Chapter 4

Early the next morning.

After Luo Zijun finished his breakfast, he went to the bookstore.

He bought some books, preparing for the examinations.

After buying the books, on the way back, he suddenly discovered that he seemed to be followed.

Aside from possessing the supernatural ability of Mind Reading, his senses—such as hearing, sight, and smell—seemed to have become extremely sharp; his memory was also superb, seemingly capable of photographic recall, and he could remember almost all the text he had browsed in that other world.

This should be another Golden Finger given to him by that voice in his mind.

Unfortunately, the other party did not reveal how to cultivate in this world.

He could only grope his way forward on his own.

After all, there were demons, monsters, and ghosts here.

If he did not cultivate, he feared he would be eaten by a monster before the White Snake even appeared.

However, the voice in his mind had revealed that there were martial arts and literary cultivation in this world.

"Nine realms of martial power can slaughter dragons, eight dou of literary talent can suppress demons..."

Martial power was easy to understand.

His brother-in-law Li Zhengshan practiced martial arts; he just needed to find an opportunity to ask him.

As for literary cultivation and talent, it should be related to studying.

Therefore, he prepared to first go and pass the exam to become a scholar to test the waters; perhaps once he passed the exam and came into contact with those scholars, he would naturally know.

Hmm?

At this moment, the person behind him seemed to suddenly quicken their pace.

They were about to get close to him!

Luo Zijun immediately walked toward a crowded stall nearby, then stopped, squeezed in with the aunties buying vegetables, and asked the stall owner how much the radishes were; while asking, he pretended to turn his head to look unintentionally.

It was a woman wearing purple clothes and a Bamboo Hat.

Although he could not see her face clearly, he could see that pair of cold, sharp eyes.

At the instant their gazes met, Luo Zijun activated Mind Reading.

【Looking at this brat's attire, his family background is indeed not much to speak of; how could he reject Yan'er? Rejecting her is one thing, but he actually humiliated Yan'er. Hmph, once he enters the alley later, I must beat him into a pig's head!】

So it was that woman Sun Yan'er who sent her!

Luo Zijun understood the reason, pondered for a moment, put down the radish in his hand, and lingered at the stall with a few aunties for a while longer before turning to leave.

Soon, he entered a small alley.

The person behind him seemed to see that there was no one else in the alley, so they immediately quickened their pace again and walked toward him.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough..."

At this moment, Luo Zijun suddenly stopped, leaned against the wall beside him, and began to cough violently.

The person behind him had already arrived close by.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough..."

Luo Zijun coughed hard a few more times, then took away his left hand that was covering his mouth.

There was a pool of red in his palm.

"Sigh, sure enough, I'm afraid I won't even be able to hold on for a month..."

Wang Yuru had already quietly arrived behind him, and her clenched fist had already been raised, but at this moment, it suddenly froze.

"Master said a few days ago that I can live for at most one more month; now it seems, sigh..."

Luo Zijun looked at the red liquid in his hand, shook his head, his voice hoarse and filled with a deathly aura.

"What a pity, what a pity... such a good marriage prospect, such a beautiful eldest young lady of the Sun Family, yet she and I have no fate together..."

"If not for me contracting this illness, how could I have been willing to intentionally humiliate her, intentionally make her lose hope..."

"Sigh, I, Luo Zijun, will just die quietly alone; I must never implicate others..."

After finishing, he walked with a staggering gait, his back looking desolate, and continued to walk forward.

Wang Yuru froze on the spot.

Her clenched fist had already loosened, not knowing when...

After a long while.

After that thin figure walked out of the alley ahead, she sighed and said, "So, it was Yan'er who misunderstood him..."

Damn it! That was close!

After exiting the alley, Luo Zijun ran for his life.

Sure enough, women are all terrifying; they send assassins to beat people up at the slightest disagreement!

Isn't it just saying her feet were a bit big?

Ridiculous!

Returning to the Pharmacy, seeing that his master was not there, he caught his breath and prepared to read.

Su Qingling was standing behind the counter in a daze, the mounds on her chest placed openly on the counter, in a posture of dominating the world and being the only one supreme.

"Luo Zijun, Grandpa said he's going to beat you to death when he comes back today!"

Su Qingling said suddenly.

Luo Zijun: "Why?"

Su Qingling snorted coldly: "You molested his own granddaughter yesterday, and even molested his own granddaughter's bottom until it turned purple."

Luo Zijun immediately replied: "You also molested his own disciple yesterday; not only did you molest his own disciple's bottom until it turned purple, you even molested it until it broke; her pants were red when she went back last night."

"Pfft..."

Su Qingling laughed, immediately covered her mouth, her face quickly returning to coldness, and she raised her slender, onion-white fingers, showing off her sharp nails as she said: "Serves you right!"

Luo Zijun ignored her further and went to the corner to sit down and read.

Su Qingling stole a glance at him, then looked at the book in his hands, and said nothing more.

It was nearly noon.

Two men carried two long Wooden Plaques into the shop, asked for the name, and then began to busy themselves at the entrance.

Luo Zijun felt puzzled.

He went out to take a look and saw the two men were replacing the couplets at the entrance.

"Senior Sister, aren't the couplets at the entrance Master's proudest work? Why replace them?"

He remembered that every time Master went out or returned, he would stand at the entrance, stroking his beard and gazing at them, very proud of his fine work; why change them so suddenly?

Su Qingling lowered her head to fiddle with the abacus and ignored him.

Once the two men had finished clanging and banging the new couplets into place, Luo Zijun understood completely.

The new couplets read: May there be no illness in the world, what matter if the medicine on the shelves gathers dust.

The horizontal plaque on the door remained: Benevolent Heart of a Physician.

The two men hung the couplets, checked them once more, then went inside to collect their silver and left.

Luo Zijun stood outside the door for a while longer before entering the shop, looking at the young girl behind the counter and saying, "Senior Sister, you must give me a little more allowance this month."

Su Qingling clattered away on the abacus, still ignoring him.

Just as Luo Zijun was about to go back inside to continue reading, Su Qingling suddenly pulled her body back, then leaned forward, and placed that pair of towering mounds proudly on the counter, saying coldly: "Staring every day, you have to pay me."

Luo Zijun: "..."

He continued reading.

Time passed quickly.

In the blink of an eye, it was the day before the Prefectural Examination.

During this time, besides going on house calls with Master, Luo Zijun spent his time reading in the shop.

When he returned in the evening, he would practice a set of Taizu Long Fist with his brother-in-law to strengthen his body.

That Young Master Su Bie had come to the shop to find him twice; seeing him studying hard to prepare for the Xiucai examination, he offered some encouragement and even specially brought him some books.

This day.

Su Dafang went out alone to purchase medicinal herbs, and Luo Zijun was still reading in the shop. With the Prefectural Examination tomorrow, Su Dafang naturally did not want to delay him.

After Su Qingling fiddled with the abacus behind the counter for a while, she seemed to find it boring, so she came inside and sat down opposite him.

Luo Zijun was reading intently and did not look at her once.

At this moment, Su Qingling bent over, lay on the table, placed those towering mounds on the table, and then propped her chin with one hand, tilting her head to look at him.

Luo Zijun glanced from under his book and said: "Senior Sister, don't distract me."

Su Qingling maintained her alluring posture and asked: "After you pass the Xiucai examination, you will still have to go to the Academy, right?"

"Yes."

"Then will you still come back?"

Luo Zijun put down his book, looked at her sparkling eyes, then glanced at the towering mounds resting on the table, and nodded: "Of course, I have already told Master that if I enter the Academy, I will come over to help every day after school."

The role given by that voice in his mind could not be abandoned just yet.

He remembered that sentence very clearly: "In the mission, you must play your own role well..."

!

Pharmacy disciple was the role he had come here to play.

He should not give it up for the time being.

Moreover, he still needed to earn money.

Although his sister and brother-in-law had not said anything, he clearly felt that his brother-in-law's pressure had increased, and there were even times when he was too busy at night to come back for dinner.

Taking the Xiucai examination did not cost much, but attending the Academy later would be like spending money like water.

He still had to think of other ways to earn money to help lighten the burden on his sister and brother-in-law.

Su Qingling asked again: "Do you have confidence?"

Luo Zijun nodded.

For him, passing the Xiucai examination should not be too difficult.

It was just that passing the Juren examination might have some difficulty.

He had recently read books specifically on this subject and discovered that the imperial examinations in this world were very different from the historical ones he knew.

The imperial examinations in this world went from Xiucai, to Juren, to Jinshi, to Great Confucian, and so on.

Each stage was divided into eight dou.

For example, Xiucai went from one dou to eight dou, and Juren also went from one dou to eight dou.

One dou was the lowest, and eight dou was the highest.

The so-called "talent high as eight dou" was used to describe those scholars with better talent and higher ranks.

Furthermore, the certification of these ranks did not rely entirely on the imperial examinations.

The books said that it also required testing with a Talent Gem before a certificate could be issued.

As for how scholars used talent to defend against enemies and fight, he had searched through all the books and found nothing.

It seemed he would have to enter the Academy to find out.

There were also no records of demons, ghosts, or monsters in the books.

"I heard there are many female students and female teachers in the Academy. Luo Zijun, will you stare at their chests every day when you go there?"

Su Qingling propped her chin and asked again.

Luo Zijun shook his head: "Of course not, I'll just look at them openly, why would I need to stare?"

Su Qingling narrowed her sparkling eyes: "Then why do you steal glances when you look at me, instead of looking openly and honestly?"

Luo Zijun said: "Do you allow it?"

"What if I were to allow it?"

Luo Zijun did not speak again, his gaze looking over.

Just at this moment, a fist went "Bang!" and struck him in the eye.

"Ah..."

"That's for being lecherous!"

Su Qingling gripped her fist, the corners of her mouth slightly raised, her face cold, like a female demon who had tempted a child into doing something bad and then severely punished them.

Luo Zijun let out a miserable cry, covering one eye, and suddenly looked toward the doorway: "Master, Senior Sister hit me!"

Su Qingling turned her head to look.

"Bang!"

Luo Zijun also struck her in the eye with a fist: "That's for lying!"

Cherish the fair and pity the jade?

That doesn't exist!

Su Qingling covered her eye, glaring at him with the other: "You dare hit me?"

Luo Zijun also covered his eye, glaring at her with his other: "You dare hit me?"

The two glared at each other with one eye for a while, both feeling it was boring and childish.

"You just wait!"

Su Qingling dropped a harsh threat and got up to leave.

Luo Zijun ignored her and continued reading his book.

He felt a bit strange in his heart; how was this bickering with Senior Sister so natural and familiar, as if they had done it countless times before?

And when he hit Senior Sister, he felt not the slightest discomfort, but instead... it felt great?

Evening.

Luo Zijun returned home.

His brother-in-law had not yet returned.

His sister had made a table full of dishes, but she was pulling a long face and looked very angry.

Luo Zijun thought it was caused by his brother-in-law and was just about to offer comfort when Luo Jiaorong said indignantly: "Guess who I ran into when I came back tonight? Hmph, I ran into that eldest young lady of the Sun Family and her mother."

Luo Zijun did not speak, listening as she continued: "I was originally thinking of the past friendship between our two families, thinking that even if we couldn't be in-laws, we could still be friends, so I took the initiative to go over and prepare to greet them."

"Heh, who knew that Chen Shi would think I was trying to pester her daughter, directly saying her daughter was preparing to go to the Academy to study next month and didn't want to get married yet. Then she spoke in a snide, sarcastic way, saying her daughter had loved reading since she was small and was now going to the Academy, so she wanted to find a scholar to marry when the time came..."

"Pah! Does she really think our family can't survive without her daughter? That face of hers was truly disgusting!"

"Isn't it just having a bit of stinking money? Isn't it just colluding with a few officials? It makes me so mad!"

The more Luo Jiaorong spoke, the angrier she became, and tears were almost falling.

Luo Zijun hurriedly tried to comfort her, and seeing she was still not appeased, he could only say: "Sister, don't be angry. When the time comes, I'll pass the provincial exam and bring back a wife hundreds of times prettier than that Sun Family miss to make them mad."

Hearing this, Luo Jiaorong let out a "pfft" of laughter, her anger finally dissipating. She rolled her eyes at him and said: "Talking big again. If you pass the county exam, our family will be burning high incense; if you pass the provincial exam, your brother-in-law and I would die laughing, and the ancestors of our old Luo Family would have to crawl out of their coffins to laugh too. If you really do bring back a few pretty sisters-in-law, Sister promises to work like a horse every day to serve them happily, even happier than a Princess! As for making that ungrateful mother and daughter of the Sun Family mad, hmph, by that time, I won't even look at them! They aren't worth it!"

Luo Zijun stared at her blankly, a feeling he had never had before suddenly surging in his heart.

Familiar yet strange, intimate yet warm.

Clearly close at hand, yet feeling very distant.

No.

He quickly sobered up.

He was only here in this world to complete a mission, and after completing the mission, he would leave.

Therefore, any family affection, love, or friendship was fake to him now.

He must never believe in it again.

(End of chapter)