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

Ning Nan stood with his back against the outer wall of the inner room, his eyes fixed on the dark village bathed in moonlight, but he would occasionally glance out of the corner of his eye at the woman writing inside.

This was the first time he had seen the other person write.

It was already quite unexpected that the other party could write, after all, she was just Miss Zhu's maid. Knowing a few words was already enough to make her an outstanding maid from a scholarly family.

But the other person not only can write, but also understands poetry, the saying "a gentleman keeps away from the kitchen," and the teachings of Confucius and Mencius. Their understanding is quite profound, not the kind of rigid interpretation that comes from blindly following others or being poisoned by the rigid eight-legged essay. Instead, they have their own understanding and thinking, which is very impressive and they are definitely not an ordinary person.

Just now at the dinner table, Old Han had a few drinks and started quoting classical texts and boasting. He said that a thousand years ago, there was an emperor in the Southern Chen Dynasty who extensively acquired private land and encroached on arable land, causing widespread resentment. A minister submitted a memorial, saying that the whole country belonged to His Majesty, so why should His Majesty compete with the people for profit? The emperor then slammed his fist on the table and questioned the minister about how much land he owned. The minister was instantly speechless and began to stammer.

The crowd didn't quite understand, nor could they comprehend the sudden smugness on Han Laoguai's face, but they all admired him greatly.

The woman frowned slightly. Ning Nan asked her what was wrong. After thinking for a while, she quietly told Ning Nan that Mr. Han had misattributed the story. This story was from the Han Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, but Mr. Han claimed it was from the Southern Chen Dynasty during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

Ning Nan smiled and asked her why she didn't interrupt. The woman thought for a while, then frowned and said, "Mr. Han is probably using the past to satirize the present. The Southern Chen is the current Southern Liang. He is saying that the Southern Liang will perish sooner or later like the last emperor of Chen."

Ning Nan smiled and poured her a glass of wine, who was still a little sullen. "We won't follow his example, and we won't talk about national affairs."

Ning Nan admired the woman for her knowledge and ability to recognize Han Laoguai's "malicious intentions" in an instant.

Furthermore, with the bright yellow moonlight and the way the other person held the pen, he knew even more that the other person was not simply someone who could write.

Such a proper pen-holding posture requires years of immersion in calligraphy; it's all muscle memory formed over time, something ordinary people can't even fake.

Even though the woman was only wearing a simple cloth dress and hairpin, and the pen in her hand was just a cheap sheep hair brush that Ning Nan had bought for ten coins back then, at this moment, looking at the woman's serious eyebrows and eyes, her slightly pursed pink lips, and the temperament she exuded like ink painting, Ning Nan felt that even the most graceful and charming lady in Jiangnan could not overshadow the woman's charm.

Outside, the bright moon hung high, while inside, the oil lamp flickered dimly. The silhouettes of the two figures intertwined in front of the window, and as the moonlight shifted, a quarter of an hour slowly passed.

Ning Nan noticed that Cui Cui had clearly written half a page, but then tore it up in a flash, looking quite annoyed. Cui Cui puffed out her cheeks, crumpled the scrap paper into a ball, threw it on the table, and started writing again from the beginning.

Ningnan is not in a hurry.

I waited for a while.

The other person finally finished writing and handed him a page of letter paper. Ning Nan took it. In this era, text was written vertically and there were no punctuation marks. Fortunately, he had gotten used to it over the years.

He asked the other party if he could take a look. After receiving permission, he glanced at it and learned that Cui Cui had encountered bandits, was rescued by a kind person, and was urged to come quickly. She also recalled the layout of the Zhu mansion and a few small incidents, which seemed to be some past between Miss Zhu and the owner of the Fu Lai Tavern, such as meeting him once on a certain day.

Ning Nan folded the letter and put it in a cloth bag close to his body.

Zhu Cuiwei's watery eyes were fixed on him, observing his expression. When she found that his expression did not change, her tense face relaxed, but she felt a little disappointed.

"Well written."

Just as she was feeling a little disappointed, she heard a man's voice praising her.

"What's good?" she asked, tilting her chin up.

"The content is good."

"Heh." A slightly sarcastic smile appeared on her lips, a very perfunctory smile.

"Your handwriting is also quite good."

Ning Nan nodded.

The main beam is a standard pavilion-style structure, upright and grand, yet possesses a delicate beauty unique to women; it is indeed very impressive.

"Heh." The woman's smile finally became a little more genuine. "Do you need to tell me!"

"Let me throw this away for you." Ning Nan pointed to the crumpled paper on the desk through the window.

"No need." The woman quickly slapped the crumpled paper on her hand. "I'll throw it away myself."

clack.

She closed the window.

Looking at the silhouette of the woman visible through the tightly closed window paper, Ning Nan was stunned for a moment, wondering what was wrong with this woman again, but he didn't think much of it. He called out "Go to bed early" and went back to his room.

Separated by a window, Cui Cui inside the house heard the man's footsteps fade into the distance and let out a guilty sigh.

He unfolded the crumpled piece of paper in his hand.

The contents of the letter were almost identical to those of the one given to the man; the content was the same, but the fonts were different. The first letter used the Taige style, while this one used the Wei stele style.

She ran to the bedside and looked at the poem the man had written when he was seven years old on the wall. The man, who was still a child at the time, also used the Wei stele style for this poem.

She glanced at the wall, then looked down at the letter she had written, her brow furrowing slightly.

after awhile.

"How come it's not as good as what he wrote when he was seven?"

Her face looked rather grim, and she crumpled the paper into a ball.

"The problem is with the pen." After a while, she felt she had found the reason and gave a confident, soft hum.

...

...

The next day.

Ning Nan stepped out into the morning light, intending to solve the most troublesome problem—to find Li Baoxin, the village head, to issue a travel permit to Nanjing.

But they had only just stepped out of the courtyard.

Li Xing then ran over and said that the Embroidered Uniform Guard had arrived.

Ning Nan was taken aback.

When they arrived at Erlaizi's house by the stone bridge, the Jinyiwei commander who had deceived them for seven days was dressed in a white casual outfit and was sitting in Erlaizi's courtyard drinking tea.

Er Lai's father returned from slaughtering a pig and was serving tea to this Jinyiwei official.

"Greetings, Lord Shangguan." Ning Nan clasped his hands in greeting, his tone cold.

Shangguan Xiu quickly stood up, looking somewhat embarrassed.

"Brother Ning," he gestured, "please sit down."

After all, he was a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Although he took the handcuff blueprints and kept him around for seven days without helping him resolve his household registration issue, given the other party's status, there was naturally no need to offend him.

Ning Nan sat down firmly.

Shangguan Xiu tossed a silver coin to Erlai's father, thanking him for the tea, and then politely took the teapot from the other man's hand, personally pouring tea for Ning Nan.

Ning Nan's expression finally softened a bit.

It wasn't because the other person poured him tea that things calmed down, but because the other person respected Erlai's father.

"Thank you, Lord Shangguan." Ning Nan accepted the tea with both hands.