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

"Huff..." Ning Nan took a breath, rubbed his forehead, and said angrily to her, "Why didn't you wake me up?"

The maid, dressed in a peach-pink gown and with a slender, boneless waist, said:

"I can't wake him up, I've tried calling him for ages and he still won't wake up."

Qian Sijin said at the opportune moment, "It's already been investigated. Li Xinlian switched the young master's sandalwood incense, which is why he fell into a deep sleep..."

When he said this, Qian Sijin was already covered in a cold sweat.

With the underground passage, sandalwood, and adopted daughter, Li Wei had already devised a series of vicious schemes even before the son-in-law entered the city.

He dared not imagine what kind of situation his son-in-law would have ended up in if it weren't for this Miss Susu and Li Wei had succeeded today!

Ning Nan gritted his teeth. This Li Wei was too cunning. Last night he pretended to drink and act honest, but the underhanded tricks he used behind the scenes were so vicious!

"From today onwards,"

This time, they've been caught off guard and capsized in the gutter. Ning Nanchao Qian Sijin said:

"Our accommodations are entirely independent of the Northern Dynasty! Not only our food, but also the sandalwood, charcoal, writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones we use are all purchased by ourselves. We refuse to use anything provided by the Northern Dynasty officials!"

"Yes!" Qian Sijin quickly bowed his head.

Zhen Susu twirled a strand of hair with her slender fingers and said innocently:

"I only heard a noise at the time. As a girl, I was worried it might be something unclean, so I just kept a watchful eye on things... Who knew it was Li Xinlian? Who knew she had changed the sandalwood incense? Later, I got up early in the morning and went to check your room, and I saw Li Xinlian climbing into your bed..."

…………

Huai'an City.

The Governor-General's Office of Jiangnan.

Inside a quiet study.

Li Wei sat in the sandalwood chair, his face ashen, and pounded his fist on the desk.

"What about the secret report?"

The steward, who had just rushed in, pulled out a secret report from his robes and blatantly lied, saying:

"My lord, the secret report has actually been locked in the iron cabinet all along. You just didn't see it the other day. I have found it now."

Li Wei reached out and took the secret report. After opening it and confirming that it was the Emperor's genuine handwriting, he breathed a sigh of relief and felt at ease.

The secret fold is not necessarily locked in the iron cage.

Instead, after the delegation left, the steward went outside the city and personally retrieved it from the unfilial daughter.

When he saw the young man surnamed Ning stagger out of the room, he felt much more at ease!

All that's needed is to find Li Xinlian and beat the two of them to death for their adultery, and the Southern Kingdom's Grand Prince Consort will rightfully fall into his hands!

But to his utter surprise, when he pushed open the door, the person huddled in the man's bed was none other than his own unfilial daughter!

Li Wei's mind went completely into a jumbled mess!

Just then, the shameless and unfilial daughter blinked, stretched out a smooth arm from under the covers, pointed to a blue robe on the table, and asked him to help her take a piece of clothing to her man when he went out.

Li Wei was struck dumb, staggered a few steps, and intended to beat the unfilial daughter to death.

At this moment, the unfilial daughter chuckled softly in bed:

"Lord Li, do you want that secret memorial?... If you do, after my husband and I leave the city, you can send someone to retrieve it from me... Otherwise..." The unfilial daughter wrinkled her nose, "I'll return this secret memorial to its rightful owner and have it sent back to His Majesty the Emperor in the capital..."

Li Wei felt his blood run cold instantly.

"Just like her mother from the Heavenly Principle Sect, she has no ruler or father! She has no shame! She does these evil and stupid things all day long, things that could kill her whole family! She's utterly despicable!"

With a clang, Li Wei bent down and gritted his teeth as he locked the secret fold into the iron cage.

Thump, thump, the butler stepped forward at the right moment to help the master grind the ink.

As for whether anyone had seen this secret report or whether it had been copied, neither the master nor the servant mentioned it at all.

With a whoosh, Li Wei straightened up, angrily spread out a sheet of Xuan paper, and after his chest heaved several times, his emotions gradually calmed down.

His eyes were serious as he picked up his pen and dipped it in ink.

The mouse hair brushes across the paper:

"Your Majesty, I, the Governor-General of Jiangnan, kneel and report: Your Majesty, the usurper of Ningnan is utterly cunning and treacherous! Prince Yi's son, Xin Jialin, has encountered such an rude and untrustworthy person; how could he not be deceived? This man's wickedness and treachery are no less than those of Cao Cao and Zhu Wen. I have been ordered by Your Majesty to work day and night to devise a way to keep this man in Huai'an, and I will hold a banquet to entertain him..."

…………

"I knocked Li Xinlian unconscious and hid her under the bed." Zhen Susu's fingers were still twirling her black hair.

"Isn't that enough?" Ning Nan retorted angrily, "You, you..."

He couldn't bring himself to say, "Why are you taking off your clothes? Why are you sleeping in my arms?"

Zhen Susu leaned on the shoulder of the nun Xu next to her and said lazily, "There's nothing I can do about it, that's what happens when you're too smart."

"As soon as I saw Li Xinlian's appearance, I knew what Li Wei was up to. I care about the leader, so I thought I'd stand up for him."

"Another thing is..."

She pressed her face against Xu Daogu's shoulder, looked at Ning Nan's ashen face, and said smugly:

"Didn't Sister Xu come back last night and say that that scoundrel Li Wei was making things difficult for the leader and preventing him from going north? In order to avoid being forced into marriage by the leader, I have to do my part and help the leader solve his problems."

Ning Nan's forehead was throbbing with pain. He rubbed it hard, trying to figure out what Zhen Susu, this fox-like woman, was thinking. He guessed that she probably wanted to spite her own father more than help him.

However, he did admit that Zhen Susu's impromptu solution—using the secret report to persuade Li Wei not to make things difficult for him regarding the mission's northward journey—was indeed quite good.

Moreover, this condition really had to be proposed by Zhen Susu. After all, it was Zhen Susu who obtained it from Li Wei.

If he were to bring it up himself… Ning Nan felt a chill run down his spine… He realized he might really never be able to leave Huai'an City.

Not only is he unable to escape, but Li Wei is also determined to kill him.

After all, Yongzheng's secret memorial had been leaked. Even if Yongzheng didn't kill him now, he would definitely keep a record of it. Who knows, one day Li Wei might accidentally say something wrong, and Yongzheng would just flip through his notebook and bring it up to settle scores. Li Wei couldn't afford to gamble.

The secret report was handed over to Zhen Susu.

Zhen Susu then told the steward she had known since childhood that she had escaped to Crane Garden and managed to hide by "submitting" to him, the deputy envoy of the Southern Dynasty. She then used the secret report to exchange for her journey north... Hmm, this logic makes sense.

Even though Li Wei had his own guesses, he dared not say them aloud.

As for whether or not to use the contents of the secret memorial to threaten the Governor-General of Jiangnan later... Ning Nan exhaled a breath of stale air and thought about it carefully... That's a matter for later.

Being in such a dangerous situation, they might really resort to desperate measures. We can only deal with it after we return to Nanjing.

Xuzhou is about 400 li away from Huai'an. The delegation rested at a post station at night and it took them about five days to arrive. Xuzhou Prefect Dong You and others came out of the city to greet them.

Upon entering Xuzhou City, Ning Nan learned from his experience. Given his special status, he did not stay as arranged by the other party, but instead booked an inn outside the city.

Xuzhou has been a strategic location fought over by military strategists since ancient times. If the north takes Xuzhou, their military might can reach as far as the Yangtze and Huai River regions.

After capturing Xuzhou in the south, the Northern Expedition was launched, directly confronting the North China Plain.

Looking at the terrain on a map is naturally different from observing the terrain in person.

Ning Nan wanted to ride around Xuzhou more, but the delegation would be leaving tomorrow, so he wouldn't have the chance this time.

Xuzhou has a wide variety of delicious food, and the cuisine here is more in line with northern Chinese characteristics.

The seventeenth princess, who was disguised as a man, had been in a very bad mood these past few days.

She picked up a Pengcheng fish ball, known as "fish pearl," snorted, and glanced at another table.

At that table sat a beautiful maid dressed in a peach-colored dress, elegantly eating honey-glazed pastries.

In terms of appearance alone, the princess with the melon-shaped hat and the Han name Zhu Qingmian is slightly better than the other.

However, the other party was dressed in a gorgeous women's outfit, and her waist was pitifully thin.

She would occasionally give Ning a sweet smile and say, "Young Master, this is delicious."

Call him "Young Master" if you want, call him "Brother" if you want, but she insists on calling him something inappropriate, like "Young Master Brother".

"Hey," Zhu Qingmian loosened her chopsticks, and the fish ball fell back into the soup, splashing a few drops of broth.

"Chef Ning."

She glanced at Ning Nan and exclaimed in dissatisfaction:

"Where did you find this vixen? It's been several days, why haven't you sold her yet?"

Master Ning, who was eating a flatbread, froze for a moment before nodding and saying:

"Alright. I'll sell her when we get to Jinan."

Zhen Susu immediately cast two innocent, pitiful glances at him: "..."

…………

Jinan is about 600 li away from Xuzhou. In recent years, the Northern Dynasties have carried out major repairs on this section of the official road, and the road has become much smoother.

They drastically changed mules and horses in Xuzhou, and laborers were also put on carts as much as possible, making the journey much faster.

Aside from a brief rest in Yanzhou, the mission traveled at a rapid pace, arriving in Jinan nine days later.

After resting for two days in Jinan, the delegation arrived in Cangzhou six days later, weary from their journey.

Traveling north from Cangzhou, it will take about seven or eight more days to finally reach Beijing, our destination.