I'm not a fortune teller.

Chapter 115 Behind the Monster
The Jinque Tower was not as large as the Qingfeng Tower. After the entire building was booked, Zhang Rui attracted everyone's attention as soon as he entered. It was extremely lively just a moment ago, but it suddenly became quiet, which made Zhang Rui feel a headache as soon as he entered.

From his past life to this life, he has never experienced any scenes that have attracted the attention of the public. Maybe when he passed the imperial examination and returned home, people from all over the place came to see the wonder, but at that time it was not himself who controlled the body.

"Is this the one?"

"He looks about the same age as us."

"At such a young age, is he really as skilled as the rumors say?"

"It should be true. Qi Zheng was arrested in front of everyone yesterday."

"Tsk tsk. Which family is this? In today's environment, how can they raise such a descendant?"

Everyone was curious about this rumored hermit family member.

If we were to say which dynasty had the most miserable life for people from secluded families, it would be the Jin Dynasty. The founding emperor of this dynasty was extremely wise. He came up with the idea of "Martial Herdsmen of the World" to win over warriors from all over the world, which led to the prosperity of the imperial power of this dynasty, even surpassing the Qin Dynasty in history.

With those martial arts sects and warriors working for the court to restrain the sorcerers, and with the academic system to restrain civil and military affairs, restrictions on local areas reached an unprecedented level. The way for these hidden families to secretly monopolize resources through some evil incidents or by winning over local officials was completely cut off.

This also led to a shortage of resources for many hidden families. Without resources, they couldn't even support their own Yin gods, so how could they have extra resources to train their children? A large number of hidden families were forced to have only two options: either rebel or join the Jin Dynasty to participate in the imperial examinations, let their children serve the court, and obtain resources from formal channels.

Now that the Jin Dynasty is at its peak, rebellion will lead to death. The only way out is to follow the trend and serve the court as a dog.

However, a hidden family without resources will obviously be at a disadvantage if it tries to compete with a modern family with abundant resources for offspring. No matter how good your inheritance is, the number of offspring you can cultivate is limited without resources, while a modern family can waste a lot of resources on trial and error on their offspring. The environments of each are very different.

Even the top ten families in Beijing may not be able to cultivate someone like Zhang Rui. It is hard to imagine that a secluded family can cultivate such a powerful descendant.

"My dear old friends, nice to meet you." Zhang Rui took a deep breath and forced a smile. He stood at the door and bowed to all the children of noble families who were looking at him and talking.

"Thank you, Lord Zhang!" Everyone immediately stopped talking, straightened their attitude, and returned the greeting.

In this era, the hidden families need to stick together to keep warm in order to barely resist the exclusion of the existing powerful people. The examples of the Wei and Gong families have proved that the weaker they are, the less they can waste energy on internal strife. The more capable people they have in front, the better their situation will be. No matter how this Lord Zhang can have such ability at such a young age, for their group, as long as they are willing to admit that they are in the same camp, that is a good thing!

"Master Zhang is here?"

Wei Jiaming came down from upstairs with a big laugh to greet him personally. Zhang Rui was willing to keep the appointment, and he was willing to start with the address of "old friend", which meant that the other party was willing to acknowledge his identity and was in the same camp with him.

In that case, then we are a family.

"Lord Wei." Zhang Rui saluted with a smile. Looking at Wei Jiaming's friendly face, he had a plan in mind.

It seems that the camp of the hidden family is indeed weak. I used Qi Zheng to establish my prestige yesterday, which has deterred the outside world, but it is still weak. Having a definite camp will save me a lot of trouble for the time being, and there are also many channels of intelligence that can be used.

In fact, he had considered for a long time whether to join Zhang Rui. He made up his mind today because, firstly, he temporarily needed an organization to cover himself and buy more time, and secondly, he also needed a lot of intelligence to understand this world.

The monster that is pestering Cui Yan is ready to make a move. The master of the painting in the palace will most likely make trouble in the near future. And the old god in the temple on the way home last time is also most likely planning something big. In such a turbulent situation, the more information one has, the more one can prevent things in advance and never let his family fall into the situation in the palace that night. One will not be so lucky every time.

"Okay, okay, we are all family. Come, let's talk upstairs." Wei Jiaming directly grabbed Zhang Rui's hand with a smile on his face.

He said to the people below: "Everyone, please chat first. The banquet will start on time in half an hour. I wish you all success in the imperial examination!"

"Thank you, Lord Wei!" Many young men saluted again. Zhang Rui took a look and found that each of these young men had a terrible evil spirit. Many of their faces were consistent with the settings in his previous drafts. Their levels were not low, but they looked a little weak, obviously malnourished.

They are all here to eat meat and drink blood, these monsters
"It's really exciting that Lord Zhang is willing to come."

After Wei Jiaming led Zhang Rui into the private room, Gong Tianyang, who had been waiting inside, also stood up to greet him.

"Master Gong!" Zhang Rui saluted hastily. "Hey, we are all family, no need to be so polite." Gong Tianyang also smiled happily. If this person was willing to join their camp, it would be equivalent to reducing a hidden danger, which is a great thing.

"Come, Master Zhang, have some tea first. When the banquet starts, we'll have some drinks!"

"This..." Zhang Rui suddenly laughed: "The exam will start tomorrow. Although Lord Wei is not from the Ministry of Rites, he must have a lot of tedious things to do tomorrow, right?"

"The exam will start tomorrow?" Gong Tianyang smiled slightly, took a sip of tea and whispered, "Master Wei, do you think the Spring Examination will be that easy this time?"

Zhang Rui stood up when he heard this. It seemed that after he joined, the other party was willing to reveal some information to him.

"What does Lord Gong mean?"

"The Spring Examination is a great opportunity to catch the painting master. The noble families just got the prince and haven't figured out the painting master's movements yet. How could they be willing to let the Spring Examination start so easily?" Gong Tianyang sneered, "Just wait and see. Something will happen tomorrow. The Spring Examination will most likely be postponed, and may even be postponed to after the National Competition!"

"This..." Zhang Rui was stunned and asked in confusion: "How can such an important event be postponed?"

Everyone could guess that the painter of the Spring Examination would definitely cause trouble. What Minister Gong said actually made sense. After all, they had finally got the prince, so they should buy more time and force the painter to reveal his flaws, rather than letting him start his plan immediately. But the Spring Examination was a national event after all, and even the emperor could not delay it.

"For those noble families, there are many ways to deal with it. In my opinion, they are very likely to use the case of the last Tanhua as an excuse."

Upon hearing the words of "Tanhua Case", Zhang Rui immediately covered his forehead and smiled bitterly: "Speaking of which, I am still the person in charge of this case. Does that mean that it will affect me tomorrow?"

"Master Zhang is indeed a smart man." Gong Tianyang said with a smile: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is waiting for this moment. He will definitely challenge you in the court tomorrow. Master Zhang must be careful when he responds."

Zhang Rui: “.”

He had even forgotten that he was still being watched by the prince.

"Speaking of the Tanhua case, Lord Shen Yuan came to see me recently and told me some details." Zhang Rui looked at Wei Jiaming: "I have read the files. Lord Wei was in charge of this case three years ago, right?"

"Yes." Wei Jiaming nodded. "Three years ago, I was the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple. I was also in charge of the Tanhua case. But after the matter was resolved, I was promoted to the Ministry of War, and the Dali Temple was temporarily in charge of the kid from the Shen family."

"Your Excellency should have found out about the disappearance of the palace cook, right?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Jiaming looked at Zhang Rui and said, "You have also found out this far? It seems that Shen Yuan thinks highly of you and is willing to give you the intelligence analysis of this case."

"We speculated on some characteristics of the monster." Zhang Rui repeated what he and Shen Yuan had speculated.

"Not bad!" Wei Jiaming's eyes flashed with praise. "You and Shen Yuan are indeed the best among the young disciples. It took me three years to barely figure out these things, but you were able to think of them in just a few days. It's really like the younger generation pushing the older generation forward."

"Master Wei, you are too kind." Zhang Rui waved his hand, and then continued: "Although I don't know why Cui Yan could make the monster give up its current advantage and choose to scare the snake out of the palace again, no matter what, it has already come out. If it wants to go back, it will have to devour another outer layer, spend time to restore its own abilities, and sneak into the palace again as a palace maid or eunuch and wait for the opportunity. I think it is very likely that it does not have the patience to do so."

"So Lord Zhang thinks that it will take advantage of this spring exam to cause trouble?"

"That's not the case." Zhang Rui shook his head. "How could it have a chance to sneak in during the Spring Examination? Although all candidates for the Palace Examination will enter the palace, it is not so easy to pretend to be a candidate. That thing can only be used once in a short period of time to devour others. Moreover, a mere candidate cannot stay in the palace for a long time. The Four Spirits will monitor him before and after entering the palace. How can it sneak in?"

"What does Mr. Zhang mean?"

"Use the prince!"

Wei Jiaming and Gong Tianyang looked at each other in surprise, and then they both reacted: "You mean, there is someone from a noble family behind that monster?"

(End of this chapter)