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

The ten men stood solemnly and knelt down in unison, saying, "Greetings, young master!" Their expressions were serious, and their voices were loud and clear.

Ning Nan glanced at their movements and postures and couldn't help but nod inwardly. Er Lai was indeed doing as he had said. Every servant had been rigorously trained, and they didn't seem dishonest or pretending to be clever. It was worth spending so much money.

Ning Nan smiled, glanced at the dark-skinned servant on the far left, and laughed, "Du Gui, you've gotten even darker."

Du Gui was stunned. He suddenly looked up. He had only seen the master twice in total. He didn't expect the master to remember his name. He stammered a few words, swallowed, and said, "Thank you, young master." Du Gui didn't know what he was thanking for, but he was filled with gratitude.

Ning Nan then looked at the tall servant next to Du Gui and asked, "Wang Xiao, how is your mother's health now? Is she feeling better?"

Wang Xiao's eyes reddened instantly. He changed from kneeling on one knee to kneeling on both knees and kowtowed loudly, saying, "Young Master, thank you for saving my mother's life. She's all better now." He wiped away his tears and said, "If it weren't for the fact that you spent money to bring a doctor from the capital, my mother would probably have died long ago."

Ning Nan squatted down and patted his shoulder, laughing, "It's good that you're alright. I hope your mother can hold her grandson soon." Wang Xiao wiped away his tears, feeling a little embarrassed, but everyone else just laughed.

Ning Nan made all ten people stand up.

He gave each person twenty taels of silver, calling out each person's name accurately as he did so. Everyone was grateful. When he handed out the silver to a slightly thin servant, Ning Nan laughed and said, "Xie Er, isn't your birthday next month?"

Everyone was stunned, not expecting that the young master would even remember this, and Xie Er was even more dumbfounded.

Ning Nan gave Xie Er an extra five taels of silver and said with a smile, "You can treat everyone to a meal with these extra five taels." Xie Er's eyes reddened, and he immediately tried to kneel down, but Ning Nan helped him up with both hands, preventing him from doing so. He could only say, "Thank you, thank you, young master."

I gave a gift when we met.

Ning Nan then told everyone about their future salaries, and said that in the Ning family, merits were divided into four grades: superior merit, medium merit, primary merit, and the best of the best, the highest merit. The rewards for the four grades were different, but all were extremely generous. Even though Ning Nan said that some merits might only be earned by shedding blood, everyone couldn't help but feel excited and no longer regarded themselves as ordinary servants who fed horses and did odd jobs.

After saying this, Ning Nan smiled and said that he would be in their care to guard the house from now on. Everyone's eyes straightened, and they shouted in unison, "Please rest assured, young master!"

There must be both rewards and punishments.

Ning Nan then wrote down some rules for the two rascals on the spot, roughly outlining what they were allowed to do and what they were not, such as "No fighting among themselves, violators will be fined one month's salary," "No petty theft, violators will be expelled from the manor," "No harassing the maids in the manor, violators will have their legs broken and be expelled from the manor, and serious offenders will be sent to the authorities"...

It was mostly about matters of principle, and they wouldn't interfere too much. There were twelve in total. After Er Lai loudly read them out, the servants felt a chill and instinctively shouted, "Yes!"

Afterwards, Ning Nan had Steward Wang bring them into the mansion and arrange their accommodations. He also gave Er Lai two hundred taels of silver separately, but Er Lai refused, saying with dissatisfaction, "Brother, I'm not a child anymore. I'll only get paid after I've rendered meritorious service."

Ning Nan cursed and said that this was public money, not private money. If any of them were sick or injured and needed money temporarily, they could use this money. Er Lai then realized and obediently accepted the banknotes.

Ning Nan sighed, but couldn't help finding it somewhat amusing.

Looking up, he instructed Steward Wang that Erlai's lodging should be the same as Sanzhuang's. Steward Wang immediately understood, knowing that just like Uncle Sanzhuang, Erlai could not be treated as a servant. He respectfully addressed Erlai as "Uncle Erlai" repeatedly, making Erlai blush.

Ning Nan then instructed Steward Wang to send people to bring in the dozen or so horses they had ridden and to settle them properly. Steward Wang agreed to all of this.

Er Lai led ten secretly excited servants as they quietly walked into the mansion.

Ning Nan glanced at their backs. These ten teenagers were secondary; although they were at the age where "half-grown boys can starve their fathers," they certainly wouldn't be able to overeat him.

The sight of those ten or so horses with their shiny, smooth coats made his teeth ache.

The dozen or so horses alone were quite valuable, and the daily fodder was a bit of a drain on his resources. Just in case, he had the grooms feed them concentrated feed.

He himself owned a large white horse, Cui Cui's wife had a gentle chestnut horse, and Uncle Ping had a large yellow horse that pulled the cart. One groom couldn't handle all the horses, so he specially hired another groom to take care of them.

"Time to make money again." Watching their retreating figures, Old Master Ning sighed silently.

After everything was settled, Ningnan sent someone to the Embroidered Uniform Guard headquarters to call Sanzhuang back, and they had dinner together that evening.

The sun had already risen above the horizon.

When Ning Nan arrived at the private school in Liuye Lane, he was already late. Fortunately, Mr. Huang knew that he was busy with various things and didn't mind. Ning Nan found a spot where Mr. Huang was speaking, walked in, bowed respectfully, and then the teacher let him into the classroom.

……

……

The golden sun leaped over the treetops, reached the hollow center, and then slowly slanted westward.

August 21st is coming to an end.

There are only eight days left until the Crown Prince of Daliang ascends the throne.

The lean man nicknamed "Bamboo" squinted, leaning against the alley wall, and watched the golden sun, which was once again hanging from the treetop and slowly descending, before whispering:

"An idea is almost coming out..."

A man carrying a load on a shoulder pole wearing a straw hat and a scholar wearing a square scarf beside him both nodded and said, "Brother Bamboo is right."

Bamboo turned its head, carefully examined the scholar, and said with displeasure, "Tian Laosi, why are you dressed like that?"

Tian Laosi adjusted the square scarf on his head, his face contorted with bitterness, and said, "The altar master said that I should come to some private school to keep watch. I thought, a private school is a place for scholars to study, so I stole this set of clothes."

The man carrying the load scoffed, "You can't even read a few words, and you look like a eunuch even in a dragon robe!"

Old Tian glared, flicking his sleeves, and said, "I'm following the script exactly! What's wrong with it?" He snorted, glanced at the man carrying the load, and cursed, "Damn it, you're still talking to me!" He pointed to the basket the man was carrying, "I sent you to keep watch, and what the hell are you carrying in your load?"

"So what if you picked these bricks?"

Old Tian cursed, "Carrying two baskets and turning around to spy on them? How the hell are you going to catch up with the carriage later?"

The man carrying the load angrily retorted, "My basket was empty yesterday! You said I didn't look like I was? I didn't even break a sweat! I only just started carrying bricks today!"

Old Tian Si retorted angrily, "Damn it, didn't they know they only picked half a basket?!"

"Hey!" The man carrying the load stared blankly, somewhat stunned.

Seeing that the other party had been humiliated, Tian Laosi couldn't help but look smug.

Upon seeing the man's smug expression, the porter, though realizing he'd lost his mind, couldn't help but retort angrily, "Even carrying bricks, I can outrun a eunuch like you!"

Old Tian flicked his sleeves and said, "You run faster than me, so I'll call you 'Dad'."

The man carrying the load rolled his eyes: "Call me 'Dad,' and I'll run and show you."

Bamboo took a breath, feeling a headache coming on. He thought that Master Feng was being too perfunctory, sending only these two people to help him.

He cleared his throat and patiently let the men carrying the loads find a place to unload the bricks.

There were brick dust in the basket; if anyone asked, just pretend you'd finished unloading the bricks, then wet your towel and wipe yourself every now and then, and you'd be covered in sweat. The man carrying the load immediately brightened up and said, "Brother Bamboo is right, he's right."

Bamboo then told Tian Laosi to stay twenty feet away from him, and not to follow without his hand gesture. Tian Laosi, who was dressed as a Confucian scholar but did not look like one at all, immediately agreed.

Bamboo sighed.

He didn't know what was going on in the south, or how Master Feng planned to capture Ning Baixuan. For several days, he had only been ordered to keep watch, but not allowed to make a move. Ning Baixuan had four servants protecting him, who seemed quite formidable, yet Master Feng hadn't sent any skilled fighters for him. He was afraid that even if a good opportunity came, he would miss it.

At this time.

A commotion arose from the private school in Willow Leaf Lane.

The students inside finished their classes and came out in twos and threes.

As soon as Zhu Zi looked out, Ning Baixuan slowly walked out and said goodbye to the others.

Bamboo squinted and hid itself in the shadows of the alley.

After silently counting a few numbers in his mind, he peeked out again.

Ning Baixuan had already boarded their family's carriage.

Four tall and burly servants, each on horseback, stood guard around the perimeter.

After getting rid of the two troublemakers.

Bamboo narrowed her eyes, walked out of the alley as if nothing had happened, and slowly followed.