treacherous world

"The examination room is closed all around. Candidates share a room with each other. They are not allowed to whisper or touch each other. They are only allowed to sit in the room and answer all the examination questions in two hours. Those who finish writing early can also hand in the papers earlier. You can't leave early." Qi Sile folded his arms and paced beside Zhan Zhao and the others, talking about the rules of the autumn exam, "There are two chief examiners in charge, Prime Minister Wang, Mr. Bao, and three assistant examiners. , are all the masters of Taixue. In addition, there are three guards responsible for maintaining the discipline of the examination room, two government servants from Kaifeng Mansion at the gate, and a soldier patrolling the city around."

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang became a little impatient, and didn't understand why the old man was talking about the rules of the examination room.

"No matter what happens inside, it's impossible for people outside to know, right?" Qi Siren suddenly changed the topic, "Oh...it's terrible, Mr. Bao is here, Xiao Mantou is here, and Prime Minister Wang, There are still so many talents in the future, if something unexpected happens here, it will shake the foundation of the country."

Zhan Zhao was startled, "What did you say? Someone is going to use this exam to attack Mr. Bao and the others?"

"Huh? It's not necessarily aimed at Xiao Hei." The old man stroked his beard, "After all, it was only this autumn test from the beginning to the end. But you also know Xiao Hei, he Why don't you try your best to protect those students? Especially when there are his little steamed buns in it."

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang frowned, but after much deliberation, this was indeed an excellent opportunity to strike. There were almost no guards in the examination room, so if they pretended to be candidates and sneaked in, no one outside would be able to find out!

In addition, for the sake of quietness in the autumn exam this time, the outer wall of the exam room was specially raised, so it was difficult for the outside to detect any disturbances inside.

The more Zhan Zhao thought about it, the more frightened he became, and he began to look around... There are a few restaurants nearby that are relatively high, and Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang just jumped up and looked into the examination room.

"Who built the shed?" Bai Yutang couldn't help frowning.

"I can't help it, my lord is too careful, I'm afraid of rain." Zhan Zhao shrugged helplessly at Bai Yutang.

"I really want to see Lord Bao!" Bai Yutang pointed to the gap in the white shed for Zhan Zhao to see.

"He's still walking around, so he's okay?" Zhan Zhao was worried.

Bai Yutang said in a low voice, "It's not time for dinner yet, and there are not many people around. If there is a commotion inside, they will be found outside! If you want to make a move, you will wait until noon, right?"

"And the old man said that Bao Yan can win the first prize, so shouldn't he finish answering the questions?" Zhan Zhao settled down a little, "I guess it will take a while."

"That fellow of yours is good at martial arts, do you think he is Zhengxie?" Bai Yutang suddenly remembered Qiu Langxing, and asked Zhan Zhao.

"Well... I always thought he was upright, but after the last time, I was a little bit uncertain." Zhan Zhao shook his head, "You and Ouyang said that you saw a ghost before, but you still haven't figured it out yet. "

Bai Yutang was beside Zhan Zhao, and asked with a smile, "You still believe what I said is so wicked?"

"Of course I believed it." Zhan Zhao muttered, "If I saw it and said it, would you believe it?"

Bai Yutang smiled without saying a word, stretched out his hand and gently rubbed his forehead.

"Sleepy?" Zhan Zhao leaned over, and proudly reached out to pat himself on the shoulder, "If you're tired, just lean on and sleep for a while."

Bai Yutang almost made him laugh, and looked at him with a smile, "Too thin, I'm panicking."

Zhan Zhao reached out and squeezed Bai Yutang's shoulder, then squeezed himself, "Almost!"

"Thicker than you." Bai Yutang moved his shoulder slightly towards Zhan Zhao, "If you don't believe me, just try it?"

Zhan Zhao really got close to him, but just barely, and found that Bai Yutang was lying to him, so he raised his eyebrows to look at him.

Bai Yutang saw the corners of Zhan Zhao's mouth slightly turned up, and sighed in his heart... Zhan Zhao can't be said to be the only handsome man in the world, but at first glance, he gives the impression that he is handsome and gentle, but his smile is particularly touching!Bai Yutang has seen all kinds of Zhan Zhao's smiles. This cat has a cheerful personality, and he can secretly laugh at himself when he has nothing to do. He has a very pleasing personality.As long as he smiles, the gentle and handsome will become truly unique. This smile often makes people fall in love at the first sight.

Bai Yutang doesn't like to laugh. In Jianghu, he is famous for being cold-faced and cold-hearted.Over the years, Bai Yutang has divided his life into two parts, one part is accompanied by Zhan Zhao, and the other part is without Zhan Zhao.During the time without Zhan Zhao, whether it was before or now, he rarely smiled...almost never.And when there is Zhan Zhao, especially when they are together, Zhan Zhao laughs, and he often laughs too.

The sun was shining on the roof, the wind was clear and the sky was blue. The two of them waited boredly with their chins on their hands, observing the situation inside the examination room, and hoped that Qi Siren made a mistake in his calculations and nothing would happen.

Qi Siren and Bao Fu ordered a pot of herbal tea in the tea shop downstairs and waited, Xiao Bao Fu looked up into the high wall.

Qi Siren looked at him and asked, "Little Baofu, can you see things that others can't?"

Bao Fu's scalp was a little numb, and he stretched out his hand to scratch, "Don't talk nonsense, old man."

"I'm not talking nonsense." The old man patted him on the forehead, "You are quite clever, how about the old man teach you a few tricks?"

"Yes, yes!" Bao Fu looked up at him, "But old god, please keep my master and young master safe first."

"Don't worry!" The old man nodded, "Your master and master are protected by Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang. No matter how dangerous it is, the danger will be saved!"

"It's really not easy for the young master to take the test." Bao Fu couldn't help feeling, "So many people died, it's frightening to death."

"Everything has a cause and an effect." The old man smiled inexplicably, "Sometimes a catastrophe strikes, and it only happens in an instant."

"Don't say such unlucky words!" Bao Fu was terrified when he heard that.

"Hehe." The old man laughed and said no more.

But at this time in the examination room, no one would think about these things.

Bao Yan was alone in the hut, the paper was handed to him by Prime Minister Wang, and when he took the paper, the old prime minister smiled at him.

Unfolding the paper, Bao Yan did not feel nervous anymore, all the knowledge in his head came back, especially since he was always with Mr. Gongsun recently, he was also good at knowledge and insight.Picking up the pen, Bao Yan began to write without distraction. After all, the tiger father has no dogs, and Bao Yan is not a timid person.

Prime Minister Wang and several old gentlemen from Taixue glanced at it from time to time, and when they caught a glimpse of the extreme, they all twisted their beards and nodded secretly, not saying anything else, just their good handwriting.

Bao Zheng didn't go to Bao Yan's side, he put his hands behind his back and looked over one by one.

Most of the scholars are quick-witted, and a small number of them are ignorant, biting their pens and scratching their ears and cheeks.But there is another scholar who is very strange.

Bao Zheng knew him, and it was Qiu Langxing, the former Zhan Zhao's fellow villager.

This Qiu Langxing, the brush in his hand was not dipped in ink, and he didn't answer the paper, but looked at the scene outside with his arms, which seemed very comfortable.His appearance doesn't look like he's here for an exam, he's clearly like listening to music in a teahouse.

Bao Zheng looked at Prime Minister Wang, and Prime Minister Wang stroked his beard in puzzlement—all those who could come to take the final exam were those who passed the local exam.Occasionally, there are a few ignorant ones, all of whom are from famous families and have high status.Why is Qiu Lang acting so leisurely?

Bao Zheng couldn't help but walked over, looked at him, raised his eyebrows slightly, as if asking him—is there any problem?

Qiu Langxing just looked at Bao Zheng, smiled faintly, lowered his head and picked up his pen to write.

Bao Zheng was puzzled, but he didn't say any more, he had already felt that there was something wrong with Qiu Langxing.Walking back, he glanced at Bao Yan, and saw that he was concentrating on answering the question. Bao Zheng smiled slightly, he seemed to have answered well, and continued walking.

In this way, after more than an hour, the examination room was still safe and sound.

Zhan Zhao squatted on the roof until his legs were numb, so he draped Bai Yutang's shoulders to stand up with strength, "Hiss..." Seeing his numb legs, Bai Yutang stretched out his hand to rub him.

"Oh, don't touch it. The more you touch it, the more numb it will be." Zhan Zhao leaned on Bai Yutang and swung his legs, asking him, "Don't say that you went in for the exam in person, just looking at it makes you feel uncomfortable."

"What's the pain?" Bai Yutang still helped him pinch his leg.

"It's no wonder that Kong Mao committed suicide. If you fail the exam again and again, it will be really depressing." Zhan Zhao switched to the other leg, "Now think about it, this autumn exam, back and forth. Nearly ten lives were lost."

Bai Yutang also stood up, "Mao'er, although we have found the Zhuangyuan Temple, we still can't explain the pen fairy and the animal niche."

"That's true." Seeing that Bai Yutang was still focusing on the direction of the examination room, Zhan Zhao asked, "That's right..."

"Huh?" Bai Yutang turned to look at him.

"Ask you something." Zhan Zhao seemed to be hesitating, Bai Yutang saw him hesitate, so he sat down and asked with a smile, "What are you asking?"

"Do you like sweet or salty food?" Zhan Zhao asked, intentionally making his tone a little more casual.

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao and wanted to laugh, "What's the specifics? For example, I like sweet pears, and I like salty noodles."

Zhan Zhao rolled his eyes at him, "Tastes, pastries, vegetables, etc..."

"Well, it should be salty." Bai Yutang smiled, "I don't like sweet things very much, you cat, why are you asking?"

Zhan Zhao smiled, "I heard from a nearby mother-in-law that people who like salty food rather than sweet food are more likely to run into ghosts."

Bai Yutang looked at the sky speechlessly, "I thought you wanted to prepare some snacks for me."

Zhan Zhao shot him a sideways look, "It's not bad to buy you altar wine, and also make pastries, and she's not a girl, so ask your confidante to do it."

"I told you that a bosom friend is not a beauty." Bai Yutang twitched at Zhan Zhao, "You said I'm easy to see ghosts, and then what?"

"If what you see is not a ghost, what is it?" Zhan Zhao muttered to himself, "Why did it appear in my yard again?"

Bai Yutang also shook his head, this matter still needs to be investigated.

"Then, besides white clothes, what color clothes can you wear?" Zhan Zhao continued to ask.

"Cough." Bai Yutang coughed lightly, "Only wear white, absolutely not except for special circumstances."

"Oh." Zhan Zhao nodded and rolled his eyes, "Would you rather listen to music or watch a play?"

"It's all okay." Bai Yutang leaned over and asked in a low voice, "Cat, why are you asking?"

"Oh, it's said that people who like to wear white are more likely to meet ghosts..." Zhan Zhao replied, rubbing his nose.

Bai Yutang smiled dumbly, and nudged him lightly with his elbow, "If you want to know something, just ask, you don't need to make excuses."

Zhan Zhao rubbed his neck, "Who made an excuse...Which do you like sweet and sour fish or sweet and sour pork ribs?"

Bai Yutang looked up at the sky, "Sweet and sour fish."

Zhan Zhao raised the corner of his mouth, "Me too."

"Which do you like hot and sour fish or boiled fish?"

"Boiled fish."

"Me too!"

While talking, Bai Yutang suddenly noticed that Bao Zheng seemed to be walking eagerly from the gap in the shed... Prime Minister Wang and several other examiners were also walking around, as if they were looking for something. This behavior was a bit abnormal.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, jumped off the roof of the restaurant, landed firmly on the wall of the examination room, and looked down through the gap.

I saw Bao Zheng frowning with a dazed expression, and Prime Minister Wang was also constantly wiping sweat with his sleeves.

Several old gentlemen from Taixue walked from room to room. Everyone seemed puzzled, but they didn't talk or make any noise because they were afraid of disturbing other students' exams.

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, "What do you think they are looking for?"

Zhan Zhao shook his head, he didn't quite understand either.

At the moment when both sides were very puzzled, they suddenly heard a "click".

A student suddenly opened the door and walked out.An examiner saw it and shouted, "You can't leave the examination room until the gong rings and you hand in the papers. Go back quickly! Otherwise, the papers will be invalid!"

The examinee heard it, but didn't move. He just stared at the old man with his eyes wide open.

Bao Zheng walked over, "You..." Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly saw the examinee draw a soft sword from his waist.

When several guards saw this, they hurried forward to stop him. Bao Zheng was also taken aback, and pulled the older Prime Minister Wang back.

"Father!" Bao Yan had already finished answering the question and heard the commotion so he took a look and saw that someone was going to kill his father with a sword, so what?Immediately called out to come out to help.

Bao Zheng immediately shouted, "Don't come out, lock the door!"

The students naturally knew that Bao Zheng was doing it for their own good, but seeing the scholar with the sword kick away two yamen servants, it was obvious that his skills were not weak, and they all sweated for Bao Zheng.Several students screamed in panic and asked for help.

But Bao Zheng knew that at this moment, no one would come to rescue him!He yelled that he was negligent, and he didn't expect that someone would pretend to be a student and come in to commit the murder.

After the scholar kicked away the two guards, he raised his knife and rushed towards Bao Zheng.Bao Zheng could only do his best to protect the older Prime Minister Wang behind him.Bao Yan could see clearly, he didn't care what the rules were, if it was a big deal he wouldn't take the exam, he would climb out of the window to save his father.

At a critical juncture, I saw a figure flickering in front of me...

A man in blue stood in front of Bao Zheng, while a man in white fell behind the scholar.

Bao Zheng was overjoyed, and Bao Yan also happily secretly said - it's really time!

All the candidates in the examination room breathed a sigh of relief.

Bao Zheng was used to seeing big scenes, so he collected himself, and said to the candidates in a loud voice, "Students, in addition to knowledge, also need courage, and learning should not be disturbed by the outside world. Now there is still an incense stick of time left. Years of hard study, just now, don't be distracted by irrelevant things!"

All the examinees understood, and lowered their heads to write the papers without looking outside.

The scholar with the sword looked back and forth, facing Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's double-teaming situation, he showed no signs of fear.

Zhan Zhao looked at him carefully, and couldn't help frowning—the book looked a little weird, with thick dark circles under its eyes, and pale skin that was still sweating.Looking at his chapped lips and dull eyes, he looks like a living dead.

Standing behind the man, Bai Yutang saw the scholar's back—three steel needles were inserted into the scholar's back, and another was inserted into the back of his head, which seemed to be controlled by others.

After thinking about it, Bai Yutang winked at Zhan Zhao, and Zhan Zhao understood, turned sideways to avoid the sword that the scholar was slashing in front of him, and kicked him with a flying kick, hurting his wrist.

At the same time that the soft sword was taken away by Zhan Zhao, Bai Yutang dodged behind the scholar, and pulled out several steel needles behind him one after another.

As soon as the steel needle was separated from the body, the scholar's body tilted, his legs went limp, and he fell directly to the ground. In an instant, the stench wafted into his nostrils.

All the scholars couldn't help but pinch their noses and looked out.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang also frowned.

Bao Zheng walked over - he saw that the scholar's pale skin turned blue-purple in an instant, and then became gray and wrinkled, and some places were festered and cracked, and there were maggots wriggling in the cracks.

Bai Yutang threw away the steel needles in his hand, and wanted to find a place to wash his hands.

Prime Minister Wang came over and asked Bao Zheng, "Oh, old Bao, what's the matter? Is it a monster?"

Bao Zheng shook his head, twitched his beard and said, "Maybe it's a corpse needle... According to legend, among the corpse exorcisers in western Hunan, there are a few masters who can use this acupuncture method. As long as a few major acupoints are pinned, the corpse can be stabilized three times!" "

"San Ding?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

"Sure, the corpse is neither rotten nor rotten; second determination, the corpse is neither hard nor soft; third determination, the corpse is at your command." After Bao Zheng finished speaking, he sighed softly, "I thought it was just a folklore, but now it seems to be true... …It’s just that the cadaver needle maintains only the superficial phenomenon, and the fact that the corpse is moldy or rotten can’t change it. Once the needle is removed, the original shape will be revealed. In my opinion, the corpse has been dead for at least a month, and it may still be It came from a hot place, otherwise where would there be so many maggots."

Zhan Zhao felt goosebumps when he heard it, and Bai Yutang felt a little disgusted when he saw the bugs all over the ground. Looking to the side, he felt that something was wrong.

Bai Yutang's attention was attracted by the cubicles next to the candidates.

Beside him, room No. [-] of Tianzichen group was empty, it might be the scholar's room.But the strange thing is that the second room of the Tianzichen group is also empty!

How could there be two empty rooms for a scholar?In other words, there is another person who came out, who is it?

Zhan Zhao was also guided by Bai Yutang's gaze and saw two empty rooms.

Bai Yutang had already started looking around, Zhan Zhao remembered what Bao Zheng and the others seemed to be looking for just now, so he hurriedly asked, "My lord, you just..."

"Oh!" Bao Zheng also came back to his senses, and stretched out his hand to lightly point to the doorplate of the No. [-] room of Tianzichen Group - only to see the words "Qiu Langxing" written on it.

Zhan Zhao was taken aback, Qiu Langxing's room?Where did he go?

With a heavy expression on his face, Bao Zheng dragged Zhan Zhao to the far away cubicle where the proctors were resting, and said in a low voice, "Just now, that Qiu Langxing suddenly disappeared!"

"What?" Zhan Zhao was surprised.

Bai Yutang also came in, and when he heard what Bao Zheng said, he asked, "Why didn't he disappear?"

"I don't know either!" Bao Zheng said, asking Prime Minister Wang and several other old masters.

Everyone shook their heads one after another, saying that they didn't pay attention just now, when a gust of wind passed, and looking back, Qiu Langxing was no longer in the room.They opened the door and went in, but there was no one inside, it was really evil!

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang recalled at the same time that Qiu Langxing suddenly disappeared under the apricot tree in the courtyard.

Bai Yutang laughed, "I used to think that I misunderstood the wrong person, but it doesn't seem to be the case."

Zhan Zhao was even more speechless, "I've known him for so long, I didn't expect him to fly into the sky and escape from the ground."

The two went to Qiu Langxing's room to check carefully, but there were no signs of damage to the walls, floor, and roof of the room.The most important thing is that Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang have been watching the situation below from the roof just now, so Qiu Lang can fly but can't fly away!

"what?"

Bao Zheng was attracted by the paper on the table, and picked up Qiu Langxing's answer paper to read.

I saw that on the huge paper, there was only a small poem written:

Wen test martial test, once soared.

Evil pen animal niche, my life is over.

One test for life, it's hard to be buried.

Sad, sad, regrettable.

Ten years after waking up from a dream, Sen Luo returns.

On a good day and auspicious day, the world is in chaos.

After Bao Zheng finished reading, he focused his attention and remained silent, while Prime Minister Wang shook his head and shook his hands, "This...why is this scholar so rebellious?"

Zhan Zhao also saw it, and raised an eyebrow at Bai Yutang—how is his literary talent?

Bai Yutang laughed—literary talent is not very good, but the last sentence "On a good day, the world is in chaos" is quite interesting.

Zhan Zhao also finds it puzzling. It is said that the auspicious day is a bridal chamber or a wedding ceremony, even if it is a trick, it is fine, but this is the first time I heard that there is also an auspicious day when the world is in chaos.