How can one cultivate immortality without learning modern knowledge?

"Are you double-crossing me?" Zhou Wenju glared at her fiercely.

"Exactly! My usual tactic is to double-cross you. Don't tell me you gave it all to Mother and didn't keep any for yourself..."

Zhou Wen raised his hand and flipped it over, taking out a silver note from his pocket: "This is one hundred taels, enough for you to live a life of debauchery for a while."

Zhou Shuang accepted the silver note, overjoyed: "Second Brother, I always thought you were spoiled by Father and would never amount to anything. Now I'm relieved; you're not at all pedantic..."

I rely on!

Zhou Wenju was speechless. He got praise from her for robbing money and was even given the title of "promising". But the word "promising" varies from person to person. Everyone's definition of "promising" is different.

"Hey, second brother, which bandit den did you raid?"

Zhou Wenju asked, "Can you keep it a secret?"

"Heaven knows, earth knows, you know, I know, but our parents will never know!" Zhou Shuang patted his chest directly.

"Below Screen Ridge, in Mad Cloud Valley!" Zhou Wenju said, "It's not my fault for breaking my father's teachings; they went too far. They even took the pitiful seven qian of silver I had. How utterly depraved is that? What could I do? I could only rob them back..."

Zhou Shuang looked out the window at a 45-degree angle: "Robbing money is still the fastest way... Hey, Second Brother, do you think I should learn from you?"

"Huh?" Zhou Wenju stared at her.

Zhou Shuang said, "I have a very good target. My cheap master has a begging bowl, pure gold, weighing two or three pounds..."

"You...your master? Begging for alms...you found a monk to be your master?" Zhou Wenju was a little surprised. Begging for alms and a rice bowl both pointed to a special profession, didn't they?

"She's not a monk, she's a nun!" Zhou Shuang said. "I met her by chance at the market. She insisted that I had a connection with Buddhism. Isn't that crazy? Everyone knows that even if I have a connection with bandits, I could never have a connection with Buddhism. I won't lie to you, at first I had some ideas. I planned to learn from my second brother and see if there was anything valuable in her temple, so I went with her. But this nun is really a bit strange..."

Zhou Wenju automatically ignored the phrase "learn from him" and cut to the chase: "What kind of unorthodox method is it?"

"When she meditated, there was water below and grapes in front of her."

My God, these things... are they even legitimate?

Zhou Wenju was now in a dilemma.

After all, the person in front of him was his sister—or at least the sister of this physical body.

"Ah, it's almost noon! Time to munch on grapes again." Zhou Shuang sprang to her feet. "Second Brother, I'm off..."

She left the room like a gust of wind, disappearing in a flash.

Zhou Wenju was surprised.

This……

What kind of game is this?

Isn't this way of playing a game that's way ahead of its time?

We had a hearty lunch.

Of course, from his mother's perspective, the meal was very lavish.

After all, before Zhou Wenju returned, she, the wife of the county magistrate, was just like the poor people in the area, only having two meals a day.

Today, my son has returned from thousands of miles away, and he's so accomplished, winning a great reward from the sect. It's only right that his mother should reward him.

That's how the fish was served for lunch.

There was even alcohol.

Old Qi also had a few drinks and enjoyed meat, something he hadn't done in a long time.

After finishing his lunch, Zhou Wenju decided to go for a walk.

Old Qi followed them all the way out of the county government office. The old man then spoke up: "Second Young Master, which of the things you said to the master and mistress were true?"

"Can't everything be true?" Zhou Wenju glared at him.

"Is it all true?" Old Qi was a little confused.

Zhou Wenju said, "It's true that I'm leaving Huding Mountain. Considering how many years I've served them like a slave, isn't it enough for the sect to give me some resettlement allowance?"

"Giving a settlement fee for leaving the sect makes sense, however... if I weren't blind, I could roughly tell that the source of this money, Second Young Master, is... cough... the source is rather 'theft'..."

Zhou Wenju glared at him fiercely: "It's fine if you make wild analyses in front of me, but you have to keep your distance in front of my father. It's pointless to try to provoke my father into beating me based on your own subjective assumptions."

"Understood! I understand completely!" Old Qi said, "Second Young Master, rest assured, Master is a scholar of Confucian classics, and he would never believe that his son, who has inherited his academic knowledge so deeply, would be a petty thief... Therefore, if you say the money came from Huding Mountain, then it must have come from Huding Mountain..."

"That's the right way to think!" Zhou Wenju nodded. "Hey, Lao Qi, how about we take a trip to the Hexi Valley?"

"Hexi Valley?" Old Qi frowned. "What do you want to do?"

"Didn't the He family file a police report? Didn't they give us half a month to investigate? Father is currently working hard on the riverbank, so he probably doesn't have time to worry about this case. Let's go and help investigate, so that they don't actually come to Lingnan Prefecture in half a month."

Old Qi let out a long sigh: "What you say makes sense, but there's no need to investigate this case at all. Anyone with eyes can see what's going on."

"Tell me what happened," Zhou Wenju said.

Old Qi said, "What else could it be? They want to use my county government to suppress those poor people in Hexi Valley."

"Can we avoid it?"

"That's the troublesome part of the problem. We can't avoid it, we can only drag it out..." Old Qi said.

“That’s right. They have the land deed and are in a position of legal and righteous indignation. Since they’ve come to the county government, neither you nor Father can avoid it. At most, we can only stall for time, but we’ll have to face it eventually.” Zhou Wenju said, “Since we have to face it sooner or later, why give them an excuse to delay?”

Old Qi thought about it and agreed.

Then go check it out.

The two left the county town and headed west. Ahead of them was a river, the West River.

There is a valley in the direction of Wudao Mountain from the west of the river, which is called Hexi Valley.

The Hexi Valley is very desolate, and it gets more and more desolate the further you go.

After rounding a bend in the mountain, Zhou Wenju raised his eyes and stared at the plumes of smoke in the sky. This was smoke, not fog. What was going on?

Old Qi explained: "There are iron mines in Hexi Valley. The villagers smelt iron from stones to make farm tools. It's been a traditional craft for generations of people in Hexi Town. And let me tell you, their blacksmithing skills are quite good. It's just that Lingnan is a poor place! No matter how good their tools are, they can't sell them for a high price..."

His voice suddenly stopped.

Zhou Wenju's eyes also suddenly lifted.

In the sunlight, an arrow shot from the opposite hillside and struck a tree in front of them.

The arrowhead pierced the tree three inches deep, its fletching buzzing, demonstrating its powerful impact.

On the opposite hillside, seven or eight figures appeared simultaneously, each holding a powerful bow with long arrows nocked on the bowstring, pointing at Zhou Wenju and Lao Qi.

Old Qi stepped forward, naturally blocking Zhou Wenju's path: "Fellow villagers, please don't be impulsive. I am the head constable of the county government, and this is the second son of our county magistrate, Lord Zhou."

On the opposite hillside, a man shouted, "We knew you would come! Let us make it clear to Magistrate Yu that our Hexi Valley was reclaimed by 30,000 people over generations. We will never allow the He family to occupy it. Anyone from the He family who comes will be shot dead. If the government fails to distinguish right from wrong, we will still shoot them down."

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly drew his longbow to its full length, the black iron arrowheads gleaming coldly in the sunlight.

A man next to him reached out and placed his hand on the man's shoulder: "Third Brother, wait a minute! We have also heard that Magistrate Zhou is a good official who stands up for the people. Since he sent someone here, let's hear what he has to say first."

Zhou Wenju stepped forward: "Fellow villagers, rest assured, we are here today not to be tools for the He family to oppress the people. On the contrary, we are here to uphold justice for you."

"To uphold justice for us?" The third brother was startled. "Is what you say true, young master?"

Zhou Wenju said, "Since my father entered Qishan, he has refused to associate with the He and Li families. Right now, he is on the East River embankment, having taken off his official robes, carrying mud and stones to reclaim wasteland and provide a livelihood for 100,000 people. Don't you trust his reputation and character?"

Third Brother slowly drew back the longbow in his hand.

With a gentle wave of his hand, everyone simultaneously drew their longbows.

At the same time, the sound of bowstrings resounded across the hillside and the peaks on both sides.

Although Zhou Wenju did not look to either side, his extremely sensitive six senses clearly conveyed a signal to him: there were people on all four sides of the mountain, at least three or four hundred.

They were, in fact, surrounded by villagers.

With a single command, a volley of arrows will inevitably be unleashed.

However, at that moment, the alarm was lifted.

He relied on his father's reputation and official conduct.

His father, Zhou Liangsheng, was a county magistrate who was in dire straits in Qishan. Even his wife had to do needlework to make ends meet. But it was precisely this hardship that earned him the trust of the people.

"Young Master Zhou, Chief Constable!" The eight leaders on the hillside bowed in unison, saying, "We apologize for our rudeness earlier, and hope you will forgive us."