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

As I stepped out of the study, I saw several peach trees in the courtyard, soon to be bare, trembling in the autumn wind.

Withered yellow leaves fell from the branches, rolled in the wind among the weeds on the right, turned onto the bluestone path in the middle, were blown into the air by the wind, flew over the soil on the other side, and fluttered gracefully to the veranda on the left.

Ning Nan watched the withered leaf fly by and tightened his moon-colored robe.

As autumn deepens, the weather gradually turns cold.

A pair of embroidered shoes stepped on the withered leaf, making a crisp "sizzle" sound.

The young maid Chunyu, dressed in a bright green dress, smiled and called out loudly:

"Master! You passed! You passed! You're now a scholar..."

The usually lively Chunyu ran ahead, her little face flushed, while the more reserved Qiumu followed closely behind, her face also slightly red.

Old Steward Wang waved his hand, trailing several feet behind the two maids, panting heavily.

Ning Nan glanced at the two panting maids, deliberately putting on a stern face, and said, "Are you so proud of passing the imperial examination? Could it be that your master couldn't even pass the imperial examination?"

The two maids stopped abruptly in their hurried steps.

Master Ning glanced at the maid who looked somewhat bewildered and at a loss, then waved his hand and said, "Give each person in the manor two taels of silver."

The two maids, seeing the master's somewhat angry expression, didn't immediately understand what he meant by those words.

After a moment, they heard Steward Wang, who had rushed over and was wiping sweat from his forehead, say, "Ladies, why don't you hurry up and thank the master for his reward?"

Spring Fishing and Autumn Evening finally realized that the master wasn't angry at all, and immediately cheered again.

Upon hearing the news from the person who went to see the notice board, Steward Wang immediately arranged for firecrackers to be set off, and they are still popping and crackling outside the Ning Mansion gate.

Qinghuan smiled and presented Ningnan with a pair of newly made black boots: "Brother-in-law, these are for you. Wishing you a bright future!"

Master Ning took the boots made of the finest Suzhou-style fabric, glanced at his enthusiastic sister-in-law, and asked suspiciously:

"Is it really made for me? Or is it leftovers for someone else?"

"I really made it for you!"

Master Ning hummed twice before accepting the food, and asked, "What would you like to eat?"

"Honey-steamed preserved fish!"

"There's no more preserved fish; your sister ate it all."

Qinghuan froze for a moment, twisting her handkerchief in her hand. After a long moment of inner turmoil, she listlessly said:

"Then let's have the Five Treasures Stew."

As he rolled up his sleeves, Old Master Ning muttered, "Your palate is getting more and more picky. Your sister is much easier to take care of than you are."

Having spent a long time with her brother-in-law, Qinghuan paid no attention to his nitpicking. She simply pretended not to hear him, waved her handkerchief, and went to wait in the flower hall with her two cold-faced maids, Dongying and Xiawan.

Five Treasures Stew is a dish made by stewing chicken, duck, goose, tea tree mushrooms, and yam together. It is oily but not greasy, and full of fragrant sauce. Qinghuan likes to eat the chicken leg meat the most, while Cuicui's wife likes to eat the mushrooms the most.

My wife said this morning she'd finish work early and go home for dinner. My sister-in-law said she wanted to eat Five Treasures Stew, which sounds delicious.

Ningnan then washed a lot more shiitake mushrooms.

After the sun sets.

He was fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan; the stew had just been cooked.

The woman returned home looking exhausted.

Chunyu came running to the kitchen with small, quick steps to report, and Ningnan then asked Chef Xu to bring up the simmering dishes. He then went to the flower hall and said with a smile:

"Here, this is the meal the scholar made for you."

Zhu Cuiwei took the rice bowl from Chunyu, smiled, wiped Ning Xiucai's sweat, glanced at her husband's right shoulder with a hint of apology in her eyes, and said:

"Does your shoulder still hurt?"

Ning Nan's expression stiffened, and her eyes swept over her sister-in-law, who was eating with her at the jade round table. Qing Huan, however, continued eating without blinking.

Master Ning said sternly, "Let's talk about it in the room!"

It gave off an air of 'Why are you saying this when there are children around?'

Zhu Cuiwei glanced at him, and after a few breaths, she snorted, looked away, and picked up a piece of tea tree mushroom.

She took a bite, the aroma and oil of the three birds infusing into the shiitake mushroom, creating a refreshing taste. She chewed it, then nodded in satisfaction.

"The salt is about right, a little more would be better. I added too much tea oil, and the tea tree mushrooms need to be sliced ​​thinner, but not too thin. Where are the bay leaves? Why didn't you add them?... Oh, you said the day before yesterday that you ran out of bay leaves... Hmm, there are... I'll stew them longer next time."

Master Ning's chopsticks, which were held in mid-air, froze. He couldn't help but turn his head and give his wife a disapproving look... You're getting harder and harder to please.

Deep night.

I woke up this morning in tears, and for no apparent reason pounced on him and bit him hard on the right shoulder, drawing blood. Then, after a long absence, I sat in the study with him, studying and writing articles together.

His right shoulder ached slightly as he held the "Collection of Examination Records from Qinglongmen" in both hands, while his wife was reading "A Brief History of the Later Zhao Dynasty".

Ning Nan glanced at it and couldn't help but smile. In the past, his wife mostly read leisure books, but now the books she reads are becoming more and more serious.

Zhu Cuiwei sensed his gaze out of the corner of her eye, and her long, clear eyes glanced at him as well. She said calmly:

"The provincial examination for Southern Zhili is on the fifth day of next month, and only a little over a hundred candidates will be selected."

The implication is, "You need to concentrate."

Ning Nan raised an eyebrow and chuckled, "Oh, weren't you asking me this morning if I'd rather not take the imperial examinations, not be an official, and not earn money, and instead stay with you in the second northern city for the rest of my life?... What? Now you don't want to be a loyal subject anymore, and you want to be a scholar's wife?"

Mr. Ning smiled, his voice clear and melodious.

This morning, his wife woke up with a start and suddenly pounced on him, biting his right shoulder with her two rows of pearly white teeth. He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and instinctively reached out to support his wife's shoulders, wanting to push this wicked woman away... But as soon as his hands touched his wife's shoulders, he found that her body was ice-cold and she seemed to be shivering from the cold... So he frowned and held back, letting her bite out two rows of teeth marks.

After a long while, the woman finally lifted her head from his shoulder, looked up at him from the bed, and asked a question:

"My lord, if... if the Empress gives me an order that I will spend the rest of my life in the two northern cities... if she orders me to guard the gates of the Great Liang Kingdom... what will you do?"

Ning Nan was stunned. In his memory, his wife rarely called him "husband". Looking at his wife's eyes, which had suddenly become teary, he quickly guessed that his wife was deeply trusted by the empress. The empress planned to send his wife to the two northern cities to serve as a military supervisor or something similar to prevent the two northern cities from rebelling.

A chill and anger subconsciously rose in Ning Nan's heart, but he showed no sign on his face. He stroked his wife's hair and said gently with a smile, "If you don't want to go, just resign from your post."

The woman held his shoulders tightly with both hands, blood still dripping from between her teeth and the corners of her mouth, and shook her head incessantly, her face pale.

Her voice was filled with sorrow as she said, "What if... what if I have no choice but to go, to wait for you my whole life... what will you do?"

Ning Nan frowned and asked a few more questions, but his wife only kept asking, "What are you going to do?" Then he realized that she was asking, "What are you going to do?" not "What am I going to do?" He then let out an "Ah..."

The study was dimly lit.

Zhu Cuiwei put on a stern face and said, "I'll do my job, you take your imperial examination. Humph! All those civil officials are all hypocritical; without official rank, they wouldn't even know how to handle a position..."

"Don't laugh at me!" she shouted, slamming the book down.