Get out.
A furious roar echoed through the east courtyard of the Zhong residence. In the late morning Yu Qing could not hold back his temper.
The east courtyard used to be so quiet, quiet enough that he could meditate and cultivate every day. Now for no reason a pile of troublesome matters had appeared.
Yesterday afternoon the east courtyard had just been cleaned inside and out. Today they actually wanted to climb onto the roof to turn the tiles and paint the corridor pillars.
Yesterday they measured clothing sizes. Today they actually wanted to change the quilt covers and window paper again or something.
Yesterday he refused to eat together with the Zhong Su family. Today they came to talk about it again.
It was endless. Where did so many annoying things come from. The constant harassment made him really unable to stand it. He who was already restless and annoyed finally lost his temper.
Of course, having such a big fire was indeed related to his mood. Until now he still could not understand why he had passed the metropolitan examination, and even with a perfect score as top metropolitan examinee. He had not slept all night. From yesterday until today he still had not figured out where the real problem lay.
If it was only passing the list he could accept it as an accident. But now even he could not explain it to himself. How exactly had this happened.
The servants did not expect the young master in law to suddenly lose such a big temper. They were all startled and retreated trembling and submissive.
Yu Qing paced under the eaves for a while then returned inside the room. The anger in his belly was hard to dispel. He filled a pot with water, threw the fire cricket into the water, and boiled tea to drink.
He sat on the side pondering what he should do now.
This was also something he had thought about from yesterday until today without finding a solution.
He now completely did not know how to end this.
If he had only made the list there might still be some room to manoeuvre. Now if he dared to run the court would definitely turn heaven and earth upside down to find him.
The problem was that this time he had pitied Ah Shiheng badly.
He had not protected the person well. Not only had he let the person break his hand, but now he had even helped the person pass the metropolitan examination successfully, and passed as top metropolitan examinee with a perfect score. He believed Ah Shiheng would also pay attention to the capital metropolitan examination situation. He feared that when this result was spoken even Ah Shiheng himself would not believe it and would probably suspect it was someone with the same name.
This examination of his was equivalent to completely cutting off Ah Shihengs path.
He felt sorry for Ah Shiheng.
He felt sorry for Master. Before passing away Master had entrusted him to escort Ah Shiheng to the capital for the examination. This time he had not done a single thing well.
He also felt sorry for himself.
What was even more hateful was that the Zhong residence side had added fuel to the fire by publicly announcing Ah Shihengs status as prospective son in law. A group of servants had already started calling him young master in law. There really were people who were not afraid of death, and people who rushed to put their necks into the noose on the beam.
He did not even know what the Zhong family and the Zhong familys eldest daughter would do after he ran away.
He had originally wanted to tell the Zhong residence the truth. However now he really did not dare to open his mouth.
The reason was simple. Once he opened his mouth it would no longer be a simple matter of childrens marriage. If he ran the Zhong residence would not be able to withstand it. What if the Zhong residence, in order to clear themselves, sold him out first? The dignified head of Linglong Temple being caught and put on trial in three halls then beheaded as a warning to others? He could not accept this outcome.
This worry was not without reason. The Zhong residences attitude towards him before and after the metropolitan examination had been too obvious and quite changeable. The cold and warm sides of human relations had already shown. It could be seen that Ah Shihengs instruction back then not to let the Zhong residence know the truth was wise.
What exactly should he do now?
He worried and worried until his intestines were almost broken from worry. He worried until he did not even have the mood to sell fire crickets.
The questions filling his mind gradually converged into one. Run or not run?
He was extremely conflicted. If he ran Ah Shiheng and his sons hard work would be completely destroyed by him. But the key point was that he felt staying behind would be useless. He might even lose his own little life. Relatively speaking his own little life was definitely more important.
Yet Ah Shiheng was not by his side. Such a thing had happened and there was not even anyone to discuss it with.
He considered himself a good man yet at this moment he felt there was no way out.
He casually reached into the bundle he had already packed and prepared to leave with. He pulled out a packet of spirit rice. Pop. The bag was unconsciously crushed by him and spirit rice scattered across the table.
It was obtained from the Zhong residence. There was not much, only a few bags. He had originally planned to tell the Zhong residence the truth after failing the list and take them away along the way. Now he really had no mood to make a fortune at all. He felt completely what use was this spirit rice for.
All kinds of moods converged into one sentence. This time he had poked a huge hole and the hole he poked could not be blocked no matter what.
White mist gradually rose inside the room. The mist grew thicker. Yu Qing played with the spirit rice in his hands and was still distracted.
Suddenly there was a crunching sound.
Yu Qing came to his senses, looked down, and found that the fire cricket had somehow crawled out of the pot and was lying on a pile of spirit rice gnawing at it.
Eh. This fellow can eat spirit rice?
Had he not fed it spirit rice in the ancient dead land?
Thinking carefully, he really had not tried feeding it spirit rice. By the time he thought of feeding it later the spirit rice had already been eaten up by them.
He looked again at the mist drifting in the room, stretched his head to look at the teapot, and understood why the fire cricket had crawled out of the pot. Because he was distracted the water in the pot had all boiled dry.
Yu Qing lifted the silk thread and put the fire cricket back into the pot. Then he grabbed big handfuls of the spirit rice from the table and stuffed it into the pot, burying the fire cricket alive.
Normally he would not have been willing to waste spirit rice like this. But with his current mood it really was, what use was this spirit rice?
Just as he was at a loss and acting absent minded, a servant came and reported, “Young master, two people have come outside. One of them claims to be Xu Fei and says he is your friend coming to pay a visit.”
Xu Fei? Yu Qing gave a cold laugh. It was better not to mention Xu Fei. Once mentioned he hated him until his teeth itched and his intestines turned green with regret.
If not for that fellow Xu Fei getting hold of the answers, could he have ended up like this? If he had known earlier that the one he saved was a white eyed wolf he should have let him die in the demon realm to avoid bringing disaster to the human world.
He had originally wanted to tell Xu Fei to get lost so he would not see him and feel annoyed. But after thinking about it he still gave a sound of agreement, not knowing what Xu Fei had come running for.
The servant left quickly and even looked back with an extra glance, muttering in his heart. He had done so well in the examination, bringing honour to his ancestors. Should he not be happy? Why did this young master instead look half dead.
Not long after, Xu Fei and Chong Er arrived. One strode with dragon like steps and tiger like vigour, full of energy. The other lowered his head and followed dejectedly with a wounded spirit.
“Brother Shiheng, congratulations, congratulations.” Xu Fei who stepped over the threshold cupped his hands and laughed loudly. Then he waved his hand twice and looked around, “Where is all this water vapour coming from?”
Yu Qing sitting at the table put away one foot and rested his hand on it. He said in a bad mood, “Congratulate me for what? Congratulate me for dying?”
“Uh, ten years of hard study by the cold window exchanged for this great victory. It is time to celebrate. Why say such unlucky words?” Xu Fei found it strange and did not wait to be invited. He found a place to sit himself. He was indeed quite familiar with Yu Qing. Moreover they had shared hardships together.
Yu Qing snorted coldly and laughed, “Looking at you so happy, you must have passed as well?” He had looked at the list but had not paid attention to Xu Feis ranking. He had no mood to pay attention.
His mood in this life had never been this bad.
Xu Fei waved his hand with a look of great embarrassment, “Ashamed, ashamed. It was pure luck. This time I did even worse, after one hundred and fifty something places. I barely made the list. I cannot compare with you, Brother Shiheng.”
Yu Qing immediately said in a strange sarcastic tone, “Look at that pretentious and detestable face of yours. Is there any comparability between after one hundred something places in the provincial examination and after one hundred something places in the metropolitan examination? Are you bullying me for not having read books? With your provincial examination results how could you possibly make the list? You cheated to get the results, right?”
Xu Fei was spoken to until he felt guilty and quickly explained, “It was pure luck. Besides, did you not also rank after one hundred something in the provincial examination yet still passed, and even as the top spot? How do you explain that?”
Yu Qing laughed coldly, “I cheated to pass the examination. I admit it right to your face. Do you dare to admit it?”
These words made Chong Er lose the mood to feel hurt. He was frightened and terrified, afraid that Yu Qing would speak the truth.
“…” Xu Fei choked with silent speech then gave a bitter smile, “Brother Shiheng stop joking. I know your strength. I experienced it back at Liezhou Wen Hua Academy.” He even winked at Yu Qing, meaning that secret was known only to you and me.
After speaking he dug at his ear again. He kept feeling there was some crunching sound ringing. Suddenly he saw the spirit rice inside the pot sink and move. Only then did he realise where the sound came from. He could not help leaning his face closer, “Brother Shiheng, what is inside here?”
Yu Qing directly reached out and pushed his face away, “Looking at that face of yours annoys me. Do not dirty my spirit rice.”
Xu Fei was not angry. He had always thought this person was not a good sort anyway. But he had also seen something. He tried asking, “Brother Shiheng, what is wrong with you? Do you have something on your mind?”
A huge matter on his mind, yet Yu Qing had bitterness he could not speak. In the huge capital he could not find even one person he could pour out his troubles to. He brushed the topic aside, “Do not talk nonsense. Speak, what have you come to the door for.”
Xu Fei looked back at Chong Er, took out a new slave registration from his sleeve, placed it on the table and pushed it over, “Brother Shiheng, I have come to fulfil my promise. Please accept it with a smile.”
Promise? What promise? Yu Qing muttered in his heart. It did not look like silver notes. He reached out, picked it up and examined it.
Outside the main gate of the Zhong residence, a finely crafted carriage arrived. The carriage body showed low key luxury.
The coachman reined in the carriage and turned back to say, “Sir, the Zhong residence has been reached.”
Inside the carriage sat a handsome man who looked around thirty years old. He wore brocade clothes and magnificent attire. A red jade hairpin on his head held his full head of black hair. He had a jade like face and star like eyes, extremely elegant and graceful. There was a slight lazy air between his brows and eyes when they opened and closed.
Hearing that they had arrived outside, he casually pulled out a small mirror from his waist belt and looked at himself again and again.
The gatekeeper saw the arriving carriage and knew it was not an ordinary vehicle. He took the initiative to come down to inquire, “May I ask what noble business brings the guest?”
Only a fair white hand stretched out from inside the carriage curtain. The fingers were slender and held a jade pendant to hand over. The mans warm and gentle laughing voice came out, “Take this to Ah Shiheng and say an old friend has come to visit. He will understand by himself.”
Seeing this manner the gatekeeper did not dare to be negligent. He said to wait a moment then immediately turned to go and report.
Inside the east courtyard Yu Qing was pushing and refusing with Xu Fei. What did he want Chong Er for? It was useless and would cost extra money to support one more person. It might also be inconvenient when running away. Naturally he was unwilling to accept and told Xu Fei to take him back.
Chong Er wept secretly beside them. Tears slid down one by one.
At this time the gatekeeper arrived. After reporting the intention he presented the jade pendant, “The visitor refused to say who he is. He only said that once the young master sees this he will naturally know.”
The moment Yu Qings gaze touched the jade pendant he froze. Then he showed a look of great joy, snatched the jade pendant into his hand to examine it, and shouted delightedly, “Invite him in. Quickly invite him in.”