Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 385 - 225: Intimate Friendship Over a Pot of Wine, Waiting for a Hundred Springs to Come_2

Chapter 385: Chapter 225: Intimate Friendship Over a Pot of Wine, Waiting for a Hundred Springs to Come_2

Seeing the bright sparkle in her eyes as she looked at him, the Seventh Young Master couldn’t help but laugh. He patted Zheng Shan’s little head and asked her, "The exam is coming up, are you scared?"

Zheng Shan grimaced, saying nothing; it was obvious she felt this question hit a sore spot.

"Hahaha, the young master was very scared back then!" the Seventh Young Master threw his head back in laughter, "Every time my tutor was to test me, it was as if the sky was falling."

"But a master is a master, it’s not a big deal if he does poorly on the test."

"Your brother is a Sect Leader... even less reason to be afraid!"

Zheng Shan scrunched up her nose and finally spoke, "I’m scared because my brother is the Sect Leader!"

"Eh?"

Now, all three of them around the table were staring at her, only to hear Zheng Shan say very seriously, "If I do poorly on the exam, it will be my brother who loses face."

The Seventh Young Master was startled, then laughed again, repeating to himself:

"Really great... really great!"

He looked at Zheng Fa and suddenly sighed, saying to Zheng Fa, "Your sister is really great, she was... great in the past too."

Zheng Fa looked deeply at him, only to feel that the Seventh Young Master had a lot on his mind.

...

After all, Mrs. Zheng was a mortal, and in her view, guests must be fed when they arrive.

They also ate a few types of Spirit Plants, one of which was the Thunder Pepper.

As the meal was coming to an end, the Seventh Young Master suddenly asked, "Do you have any wine?"

Zheng Fa glanced at him and then looked towards his mother.

Mrs. Zheng said, "We don’t have any at home. I will go and borrow some from next door."

As she stepped out the door, Zheng Fa looked at the Seventh Young Master—he remembered the Seventh Young Master was not fond of drinking.

He didn’t know why, but today he actually took the initiative to drink.

By the time Mrs. Zheng returned, she was holding a wine jug, and was slightly embarrassed, "They brew it themselves; I am not sure if the young master will be used to it."

"Pretty good!"

The Seventh Young Master nodded, smiled, and asked again, "Do you have wine cups?"

"Yes, yes, how many do you need?"

Mrs. Zheng’s look turned somewhat anxious.

"Three."

Zhao Jinglan, seeming to understand something, gently tugged Mrs. Zheng and Zheng Shan, leading both of them out.

In the room, only the Seventh Young Master and Zheng Fa remained.

The Seventh Young Master didn’t speak, merely lowered his head and set three wine cups on the dinner table, filling them up.

Zheng Fa sensed something:

"Gao Yuan..."

"Dead."

The Seventh Young Master downed the wine in front of him in one gulp.

After a moment of silence, Zheng Fa also picked up his wine cup and drank it down in one go.

The wine was somewhat muddy, and a little bitter.

The Seventh Young Master poured another cup of wine onto the ground, then poured three more cups.

After each had drunk three cups and poured three cups, the Seventh Young Master slowly said:

"Just a clerk... what’s the use of risking your life for that!"

"Fool!"

"I told him to come to Tongming Mountain earlier, but he insisted on waiting... waiting for death!"

Zheng Fa listened to the Seventh Young Master’s complaints.

This man had always looked down on Gao Yuan, constantly scolding.

Now that Gao Yuan was dead, he still scolded...

But Gao Yuan probably wouldn’t be angry, Zheng Fa thought.

After a while, he asked, "What about Housekeeper Gao?"

"...Received the letter, fell ill, lying down."

"Who killed him?"

Zheng Fa asked again.

"Don’t know, it was a mess, no clarity, just know he died in Chen County, and that place is now overrun with the Great Freedom Demon Sect’s people."

Zheng Fa nodded, taking note of this place.

"Before, I thought I could do anything, handle everything..." the Seventh Young Master spoke again, "But it’s only after becoming the Family Head did I realize how difficult it is."

"The people from the Zhao Family who followed my mother to the Qingmu Sect numbered over four hundred, and there were over a thousand servants."

"Now, some died and scattered on the way, and recently those taken away and killed by the Great Freedom Demon Sect... there are over four hundred."

Zheng Fa didn’t speak, knowing the Seventh Young Master didn’t need him to.

"If it weren’t for you... I might not be able to protect even these people."

...The Seventh Young Master, his heart as clear as a mirror.

"When I was young, I felt like the sky was falling during a test by the master," the Seventh Young Master seemed to have a lot to say, with his speech not quite coherent, "but now the sky really has fallen, and it’s up to me to support it, then I realize how good the old times were..."

"Back then, there was you, and there was Gao Yuan..."

At this, he stopped speaking, and just lowered his head.

After a long time, the Seventh Young Master raised his head, looking at Zheng Fa with red eyes and a sniffly nose, and pointed at the nearly finished Thunder Pepper, saying:

"This thing isn’t good..."

"Too spicy!"

...

After sending off the Seventh Young Master, Zheng Fa went back to his own room.

He took out a Storage Bag, within which was an envelope. Inside the envelope was a letter left for him by Gao Yuan before he left.

He touched the letter, his mind involuntarily picturing someone standing at the door of the Zhao Mansion, with a book box on his back, grinning at him.

The last two sentences Gao Yuan wrote on the letter, Zheng Fa didn’t need to look to know what they were—

"So I want to go to the academy, I want to continue the examinations, I want to become a minor official, and see what I can do for this world."

"If you really become a big shot in the Immortal Sect, yet can’t change anything about this world, then when I see you one day, I shall laugh at you."

He read the letter over and over again, and continued reading it until daybreak.

...

The next day was the entrance exam for the Jiushan Sect.

Not only Tongming Master, but also many disciples attending the Hundred Immortals Conference came over.

"The exam for literature and mathematics is in the morning, and martial arts and Spirit Root in the afternoon?"

Tongming Master asked Zheng Fa, clearly curious—in fact, what Zheng Fa didn’t know was that Tongming Master had quite a lot of doubts in his mind, he wanted to understand the various changes in Qian Qi.

He came here to see what exactly Zheng Fa was doing and how he was recruiting disciples.

"How many people are taking the exam in total?"

"Forty thousand, no more than fifty thousand."

There were both old and young among those taking the exam on Paradise Island this time, the youngest perhaps three years younger than Zheng Shan, and the oldest already fifteen or sixteen—since it was the first time, many over-age candidates had accumulated, making the situation special, so there were a lot more candidates than usual.