Chapter 31 Mother
Chapter 31 Mother
After Zhao Bao left, Zhao Xiong shook his head, then returned to the bedroom and opened a mechanism, revealing a passage. He went down the passage and found a secret room inside.
This was a secret room built with the painstaking efforts of several generations of the Zhao family. It had now been converted into a small Buddhist temple. He lit a pine oil lamp, and in the center of the niche was a portrait of a deity.
The deity in the painting is an image of a kind old mother. She holds a lotus and a precious pearl in her hands, wears a fairy jade crown on her head, and wears a white robe, exuding an inexplicable mysterious power.
Zhao Xiong burned incense and prayed devoutly, whispering the eight characters "Mother of No Birth, Home of True Emptiness", and his body and mind seemed to be purified.
He has been believing in his mother for a year.
He had done a lot of bad things in the past, and as he got older, he often had nightmares at night.
Ever since he began to believe in the Old Mother, his sins have been washed away, and the evil spirit in him in the past has gradually become more kind and gentle like the Old Mother.
Now when he goes out, without deliberately emphasizing his identity, people will think he is an ordinary rich man. They think he is a kind person who has never hurt anyone!
In this way, he will have nothing to fear if he commits more sins in the future.
With his mother's endorsement, even if he has committed many evil deeds, his heart is still good and he is still a good person. In the next life, he will have the opportunity to be reborn into a good family under the protection of his mother.
Therefore, when he did evil things in the past, he was more or less afraid of retribution.
Now I am not afraid anymore and I can sleep soundly.
Moreover, believing in the Old Mother also has worldly benefits.
The reason why he was successfully transferred to the government office as a constable this time was not only due to the money, but also because of the matchmaking of his senior sister from the sect.
The sect has great powers and a network of relationships covering all aspects of life, even in the imperial palace, where it has spies.
The Lotus Sect that had caused a great stir in Lingnan before was actually just a major branch of this religion.
The future of his family of clerks has already been determined.
This time, he was disciplined by County Magistrate Wu, which made him see the tragedy of the clerk family.
In the eyes of civil officials, clerks with no way to advance are even worse than military men.
Generally speaking, if a family of clerks wanted to take the orthodox path of the imperial examination, it would take three generations for them to leave their clerk status. If they really did so, the family would be ruined in just one generation, let alone three generations.
Therefore, for a family of clerks, there is no way for them to rise unless their family is already in decline and they cannot even get a job in the government office.
Besides, Zhao Xiong’s biggest dream was to become a historian.
Although the Dianshi was a vacancy in the official register and had no rank, in the eyes of the clerks, he was an official. Because the appointment form of the Dianshi was still the form of an official appointed by the court, strictly speaking, this was the same as the appointment form of the county magistrate.
Even with this wish, County Magistrate Wu refused to satisfy him after taking office, and still wanted him to cooperate. How could that be possible?
Fortunately, there is always a way out, and Zhao Xiong found a way out for his family.
Even his ancestors would be proud of him as he has converted to Christianity.
I wonder if the ancestors in the underworld can feel the blessing that he, as a descendant of the Zhao family, has brought to them.
A "kind" smile appeared at the corner of Zhao Xiong's mouth.
He prayed devoutly, waited until the incense burned out, extinguished the pine lamp, and left the secret room, which was still stuffy despite the ventilation holes. Zhao Xiong changed into his official uniform.
There was another reason why he didn't want to deal with Li Gongyu's nephew head-on, and that was that the incense master above had ordered him to get a defense layout map of Jiangning Prefecture.
He was excited about it.
Because after the senior brothers in the sect started the rebellion, even if Xu Qing officially became a scholar, he would just be a lamb to be slaughtered.
However, without taking any action, it would be easy to cause trouble for the other party in public opinion.
Anyway, there is no possibility of easing the relationship between him and this uncle and nephew.
...
...
The time for the provincial examination is very close.
When the Guo brothers heard the rumors outside, they came to inform Xu Qing.
Xu Qing looked very calm after hearing this.
You don't have to guess to know that it was Zhao Xiong, Zhao Bao and others who did it.
He had no other enemies. "I understand. Don't worry about it. No matter what, I can't be eliminated in the provincial examination. This matter will not affect my qualification to be a successful candidate." Xu Qing first reassured the two brothers.
In fact, with his current writing level, he has a chance of passing the provincial examination as long as the questions are not particularly tricky or weird.
But he is not yet eligible to take part in the provincial examination.
Otherwise, it would be quite interesting to compete with Lao Feng.
At that time, the female master must have been very happy.
It had been a while since I last saw my female master, and Xu Qing actually missed her a little.
There is no way. I am young and full of energy. It is impossible not to think about women.
What's more, the female master was the type with whom he could get along very well.
Xu Qing did not let these distractions interfere with his work. He continued, "Brother Guo, Brother Guo, since you are here, why don't we have a sparring match? I don't even know what level of Kung Fu I am at right now."
Old Li has been suffering from alcohol and sex lately. Even with the medicinal diet prescriptions Xu Qing had prescribed, his health is not as good as before he became the prefect.
Xu Qing persuaded him privately, and Lao Li listened to the advice and decided to quit drinking.
As for abstaining from sex?
He wanted to quit smoking, but Aunt Zhou wouldn't agree.
Li Dianshi didn't dare to refuse.
Although it makes sense that if two people have been married for many years and have no children, it is true that the two people cannot have children together.
There was no other way, Zhou still wanted to try harder.
Even if she fails, she has to squeeze Li Dianshi dry before she can feel safe. Of course, Zhou has considered buying a concubine for Lao Li after the chicken farm becomes profitable.
But before that, Lao Li must not be allowed to take people home by himself.
This is the bottom line.
The Guo brothers already knew that Xu Qing's kung fu was good, so they naturally had no burden. Moreover, they were unarmed, so they reserved some strength to test the depth of Xu Qing's kung fu before exerting their strength, and they were not afraid of hurting Xu Qing.
Moreover, Xu Qing is very skilled in martial arts, which is a good thing for them.
Having a good health will be of great benefit to your future career.
Not to mention anything else, just for the sake of fame he received more beatings than others.
In addition to the ranking in the imperial examinations, the potential value of civil servants in this dynasty also depends on how many times they have been beaten with a stick in the court.
Generally speaking, if a civil servant could hold on after being beaten with forty sticks, he would at least become a vice minister of one of the six ministries in the future.
There is a rumor in the officialdom that if the top three Jinshi can be beaten with the cane thirty times in the imperial court, their constitutions can be changed and they can be promoted to true disciples comparable to those of the second-class Jinshi!
In the immortal cultivation novels of Xu Qing's previous life, it was equivalent to the advancement of mixed spiritual roots to special spiritual roots.
Soon, the sound of fists and feet colliding was heard in the east courtyard of the Li family, and the last two sounds were like the sound of beating drums.
The Guo brothers fell to the ground one by one.
They were surprised and delighted: "Young Master, you have mastered the Ming Jin."
Xu Qing smiled and nodded: "Thank you."
He was very calm in dealing with the Guo brothers from beginning to end. Even though there were two of them who did not dare to kill them, Xu Qing only used 50% of his strength in the end.
The Guo brothers are considered top-notch experts in the county government.
With Xu Qing's current skills, even if he doesn't charge into battle, he should be able to defeat a hundred people in the army.
After knowing his current strength, Xu Qing felt more at ease.
Moreover, the Crane Li is only at the entry level now, and it is still a long way from the full achievement, and his physique can still be improved a lot. The only pity now is that even if he practices the Crane Li, he currently does not have the so-called internal force in the martial arts novels of his previous life, and cannot practice the light skills such as the Wudang Tiyunzong.
However, it is still very easy to climb over the wall of an ordinary wealthy family.
After Xu Qing saw the Guo brothers off, he continued to review with great concentration, and soon the day of the provincial examination arrived.
(End of this chapter)