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

The sun was low on the horizon.

Outside the shop called "Dazhen Bookstore", people were scattered in twos and threes.

Despite her own carriage following behind someone else, the woman who arrogantly claimed that someone else was following her walked gracefully over in embroidered shoes.

Ning Nan felt a fragrant breeze on his face and smiled, "Miss Zhu is radiant."

"snort!"

The woman let out a soft snort through her delicate nose, and the gold ornaments on her head shone brightly in the setting sun. Sai Luban, the best goldsmith in the capital, once said that this gold ornament, named "Phoenix Wings," was his finest work, and he wouldn't sell it even if he were cut off his head.

Unfortunately, the "京" in "京" refers to Beijing. Once they arrived on this side, even the noble ladies who knew gold jewelry like the back of their hand only noticed that the gold ornaments were extraordinary, saying things like, "Her Highness the Princess is as beautiful as a fairy, and her ornaments are not like those of ordinary people." However, they could not tell where the gold ornaments came from.

There are more people flattering me than fish in Beihai Park, but you're the one who flatters me the most comfortably.

The woman's voice was as clear and crisp as ever, and her words were as powerful and resounding as ever.

Ning Nan smiled and said, "That's because they're not sincere."

The girl's lips curled up slightly, her eyes sparkling but quickly disappearing as she lifted her skirt and strode into Dazhen Bookstore, followed by two maids dressed in short clothes.

Ning Nan glanced at them and immediately became curious. Although the two maids looked ordinary, they looked exactly alike, clearly twins.

Qian Sijin, who was following behind Ning Nan, frowned and squinted at the two maids. The maid on the left turned around blankly and looked at Qian Sijin with indifferent eyes.

Their eyes met.

Qian Sijin lowered his head apologetically, and after the young lady and two maids went inside, he whispered to Ning Nan, "Two martial arts practitioners."

Ning Nan immediately understood. No wonder she looked rough and clumsy, unlike the soft and sweet little girls like Chun Yu and Qiu Mu.

The Dazhen Bookstore has three interconnected shops that sell writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, calligraphy, paintings, and antiques.

Ning Nan carefully selected and bought some Xuan paper and several ingots of Huizhou ink. After examining them for a long time, he also bought a valuable purple-haired brush. The purple-haired brush is made from the hair on the neck and back of a mountain rabbit, which is extremely difficult to make.

The shop's prized possession is an ivory brush with openwork rat whiskers. Legend has it that Wang Xizhi's "Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion" was written with rat whiskers. The bookstore commissioned a famous calligrapher to make a copy and hang it in the main hall. It seems like they are selling paintings, but in reality, they are selling brushes.

The shopkeeper, with his discerning eye, noticed that although Ning Nan was dressed plainly, he was quite capable, and that Qian Sijin, disguised as a servant, was with him. So he went out of his way to promote the rat-whisker pen. Ning Nan asked about the price, and the shopkeeper held up an eight.

"Eighty taels?" Ning Nan asked, and the other party shook his head awkwardly, "You jest, esteemed guest."

"I want it."

At this moment, the woman wearing gold ornaments calmly pulled out a silver note, and the bookstore owner was overjoyed! He wrapped the ivory-carved rat-whisker brush, worth eight hundred taels of silver, in a brocade box.

Ning Nan smiled and said, "Miss Zhu is very generous."

"Don't call me Miss Zhu, call me..." The woman retorted at first, but before she could finish speaking, she frowned again... Ugh... So annoying. In the end, she said, "Fine, just call me Zhu Qingmian."

Besides the rat-whisker brush, Zhu Qingmian also bought some Xuan paper and ink. Later, she bought a beautiful-looking white jade rabbit-hair brush. The rabbit-hair brush was valuable because of the jade, and it cost six hundred taels of silver. The bookstore owner was overjoyed and looked at Ning Nan with gratitude in his eyes. Although he didn't understand the relationship between the two, he didn't dare to ask too much. However, it was obvious that without this young master, the woman, who clearly had no knowledge of brushes, ink, paper and inkstones, would never have entered their bookstore.

Seeing that Ningnan had bought everything he wanted.

She strolled leisurely ahead of Ning Nan, her black hair flowing in the breeze, and said casually, "You're being so stingy even when buying a pen. How about I treat you to a meal?"

She clearly wanted to invite the other person to dinner, but she really didn't know how to say it, and was even more worried that the other person wouldn't give her face and refuse, so she raised her chin, revealing her fair neck, and said the word "reward".

Ning Nan smiled and said, "Miss Zhu invited me to dinner, how could I dare to refuse?"

"snort!"

The woman turned her body towards the outside of the bookstore. Although she hummed, her eyes relaxed imperceptibly. She exhaled small breaths of white air and called out "Tuantuan" and then "Yuanyuan".

"Keep up."

Ning Nan then learned that the two maids, who looked almost identical, were named Tuan Tuan Yuan Yuan.

Yuanyuan followed behind her mistress, while Tuantuan carried a book basket containing the stationery items that Miss Zhu had just bought.

This street is called Guangyi Street, and the brightest sign on the street belongs to a restaurant called Zuixianlou.

Just like in the bookstore, as soon as Miss Zhu entered the store, she naturally attracted a series of admiring glances.

The private room on the second floor was decorated with many flowers and plants, with various varieties of chrysanthemums, orchids, and crabapple blossoms vying for attention.

After Miss Zhu pulled out a silver note without saying a word, the obsequious waiter immediately withdrew, and the manager himself came to greet her.

Before long, one exquisite and rare dish after another flowed onto the table where only two people were seated.

The two ate and chatted.

Miss Zhu asked, "How is Seventh Sister's health?" Ning Nan replied, "She's doing very well. She plays mahjong and sunbathes every day, and her bones are practically lazy from all the sun." The two of them laughed.

After a while.

Zhu Qingmian put down her chopsticks, pursed her lips, and said, "How did you get into a grudge with Hongjiao? Hmm, you know... the fourth son of Prince Yi's mansion."

The desktop was steaming.

Ning Nan frowned.

"I have friends in the Northern Dynasty," Zhu Qingmian said calmly. "She told me that Hong Jiao," a dim light flickered in her watery eyes, "is possibly arranging for someone to kill you."

Ning Nan suddenly realized, "It's alright." He pointed towards the door and laughed, "I have guards, he can't touch me."

Zhu Qingmian rolled her eyes at him and said, "How can this number of guards be enough?"

Ning Nan said, "Brother Qian and his men are very good at fighting."

The other person scoffed, turned around, took out a jade pendant from a brocade pouch, and handed it to Ning Nan. "Here, take this," she said with a stern face. "This was given to me by my friend from the Northern Dynasty."

Ning Nan took it and saw that it was a piece of mutton fat jade. The front was carved with dragons and phoenixes, and the back... seemed to have four characters written on it, but they were crooked and Ning Nan couldn't make out what kind of characters they were.

Zhu Qingmian rolled her eyes at him and said, "Don't bother looking, this is Manchu." She seemed to sigh softly, "My friend said that if Hong Jiao really dares to come and kill you, show him this jade pendant, and they won't dare."

Ning Nan was stunned for a long time. He touched the mutton fat jade, which was obviously of extraordinary quality, and looked at Miss Zhu, whose face was somewhat melancholy. He felt a warmth in his heart and smiled, "Miss Zhu, you've gone to so much trouble." He didn't refuse and put the jade pendant away.

The woman, who seemed to have gone through all that trouble just to give someone a piece of jade, had a radiant smile on her face and stood up gracefully.

The two walked out of the private room.

Zhu Qingmian instructed Tuantuan to hand the book basket to Ning Nan.

Ning Nan accepted the overflowing study supplies and was surprised: "You're giving me all of these too?"

Zhu Qingmian curled her lips: "Dream on!" She pointed with her slender hand, her eyes gleaming with smugness, and said, "You can give these to my brother for me."

Ning Nan let out an "oh," then suddenly realized that the other person was Li Yanting's sworn sister, and couldn't help but sigh at how fortunate the scholar was.

This basket of miscellaneous items adds up to almost two thousand taels of silver.

Zhu Qing slipped on her embroidered cotton shoes, approached the book basket, and with her delicate hands, rummaged through it, finally pulling out the ivory-carved, rat-whisker brush worth eight hundred taels of silver. She placed it on her face, her pretty face hardening as she said:

"This is for you... You're so stingy... You can't even afford a pen... Don't be jealous of my brother..."

That's all.

She waved her hand dismissively, "I'm leaving!"

Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan followed closely behind, their breaths long and their footsteps silent.