Chapter 129

The government office is a profession that licks blood from the edge of a blade. When investigating cases, one might offend someone, and sometimes it might even implicate one's family.

This kind of profession is most likely to come into contact with dangerous events. Just like Zhao Zhonghe and Zhao Yuan, if Xu Qing hadn't accompanied them when they went to the crime scene on the boat last time, I'm afraid they wouldn't even be able to find their bodies now.

The government office runners in the government office have long been accustomed to this, so even if a colleague has an accident, they won't ask the lever shop to hold a grand funeral. After all, government office runners are just a low-class profession, unranked foot soldiers and helpers.

Instead of spending a lot of money on the funeral, it is better to save that money for the deceased's family.

Today, Zhao Zhonghe asked Xu Qing to preside over Shi Quan's funeral, which was already an exception.

If it weren't for the fact that Shi Quan had a long-standing friendship with him and died because of him, he wouldn't have gone to such great lengths to invite Xu Qing to preside over the funeral.

Having agreed on the funeral price, Xu Qing took advantage of the time when Zhao Zhonghe and his nephew went to rent a carriage to collect the hair Jin Luan had pecked off.

These personal items and hair were excellent spell-casting materials for him.

"Breath of all things, gather hair to my body; form of all things, borrow to my body..."

Xu Qing chanted the incantation, and the hair in his hand burned without wind. In the dark, his aura changed again. After the Heaven-Deceiving Art was completed, the barrier he used to shield the secrets of heaven had three more layers.

Now Xu Qing was both a constable and an immortal spirit bird. Even if others peeped, they could not see through his true background.

Not long after, Zhao Zhonghe drove the carriage to the front of the shop.

The uncle and nephew lifted the coffin onto the flatbed cart, while Xu Qing went to the incense and candle shop diagonally opposite to buy some paper offerings.

Earlier at the Temple of Sending Children, he had burned all the incense, candles, and paper money in his hands for those infants. Now he had to replenish some new offerings.

Arriving at the incense and candle shop, the proprietress, Cheng Caiyun, was flipping through the account book there.

Seeing Xu Qing come over, Cheng Caiyun stopped the hand that was clicking the abacus, her eyes lighting up: "Scholar Xu is dressed like this, could it be that he is dressed specifically for his sister-in-law to see?"

At this time, Xu Qing was still wearing the blue-collared white satin long gown made for him by the embroiderer, but this widow in the incense and candle shop was seeing it for the first time.

"If I were dressed specifically for Boss Cheng, could Boss Cheng give me more discounts when I come to stock up in the future?"

Hearing this, Cheng Caiyun curled her lips, and her tone returned to normal in an instant.

"Then you'd better dress for other young ladies to see. Your sister-in-law runs a small business and doesn't make much money, so I can't afford your teasing."

Here, taking advantage of Cheng Caiyun tidying up the goods, Xu Qing looked around. When he saw the hair on the abacus, he couldn't help but smile.

Pinching the hair, under the blessing of the Heaven-Deceiving Art, the hair turned into dots of fluorescent light and dissipated into thin air.

Now he had added another layer of identity.

After buying the incense and candles, Xu Qing turned to visit Mrs. Wu of the paper craft shop next door.

"Zhiyuan and Wencai have been gone for several days, and there has been no news. Do you think something happened to them..."

Xu Qing handed the silver earned from selling paper crafts on behalf of the paper craft shop to Mrs. Wu and comforted her: "The capital is far away, and it takes a few days to deliver a letter, not to mention that they are in an unfamiliar place and it will take some time to adapt. Sister-in-law, please don't think too much."

After saying that, Xu Qing stood up and said: "We are all neighbors. If you have any difficulties in the future, just tell me, don't be polite."

Leaving the paper craft shop, Xu Qing went around the shroud shop and the coffin shop.

It's a pity that he searched everywhere in the coffin shop for a long time but didn't find half a hair.

Hu Baosong looked at Xu Qing's appearance of searching back and forth and frowned: "What bad water are you brewing again, kid? There are no treasures hidden in my shop."

Xu Qing withdrew his gaze and turned to look at Hu Baosong's full head of white hair.

"Old Hu, you have the bloodline of the fox clan, don't you shed hair?"

After speaking, he glanced at Daoist Priest Yizhen, who was holding a scripture and reading it.

The female Daoist might have just washed her hair. At this time, her dark hair was like a waterfall, and the lotus bun crown she usually wore was placed beside the table.

Hu Baosong heard Xu Qing's words and thought of the way he was searching everywhere just now, and immediately raised his eyebrows and glared: "What do you want to do? Could it be that you learned some evil magic somewhere and want to act recklessly?"

As he spoke, Hu Baosong suddenly realized: "This old man has heard that the Witchcraft Sect has strange arts that can use other people's body, hair, and skin to make charms, thereby making people obey the caster's words. Even if they are enemies, they can sleep on the same bed like close relatives. This kind of witchcraft is also called love charm..."

Thinking of this, Hu Baosong blew his beard and glared: "You bastard kid, you've been out for these few days, could it be that you learned this evil art?"

Yizhen heard this and couldn't help but look at Xu Qing.

"Where in the world is there such a technique? If you could really make people obey your words just by holding their hair, the Witchcraft Sect would have dominated the world long ago, and they wouldn't still be staying in the Southern Border..."

Hu Baosong's expression softened slightly: "If so, why are you looking for hair?"

Xu Qing pondered slightly.

The Heaven-Deceiving Art is just a means to cover up the secrets of heaven and will not have any impact on the object of the spell.

For example, if Xu Qing borrowed Hu Baosong's hair as a spell-casting material, then no matter how others calculate and divine, they can only conclude that he is an old fox whose lifespan has run out.

In the end, it is a blindfold method to confuse the public and deceive the world, but this Heaven-Deceiving Art does not cover human eyes, but solves the problem from the root and shields the secrets of heaven.

Xu Qing couldn't explain this matter, so he said casually: "Human hair is a spiritual medicine. Medical books say that human hair is the surplus of blood. After boiling and refining, it can be made into blood-stasis charcoal. This thing not only has the effect of regenerating muscle and stopping bleeding, but also can treat uterine bleeding and leakage. It is a good prescription for women and a treasure for women..."

"Are you bleeding? You are a man, why do you study these messy things all day long?" Hu Baosong looked at Xu Qing angrily.

"This statement is wrong. A physician has a parent's heart. I know a little about medical principles. No matter what kind of physician, as long as it is a prescription that can save people and treat people, it is a priceless treasure in the eyes of a physician. This has nothing to do with whether the physician is a man or a woman."

"Look at the physicians in the medical center, which one of them would refuse to treat a patient because she is a woman?"

Hu Baosong smacked his lips for a while. When Xu Qing was about to say goodbye and leave, the old man suddenly reached out and touched the back of his head.

A green light flashed, and the old man cut off a lock of his own hair.

"Take it. I don't have much time to live anyway, and I'm not afraid of you tossing me around. But don't even think about your Senior Sister Yizhen. A woman's hair cannot be given to others at will."

Xu Qing took the hair thrown by Hu Baosong. As for the metaphor mixed in the old man's words, he pretended not to hear it.

But having said that, Old Hu also really trusted him. The Heaven-Deceiving Art only needs a single hair to be cast, but the old man was good, and he cut off his little braid without saying a word.

"Okay! When I rub some blood-stasis pills later, I will send you some."

It was because Xu Qing knew a lot and understood a little bit of everything, otherwise he really wouldn't be able to deal with this hair.

"Finished?"

On the street, Zhao Zhonghe, who was driving the carriage, asked casually.

Xu Qing sat on the carriage board and replied casually: "Everything is settled. Next, Constable Zhao just needs to drive the carriage to the place. Leave the matter of feng shui and burial to me."

The carriage drove out of Jingxia Street, and Zhao Zhonghe suddenly let out a long breath: "Damn it, I was suffocated to death. Your shop is too unlucky, and you don't even allow people to say dirty words. If a person doesn't say dirty words, is he still a person? That must be a Bodhisattva!"

"Besides, even a clay Bodhisattva has three points of anger!"

Zhao Zhonghe cursed all the way. After several days of contact, Xu Qing gradually figured out the character of this constable.

This is a rough man, without much bad intentions. Sometimes cursing is purely because his mouth is foul, but the person is indeed upright.

"I heard that Constable Zhao's family added a son three months ago. It is truly gratifying."

Constable Zhao smiled: "You still know about this? At that time, I asked Old Wang to send you a full-month invitation, but Shopkeeper Xu didn't come at that time."

Xu Qing said: "This matter is your fault. Don't you know what business I do? You don't know how to avoid taboos. If I guess correctly, I'm afraid my senior brother didn't attend the full-month banquet either, right?"

Beside him, Zhao Yuan said: "It's true. At that time, Old Wang packed a full-month red envelope, saying he had something to do, and asked me to pass it on to my uncle."

"Thinking about it now, maybe he felt that the identity of a coroner was not very auspicious, so it was not good to go to my uncle's house to celebrate."

Zhao Zhonghe was silent for a moment and shook his head: "Others may avoid it, but if familiar brothers also avoid it, then what kind of friends are they?"

"Uncle, a few days ago, Master Tang's family added a full-month banquet, didn't they also not invite Old Wang?"

Hearing this, Xu Qing was surprised: "Are you talking about Master Tang Zhou?"

Zhao Zhonghe interrupted: "Who else could it be but him? This old shameless man is at such an age, and I don't know what kind of madness he has. He has two children in his own family, but he wants to have a daughter. He even hid it from his wife and secretly raised a mistress outside. As a result, he really gave birth to a daughter."

"..."

Xu Qing bared his teeth, thinking that this had nothing to do with him.

In his opinion, Master Tang probably hadn't walked out of the dream-making technique, thinking that if he gave birth to a daughter, it could bring him good luck, let him get promoted and get rich, and everything would go smoothly.

"Uncle, speaking of which, Master Tang borrowed books from me a few days ago..."

"Borrowing books? Why did he borrow books from you?"

Zhao Yuan said with complicated feelings: "The master said he wanted to take advantage of his youth to fight one more time, maybe he could pass the autumn exam this year and become a provincial graduate."

"This old thing must be over fifty. Where did he get the face to say he is young! Did you lend him the book?"

Zhao Yuan said helplessly: "Uncle, don't you know? I'm not a material for reading. I bought a lot of pens, inks, papers, and inkstones, and I also bought a lot of books. If I changed to a reading seed, maybe I would have passed the metropolitan exam."

"Since the master has the heart to take the imperial examination, it doesn't matter if you give it to him. It's better than letting the bookshelf gather dust."

Xu Qing laughed dumbly. Is this the legendary poor student with many stationery items?

Several people chatted along the way. When the carriage reached Tanggu Bridge, Xu Qing suddenly saw a fortune-telling stall at the stone railing at the bridgehead.

It is not strange for a fortune-telling stall to appear at the bridgehead, but he was very familiar with the fortune-teller sitting at the stall in front of him.

When he was transcending Shi Quan, he had seen a scene. At that time, Shi Quan met a gentleman who called himself a master of the Surprise Gate on his way home from work.

The gentleman said that he lacked water in his life, but was countered by water. Not only could he not have water in his name, but he should also go less to places with water and lakes.

If he had to go, it would be light to hurt his body, and heavy to harm his life!

When Xu Qing looked at the gentleman, the other party was also observing the pedestrians passing by.

This has to do with the professional habits of a fortune-teller.

Once he finds that a pedestrian has something to do recently, this Surprise Gate fortune-teller will shout a meaningful sentence at the person, making people stop and ask involuntarily.

Earlier, Xu Qing knew that there were many fortune-tellers at Tanggu Bridge. This is why he would rather take a detour than pass through this bridge before.

After all, no one can be sure whether these fortune-tellers really have that heaven-reaching ability. If they do, and the other party sees at a glance that he is not a human, wouldn't that be a bad thing?

It was only because Xu Qing had just obtained the Heaven-Deceiving Art, otherwise he would never have taken this road at the risk of exposure.

At this time, Zhao Zhonghe drove the carriage onto the bridge, and the fortune-teller who was peeping at pedestrians everywhere suddenly set his eyes on several people.

That look was like stripping people naked, then leaning close and looking with a lamp.

Xu Qing frowned. He finally understood why Xuanyu was so angry when he opened his Yin pupils to look at it.

This fortune-teller is too offensive to others!

The fortune-teller stared at the carriage as it walked onto the bridge. Zhao Zhonghe noticed the other party's gaze, but he didn't take it to heart. No matter who is doing business, they are used to looking at people, which is nothing strange.

But when he drove the carriage past the fortune-telling stall, the fortune-teller who had been staring at him suddenly said: "Strange, strange, strange! A person with a dead aura on his face and his life number exhausted can actually live towards death. I'm afraid it's not that he met a god's creation, but that a demon or evil spirit has gotten close to him..."

"..."

The three of Xu Qing stared at the fortune-telling stall almost at the same time.

Zhao Zhonghe glared and said: "What kind of nonsense are you talking about, you god-man? You'd better make it clear to me! If you can't make it clear..."

The fortune-teller laughed and pointed his finger at Zhao Zhonghe, saying: "You don't recognize me, but I recognize you. You are the little ghost on duty in the Yama Hall, the patrol sea yaksha on the water, and the most difficult person in this world."

"Whoever offends you will inevitably have to walk under the killing stick."

Zhao Zhonghe reined in the carriage, carried his waist knife, and walked over.

"Clang!"

He slapped the knife and sheath on the fortune-telling table, and Zhao Zhonghe bared his teeth and said: "I'm wearing a uniform, even a three-year-old child knows I'm not someone to be trifled with. Don't think that you can be a half-immortal by talking nonsense!"

"You said I'm a little ghost, then today I really won't leave. If you can't say one, two, or three, I'll let you know what a yaksha is!"

The fortune-teller was lean, about forty years old, with a big black mole on his face.

Facing Zhao Zhonghe's feigned fierce appearance, he was not afraid, but smiled and said: "Divination is not free, life is not calculated for free. This is the rule of the Surprise Gate profession. If the constable wants to have his fortune told, he must pay the tuition fee first."

The Surprise Gate, ranked first among the eight major gates of the Jianghu, is mainly a profession for people to calculate good and bad luck and point out the maze for people.

Those who look at faces and tell fortunes are all Jianghu people in the Surprise Gate.

At this time, Xu Qing heard the fortune-teller's words and couldn't help but re-examine the fortune-telling stall in front of him.

On the left and right sides of the fortune-teller, there is a banner. The banner on the left says "Calculate heaven and earth without omission", and the banner on the right says "Know the present and the past without knowing nothing".

It is not unreasonable for the eight major gates of the Jianghu to be headed by the Surprise Gate. After all, just these two sentences are not something ordinary people can control.

The Surprise Gate studies the changes of the Heavenly Dao. Once this gate is mastered, the other seven Jianghu arts can be understood by analogy.

It's just that although the Surprise Gate is powerful, the water inside is also very large, and the quality of the fortune-tellers walking in the Jianghu is also uneven.

Powerful Surprise Gate fortune-tellers have the ability to evolve the changes of heaven and earth, look at Qi and break veins, and support the dragon and set the tripod, while most Surprise Gate fortune-tellers only know a little bit of observing words and colors, and look at people to tell lies.

But having said that, there are always beams among the thousands of weeds. Maybe one day when you pass by the roadside, a certain unassuming fortune-teller you meet is a Surprise Gate master who has received true transmission. This is all uncertain!

Zhao Zhonghe's character is a bit stubborn. He took out a piece of broken silver and threw it on the table, and the first thing he said was a kill: "If you can tell fortunes, then calculate for me, am I going to overturn your fortune-telling stall next, or am I going to strip off your clothes and throw you into the river!"

(End of chapter)