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

"Master, you're awake. Would you like some water?"

The owner of this peach-blossom face raised his hands and wiped his eyes, causing another "clanging" sound in the room.

Ning Nan then noticed that his female disciple was also handcuffed.

However, her handcuffs were in front of her, so her hands could still move.

He himself was tied up with his hands behind his back.

He shook his head and found that the place where he was resting his head was a little soft, and there was a smell of grass. Looking again, he realized that he was resting his head on the female disciple's lap, but the female disciple had placed some dry grass on her lap.

Ning Nan quickly tried to sit up by straining his waist, but his hands were tied behind his back. Even though he strained until his face contorted, he couldn't find the right technique to sit up.

Gongsun Heng blushed.

He whispered, "I'll help you."

She reached out her hands and helped Ning Nan up.

Ning Nan sat up, took a breath, and looked around. He then realized that he and his female disciple seemed to be locked in a cave, with a wooden fence made of hardwood at the entrance.

The cave was only half a person's height, so he and his female disciple couldn't stand up and could only sit or lie down. The space was also very small, just enough to hold two people.

The cave was still very dark, with only a little light coming from a candle on a square table not far outside the wooden fence.

Ning Nan shifted his position, pressed his face against the wooden fence, and looked outside.

It was very dark outside. It seemed to be a room with uneven walls, as if it had been carved out rather than being a wooden house.

The cave, which was about half a person's height, where he and Gongsun were staying, also looked like it had been carved out. Ning Nan frowned. The inside of the cave? Or a dug-out cellar?

There was a door on the left side of the room, which was tightly closed. Now, only he and Gongsun were inside.

Ning Nan glanced at the female disciple, who, despite being pampered at Bailu Academy, still had a tearful expression and red eyes.

There's a lot of dust in this place, and when she wiped her tears with her hand, her face inevitably became grimy.

Ning Nan glanced at the ground next to Gongsun and saw a bamboo jar, which must contain water.

Ning Nan said gently, "You just used this bamboo pot to feed Master water, right?"

Gongsun nodded, his face still filled with despair, but seeing that his master was alive and could speak again, he felt somewhat relieved and happy.

After glancing around at his surroundings, Ning Nan slowly gathered his thoughts.

Although he found it hard to believe, he still whispered, "Senior Brother Feng..."

Gongsun Heng's eyes suddenly reddened again, and she snorted, saying resentfully:

"He's not my senior brother! Master... he's the one who arrested you! He arrested me too! That bastard Feng Yu... humph! He, he's a dog of the Heavenly Principle Sect!"

The woman, who had never sworn before, got furious and called Feng Yu a "birdman." After she finished, she regretted it and then felt angry because of her regret. She felt that she was too soft-hearted and that the birdman deserved to be called a "birdman."

Ning Nan was taken aback.

"Tenrikyo?"

Gongsun wiped his eyes, pouted, and cried:

"It's the Heavenly Principle Sect. I overheard them talking here before. They called Feng Yu 'Altar Master' without any hesitation... That bird, that bird Feng Yu even shed crocodile tears, saying something like 'Junior Sister, Senior Brother has offended you.' Bah, if he really felt he had offended you, why doesn't he just die..."

call……

Hearing the female disciple's cries and curses, Ning Nan took a breath, his mind momentarily blank.

After a long pause, he looked down at his clothes and, seeing that they were the scholar's robes from Bailu Academy, a realization dawned on him: "Li Yanting..."

Gongsun stopped crying, sobbed a few times, nodded, and said resentfully:

"Hmm... it was Junior Brother Li... Master Feng, that scoundrel Feng Yu, secretly changed your clothes with Junior Brother Li's while we were all drunk last night..."

Gongsun said that after Chunyu and the other girl helped her off the carriage last night, her maid at Bailu Academy brought her a hangover soup. After drinking the soup, Gongsun felt much better.

In the darkness, she saw Senior Brother Feng carry Junior Brother Li off the carriage, but whether she was in a daze or drunk, she felt for a moment that she saw her master's face!

The maid helped her back to her room and gave her several bowls of hangover soup before she went to sleep. But the more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed, and she wanted to go out and take another look.

As soon as she stepped out of her courtyard, she saw Senior Brother Feng carrying Junior Brother Li onto another carriage. Curious, she went up to take a look... and she actually saw her master's face. She exclaimed in surprise. Senior Brother Feng turned around sharply, saw her, froze for a moment, then threw his master onto the carriage and ran towards her...

"I still don't understand what's going on."

Gongsun Heng gritted her teeth and said,

He knocked me unconscious!

Ning Nan was stunned for a long time after hearing this.

After the female disciple sniffled a few times, he took a deep breath and began to understand his situation, but his mind was still muddled and he couldn't figure out many things.

After a while, he suddenly remembered something and looked down at the soles of his feet.

His pupils contracted immediately. The shoes were indeed his own. He couldn't touch them, so he kicked the sole of his left shoe with his right foot to feel for it. Then he felt relieved... Hmm, the things were still there.

Ning Nan's eyes relaxed, and his cuffed hands touched the handcuffs. After a while, he found the keyhole.

"Do you have any embroidery needles?" he asked the female disciple.

Embroidery needle?

Gongsun was taken aback. She didn't know why her master wanted an embroidery needle at this time. She shook her head, feeling a little resentful in her heart. She couldn't understand why her master's thoughts were still so chaotic at this time, and that he actually wanted an embroidery needle.

However, when her master asked that question, and she thought about it in her heart, tears welled up again, and she blamed herself for still blaming her master at this time.

The granddaughter of the headmaster of Bailu Academy suddenly reddened her phoenix eyes again: "Master... I... I'm sorry."

Ning Nan was taken aback. He glanced at his female disciple, who was dressed as a man in a white scholar's robe and a square scarf. Asking her for an embroidery needle was indeed difficult for her. He smiled and said:

"If you don't have it, you don't have it. There's nothing to apologize for."

Two lines of clear tears streamed down Gongsun's face as he shook his head and said:

"No, sob... Master... I'm not playing chess anymore... I'll never play chess again... I won't solve that weird chess puzzle anymore... sob sob... I'm so sorry..."

Ning Nan was completely confused.

"That jerk Feng Yu has ulterior motives!"

Gongsun Heng clenched her teeth tightly, her lips pursed, and she whispered:

"Yes, it was me who brought him into the Ning Mansion. It was me who made him play chess with you... Waaah... Master, I know you didn't really want to play chess... nor did you want to take me as your disciple... I forced you to take me... Waaah... I'm the one who ruined you..."

She cried out in anguish, "I heard them say... they wanted to catch you... wanted to catch you... but couldn't... it was this Feng Yu who used a trick... used me, sob, he used me to catch you... why did this bastard use me... why did he want to catch you... if I hadn't been so stupid, they wouldn't have been able to catch you at all... sob sob sob sob sob... it's all my fault... sob ...

The soft sobs suddenly turned into loud wailing.

Ning Nan's head suddenly started to ache.

He leaned against the wall, his fingers pressing on the keyhole.

The female disciple was crying loudly, so Ning Nan let her cry for a while and glanced around the narrow cave.

After seeing that there were no sharp objects around,

He fixed his gaze on the wooden fence.

He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, opened his mouth wide... and fiercely bit down on the edge of the wooden fence...