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

Ning Nan was a bit confused. "No."

The waiter looked somewhat embarrassed, sweat trickling down his forehead. He wiped the sweat with the handkerchief draped over his shoulder, then looked up and asked for the names of four or five more academies.

Ning Nan took a slight breath; he hadn't expected such a thing to happen.

I was going to make something up and say "yes," but then I thought that if the academy had any distinctive features, like uniforms, I might get into trouble with the waiter. So I decided it was better not to make something up and shook my head repeatedly, rejecting everything.

The waiter gasped, sizing the man up. He wasn't a student from any academy? His expression darkened slightly, and he asked, "Then may I ask if you have a guarantor from your guild?"

Ning Nan was taken aback. After thinking for a moment, he realized that the guarantee from the guild hall should be the guarantee issued by the Jiangning Guild Hall. If a candidate from Jiangning County like him didn't have money to stay in the capital, he could stay at the guild hall.

However, since he had a house in the capital, he naturally didn't need to stay at the guild hall, and he didn't know anything about guaranteeing a letter of guarantee, so he shook his head again.

The waiter glanced at his household registration card again, which read "Li Family Village," and frowned, asking, "Young master, do you not stay at a guild hall in the capital?"

Ning Nan nodded.

The waiter thought for a moment and figured that the man was a scholar who had heard about the literary gathering from somewhere and had come all the way from the countryside. He didn't seem to be from a poor family, and was probably staying at the inn for the next few days.

His expression turned troubled. It wasn't easy for this person to come here, and it didn't seem like a good idea to just kick him out, but he didn't have the authority to let him in.

"Young master, you're not a scholar, are you?" the waiter asked defensively.

"No." Ning Nan's expression was somewhat helpless.

"Where is the scholar?"

Ning Nan took a shallow breath and shook her head, saying, "No."

The waiter hesitated for a moment, then finally shook his head and said, "Young Master Ning, I'm sorry, you are not on our guest list."

Ning Nan gripped the guestbook tightly, his brow furrowing: "Guest list?"

He was a little puzzled.

He took a few steps back, looked down at the notice posted by Tianjinlou again, but it didn't mention anything about a list, only that it said "people from Yingtian Prefecture."

Ning Nan paused, then pointed to the red notice with black lettering and said, "Young man, this notice doesn't say..."

The waiter quickly smiled and said, "Please don't be impatient, esteemed guest. That's what the notice says, but please take a look..."

He pointed to the Tianjin Building, which was two stories high and occupied a large area, and laughed.

"Although our Tianjinlou is a well-known grand restaurant in the capital, it is only this big. If all the candidates from Yingtian Prefecture come, we will not be able to handle it, and we will inevitably disturb Dong Xuezheng and the other officials."

Ning Nan frowned and said, "So, you need to be a student at the Imperial Academy or a traditional academy, or have a guarantor?"

The waiter nodded awkwardly, but couldn't help but think to himself: You could be a famous scholar if you wanted!

They had a list of successful candidates from Yingtian Prefecture who might participate in the autumn imperial examinations this year, as well as a list of well-known scholars from the countryside. He had already memorized both lists perfectly. The name "Ningnan" was not in his memory. He had even just asked, and the other party was not even a scholar.

Then it's just not meant to be... Upon hearing this, Ning Nan thought for a moment and decided that if it wasn't meant to be, so be it. He wouldn't force it. Anyway, he came here to see Dong Xuezheng, so there was no rush.

He turned around, intending to leave.

At this moment, seven or eight students dressed in white uniforms came together from behind.

Upon seeing one of them, Ning Nan's eyes widened in surprise.

"Huh?! A reading prodigy?!"

The other person also stopped in their tracks, their eyes widening in surprise: "Wow, wow, Brother Ning?!"

The thin mist on the street was beginning to dissipate.

Ning Nan was somewhat surprised, never expecting to run into Li Yanting and other students from Bailu Academy here.

He had originally planned to just leave and be done with it, even though he had arranged to meet Zhao Jing and the others at Tianjinlou today. However, it wasn't that he hadn't come; they simply wouldn't let him in, so it didn't count as him breaking his promise.

Li Yanting's eyes lit up, and he said something like, "How rare, how rare, we still managed to run into each other."

Ning Nan was taken aback and asked, "What's so rare?"

Li Yanting coldly retorted, "Didn't you say you didn't have time to come to Bailu Academy?" He pointed to an older scholar beside him and said, "This is my senior brother. It's quite a coincidence to run into him today. Brother Ning, would you dare to have a game of hand-to-hand combat with my senior brother?"

Upon hearing this, Ning Nan's lips curled up slightly, and he couldn't help but smile. He glanced at the senior brother, who was around thirty years old and had a dignified and gentle appearance. He figured that the bookworm had lost a game of wrestling and was looking for this senior brother to get revenge.

His senior classmates and other classmates were also somewhat surprised.

A rather short and stout student frowned and said, "Wen Zhao, Senior Brother Feng's chess skills are amazing. He could easily be among the top three in our Bailu Academy. We are here today to participate in the literary gathering. It's rather impolite of you to keep pulling a stranger to play a game with Senior Brother Feng." Another student chimed in, slapping his fan in his palm and laughing, "Le Yuan is right. Wen Zhao, you've been impolite."

They were all disciples of Zhang Jian, but Li Yanting joined later, yet his foundation was far more solid than theirs. Recently, he had gained Zhang Jian's favor, so he and his fellow disciples didn't treat this junior brother very well.

The others merely glanced at Ning Nan indifferently. When they arrived earlier, they had seen a figure blocked outside Tianjinlou. After walking for a while, they saw that this person was still arguing with the waiter. One of the classmates joked that it was fortunate that Tianjinlou was there to stop them, otherwise they didn't know what kind of people they would be sitting with today. Everyone laughed, but Li Yanting gave this classmate a cold look, which made everyone extremely uncomfortable.

Later, when the waiter chased the man away, everyone stopped paying attention to Li Yanting and couldn't help but laugh.

Unexpectedly, this person turned out to be an acquaintance of Li Yanting.

This is truly... Everyone watched this scene with smiles on their faces... They didn't know what to say. Li Yanting actually wanted Senior Brother Feng to have a hand-to-hand combat match with this kind of person? They really didn't know what this person was thinking.

Senior Brother Feng seemed to be an extremely humble person. He chuckled and smoothed things over, saying, "Gentlemen, it's alright, it's alright. I've been playing chess with Wen Zhao recently and have learned a lot. Since this brother's chess skills are praised by Wen Zhao, he must have his own unique strengths. It's still early, and the esteemed officials haven't arrived yet. Why not play a game?"

Seeing that their senior brother had said so, the others, though showing dissatisfaction, did not try to persuade him further.

Li Yanting clasped his hands and said, "Senior brother, to be honest, Wenzhao has been playing chess with you recently and has repeatedly tried to break the headmaster's Laurel Chess Formation, which has earned you praise... But Wenzhao's chess style—" He pointed to Ning Nandao, "is all derived from this person!"

"oh?"

Senior Brother Feng exclaimed in surprise, his eyes flashing with a sharp light. He had wondered how Wen Zhao, who had only just begun to understand the art, could possess so many skillful techniques. It turned out that there was a master behind him!

Senior Brother Feng gave Ning Nan a serious once-over. Judging from his young age, he was probably only seventeen or eighteen. How could someone so young have such amazing chess skills?!

He immediately clasped his hands in a solemn gesture and said:

"My humble name is Feng Yu. May I ask your name, young brother?"

Seeing that this person was quite polite, Ning Nan thought that whether or not they would play a game of chess was another matter, but making friends was still an option. So he smiled, clasped his hands in greeting, and replied, "My name is Ning Nan, courtesy name Bai Xuan."

"Huh?" Everyone was taken aback.

Ning Nan... Ning Baixuan?!

Instantly, all the students of Bailu Academy looked up, their eyes wide with astonishment as they stared at the young man with clasped hands in front of them!