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

South of the Huai River... No wonder the cabinet kept it secret... Her eyes widened... If even a fraction of this news were to leak out, the Great Liang would be in an uproar in an instant! Calls for a North-South alliance would suddenly rise up.

The Northern Dynasties harbored wolfish ambitions; to form an alliance with them was tantamount to seeking a tiger's skin.

But Rakshasa is an even bigger crocodile.

It is indeed not impossible that the Northern Dynasty, subdued by the tyranny of the Rakshasa, sought help from the Southern Dynasty.

If the Northern Dynasty is truly willing to use the area south of the Huai River as a condition for an alliance… Zhu Cuiwei's heart stirred, and she said in a deep voice, “Send all the best people to the border between the Northern Dynasty and the Rakshasa, and be sure to find out their true strength.”

Qin Yuanyao knew how tempting the condition offered by the Northern Dynasty was, and immediately nodded.

She gritted her teeth, made a tough decision, and decided to personally lead a team to the north to investigate. She had to truly ascertain the sincerity of the Northern Dynasty's intention to form an alliance... At the same time, she couldn't help but feel a little worried... If she found out that the Northern Dynasty's intention to form an alliance was genuine, they would be willing to give up the land south of the Huai River... But the condition for the alliance... was that His Majesty had to appoint that Northern Tartar as the Grand Prince Consort... Qin Yuanyao's pupils shrank, and the back of her head felt a little numb... What should be done about that Young Master Ning...? After a few breaths, the female official felt a chill and stopped thinking about it.

She took a deep breath, glanced at His Majesty above, and did not voice her intentions, lest he object. She decided to wait until she arrived and then have Commander Yan relay her message.

The carriage curtain was lifted.

After bowing respectfully with clasped hands, the female Imperial Guard, who was highly trusted by the Empress, solemnly jumped off the carriage.

Inside the carriage.

Zhu Cuiwei pursed her lips and thought for a moment. She originally wanted to take advantage of the war between the Northern Dynasty and the Rakshasa to seize the opportunity to complete the reforms and replenish the national treasury.

If the Northern Dynasty were to make such a move, it would be unwise to rashly alter the court's affairs at this time.

"call……"

Her expression was complex. She took a deep breath, puffed out her cheeks like a child, and then exhaled all the air from her lungs. Her eyes suddenly looked tired, but her mind kept wandering back to the words "south of the Huai River"...

South of the Huai River...recover lost territory...expand the territory...The Empress's red lips pursed slightly, and the light in her eyes shifted inexplicably...If she could recover the area south of the Huai River while her brother was still alive...She gripped the hem of her dress on her knees with both hands, and her eyes welled up with tears...Then she would truly have lived up to her brother's trust.

The bright moon is setting in the west.

A gentle breeze swept through.

Outside the Ning Mansion's flower hall, rows of banana trees have recovered, but with the arrival of autumn, the banana leaves are no longer as fresh and green as before, and when the autumn wind blows, the banana groves rustle.

When Zhu Cuiwei returned to the Ning Mansion's flower hall, burdened with heavy thoughts, she saw the young doctor sitting there reading a book, with Chunyu grinding ink for him.

She went over and saw that the young doctor was reading Zhu Xi's Collected Annotations.

Upon seeing her return, Chunyu quickly stood up and exclaimed with delight, "Madam!"

Zhu Cui smiled, took the square ink stick from her hand, and told the little maid to go to sleep.

She sat down in the chair next to the young doctor and helped him grind the ink.

Huizhou ink is made with the addition of musk and borneol, resulting in a dark black color and a rich aroma when ground, making it a rare and superior ink.

"How's your studying going?" she asked casually.

Master Ning shook his head and said confidently, "Mr. Lizhou has secured a top-three ranking in the provincial examination, and now he's found a new teacher for the provincial examination... He's guaranteed to become a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial examination), so just wait to become a Juren's wife."

Zhu Cuiwei frowned, a speck of ink splattering on her slender fingers, and said:

"A new teacher?"

Ning Nan, holding the book, laughed and said, "You would never guess this."

Zhu Cuiwei, however, did not guess.

She was utterly exhausted and lost interest in grinding the ink after a couple of strokes. However, the phrase "south of the Huai River" did give her a slight thrill. After grinding the ink a couple more times, she put down the ink stick and said, "I'm going to sleep."

Master Ning stared intently at the book, moistened his thumb with saliva, and turned the page.

Zhu Cuiwei glanced at him, then casually looked away, turned her head, and said, "I'm going to sleep."

Mr. Ning leaned back in his chair, holding the book in both hands, and hummed in agreement.

Zhu Cuiwei frowned, snatched his book and threw it on the table, ignoring his astonished expression, and pulled him away...

The next day.

When she got up at dawn, hurriedly dressed, washed up, and climbed into the carriage that was to pick her up.

Only then did he learn from Yan Yuqing who the young doctor's new master was.

"Gongsun Yuliu refused to be summoned?"

She exclaimed in surprise from inside the carriage.

Yan Yuqing gave a wry smile and said, "It's not that Mr. Gongsun doesn't want to be summoned, but he will wait until after this year's imperial examination to accept the summons and go to the Ministry of Rites to serve as Minister of Rites."

Yan Yuqing explained that a major event had occurred at Bailu Academy last night.

The prince of the Northern Dynasty, who held the title of Iron-Capped Prince, had devised a plan to break Master Gongsun's Moon Laurel Chess Game in order to force the master to accept him as a disciple. Zhu Cuiwei frowned; she knew it was this very Tartar who had been clamoring to propose marriage to her.

Yan Yuqing sat in the carriage and told her the whole story. After a while, when she heard that Master Gongsun had declared that whoever won would break the Moon Laurel Chess Game, Zhu Cuiwei was startled and said, "Master, this can be considered a gentleman being deceived by his own principles."

Yan Yuqing nodded and said that His Majesty was right, and that it was only right for Bailu Academy to ignore the Tartars from the beginning.

When Zhu Cuiwei heard that Master Gongsun had once again chosen Zhang You to fight, she frowned and wondered if Master Gongsun really wanted to take that Tartar as his disciple. Otherwise, why would he send out Zhang You, who had already lost twice?

Yan Yuqing shook his head and said that he had sent someone to inquire and found that the headmaster originally intended to resign from his position. Even if he lost, the Tartars would not be able to take advantage of him. On the contrary, it was suspected that they were "forcing him to resign as headmaster of Bailu Academy".

Even if that Tartar really became the headmaster's disciple, not only would his reputation not improve, but he would also be hated by all the teachers and students of Bailu Academy.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cuiwei's brow relaxed. Later, when she heard that Gongsun Heng had brought the young doctor to the scene, her expression turned strange again.

She heard Yan Yuqing say that last night, although Gongsun Heng... this female disciple who called her Master's wife asked her grandfather to send a young doctor to fight.

But the young doctor shook his head and sent Gongsun Heng to fight instead.

Zhu Cuiwei imagined the female disciple's expression at that moment and couldn't help but smile. She thought the young girl must have been extremely surprised. After she became a wife, whenever she saw an unmarried young woman, she always felt that the other woman was an innocent and naive girl.

"And then?" she asked.

Yan Yuqing gave a wry smile: "Young Master Ning is truly capable. Before Miss Gongsun went to battle, Young Master Ning asked Mr. Zhang You to review the game, and then immediately analyzed the opponent's moves for Miss Gongsun."

"The Tartar's face turned pale with anger."

"They agreed to a best-of-three series. In the first series, Miss Gongsun lost, and Young Master Ning analyzed the game for her again. In the second series, Miss Gongsun won."

"After winning the second game, Young Master Ning analyzed the victory for Miss Gongsun, clearly pointing out the Tartar's weaknesses. But in the third game... the Tartar still made the same mistake that Young Master Ning pointed out... and lost again."

Zhu Cuiwei was delighted to hear this, and the corners of her lips curved slightly, but she did not reveal her feelings.

Yan Yuqing said that although the winner was Miss Gongsun, the request she made was for the sake of Young Master Ning. She requested that the headmaster do everything in his power to help her master pass the imperial examination within the next two months...

Finally, Yan Yuqing's old eyes shifted slightly, and the wrinkles on his face deepened as he looked at Zhu Cuiwei and casually remarked, "Miss Gongsun... seems to have a rather good relationship with Young Master Ning."

Zhu Cui smiled and said, "They are master and disciple."

……

……

The sun and moon revolve.

Time flies.

Before we knew it, it was September 5th.

Within the capital, a rumor about "Tartars seeking marriage with the Empress" spread like wildfire.

However, unlike before, the people of the capital seemed to have changed their attitude towards the rumor, and even felt a sense of pride... After all... the sincerity of the Tartars... seemed... not bad?

South of the Huai River...everyone in the capital who heard this news was shocked, and from all the inquiries...this rumor...seems to be true?

Unfortunately, this rumor, which stirred up the entire capital, had no effect on Master Ning, who was focused on the imperial examinations and oblivious to the outside world.

At dusk.

Several people stood outside the private school in Willow Leaf Lane.

"Brother Ning, I'm sure you'll be the top scholar in Jiangning County... Your progress is astounding, I admire you greatly..."

Tang Lianbin, with a look of emotion, stuffed an exam paper into Ning Nan's hand, while the others also looked on with a mixture of emotion and envy.

Today is the last quiz at the private school.

Although everyone was from Yingtian Prefecture, they belonged to different counties, and tomorrow they would each return to their respective counties to prepare for their county examinations.

Ning Nan smiled as he took the exam paper: "Whether you're first in the exam or not doesn't matter much, as long as you pass the county exam, that's all that matters."

The top scorer in the county examination was called "the county's top scholar".

Today is the last small exam at the Willow Leaf Lane Private School. Unexpectedly, he beat Tang Lianbin and Zuo Yong for the first time and was named "Top Scholar" by Mr. Lizhou.