Chapter 27: The Ninth Generation of Decline (1)
At noon, twelve o'clock, no one else joined the meeting at the mountain pass. The hundreds of tables in the square were already full.
As the host, Zheng Qihuai pulled me to the front seat.
There were ten people at the table, all wearing all kinds of clothes. It was like entering a dance competition written by Jin Yong. I looked very different in my casual jeans and shirt.
Zheng Qihuai and I sat down, and the others just glanced at us and stopped paying attention. However, there was a man in a well-dressed suit, in his twenties, a little thin, with delicate features. He smiled at me shyly.
I nodded politely. Those who can sit in the front of the table at this conference are either talented or well-connected. Although I have nothing to do with them and don't want to build a good relationship with them, I still have to respond to their kindness.
"Ahem! Everyone, everyone is here. In order to promote the development of the Metaphysics Society, our Dongmen Metaphysics Society has the honor of organizing this Youth Metaphysics Discussion Conference. It makes me, an old man, very proud! Of course, the pressure is also great."
On the stage, Wu Zhidao was the first to pick up the microphone and spoke loudly. When he talked about pressure, his old face turned red, and he secretly glanced at the three sixty-year-old men sitting behind him.
"Okay, enough nonsense. This year's discussion meeting is jointly funded by me, Beijing, Guangzhou, and the Northeast, and three prizes have been set up. The first one is a half-pound righteousness stone. It was provided by Master Gao Qiyun of the Beijing Metaphysics Society. The second one is a ghost-suppressing seal, which was provided by Master Zhao Decang of the Northeast Metaphysics Society. The third one is a Diamond Sutra bracelet blessed by Master Huiguang of Dade Temple at the request of the host Dongmen Metaphysics Society."
Ssss! As Wu Zhidao introduced, the audience gasped. This year's prize actually includes a righteousness stone!
This righteousness stone is of the highest quality, and it is hard to come by! The eyes of the audience also became hot at this moment.
Wu Zhidao nodded with satisfaction, smiled at me, and gave me a thumbs up secretly.
"There are still three topics in this discussion. The first topic tests physiognomy. If you answer all the questions correctly, you will get three points. The second topic is Feng Shui. It also gets three points. The last topic is kept secret for now. But I can tell you that this question is the most difficult one in history. The full score is four points."
The audience was obviously aroused by Wu Zhidao. They all looked at Wu Zhidao on the stage in silence.
Wu Zhidao waved his hand and said, "Now here comes the first question for everyone."
As soon as the words fell, the members of the Dongmen Metaphysics Society acted as waiters and quickly handed the yellow envelopes in their hands to each person.
"As usual, this is a youth metaphysics discussion meeting, and elders can only watch and not give any hints. My Dongmen Metaphysics Society is pretty good at supervising in this regard. Hehe."
When Wu Zhidao finished speaking, I saw the faces of the people around me turned ugly. I suddenly became curious.
"Brother Zheng, these contestants are sitting together with their seniors, how do you supervise them?"
Zheng Qihuai laughed and said, "This is beyond words!"
Seeing that Zheng Qihuai was unwilling to talk, I simply stopped asking. I opened the envelope in my hand. I saw four photos inside. These four photos were of the same person. They were the front, back and sides of the photo.
At first glance, I was immediately shocked by the person in the photo.
“Are there really people like this in the world?”
The people around me immediately cast dissatisfied glances at me. The man in the suit still smiled at me kindly.
I smiled awkwardly and looked down at the photo in my hand again.
"Everyone, read carefully. The time limit is half an hour. After reading, write down the answers on a piece of paper and put it in the envelope. Of course, remember to write your sect and name. Otherwise, the score will be invalid."
Zheng Qihuai's words were heard again on the stage. All the young disciples lowered their heads and stared at the photo quietly. At this time, some people even started writing something on paper.
I stared at the front photo of this person carefully. I was silent for a long time. After looking at the two side photos, my brows were tightly locked together.
The index finger tapped the table lightly. I was puzzled. This person had donkey eyes, horse lips, and inverted eyebrows. His forehead was covered with dark clouds, and his eyes were dull. Such a person was destined to become a beggar and starve to death. But there was a flash of wisdom between his eyebrows. The temperament revealed by the image in the photo was very scholarly. This was strange!
I flipped through the three photos in a row. My doubts grew deeper and deeper. When I saw the fourth photo of the back, a blurry red dot inside the head of the man immediately caught my attention.
"I see." Seeing the red dot, I felt relieved. I picked up the pen and quickly wrote a line on the paper, then put the photo and the answer into the envelope.
I wrote "Dongmen Metaphysics Society" and "Ni Ge" on the envelope, and someone came and took the envelope away.
"Brother, it's been less than ten minutes and you've already finished reading it! Why don't you read more?" Zheng Qihuai looked at me with concern, a look of disappointment on his face.
"Brother Zheng, don't worry. I've seen everything I should have seen. If I didn't see the sixth one, it must be because I'm not experienced enough."
Zheng Qihuai nodded, with a worried look on his face, and picked up the teapot to fill it up for me.
"That's right. You should get at least half the points in the first two questions. When it comes to the third question, with your ability, your score won't be bad."
I didn't know that Zheng Qihuai was comforting himself with his words. My speed was even faster than those recommended by Dongmen Xuanxue in previous longest observation took nearly 30 minutes. He got 50% of the answers right. He specialized in physiognomy. The others took at least 20 minutes. I took less than 10 minutes, which was a new record. Zheng Qihuai couldn't help but worry.
Ten minutes later, people began to hand in their envelopes one after another.
Half an hour later, all the envelopes had been collected. The expressions of the young talents who had filled out the forms were different. Some were arguing fiercely with their elders, while others looked frustrated. Only a few were drinking tea comfortably with confidence.
The man in a suit sitting opposite me was undoubtedly the latter. He was drinking tea elegantly.
"Brother Ni, the topic of the Metaphysics Society is different every year. To be exact, it is selected from hundreds of cases, and it is chosen randomly. It is very difficult, but it doesn't matter. Come on, Brother Ni, let's have tea."
I picked up the teacup and smiled. In fact, I also understand Zheng Qihuai's heart. As the host, he always ranks last. This is really too aggrieved! It has been aggrieved for too long. This has almost become a knot in his heart.
At noon, lunch boxes were brought in from the foot of the mountain. People didn't care and simply ate a little. Many people had already started looking for people they knew to hang out with and chat.
After all, Zheng Qihuai is the vice president, so there are still a lot of people coming to greet him, so he left me alone and ran over to greet them.
I sat on the chair and closed my eyes to rest. Although my spiritual power recovered , it was only one-third. After running around all morning, I was a little tired.
"May I ask, bro, which school did you come from?"
I was closing my eyes when I heard someone talking next to me. I didn't think much of it and just thought that the people around me were just trying to make friends.
"Brother! Brother!"
I didn't expect the sound of tickets to continue. Is this the rhythm of calling an ambulance? Did someone faint?
I lazily opened my eyes, only to find a handsome face almost touching my nose! It was the man in the suit!
"Uh, it's okay, it's okay." I shrank back in shock and said hastily. But these words were more meant to comfort myself.
"You were talking to me just now! Sorry for falling asleep~! Haha." I smiled awkwardly.
Immediately, because we were so close, my eyes were attracted to the other person again.
I had never looked closely at the man in the suit before. I just thought he was a pretty young man. But now that I was so close, I saw a heroic look on his forehead. Looking at his five palaces, I couldn't help but gasp. What a reversal of yin and yang! A woman dressed as a man!
"Well, a gentleman should be polite to others. Please take a seat." Seeing that the other party still had no intention of leaving, I had no choice but to let him sit down first so that we could keep some distance.
The man in the suit smiled and sat down gracefully: "What's your name, brother?"
"My name is Ni Ge, from the Dongmen Xuanxue Society. I am a disciple of Qingyunzi from Qingyun Mountain. May I know your name?"
I didn't reveal the other person's identity. I have no interest in telling the truth to others in secret.
"My name is Jiang Zhenzhong. I'm from the Jiang family in Shanxi."
"I've heard of you for a long time!" I said politely and then lost interest in the conversation. To be honest, I don't know the Jiang family from Shanxi!
"Master Ni, do you have any opinion on the physiognomy just now?"
I was just about to calm down and continue dozing off when the other party got straight to the point and asked me a question.
I frowned and looked at her. She obviously had no intention of leaving.
"Ahem, well, I'm not that proficient in physiognomy. But I think there's a heroic spirit between that man's eyebrows. His facial features look more like a boy's and a girl's."
I looked at Jiang Zhenzhong's face carefully and continued, "Look at the forehead, a lotus appears and disappears from time to time. The name should contain the word lotus."
Ah! The man in the suit opened his mouth in surprise. His cheeks turned pink. He lowered his head and didn't dare to look me in the eye.
"That's all I know. When the answers are announced at the conference, we'll know who's right and who's wrong. Sorry, I'm a little sleepy now. I'll excuse myself first!"
Seeing her lower her head after what I said, I couldn't help but laugh. Why did this little girl bother me for no reason? It's wrong to disturb someone's sweet dreams!
