My Promotion Story Through Time Travel

Chapter 196 Choice

Lin Ziping saw that he was so unrestrained and didn't care about his image at all.

He must be drunk.

"I'm not going to the backyard of the county government office, and I'm not going to be a constable either. In a while, I'll be participating in the selection and assessment for officials in the capital. I'm going to the capital." Lin Ziping pretended to be drunk and stood on a chair to announce loudly.

The air seemed to freeze for a second.

Lin Ziping pretended not to notice: "Lord Ji will have to inform me then."

"Where did you get this information from?" Zhang Mo asked.

"Miss Qiongying said so." Lin Ziping jumped off the chair, picked up the wine and drank another glass. "Yes, it's Ji Xun, his childhood sweetheart."

"Hiccup—" Lin Ziping hiccuped, "Ji Xun, you're not being fair. You came here drinking without inviting her. When are you going to marry her?"

"Marry...marry what?" Ji Xun asked.

But Lin Ziping caught a fleeting hint of displeasure in his eyes.

Lin Ziping thought he was seeing things, and hiccuped as he added, "Marrying a wife, Li... Qiongying."

Zhang Mo interrupted, "You two are both drunk, especially you. What kind of dirty talk did Lin Ziping say?"

Lin Ziping shouted, "I'm not drunk!"

As he spoke, he shook the wine jug.

"Hey, where's the wine? Zhu Zi... Zhu Zi... hurry and get some wine." Lin Ziping stumbled toward the door, calling out as he went.

Zhang Mo pulled Lin Ziping back: "You have a low alcohol tolerance but still love to drink."

Lin Ziping looked at him and chuckled foolishly.

"Sit down properly!" Zhang Mo pressed Lin Ziping into a chair.

"Drink, drink..." Lin Ziping gestured with the wine glass on the table.

Ji Xun also propped his head up with his hand, staring blankly ahead.

“Ji Xun… Ji Xun…” Zhang Mo waved his hand in front of Ji Xun, “They’re all such a handful.”

Zhang Mo gathered up all the blankets on the table, called over Zhu Zi and Ji Er, and gave them instructions:

"Zhu Zi, heat up the vegetables and cook a bowl of noodles."

"Ji Er, go to the kitchen and cook some hangover soup."

"Yes." Zhu Zi and Ji Er clasped their hands in agreement and stepped back.

Zhang Mo helped Ji Xun sit down: "You two sit down, I'll go get you some water."

Only Ji Xun and Lin Ziping remained in the room.

At some point, Ji Xun, propping his head up, looked Lin Ziping up and down.

Lin Ziping felt a little uneasy under their gaze and suppressed the urge to get up and avoid them.

But Ji Xun did not look away.

Lin Ziping's mind raced, and he hurriedly got up, squatted in the corner, and retched while holding onto a chair.

"Ugh... ugh..." Lin Ziping cried out in discomfort, "Water, I want to drink water."

"Here you go." A handkerchief was handed to him from behind.

Lin Ziping casually picked it up and wiped his mouth with it.

He turned around and collapsed to the ground.

It was Ji Xun who handed over the handkerchief.

Lin Ziping scoffed inwardly: I knew this kid was faking being drunk.

"How did you and Li Qiongying meet?" Ji Xun asked.

Lin Ziping continued to pretend to be drunk and ignored him.

"Why do you want to go to the capital?" Ji Xun continued to ask.

Lin Ziping remained silent.

"Don't go to the capital, don't get close to Li Qiongying, and don't get close to Gao Chi!"

Ji Xun seemed to have transformed into a walking encyclopedia of questions, chattering on and on.

Lin Ziping pretended to be drunk and gave no response whatsoever.

It wasn't until Zhang Mo brought in water, helped Lin Ziping up, drank the hangover soup cooked by Ji Er, and ate the noodles made by Zhu Zi that things finally settled down.

That's when the party finally ended.

Years later, when Lin Ziping looked back on this day, he couldn't help but wonder if he would have listened to Ji Xun and not gone to the capital if he could turn back time.

If I hadn't gone to the capital, would I have avoided so many problems?

Will things go much better from now on?

Lin Ziping has no idea what the future holds.

After Ji Xun and Zhang Mo left, Lin Ziping stumbled back to his room, closed the door, and shut himself out of the outside world.

The packages brought back from the prison were still piled on the ground.

The musty smell was mixed with a foul odor, which was quite unpleasant.

Lin Ziping took out the writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and books he had brought back, and sorted out the dirty clothes and quilts.

The quilt can still be used after airing it out, but let's just burn the clothes.

I haven't worn the clothes that Granny Liao gave me last time, so it's perfect to wear new clothes for the New Year.

Suddenly, Lin Ziping remembered the oil paper package he had brought from the prison cell floor tiles.

Find it among the dirty clothes.

Unfolding slowly, it reveals a copy of the Analects.

That's it...

Such a grand gesture over a single book, the Analects.

Lin Ziping was not very interested, and a piece of paper fell out of the book as he flipped through it.

It records a string of numbers.

I studied it for a long time but still couldn't understand what it was.

I recall the cloth bag I brought back last time, the account book I took from Dai Qin's family, and the books I have now.

There are more and more strange and unusual things happening.

I wonder what secret this contains that requires such a hidden password.

Thankfully, the most difficult passwords from that era were just numbers, letters, and symbols; if you couldn't remember them, you could still retrieve them using your phone number.

Otherwise, with countless permutations and combinations, what if you can't remember the password?

Lin Ziping put the fallen paper back into the book and placed the book with the other strange things.

The effort put in by the person who hid the item was not in vain.

Perhaps one day the mystery of these things will be solved.

During the Lunar New Year holiday, Lin Ziping stayed home for a few more days.

A rhythmic lifestyle can help you regain the energy and spirit you lost in the past few days in just a few days.

I feel like I've been brought back to life.

Thinking of Lao Huang, Shi Yong, Hu Laosi, and the Wang Kesheng family who made him pancakes.

Lin Ziping selected some New Year's gifts to visit the family.

"bang bang..."

The first one is Wang Kesheng.

Lin Ziping followed his memory to the alley next to the city gate.

After knocking for a long time, no one answered.

"Who are you looking for?" an elderly woman passing by asked.

"Auntie, is this Wang Kesheng's house?" Lin Ziping asked.

"Yes, but she moved away before the New Year, saying she went to find her son," the old woman replied.

Lin Ziping pressed further, "Wasn't his son digging waterways in the prefectural city? He hasn't come back for the New Year yet?"

"They haven't come back yet," the old woman said. "So the couple went to the prefectural city to look for them."

"I see," Lin Ziping said, thanking the old woman.

Although he was puzzled as to why Wang Kesheng's second son did not come home for the Chinese New Year, he did not investigate further.

They left carrying the gifts.

The second one is Shi Yong.

Lin Ziping had gone there before with Shi Yong, so he knew the way well.

But when they arrived at Shi Yong's house, the door was tightly closed, and when they asked the people around, they all said they didn't know anything about it.

Lin Ziping had never been to Lao Huang's house before. He had hoped to find Shi Yong and ask him for an address, but he came up empty-handed and had to return empty-handed.

Lin Ziping had no relatives or friends in Fuchun.

After Ji Xun and Zhang Mo finished drinking last time, Lin Ziping didn't want to go see them.

It seems that Gao Chi has nothing to do with me.

Lin Ziping thought about it and decided not to visit Li Qiongying.

Although she was the eldest sister, in this era, there was a distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children, leading to a natural conflict of interest between the two.

Moreover, Li Qiongying's statement is only one side of the story, and it is currently difficult to obtain evidence and distinguish between truth and falsehood.

Therefore, it's more appropriate to be partners.

Hu Rongrong... Forget it, this young lady is like she's on steroids when she sees me, I shouldn't make a fool of myself.

After looking around, Lin Ziping realized that there wasn't even a place to offer New Year's greetings, making it virtually impossible to conduct social interactions.

Forget it, I'm not going to join the fun. I'll just stay home and wait for another round of working to begin.