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

King Zhu Ensong of Qi looked at the screen that had inexplicably appeared beside him with a displeased expression.

He knew that the head of the household's niece was worried that her lover would see him, her "second uncle," and thus ruin her plans...

"Heh." He couldn't help but sneer.

His Majesty had previously issued a strict order that no one, including Prince Xin himself, was allowed to reveal Prince Xin's identity before he ascended the throne.

Otherwise, if the prince consort or his associates find out about this and cause a scene, or become smug and spread the news of his marriage to Prince Xin throughout the city, things will become very difficult.

Prince Xin's marriage agreement has not yet been recorded in the Imperial Clan Court. With the throne still undecided, many people are interested in such a marriage. Once it is recorded, it will attract attention, and the fact that Prince Xin is living among the common people and has given himself to another woman will be difficult to conceal.

The imperial family and vassal kings would likely use this to their advantage, claiming that Prince Xin had fallen on hard times and, out of desperation, had married a peasant... With such an experience, who could an empress suppress? Could she control the court? Could she withstand the Northern Dynasty?

If anyone leaks this information, Your Majesty may behead them.

But if the Grand Prince Consort were to leak this information... and use it to blackmail His Majesty and Prince Xin, demanding that the marriage agreement be recorded in the Imperial Clan Court to make it a fait accompli and prevent any unforeseen complications... His Majesty would be in a very difficult position.

Given that Prince Xin still has feelings for him, and that the two may even have a child together, His Majesty cannot actually cut off his brother-in-law's head or severely punish him.

Otherwise, it would either damage the marital relationship between Prince Xin and his consort, or it would damage the sibling relationship between His Majesty and Prince Xin. More often than not, it would probably damage both... It would be better to simply keep it a secret.

Dou Yuan had previously speculated with him that His Majesty's plan was to have the Grand Prince Consort perform several meritorious deeds.

For example, one could become a staff member for Grand Tutor Gu, conquer Black Tiger Mountain, enter Nanjing first, and then become a minor official in the imperial court, thus clearing one's family background.

After Prince Xin ascended the throne, he then chose the son of the Ning family, who lived next door to Prince Xin, as his son-in-law under the pretext of selecting a son-in-law from the capital. The matter would then be legitimate, and they might even be able to say that the two were childhood sweethearts and had known each other since they were young.

However, His Majesty probably never imagined that this grandson-in-law would be the grand-nephew of the Marquis of Jingbei, and also the only male heir of the Ning family...

Prince Qi lowered his voice and sneered, "His Majesty has probably already revealed the truth to Ning Changling. They are discussing having Ning Changling request an imperial decree to establish his grand-nephew as the heir to the Marquisate as soon as his niece ascends the throne... and then propose marriage to the royal family."

Dou Yuan sighed, "The eldest brother acts like a father, and His Majesty's consideration for this younger sister is truly far-sighted..."

With a sigh, he turned his gaze and saw through the screen several blurry figures bowing to Prince Xin.

Oh……

Jia Songling...

Dou Yuan's eyes twitched, and he sneered inwardly.

When the Northern Dynasty prodigy was shouting about "Jia Wudi," they didn't know who he was.

He was somewhat taken aback when Liu Zhi and Xu Long went out to investigate and found out that the person playing chess outside was Jia Songling.

In the Baiyufang incident, I read the Nancheng Daily and knew that it was this prince consort who created the Nancheng Daily.

Therefore, I am curious about Jia Songling, the author of "The Fox Spirit Girl", and wonder who he is.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this person's name again, the other party suddenly became a national chess master with extremely high skill!

Just now, he was lamenting to the King of Qi that he didn't know where Ning Baixuan had found such a great master, who had actually humbled himself to serve as his scribe.

As Jia Songling entered the third courtyard and his figure drew closer, he and Prince Qi were startled... It turned out that this Jia Songling... was actually Ning Baixuan himself!

Dou Yuan looked at the blurry silhouette on the screen with a complicated expression, feeling somewhat resentful.

In the matter of Baiyufang promissory notes.

He had already made arrangements with the eight managers; once the price was below two hundred coins, he would buy in large quantities...

Two hundred coins... The price at the time was three hundred coins, and at its highest it even reached more than three hundred and forty coins... He was already extremely cautious.

According to his calculations, two hundred coins was already the lowest possible price.

If you act now, you might not be guaranteed to make a profit, but at least you won't lose much.

After the price fell below 200 coins, the eight managers did indeed buy in as planned. Subsequently, the price fluctuated, seemingly rising and falling, but in reality, the overall trend was downward.

Overall, although there was a slight increase, it was followed by a sharp drop, eventually falling below 100 coins to 62 coins.

The eight stewards acted early, and the funds allocated to them were quickly used up, resulting in the Prince's Mansion spending nearly 90,000 taels of silver, but in the end, they only received a mere two hundred promissory notes.

Baiyufang is still under handover and has not yet opened for business.

Based on the price before closing, one catty of cotton cost 62 wen, and a promissory note for 3,000 catties of cotton cost approximately 180 taels of silver.

In other words, the promissory notes in their hands were worth only 40,000 taels of silver, and the Prince's Mansion lost a full 50,000 taels of silver.

What chilled him to the bone was that he didn't even know if these promissory notes could be sold.

Fortunately, he was able to obtain cotton afterward, and the court's follow-up plan for Baiyufang included a clause that "those who hold promissory notes can share one-tenth of the profits at the end of the year," which allowed him to barely give the Qi Prince's Mansion an explanation...

call.

A round jade disc hung in the sky, and a refreshing autumn breeze swept through the area.

Ning Nan hung her head nervously.

Fortunately, Wu Qisheng, who was not far from him on the left, only glanced at him before looking away without saying anything, which relieved Ning Nan.

The beaded curtain fluttered in the wind, making a crisp, tinkling sound.

Ning Nan raised his eyes slightly.

After seeing the beaded curtain, an old eunuch slowly walked from left to right to Prince Xin's side.

Ning Nan slowly exhaled, his expression relaxing.

He figured that Prince Xin must have reached a tacit understanding with him, and that he understood why Prince Xin had hidden his real name, in order to avoid implicating the prince.

His Highness probably intends for this old eunuch to say a few words of praise, reward him with something, such as a few hundred taels of gold, and then let him leave, so that the matter can be ended happily.

The old eunuch's voice was somewhat sharp.

"Ning Nan, Ning Baixuan,"

The old eunuch shouted sternly.

Do you know your crime?

Eh?

Ning Nan raised his head, his eyes widening in surprise.

The people in the room were startled by the old eunuch's sudden outburst. After a moment of silence, they seemed to realize what was happening, looked around, and a commotion arose.

"Ning Baixuan? Ning Nan? Isn't that Jia Songling?"

"Who is Ning Baixuan?"

"How desolate! The talented poets of the North-South Poetry Gathering..."

"Heh, this person is more than just aloof and reserved," someone sneered. "Have you ever heard of Baiyufang?"

"...I heard something, but I don't know if it's true or not. It's said that someone beat up a young master from the Northern Dynasty's delegation in the street...it seems to be this person..."

"Lord Xu, please don't spread such rumors..."

"Minister Meng, this matter is probably true... It was said by people from the Ministry of Rites..." He gestured with his chin, "If you don't believe me, look, the Left Vice Minister of Rites, Lord Zhao, is over there..."

……

Various noises arose all around.

The Northern Dynasty officials immediately glared angrily: "Ning Baixuan?! Ning Baixuan, who hit the fourth young master of the Prince Yi's mansion?!"

Nilon's face darkened, his two small mustaches drooped, and he was about to stand up and start a fight.

He had met this person once before at the Zhenguo Marquis's residence, but he couldn't see him clearly just now. He only felt that the face was familiar. After the eunuch revealed the person's true identity, he was suddenly startled.

Upon closer inspection, this person... was indeed Ning Baixuan!

The false emperor of the Great Liang Dynasty clearly said he would confine this person for three days... but who would have thought that even the confinement was a lie! What a treacherous dynasty! What audacity!

Nilon's face tightened, and he strained his legs, about to stand up.

Suddenly, a large hand grabbed his left wrist!

Nilon was startled and looked to his left, where he saw the chief envoy, Dachun.

Da Chun remained expressionless.

With his right hand gripping Nilon's left wrist, his left hand, already stained with tea, wrote a single word on the table.