My family has been wielding knives for generations, but now it's my turn to wield a pen!

Inside Dali Temple.

Pei Shen sat in the main hall, surrounded by piles of files, one on top of another, almost as tall as a person.

Yes, he is still investigating the case concerning the Ministry of Rites' imperial examinations.

After all, Jiang Xiaobai entrusted this matter to him, and no matter what, he had to give Jiang Xiaobai an explanation.

The problem is... after so much time has passed, he's getting more and more frustrated with the investigation.

It's as if there's an invisible hand behind it all, constantly erasing all traces.

We finally found a clue, but the trail went cold as soon as we got there.

Just when he finally noticed something was wrong with someone, before he could even take action, that person disappeared!

You can imagine how unhappy he must have been.

"Damn it, who's behind this?!"

Pei Shen cursed angrily and slammed the dossier in his hand against the wall.

Just then, footsteps sounded outside, and a servant walked in.

The servant, seeing Pei Shen's somber expression, trembled inwardly and bowed respectfully, saying, "Lord Shaoqing!"

"explain!"

Pei Shen took a deep breath and suppressed his anger.

"Three people have come outside!"

The servant sensed something was wrong with Pei Shen's attitude and cautiously said, "The other party claims to be a guest of the Beiyu Academy, and says... says they want to sue the heir of the Zhenbei Marquis's mansion, Jiang!"

"What the heck?"

Upon hearing this, Pei Shen's eyes flashed coldly as he looked at the servant and said, "This dog from Beiyu, in our Great Hua... wants to sue my brother Jiang?"

"yes!"

The servant nodded reluctantly.

"snort!"

Pei Shen's face immediately turned cold: "They've rebelled! Go... arrest them!"

"Lock them all up in jail!"

"this……"

The servant was taken aback for a moment, then said with a wry smile, "Sir, they claim to be guests of the courtyard!"

"Arresting them directly... might be a bit inappropriate, wouldn't it?"

"A guest in the hospital?"

Pei Shen frowned: "To hell with those 'guests,' arrest them and lock them up for three days!"

"They are not allowed to eat for the next three days!!"

"yes!"

Upon hearing this, the servant's lips twitched slightly, but he ultimately nodded respectfully, turned, and left.

Not long after, angry shouts came from outside.

"What are you doing? We are guests of Beiyu Academy!"

"Your Great Hua is actually protecting each other among officials! I... I must appeal to your imperial court!"

The sound faded into the distance, clearly indicating that... the person had been forcibly dragged away.

"snort!"

Inside the lobby, Pei Shen looked up and glanced outside: "A bunch of bastards, complaining anywhere won't do any good!"

After speaking, Pei Shen picked up the file again and continued to look through it.

After flipping through only a few pages, I became irritable again.

He was puzzled. Who was behind this case at the Ministry of Rites?

……

"Damn it, this is infuriating!"

Inside the Dali Temple prison cell, Teng Zixiu gripped the iron bars, trembling with rage. His face was filled with nothing but fury.

As guests of the Northern Yu Academy, they were actually imprisoned in the capital of the Great Hua after arriving in the capital.

And it's because they're going to sue Jiang Xiaobai!

What is this?

Does Dahua have no regard for the law?!

"Zixiu!"

Xiao Qin sat beside him, a wry smile on his face: "This doesn't seem to be what we expected!"

They went to the Ministry of Justice first, but the Ministry of Justice refused to accept the case after hearing about the complaint against Jiang Xiaobai.

Now that they've arrived at the Dali Temple, the Dali Temple has become even more ruthless upon hearing Jiang Xiaobai's name, and has locked them up immediately!

This alone demonstrates just how influential the Marquis of Zhenbei's mansion was in the capital!

"rest assured!"

Teng Zixiu gritted her teeth and said, "We're guests at the inn after all; they won't dare lock us up for too long!"

"They'll release us soon!"

"Hmph, when the time comes, we'll go to the Censorate. If the Censorate doesn't work, we'll go to the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Rites..."

Teng Zixiu grew increasingly furious as he spoke: "I refuse to believe that in such a vast capital city, there isn't a single place that dares to accept our petition!"

"But these places don't seem to care about this, do they?"

Xiao Qin listened, his expression becoming even more helpless.

Apart from the Inspectorate, the other five ministries don't care about these things at all.

"Whatever!"

Teng Zixiu said coldly, "As long as someone dares to target the Marquis of Zhenbei's residence, that's fine!"

Then, Teng Zixiu paused, "If all else fails, we'll go to the Prime Minister's residence!"

"I remember, the Prime Minister of Dahua and the Marquis of Zhenbei's mansion have always been at odds, haven't they?"

For them, as long as they can submit the complaint and someone is willing to take it on, then... this matter is not over!

"Well, that's all we can do!"

Xiao Qin glanced at the prison and sighed heavily.

……

Over the next two days, the entire capital city was in an uproar.

"Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River," "Bring in the Wine," and all other poems written by Jiang Xiaobai spread like wildfire.

In restaurants, teahouses, and even at street-side bookstalls, people were constantly talking about it.

Especially the saying, "Everyone has their own unique talents, and even if I spend all my money, it will come back again," has been on the lips of countless people.

Of course, that's not all. Under the management of the Qingshan Society, Jiang Xiaobai's four classic novels also began to be officially printed and sold.

In particular, Jiang Xiaobai mentioned "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in front of everyone at Zuixianlou.

The "Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River" also borrows place names and characters from the book.

In this way, the curiosity of the entire capital city about "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" has been thoroughly aroused.

The books were snapped up as soon as they were put on the shelves, and some people even waited outside the store overnight just to wait for a new batch of books to be delivered.

Some who weren't short of money directly offered high prices to buy them.

This caused the price of a book, which was originally not high, to increase several times in just half a day.

For a time, the entire capital city was swept up in a book-buying frenzy.

In addition, the Hou family's wines began to be sold throughout the capital.

Restaurants of all sizes are trying to find ways to get supplies from the Marquis's mansion.

Even though the Marquis's mansion kept brewing, the wine was still not enough to meet demand.

There was nothing Jiang Xiaobai could do but ask Tianji Tower to continue adding equipment.

Otherwise, with the current supply, it simply cannot support the consumption in the capital.

Meanwhile, the Qingshan Society also sent someone to visit in person, with only one purpose: to urge them to finish the manuscript!

The Four Great Classical Novels are now incredibly popular, and we absolutely cannot let the story stop there.

That's why Jiang Xiaobai has been staying in the Hou Mansion writing manuscripts for the past two days.

The eldest princess stood to the side, either grinding ink for Jiang Xiaobai or massaging his shoulders.

His expression under the straw hat was extremely calm, clearly indicating that he had completely gotten used to it over the past two days.

Bang bang bang!

Just then, hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.

As the door opened, Zhang Xinnian walked in: "Young Master!"

"What's wrong?"

Jiang Xiaobai raised his head, a look of confusion on his face.

Zhang Xinnian's unusually anxious state usually indicates that something is wrong.

"Oh, Eunuch Gao has arrived. The Marquis wants you to go to the main hall..."