After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

"Invincible Brother, with five wins and four losses, I humbly admit defeat!"

Shangguan Zhao's voice was quite loud, and he had a big smile on his face. The audience was silent for a moment, then suddenly erupted in a clamor!

What a Jia Wudi!

The officials looked at the two on the platform, their expressions becoming complicated. They glanced around, their eyes filled with helplessness... They couldn't continue the challenge, otherwise they would truly be humiliating themselves.

Those who had never played chess with Jia Wudi before, or hadn't kowtowed to him much, readily offered their cheers. The room instantly became incredibly lively.

Before long, several groups of people began whispering about this "Jia Songling". Those who had read the Nancheng Daily took a breath and realized who it was. Their eyes widened in surprise. Wow, it was him! This person's acting was also so good.

Seeing that his elder brother had won, and that Li Xing had defeated that effeminate prodigy, San Zhuang was doubly happy. His honest face was stretched into a wide grin, but unfortunately, his voice was hoarse and he couldn't shout.

He reached out and grabbed a wine cup and a celadon wine goblet from a tray carried by a servant from the prince's mansion. He scurried onto the stage, poured himself a cup of wine, his eyes gleaming, and laughed hoarsely, "Big brother! You won again!"

Ning Nan was worried that this simpleton wouldn't know any better, so he turned to tell Shangguan Zhao to kneel down and kowtow. Even though his stomach was churning, he quickly held back, took the wine cup, and turned to Shangguan Zhao to offer his respects.

"Fourth Young Master Zhao, the so-called invincible Jia Songling is just a joke, please don't take it seriously... I'm sorry for the previous toast, this cup is from Jia to the Fourth Young Master."

Shangguan Zhao looked grateful and quickly waved his hand, saying, "I dare not, Mr. Jia is indeed highly skilled, I admire you."

Ning Nan chuckled, raised his glass, and drank the wine in it.

As soon as the delicate, smooth wine entered his mouth, his brows furrowed slightly.

I couldn't help but glance again at the wine cup that San Zhuang was holding.

The celadon wine cup, with a sky-blue fish pattern on it, is exactly the same as the wine cup that the three strong men had casually picked up when they entered the courtyard earlier.

However, the wine in this cup... Ning Nan frowned, feeling somewhat puzzled... The same wine cup he had entered the courtyard before contained Shaoxing privet wine, but the wine in this cup... was smooth and delicate on the palate, seemingly some kind of tribute wine?

The other day, Nalan Ruo, who claimed to be an expert in poetry, wine, and chess, challenged him to a contest.

Thanks to the help of scholars like Yi'an, Dongpo, Jiaxuan, and Yishan, he naturally had the upper hand in poetry. Before the chess match, the two first competed in drinking.

He thought it was a drinking contest, but Nalan shook his head and said that a drinking contest was like a cow chewing on a peony. He Weng nodded and smiled, saying that a drinking contest was not an elegant thing. The old man Xie Lin sneered repeatedly, saying that even if a cow drinks water, what's so strange about it?

Upon hearing this, Ning Nan realized that the competition was about recognizing wine... Blindfolded, eight cups of wine were poured, and the contest was to see who could taste the most flavors.

He was naturally no match for them in this round, but he was quite surprised and asked Steward Wang how many kinds of wine the manor had. Steward Wang said there were thirteen kinds.

He asked Steward Wang to bring a jar for each of them, wanting to see if this Emperor Wenzong of the Northern Dynasty truly possessed such abilities.

It turns out that they not only had ability, but they had a great deal of ability.

Ning Nan took eight cups and poured a cup of wine into each one.

Nalan Ruo, even with his eyes covered, didn't need to drink; he could simply reach out and touch the cup, raise it, and sniff it to identify what kind of wine it was.

Only on the seventh cup did Nalan Ruo frown and take a small sip.

After the rim of the cup was lifted from his mouth, he laughed and said, "Brother Bai Xuan, did you first fill the cup with Jiangxi Magu wine, and then pour it out and replace it with tribute wine, Junzi Tang?"

Ning Nan's eyes widened in astonishment. Of the first six cups, one was Jiangxi wine, and he had switched to tribute wine for the seventh. This was a minor matter, but he hadn't expected the other party to be able to tell the difference!

Old Crane joked, "Luckily, the three of us are uninvited guests, otherwise Bai Xuan, you would have been extremely rude."

He Weng said that when entertaining guests, one type of wine glass should be paired with one type of wine. This is what a connoisseur of wine and a family that understands wine should do. And it's not just about wine glasses, but also wine cups.

He pointed to the thirteen different colored and patterned wine cups the steward had brought over, saying, "Your steward is truly worldly-wise; he's prepared thirteen different wine cups for you..." Steward Wang clasped his hands in a gesture of respect, smiling gratefully, and said, "You flatter me, esteemed guest..."

Ning Nan's brows furrowed slightly. He hadn't expected that the steward of the prestigious Prince Xin's mansion would be inferior to the steward of the humble Ning mansion. That was rather strange.

The wine glass had just been set down.

Then a respectful eunuch went up on the stage and said that Prince Xin invited the fourth son of Shangguan, Mr. Jia Songling, and Mr. Li Xing... The eunuch glanced at the three strong men standing next to Ning Nan and said, "And this strong man, please come to the third courtyard for a chat."

San Zhuang's eyes lit up, and he laughed, "Hey, am I included?"

The young eunuch lowered his head and smiled, "Of course I have some."

Ning Nan opened his mouth, not expecting that this matter would even reach Prince Xin.

He quickly stood up, patted himself down, and stepped aside to block the view of the people below the stage. He then slipped a one-hundred-tael silver note over and said with a smile, "Thank you for informing me, sir."

The little eunuch's smile froze.

This money is a hot potato. If I accept it today, I wonder if my future son-in-law will resent me.

If we don't accept it, won't the son-in-law overthink it, thinking that I'm pretentious and look down on him, refusing money even when offered?

After a moment's thought, the young eunuch accepted the silver note discreetly and said with a low laugh, "Thank you for the gift, sir." He made up his mind to buy a set of writing implements worth about two hundred taels of silver and send it to his son-in-law. It was a matter of reciprocity, and he wouldn't let his son-in-law suffer any loss. This was the only way to ensure a long-term relationship.

Ning Nan called out to Li Xing, who was eating snacks and had a very full stomach in the audience.

Then, accompanied by the three burly men, who stood tall and proud, they followed behind the little eunuch and Shangguan Zhao, hurrying towards the third courtyard.

……

As the tenth game of chess between Ning Nan and Shangguan Zhao was about to end, Ning Beizhi, seeing that her nephew was about to win, secretly slipped back to the third courtyard, came out from the right-hand corridor, and secretly returned to the table in the Jingbei Marquis's residence.

Her eyes were bright and her face was flushed. She had run back to tell her mother a shocking secret!

original……

The person who wrote "A Chinese Ghost Story"... what is Jia Songling... is actually her nephew!

Little did she know that many of her close friends were scouring the Nancheng Daily, reading nothing but "A Chinese Ghost Story".

She even copied down the daily stories, saying that she wished she could find a husband like Ning Caichen, just like the fox spirit Nie Xiaocui... When Ning Beizhi saw this, she laughed at them, saying they were stupid, what were they writing? Why didn't they cut it out?

The noble ladies, who were secretly comparing whose handwriting was more elegant, blushed upon hearing this. "Yes, why don't you cut it out?"

The noble ladies were somewhat annoyed, but they were not willing to show weakness on the surface. They squinted their eyes and said, "By copying it by hand, Brother Ning will live on in our words."

Ning Beizhi, with a cheeky grin, said, "Oh, still calling me Brother Ning~"

After joking for a moment, her eyes lit up as if she had thought of something, and she lowered her voice and said, "Oh... my good sisters... come... Brother Ning Beizhi is here..." With that, she stretched out her arms and pounced on them.

Upon realizing that this mischievous young lady also shared the surname Ning, the noble ladies raised their eyebrows, exclaimed "Ah!", and fled while bursting into laughter...

"Hmm, no wonder Ning Caichen's surname is Ning?"

Ning Beizhi's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

"So it was originally written by someone from our Ning family!"

With this in mind, she started taking increasingly faster and faster steps.

As he returned to the banquet table at the Marquis of Jingbei's residence, he looked around and his eyes widened in surprise.

Ok?

Mother is gone.

She frowned and asked Madam Feng of the Marquis of Zhongzhen's residence, who was standing nearby:

"Auntie, where's my mother?"