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

Under the gazes of many, some direct and some casual, Zhu Qingmian gracefully walked out of Zuixianlou. After lifting her skirt and stepping over the threshold, her embroidered shoes quickened her pace.

Upon seeing her arrive, the coachman of the magnificent red carriage immediately placed a low stool on the ground and greeted her, "Greetings, Master."

Zhu Qingmian stepped onto a low stool and fled into the carriage.

Once you are seated securely...

When I pressed the backs of my hands against my cheeks, they were indeed burning red!

Her eyes widened, she huffed angrily, pressed her hand tightly together, and pouted.

Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan lifted the curtain and got into the car. She released her hand, her cheek flicking, flushed red and then pale. After a moment, she said in a calm tone:

"Let's go back to the embassy."

The Northern Dynasty's embassy was located on the west side of Datong Street, and its size was comparable to that of a royal palace.

The carriage swayed and wobbled into the embassy through the side gate.

As soon as Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan got out of the car, their expressions froze.

Before them stood a figure in bright yellow.

"Please grant our request, Third Prince!" Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan turned pale and knelt down to kowtow.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Qingmian's face suddenly turned bitter.

But since we've already come this far, we can't just not get off the bus.

She got out of the car with a bitter face, curtsied to her handsome third brother, and said, "Third brother."

Han Chang glanced at his younger sister, put his hands behind his back, and said calmly, "Where did you go?"

"I went out to play."

"What did I say when Father Emperor told me to slap your hand?"

"You are not allowed to leave the embassy, ​​you are not allowed to leave the compound, you are not allowed to make any demands, and you are going back with us."

"You're not going to listen?"

"Hit my palms..." she said, looking like she was about to cry, holding out both hands with her palms facing up and pouting.

Han Chang looked helpless, pointed at Tuantuan and Yuanyuan kneeling on the ground, and said to the old servant beside him, "Drag them both away and give each of them twenty lashes."

The old servant, his face ashen like withered bamboo, replied, "Yes."

The two maids dared not utter a sound, and bowed even deeper.

Zhu Qingmian suddenly looked up, about to plead for mercy, when she heard Han Chang say calmly.

"If there's a next time, I'll beat both of you to death." She immediately fell silent.

Seeing his younger sister terrified and looking like a rabbit, Han Chang's heart softened. With a helpless look in his eyes, he waved his hand and said, "Go back to your own courtyard and let your other servants take care of you."

Zhu Qingmian gave an "oh" and shuffled along. After a few steps, she mustered her courage and stole a glance at her third brother. "Third brother..."

"Um?"

"I," Zhu Qingmian pursed her lips and said, "want to see Hong Jiao..."

"no."

"I heard he was beaten up... He wants to get revenge on the person who hit him..."

Han Changping said calmly, "What? You want to help Hong Jiao get revenge?" Zhu Qingmian paused, her face suddenly turning red.

She's been like this since she was little; if you give her even the slightest kindness, she'll inevitably take advantage of you.

"Go back," Han Chang said bluntly.

Zhu Qingmian pouted, wiped her eyes in a huff, and walked away quickly, her back view as graceful as a willow branch.

Several guards dressed in yellow stepped forward and led Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan away.

Han Chang glanced at his sister's retreating figure, then looked away and said to the old blue-clad servant beside him, whose face resembled a withered bamboo, "Chen San, go and get me some wine."

"Yes."

The old servant said in a hoarse voice.

The old servant in blue, wearing a melon-shaped hat and dressed in a hunched back, hurried out the door.

They left the North Korean embassy.

Datong Street was bustling with people.

Chen San was wearing a pair of cloth shoes, with a hole in the side of his left shoe. When passersby saw that he was wearing a melon-shaped hat and that the side of his head was bald, they couldn't help but show a look of disdain in their eyes.

But when Chen San turned his head and looked over, the pedestrians would awkwardly look away. If they looked away too slowly and accidentally made eye contact with Chen San, they would often give an apologetic, embarrassed smile.

Chen San bought a fried dough stick by the roadside. As he turned around, he glanced back and saw a man carrying a load suddenly turn into the alley more than ten feet away.

He remained calm and composed.

Holding the hot fried dough wrapped in paper, he turned and continued walking towards the wine shop.

He hadn't walked far when he stopped again and bought a bowl of noodle soup from a stall on the other side.

While I was drinking the soup, I turned my head and saw that the man carrying the load had somehow come out of the alley and was sitting on the side of the street fanning himself as if nothing had happened.

Chen San put down his bowl, took out two copper coins and threw them into the bowl, then continued walking towards the wine shop.

Not long after.

Chen San, with his back hunched, strode into the Broken Cloud Wine Shop.

Suiyun Wine Shop is not large, but at this time of year, it is very popular with customers who want to buy wine.

The honest-looking man carrying a load on his shoulder walked steadily to the outside of the wine shop. He said with a smile, "Let me rest for a bit," put the load on the ground, and rested half of his buttocks on the edge of the wine shop steps. The waiter of the wine shop gave the rough man a disdainful look, but didn't say anything.

Only a moment passed.

A man wearing a brown long robe and with dark black hair walked out of the wine shop carrying a wine gourd.

The man with the gourd-shaped bottle had a bushy beard. As he walked out of the wine shop, he was annoyed that the man carrying the load was blocking his way. He cursed, "Damn it, get lost!" and even kicked him. The man carrying the load immediately looked embarrassed and moved his buttocks off the steps onto the ground.

Perhaps the wine gourd-wielding bearded man's cursing was too rude, because the porter, a secret agent of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, didn't notice for a moment that the wine gourd-wielding man was kicking his foot, which was wearing cloth shoes with a hole in the side...

The wine gourd strides confidently towards the sky.

As he uncorked the bottle and drank, he turned and slipped into a small alley.

After a series of twists and turns...

He arrived at the dark back door of a house.

Bend your fingers.

"Thump thump—thump thump thump—"

Two short and three long.

After a while.

Several identical knocks came from inside the door.

"Thump thump thump—thump thump—"

Three short and two long.

After the gourd was tapped four times long and four times short, the wine was knocked again.

The door opened.

A lean, wiry man with piercing eyes saw the newcomer and whispered excitedly, "Third Brother!"

Chen San, whose back was no longer hunched and whose voice and appearance had suddenly become younger, smiled and said, "Bamboo, they're all here, right?"

"Coming!" Bamboo said, closing the door behind him.

"good!"

Chen San, who had a short scar on his left, strode towards the inner room.

They went into the inner room.

Inside, there was only a bed, a wardrobe, a few chairs, and a table that had been sitting there for who knows how many years.

Bamboo took the initiative and opened the wardrobe for him.

Once the bottom panel of the wardrobe is removed, an underground entrance that can be passed through by one person is revealed.

The two of them crawled underground one after the other, walked down a dirt ladder, and the lights became brighter and brighter.

Seeing that Zhu Zi and Chen San had arrived.

The dozen or so people sitting inside immediately stood up, their eyes lighting up, and they exclaimed in unison, "Third Brother!"

Chen San immediately pressed down on his hand, tearing off his bushy beard to reveal a young face in his early twenties, and said in a low voice, "Brothers, it's been a long time!"

That's all.

He first gestured for them to sit down. Everyone's eyes were excited, but they listened to the arrangement and slowly sat down.

Chen San's face turned serious: "Brothers, let's not waste any more pleasantries."

He clasped his hands together and raised them to the upper left.

"I have been ordered by the Left Protector to summon all the altar masters. In the coming days, we will welcome our leader back to the north!"