This saying made Chong’er’s eyes look even more flustered.
I am a country bumpkin? As if your background is better than mine! Yu Qing could not help but laugh and cry as he said, “That’s right, he does look a bit like a woman, but he is indeed a man. We travelled to the capital together the whole way, and we have hugged countless times. How could I not know if he is male or female? We will talk about the details later.”
The handsome man gave a meaningful “Oh,” and said, “Since you have already hugged so much, perhaps I was mistaken.” He glanced sideways at Chong’er, who was secretly blushing, and the corners of his mouth showed a faint smile, but he did not say anything more.
Yu Qing waved his hand and said, “Chong’er, you go to my study first and wait there.”
Chong’er had already stopped crying. Suddenly he lost the mood to cry. He made a sound of agreement, lowered his head and left. He knew where the study was.
The handsome man turned to watch him go and said, “What a pity he is a man. If he were a woman, he would still be a beauty in the making.”
Chong’er, with his head lowered, immediately quickened his steps and did not look back. This drew a light laugh from the handsome man.
With no outsiders present, Yu Qing finally felt at ease to speak freely. “Martial uncle, why have you come here?” He also took out the jade pendant, placed it on the table and pushed it towards the other man.
The person in front of him was none other than one of the only two true disciples left in Linglong Temple. He was the disciple of his grand martial uncle, the so-called little martial uncle of Linglong Temple, named Zhou Xinyuan.
Since the grand martial uncle of Linglong Temple passed away, his disciple, the little martial uncle, had officially taken over his responsibilities and travelled the world to ensure the continuation of Linglong Temple.
The disciples of Linglong Temple who practised the “Guan” word formula and those who practised the “Yin” word formula had different duties.
Disciples of the Guan word formula were usually more flexible in mind, so under normal circumstances they would take over as the head of the sect.
Disciples of the Yin word formula, due to the special nature of their skills, were better at fighting and self-protection, so the sect assigned them the duty of travelling the world.
In simple terms, it was about making money. A group of people hiding in the mountains to eat and drink needed daily expenses, not to mention cultivation resources. There had to be a source, otherwise how could they cultivate.
Overall, the entire Linglong Temple remained in a long-term state of seclusion.
This was related to the cultivation methods of Linglong Temple, which required extremely high personal talent.
For example, practising the Guan word formula consumed a great deal of mental energy when deducing cause and effect. It was especially difficult to cultivate and was not something just anyone could inherit.
Yu Qing originally had more than three senior brothers. There were more than ten. The disciples accepted into Linglong Temple had all been specially selected. The sect did not intend to hide anything from those brought in and hoped they could all cultivate the “Guanyin” skills. However, this method was too special and the talent requirements were too unique. As a result, those senior brothers gradually failed during the internal guidance and became outer sect disciples. They themselves did not know there was a distinction between inner and outer. This was also the biggest reason why those three senior brothers were unhappy with Yu Qing becoming the head.
So it was very difficult for Linglong Temple to produce a large group of true disciples.
Thus the inner sect disciples remained only a few in number. During the process of generational inheritance there had even been breaks in the line. In desperation they had to entrust reliable outer sect disciples to help find suitable successors before they could continue with difficulty.
This was a sect that was hard to make prosperous. Being hard to make prosperous led to limited strength. With limited strength they did not dare to be high profile. In addition the special nature of the skills easily attracted outsiders with ulterior motives, so they were especially hidden and low key.
However, for the survival of the sect, someone had to go out and take risks.
This was a high demand task. They had to earn enough money to meet the basic cultivation resource needs inside the sect, ensure their own safety, not expose the sect, and also shoulder the mission of finding suitable successors for Linglong Temple in the secular world.
Apart from the difficulty in finding suitable successors, this little martial uncle had succeeded in other aspects.
So in the past at Linglong Temple, Yu Qing had quite admired this little martial uncle, because he had money. Every time the little martial uncle returned to Linglong Temple, he was like a nouveau riche. Yu Qing had seen with his own eyes the little martial uncle casually throwing a stack of silver notes to the head senior brother, who was his own master.
And Yu Qing would follow eagerly behind the little martial uncle with sweet words. When the little martial uncle was happy he would throw him ten or twenty taels of silver as a reward.
For the entire Linglong Temple, the thing everyone looked forward to most was probably the little martial uncle returning to the mountain.
Little martial uncle Zhou Xinyuan said calmly, “What is strange about me coming here? These days I happened to have business in the capital. Yesterday the whole capital suddenly became boiling hot. It would be hard for me not to know that the boy from the village had come to the capital. Wherever I went people were talking about it, saying that the imperial examination had produced a full score huiyuan. When I heard the name was ‘A Shiheng’, there should not be many with the same name. At that time I suspected it was the boy from Jiupo Village.
Upon inquiry, it was from Liangtao in Liezhou, so there was no mistake. Such a big happy event, since I was in the capital I naturally had to offer congratulations. Perhaps in future I would need his help with something. After finding out the address I came over. Did you escort him to the capital, or did you come under the excuse of having fun? Where is A Shiheng? Let him come see me.” He reached out and took the jade pendant back.
The reason he could enter the Zhong residence with this jade pendant without announcement was because A Shiheng recognised this jade pendant on him.
People who often saw him would recognise it as it was something he carried with him. Moreover there was a small story between A Shiheng and this jade pendant.
In the past Yu Qing had a craving for food. Once when he learned A Shiheng was going to town he stole this jade pendant of his and stuffed it to A Shiheng, asking him to exchange it for some nice food while in town. A Shiheng did not know the origin of the jade pendant and did as told. Later it was found out and both boys were beaten by him as a result.
So that was how he found them. Yu Qing listened and kept scratching his head. Finally he blurted out, “Well, martial uncle, stop looking. The person is sitting right in front of you.”
“Hmm?” Zhou Xinyuan was stunned. He looked left and right again, then stretched his head to look behind Yu Qing. After concentrating and listening for a moment he said, “There are only three people in the courtyard. What nonsense are you talking?”
Yu Qing pointed at himself and said extremely awkwardly, “Well, I am the A Shiheng you are looking for.”
Zhou Xinyuan lightly tapped the table with his fan and said, “Itchy skin again?”
“If a beating from you could make this itch go away, then I would rather it be that my skin is itchy and needs sorting out.” Yu Qing sighed heavily there, gulped down a mouthful of tea, spat out the tea leaves in his mouth and said, “Martial uncle, let me be clear. A Shiheng was injured and did not come. I came to take the exam for him. The A Shiheng you are looking for is actually me.”
“Uh…” Zhou Xinyuan choked. He observed him for a while and saw he did not seem to be lying. Just as he was about to ask what happened, he suddenly flew into a rage. “Nonsense! How much ink is in your belly? Do I not know? You took the exam for him and got full marks as huiyuan? Do you believe I will make you swallow back whatever you say?”
Thump! Yu Qing’s head fell onto the table. Laughing and crying he said, “Who the hell does not think that way? I thought that way too. I also thought I could not pass. Even now I do not understand how I passed. Martial uncle, someone is going to die. In a few days there is the palace examination. I definitely cannot pass. I am worrying about whether to run away.” Suddenly he raised his head with eyes full of hope and said, “Martial uncle, you came at just the right time. In terms of seniority you are higher. You take charge of this matter so that if problems arise it will not be blamed only on me.”
At this point Zhou Xinyuan also sensed something was wrong and asked, “What exactly happened?”
“Oh dear, that Chong’er from earlier, you saw him too. I have met my nemesis. The matter went wrong because of his kind intention to steal a copy of the exam questions for me. The road was led astray by him…”
Yu Qing rattled on and told everything about how Chong’er had overheard the conversation between Cao Xinggong and Xu Fei, then stole the exam questions and gave them to him. He also explained Mister Ming’s background. The process of giving the questions to Mister Ming could not be omitted. Then he told the whole story of how he somehow muddled through and passed as full score huiyuan.
He did not lower his voice, not afraid of anyone overhearing, because he knew that as long as the little martial uncle was present, it was almost impossible for anyone to evade his ears and sneak close to listen.
After listening, Zhou Xinyuan was also a bit dumbfounded. “There is such an evil thing?”
“Who says there is not? It is evil beyond measure. That fellow surnamed Ming failed nine times. I casually gave him the questions, he casually did them, and he actually passed, and as the top full score huiyuan. Who would believe it? Tell me, how aggrieved I feel. Where can I reason this out? Martial uncle, I am almost vomiting blood from holding it in! The problem is, in a few days it will be the palace examination. How dare I go? Going would be seeking death!” Yu Qing slapped the table and complained bitterly.
Zhou Xinyuan seemed to understand his hardship a little. After thinking for a moment, he shook his fan lightly and said in an easy and casual manner, “What is so hard to handle about this? An accident happened and you could not help it. If A Shiheng cannot figure it out he can only let it be. At this point, what is there to hesitate about? Run away. Run first and talk later. Hurry back, let A Shiheng hide. If they cannot find the real A Shiheng, you hide for a long time and it will pass… No!”
He looked left and right, then suddenly stood up. “Damn it! Why did I come at such a bad time? Later when you run away, they might suspect me. I am such a handsome and striking figure, too conspicuous. If the Jin kingdom court really mobilises to find me, it would not be easy for me to run either.”
The more he spoke the angrier he became. He raised his fan and knocked it on Yu Qing’s forehead, then pointed and scolded, “You are usually quite clever. Do you not know that taking the exam for someone else is a serious crime? Do you not know it can cost your head? I am puzzled. Why did you have to help him take the exam? Now it is good. You caused this mess and most likely dragged me into it too. If it leads to the extermination of the whole sect, you will be happy. No, I cannot stay in this capital. I must run first. You run quickly too. Hurry and notify A Shiheng to hide and not drag the entire Linglong Temple into it.”
He put away his fan, tucked the jade pendant into his belt, left Yu Qing behind and turned to leave. As he said, he would run first.
Yu Qing, who had also stood up, looked at his back and suddenly said in a dejected voice, “Martial uncle, my master has gone with grand martial uncle!”
Zhou Xinyuan, who had just stepped over the threshold with one foot, froze like stone in an instant. After remaining motionless for a long time, he responded indifferently, “You said the wrong words. Slap your own mouth. I allow you to say it again!”
Yu Qing said dejectedly, “Master has passed away. It was master who, before his death, ordered me to escort A Shiheng to the capital for the exam.”
Although there were things he did not want to face, Zhou Xinyuan knew very well that no matter how mischievous this boy Yu Qing was, he would not joke about such a matter. Precisely because he understood, his heart suddenly felt like it was being cut by a knife. Two lines of hot tears also suddenly flowed down the handsome man’s face. He made a trembling deep breath sound and said with his back turned, “Why has another one left? When I departed he was still fine. Senior brother was still young. With his cultivation he was not someone short-lived… Linglong Temple does not contend with the world and does not harm virtue. What is going on?”