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However, burning incense was of no use as his examination cubicle was right next to the toilet.

Fortunately, his younger brother persevered and managed to finish answering all the examination questions without any unusual struggles.

Li Xu was not as affected, but his lack of rest at night left him fatigued.

Upon their return, Jiang Sanlang immediately boiled water for them to bathe and rinse. The water was mixed with herbal liquid and flower petals provided by his daughter.

After bathing, Jiang Jie and Li Xu ate a bit before falling asleep.

The two didn’t wake up until the next day.

Then, it was time to wait for the results of the examination.

Wei Zhan and Wen Hengyin came over and invited Jiang Jie, Jiang Wu, and Yuanbao to go out and play, and even visit nearby Taoist temples and Buddhist monasteries.

Li Xu and Jiang Cheng, on the other hand, accompanied old man Wu for a walk around the prefecture city while inquiring about the affairs of the new regime.

The reason why the new Zhou Dynasty could quickly take over half of Daqian’s territory was due to the dissatisfaction of many local officials with the dictatorial ways of the Xiao Family and the Emperor’s weakness and absurd behavior, which led them to defect to the new Zhou Dynasty. The second reason was that Daqian had always been suppressing its military generals and exploiting its people, thereby exposing its vulnerabilities to the enemy and providing an opportunity for the new regime.

Many military generals from different regions flocked to pledge allegiance to the new Zhou emperor because he gave them opportunities for nobility and promotions, ensuring that their families were well fed and clothed, free from worries about food and clothing, even offering a life of wealth and honor.

Furthermore, when the barbarians attacked and captured the capital city along with the emperor and all his relatives and court officials, it provided the perfect opportunity for the rise of the new Zhou Dynasty.

Though the Prince of Dai had claimed his throne in the Shu Region, his powers were still limited, and he had very few useful allies. Although he still had some former officials and remnants of the Xiao Party who were willing to die for him, their help was like trying to douse a raging fire with a cup of water.

Now, seven out of the fourteen districts of Daqian have fallen into the hands of the new Zhou Dynasty, including Taiyuan Prefecture, Daname Prefecture, Kaitede Prefecture, Yingtian Prefecture, Hejian Prefecture, Longde Prefecture, Jianglin Prefecture, and others, basically surrendering to Dazhou.

Besides, the new Zhou Dynasty issued new laws permitting even the children of merchants to participate in the imperial examinations, provided no one within their previous three generations had committed any criminal offences.

Jiang Cheng, Li Xu and others also found out that the new Emperor was from the royal family of the former Zhou Dynasty, and his great grandfather was once a crown prince.

The reason why people trusted him so much was that miracles were frequently seen all over the country. Even the renowned Nine Heavens Mysterious Girl from Jingzhou had descended and bestowed a divine decree, designating Zhou Rui as the ruler of the world.

It was rumored that the emperor of Dazhou was a person who had been favored by divine spirits. He had once used the Divine Gourd bestowed by the heavenly gods to save the lives of an entire city.

When Yingbao heard these rumors from her cousin, she somehow found them peculiar.

A month later, the results were finally out.

Both Li Xu and Jiang Jie had their names on the list, and were even within the top twenty.

Jiang Sanlang was ecstatic.

His son, just eleven years old, had passed the entrance examination and even ranked amongst the top twenty. Did this mean his son could become a top scholar in the future?

My god! A top scholar! That would mean he would really be a wenchu star.

In the past twenty years, there hasn’t been a single top scholar from their entire county, right?

Very soon, a stream of messengers arrived to announce the good news. Jiang Sanlang gave each of them a red envelope with ten taels of silver. He even ordered more than ten tables of banquet from the largest restaurant in the prefecture city to entertain the guests who came to celebrate.

The lord of the Wei Family personally came to congratulate and even invited Jiang Jie and Li Xu to be his guests.

During the banquet, the Wei family lord called out several of his teenage daughters and asked each of them to toast to Jiang Jie.

This infuriated Lady Wang greatly. That night, she gathered a group of people, stormed into the old man’s courtyard, wrecked his room and scared his new concubine out of her wits.

Lady Wang pointed at him and cursed, “Stop dreaming! Do you really think your illegitimate daughters have a chance with the Jiang Family?”

That was not the point, actually.

What if the Jiang Family really did allow one of these illegitimate daughters to marry in? Wouldn’t her own son have celebrated for nothing?

The lord of the Wei Family drew back his neck and didn’t dare utter a word.

He knew that he shouldn’t be using a concubine’s daughter to curry favor with the Jiang family, but he didn’t have a daughter by his official wife after all.

Thinking of this, the Wei family’s master got angry.

Who could he blame for not having a legitimate daughter?

It was all because this shrew was incompetent and couldn’t bear him a daughter!

But he dared not utter these words out loud.

His legal wife was from the Wang family, a prominent and wealthy family. The prosperity of the Wei family was greatly due to the support of the Wang family.

Not to mention the Wang family members who held official posts in Beijing, even his brother-in-law, Wang Xian, had been appointed as a local officer.

He himself was a businessman, and no matter how wealthy he was, he was still a businessman. He couldn’t compare with the aristocratic Wang family.

The month of October came in a blink, and Jiang Sanlang returned home with his children.

Jiang Jie could have stayed in the Prefecture City to study, but Mr. Wu wanted to take him to Jiankang for a visit and then make a decision afterward.

Yuanbao had achieved his wish and passed the academy examination. With excellent results, he obtained the sixth place and became a state-sponsored student.

Now that he was admitted to the county school, like Jiang Jie, he could not only receive four taels of silver and provisions every month but also be exempted from labor and military service au home.

They still chose the overland route for their return journey. The Jiang family took a total of five carriages, moving at a steady pace.

However, when they were about to set off, Wen Hengyin and Wei Zhan each brought two carriages to accompany them back to Chuanhe Town.

Li Xu did not return. He stayed in the Wen Family in the Prefecture City with plans of entering the prefectural school next year and then going to the capital city to participate in the imperial examination.

Halfway through the journey, goose feather-like snow began to flutter from the sky.

They hadn’t covered two hundred miles when the roads were blocked by the snow.

Left with no choice, Jiang Sanlang and the others had to find lodging in a small town.

There was only one inn in the small town. It was quite run-down, with two large shared rooms and four private ones.

But three private rooms were already occupied, and one shared room was filled as well.

Therefore, Jiang Sanlang rented the remaining shared room and a private one.

Seeing that among his guests were a Top Scholar and a Scholar, the innkeeper took extreme care to serve Jiang Sanlang and the others with hot water and hot food. He also added a brazier to their rooms.

Yingbao was lodged alone in a room. Feeling a bit uneasy, Jiang Sanlang asked his two sons to accompany their sister.

He knew that the girl had a gourd hideout where the three siblings could rest.

Indeed, Yingbao took her younger brothers to the gourd hideout. After letting them rest, she ate some grapes and cooked rice using the charcoals.

When the rice was cooked, she wrapped it in mulberry leaves to make leaf-wrapped rice parcels, which she filled with candied fruits and honey.

Next, she placed the parcels in a basket and covered it with a small quilt to keep them warm.

Seeing that there was still time, she cut a basket of chives and made dough to prepare chive and egg dumplings.

The dumplings would break if they were only filled with chives and eggs, so Yingbao steamed some of them. She ate some herself and kept the rest in the steamer for her brothers to eat when they woke up.

At midnight, a commotion came from outside the inn.

About twenty horses rushed to the front of the inn.

Among these horses were two carriages, apparently carrying some females from a household.

“Open up! Open up!” Someone pounded loudly on the door of the inn. “We need lodgings!”

The innkeeper didn’t get up, but yelled out from a window: “We’re fully booked! There are no vacancies!”

“You bastard! Hurry up when I tell you to!” Someone outside shouted rudely: “If you don’t open up, I’ll set your house on fire!”