The Special Connection

Taking the Xiucai Scholar exam was about seeking fame and fortune for other families, but Xu Qing's motivation was purely to have a more stable excuse to lie around. Their starting points were entirely different.

"Brother Xu, what are you doing here joining the fun?"

"I'm leading my two nephews. I'm familiar with the way to the government office!"

Xu Qing didn't mention that he, an "old hand," was also going to take the imperial examinations. It wasn't worth talking about. He treated it as a casual matter; if the opportunity arose, he'd register. When the county and prefectural exams arrived, he'd simply close his shop for a day, take a break, and get his Tong Sheng and Xiucai scholar titles along the way.

This way, if officials came knocking to collect various taxes or demand corvée labor, he could proudly display his scholar's plaque.

"Look, I'm at least a Xiucai Scholar!"

On the first day of the third month, a drizzly rain fell on the eaves and streets. Despite the weather, many students rushing to take the exams held oil-paper umbrellas or simply ran through the rain to the government office to register their names and origins.

Xu Qing led two young men, not much younger than himself, to shelter from the rain and queue in the government office's hall.

Indeed, there were quite a few people coming to register for the exams today. Some were handsome, others ugly, some in fine silk robes, others with patched clothes. The youngest, with a topknot, was only eight or nine years old. He was said to be a child prodigy from Shuiyan Academy, aiming not only for the Tong Sheng title this time but also the Xiucai Scholar title!

Of course, there were also elderly scholars, their hair graying at the temples, who had come to apply.

Judging by their appearance, as long as they had a breath left in them, they would crawl to the examination hall!

Wu Zhiyuan stretched his neck to peer inside, muttering, "If I had known we'd have to wait so long, I would have brought a book to read when I left home. What's the point of just waiting like this? Don't they say an inch of time is worth an inch of gold?"

Wu Wencai smiled and said, "It's only a day or two. It's better to put down your books and rest your mind. You won't be any less prepared just because you didn't read for a while."

As Xu Qing listened to them talk, he was about to chime in when he heard a familiar shout from ahead.

"Brother Xu, why are you queuing too? Are you also going to take the imperial examinations?"

Xu Qing glanced sideways and saw Steward Tang waving at him with a smile.

Wu Zhiyuan and Wu Wencai watched Xu Qing go to chat with the government office steward. Although they didn't know what they were saying, their demeanor suggested a close relationship.

After talking with Steward Tang, Xu Qing returned to the hall and lowered his voice to tell the Wu brothers, "You don't need to queue. Just follow me inside to register."

Wu Zhiyuan hesitated, "Is that... okay?"

Wu Wencai heard this and nudged his honest cousin's waist with his elbow, then nodded towards a spot ahead.

Wu Zhiyuan followed his cousin's gaze and saw many scholars in fine robes heading towards a side corridor in the front hall.

Those were candidates using the express lane to get their Spring Examination entry permits.

Xu Qing chuckled. One of these brothers was honest and upright, the other quick-witted. If they truly succeeded in their exams, he wondered what different paths their futures would hold.

After the three of them finished registering and received their examination admission tickets, Xu Qing parted ways with them and went alone to the morgue.

The government office's three divisions and six bureaus were all under one roof, and it was inevitable to run into acquaintances.

Just as Xu Qing finished his procedures and took a few steps out of the front hall, he bumped into Zhao Zhonghe leading a group of yamen runners out.

As the saying goes, enemies often cross paths. What could happen when two people who disliked each other met? Zhao Zhonghe's usually furrowed brow immediately shot up, as if he had seen a rabbit stumble into a tiger's den, and his teeth bared.

"Halt! This is a restricted area of the yamen. Who allowed you in?"

"Did you commit a crime and come to turn yourself in?"

Xu Qing held up his oil-paper umbrella and looked up at Zhao Zhonghe, who was dripping wet and radiating heat.

Such a strong scent of blood!

He could vaguely sense that the other party's martial cultivation was at least at the Inner Refinement level, possibly even touching the threshold of Meridian Opening.

"Today is the day the yamen registers candidates for the Spring Examination. Doesn't Captain Zhao know this? I am but one of the countless students, barely half a scholar. You've made me look foolish, Captain."

Captain Zhao choked for a moment and continued, "You can go to the front hall for that. Why are you going further inside?"

"Wang Lingyuan from the Clerk's Office is my senior brother. We scholars, unlike wild beasts, value etiquette. Since I'm here, I naturally have to greet my senior brother."

Xu Qing's tone was calm from beginning to end, but to Zhao Zhonghe's ears, it always felt sharp and prickly.

Seeing that the other party's answers were reasonable and he couldn't make a scene, he waited until Xu Qing left before asking a yamen runner beside him.

"Did that kid just say I was crude and inferior to scholars like them?"

The yamen runner shook his head, not having heard that.

"Did he say I have no manners and am like a wild beast?"

The yamen runner hesitated for a moment, still shaking his head, saying he hadn't heard that either.

Zhao Zhonghe spat on the ground, cursing, "That brat only knows how to use his sharp tongue. If he ever falls into my hands, I'll break him in half and see if he can still talk back!"

Meanwhile, Xu Qing licked the tip of his tongue against his canine tooth and probed with his finger.

His corpse teeth needed grinding again.

The fine rain continued outside, but the morgue remained dry and cold.

When Wang Lingyuan heard that Xu Qing was going to participate in the Spring Examination, he sighed again in his heart.

He understood why Master Liu had taken him as a personal disciple. Just this level of effort was something ordinary people couldn't achieve.

Xu Qing was unaware of Wang Lingyuan's thoughts. At this moment, he was solely focused on how to bring peace to the souls of the corpses in the morgue.

"Senior brother, I want to try reviewing case files independently and observing the corpses to see if I can deduce the details of the cases."

Wang Lingyuan pondered for a moment and pointed to two of the corpses. "I have already examined these two bodies at the crime scene with Captain Zhao. You can inspect them freely. I'll see if your findings match mine."

Hearing this, Xu Qing had already picked up on some information.

He had spent the past few days poring over the autopsy books Wang Lingyuan had given him. One passage in the Great Yong's "Coroner's Manual" stated that individuals severely injured in brawls, unable to walk again, were not to be carried for examination. Furthermore, if the cause of death was strange and difficult to ascertain, or if the deceased's appearance was brutally incomplete, officials from the jurisdiction should personally lead the coroner to investigate.

Wang Lingyuan's words proved that these two corpses before him had certainly not met a peaceful end in life.

Xu Qing lifted the shroud and froze upon seeing the deceased's faces.

He was very familiar with these bodies; one of them was an yamen runner who had previously sold corpses privately to the Corpse Driver's Shop.

He had wondered why fewer people had been bringing bodies to the yamen recently, only to realize that the very people delivering the corpses had died.

Xu Qing leaned closer and examined them carefully, finding no wounds on either body.

He flipped open their eyelids and pried open their mouths, but after all his efforts, he couldn't determine the cause of death.

Could it have been a heart attack, a sudden, unexpected death? But they didn't look like they had died from a heart attack.

After a storm of thoughts, Xu Qing finally straightened up, his expression unusually grim.

Indeed, compared to deducing causes of death through autopsies, he much preferred watching the deceased's "running commentary."