The Great Seminary

Chapter 74 Much Ado About Nothing
The sun's brilliant afterglow finally disappeared below the horizon.

The sun sets and the bright moon rises into the sky, but is covered by a dark cloud.

The sea and sky suddenly became pitch black.

But Pingyang Town on the ground has turned into a world that never sleeps with fireworks and silver flowers.

Fried sweet balls, boiled Yuanxiao, and steamed jujube cakes all emit a rich sweet aroma while being hot.

Dragon and lion dances, phoenix lanterns, jade rabbits pounding medicine, Chang'e dancing in the sky... the "colorful lantern parade" that the leading figures in various markets contributed money and effort to, began to circle the town.

Crowds of men, women, young and old followed happily, making it very lively.

The fried food fried in a lot of oil is fragrant and delicious, and is served in a large bowl filled with dough.

Cover the seam with glutinous rice dumplings.

Zhang Gui stood at the door and ate heartily.

While chatting and laughing with the neighbors, they waited for the arrival of the parade.

Suddenly, a unique figure emerged from the joyful crowd.

He stumbled over to Zhang Gui, his face pale as he shouted:

"Zhang Gui, something has happened, something terrible has happened, we are in great danger!"

The neighbors around were stunned and looked at each other.

Zhang Gui just continued to eat Yuanxiao calmly, looking up and down at the person who came and slapped him with his hand.

The middle-aged man who was beaten, with disheveled clothes, a frightened face, a stubble on his face, and a scholar-like appearance, turned around.

After a while, he spat out two broken teeth.

"Where did this madman come from? How dare you call me 'we'? Are you worthy?
You are a crazy idiot. In this kind of weather, you will freeze to death.

Every day is a disaster.

I was appointed by the Imperial Court's Ministry of War as an eighth-rank commander of the militia in Siyang County, East Yuehai, and in charge of military and civil affairs at Zhihai Village.

First, no corruption; second, no abuse of power; third, no defeat or loss of camp.

Who dares, who can, who can bring disaster upon me!

If I could see that you were not confused, just based on this one sentence, I would have charged you with the grave crime of intending to disrupt the order of the court, which is punishable by death.

Get out of here!"

This exaggeration immediately stopped the disheveled middle-aged man.

He blinked his eyes, not daring to act crazy anymore, and said incoherently:

"Gui, Gui brother, no, Gui sir, Gui governor, it's me, I'm Zhang Bazhen."

Zhang Gui had actually figured out who this fake lunatic was, but he still pretended to be surprised.
"Zhang Bazhen, Chief Bazhen, what's wrong with you?
I haven't seen you for just a month, why are you so down and out?"

"I, I'm in trouble." Zhang Bazhen wanted to cling to Zhang Gui and say "we", but his burning face made him dare not use any tricks anymore, so he said in a mournful tone:
"Weren't we at Wangbei Village a few days ago, colluding with the Rong family of Shuanghu on business?

As a result, Wangbei Village was robbed in the first month of the year, and the robbers took away all the people, money and other belongings.

Since the Rong family couldn't find the robbers, they contacted the guys from the "Sushifang" in the clan to interrogate me again and again.

At first it was just questioning, but last time he had already taken action.

He also said a lot of harsh words, saying that if I didn't tell the truth, my family would be implicated.

But I was telling the truth, I was wronged so badly!"

The "Sushifang" of the Zhang family in Pingyang is equivalent to the "carp tail" of Zhang Gui's ministry in his previous life. Although his position was not the highest, his authority was far-reaching.

It is the place that the Zhang family members fear the most.

That's why Zhang Bazhen, who was driven to a mental breakdown, pretended to be crazy and stupid and came to interfere after learning that his former peer Zhang Gui had become successful.

Even though there is little hope, one still wants to try his luck and muddy the waters.

Zhang Gui guessed his thoughts and said expressionlessly:

"Boss Bazhen, although the Shuanghu Rong family is a wealthy and powerful royal merchant family, they wouldn't allow our Pingyang Zhang family to wrong their children without any reason.

Since I've been questioning you over and over again, there must be a reason." As soon as he finished speaking, a group of people hurried over.

The most eye-catching one among them was a man of astonishing stature, with solid muscles all over his body and fists as big as casseroles.

A burly man with dark golden brass knuckles on his hands and a sullen face.

A thin man with a yin-yang fish robe hanging on his body.

A Taoist priest with a gloomy expression and a string of boils at the corners of his mouth.

The thin Taoist stared at Zhang Bazhen with a sinister look and said slowly:
“Of course there’s a reason for trying him.

On New Year's Eve, a group of us followed the two big treasurers Anshan and Anqiu to Siyang County to visit old friends.

As a result, the hundreds of guards who were left behind, the second and third clerks, many shop assistants, and more than ten thousand young and strong servants were all gone without a trace.

And according to the rules, Zhang Bazhen, the head servant of your Pingyang Zhang family, must also celebrate the New Year in Wangbei Village.

But he said that he went home to celebrate the New Year and did not go to Zhuangzi until the eleventh day of the first lunar month.

Shouldn't this be carefully examined?

If he was not a member of the Zhang family in Pingyang, he would have been severely tortured if he had been suspected of such a crime.

He still feels wronged, which is outrageous."

Zhang Bazhen was so frightened by the thin Taoist priest's sharp gaze that his lips trembled and he dared not speak anymore.

He turned to Zhang Gui with pleading eyes.

But the problem is that he had no good intentions when he first met Zhang Gui and wanted to take advantage of him, and he came here with bad intentions this time.

How could Zhang Gui repay kindness with hatred given his personality?

Instead, he nodded towards the thin Taoist priest from the Rong family and agreed, "What you said does make sense.

You should ask carefully.”

Unexpectedly, the skinny Taoist priest was actually at the end of his rope and wanted to bite people indiscriminately like a mad dog, so he would provoke as many people as possible.

Seeing Zhang Gui agreeing with him, he thought he was afraid of him, so he suddenly said:
"Hey little brother, I remember you were also in Wangbei Village..."

"I had fainted before the manor was robbed, and I haven't been there since."

"Why did you faint so coincidentally?"

Zhang Gui sensed the thin Taoist's malicious intent when he heard this, and suddenly laughed, explaining carefully:
"I fainted because I didn't understand the way.

After he entered the Tao, his clan immediately helped him select a martial arts scholar.

As for me, I felt deeply that the current situation of the country was difficult, so I took the initiative to join the court and serve it early on.

In the military examination of Siyang County, Dongyuehai Province, he was ranked A in all subjects.

Specially selected as the '8th Rank Bandit-Suppressing Captain of the Militia, Commander-in-Chief of Military and Civil Affairs of the Zhihai Fort'."

The thin Taoist priest gritted his teeth and said word by word:

“I know who you are now.

But you think a mere eighth-rank captain of a militia fighting against bandits can be taken seriously by the Rong family of Shuanghu.

Don’t follow me…”

Before he could finish his words, he saw Zhang Gui suddenly transform into a giant of eight feet tall, and grab the upper half of his body with his right palm as fast as lightning.

Taoist Wan never expected that Zhang Gui would suddenly attack and catch him.

My head froze, and then all sorts of thoughts flashed through my mind.

"This, this, this giant form, could it be the 'true form change' of the Kuafu bloodline of the Pingyang Zhang family?
I must have gone crazy under such pressure. How could I mess up the situation just to get one more person involved and offend such a genius?

But this man was also crazy. He actually captured the Shuanghu Rong family's priest in public.

I was too careless. A magician actually approached a warrior to make things difficult for him. Isn't this asking for embarrassment?

It's like leaning against a big tree for shade and completely forgetting the taboos."

(End of this chapter)