Chapter 77: Blue Moonlight (VI)
The grandfather and grandson left the pavilion one after another, and the surroundings returned to their original tranquility.
The rustling sound of the breeze blowing through the bamboo branches woke Chen Yunli up. He came to his senses and finally realized what he had just heard.
The person who set the test for this quiz agreed to help his grandson write the big questions in front of him.
His grandson was so shameless that he said that as long as he added some sentences of his own writing to his grandfather's article, the article would be his own and it would not be cheating.
My goodness, even Chen Yunli, a social animal who graduated many years ago, felt his blood pressure soar after listening to the conversation between these two people.
The last place student on the quiz will be expelled from the academy. Lu Heng doesn't want to drop out, so he has to cheat to stay. Do the other students who study hard and take the quiz owe him anything?
Chen Yunli didn't like to meddle in other people's affairs, but he had also experienced the hardships of learning and understood the rarity and value of equal education. Now that he had discovered this, he couldn't just turn a blind eye.
Chen Wenjian was still taking exams, and as a student at the academy, it was difficult for him to show up. Chen Yunli thought for a moment and decided to find the "Mr. Su" mentioned by Mr. Lu and find a way to pass on the news to him.
After staying in the academy for some time, Chen Yunli followed Chen Wenjian to get to know all the teachers. This teacher was named Su Lanshan. He was the most knowledgeable and famous in the academy, second only to the headmaster who had not appeared for many years.
He has an indifferent personality and the noble temperament of a scholar. He is strict in his academic requirements for his disciples and treats them equally, without discrimination based on social status or wealth.
But precisely because of this, he is precisely the teacher that students with average grades and a tendency to have evil thoughts fear the most, and Lu Heng is one of those students.
Su Lanshan is the chief examiner of this quiz and should be patrolling and supervising in the examination room at this time.
Chen Yunli flew into the attic and searched floor by floor, finally finding him in the second examination room on the third floor.
At that time, Su Lanshan was walking among the students, his steps neither hurried nor slow, his eyes sweeping over the papers one by one, his face expressionless, only the occasional fluctuation in his eyes revealed his thoughts.
When Chen Yunli flew into the examination room, he happened to pass by Chen Wenjian. When he saw the contents on Chen Wenjian's paper, he suddenly stopped and stood behind him for a long time.
Chen Wenjian was so focused on writing scriptures that he didn't notice there was someone behind him. When he reached a bottleneck and looked up to think, he saw Chen Yunli.
Chen Yunli flew towards him with a string of silver dust, and he reflexively stretched out his pen to catch it.
"cough."
Suddenly, Su Lanshan coughed, interrupting Chen Wenjian's slightly raised hand. At the same time, he reached over Chen Wenjian and casually reached out to pinch Chen Yunli's wings.
Chen Wenjian: “?”
He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, he saw Chen Yunli waving his tentacles frantically, signaling him to keep quiet and not worry.
"Concentrate on answering the questions and don't let external things disturb your mind." Su Lanshan reminded him from behind as if she had eyes, and then she walked out of the examination room holding Chen Yunli.
Entering the corridor, Su Lanshan came to the window and stretched out her five fingers.
"Let's go, and don't come in and disrupt the examination room again." His tone was flat, but there was a barely perceptible smile in his eyes.
Chen Yunli flapped his wings and flew up again. Su Lanshan's force was very light and did not hurt him.
He circled around Su Lanshan twice, then suddenly moved close to Su Lanshan's forehead and touched it with his tentacles.
Su Lanshan was startled: "What does this mean?"
There are storage cabinets on each floor of the attic, which are used for candidates to store items that cannot be brought into the examination room, and also provide a last chance for candidates who attempt to cheat.
Posted on the cabinet are instructions for examinees. The first one prohibits cheating, followed by examples of several cheating methods, such as bringing notes, peeking at other people's papers, hiring someone to write for you, etc.
Chen Yunli led Su Lanshan to look over, folded his wings and lay on the word "ghostwriting".
Su Lanshan lowered her eyes: "Coincidence? Or do you really want to remind me of something?"
Chen Yunli opened his mouth and said, "Lu Heng asked his grandfather to write scriptures for him."
Su Lanshan didn't respond at all, obviously couldn't hear his voice.
really.
Although Chen Yunli didn't understand the principle, he had already anticipated that no one except Chen Wenjian could hear him, so he was not surprised and immediately started the backup plan.
He flew to the word "candidate" in the "Instructions for Candidates" and stayed there for a while, then flew back to "ghostwriting" and lay down.
Su Lanshan raised her eyebrows: "Do it again, and I will believe that this is not a coincidence."
Chen Yunli did as he was told.
Seeing this, Su Lanshan let out a light breath, and her expression became colder than ever before.
He didn't care about the abnormality of the butterfly in front of him and said, "Take me to find the candidate."
Before he finished speaking, he saw Chen Yunli flying and landing on the word "Wu" on the next line.
"No? The candidate is not in the examination room?" Su Lanshan thought for a moment, "You mean, that candidate is not among the group taking the exam today?"
Chen Yunli jumped to the word "yes".
"Good, very good." Su Lanshan smiled. "The academy's rule of holding exams in batches really does give some people an opportunity to exploit loopholes. Ghostwriters need to get the exam questions in advance, and the second batch of candidates received different questions from the first, so this person couldn't have asked a classmate to write for them—I see, this isn't just cheating, it also involves leaking the exam questions."
Isn't it said that smart people have quick minds? Give him a piece of thread and he'll straighten the whole ball of thread.
"Little Butterfly, do you recognize that candidate?" Su Lanshan took a step closer and pointed her finger at Chen Yunli.
Chen Yunli flew up to his jade-white knuckles, paused, and then flew to the ground and stopped.
"Is this the examination room? The attic? The corridor?" Su Lanshan changed the scope of her guess again and again.
Chen Yunli was a little anxious, jumped onto his shoes, and then jumped back to the ground.
"It's related to the feet, the ground... the road?" Su Lanshan reacted quickly, "Is it the Tao, or... the road?"
Before she finished speaking, Su Lanshan's eyelids suddenly twitched.
There wasn't a single teacher in the academy named "Dao," but there was one named Lu. Coincidentally, that teacher was one of the authors of the quiz.
Su Lanshan caught Chen Yunli as he flew off the ground: "Is it a road?"
Chen Yunli flapped his wings to indicate that the answer was correct.
"Mr. Lu has spent his entire life teaching and educating people, and his students are known all over the world. Why would he do something that would ruin his reputation? Unless..."
Su Lanshan held Chen Yunli in one hand, lifted her clothes and walked up the stairs to continue her invigilation duties.
He didn't finish the sentence after "unless", but he already had the answer in his heart.
Descendants are all debts.
…
Chen Yunli accompanied Su Lanshan to supervise the exam for most of the day. He passed by Chen Wenjian's examination room several times. His reaction changed from surprise and worry to helplessness.
Although it was unclear why Mr. Su, who was always dignified and serious, favored a butterfly, as long as he was okay, Chen Wenjian didn't care too much about anything else.
In a blink of an eye, it was dusk and the bell rang, and it was time to pack up.
Chen Wenjian was anxious to find Su Lanshan to get his own Jian Ling back. He hurried out of the examination room, only to find that Su Lanshan had already been waiting for him under the tree with Chen Yunli in her hands.
"Mr. Su." Chen Wenjian hurried forward to greet him.
Su Lanshan nodded and handed Chen Wenjian over: "Is this your... friend?"
Chen Wenjian was stunned for a moment, then took it with both hands and said softly, "Yes, we are friends."
A friend, not a pet.
Chen Yunli thought that interacting with smart scholars really made people feel relaxed and happy.
"Your friend has helped me a lot. Please ask it on my behalf what kind of thank you gift it wants." Su Lanshan was unusually gentle, and her low voice was like the evening breeze blowing across the lake.
Chen Wenjian looked at Chen Yunli curiously, asking with his eyes what he had done, and asked, "What do you want?"
"I'll tell you when I get back." Chen Yunli landed on top of him and stretched his wings. "As for the thank you gift... please help me collect some flower dew, preferably from rare flowers."
Chen Wenjian smiled and conveyed the message truthfully.
It makes sense for butterflies to drink flower dew.
Su Lanshan nodded and agreed: "After the exam is over, I will ask someone to send the flower dew to you. Tomorrow is a day off, you can go back and have a good rest."
"Yes. Farewell, sir."
After watching Su Lanshan leave quickly, Chen Wenjian left the academy and asked Chen Yunli, "What did you do? Why did Mr. Su care so much?"
"Come to think of it, that's no small matter."
Chen Yunli sighed and told him everything he had seen and heard today, including how he conveyed the matter to Su Lanshan.
"Mr. Su won't trust anyone easily, especially you, a butterfly. He also doesn't like secret investigations like this. He will definitely go find Mr. Lu tonight to get the truth."
Chen Wenjian frowned slightly, feeling quite disgusted with cheating.
"If we happen to catch the old man writing questions for his grandson, we'll catch him red-handed." Chen Yunli muttered.
"Yes. But this is a good thing for both Mr. Lu and Lu Heng. As long as they repent in time, Mr. Su will give them another chance." Chen Wenjian's eyes darkened slightly. "I hope they won't persist in their mistakes."
Chen Yunli recalled the scene he had witnessed in the pavilion and felt inexplicably uneasy.
The old man doesn't seem to be a stubborn person, but his grandson is a little crazy.
If things go wrong, something unexpected will happen.
…
That night, there was a sudden heavy rain with lightning and thunder.
There was a loud rumble of thunder, and a sudden flash of lightning shone into the house where the candlelight was dim, and also illuminated the figure who was standing with his back to the window, his chest heaving rapidly.
Lu Heng stared at his feet with wide eyes. There was a man lying there, with blood slowly seeping out and spreading from the back of his head. Against the backdrop of his loose black hair and pale face, he looked particularly terrifying.
Lu Heng's hands trembled violently, and his fingers loosened. The inkstone stained with blood fell to the ground and rolled to the side of the man.
Not far away, an old man with white hair and beard stared at the scene blankly, his expression gradually changing from astonishment to heartache.
…
"boom--"
Thunder rumbled into the house and heavy rain poured down. Chen Wenjian walked over to close the window and wiped the rain water on the table and windowsill with a rag.
Chen Yunli was squatting at the head of the bed and feeling sleepy when he suddenly shuddered. His wings began to shake uncontrollably as if they were cramping, causing him to fall straight into the pillow and then roll onto the bed.
"What's wrong?"
When Chen Wenjian turned around, he saw him lying on the bed like a corpse. He was so shocked that he rushed over and held him in his hands.
“No, nothing…”
Chen Yunli finally recovered from the cramps and flapped his wings, soaring into the air like a fairy wand with a trail of dust. "Hurry, hurry, hurry! Follow me! I can sense it! This is a strong feeling I've never felt before!"
"Sense what..." Chen Wenjian paused, "Did you sense anything related to Yun Li?"
"Yes! And this sensation is fading, which means it's moving away from us." Chen Yunli was so anxious that he turned around, "If we don't hurry up, it will be too late!"
Without asking any more questions, Chen Wenjian immediately rushed out the door with an umbrella.
"Just fly under the umbrella." Before entering the rainstorm, he reminded me, "I'll try to walk faster. Don't let yourself get wet."
“I know, I know!”
Stepping into the rain, Chen Wenjian followed Chen Yunli, walking on the muddy mountain road with one foot deep and one foot shallow, heading towards the bamboo forest halfway up the mountain.
There is a river in the forest. There is a section in the middle of the river where the height difference is nearly five meters. When the river water rises, it makes a sound of water hitting rocks when flowing through that section, which cannot be covered by the sound of rain.
Visibility was low at night and the rain was heavy. Chen Wenjian could hardly see the road ahead. Fortunately, Chen Yunli had his own light source, which allowed him to walk more smoothly and avoid falling or stepping into the river.
After half an hour, Chen Wenjian, who was running fast, suddenly saw Chen Yunli stop, and he quickly stopped as well.
At the same time, the damp wind brought a strange smell, like the smell of diluted rust, which made his expression change slightly.
"There's a smell of blood here." Chen Wenjian grabbed Chen Yunli and pulled him back into his palm. "Is that what you sensed here?"
Chen Yunli poked his head out from between his fingers and said, "Walk a few more steps forward until you reach the riverbank, and go straight."
Chen Wenjian did as he was told, but he moved much more slowly and cautiously forward.
Two meters away from the river bank, a crouching figure appeared in his field of vision. He was wearing white clothes, black hair, a dark red wound on the back of his head, and his clothes on the back were stained with large bloodstains.
Chen Wenjian stopped instantly.
"There's a person...or a corpse?" Chen Yunli suddenly shrank back.
Chen Wenjian took a deep breath: "What you sensed..."
“…It’s on him.”
No surprise.
Chen Wenjian pursed his lips, put Chen Yunli into his clothes, and slowly moved forward holding an umbrella.
He touched the man's shoulder and gently turned him over. A pale face surrounded by messy black hair was the person they had just met not long ago!
"Mr. Su!?"
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