Ning Jiang also went to Zheng Mansion to visit Bai Zijin's grandmother, Mrs. Feng.

At this time, Mrs. Feng's health was getting worse and worse, especially after falling in early August, she even found it difficult to get out of bed.

Bai Zijin did not talk much about Mrs. Feng's accident, but there was anger between her eyebrows. It seemed that it was not an ordinary accident. However, since Bai Zijin did not say it, Ning Jiang naturally did not ask too much. He could not help with some things.

When Mrs. Feng saw Ning Jiang, she was very grateful.

How could she not know the cold eyes that her grandson received in Zheng Mansion? Looking back at the time when the Baijiajia was still in glory, Zheng An had not yet been promoted to the Guanglu doctor. How he pleased and approached the Baijiajiajiajiajia, it was only a few years in which people were right but things were wrong.

On the contrary, Ning Jiang, who obviously has no friendship with her family, often helps her with all her heart and often gives guidance to her grandson in her homework.

"Jin'er, the most difficult thing in being a human is not to add icing on the cake, but to help him in time." That night, Mrs. Feng warned her grandson, "No matter whether you can make a fortune in the future, Mr. Ning helped you when you were at your worst. This is the kindness we owe him. I, Mr. Ning, will be a person who has great achievements in the future. However, no matter whether you can repay him in the future, we must always remember this kindness in our hearts. This is the duty of our hundreds of families to be human."

"Grandma, grandson knows!" Bai Zijin said while washing his grandmother's feet.

Mrs. Feng sighed: "Jin'er, about your engagement with Xiuxiu..."

Bai Zijin whispered: "Grandma, my grandson has agreed to the Zheng family about the engagement. If I cannot pass the first class in this state exam, I will take the initiative to terminate the marriage. My grandson will make a decision without your consent from my grandmother. I'm sorry, grandma."

Mrs. Feng said helplessly: "Oh... it's good."

Bai Zijin wiped her grandmother's feet dry, helped her to the bed, and came out the window and looked at the moonlight outside: "Grandma, don't worry, grandson will definitely be able to get into the first class, not to cling to anyone, nor to marry anyone, but to... no longer look down on people!!!"

As September comes, after three consecutive months of severe drought, it starts to rain wildly.

Kongshan in the distance was as bright as flames in the rain. On that morning, Ningjiang and Baizijin were flipping books in the academy.

Ning Jiang analyzed the questions from the past ten prefecture exams one by one, then summarized them, summarized the most likely direction of the question for key review. At the same time, he was also analyzing the bias of Hanlin who might have sent the imperial court to approve the papers, as well as the prefect of Tongzhou and others to take the papers, and then conducted targeted practices.

If the teachers who read the books of sages know that such an opportunistic method will naturally be criticized. It is only because this method is taken for the sake of exams, which does not conform to the "way of a saint."

Ningjiang naturally won’t care so much.

Of course, they would not do these things openly, in case the Confucian officials and censors seized this and criticized them.

The showers kept coming down, and Luopei Lake had dropped a lot of water in the past few months and began to rise slowly.

By the lake, in the house, under the eaves, Ning Xiaomeng was practicing sword skills in the aisle. She stepped on the seven stars under her feet, and the bending sword light wandered between the rain curtain and the wooden wall. Her sword shook open, like a hundred birds plunging into the forest, and there was no sign of the sword light.

Swift, fast! Suddenly, she pulled away the sword, held the sword upside down, stood behind the rain, raised her pretty face and looked at the misty dark clouds in the sky, and lightning flashes in the cloud formation, as if a god was holding a weapon stirring in the black clouds stacked up.

She thought that after this month, her brother could take her to the capital.

I don’t know what the capital looks like.

***

At the gate of Tongzhou City, a group of scholars, wearing straw raincoats, rushed into the gate in showers. The soldiers guarding the city checked their documents one by one.

As the triennial state examination approaches, the county schools in various counties, or scholars who work hard at home, arrive one after another, and the inns in Tongzhou are already crowded, and some empty houses of the people are rented out.

On the Xiechuan River running through Tongzhou City, flower boats began to gather. The place where talents gathered was also the best place for their business. Especially after the results were released, the talents who passed the exam treated each other and held a banquet. The students who failed the exam drank to drown their sorrows, lingered among the brothels, trying to find a close woman who could understand their feelings of being unable to meet them.

Of course, in this kind of fireworks and romance, it doesn’t matter whether this kind of woman really has a close heart or not. They always make him feel close heart.

On the side of the Xiechuan River, in the luxurious mansion, Doctor Jin Zi Guanglu was discussing with his wife.

Huangfu said, "Master, how can you agree to the grandparents and grandchildren of Baijia? If Baizijin enters the first class in the state examination, he will marry our Xiuxiu? Even if he passes the first class, he is still a juren. How can he be worthy of our Xiuxiu?"

Zheng An said: "Madam, you think there are three levels in the state examination. When Baizijin was in the palace examination, he was just the last one. In just a few months, no matter how hard he worked, he would not be able to pass the exam. Isn't that a fool? Then, if he really could be so motivated and get into the first class, then he would marry our daughter? With the strength to get into the first class, maybe he would really be able to pass the Jinshi next year. Even if he couldn't pass the imperial examination, he would use my connections and some relationships to let him enter the Imperial College. After three years, there will always be a way to stay in the capital and become a Beijing official, so that our daughter will not suffer."

Then he smiled and said, "But if he fails to take the exam or fails to pass the exam, it is because he is not capable of it. We are not forcing him. In this way, his engagement with Xiuxiu will be terminated. Wouldn't it be even easier?"

Huangfu said: "It turns out that you are still thoughtful, Master."

In Tangyu Academy, Ning Jiang had already known about Bai Zijin’s agreement with the Zheng family. He looked at the heavy rain outside the window and smiled and said, “Stop it!”

Bai Zijin resolutely said: "If it were a few months ago, not to mention first-class or third-class, I wouldn't think I could do it. At that time, I was just the last one of the students, but now, I am quite confident about the teachings of Brother Quan Naining Jiang."

Ning Jiang smiled and said, "I didn't help you. I can only rely on myself for studying. If Zijin, if you don't want to learn, it will be useless no matter how others teach you. However, I also believe that Zijin, you will definitely be able to get into the first class."

By noon, the heavy rain had no sign of stopping. The two of them put away their notes and books and walked outside.

There are only three days left in the state examination. At this time, the state examination has not started teaching again. Despite this, many students still study hard in the academy. After all, there is always a more reading atmosphere in the academy.

In the other corner, Gan Lie, Zheng Xiang, Lu Zhiyuan and others gathered together and looked at the backs of Ning Jiang and Bai Zijin.

These days, Gan Lie has not made any trouble with Ningjiang and Baizijin. After all, the state test is approaching, and he has no leisure time. As for Zheng Xiang, he has already given up this state test, which is more leisurely than others.

Lu Zhiyuan said: "Brother Zheng, I heard that after this state examination, Bai Zijin will marry Ling Mei?" A month ago, he had already given his sister to Zheng Xiang as his concubine. At this moment, he naturally cared more about the affairs of the Zheng family.

Zheng Xiang sneered: "If he passes the first exam, his sister will marry him. If he fails the first exam, the engagement will be terminated, and he will not be allowed to be refused."

Lu Zhiyuan smiled and said, "Bai Zijin was just the last one in the palace examination five months ago, right? In such a short few months, where did he get the confidence to get into the first class?"

Zheng Xiang smiled and said, "If he wants to humiliate himself, it is no wonder that our Zheng family is ruthless." Zheng Xiang himself is a growing child and does not have the confidence to pass the imperial examination. How could he believe that Bai Zijin, a prostitute who is barely enough to get on the rear of the car, can get the first place in the state?

Gan Lie looked at Ningjiang and Baizijin's backs, and flirted with the book with some boredom, deeply hated that he was not born in the hereditary era when he was born hundreds of years ago when the eldest son of a high-ranking official could also become a high-ranking official.

As for now, relying on his father's status and his scholarship, he can only spend a lot of money to be a small official of the seventh and eighth rank. For a young man like him who has been living a wealthy life since he was a child, he is too lazy to be a sesame official in the local area.

After all, my father is useless. I have been in the officialdom for many years and have only been a military officer in a peaceful place like Tongzhou. If I can make meritorious achievements in the frontier or riotous place, and be awarded a hereditary and reduced duke or county, then I can at least be a founding man or a founding son. How can I be so troublesome?

The showers were still rushing, crazy and rampant, the world was in a cool and colorful world, and the world was washed over and over again in this heavy rain...

***

Ning Jiang and Bai Zijin each held oil umbrellas and separated in front of the academy.

Ningjiang walked towards Luopei Lake, and the rain made the oil umbrella buzzing. Around him, the rain particles hit the ground densely. Kongshan in the distance seemed to have been washed in the heavy rain, making it even more bright red. The fields on the roadside, the rainwater gathered into a stream, and divided the harvested rice stems among the crisscrossing tracks and field tracks.

On the side of the road ahead of him, a man was pressing against a big tree on his back, holding a sharp knife in his right hand. A cloth strip was tied to the hilt of the knife, and a cowhide rope was tied to his wrist.

The boy by the field was holding an oil umbrella in his left hand and slowly passed by the tree.

The man turned his head and looked at the boy's back. His arm, holding the knife, moved, and he was about to pounce on him and assassinate the boy.

However, at this moment, he couldn't help but he was hesitant. Because of this knife, he would have to die from the end. For the sake of Lord Cao, who once reused him, he would sacrifice his life... However, after a lifetime of escape, he lived a life of no one or no ghost, and was worried about his arrest at any time and anywhere. Is it really worth it?

He hesitated, he hesitated, and in the end, the boy walked further and further, until his back was blurred in the shower.

The original captain stabbed the tree with a fierce knife, untied the cowhide rope on his wrist, left Tongzhou in the shower, and crossed the mountains.

The sharp knife was inserted into the trunk, and the rain flowed down the bark, washing its unstained blade.

The boy walking towards Luo Pei Lake shrugged and quietly put away the mysterious syringe hidden in his right sleeve, knowing that he no longer had to worry about that person.

It is easy to talk about righteousness, but how many people can really do it?

He came to Luo Pei Lake, in the courtyard in front of him, his sister in autumn-scented robe poked her head out under the canopy at the front entrance of the exterior wall. Seeing him coming back, she waved her hand excitedly to him.

At the same time, a wine shop on the side of the Xiechuan River, with a bang, two big men flew out of the inside wrapped in a curtain, fell on the street, curled up in pain in the shower.

Then there was a two-bang bang, and a Park knife and a meteor hammer were thrown by them. A woman in her early 190s walked out of the store and saw her, wearing red clothes, long boots in arrow sleeves, and tall.

He looked at the two people who were so painful that they could not stand up, then walked into the rain, untied a horse tied to the wooden stake, and left.

The moment she shook the horse whip, the rain splashed, named Baizijin, and the passing boy hid in panic.

He turned around with an umbrella and stared blankly at the back of the woman in red who was galloping away in the pouring shower. Behind him, a group of people carrying swords and sticks rushed over from the street. Some people helped the two men who fell to the ground, and some chased the woman in red who was gradually disappearing in the rain with resentful but powerlessness.

The showers were falling, crazy and rampant, the warmth and coldness of human relationships, and fate dispersed, people of different people continued to perform in this heavy rain, called the drama of life.

The days have just changed, and after three years of state examination, it finally arrived...
Chapter completed!