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

Ning Nan squinted, sorted out the dozens of visit reports on his desk, stacked them neatly, and then pushed open the door and went out into the night.

As he walked, he frowned and thought for a moment.

Li Baoxin went to the capital to file a complaint with the emperor... Previously, he was drunk at Yanchun Pavilion and was taken to the Zhenguo Marquis's mansion for the night by Xiuxiu. The next day, Ning Er came to visit, and during their conversation, the other party mentioned this incident to him.

It seems that about twenty years ago, two people from Lijia Village fell into the water and drifted downstream to the Ning family's estate in the capital. The estate manager went into the water to rescue them, but after they were pulled out, he found that they were already dead.

When Li Baoxin rushed over to look for the two people, he assumed that the people from the village had killed them, and a conflict ensued.

Li Family Village had many able-bodied men, and the Ning Family Estate was initially at a disadvantage. However, after the government intervened, it naturally favored the Ning Family in the capital and took sides. Li Baoxin was furious and decided to file a complaint with the emperor in the capital.

The Ning family in the capital was large and powerful, and backed by the then-powerful Marquis of Jingbei, so the matter naturally came to nothing in the end. Li Baoxin returned to his village and stopped causing trouble... That's roughly the gist of the story.

Ning Nan hurried along, visiting each household under the moonlight, hoping to learn more details from the elderly.

But to his surprise, when the seven or eight old men were telling this story, their eyes were bright and their voices were as strong as oxen. When asked about the details, such as which family the two dead men belonged to and how Li Baoxin came back later, they were very enthusiastic.

The elderly turned into quails with their heads tucked in, shaking their heads and speaking incoherently.

The quails looked at him with murky, strange eyes. After a while, they simply lay down on the bed and mumbled, "I have to go to work tomorrow!"

I ran into a wall.

Ning Nan, on the contrary, felt somewhat pleased. The more complicated and strange something is, the more likely it is to have a problem... Before, he thought that things were too far in the past and shouldn't be that important, but now it seems that this matter is indeed not that simple... At least he has to figure this out.

The elderly cannot.

He then went to find middle-aged people, who were mostly young people in their early twenties back then.

"Did your mother tell you?"

Most of the uncles and aunts only knew that such a thing happened, but they didn't know the details and couldn't explain it clearly.

However, it was Aunt Sanjin, Yang Qiniang, and Sanzhuang's mother who all asked him the same question at the same time.

"My mother..." Ning Nan looked puzzled, then shook his head. "She never said that."

"Then we don't know either!" The aunties all said this with absolute certainty.

Ning Nan didn't press the matter further and went home.

Mother… He raised an eyebrow.

My mother is in Nanjing right now, otherwise I could definitely ask her.

That's true. My mother was young back then, and she was always inquisitive; she must know about this.

Those who knew some of the inside story were unwilling to tell him, probably fearing that they might say something that would cause trouble and attract the attention of the Ning family in the capital.

But my mother naturally didn't have that concern. If family members were to whisper among themselves, and someone leaked it, wouldn't that harm the whole family?

Ning Nan closed the door, planning to return to Nanjing tomorrow to clarify the matter.

The Ning family courtyard appeared quiet, but in reality, Qian Sijin and his men had ambushed the area, making the house perfectly safe.

Enter the main room.

He flipped over a teacup and poured himself a cup of tea.

The tea had gone cold, but the bitter taste of the tea leaves remained.

This matter is very complicated.

When he went to see Erlai in prison last night, he considered a possibility.

That was the group of people who framed him. They captured Erlai's father, Han Donghu, and used Uncle Donghu's life to force Erlai to confess and frame them.

But after seeing Erlai last night, I changed my mind.

Because Erlai changed his tune again.

He only confessed to the crime, but did not implicate himself, saying that he killed the person himself and that it had nothing to do with anyone else. In this way, at least the claim that he was threatened and framed would not exist.

Boom boom boom!

Just then, someone knocked on the Ning family's door.

When Ning Nan opened the door, he saw Qian Sijin standing outside with an honest-looking middle-aged farmer.

Uh… Ning Nan was stunned for a moment. Uncle Buffalo?

Li Shuiniu, Sanzhuang's father.

Uncle Buffalo hunched over, mumbled a reply, and looked very nervous and anxious.

Li Shuiniu entered the main room and, seeing that Ning Nan had closed the door tightly, mustered his courage, pulled Ning Nan's arm, and whispered:

"Ningwa, I don't believe Erlai killed the village head!"

Ning Nan laughed and said, "Uncle, I don't believe it either. I'm looking for evidence right now."

Besides farming, Uncle Buffalo also does odd jobs, so he must have been busy until now to get back.

Li Shuiniu nodded. "Uncle heard about it. Everyone's been saying today that you've made something of yourself, with so many people around you, asking you all sorts of questions. Your aunt even said... you asked her some questions today."

At this moment, Li Shuiniu suddenly asked, "Do you know who those two people who died back then were?"

Ning Nan shook his head.

Li Shuiniu lowered his head and remained silent for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said in a very low voice, "Uncle is telling you... but don't tell anyone else that I told you..."

The lights inside were dim.

Ning Nan's eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly.

Li Shuiniu's face turned somewhat pale as he pointed to the three memorial tablets on the altar in the main room.

"My child," Li Shuiniu said, his eyes slightly red and his voice trembling, "the people who died were your grandparents..."

……

Li Shuiniu said... Twenty years ago, his father Ning Beiwang passed away. Just a few months later, his grandfather Ning Changping and grandmother Zhou Rui jumped into the Erhu River and committed suicide. When the village head Li He saw this, he was shocked and hurriedly went to find the village head to go downstream to rescue them. As soon as they got downstream, the conflict between Li Baoxin and the Ning family estate occurred.

"Uncle Changping and Aunt Rui wouldn't commit suicide," Li Shuiniu said, pointing to the memorial tablet and shaking his head slowly but forcefully.

"Back then, Brother Beiwang passed away, and Sister-in-law Ning was a widow. But Sister-in-law Ning was young. Although Uncle Changping and Aunt Rui were almost blind from crying, they certainly wouldn't commit suicide. If they died too, who would take care of Sister-in-law Ning?"

Li Shuiniu said with a mournful voice, "Back then, Uncle Changping changed Ning's status from daughter-in-law to daughter and wanted to find her a husband... Your uncle's family was a notoriously poor family back then. Uncle Changping asked me if I would be willing to be his son-in-law. He said that as long as I took good care of Ning's wife and one of the children I had with Ning's wife could take the surname Ning, he would give me all of Ning's family's land!"

"But back then, Uncle was ambitious and would rather remain a bachelor for life than marry into another family. So Uncle Changping patted my shoulder, smiled, and took out five taels of silver for me, saying it was for my wedding... He would sit at the head table when I got married." Li Shuiniu raised his sleeve to wipe his eyes and sniffed twice.

"Later, Uncle Changping simply decided not to let the child take his surname. He planned to use six acres of land as a dowry to marry off Sister Ning as his daughter, so that she wouldn't have to remain a widow... Sister Ning hanged herself without a word... Fortunately, Aunt Rui discovered it in time and saved her... After that, Uncle Changping never mentioned marrying Sister Ning off again..."

Finally, Li Shuiniu looked at Ning Nan.

"They won't jump into the river..." he repeated firmly.

……

The next day.

Just as dawn was breaking.

Ning Nan hung three muskets in the leather pouch at his waist, broke through the morning mist, and led thirty Imperial Guards straight towards Nanjing.