I'm not a fortune teller.

Chapter 1 The Pen That Changes Destiny
"My lord, my lord?"

"Ok?"

"Mr. Zheng is asking you."

In the main hall of the county government, the fat legal advisor urged his master in a low voice. The young county magistrate, who was wearing the green county official uniform, looked dazed and seemed to be still asleep.

Am I the county magistrate?
Zhang Rui looked around in a trance, then looked at himself. He was wearing a dark green official robe with a egret patch. Having taken imperial examinations for many years, he could still recognize that it was the uniform of a seventh-rank civil servant of the Jin Dynasty.

At this time, he was sitting in the lobby of the government office, with yamen runners standing in neat rows on both sides. Kneeling on the defendant's stone in the hall was a woman in prisoner clothes, while on the plaintiff's stone was an armchair, on which sat a fat old man with a leisurely look.

"Master Zhang, have you been too busy with official duties recently? You don't look very energetic."

Zhang Rui looked over when he heard this and saw the old man on the armchair playing with the jade in his hand. He didn't even look at him when he was talking to him in the hall. It was easy to tell at a glance that the old man had a complicated background.

The defendant, the woman in prison uniform, fell to the ground with her head buried in the ground, trembling, looking like the absolutely disadvantaged party.

This seems like an unfair lawsuit.

Zhang Rui relied on common sense to judge the situation, but he didn't know what to do specifically.

He had no memory of the lawsuit at all. Not to mention the lawsuit, he had no memory of how he passed the imperial examination or which county he was assigned to serve as an official.

"grown ups?"

The lawyer next to him urged him again. Seeing this, Zhang Rui could only cough lightly to avoid being too abnormal, "You are the defendant in the court. Do you plead guilty?"

Why ask again?
The legal advisor and the bailiffs in the hall all frowned.

The old man with a noble identity also looked up and glanced at Zhang Rui in confusion.

As soon as Zhang Rui saw the expressions of the crowd, he knew that he had said the wrong thing, but since the words were out, there was no way to swallow them back. He could only pick up the teacup next to him, lower his head and drink tea, pretending to be dead.

"I plead guilty." The woman's gentle voice broke the awkwardness, but the words that came after the gentle voice made Zhang Rui choke on his tea.

"It was this woman who killed the thirteen members of the Shen family!"

"Cough cough."

Zhang Rui put down the teacup in a hurry, looked at the kneeling woman in astonishment, then glanced at the expressionless yamen runners beside him. He really wanted to ask the woman: Are you serious?
This woman looks as thin as a bamboo pole, and her voice is so weak, but she can kill the whole family without hesitation.
"Master Zhang"

Seeing Zhang Rui's hesitation in making a judgment, the old man frowned, put down the jade in his hand, turned around and finally looked at him straight in the eye: "Do you want to ask for the third time?"

Zhang Rui picked up the gavel, a hint of hesitation flashed in his eyes. He had no memory of the past few years. Logically, he should keep a low profile and go with the flow. The woman had already pleaded guilty, and the people around her seemed to hope that he would sentence her accordingly. However,
It would be fine if it was an ordinary case, but in a case like this where an entire family was murdered, if there was a conspiracy behind it, it would be a stain on my life if it was investigated in the future. My position as a county magistrate was hard-earned, and it would not be a good thing if I was caught with such a handle. I cannot fool around and must take responsibility.

boom!
"This case is of great importance. I need to consider it again. I will take the prisoner into custody and adjourn the courtroom!"

The gavel fell, but Zhang Rui's words made the entire yamen hall silent!

Everyone looked at him in great surprise, with an expression of disbelief on their faces.

"Are you serious, Lord Zhang?" The old man stood up, looking as if he was looking at a fool.

Zhang Rui frowned when he heard this. In such a murder case, even if the criminal pleaded guilty, it would be reasonable for him to consider it himself, right? What was that look in the old man's eyes?
There are probably two possible scenarios at the moment. One is that this woman is not to be judged by her appearance and is really a ruthless person who can kill more than a dozen people in her family. The other is that she is being coerced and forced to confess. To be honest, he prefers the latter. If it is the second scenario, then the old man in front of him should have some power, not only to suppress the woman who confessed her guilt, but also to suppress himself, the county magistrate who is judging the case.

But so what?
I am an official appointed by the imperial court. Even if you have a powerful background, I can only delay it a little. You can't eat me, right?
And it’s not like I don’t have my own trump cards.

Zhang Rui glanced at the side of his right hand, where there was a pen that was totally inconsistent with the surrounding style!
No one can see this pen except himself. It was the pen he used to write manuscripts in his previous life. Now that he has traveled through time and space into the manuscript, he can still use this pen to rewrite everything around him.

He had used this pen when he was a child. Not only could he control the present, but he could also rewrite the past and the future. He could even erase the people around him at any time, but the price was not small.

Every time he used the pen, there were different side effects. The bigger the plot he rewrote, the deeper it was related to him, and the greater the side effects! So in the following years, he almost never used this pen until he failed in the last scientific expedition.

Yes, he was able to become the county magistrate because he changed his own destiny, allowing himself, a poor student who had failed to enter high school several times, to directly pass the imperial examination, skipping the painful period of studying hard in the middle.

The result was that he had no memory of what happened before and after he passed the imperial examination. He didn't even know how he was assigned to be a county magistrate, and how many years he had served.

"Sir, you must not do that." The lawyer next to him was the first to react and quickly advised Zhang Rui.

"I have made up my mind, there is no need to say more, Master." Zhang Rui stretched out his hand to interrupt the other party.

The master's eyes widened, and his expression was as if he was looking at a madman!
"I didn't expect that." The old man in the audience laughed, "I can actually meet someone like you in this small place."

The master was about to say something when the old man stopped him. He turned to look at Zhang Rui and said, "Human life is at stake. We should be more cautious. But I have important things to do. I can't stay here for too long. Are you sure you want to continue investigating, Mr. Zhang?"

"Of course." Zhang Rui nodded slightly, looking indifferent.

So what if he has a powerful background? Since I have already decided to offend him, this little bit doesn't matter.

"Okay," the old man nodded, "In that case, the prisoner will be in your care for the time being?"

"She hasn't been convicted yet, she's just a suspect." Zhang Rui corrected the other person calmly.

"That's right." The old man smiled.

When the people around, whether it was the legal advisor or the yamen runners, heard that this person was taken over by their own master, their faces turned pale.

Zhang Rui was standing high up, so he could clearly see the expressions of the people below. He was immediately confused. What was the background of this old man? Even if he had offended him, it had nothing to do with the yamen runners, so how could it implicate them? What was going on with this expression of "my father has died"?
"Did you hear that?" The old man turned and looked at the woman kneeling on the ground.

"I heard it." The woman raised her head for the first time and looked towards Zhang Rui.

Seeing this, the lawyer next to him dodged without hesitation. This panic-stricken look made Zhang Rui feel inexplicably uneasy.

Before I could react, I was frightened by the appearance of the woman in front of me who raised her head!
It’s not that the woman was extremely ugly or evil. On the contrary, she was extremely beautiful, even more beautiful than the stars in his previous life who were filtered by cameras. On her beautiful face were a pair of deep green eyes, like a pair of cat's eyes.

It looks good, but it makes people feel inexplicably terrifying at first glance. It feels very strange, as if it is an instinct, just like a sheep seeing a wolf!
The next moment, an even more incredible scene happened
The old man took out a scroll, unfolded it and folded it, and the woman disappeared. Instead, a beautiful woman in prisoner clothes appeared on the blank scroll, staring at him with a pair of strange green eyes.

In broad daylight, this scene gave Zhang Rui goosebumps all over his body!

What's going on?
I write historical articles, which are not tainted with feudal superstitions at all.

Why does this kind of thing appear?
And judging from the expressions of the people around him, although they were a little frightened, they seemed to have gotten used to this kind of thing.

This is clearly not an exception.
Then there is only one possibility.

Zhang Rui glanced at the pen standing on the right and swallowed.

The side effects of this investment were beyond my imagination. I had previously thought that the side effects were too small. It directly changed my destiny and made me a Jinshi. The price was just skipping a few years.

Compared with the previous costs, this time is really too light.

Now it seems that it is not that simple, but this time it is really too exaggerated.

In order to change his future, he even changed the background framework of this world!
It seems like this pen won't be usable anymore. God knows what the world will become if I use it again.

"Master Zhang," the old man put away the scroll and walked over, "This painted skin has a cannibalism number of 77. According to the laws of the Great Jin Dynasty, she should be punished by Yang Fire. However, she denied the last case at first, but suddenly changed her statement yesterday. I also think there are some doubts about this case, but I have an important matter to go to Beihai City. Since you want to investigate, I will give this thing to you for safekeeping. I will be back in seven days at most. Please hurry up."

Zhang Rui: “.”

Looks like this pen needs to be used again.
　A new book is released. I shamelessly beg the readers passing by to collect one. It would be even better if you can get some recommendation votes and monthly tickets. Hehehe
　　
　
(End of this chapter)