They've all become top scholars in the imperial examinations, and you're telling me this i

Chapter 61 Yuan Shoucheng's Secret
At the entrance of Xishi, under the old locust tree.

The Jinghe Dragon King, in human form, had a gloomy and round face, pacing anxiously back and forth. Yuan Shoucheng, on the other hand, squatted beside the long table, pretending to fiddle with a few copper coins, but his eyes were glancing at the street corner.

Upon seeing Chen Guangrui appear, the Dragon King immediately rushed over as if he had found a savior, his voice urgent.

"Scholar Chen! How's it going? Any news from the clerk?"

Yuan Shoucheng also stood up and listened carefully to Chen Guangrui's words.

Chen Guangrui sighed and shook his head.
"This is difficult! Wei Zheng is known for his uprightness and incorruptibility; this matter will be hard to handle."

"Ah? Then... what should I do?" The Dragon King's face turned deathly pale instantly, as if the sky had collapsed and the earth had caved in.

We've already found Wei Zheng, so why can't we escape this deadly calamity?

“However,” Chen Guangrui changed the subject, his gaze fixed intently on the Dragon King,

"You know my relationship with Wei Zheng. I went to great lengths to find you an opportunity to show your loyalty today."

The Dragon King was taken aback. "Loyalty? How do you demonstrate it?"

"Old Dragon King, think about it. Right now, the Human Official has just taken office and his position is not yet secure. Many people don't take him seriously. If you lead the nearby dragons to pay homage in a grand manner and express your support, wouldn't that be like providing charcoal in snowy weather? Wouldn't that be a hundred times better than adding flowers to brocade later?"

Chen Guangrui lowered his voice, his tone full of persuasiveness.
"When Wei Zheng sees that you are so reasonable and pragmatic, and that this is a time when he urgently needs to establish his authority and recruit people, he must be delighted! So, your tribulation will be a natural outcome, won't it?"

"only"

"Just what?"

“If you go alone, it will definitely be ineffective. But if you take other dragons with you, just imagine the scene. I went to great lengths to vaguely explain this to Wei Zheng. As for how to do it, that’s up to you.”

The Dragon King's eyes darted around a few times, and the more he thought about it, the more sense it made!

I was so scared and begging for mercy, I was so stupid!

He slapped his thigh suddenly, his worried expression vanishing, replaced by a flushed, excited look.

"Wonderful! Wonderful indeed! Scholar Chen is truly my savior! I'll go back and find him right now! Tomorrow... no! Today I'll go to the Wei residence to pay my respects to the immortal!"

"Wait!" Chen Guangrui quickly grabbed him, her expression unusually serious as she instructed, "Dragon King, this matter must be carried out in secrecy! But there's one more thing you must remember: your neighbor, the landowner of Chang'an, you must let him know."

Although the Dragon King did not understand his meaning, he was now completely obedient to Chen Guangrui.
"Understood! Understood! Don't worry!"

After saying this, he bowed gratefully to Chen Guangrui, glared at Yuan Shoucheng, and then quickly turned into a gust of sand and disappeared.

After the Dragon King left, Chen Guangrui turned to the old Taoist priest who had been watching from the sidelines, "Mr. Yuan."

"I dare not accept such praise!" Yuan Shoucheng quickly smiled, his tone extremely humble. "What are your orders, Scholar Chen?"

"A few days ago, some documents went missing from the palace. Are you aware of this?"

"Of course I know. I can figure out a thing or two about the big and small things happening in Chang'an."

"Today, these documents have been retrieved again."

"That's for sure. Your name was already circulating in Chang'an an hour ago. You've really got some clever methods."

Yuan Shoucheng, unusually agreeing with Chen Guangrui, began to look around with his eyes darting about, as if he were deep in thought.

Chen Guangrui is too cunning. He was clearly fooling that old dragon just now. Did he think I couldn't see through him? I really need to be on high alert.

However, to his surprise, Chen Guangrui didn't accept his flattery and went straight to the point.

"After the documents were stolen, some words and phrases were altered, and some events are no longer visible. Can you help me figure out which sentence in the stolen and then altered documents, concerning Yin Kaishan's daughter, was most likely to have been changed?"

"Which sentence was changed? I didn't see him change it, how could I know what he changed?"

Yuan Shoucheng's eyes darted around, and he started playing dumb, then immediately started playing the victim.
"Oh dear! Scholar Chen! Please spare this old Taoist priest!"

Yuan Shoucheng jumped up as if stung by a scorpion, waving his hands repeatedly, his face wrinkled up, revealing a shrewdness and fear of a mercenary.

As he spoke, he subtly shrank behind the stall, as if trying to hide behind the tattered divination stick container.

"How...how would I know?"

He hurriedly waved his hand, then lowered his voice, "Besides, that's the 'Buddhist sect'! The Western Paradise! They're all Buddhist disciples and descendants there. If they just blow a breath on my old bones, they'll turn me to ashes!"

He stretched out his withered fingers and exaggeratedly gestured across his neck, his expression one of utter misery.
"Please, have mercy and ask me something else. I really dare not get involved in this; it's a death sentence! My entire family, young and old, is counting on me..."

As he spoke, his face was contorted with grief, almost as if he were saying that he had an eighty-year-old mother to support and an eight-month-old baby to raise.

"Oh? You dare not say?" Chen Guangrui seemed to have expected this, showing no surprise but rather a knowing smile as she slowly changed the subject.

"Okay, let's not talk about that. Let's talk about... something else."

He strolled to the table, casually fiddled with the scattered copper coins, his voice carrying a hint of playful inquiry.

“For example… Mr. Yuan, you’ve been forcing fishermen to give you those golden-tailed carp day and night. What’s the point of all this?” Chen Guangrui raised her eyes, her sharp gaze fixed on Yuan Shoucheng’s forced composure. “Drinking fish soup every day? Aren’t you tired of it?”

Yuan Shoucheng's pupils contracted sharply, but he quickly put on that familiar, smooth, and worldly smile again, and chuckled dryly.

"Hehe... Look at what you're saying! This old Taoist priest only has this little bit of appetite, right? This golden carp tastes really good, tender, smooth, and fragrant... I can never get tired of eating it! Besides, a fortune teller has to follow certain rules, right? The rules of divination cannot be broken!"

He patted his chest, spitting as he tried to steer the conversation toward gluttony and rules, never mentioning his real purpose.

"Never get tired of it?" Chen Guangrui scoffed, completely ignoring his comment. Her voice suddenly lowered, carrying a sense of oppressive knowledge that seemed to know his secrets.
"Yuan Shoucheng! Don't play dumb with me! I've heard of carp leaping over the Dragon Gate... but what happens after the carp leaps over the Dragon Gate?"

He spoke slowly and deliberately, his gaze sharp as lightning, "You're not looking for fish at all! You're... looking for a dragon, aren't you? You dare say you aren't?"

"hiss!"

Yuan Shouchang gasped sharply, his fake smile freezing completely, and a fine layer of cold sweat instantly beaded on his forehead. He seemed to have his deepest secret exposed; his eyes darted around in panic, his lips trembled, and he remained speechless for a long time.

The meaning is quite clear: I'm not going to say anything, whatever you say is just your guess.

Chen Guangrui gave him no chance to catch his breath and make up a lie, leaning forward and staring intently at the flustered old Taoist priest.
"This matter... if the Jinghe Dragon King and his dragon sons and grandsons found out that their precious dragon bloodline was being coveted by a fortune teller like you who's always picking up 'goods' at their doorstep... what would they think?"

"you you……"

Yuan Shoucheng's face turned even paler. He pointed at Chen Guangrui, his fingers trembling. He wanted to rebuke him for threatening him, but he lacked the confidence to do so.

"You're so despicable!"

He thought he was shameless enough, but after seeing Chen Guangrui, he always felt an itch to touch her.

However, Yuan Shoucheng's calculations were shrewd. Offending the Dragon Clan would at most result in being hunted down. The Dragon Clan had strict rules and might not dare to act recklessly in mortal towns. He might still have a chance to survive by hiding and running away.

But if the Buddhist sect's scheme were revealed, the supernatural powers of those monks and bodhisattvas... he might really die without a burial place in an instant!

The lesser of two evils!
"Hmph! Fine, I'll tell you! I don't care who you tell!"

Yuan Shoucheng hardened his heart and decided to act like a rogue, sticking his neck out but clearly bluffing in his tone.

"They're just a bunch of snakes, aren't they? Do you think I'm afraid of them?! Say whatever you want! I don't know a word about this..."

Before he could even utter the word "speak," Chen Guangrui interrupted him again.

Chen Guangrui's smile deepened, carrying a hint of persuasiveness mixed with an undeniable confidence.

"Mr. Yuan, why are you so stubborn? Maybe... I can really help you?"

Seeing the doubt and uncertainty in Yuan Shoucheng's eyes, he offered a deeper speculation.

"You've been loitering around the Jinghe Water Palace for so long, you've practically turned over all the golden carp there, and you haven't caught anything. The Jinghe Dragon King is the brother-in-law of the West Sea Dragon King... You're always hanging around his doorstep, collecting golden carp, but you don't seem to be eyeing those foolish sons of the Jinghe Dragon King..."

Chen Guangrui's voice carried a precise, penetrating power: "Then your target... could it be the child of the West Sea Dragon King's family?!"

"Buzz!"

These words struck Yuan Shoucheng like a heavy hammer blow to the head! He felt dizzy and his ears were ringing!
"You guy!"

"Thump!" Yuan Shoucheng's legs went weak, and he could no longer support himself. He slumped down on the broken bamboo chair behind him, causing the long table to shake again.

The color drained completely from his face, leaving him ashen and lifeless. His withered fingers gripped the rough chair back tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force.

His smooth pretense, his shrewd business acumen, and all his feigned madness were shattered at this moment!

Those cloudy old eyes stared intently at Chen Guangrui, filled with extreme fear and a naked despair as if all his secrets had been stripped away!
He even forgot to refute or deny it.

"You're not kidding me, are you?"

His eyes were sharp as he stared intently at Chen Guangrui's expression, trying to discern any flaws.

Chen Guangrui's eyes held amusement. "What are you hiding? You've helped me so much, even at the risk of offending Buddhism. Now, maybe I can help you in return?"

He directly stated that Yuan Shoucheng would offend the Buddhist community this time, which clearly showed his extreme confidence.

This left Yuan Shoucheng with no strength left to struggle.

"...three...three...too..."

A fragmented, almost incoherent syllable was forced out uncontrollably from the depths of his throat, as if all his strength had been exhausted.

Chen Guangrui clearly caught those few vague words.

The Crown Prince of the Western Sea!
The Third Prince of the West Sea Dragon Palace!
Chen Guangrui stared at Yuan Shoucheng, knowing that he was not lying this time.

He simply couldn't understand why Yuan Shoucheng's lineage, which was so capable of calculation, needed to find a white dragon horse.

(End of this chapter)