“Song brother, at least let me put on my outer garment.” Mei Ruochu didn’t let go of his grip, but Song Yao didn’t have the patience to wait for him to put on all ten belts. He just dragged him out.

Mei Ruochu let Song Yao drag him to Ling Qingming. They almost tripped over each other—why “almost”? Because Mei Ruochu agilely stabilized himself, while Song Yao stumbled like a clumsy oaf.

He had fallen more times in this one day than in the past decade. With a disheveled appearance, he approached Ling Qingming, whose expression turned even more ashen.

Just like the teacher who had to tolerate Mei Ruochu’s presence, Ling Qingming, too, restrained his displeasure due to Mei Ruochu’s presence.

He didn’t scold Song Yao harshly, just calmly said, “I called only you. Why did you drag Ruochu along?”

Though he didn’t scold, Song Yao couldn’t hold back. He explained his reasons with a sense of grievance, saying he had an especially unlucky day for no reason, with things breaking and going wrong inexplicably.

He hadn’t done anything wrong; it was just that he had spent the night with Mei Ruochu. And the fire during the provincial examination? It was all Mei Ruochu’s fault!

Ling Qingming’s expression varied dramatically. He felt like Song Yao had gone crazy and said, “Don’t talk nonsense. If that’s the case, he has interacted with many people in our academy. My dormitory supervisor here has even acted as his guide… Have they encountered any misfortunes?”

The former dormitory supervisor, acting as a guide, naturally shook his head and said he hadn’t encountered anything. Besides Song Yao, there had been no incidents in the academy these past few days.

“But he confessed to setting fire during the provincial examination…”

“Shut up! Ruochu already said it wasn’t intentional. If it were deliberate, he would have been thrown into prison long ago. How could he still be here?”

“Who knows if he’s deliberately targeting me?”

Ling Qingming chuckled in exasperation. “The concept of fate and fortune has been around for a long time. I can’t say for certain that it’s not true. But can fate fluctuate so drastically and only target you?”

Song Yao didn’t know how to explain. When things were going well for him, Ling Qingming seemed to favor him, which he found satisfying. But now, with the situation reversed, Ling Qingming clearly favored Mei Ruochu, leaving Song Yao unable to voice his grievances.

In any case, he felt unjustly treated, felt he hadn’t done anything wrong, and felt he couldn’t stay with Mei Ruochu anymore—despite being the representative student from Hongle, which held significant meaning. But could any significance outweigh the importance of his upcoming examination?

As tensions mounted, Mei Ruochu wisely spoke up, “Senior Ling, may I say something?”

Ling Qingming nodded slightly, indicating he could speak.

“The concept of fate and fortune is something I’ve also studied a bit.”

Earlier, he had mentioned rereading the Book of Changes, which was believable.

He continued, “This fate and fortune may not seem significant when considering an individual alone, but when two people with incompatible destinies come together, it may lead to disaster. It’s what we call ‘mutual destruction.'”

“So, you mean, when you and Song Yao are separated, nothing happens, but when you’re together, it causes trouble?”

Mei Ruochu nodded. “If Senior Ling doesn’t believe me, I can use divination techniques like the ‘Great Ye divination method’ or ‘Coin divination’ right here.”

The Great Ye divination method involved using dozens of stalks of divination grass.

Coin divination, on the other hand, was simpler. Six copper coins were placed in a bamboo tube or tortoise shell, shaken several times after prayers, and then poured out to form a hexagram.

These were divination methods derived from the Book of Changes. Even scholars who didn’t believe in spirits and gods would trust in these methods to some extent.

Ling Qingming then took out a tortoise shell and asked Mei Ruochu to perform the Coin divination.

Mei Ruochu, without fastening his belt, suggested they first divine the situation of him staying in Qingzhu and being with Song Yao. The result of this divination… naturally turned out to be extremely ominous!

Song Yao finally regained his senses and pointed at Mei Ruochu. “Senior Ling, judge for yourself. Either I’m spouting nonsense, or this person is ominous!”

The atmosphere grew awkward, and Ling Qingming furrowed his brows, remaining silent for a long time.

Whether it was ominous or not, he didn’t really care that much. He just felt like this situation was slipping out of his control.

Mei Ruochu showed a trace of embarrassment and said he needed a moment to tidy up. Only then did Ling Qingming notice his disheveled appearance, obviously dragged over by Song Yao in a hurry.

This provided Ling Qingming and Song Yao with the opportunity to speak alone, so Ling Qingming nodded in agreement.

Once Mei Ruochu left, Ling Qingming’s expression turned serious, and he slammed the table. “Song Yao, you shouldn’t be so reckless! If you truly felt something was amiss, you should have informed me privately. Why did you have to bring him over here?”

Song Yao flinched at his scolding, and by now, he had come to his senses—yes, encountering such a situation, he should have privately consulted Senior Ling. Senior Ling wouldn’t have forced him to stay with Mei Ruochu, nor would he have needed others to guide him. There was no need for this to escalate to a public confrontation.

But for some reason earlier, perhaps after enduring a day of minor mishaps, he felt unusually frustrated and angry, thinking he couldn’t bear this burden alone and that Mei Ruochu should also share some of the misfortune.

He wasn’t usually so shortsighted, but today was truly strange!

Later, when Mei Ruochu returned in neat attire, he performed divination again, this time for himself.

Several hexagrams in a row were auspicious!

“As expected, when united, it’s ominous; when separated, it’s auspicious,” Mei Ruochu sighed helplessly. “Senior Ling invited me here out of goodwill. But unfortunately, I clash with the students of your academy, so I can’t stay here any longer.”

Deep down, Ling Qingming still wanted to keep him. After all, it was just Song Yao experiencing a bit of bad luck; it wasn’t a big problem.

However, he couldn’t say this in front of Mei Ruochu, as it would make him appear indifferent to the students of his own academy.

“Otherwise, just have you two live separately and not attend classes together?” Ling Qingming tentatively asked.

Mei Ruochu glanced at Song Yao and still felt ashamed as he replied, “Brother Song will be participating in the imperial examination in a few months. I shouldn’t be affecting him at this crucial time. Besides, I also need to prepare for the provincial and imperial examinations this year. Forcing us together wouldn’t be good for either of us.”

Upon hearing that Mei Ruochu was only preparing for these two exams this year, Ling Qingming realized there was no need to worry about him competing with Mu Yunchuan.

After much consideration, Ling Qingming still felt that the blame for this incident lay with Song Yao’s inappropriate behavior, dragging Mei Ruochu in front of him and making a scene. It wouldn’t end well.

Moreover, if he forcibly kept Mei Ruochu against his will and Mei Ruochu ended up being affected and performed poorly, the elder of Hongle would blame him.

“In that case, we’ll inconvenience Ruochu temporarily. Whenever you wish to return, you’re welcome,” Ling Qingming said.

Mei Ruochu expressed his gratitude and left after packing his belongings. Ling Qingming personally escorted him out of Qingzhu.

As for what happened afterward, Song Yao received a severe reprimand. If it weren’t for his impending imperial examination, Ling Qingming might have directly imposed a suspension.

From then on, Song Yao deeply believed that Mei Ruochu would bring him bad luck. Whenever he saw acquaintances associated with Cuiwei, he would avoid them, no longer eager to provoke any trouble.