Whoever can strike me hard will be rewarded handsomely.

On May 21, Fang Yanqing's victory celebration banquet was held as scheduled at Tingyunlou on East Street.

Tingyunlou is a time-honored brand in Beijing. It has three stories with flying eaves and vermilion carved railings. The celebration banquet was held in a private room on the second floor by the window, which directly faced the bustling traffic on East Street.

As dusk fell, the setting sun cast its light on the stone-paved streets of East Street. People thronged the area, and the noise gradually rose. Taverns and teahouses lit up their lanterns.

The guests for the celebration banquet arrived as scheduled.

The carriage stopped on the stone road. Zhao Siye got out of the carriage with Xie Wumian's help, followed closely by Pei Lian. Before the three of them entered Tingyun Tower, Fang Yanqing had already come out to greet them.

Zhao Siye stroked his beard and looked Fang Yanqing up and down.

The young man was dressed simply and cleanly, yet showed no sign of distress, nor any arrogance of a top scholar. He wore a proper smile, possessed a refined demeanor, and stood tall and straight like a bamboo.

Zhao Siye patted Fang Yanqing on the shoulder with a smile and praised, "Not bad, not bad, worthy of being Brother Jiang's outstanding student."

After saying that, he glanced at Pei Lian and said to Fang Yanqing, "You and my apprentice are the same age and colleagues. In the future, you will serve the court together. You should help and support each other."

Fang Yanqing's gaze swept over Pei Lian, who was half a step behind Zhao Siye, without making a sound. This young scholar was wearing a brand new set of clothes today. Although he still had some youthful arrogance and spirit on his face, he was much more restrained than he had been at the Mangshan Poetry Gathering.

Fang Yanqing smiled broadly: "Of course, Mr. Zhao, Young Master Xie, and Lord Pei, please come this way."

As he spoke, he led the three into a private room on the top floor.

The private room was almost full of people. Jiang Xu, Yu Shanzhang, and Liu Jijiu greeted Zhao Siye.

"Old sir."

"Brother Zhao."

Shen Jiangliu, Fu Xingjian, Gu Zhenhe, and the others quickly stood up and bowed, saying, "Mr. Zhao."

Zhao Siye smiled and cupped his hands towards Jiang Jibai, half with emotion and half with a joke: "Brother Jiang, I was thinking it would be an honor to have a student who could pass the imperial examination with a third-place finish, but who would have thought that you would quietly produce a top scholar? It's truly..."

Jiang Jibai rose to return the greeting, his gaze sweeping over Xie Wumian and Pei Lian, who were supporting Zhao Siye on either side. His smile was gentle: "Yanqing's achievement of becoming the top scholar is due to his own diligence and good fortune. I dare not take credit for it. On the contrary, Pei Xiaotanhua, who achieved first place in the imperial examination at the age of fifteen, is unheard of. He has a bright future ahead of him."

Upon hearing this praise of his disciple, Zhao Siye's smile almost overflowed. He tried several times to suppress it but couldn't, stroking his beard as he said, "Not at all, not at all, Brother Jiang is too kind. If you praise this kid any more, he'll get too cocky."

After saying that, Zhao Siye added, "I ran into an old friend on my way here and chatted with him for a while, which delayed me a bit. I'm really sorry to have kept everyone waiting."

Jiang Jibai said, "What are you saying? You've come at just the right time."

Liu Jijiu also said with a smile, "Brother Zhao, we just poured the wine and you just happened to arrive. It seems you don't want to miss a single cup."

Yu Shanzhang raised his wine glass and chimed in, "This is wine personally brewed by Brother Jiang; it's truly a rare find."

"Oh? Brother Jiang also has the skill of brewing wine?" Under Fang Yanqing's guidance, Zhao Siye sat down at the wooden table by the window. "Then I really must have a good taste."

Xie Wumian and Pei Lian were placed on either side of Zhao Siye.

After settling the guests in, Fang Yanqing walked over to Jiang Jibai and whispered in his ear, "Almost everyone has arrived, only..."

He paused briefly, glancing at the empty seat next to Shen Jiangliu.

With so many "familiar faces" at today's celebration banquet, Fang Yanqing figured His Majesty would most likely not show up for the sake of his disguise, so he said, "Junior Brother probably has some urgent business to attend to. I'll have the waiter wait downstairs, and as soon as he arrives, have someone bring him up. Shall we have the restaurant serve the dishes first?"

If it were just a private banquet for the four of them, that would be fine. Several old gentlemen were present, as well as Jiang Xu, who had risen to the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. It was also a celebration banquet for the second disciple. According to etiquette, there was no reason for everyone to wait for a junior.

Jiang Jibai glanced at the empty desk to the left of his eldest disciple, thinking of his junior disciple's repeated attempts to slip away and the many "unspeakable" things he had done. In the end, he simply looked away, nodded slightly, and said, "Very well."

Upon hearing this, Fang Yanqing immediately went to the door and whispered a few instructions to the waiter. Soon, waiters filed in with trays to serve the dishes to everyone.

Steaming hot dishes were placed on the guests' tables one by one, their aroma filling the air. Several elderly gentlemen chatted with Jiang for a few minutes with smiles.

The young people, however, would occasionally glance in the direction of that empty desk.

Today is Fang Yanqing's victory celebration banquet, and that person is also Mr. Jiang's disciple. The fact that there is an empty seat next to Shen Jiangliu makes people wonder who it is reserved for.

Will His Majesty attend Fang Yanqing's victory celebration banquet today?

Even if they don't necessarily come, but... what if they do?

His Majesty hasn't even arrived yet, and they've already started eating. Is that...isn't that a bit inappropriate?

Yan Mingli, Fu Xingjian, and the others exchanged glances, unsure whether to pick up the chopsticks in front of them or not.

Although Xie Wumian did not know who Mr. Jiang's junior disciple was, he remembered his teacher's words about wanting to taste Mr. Jiang's personally brewed wine. He picked up the wine pot on the table, knelt down beside Zhao Siye, and poured his teacher a glass of bright red wine.

Seeing this, Pei Lian also picked up his chopsticks and served food to the teacher.

Upon seeing this, Liu Jijiu exclaimed, "Brother Zhao is truly blessed to have such a disciple. One of them is pouring wine, and the other is serving dishes. It's truly enviable."

Yu Tingyuan joked, "That's a good reward for all the letters Old Zhao wrote to us praising his students. We're not so lucky."

As Zhao Siye was being served by his two apprentices, he listened to his old friends' sarcastic remarks and laughed so hard that his beard trembled: "Hey, you kids, what's with all this talk about enjoying life? You just like to show off in front of me."

He glanced at Xie Wumian to the left: "You poured too little. Fill it up. This is wine personally brewed by Brother Jiang. I must have a good taste."

He glanced at Pei Lian again and said, "You've put too much in your food. Your teacher is in his seventies, and I can't digest too much."

Liu Jijiu and Yu Tingyuan exchanged a glance, feeling they couldn't bear to look.

Jiang Xu glanced in Jiang Jibai's direction and was about to get up.

Jiang Jibai stopped Jiang Xu's actions with a look.

Before he could even feel sad, Shen Jiangliu and Fang Yanqing both stood up with their wine jugs in hand.

Before the two of them could decide who would serve the food and who would pour the drinks, a tall figure appeared at the door of the private room.

The newcomer wore a black robe that reached his feet, embroidered with gold thread, and had a folding fan hanging from his waist. He wore a silver-patterned mask and walked slowly through the hall with wide sleeves. As he walked, the dark patterns on his clothes shimmered, and he had an extraordinary bearing.

He knelt down directly beside Jiang Jibai, dignified and calm, but picked up his chopsticks, took a small piece of fish and placed it on Jiang Jibai's plate. While picking out the small bones from the fish, he said apologetically, "I was delayed by my errand, teacher, I'm late."

After saying that, he glanced around, his gaze lingering briefly on the elderly gentlemen and Fang Yanqing: "I apologize for keeping you all waiting."

Fu Xingjian stood up abruptly.

Chen Han spilled the wine in his glass.

Yan Mingli steadied himself on the table.

Gu Zhenhe gripped his chopsticks tightly.

Pei Lian's hand trembled as she served food to Zhao Siye, piercing the tofu in Zhao Siye's plate.