Misty Rain of the Old Times

On the way back, Chen Xuan was always thinking about how long it would take to get the compensation. When he arrived at the door of Xiaomingju, he remembered that there was a beautiful girl on the top of the tower that he had chosen.

Feeling a little guilty, I glanced in that direction and thought, it's only a matter of moments, the person should be fine, right?

Besides, it was in broad daylight, in full view of everyone. Even if someone wanted to pick her up with bad intentions, there were so many people from the Forbidden Martial Arts Department below that they would need the courage to do so.

The person must be fine. He saw from a distance that the person was still sitting there like a duck and unable to move, so he raised his hand and pointed at the air. A gust of strong wind flew out and released the person's acupoints from several miles away.

"She's about to beat me up, so it's okay to let her be quiet for a while, right?" Thinking of this, Chen Xuan suddenly felt at ease.

Atop the tower, Zhang Yu suddenly stood up after regaining his mobility, glancing around in disbelief. His acupoints had been unlocked so silently? Who was it? Could it be the same person from before?
'Where on earth did this person come from? He's not well-known, yet his strength is unfathomable despite his young age. Where did he go? How far away did he have to be to unblock my acupuncture points? I've memorized his appearance, and this isn't over yet!' she thought to herself.

Whenever she thought of Chen Xuan's attitude of not taking her seriously, she felt her teeth itching. She had to sit there in such a shameful position in front of everyone and be conspicuous. She would definitely pay him back tenfold or a hundredfold if she had the chance in the future.

"What are you looking at? All men are bad!" She glared at some of the guys around her who were eager to try or were looking at her with bad intentions, snorted coldly and left. The matter was over, and she felt embarrassed to stay after being stared at for a while.

Work hard to practice martial arts and improve your combat power, investigate the identity of that guy, and beat his face into a pig's head in the future. This girl is not someone who is easily bullied. Zhang Yu found the stage goal in one go and was full of motivation.

She was only in her early twenties, yet she already had innate cultivation. To say she was a daughter of heaven wouldn't be an exaggeration. How could she have suffered such a loss? She had previously focused on developing her combat power, thinking she would be able to rise to fame by stepping into the innate realm. But she was dealt a heavy blow before she even began. How could she endure this?
After returning to his residence, Xiao Gao still seized the time to study hard for the exam. Wei Song laid out paper and ground ink for him.

After going out, Chen Xuan had already forgotten about Gao Jingming's dog food and greeted him: "Master, are you busy?"

Isn't this obvious? Gao Jingming took the time to ask, "It was quite a fight before. Ah Xuan, have you been to see what happened?"

"It's a small matter, just a grudge in the martial arts world, it has nothing to do with us." Chen Xuan was too lazy to explain. Xiao Gao was not very interested in such things either, as he was concentrating on the imperial examination.

He then shook the broken sword he had brought back and said, "Our sword was stolen and broken. The Forbidden Martial Arts Department said they would help to claim compensation. If they don't deliver in time, remember to give them a note, young master."

As he said that, Chen Xuan was about to continue working on the cake, with flour still covering his body.

Hearing this, Gao Jingming raised his head and pointed at his nose, saying, "Forbidden Martial Arts Division, pass the note. Me? Do I have that much face?"

"Master, don't underestimate yourself. After all, you are a talented person who has won two first prizes in a row, and you may even win three. You may even surpass them one day. It's a great honor for you. Besides, you are a relative of Prince Qing, so how dare they neglect you?" Chen Xuan had a look of self-assurance on his face.

Xiao Gao was immediately amused and said, "How come I didn't know I was so powerful?"

"That's because you keep a low profile," Chen Xuan said, and went back to work...

Nothing major happened for the next period of time. The days passed one by one. After more than ten days, Chen Xuan finally figured out how to make cakes. It was not easy. The wasted materials were worth several taels of silver.

During this period, the little princess also asked him to go out and play several times, but every time there was an old man standing by, and there was no chance for them to be alone together. It was so speechless.

Anyway, Chen Xuan directly asked the old emperor whether he was very idle as the king of a country, and the other party retorted with "Do you have any objections?"

He is old, so I won't bother with him. Although it is easy to get rid of him, I also understand his mentality as an old father, so I just treat it as making him happy.

As the little princess' birthday approached, she had no time to play with Chen Xuan. Hearing her complain that she was extremely busy all day, Chen Xuan really couldn't understand what she was so busy about.

Then the people from the Forbidden Martial Arts Department actually delivered the compensation to Chen Xuan and the others, and they delivered it early the next morning after the incident. Their efficiency was amazing.

At that time, Chen Xuan asked curiously, "Doesn't that person have no money? Where did they get the money? Does the Forbidden Martial Arts Division really have the ability to squeeze oil out of stones?"

The other party's answer was that a mysterious person acted as a guarantor and paid a large sum of money to take the man away. As for how much money was paid and who took the man away, the people who sent compensation from the Jinwu Bureau did not say, because they did not know either.

Chen Xuan understood and thought it was quite normal. After all, he was a congenital master, and his sword intent was like a tide. The value of winning him over was not comparable to mere copper. So, as long as a person had ability, there would be no shortage of mentors in the world. Only useless people would complain all day long.

It was a small matter. Chen Xuan didn't care about the money. He took the time to refine the broken sword again. It wasn't a magic weapon and didn't have much technical content. It was better than before, so he got some money for free.

In addition, Geng Hong and his friends usually brought back a lot of information, most of which was about attending the little princess's birthday party. I guess they really paid attention to it during that chat.

It's all an open secret. You don't need to ask around to know that the news is spreading all over the market. Talented scholars, sons of noble families, and even princes from other countries, etc., all seem to want to perform well on the little princess's birthday, either openly or secretly. You don't need to guess what their intentions are, it's nothing more than to show off and make the little princess look at them differently.

Chen Xuan felt a bit overwhelmed when thinking about that kind of occasion. Fortunately, he did not agree to let the little princess join in the fun. As for whether the little princess might really fall in love with someone at that time, they were just friends at the moment and had no right to interfere. So he secretly wrote down some young talents who were worth paying attention to in his little notebook.

He didn't know whether those whose names were recorded in the little notebook felt a chill in their backs, but he was quite happy to remember it.

There was one thing that puzzled Chen Xuan. The expected attack from King Zhongjiang did not come. Was it because the other party was busy with other things and had no time to care about him, or was it because he was cautious and did not act hastily?

Even though Prince Jiang has been reflecting on himself behind closed doors recently, it does not affect him from doing anything he wants.

Chen Xuan felt a little uncomfortable, but it was best if he didn't come. He was also happy to have some free time.

The little princess' birthday party has been scheduled. It will be held on her birthday at the princess's residence in the capital, not in her floating villa or the imperial palace, as both places are unsuitable.

In addition, the specific time for this year's autumn examination has also been set. The court has issued an edict. It will start on August 8th, which is a very auspicious date. When the weather is clear and cool, countless students will start an invisible battle to show what they have learned and usher in a turning point in their destiny.

An autumn examination will last for nine days. During that time, the candidates will have to eat, drink, defecate and urinate in a small area. Just thinking about it is a huge torture. Chen Xuan is glad that he did not take this path and suffer for nine days. If he put himself in the candidates' shoes, he didn't know whether he would overturn the table on the spot.

The autumn examination determines the three lists of Jinshi. Those who pass the list will continue to participate in the palace examination to strive for the highest honor, and it has nothing to do with those who fail.

By the way, although Xiao Gao's reputation wasn't as illustrious as the Eight Great Scholars, he was also a master of both calligraphy and painting. His painting was amazing, and Chen Xuan naturally knew that. What if he failed the exam? What if he failed as an art student? With the energy he was holding back, Chen Xuan didn't dare to imagine what he would do if he really failed. Unless someone was trying to trip him up, the possibility of him failing was very small.

Anyway, after the specific date was set, Xiao Gao studied even harder, almost working himself to death. Chen Xuan admired his concentration and didn't dare to hang around in front of him, for fear that he would pick up the sword he had recast in time and chop someone.

Xiao Gao is actively preparing for the exam, but it's not right for Chen Xuan to be so leisurely and show off...

In addition, there are three things worth noting. One is the drought in the southern Rong State, which has affected more than 100 million people in three prefectures. There has not been a drop of rain for two months. The grain harvest in those prefectures of Rong State may be almost total this year!

Another thing is that the Yuhua Kingdom and the Shuangyue Kingdom went to war. It was a month later when the news reached the capital of Jing Kingdom and everyone knew about it. The cause was that a gold mine with astonishing reserves was discovered at the border between the two countries. It was just a small-scale fight at first, but later evolved into a large-scale conflict. Both sides assembled hundreds of thousands of troops to confront each other, and a war that could shake the foundation of the country could break out at any time.

It is rumored that with the current mining technology, the gold mine can be mined for hundreds of years without exhaustion. Whichever country can occupy it will be rich for a long time, so no country is willing to give up.

Gold mines, although they cannot be eaten, become hard currency when extracted, and no one is willing to give them up.

The three countries surrounding Jing State were all in turmoil, and Jing State became a hot commodity all of a sudden. Rong State wanted to purchase a large amount of food to prepare for disaster relief, and Shuangyue State and Yuhua State wanted to get Jing State's support to seize the gold mine. But now Jing State was just watching from the sidelines without making any statement, and no one knew what was going on in the court.

But is Jingguo really at peace? Emperor Shang Xuan is already old, with less than a year to live. Once he passes away, no one knows what the situation will be like. Now, although it appears calm on the surface, there are undercurrents surging behind the scenes.

Several neighboring countries have encountered incidents one after another, so you can imagine how important this little princess's banquet is, especially for the young talents in those countries. If they can win the favor of the little princess, they may be able to get the support of Jingguo!
Compared with the first two things, the third thing is not worth mentioning and has nothing to do with ordinary people. That is, Wuxiang Temple, one of the leaders of the righteous way in Jingguo Jianghu, suddenly announced that it would close the mountain and close its doors. Once the news came out, there were different opinions. Some people said that Wuxiang Temple had encountered a major change, and some people said that the master of Wuxiang Temple was about to die. No one knew the specific reason.

On the ninth day of the seventh month, the weather was clear, and Chen Xuan sneaked away early in the morning to avoid wandering around and disturbing Gao Jingming's studies.

He left his residence and rented a temporary place to concentrate on making a birthday cake for the little princess. He had promised her a gift... (End of this chapter)