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

"Huh?" Zhao Silang was stunned, and his three strands of beautiful beard trembled.

Zhu Cuiwei smiled at him in a clear, melodious voice:

"Lord Zhao, I saw that Grand Scholar Liu ranked this person as the best. Grand Scholar Liu's Wei stele calligraphy is famous throughout the north and south. I have heard that Lord Zhao is also a renowned calligrapher, and he is known in the capital as 'Zhao Bone'."

"Although I do not know who this top scholar is, or why his handwriting is so poor."

"However, since you gentlemen have strongly recommended this person as the top candidate, after the list is posted, Lord Zhao should not simply abandon him. You should teach him to write beautiful calligraphy to help the younger generation. What does Lord Zhao think?"

Zhao Silang was somewhat surprised that the Empress had chosen this person as the top scholar. He felt a pang of regret and thought he should have strongly recommended this person as unworthy of being in the top ten!

The Zhao family has a tradition of combining farming and scholarship, and their fertile land exceeds a thousand acres. Yet, which acre of it was allegedly "plundered"? This person's claim of "the Gao clan seizing land" is purely slander against the local worthys and attempts to sow discord between the ruler and his loyal ministers. His intentions are despicable!

But now that things had come to this, no matter how annoyed he was, he couldn't refute it, otherwise he would inevitably be accused of being two-faced.

Vice Minister Zhao forced a smile, bowed, and said:

"Your Majesty has summoned me; how dare I disobey?"

The Empress smiled slightly and said, "Thank you for your trouble, Lord Zhao."

The top ten rankings were agreed upon.

Zhang Qi, the chief eunuch standing to the side, sealed the ten policy essays back into the brocade box.

Gong Yuan, the eunuch at the lower end of the hall, bowed and stepped forward, offering the brocade box back with both hands.

"Gentlemen, fill in the yellow list," the Empress said, waving her sleeve, her voice trembling slightly. "Prepare for the grand announcement ceremony and the reading of names in the Golden Hall tomorrow."

"Your Majesty, we respectfully obey your command!"

Everyone bowed down.

……

……

It snowed for two more days.

When Master Ning got up in the morning, his maid Chunyu made him put on an extra winter coat.

"Master's body is hotter than a furnace!" The young Master Ning protested, stretching his arms up and feeling incredibly heavy after adding these few more clothes.

Ignoring everything else, Chunyu helped her master straighten his clothes, muttering, "Madam instructed me to add more clothes and a stove for you, Master, because she said you've been feeling a bit chilly lately!"

Mr. Ning, who had slept a full hour later than his wife today and had been sleeping soundly, suddenly gasped in surprise.

Having been manipulated by the maid for a long time, Master Ning felt as if his wife had stabbed him in the heart, and had no appetite, so he had to disappoint Chef Xu's kind intentions.

We boarded a carriage and leisurely headed to Fulai Tavern for breakfast.

We sat down in a private room, sipped tea, and ordered a whole bunch of dishes including chicken, duck, vegetables, porridge, and noodles, eating about half of each.

When he couldn't eat anymore, he ordered the waiter to give the rest to the beggars outside the restaurant.

Without the pressure of the imperial examinations, they could only quietly wait for the results of the final palace examination.

In just one day, he felt as idle as a spoiled rich kid, wandering around aimlessly, not knowing what to do.

But I cherish it.

After all, once the results are announced tomorrow, the next step is becoming an official.

Although he failed to pass the first-class imperial examination, Grand Secretary Liu gave him a definite answer, saying that he could recommend him to the Hanlin Academy as a probationary official. If nothing unexpected happens, he should go to the Hanlin Academy later.

He was holding a newspaper he had just gotten from the Fulai Tavern.

Today's Nancheng Daily newspaper is filled with praise for the Empress, stories of a shop opening and its manager's miraculous feats, and so on.

Then there are serialized supernatural tales like "A Chinese Ghost Story," and some news stories that don't take a stand.

For example, the news might be "The imperial examination has concluded, and the announcement ceremony will be held tomorrow." The news is very fresh, but the newspaper never criticizes current affairs, and it doesn't write a single editorial.

He would write extensively about new things like "Baiyufang" and "Dukang Ruler," but he would never touch old things.

Do everything possible to avoid attracting the attention of the imperial court.

In the past few months, because of the envy of the "Nancheng Daily", several other newspapers have actually appeared in Beijing.

For example, someone on Datong Street copied him and created something called the "Dongcheng Daily".

The imitation was very good, but the price couldn't be low; a newspaper had to sell for twelve coins, otherwise there would be no profit.

At first, naturally no one bought them.

But the owner and manager of the Dongcheng Daily were no pushovers either; they were very quick-witted.

They even published secret reports about the imperial examinations in the newspapers, and hired many so-called examination tutors to write about their experiences in the examinations. During the provincial and metropolitan examinations, they attracted many candidates to buy their articles, and made a fortune.

Sitting in the carriage, as they passed the Dongcheng Daily, Ning Nan couldn't help but glance at it. The gate was closed and sealed off.

The Dongcheng Daily has been shut down for a month.

I heard that the shopkeeper and the owner, seeing the newspaper sales decline, started racking their brains to write something more appealing for the newspaper.

To attract attention, and with high prices, the rhetoric inevitably becomes increasingly "outlandish".

Later, he finally broke the taboo and was shut down by Shangyuan County for "slandering the emperor".

Ning Nan glanced at the snowflakes falling from the plaque of the Dongcheng Daily and felt a pang of sadness.

He didn't know how powerful the owner was; if he wasn't, it would probably be difficult to resolve things peacefully.

Besides the Dongcheng Daily, many other messy newspapers also appeared.

However, seeing the state of the Dongcheng Daily, and knowing that the newspaper is not profitable, I heard that many of them have already closed down.

Take Tan, the owner of Tianjinlou, for example. On the surface, he called him a brother, but in reality, he secretly ran a newspaper. He lost several thousand taels of silver printing a month's worth of newspapers and hired many hangers-on to help him distribute them.

At a price of eight coins, most of them remained unsold, let alone allowing other restaurants to publish their failures in his newspaper.

It's closed now.

From Datong Street to Fengwei Street.

When we arrived at Willow Leaf Lane, the private school there was also closed.

The people at the restaurant across the street said that Mr. Lizhou had taken Zhibao back to his hometown to visit relatives.

He left empty-handed.

When Mr. Lizhou passed the provincial examination with top honors, his wife, Cui Cui, sent him a hundred taels of gold as a token of gratitude, but Mr. Lizhou returned it all.

He also wrote a note that said:

"The tuition fee has been received, and we owe each other nothing. Although I am a teacher, I cannot guarantee that everyone will succeed. If you do pass, there is no need for thanks. I only hope that you will not fail the teachings of the sages."

The big yellow horse reared up and left Willow Leaf Lane, which it had traversed for months. After a reluctant neigh, it turned south and galloped out of the city.

"Brother Ning, tsk... um... the Duke of Huiyuan? Or should I address him as the Duke of Hanlin in advance?"

Dressed in white, Doctor Jiang held a pen and paper in a low house, smiled, and said that there was still a little ink on the corner of his lips, probably from dipping the pen in saliva.

Old Master Ning squatted on the ground, looked at the 'blue mold' emerging from the jar, then looked up and smiled at the female doctor who was increasingly resembling a researcher:

"Just don't call him 'father-in-law'."

Doctor Jiang chuckled, then spat out a mouthful of saliva:

"A dignified scholar of the Hanlin Academy..."

After chatting and laughing for a while, Jiang Sixue suddenly remembered something and said:

"Oh, you said last time that I should find a Taoist priest who makes pills, maybe he could help me out, and I actually found one!" She wrinkled her nose proudly, as if she were showing off.

Ning Nan said "Oh?" with a hint of surprise.

Taoist priests have immense patience for research in their pursuit of immortality.

If a Taoist priest were to join Doctor Jiang's team, he could pass on his rudimentary knowledge of biology and chemistry to them, and they should be able to cultivate a group of talented individuals.

"Master Xu is also skilled in traditional Chinese medicine. She lives in the capital. Her grandmaster was a close friend of my master. She was very good at alchemy and healing. People near her Taoist temple would go to Master Xu when they got sick."

"I invited her here ten days ago, but unfortunately she had something to do yesterday and went back. Otherwise you could have met her today."

Ning Nan nodded, stood up, squatted for a while until his legs went a little numb, rubbed his legs, and laughed:

"It's alright, see you next time."

As the sun began to set, the world was a pale white as we left the Penicillium Research Institute. By the time we returned to the Ning residence, it was already dusk.

In the second courtyard of the Ning Mansion, several bare trees were covered with icicles, and a few icicles hung from the eaves.

When Ningnan arrived at the flower hall.

Steward Wang was instructing several servants to run back and forth on the veranda, using long poles to knock off the ice crystals to prevent them from falling and hitting the master, mistress, and second young lady who lived in the second courtyard.

After dinner, Master Ning casually browsed through books that his wife, Cui Cui, usually enjoyed reading, such as "A Brief History of the Later Zhao Dynasty" and "A Study of Taxes," in his study, and gained a lot from the experience.

As midnight approached and he began to feel drowsy, his wife's footsteps finally rang out clearly on the veranda.