Chapter 58: Many Tests, Each One Overcome

Chapter 58: Many Tests, Each One Passed

"Father, I walked with Ning Xishi today and didn't notice any change in him. Are you making a big deal out of nothing?"

When Zhang Jiye returned, his father, who was supposed to attend the morning court, was still waiting in the main hall of their residence, looking as if he had been sitting there all morning.

"Tell me everything." Minister Zhang, seeing him return, didn't even let Zhang Jiye get a sip of water before pressing him to talk, while also sending a servant to fetch paper and brush, planning to write down every single word.

Seeing how serious his father was, Zhang Jiye didn't dare crack jokes and quickly spilled everything that had happened since he saw Ning Xishi that day.

"Ning Xishi is a bit taller than before and really stands out in a crowd. I was right behind him and spotted him right away. But he didn't look back, so we didn't greet each other in the morning."

"Mm."

"Then came the exam. The county magistrate stood right next to him the whole time watching him write. At first, I thought he'd brought a cheat sheet and gotten caught. But in the end, the magistrate even gave him an extra question to write on—probably pretty happy with how he did."

Minister Zhang's hand paused, and he asked, "Happy with his answers? Isn't he just a spoiled good-for-nothing? Now he can actually write essays?"

"Father, people change. You can't judge a book by its cover. Ning Xishi and I haven't seen each other for a year—of course he's not the same as before." Zhang Jiye shrugged. "What exactly are you suspicious about? That he's been replaced by someone else? Even if you suspect the Ning family, Minister Ning and Ning Lanzhi are both in the capital. Why are you so focused on Ning Xishi? I really don't get it."

Minister Zhang slapped the table and scolded him: "Show more respect for the Emperor. If you keep being this disrespectful, you'll get punished by the family rules."

After Zhang Jiye was done talking, Minister Zhang carefully double-checked some details, stuffed a stack of papers into his sleeve, and immediately ordered a carriage and headed to the palace.

Watching his father walk away, Zhang Jiye muttered to himself, "Ning Xishi's still Ning Xishi. What could've changed about him? Man, if only I were Xie Jingxing—at least then I could've been with him."

·

About two weeks later, the county exam results came out. This year, twenty-three scholars passed, with names written on oil-paper umbrellas in order of their scores. Only Ning Xishi's surname 'Ning' was written a bit bigger, marking him as the top scorer.

"Master, the results are out! Our second young master came in first!"

"Congratulations to the master, congratulations to the madam, congratulations to the second young master!"

Before the official messengers even arrived with the news, the household servants had already rushed back to spread the good news.

Even though Ning Xishi had been pretty confident about his answers, actually getting first place still surprised and excited him.

Seeing two servants come rushing in out of breath, he joked with everyone: "I'm the one who took the test, and my big brother's the one who taught me. Why are you congratulating my parents first, putting me last, and even forgetting my brother?"

The servants all knew the second young master had a good temper and would joke around with them no matter their rank, so they weren't afraid of him. They laughed and said, "We misspoke—congratulations to the master, congratulations to the madam, congratulations to the eldest young master, congratulations to the second young master!"

Qin Rong laughed: "You silver-tongued rascals, everyone gets a reward."

Her head maid stepped forward with the prepared silver coins and handed them out: "No need to rush, everyone gets some. Come on."

Qin Rong happily pulled Ning Xishi into her embrace: "Mother always knew our Xi'er would make something of himself. So many people used to say our Xi'er was getting old without a single achievement to his name. I'll make sure they know—Xi'er either doesn't take exams, or when he does, he gets first place!"

Then Qin Rong quickly called for a servant: "Quick, send word to the Hanlin Academy. Lanzhi must be dying to know too."

Ning Xishi said, "All thanks to my brother's teaching."

"It's mostly because our Xi'er is smart." Qin Rong was overjoyed.

Ning Xishi: "..."

Dongshuang was also stifling a laugh on the side—the madam was deliberately teasing the young master.

Soon, lively gongs and drums rang out outside the gate. But since this was a minister's residence, there wasn't much of a noisy crowd outside—after all, just seeing the grand gates of such a mansion made ordinary folks instinctively feel small.

Hearing the noise, Ning Xishi immediately got up and went out to personally hand out reward money to the well-wishers.

The commoners who came to deliver good news were just looking for a lucky token and some good fortune, so Ning Xishi had Dongshuang and several servants distribute the money to everyone.

In the main hall, Minister Ning and his wife heard the sudden commotion outside and couldn't help smiling.

"Our Xi'er has always had a good nature. Wherever he goes, people just like him."

Minister Ning was delighted too, but still took a sip of tea and said, "A man can't just be likable—going around charming everyone like some flirt."

Even so, Minister Ning was still a bit envious of his son.

Being liked by a few people might just be social skill, but being liked by almost everyone—that's a real gift.

He thought of something and asked, "What about General Xie?"

Qin Rong shook her head, glancing carefully outside before whispering, "Things are tense outside right now. Anyone leaving the capital has to go through strict checks. We can't let any information slip."

·

Of course, there were still people who doubted Ning Xishi's county exam results, and the first to stir up trouble were the Imperial Academy students.

Back when he was moved to Class A based on class rankings, it had already caused a huge uproar at the Academy. Luckily, rumors later spread that he'd been taken by that twisted Xie Jingxing and locked up in a military camp, and it was only when Ning Lanzhi went to the border that he brought him back.

But after he was brought back, whether physically or mentally, he seemed to have some problems. He never went back to the Academy and just studied at home instead.

He even stopped going to the brothels and bars he used to hang out at.

For a while, all the Class A students at the Academy got a kick out of mocking Ning Xishi.

Even a year later, they'd still occasionally drag him up for a good laugh. Now, out of nowhere, it turned out Ning Xishi didn't have mental problems at all—he just thought the Academy wasn't good enough and studied at home by himself—and even got first place!

Of course they suspected cheating and went around asking their teachers for the scoop.

These questions and prying gradually reached the county magistrate's ears. As luck would have it, being a county magistrate in the capital, even though it wasn't a high-ranking post, meant he had plenty of connections.

The magistrate took Ning Xishi's exam paper, along with the extra question he'd personally set, straight to his mentor—the Left Vice Minister of Personnel.

After personally reviewing Ning Xishi's answers, this official found them quite polished, definitely worthy of top honors in a county exam.

The most brilliant part was the last question the magistrate had set—it was provincial exam level in difficulty. Yet Ning Xishi had argued with plenty of evidence and elegant writing, truly turning out an excellent essay.

"I never expected the Ning family to produce not just one Ning Lanzhi, but a Ning Xishi too. Ning Hanjiang must have burned some amazing incense somewhere."

With the Left Vice Minister of Personnel backing him up, virtually all rumors in the capital about Ning Xishi being bad at his studies vanished in an instant.

Everyone knew this Vice Minister was a trusted aide of the Grand Chancellor—not part of the upright faction like Ning Xishi's father, Minister Ning, but a thoroughly powerful official.

If an essay got his praise, anyone who dared say otherwise would probably never set foot in court again.

Ning Xishi wasn't actually staying home just because of his amnesia—he felt that with Xie Jingxing rebelling outside and the Emperor suspicious inside, his memory loss was something best kept hidden for now, to avoid trouble.

But after getting first place in the county exam, some literary gatherings became hard to turn down.

And for these county-exam-level gatherings, Ning Lanzhi couldn't exactly tag along—after all, he was too old for that.

Ning Xishi thought it over and decided to just go with Dongshuang. Dongshuang was sharp, knew a lot of people, and as long as they kept socializing to a minimum, the chances of something going wrong were low.

"Is Ning Xishi going to this one too?"

“So he’s really going?”

“Should we go feel him out?”

At that last remark, a lot of the students went quiet. After all, with the Left Vice Minister of Personnel having already vouched for him, pushing this any further could easily piss off the minister.

The student who spoke was a shortish young man with pale skin and monolids. Seeing nobody else speak up, he added, “It’s just matching a couplet and writing a poem—how hard can it be?”

The others thought it over and figured he had a point.

“This isn’t really putting him on the spot.”

“If he can’t even do this much, he’ll really make a fool of himself.”

“Let’s go—since he’s going, we might as well all tag along.”

Ning Xishi, meanwhile, had no idea what was about to hit him. Meanwhile, they were already brainstorming what topics to make him write on the spot.

As for that short, monolidded young man, after making his request, he went back to his room to write a letter. Eventually, a pigeon flew out of the Imperial Academy and off into the distance.

·

Ning Xishi, attending this literary gathering solo, still felt a bit out of place. Images of martial contests kept flashing through his mind.

He thought to himself, whether it’s martial or literary, everything’s a competition—how boring.

Of course, the gathering wouldn’t start with writing right off the bat. First, the host would introduce his plum garden, then there’d be music and dancing.

Ning Xishi had felt a bit dizzy ever since entering the courtyard, but he hadn’t eaten anything here, so it didn’t seem like poisoning.

Dongshuang caught him from behind and asked, “Young master, what’s wrong?”

Ning Xishi shook his head, feeling more fragments of memory rising to the surface. He was a bit stunned himself, so he shook his head again.

Dongshuang panicked: “Young master, don’t scare me… Young master?”

Ning Xishi grabbed Dongshuang’s hand and said, “I think I’m slowly getting my memories back.”

Dongshuang was taken aback: “Huh?”

Then he watched Ning Xishi shake his head again. This time, Ning Xishi really felt that with each shake, something like a weird seal was coming loose. The memories of nineteen years of life in this dynasty came flooding back like a tidal wave.

Out of nowhere, Ning Xishi remembered the dream he’d kept having right after he lost his memory.

A person was writing something on paper. When discovered, that person tried to burn everything, but startled by his approach, fled in panic, leaving behind a barely-ignited book that fell into his hands.

But he hadn’t had that dream in over a year now. Ning Xishi felt as though he’d stepped into a trance—dreamlike and surreal.

“Young master, shall we head back then?”

Ning Xishi shook his head, a hint of killing intent surfacing on his face: “Someone at this gathering must share a deep connection with me. I need to meet them.”

==========Author’s Note:==========

Good night.

Almost done—I should be able to finish the whole story this weekend.

Jinjiang rolled out a new feature that allows updating free bonus side stories. It seems it can only be done after settlement. Once I finish writing this weekend, I’ll give it a try.