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

Ning Nan slowly took a breath... Damn it, this old man Huang seems to have quite a personality!

He remembered what Old Han had said: this man was too upright and inflexible twenty years ago.

He had just passed the imperial examination and immediately submitted a memorial criticizing important officials in the court. As a result, he was stripped of his official rank and title by the late emperor.

Having studied for decades and lacking other means of making a living, he finally opened a private school in Nanjing.

Ning Nan let out a sigh of relief, and suddenly felt a headache coming on.

Such a person seems to be too lazy to care about any title of "talented scholar".

Since he would never have the chance to realize his ambitions again in this life, saving face was of no importance to him.

Even a lion needs to exert its full strength to catch a rabbit… Ning Nan sighed silently in his heart.

The imperial examination was a dead end.

The exam is held only once every few years, and only a few hundred people are admitted nationwide each time. If you miss it, all those years of hard work will have been wasted.

You could even say that one wrong step leads to another, and once your mindset is affected, it will be even harder next time. You can't afford to miss any opportunity that can increase your chances of winning.

Especially considering that both Han Laoguai and Ning Er highly praise this person, it further proves that this person must have some skills.

However… well… unfortunately… it seems that my chances of directly enrolling in this private school are slim.

Ning Nan lowered her eyelids slightly.

Fortunately, I made an oath with Fatty Chu beforehand. I used to think that my victory was unfair, but now it seems like I was right. Hmm, that's really impressive... And with Ning Er watching over us, Fatty Chu shouldn't go back on his word.

After thinking about it, he realized that he could only try to find out what tricks Old Man Huang had up his sleeve by observing how Chu the Fat Man tutored him.

At this moment, Fatty Chu said, "Brother Bai Xuan, don't you have a letter of recommendation in your pocket? Take it out and let the teacher take a look."

Uh… Ning Nan’s expression froze instantly, and he gritted his teeth slightly. This fatso… is he showing off on purpose?

When Han Laoguai wrote him the letter, he looked very confident, as if Huang Lizhou was a longtime friend of his.

But Ning Nan thought that the other party had stayed in Lijia Village for so long and was out of touch with the outside world, which led to the misjudgment.

He thought the other party was still relatively unknown and niche, and that a letter of recommendation from him would be enough to get him into the school.

But right now, Wong Lai Chau is clearly in high demand.

Moreover, under the current circumstances, no matter how much face Han Laoguai has, can it be greater than that of Grand Scholar Liu?

Yesterday, I foolishly boasted to my wife, Cui Cui, that I would come to study today, but I ended up going home looking dejected. Sigh... even my authority as a husband might be waning.

It's bad enough that I'm embarrassing myself, but now I'm bringing out the old monster's recommendation letter and making him embarrass himself too?

This old man Huang speaks so rudely; if he were to say something like, "Who is Han Qing? I really can't remember," then both the old monster and I would want to crawl into a hole and disappear.

Chu Feixiong's chubby face twitched, and his small eyes rolled.

He wasn't deliberately showing off that he had a letter of recommendation from a high-ranking scholar, but the other party only had a letter from a country scholar, which is why he asked Bai Xuan to stay.

Since the other party has already come all this way, and his teacher has already written a letter, and they're already here, they should at least show it to Mr. Lizhou.

As for saving face, that was not even within his consideration.

After all, yesterday, even though he had brought the recommendation letter from the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, Mr. Lizhou hadn't given him the slightest face.

It's not easy to get a recommendation letter from Grand Secretary Liu, but it's much easier to get one from the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy?

If it weren't for their own money shop, with the Wu Prince's Mansion holding 40% of the shares, the Qi Prince's Mansion holding 30%, and the remaining 20% ​​belonging to officials and staff of the two princes' mansions, their own family would only have a mere 10%. How could their father possibly ask the chief staff of the Qi Prince's Mansion to have the Grand Master of Ceremonies write a letter of recommendation for them?

He was just a lowly student in the Imperial Academy, and he rarely even saw the Chancellor. How could he possibly trouble the Chancellor to write him a letter of recommendation?

"No."

At this moment, Huang Lizhou shook his head directly, "I owe Liu Zhenxi a favor. Now that someone has come with his recommendation letter, I won't consider anyone else. It's useless for you to have anyone's recommendation letter... It will only make me offend people for no reason."

"It's better not to take it..." Ning Nan sighed softly, smiled regretfully, and clasped his hands in a fist salute, saying, "In that case, I won't bother you any longer." Then, he turned and walked towards the door.

At this moment, Chu Feixiong muttered to himself, "What a pity, Brother Bai Xuan's teacher is just a country bumpkin scholar. He must have mustered up a lot of courage to write to Mr. Lizhou."

"A country bumpkin scholar?" Huang Lizhou frowned immediately.

Chu Feixiong nodded and said that this was what Ning Nan said; his teacher had no official rank or grade, and was just a country scholar.

Huang Lizhou frowned, but called out to Ning Nan as he stepped out of the house.

"Is your teacher surnamed Chen?" the thin old man asked, frowning.

Uh… Ning Nan was a little surprised that the other party suddenly called out to him, but he still turned around and shook his head to deny it, saying, “My master’s surname is not Chen.”

Huang Lizhou frowned even more deeply: "Is his surname Gu?"

Uh... He only knew Grand Tutor Gu among those surnamed Gu, and Ning Nan shook his head as well.

If it was neither Chen nor Gu, two great talents from the countryside, then it must have been some unknown rural tutor or someone I had only met once.

"That's all." He nodded.

Ning Nan was speechless.

But he didn't say much, bowed again, and went out.

But they haven't been gone for very long.

Ning Er caught up and said with a smile that after much deliberation, Mr. Lizhou still felt that something was amiss and asked Brother Bai Xuan to go back again and let him take a look at his master's letter. Although he could not accept Brother Bai Xuan, he still had to write a reply to his master to explain the situation.

Ning Nan was taken aback.

"If it were some official or nobleman, I wouldn't even bother with them, let alone reply to them," Huang Lizhou said solemnly, spreading out the paper and picking up the pen. "But since your teacher is like me, a fellow wanderer who makes a living by teaching, then I have no choice but to give him this courtesy."

Ning Nan let out a small breath... This stubborn old man does have a respectable side.

Huang Lizhou reached out and took the letter from Ning Nan's hand.

The envelope was very thin, so there probably wasn't much inside.

The letter on the envelope was written in a formal, official script, in a small line—

"To Lizhou, from my elder brother Han Qing"

Huang Lizhou's pupils immediately contracted!

With a sharp crack of his fingers, he squeezed the envelope out of shape!

But when he saw the three people in the room change their expressions slightly, he loosened his grip, then immediately resumed his composure, calmly opened the envelope, and took out the letter to read it.

This study has an antique feel.

Incense was also lit on the table.

The letter didn't have many words, but he read it for a long time. It wasn't until the incense had burned down to almost nothing and Ning Nan and the others' legs were getting sore from waiting that he slowly put the letter down.

"I'll take you in," he said to Ning Nan.

Ning Nan was initially a little embarrassed, wondering what Old Monster Han had said inside that made Mr. Lizhou want to watch for so long. But since he had watched for so long, it meant that the other party at least knew Old Monster Han… Well, Old Monster Han’s face was saved… Ning Nan secretly felt relieved.

But at this moment, his eyes widened.

I really didn't expect Old Monster Han to have such a big influence?! He's taken me in?!

Chu Feixiong's heart tightened, and his small eyes widened immediately. Wasn't it only supposed to accept one? What about me?

His chubby face and eyes trembled together: "No... teacher, what about your principles?!"

Huang Lizhou remained silent and lowered his eyes.

"I was originally planning to accept both of you..." After a moment, he said calmly, "but you're right, one should have principles... hmm..."

He looked at Chu Feixiong and said, "You can leave now."