Lord of Mysteries

Chapter 4 Divination (Second Update, Please Vote)

He sat back down in his chair, and only after the church bells in the distance rang seven times in a row did Zhou Mingrui slowly stand up, go to the cupboard, and take out his clothes.

A black vest, a matching suit jacket, slightly tight trousers, and a top hat, combined with a subtle scholarly air, made Zhou Mingrui feel as if he were watching a British drama about the Victorian era when he looked at himself in the mirror.

"I'm not going for a job interview, I'm just buying groceries and preparing materials for the luck-changing ceremony..." he suddenly muttered to himself, shaking his head and chuckling.

Klein was so preoccupied with the upcoming interview that it became an instinct; whenever he couldn't concentrate, he would habitually put on his only decent outfit.

With a sigh of relief, Zhou Mingrui took off his suit and vest, put on a worn brown-yellow coat, and replaced his hat with a round-brimmed felt hat of the same color.

After tidying himself up, he walked over to the bunk bed, lifted the top mattress, and reached his hand through an inconspicuous hole at the bottom. After groping around for a while, he found the inner layer.

When he pulled his right hand back, there was a roll of banknotes in his palm, about seven or eight, dark green with a white tinge.

This is all Benson has saved up, including his living expenses for the next three days. He only has two five-sol notes, and the rest are one-sol notes.

In the monetary system of the Kingdom of Rune, the Sule is located on the second tier. It is derived from ancient silver coins. One Sule is equal to twelve copper pence, and there are two denominations: one and five.

At the top of the currency hierarchy is the gold pound, which is also a type of paper money, but backed by gold and directly pegged to gold. One gold pound is equal to twenty sols, and it comes in three denominations: one, five, and ten.

Zhou Mingrui unfolded the banknotes and smelled a very faint, distinctive ink scent.

This is the smell of money.

Perhaps influenced by fragments of Klein's memory, or perhaps because of his own unchanging thirst for money, Zhou Mingrui felt, in that instant, that he had fallen in love with these little guys.

Look, their designs are so exquisite that they make even the stern and austere George III, with his two small mustaches, seem so endearing...

Look, the watermark seen through the sunlight is so alluring, and the carefully designed anti-counterfeiting label makes it stand out from counterfeit gaudy goods!

After admiring it for several dozen seconds, Zhou Mingrui took out two one-sol banknotes, rolled up the rest again, and stuffed them back into the inner layer of the mat.

Smoothing out the strips of cloth near the hole, Zhou Mingrui neatly folded the two banknotes he had taken out and put them into the left pocket of his brown-yellow coat, separating them from the few pennies in his trouser pocket.

Having done all this, he put the key in his right pocket, grabbed the large dark brown paper bag, and strode towards the door.

Tap tap, tap, the footsteps slowed down and finally stopped.

Zhou Mingrui stood by the door, his brows furrowed at some point.

There are many mysteries surrounding Klein's suicide. If he just goes out like this, will he encounter some kind of "accident"?

After a moment of contemplation, Zhou Mingrui returned to his desk, opened a drawer, and took out the revolver that gleamed with the luster of brass.

This was the only self-defense weapon he could think of, and it was powerful enough!

Although he had never practiced shooting, just pulling out this pistol would definitely scare people!

After stroking the cold metal cylinder, Zhou Mingrui stuffed the pistol into the pocket where the banknotes were, clenched the banknotes in his palm, and pressed his fingers firmly against the handle, perfectly concealing it.

A sense of security welled up within him, but a sudden worry arose within him, despite his dabbling in everything:

"What if it fires accidentally?"

Ideas came flooding in, and Zhou Mingrui quickly found a solution. He drew his pistol, swung the cylinder to the left, and rotated the empty chamber left by the "suicide" to the ready-to-fire position before snapping it shut.

In this way, even if it fires accidentally, it will only be a "blank shot"!

After putting the pistol back in, Zhou Mingrui kept his left hand in his pocket, never taking it out again.

He adjusted his hat with his right hand, opened the door, and slammed it open as he left.

The corridor was still dim during the day, and the sunlight that could get through the window at the end was very limited. Only after Zhou Mingrui hurried down the stairs and left the apartment did he feel the brightness and warmth.

Although it was nearing July, the height of summer, Tingen, located in the north of the Kingdom of Rune, had a unique climate. The highest temperature of the year was less than 30 degrees Celsius, and the mornings were cool. In some places on the streets, sewage flowed freely and debris was scattered everywhere. In Klein's memory, even in places where low-income people lived and there were sewers, such scenes were not uncommon, because of the large population and the demands of life.

"Come on, come on, delicious pan-fried fish and meat!"

"A bowl of hot and fresh oyster soup in the morning will energize you for the whole day!"

"Fresh fish delivered from the port, only 5 pence each!"

"Mini pancakes, eel soup, and ginger beer!"

"Seashell, seashell, seashell!"

"The vegetables from the farm outside the city are freshly picked, cheap and delicious!"

……

Street vendors selling vegetables, fruits, and cooked food loudly call out to hurried passersby. Some stop to carefully compare and buy, while others wave impatiently, as they haven't found work for the day yet.

Zhou Mingrui, smelling the air filled with a mixture of stench and fragrance, gripped the gun handle firmly with his left hand, clutching the banknotes, while pressing down on his round-brimmed felt hat with his right hand. He bent slightly and walked through the bustling street.

Thieves are found wherever there are crowds, especially in this neighborhood where there are many unemployed poor people doing temporary work and hungry children being driven around.

As he walked on, once the density of the crowd around him returned to normal, Zhou Mingrui straightened his back, raised his head, and looked out at the street.

There was a wandering accordion player playing there, the melody sometimes melodious, sometimes passionate.

Surrounding him were many children, dressed in rags and with sallow complexions from malnutrition.

Listening to the music, following the rhythm, they instinctively swayed their bodies, dancing their self-created dances, their faces filled with joy, as if they were little princes or little angels.

A woman with a blank expression walked by, her skirt stained and her skin dull.

Her eyes were dull and lifeless, only when she looked at the group of children did a glimmer of light flash across them, as if she were seeing herself thirty years ago.

Zhou Mingrui overtook her, turned onto another street, and stopped in front of "Slin Bakery".

The bakery owner was an elderly woman in her seventies named Wendy's. Her hair was completely gray, and she always had a gentle smile on her face. She had been selling bread and pastries here since Klein could remember.

"Hmm, the Tingen biscuits and lemon cakes she baked herself are delicious..." Zhou Mingrui swallowed and smiled.

"Mrs. Slyn, eight pounds of rye bread."

"Oh, little Klein, where's Benson? He's not back yet?" Wendy asked with a smile.

"A few more days," Zhou Mingrui replied vaguely.

Wendy picked up a piece of rye bread and exclaimed:

"He's such a hardworking and good young man; he'll have a wonderful wife."

At this point, she smiled mischievously, a slight upturn to her lips:

"Now that's settled, you've graduated, our Hoy University history graduate~ Hmm, you'll be making money soon. You shouldn't be living in an apartment like this; you should at least have your own bathroom."

"Mrs. Slinn, you look like a young and lively lady today," Zhou Mingrui could only respond with a forced laugh.

If Klein can pass the interview and become a lecturer at the University of Tingen, then the whole family will indeed be on the road to a comfortable life!

In his fragmented memories, he even fantasized about renting a detached house in the suburbs, with five or six rooms upstairs, two bathrooms, and a large balcony, and two rooms downstairs, a dining room, a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a basement storage room.

This is not wishful thinking. Even lecturers in their internship at the University of Tingen earn £2 per week, and £3 per week and 10 soles after becoming full-time. You should know that Klein’s brother Benson worked for many years and only earned £1 per week and 10 soles. Ordinary factory workers earned less than £1 or just over £1. The rent for such a detached house ranged from £19 to £18.

"That's the difference between earning three or four thousand a month and earning fourteen or fifteen thousand a month..." Zhou Mingrui muttered to himself.

However, all of this is contingent on passing the interview at the University of Tingen or the University of Backlund.

As for other avenues, those without connections cannot get recommendations to become public officials, and those who study history have even narrower employment options, with little demand for private advisors to nobles, bankers, or industrial tycoons.

Considering that Klein's knowledge had also become "fragments," incomplete and incomplete, Zhou Mingrui's expectations of Mrs. Slin were filled with embarrassment and unease.

"No, I've always been this young," Wendy replied humorously.

As she spoke, she packed the weighed sixteen strips of rye flour into the large dark brown paper bag that Zhou Mingrui had brought, and spread her right hand out, saying:

"9 pence."

Each loaf of rye bread weighs around 0.5 pounds, but some variation is unavoidable.

"Nine pence, wasn't it eleven pence a couple of days ago?" Zhou Mingrui asked subconsciously.

The month before last, it cost 15 pence.

"You should thank the repeal of the Grain Act, and thank the people who marched," Wendy said with a smile, spreading her hands.

Zhou Mingrui nodded as if he understood, but Klein's memory of it was somewhat fragmented. He only remembered that the core of the Grain Act was to protect the prices of domestic agricultural products, and that grains from southern countries such as Fenneport, Masjid, and Rembrandt would not be imported until prices rose to a certain level.

Why would anyone want to march against it?

Without saying much, Zhou Mingrui, fearing he might bring out a revolver, could only carefully take out some banknotes, take one out, and hand it to Mrs. Slin.

After finding three pennies and stuffing them into his pocket, he picked up the paper bag of bread and headed to the "Lettuce and Meat" market across the street to prepare the lamb stew with tender peas that his sister had asked him to make.

At the intersection of Iron Cross Street and Narcissus Street, there is a municipal square where many tents have been set up and clowns dressed in strange and funny costumes are handing out flyers.

"A circus performance tomorrow night?" Zhou Mingrui glanced at the flyers in other people's hands and read out the gist of the content in a low voice.

Melissa would definitely love it, but I wonder how much the tickets will cost? A thought flashed through Zhou Mingrui's mind, and he moved closer.

He was about to ask one of the red and yellow clowns a question when a hoarse female voice suddenly came from beside him:

"Would you like a fortune telling?"

Subconsciously turning his head, Zhou Mingrui saw a woman wearing a pointed hat and a long black dress standing in front of a low tent.

Her face was painted with red and yellow greasepaint, and her eyes were a deep gray-blue.

"No," Zhou Mingrui replied, shaking his head. He didn't have the spare money to do fortune-telling.

The woman smiled and said:

"My tarot readings are very accurate."

"Tarot..." Zhou Mingrui was stunned.

The pronunciation sounds very similar to that of Tarot cards on Earth!

Earth's Tarot cards are a type of fortune-telling playing cards, but with the addition of "graphic cards" each with its own symbolic meaning.

Wait a minute… He suddenly remembered the origin of Tarot divination in this world.

It did not originate from the seven orthodox gods, nor was it a relic from ancient times. Rather, it was invented more than 170 years ago by Russell Gustav, who was then the governor of the Republic of Intis.

This Mr. Roselle invented the steam engine, improved sailing ships, overthrew the rule of the Kingdom of Intis, and was recognized by the Church of the God of Craftsmen, becoming the first consul of the new republic.

Later, he conquered the south and the north, bringing countries such as Lenburg under his protection, and causing powerful northern nations such as the Kingdom of Loen, Feneport, and the Fussac Empire to submit one after another. He then changed the republic back to an empire and called himself "Julius Caesar".

It was during Roselle's reign that the Church of the God of Craftsmen received its first public oracle since the Fifth Age, changing the title of the God of Craftsmen to the God of Steam and Machinery.

Russell also invented Tarot divination and laid the foundation for the composition and gameplay of modern card games, including several types that Zhou Mingrui was familiar with, such as Upgrading, Landlord, Texas Hold'em, Gwent, etc.

In addition, he sent fleets to find a sea route to the southern continent amidst storms and turbulent currents, thus beginning the colonial era.

Unfortunately, in his old age, he was betrayed and assassinated in 1198 of the Fifth Age by the Church of the Eternal Sun, the Soren family of the Indys royal family, and other nobles, and perished in the White Maple Palace.

Suddenly remembering these common-sense facts, Zhou Mingrui felt a toothache.

Could this person be a time traveler from the past?

Thinking of this, Zhou Mingrui wanted to see what the tarot cards here looked like, so he nodded to the woman wearing a pointed hat and with her face painted:

"If not, well, the price is reasonable, I'll give it a try."

The woman immediately laughed:

"Sir, you are the first person to have your fortune told today. It's free."

PS: Second update, please vote!

(End of this chapter)