Looking at this statue for a long time always makes people feel sick.
His eyebrows and eyes are sickly, his expression is dull, and he looks like he will die young.
Pei Jing said bluntly: "This Wenquxing looks like a sickly scholar."
The lady who was passing by also looked at the statue with awe and admiration, and said, "Scholars don't have to work as hard as we do, so it doesn't matter if they are weak."
Pei Jing just smiled: "It's not a question of whether he is weak or not." It's just that I think he has a short life and will die young.
Of course, you can’t say the following words, otherwise you will be beaten.
There was a constant stream of incense burning in the Zhuangyuan Temple, and the chickens, ducks, and fish were all neatly arranged. After viewing them, Yu Qinglian stayed first, and Pei Jing left with the old lady.
He lowered his head, looking at the old lady's rough, calloused hands as she walked along the mountain path, and asked, "I heard from outsiders that all the scholars here will come back later, how come I haven't seen any of them?" The old lady, holding a basket in one hand, laughed when she heard this, "They all come back before they die, how can you see them?"
Pei Jing became interested: "Come back before dying?"
The old lady said, "Yes, if they come back before they die, they will place their young grandchildren with relatives for foster care. This has been a rule in the village for who knows how long. When I got married, my third uncle was a Jinshi that year, and he was very famous. Now, 20 years later, he came back and placed his grandchildren with me for foster care."
Pei Jing saw her plain and simple dress and just smiled: "To put it bluntly, how come your third uncle has become successful outside and doesn't even think of helping you guys?"
The old lady was stunned for a moment, and tried to evade the question by stammering, but her eyes met Pei Jing's.
After a moment of sharp pain, my brain went blank.
Her expression was stiff and then relaxed. She sighed and said, "Here, there are only two kinds of people, villagers and outsiders. After passing the exam, they are no longer villagers. Wealth and glory are their business and have nothing to do with us."
Pei Jing: "Then why are you making such a big fuss about letting your children and grandchildren study?"
The old lady said, "We hope that Wenquxing will be happy and bless us. One year, a few ignorant outsiders disturbed the wishing night, and Wenquxing got angry and didn't choose anyone. As expected, all the applicants failed that year. In the following three years, various natural and man-made disasters occurred in the village. My youngest son died during those three years."
The old lady was slightly possessed by a spell, her eyes were confused, and as she walked on the road, she simply confessed everything she knew.
"I heard from my grandfather that hundreds of years ago, everyone fled to the deep forest. The demon from Wuwang Peak was not unaware of them, but after chasing them, they were all frightened outside the Zhuangyuan Temple. The statue saved everyone, and in order to repay the Zhuangyuan Temple, everyone named the village Zhuangyuan."
"It was only after I got married that I learned about the many customs in the village. The night of prayers and the night of inheritance. Every three years, a few people will be selected. After being selected, they will definitely pass the imperial examination. However, once they leave, all contact will be cut off."
Pei Jing asked: "After you leave, you cut off all contact. Are you willing to let your children and grandchildren take the imperial examination?"
The old lady said: "Why should I be reluctant? It is their blessing to be favored by Wenquxing. They can live a life of wealth and glory. As a mother, I can wake up with a smile in my dreams. Besides, Wenquxing will be unhappy if no one goes to school."
Pei Jing understood that for the people in Zhuangyuan Village, studying for the imperial examinations was not to bring honor to their ancestors, but just to please the statue in the temple. In a sense, it was also a kind of sacrifice.
No wonder.
No wonder he looked around Zhuangyuan Village and found that there was not even a private school. The students of school age in every household did not seem to study very hard. They were all waiting for a pie in the sky, but there was no such good thing.
As they slowly walked to the valley entrance, the old lady's eyes gradually cleared up. She clenched the basket with her fingers, looking confused and lost: "Strange, did I not sleep well last night?"
Pei Jing had traveled around before and had seen many villages haunted by evil spirits. There were various sacrificial activities, either catching a child and throwing him into the river, or catching a woman and burning her. The villagers were like being possessed by evil spirits, and this tradition had lasted for hundreds of years. This Zhuangyuan Village was similar, a bunch of idiots.
However, compared to finding out the ghost that was causing trouble in the temple, Pei Jing was more interested in other things.
The song "Seven Killings" and the events of the Fourteen States in Yunzhong on Wuwang Peak.
After returning to the village chief's house, Pei Jing saw Aju washing rice. The little girl lowered her eyes and looked very well-behaved. There were a few chickens chirping around her feet. Pei Jing smiled from a distance.
He thought that this must be a very smart little girl.
The village chief came back in the evening carrying a hoe, and Aju had already prepared the meal.
After lighting an oil lamp, Pei Jing sat opposite and said, "I think I have a way to restore her eyesight. I will go out to collect herbs tomorrow and come back on the night of prayer in three days. I may need to borrow the power of Wenquxing by then."
The village chief lazily lifted his eyelids and chewed a peanut with a numb expression: "Yeah."
On the second day, the troops were divided into two groups.
Yu Qinglian took Ji Wuyou to continue searching for the whereabouts of "Seven Killing Songs" in the village.
Pei Jing and Wusheng went to Wuwang Peak. Speaking of which, he hadn't seen Chu Junyu in the past few days.
Before leaving, Yu Qinglian peeled melon seeds with her slender fingers and commented on Ji Wuyou: "Your little disciple is quite interesting. I feel like what I say in one day is equivalent to what he says in a month. No matter what I ask him, he just says um, oh, ah. He keeps his head down the whole time, which makes me almost think I am a man-eating monster."
Ji Wuyou was standing beside them, blushing and not daring to speak.
Pei Jing looked at him with amusement and said, "You talk too much."
Yu Qinglian bit a melon seed and clapped her hands. The bell tied to the corner of her clothes rang. She rolled her eyes and said to Pei Jing, "Go quickly. After all, you are more familiar with Wuwang Peak."
After saying goodbye to the two, Pei Jing asked Wusheng on the way: "After spending the past few days with him, what do you think of Ji Wuyou?"
Wu Sheng was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Why do you suddenly ask this?"
Pei Jing said: "After all, I brought him here. To be honest, I think this guy has a good foundation."
Wusheng held the staff in one hand and twirled the Buddhist beads in the other. Upon hearing this, he shook his head and said, "My roots are good, but my character still needs to be honed."
Pei Jing: "I brought him here this time to hone his character. His environment when he was young was not very good, his intelligence is not fully developed, and he is confused about everything. He needs to come out to gain more experience."
Wusheng paused, then smiled slowly, "I'm afraid you'll make things worse. He has a childish mind, so he doesn't know right from wrong, good from evil. Aren't you afraid that after seeing too much evil, he will confuse right and wrong?"
Pei Jing was stunned: "Although I don't quite understand, but what you said should make sense. I will pay more attention to him then."
Wusheng smiled but said nothing.
Wuwang Peak has been deserted since the turmoil in the Fourteen States of Yunzhong four hundred years ago. After all, there was a bloodbath that night, and countless ghosts and evil spirits are lingering on the top of the peak.
One of the purposes of Wusheng's trip was to help Pei Jing deal with the aftermath and to liberate the souls of the dead on Wuwang Peak.
Although it is desolate, there are still people. If there is a topic boasting about "Pei Yu's sword Lingshuang Wuwang Peak" in Tiange, there will definitely be many people coming to imitate or admire it.
Just met a group of them casually.
They were all dressed in white, swordsmen, wearing jade crowns and tying their hair, crowded on the mountain path. At first glance, it was all white, dazzling his eyes.
The author has something to say: I will try to write a long and thick article tomorrow, around 6,000 words. I will also write about the plot that I particularly like, hahahahaha