He could not figure out what was strange about the situation, but he noticed that Su Yingtao and the other three suddenly began acting oddly as well.
Zhang Manqu on the other side followed Yu Qing’s question and gave a soft reply. “For now it will probably be like that.” After speaking he seemed to feel a bit awkward for answering Yu Qing, so he turned to Xu Fei to smooth things over. “Brother Xu, after the results are posted, what do you plan to do?”
“Uh…” Xu Fei really did not know how to answer for a moment.
Chong’er acted as if he had heard nothing and continued adding water for everyone.
The corners of Yu Qing’s mouth lifted into a smile. He wanted to see how Xu Fei, who already knew the answers in advance, would reply.
He had no real interest in whether Xu Fei stayed or left. The reason he sat down to chat with them and even brought up the capital’s richest man was simply to find out the plans of Su Yingtao’s group and Zhan Muchun.
There was no choice. These people had too deep an impression of him. A Shihueng absolutely could not appear in front of them.
After the examination, he would need to find a way to make these people disappear from the world.
This matter had been caused by his own poor handling. He could not leave such a huge hidden danger for A Shihueng. He had to clean up this mess properly.
As for Xu Fei, since he had a handle on him, and Xu Fei had lied together with him to deceive the Liezhou and Sinan authorities after coming out of the demon realm, plus the several thousand taels of silver involved, he should be able to introduce him to A Shihueng later.
“I have not decided yet. I will see how things go.” Xu Fei answered vaguely.
Before long, the group’s conversation returned to the examination questions. Since Yu Qing had achieved his goal, he stayed silent. When they asked him directly, he simply waved his hand and said he had forgotten.
It was a clumsy excuse with no attempt to hide it. He was just that blunt.
Seeing him like this, the others stopped asking and continued their own discussion.
Yu Qing listened quietly and waited for Xu Fei to hand over the money.
Lunch time was approaching. Xu Fei naturally invited everyone to eat at the Cao residence. However Yu Qing had no patience to listen to their chatter any longer. He did not want to wait and used the excuse that he must return to his “uncle’s house”. He also hinted to Xu Fei, “Shall I give you the note now?” He made a motion as if reaching into his sleeve to take it out.
Xu Fei pressed down on his hand, asked the others to wait a moment, and first led Yu Qing away.
In the end, Yu Qing happily received four thousand taels in silver notes from the Cao residence accounts office. True to his word, he neatly returned the IOU.
With this matter finally settled, Xu Fei breathed a sigh of relief. As he walked out of the accounts office he could not help asking, “Your uncle’s family, is that Zhong family really the richest in the capital?”
He could not understand how the nephew of the capital’s richest man could behave like this.
Looking at the grandeur of the Cao residence, Yu Qing knew some things could not be hidden here. He admitted honestly, “No. Could you not tell those people are snobs? If I did not create some hype they might not have been polite to me. This is your home after all, and I did not want to make things difficult for you. I was just helping you out with a casual excuse.” He made no attempt to hide that he was lying and even added, “Of course, if you like seeing their reactions after learning the truth, you can tell them after I leave.”
He was not afraid of Su Yingtao and the others finding out the truth. So what if they knew? He had played them once and received polite treatment in return. If he had not, he would have got nothing. Anyway he would not feel embarrassed.
Xu Fei was speechless. Pointing it out to their faces and embarrassing them would only make him look crazy.
After Yu Qing’s reminder, he no longer dared to speak carelessly.
With a helpless smile, he invited Yu Qing once more to stay for the meal.
Yu Qing refused again. First he found Chong’er and took back the fire cricket. Then he expressed that he wanted to meet Xu Fei’s uncle.
Xu Fei shook his head. “My uncle is almost never home during the day. He is usually out socialising. Why do you want to see him?”
Yu Qing pointed to the metal jar in his hand that contained the fire cricket. “You know very well where this thing comes from. Even Youya wanted it. Good water should not flow to outsiders. Rather than sell it to strangers, it would be better to sell it to my own people. Help me ask your uncle if he is interested. The price we agreed before remains the same, ten thousand taels.”
Xu Fei very much wanted to ask who exactly counted as “his own people” with him, but some words could only stay in his heart. “I appreciate Brother Shihueng’s kind offer, but our family really does not need it. You should find another buyer.”
If it were any other seller, he might have considered buying it out of curiosity regardless of price. But because the seller was Yu Qing, he felt an inexplicable rejection. It was the kind of feeling where he would not want it even if given for free.
Yu Qing was unwilling to give up easily. “Fine. For the sake of our friendship, how about eight thousand taels?”
Xu Fei said helplessly, “Brother Shihueng, you know what kind of existence Youya is. No one knows why Youya wants this thing or whether keeping it brings benefit or disaster. We ordinary mortals really dare not get involved lightly. We cannot buy something mysterious that might bring trouble just for novelty. Please find another buyer. Our family truly does not dare touch it.”
At this point, Yu Qing could not press any further. He could only bid farewell.
After leaving the Cao residence and getting into the carriage, the carriage rolled forward and Yu Qing swayed slightly inside.
He picked up the metal jar containing the fire cricket and looked at it. “Alas!” He sighed. He suddenly realised this thing was not easy to sell.
Xu Fei’s words had reminded him. Anything connected to Youya made people’s hearts tighten. Rich families who did not understand the full situation probably would not dare buy it easily.
The problem was, if he did not mention the connection to Youya and sold it as an ordinary rare item, he would not get a high price. Selling it cheap felt unwilling. At the very least it should be worth a thousand taels to make his冒险 in the ancient tomb wilderness worthwhile.
But even selling for a thousand taels required finding a rich family. Ordinary families rarely had a thousand taels to spend, and they would not buy this thing with it.
The same logic applied even for five hundred or three hundred taels.
His bottom line was three hundred taels. Anything lower and he might as well keep it himself. Although feeding it bones by killing creatures in the mountains every few days was troublesome, at least it would save on firewood for boiling water.
Thinking further, he realised the mountains had no shortage of firewood anyway. Saving the trouble of boiling water just added the trouble of finding bones.
The biggest problem was that no one knew how long this thing could live. Most insects did not live long. If it died within a year like some ordinary bugs, then… He silently lowered his price bottom line. If it came to it, he would sell for one hundred taels.
The more he thought, the more annoyed he became, so he stopped thinking about it. He put down the fire cricket and looked for something happy. He took out the silver notes he had just received and counted them again with great pleasure.
Exactly four thousand taels earned. He could not resist kissing them before comfortably tucking them back into his chest. He pulled open the carriage curtain and looked out at the capital.
Kill, make money, finish the matter and leave the mortal world, return to the mountain to cultivate in peace, and occasionally think of beauties. This was his plan after the examination. Sorting out the Linglong Temple was his responsibility. Then within the temple he would be the biggest, live as a carefree leader, and enjoy the most admiring looks from the young girls of Jiu Po Village.
“Young master, we have arrived at the Liu residence.”
The carriage stopped in front of a mansion. Yu Qing got out and personally went to the door to find Mr Ming, the western tutor of the Liu residence.
The Liu residence informed him that after Mr Ming took leave to help the Zhong residence candidate with the examination, he had not returned.
Yu Qing was surprised. He asked where Mr Ming lived and then went looking for him.
He had no other reason for finding Mr Ming. Just like how Xu Fei and the others were discussing the exam questions, the matter would soon spread and reach Mr Ming’s ears. Mr Ming would surely be shocked when he heard the questions and realise that Yu Qing had known them in advance.
He had already prepared to have a good talk with Mr Ming afterwards to avoid any uncontrollable situations.
However when he reached Mr Ming’s home, only two beautiful maids were in the small courtyard house. Mr Ming was not there.
The two maids had been hired by the Liu and Zhong residences to serve Mr Ming. According to them, on the day of the examination Mr Ming had returned, packed a few things, and left the capital. He said he wanted to travel around. He had not been seen since, and they did not know where he went or when he would return.
Yu Qing was stunned. Where could he find him now?
With no choice, he left with a knot in his heart, worried that Mr Ming might lose control and report him or something similar.
With this possible complication arising, the uneasy Yu Qing lost interest in finding a buyer for the fire cricket for the time being and began searching everywhere for news of Mr Ming’s whereabouts.
The examination hall remained heavily guarded. On the surface it was quiet, but the busy activity inside concerned many people.
After the candidates left, the hall was sealed tightly once more. The exam papers could not leave, and all the court officials in charge of the examination were also forbidden to leave. That meant even after the candidates departed, the relevant officials still had to remain locked inside for a period until all the papers had been marked.
Marking more than ten thousand papers in a short time was not easy. The pressure on the examiners was heavy.
The marking rooms were divided into four sections, each with one chief examiner, also called the marking president. The four questions had been set by these four chief examiners respectively, and the papers were judged by category. After seeing many papers of the same type and content, the examiners became somewhat numb. They could tell at a glance whether an answer was good or bad. Unremarkable papers were easily eliminated.
In the rhapsody room, a group of examiners were reading papers. One slightly plump examiner pulled the next paper in sequence. His expression, which had grown numb after sitting for half a day, suddenly stirred. His eyes brightened a little. The good handwriting on the paper woke him up somewhat.
The characters were good, but he did not know about the content. He muttered to himself and began reading the paper from the beginning.
As he read, his slightly hunched back slowly straightened. He rested one elbow on the desk to support his chin while the fingers of his other hand tapped lightly and rhythmically on the table. His absorbed expression showed moments of thoughtful reflection. His mind was clearly guided by the content of the paper as he mentally weighed its strengths and weaknesses.
When he reached the end, he leaned back, held his belly with both hands, thumbs moving more actively. He pressed his lips tightly together with a conflicted and undecided look.
In the end, he did not dare make a hasty judgement on this paper. He stood up, took the paper, and walked towards the president of the rhapsody room.