzle of rain fell on the eaves and streets. Even in such weather, many scholars who were about to take the imperial examinations held oil-paper umbrellas, or simply ran in the rain to the government office to register their names and hometowns.

Xu Qing led two young men who were not much younger than him and lined up in the yamen's court to avoid the rain.

Not to mention, there are quite a lot of people who come to register for the exam today, some are handsome, some are ugly, some are wearing gorgeous clothes or have patches on their bodies. The youngest one has a sky-high braid and is only eight or nine years old. He is said to be a child prodigy from Shuiyan Academy. This time, he not only wants to take the exam to become a student, but also a scholar!
Of course, there are also old scholars over fifty years old with gray hair who come to apply for the exam.

Looking at his appearance, I'm afraid that as long as he has breath in his life, he will crawl to the examination room!

Wu Zhiyuan stood on tiptoe and peeked inside, muttering, "If I had known I'd have to wait this long, I would have brought a book with me when I went out. What's the point of just waiting now? Haven't you heard that time is more valuable than gold?"

Wu Wencai smiled and said, "It won't hurt to spend a day or two. You might as well put down your books and take some rest. It won't cost you anything to miss the list if you don't read for a while."

Xu Qing was listening to the two people talking and was about to speak when he heard a familiar shout from the front.

"Brother Xu, how come you're in line too? Are you also going to take the imperial examination?"

Xu Qing glanced sideways and saw Master Tang waving at him with a smile.

The brothers Wu Zhiyuan and Wu Wencai watched Xu Qing go and chat with the yamen's legal advisor. Although they didn't know what the two were talking about, it seemed that they had a very close relationship.

Here, after Xu Qing finished talking with Master Tang, he returned to the hall and said to the two Wu brothers in a low voice, "No need to queue. Just follow me inside to register."

Wu Zhiyuan hesitated and said, "Isn't this a bad idea?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Wencai raised his elbow and nudged his honest cousin's waist, while pointing his mouth towards somewhere in front of him.

Wu Zhiyuan followed his cousin's gaze and saw many scholars and young men in gorgeous clothes walking towards the side aisle of the front hall.

Those are candidates who took the fast track and applied for the spring examination admission certificate.

Xu Qing chuckled. One of the two brothers was honest and upright, while the other was lively and active. If they were to pass the imperial examinations, it was unknown how their futures would be different.

After the three of them completed registration and received their admission tickets, Xu Qing separated from them and went to the morgue alone.

The three shifts and six offices of the yamen were all under the same roof, so it was inevitable that you would run into familiar faces whenever you looked up or down.

Just then, Xu Qing had just finished the formalities and walked out of the front hall when he ran into Zhao Zhonghe and a group of yamen runners walking out.

As the saying goes, enemies often meet in a narrow road. What will happen if two people who don't get along with each other meet? Zhao Zhonghe's sloppy brows immediately raised, as if he saw a hare accidentally entering a tiger's den, and his teeth bared immediately.

"Stop! This is a very important place for the government. Who asked you to come in?"

"Could it be that he has committed a crime and wants to surrender?"

Xu Qing held up an oil-paper umbrella and looked up at Zhao Zhonghe, who was soaking wet and steaming.

Such a strong bloody energy!
He could vaguely sense that the other party's martial arts skills were at least above the internal training level, and he might have already reached the threshold of opening the meridians.

"Today is the day the government registers students for the spring exams. How could Captain Zhao not know this? I'm not talented, but I'm just one of the thousands of students here. I can barely be considered a scholar. I'm sorry to have embarrassed you." Captain Zhao choked and continued, "You can just go to the front hall to handle these things. Why are you going inside?"

"Wang Lingyuan, the coroner in the clerk's office, is my senior brother. After all, scholars like us are not wild monsters. We usually value etiquette the most. Now that I'm stopping by, I naturally have to say hello to my senior brother."

Xu Qing's tone was very calm from beginning to end, but to Zhao Zhonghe's ears, it always sounded very sharp.

Seeing that the other party's answer was reasonable, he didn't want to get angry. He waited until Xu Qing left before asking the yamen runner beside him.

"Did that kid just say I was vulgar and not as good as them, the scholars?"

The bailiff shook his head, saying he didn't hear that.

"So, is he saying that I don't know etiquette and am like a bear?"

The bailiff hesitated for a moment, still shook his head, and said he had never heard of it.

Zhao Zhonghe spat fiercely and cursed, "This little brat is only good at talking. If he dares to fall into my hands one day, I will beat him in half and see if he still has the sharp tongue!"

On the other side, Xu Qing licked the canine teeth with the tip of his tongue and probed with his fingers.

It's time to sharpen his corpse teeth again
There was a continuous drizzle outside, but the morgue was still dry and cold.

When Wang Lingyuan heard that Xu Qing was going to take the spring exam, he sighed again.

No wonder Master Liu accepted the other party as his personal disciple. This kind of effort alone is not something that ordinary people can do.

Xu Qing didn't know what Wang Lingyuan was thinking. At this moment, he was only thinking about how to help the corpses in the morgue to be reborn.

"Brother, I want to try to independently read the case files and observe the corpse to see if I can deduce the details of the case."

Wang Lingyuan pondered for a moment, then pointed to two of the bodies and said, "I've already examined these two bodies at the crime scene with Captain Zhao. You can examine them at will. I'll see if your findings agree with mine."

Hearing this, Xu Qing had already grasped some information in his mind.

He had been reading the autopsy books Wang Lingyuan had sent him recently. Among them, the "Coroner's Order" of Dayong stated that those who were seriously injured in a fight and unable to walk should not be carried for an autopsy. If the cause of death was mysterious and difficult to explain, or the appearance of death was brutal and incomplete, the local officials should also lead the coroner to conduct a personal autopsy.

Wang Lingyuan's words proved that the two corpses in front of him must not have been at peace when they were alive.

Xu Qing lifted the shroud and was stunned when he saw the face of the deceased.

He was very familiar with this corpse. This person was among the yamen runners who had previously sold corpses privately in the coroner's shop.

He also said that there were few people coming to the yamen to deliver corpses recently, but he never thought that the person who delivered the corpse had died.

Xu Qing came closer and examined the body carefully, and found that there were no wounds on the body.

He tried to open the eyelids and pry open the lips for a long time, but he couldn't find out the cause of death.

Could it be a heart attack, a sudden death? But this doesn't look like a sudden death from a heart attack.

After a brainstorming session, Xu Qing finally stood up with an extremely serious expression.

Sure enough, compared to autopsy reasoning, he still prefers watching the scrolling lights of corpses.

(End of this chapter)