Facing the young man’s shoving, Zhang Chen didn’t get angry. He just took out an ingot of silver from his sleeve. "Is there really no way?"
The young man’s pushing stopped, and his gaze fell onto the silver.
Zhang Chen stuffed the silver into the young man’s hand. The servant clenched the silver and said with a bitter smile, "There really isn’t. There’s only one way to enroll, and that’s by relying on a letter of recommendation. If you can’t find anyone to write one for you, you simply can’t enter the academy."
Zhang Chen scratched his head. Seeing this, he didn’t keep pestering and instead turned around and walked down the mountain.
"There might be a way!" Watching Zhang Chen’s back as he headed down the mountain, the servant suddenly called out.
Zhang Chen halted his steps and turned his head to look at the servant. The servant spoke, "Dean Zhou’s son suffered a mysterious attack. A few days ago, Shangjia Medical Clinic delivered a ginseng. That ginseng has miraculous effects and is different from ordinary ginseng, so the dean has mobilized all kinds of forces to search for the person who sold it. If you can find that person first, perhaps you can have Dean Zhou take you into the academy."
Hearing this, Zhang Chen’s heart stirred. The ginseng he’d sold back then was anything but ordinary. It had been nurtured by Innate Qi and possessed all sorts of unbelievable effects.
"Do you happen to know any information about the person who sold that ginseng?" Zhang Chen asked.
The servant pointed at a document posted on the nearby notice board. "Look at that reward notice. It records the characteristics of the person who sold the ginseng."
At this, Zhang Chen walked under the notice and swept his eyes over it. He couldn’t help but laugh. Wasn’t it describing his own features?
He now had a plan in mind. He thanked the servant, then turned and left.
Zhang Chen went somewhere with no one around, used his Escape Technique to return to his own courtyard, and his mind flickered with all kinds of thoughts as he sank into contemplation: The most important thing to me is that Six Paths of Reincarnation hidden in Chongzheng Academy.
"According to my sense, the one hidden in the academy should be the Reincarnation of the Beast Dao. I must take that Reincarnation away. If I want to enter Chongzheng Academy, I still need to scheme proactively. I can’t go volunteering myself like a peddler begging for business; that kind of business isn’t worth much. I need Dean Zhou to come and beg me, so I can take the chance to lay out my conditions. I have the Shen Family background. Even if the dean of Chongzheng Academy hears the news, he definitely won’t dare to lay hands on me by force." Thinking of this, Zhang Chen muttered inwardly:
"No matter how I calculate it, I still have to pull out the Shen Family’s tiger skin. Consider it the Jinling Shen Family being put to some use before it completely collapses."
As for how to get Zhou Qiucheng to come looking for him, Zhang Chen certainly had his own ideas. He once again used the Escape Technique and, when he reappeared, he was already on the street, then strolled unhurriedly in the direction of Shangjia Medical Clinic.
At the back door of Shangjia Medical Clinic, more than a dozen carriages loaded with medicinal herbs were queued up. The junior steward, Wang Chong, was inspecting the herbs and bargaining with the sellers. Suddenly his gaze shifted, landing on a profile in the distance. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, then, after confirming that this was indeed the same profile that had left that day, he ignored the herb vendor, abruptly sprinted over, and called from afar, "Young master, please wait!"
"Steward Wang, are you calling me?" Zhang Chen seemed unsure who was being called. After stopping, he glanced around, then shouted back to the rushing Wang Chong.
"I’m calling you, indeed. You made yourself hard enough to find." Wang Chong, smiling broadly, rushed up to Zhang Chen and greeted him, "Have you been well these days?"
"Of course I’ve been well. How about you?" Zhang Chen said.
"I’m well too." Wang Chong looked at Zhang Chen. "There’s something I’d like to invite you to discuss in detail. Would you be willing to come inside and talk?"
"I don’t have time. I still have things to do. Let’s talk another day." Zhang Chen refused Wang Chong’s request.
Seeing that Zhang Chen was about to turn and leave again, Wang Chong hurriedly grabbed his sleeve. "Young master, please don’t rush off. Do you still have any of that ginseng you sold the other day? I’m willing to raise the price to buy it."
At these words, Zhang Chen glanced at Wang Chong and thought to himself, "As expected of a merchant, squeezing profit to the extreme. He actually wants to buy herbs from me to curry favor with Zhou Qiucheng. He’s dreaming!"
So he shook his head. "Not selling! That ginseng is a family heirloom. I’m not short on money anymore. Not selling, not selling! If you’ve got nothing else, I’m leaving."
Seeing that Zhang Chen was about to leave again, Wang Chong hastily blocked him. "Young master, could you at least bestow your Name and leave an address, so we can call on you in the future?"
At this, Zhang Chen glanced at Wang Chong and said irritably, "Not selling, not selling! What, are you going to force me to sell now? Let me tell you, my relationship with the Jinling Shen Family is anything but ordinary. If you provoke me, you won’t like the consequences. I advise you to give up that idea."
After speaking, Zhang Chen flung off Wang Chong’s hand and strode away with big steps.
Wang Chong watched Zhang Chen’s figure gradually disappear, pondered for a moment, then ignored the herb business entirely and quietly followed after him.
Zhang Chen acted as if he didn’t notice being followed. He had deliberately brought up the Jinling Shen Family to cut down on trouble. Zhang Chen, as a person, feared trouble the most.
Zhang Chen walked straight into the Jinling Shen Family’s residence. Wang Chong stood outside the gate, hesitated a little, then stepped forward to chat up the gatekeeper: "Brother, that young master who just went in, what’s his relation to the Shen Family?"
The gatekeeper was precisely Lai San, whose body had been taken over by Zhang Chen’s Blood God Child. Hearing Wang Chong’s words, he turned his head to glance over and saw that Wang Chong had already slipped him some silver. Only then did Lai San take the silver, tuck it away, and say with a squinting smile, "He’s a relative of our Shen Mansion, come to Jinling for a bit of fun. Why, you brat want to climb a tall branch?"
Wang Chong nodded along at once: "I’m indeed looking for a way to hug a big thigh. I beg you to give me some pointers—does that young master live in the Shen Mansion?"
Lai San shook his head and reported Zhang Chen’s actual residence. Once Wang Chong got the information he wanted, he quickly left, muttering to himself, "So the kid really does have some entanglement with the Shen Family. Me trying to profit from this is going to be difficult; the Shen Family isn’t someone I can afford to provoke. But reporting the kid’s whereabouts up the chain will also bring us great benefits."
Thinking of this, Wang Chong hurried toward Chongzheng Academy: "My chance to reverse fate has come."
As for Zhang Chen, after wandering a circuit through the Shen Family, he didn’t attract anyone’s attention, so he quietly returned to the newly purchased residence and waited for the fish to bite.
That night
The Zhang family each practiced their own cultivation. Zhang Chen was pondering the mysteries of the Six Paths of Reincarnation when he suddenly heard a series of urgent knocks from the dark of the night. Zhang Chen opened his eyes and the corners of his mouth lifted: "The fish has taken the hook! Looks like that Dean Zhou really is anxious. Otherwise, by proper etiquette, he should be calling in the morning. Coming at night is a great breach of decorum—it seems that little young master really has reached a critical juncture."
"Zhang Tuowei, there’s a guest at the front gate. Go bring them in to see me." Zhang Chen rose and headed toward the study.
He naturally wouldn’t personally go to the front gate to receive them. Wouldn’t that drag down his own status?
Zhang Tuowei picked up a lantern, grumbling with impatience: "Which damned jinx is knocking at night and delaying my cultivation? Truly bastardly."
Cursing under his breath, he walked toward the main gate.
Outside the Zhang Family’s main gate
Wang Chong and Zhou Qiucheng stood outside the vermilion-red gate. Zhou Qiucheng stared at the tightly closed doors and asked, "You’re sure it’s here?"
"Of course! How would I dare fool you? I’ve confirmed it again and again. But this man has ties to the Jinling Shen Family. If he’s unwilling to sell the ginseng, we really will have some trouble." Wang Chong said worriedly; after all, he had personally seen Zhang Chen’s attitude that morning.
Zhou Qiucheng, clad in white, stood there tall and straight, naturally carrying the bearing of a grandmaster. Hearing Wang Chong’s words, he shook his head and said, "Everything in this world can be given a price. Even a human life has a price."
"If this matter is done properly, this old man will owe you a favor. If you have any request, speak freely." Zhou Qiucheng said.
Wang Chong was overjoyed at these words. He lowered the lantern in his hand slightly, then fixed his eyes on Zhou Qiucheng: "I have one son under my knee, five years old this year, just the age for enlightenment. I wonder if he could enter Chongzheng Academy to study?"
When Wang Chong asked this, his voice carried a tremor. You must know that reading and literacy are privileges of the nobility; commoners simply have no chance at even basic literacy. This world guards control over the written word with extreme secrecy.
Hearing this, Zhou Qiucheng turned his head to look at him. Facing Zhou Qiucheng’s gaze, Wang Chong lowered his head even further. In that moment, he felt time slow to a crawl, as if an invisible mountain pressed down on his shoulders and bowed his spine.
"He can be sent into Chongzheng Academy. As for how far he can go, that will depend on his own Creation in the future." Zhou Qiucheng withdrew his gaze and spoke.
With Zhou Qiucheng’s words, Wang Chong was instantly wild with joy. He hurriedly knelt down, set the lantern aside, and kowtowed, but was stopped by Zhou Qiucheng: "No need for such courtesy, hurry and get up."
Wang Chong still insisted on finishing his kowtows before he climbed to his feet, picked up the lantern, and a look of delight surfaced on his face.
"How much do you know about the owner of this house?" Zhou Qiucheng asked.
"The Shen Family’s servant only said he’s a distant relative of the Shen Family. As for anything else, he doesn’t know. This person should be quite short of money; otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken ginseng to exchange for cash in the first place." Wang Chong said.
Hearing this, Zhou Qiucheng nodded: "In this world, anything that can be solved with money is not a major matter."
Although he cultivated the belief of ’Iron-Faced Impartiality’, his household still possessed considerable landholdings and was not lacking in money.
Just as the two were talking, an impatient voice sounded from behind the gate: "What are you knocking for at this hour? Announcing a death? Whatever it is, come back tomorrow."
Hearing Zhang Tuowei’s curses, Zhou Qiucheng’s expression froze. He, the dignified dean of Chongzheng Academy—who would dare curse him like that? Tonight was truly the first time in decades.