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

The maid's words made Ning Nan pause for a moment.

My life has been very regular these past few days. I get up at dawn as soon as the rooster crows, only a little later than my wife.

After leaving the house, I ran to the Gongsun residence on Taiping Street to show the old man the eight-legged essay I had written the night before. The old man criticized me and gave me a new essay topic.

He then went to the private school in Willow Leaf Lane, attended classes for a day, and went home in the late afternoon.

After having dinner at home, I would write an essay that evening based on the topic given by Grandpa Gongsun, and then show it to the old man the next day... and so on.

Ning Nan shook his slightly sore neck, feeling a warmth in his heart. He realized that Cui Cui's wife must have asked the servants when she would be eating dinner, which was why she had prepared this meal. He, however, had just eaten at Tianjinlou.

Cui Cui's wife raised her head slightly, seemingly half-awake, and slowly sat up straight, her face somewhat pale.

Ning Nan smiled as his arm seemed a little numb. He stretched it out lazily, revealing two sections of his fair forearm from his sleeve.

"You're back?" She looked into Ning Nan's eyes, her tone languid, yawning as she spoke.

Ning Nan walked over, sat down next to her, and hummed in agreement.

"Have you eaten?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"I ate... um... today is the last day of the private school, and I ate at Tianjinlou with Tang Lianbin and the others."

The two people sat side by side in their chairs.

She was dressed in a white silk dress, leaned her upper body against Ning Nan, buried her head in Ning Nan's chest, and held Ning Nan's clothes with both hands, like a kitten that had just woken up.

Ning Nan touched her hair, inhaling its fragrance, like the scent of green mountains after the rain.

call.

After a while, as if finally relieved, the woman sighed softly.

"It's good that you've eaten... Hmm... I'm going to sleep now... Let Chunyu and the others clean up the table."

She hummed in agreement and left Ning Nan's embrace. As they looked at each other, Ning Nan noticed that his wife's oval face looked even thinner than usual.

She stood up with a smile, moved her chair back, dragging it on the floor with an unpleasant sound, and walked out of the flower hall.

Ning Nan withdrew his gaze from his wife's retreating figure, the warmth still lingering in his arms. He glanced at the dishes on the table, feeling a pang of regret.

Er Lai took a few servants back to the countryside to offer condolences and compensation.

San Zhuang has hit the jackpot. Qin Yuanyao said he's been noticed by a deputy general in the army and is now in the Beijing garrison. The general left him a note saying, "The salary is very high, and you can eat your fill."

The handwriting was crooked and messy, but at least it was written by the kid himself.

In this way, there will be fewer gluttons in the family.

Chunyu came to clear the table, but Ningnan stopped. He picked up the empty bowl and chopsticks on the table, and tasted some duck meat and cured fish.

Although the food was cold, it tasted quite good; someone's cooking skills have improved a lot.

Chunyu said, "Master, let me go heat it up."

Master Ning shook his head and said he was too lazy to bother.

He took out his brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and began writing essays and policy proposals right there on the round table.

The questions that Master Gongsun set this time were from the Analects, so they weren't difficult.

The policy essay was relatively difficult. After writing one, he frowned and looked at it for a long time. He was not satisfied, so he tore it up and rewrote it. It wasn't until the third essay that he finally nodded and blew on the ink.

The lamp oil burned out.

Chunyu came in yawning to add oil to the lamp.

Ning Nan glanced at the little girl and asked, "What time is it?"

Chunyu covered her mouth with her small hand, stopped yawning, and blinked her red eyes, saying, "The clapper is striking midnight."

It's so late... Ning Nan took a breath, writing an essay while eating cold dishes. Before he knew it, he had eaten more than half of them.

After getting some hot water and washing my hands and face, I gently pushed open the door.

Inside the white mosquito net.

Cui Cui's wife was sleeping soundly on her side, breathing steadily. Ning Nan quietly removed her clothes and lay down next to her.

I slept soundly until dawn.

My life became more regular after I stopped going to the private school.

I spent the morning at Gongsun's house. At noon, sometimes I ate at Gongsun's house, sometimes I ate at home... it depended on how well I performed in the eight-legged essay that day.

If he writes well, he can freeload a meal at Gongsun's house; if he writes poorly, when the old man's veins bulge, he quickly runs home so as not to get in the way.

Writing articles, getting scolded, writing articles, reading, eating, sleeping, writing articles... day after day, it's the same things over and over again.

I would occasionally glance at the Nancheng Daily, where the position of editor-in-chief had become vacant.

After Li Yanting was tricked by Feng Yu into substituting for Li, he was filled with shame and anger, and Qinghuan, who was crying in anger, slapped him in public... When Master Ning heard about this, his heart almost stopped. After observing for a few days and seeing that Qinghuan had not suffered any retribution and was no longer dropping silver coins, he finally felt a little relieved.

After he returned unharmed, Qinghuan was still angry with Li Yanting. Li Yanting came to apologize and said he wanted to resign from his job as editor-in-chief of the Nancheng Daily, which paid five taels of silver a month. Master Ning thought that with the pride of a scholar, he would definitely not be able to stand being made a fool of by Feng Yu, so he had no choice but to agree.

When he agreed, he naturally said some polite words.

"Brother Yanting...we grew up in the same village...I know what kind of person you are, this has nothing to do with you...it's all Feng Yu's fault...sigh...you did a great job, I'm very relieved...now that you're gone, I...I don't know where to find someone else..."

Unexpectedly, Qinghuan walked in with tears streaming down her face. Taking his polite words seriously, she questioned Li Yanting:

"Why won't you help my brother-in-law?...Are you angry because I slapped you that day?...Slap him back...Slap him back...You lost my brother-in-law...So what if I slapped you?...I even made shoes for you...Waaah...Waaah..."

The usually gentle and kind sister-in-law cried her eyes out that day, and her words were like firecrackers thrown at Li Yanting.

Li Yanting's face turned red, and tears involuntarily streamed down his face.

He wiped away his tears and said in a sob, "Brother Ning, I'll still take the editor's position... but I don't want any money, not a single penny... Consider it Li Yanting's apology to you..."

Master Ning was dumbfounded.

Although Li Yanting intended to shine for free, he didn't want to take advantage of the other party.

His salary remained unchanged, and Li Yanting was even allowed to work at Bailu Academy... so as not to affect his county examination.

Every evening at dusk, someone would bring Li Yanting the articles to be published the next day, and he would choose which ones to publish and which ones not. This didn't take him too much time, and the reader felt quite embarrassed to receive the money.

As for other trivial matters of the Nancheng Daily, Ning Nan hired an old bookstore owner as the manager, and with the young rascal Li Xing overseeing things, the newspaper was quite successful and got on the right track.

Baiyufang has reopened, but Master Ning, who is afraid of bloodshed, always avoids that area.

From September 5th to September 15th.

Cui Cui's wife never cooked for him again.

As dawn broke, Ning Nan stood by the carriage and rubbed his face vigorously.

The mist got into my eyes, but after rubbing them, my eyes felt much clearer.

"Personal confession, mutual agreement... um... a formal agreement, I think? Yes, a formal agreement... Oh... and writing materials... did you bring them all?"

As Cui Cui spoke, she stretched out her fair hands to straighten his clothes. Her beautiful oval face was now paler than the sky.