Since he decided to take the path of being an official, all his previous weariness naturally had to be put aside. After going through the formalities at the Ministry of Officials, he immediately went to pay a visit to the chief examiner of this year's imperial examination, Yang Sen, the Vice Minister of Rites.

  Yang Sen was a native of Songjiang, and he was a good friend of Ji Yong's uncle, Ji Song. When Ji Yong was hesitating at home about whether to take office or not, Ji Song had already come to Yang Sen in person to explain that Ji Yong had caught a cold and was bedridden, and would come to pay his respects as soon as he recovered. Although Yang Sen had traveled to the capital for official business when he was young, Ji Yong was one of the few geniuses from Jiangnan who was worth mentioning, so he had heard about him more or less, knowing that he often "fell ill" every now and then, and therefore didn't take it seriously. Considering the face of both the Ji and Yang families, he even sent someone to deliver some medicine to show his concern. Therefore, when he saw Ji Yong for the first time, his first question was whether he had recovered from his illness or not.

  Once Ji Yong makes up his mind to do something, he will do it to the best of his ability.

  He thanked Yang Sen profusely, discussing the most interesting topics of farming and harvesting. Yang Sen suddenly felt that this student was not only knowledgeable and talented, but also sincere in his words, although a bit immature, yet still retaining the sharpness of youth, which made him very likable. When Ji Yong took his leave, he unusually escorted Ji Yong to the door of the study room and reminded him: "Come sit here whenever you have nothing to do."

  Ji Yong bowed again and again to thank them before getting on the carriage.

  Then he entertained those of the same department one by one.

  In just a few days, he became familiar with this year's new jinshi, and by the time he took office at the Hanlin Academy, he was almost shoulder-patted and called "Xianzhi" all the way to the face of the chief scholar, making the complexion of Cai Guyuan, the champion who took office with him, extremely ugly.

  Ji Yongquan pretended not to see, and in front of those old Hanlin, he lowered his eyebrows and eyes, and soon won the evaluation of "modest and cautious". Ji Song and Ji Qi couldn't help but stare with their mouths open. Ji Qi even wiped the sweat from his forehead and said: "What's going on? It seems like he's become a different person?"

  Ji Song thought of Dou Zhao instead.

  He called out to his son to ask: "Afterwards did you see Ming give a reply letter to Fourth Miss Duan?"

  "Returned." Zi Xi whispered, "Young Master said that the fourth miss of the Dugu family's words are very reasonable. Saying that whether the emperor looked at his youth or his well-written articles to appoint him as the top scholar, it is also because he has this capital and strength, and should not be limited by what kind of flower!"

  Ji Song nodded secretly. He instructed him: "In the future, when you see Ming and Duan's fourth young lady, you must pay close attention."

  Let him be the eavesdropping god!

  The child nodded in his heart, not daring to show any dissatisfaction, and repeatedly responded with "yes".

  At this moment, Old Master Ji's letter arrived.

  Ji Song handed the letter to Ji Qi and said with a bitter smile, "Let's not make a big deal out of it. Although Jianming likes new and unusual things, once he agrees to something, he never gives up halfway. This time, since he has entered officialdom, he won't just throw everything away and run around wildly. He and Diao family's fourth miss are in Kyoto and True Definition respectively, after a long time, they will also fade away, let people quietly pay attention to it. As for Jianming's marriage, the old man has his own plans."

  Ji Ke hastily read through the letter and sighed, "It can only be like this!" His tone was somewhat disheartened.

  Ji Cong thought that Ji Yong had changed into a different person these days. He always felt uneasy in his heart, and consulted with Ji Qi. He wrote another letter to Old Master Ji, and also asked someone to pay attention to Ji Yong's whereabouts. When he learned that Du Qijun came to bid farewell to Ji Yong, Ji Yong was unable to fulfill his previous promise to return to Zhen Ding with Du Qijun because of his new job at the Hanlin Academy. Ji Cong let out a long sigh of relief and sighed to Ji Qi: "Ginger is still spicy when it's old. No wonder only Grandfather can control him."

  Ji Qi nodded without stopping.

  Ji Yong wrote a letter to Dou Zhao complaining: "...... I originally wanted to go find you to have some fun, but now it's impossible. Who knows when this matter will come to an end."

  Dong Zhao laughed uncontrollably. He replied to him: "I've heard that the higher the official, the harder it is to retire. Why don't you think of a way to find some fun, otherwise you'll really be bored to death."

  Ji Yong quickly replied to her: "The Hanlin Academy has many people who are good at wrapping corpses, but it is not lacking in real talents and practical learning. I have recently been following Du Jiayuan to study the ancient zither. When the time comes, I will send you one."

  Du Ga's name is Lun, skilled in playing the guqin. He was a master of making guqins in the imperial court and because he came from Hanlin, his crafted guqins were priceless.

  Dong Zhaodao said: "Why don't you help me get a guqin made by Du Ganya instead?"

  Ji Yong's face turned red with rage: "You will definitely regret your reckless words today."

  In just a few days, Ji Yong sent her from Kyoto a guqin made by Du Gannian, with the signature "Sanglin" at the end of the zither.

  Dong Zhaoda's great love, taught everyone in Jiangnan at home to play the guqin.

  Ji Yong also found her several ancient qin scores.

  The two of them exchanged letters and before long it was autumn.

  Xu Qing, who was recuperating in the countryside, asked to see: "The young master is staying at the high-rise inn near the east city gate. He wants to visit Miss, but doesn't know when Miss will be available?"

  Dong Zhaoda was shocked and exclaimed: "What happened?"

  It's been more than half a year since the incident with Song Mo, by rights, Song Mo should be having a great time fighting with Song Yichun, how did he end up here?

  Xu Qing was startled by Du Zhao's terrified expression.

  "He hastily said, 'Nothing's wrong! The young master has now firmly grasped the situation. This time he came especially to thank you. Previously, he didn't come because he was afraid of being discovered by the Duke and implicating you in that matter...'"

  Dong Zhao let out a breath and said, "Since your family's young master is safe and sound, that's all that matters. You can just thank him for me, no need to say anything else. We simply happened to be there at the right time. As an inner courtyard woman, it's really not convenient for me to receive guests. I appreciate his kind intentions." She also said, "Since you're all guests, I'll go tell Duan Gongyi and Chen Xiaofeng to take care of hosting Young Master for me!"

  Xu Qing's eyes widened in shock as she stared at Dou Zhao with an expression of utter disbelief.

  The crown prince came to thank her, since he had been refused entry!

  "He couldn't help but say, 'Fourth Miss, you may not know that the young master had been recovering well from his injuries and was able to take care of himself while escorting his wife's funeral procession. However, his condition kept relapsing, and the imperial physician said that if he continued to exert himself like this, even the great god of healing wouldn't be able to cure him. Now that things have finally stabilized, everyone thought the young master would focus on recovering at home, but instead, he used the excuse of needing to boil medicine with spring water to move to the countryside and live in his villa. As long as the young master can quietly recover from his injuries, whether it's at the Yizhitang or the villa, everyone just hopes that his injuries will heal quickly... Who knew that the young master had other plans, wanting to personally visit you to express his gratitude... You won't even see him, and he'll be so disappointed...' He said this as his eyes reddened, and with a thud, he knelt down in front of Duan Zhao. 'Fourth Miss, I beg of you, please go see the young master!' Then he started kowtowing loudly."

  "Get up quickly!" Du Zhao was somewhat anxious.

  Pure heart busy helping Xu Qing forward.

  But she is no match for Xu Qing.

  Xu Qing knocked his head on the ground with a "thud thud thud" sound, kowtowing to Du Zhao. It seemed that if Du Zhao didn't respond, he wouldn't get up.

  All his weeping and laughing were feigned.

  But she really didn't mean to thank Song Mo.

  All she did was just hoping to be clear with Song Mo.

  But things turned out to be developing in the opposite direction...

  Dong Zhao respected Xu Qing as a loyal servant, and with a pure heart, he gave him a look, then returned to the inner chamber.

  The hall occasionally transmitted Su Xin's voice advising Xu Qing, as well as the sound of Xu Qing knocking his head.

  As the fine sand of the leaky clock fell for an hour, Xu Qing's knocking sound was still "dang dang dang" like a drumbeat hitting Du Zhao's heart.

  She really can't take it anymore.

  Su Xin also came in and said: "Fourth Miss, this won't do... Xu Qing's head is covered in blood..." Her face turned pale.

  Dong Zhao forced a bitter smile and had to turn back to the hall, his face sinking as he asked Xu Qing: "You're forcing me like this. Is it the intention of your family's young master?"

  Xu Qing, perhaps fearing that the blood on his forehead would scare Du Zhao, lowered his head and said in a muffled voice: "I dare not. I just thought of Young Master's sincerity. It's unbearable to me." As he spoke, he knocked his head again, "Please, Miss, grant him his wish!"

  Su Xin couldn't bear to look at Xu Qing's expression and turned her face away.

  Dòu Zhāo sighed.

  Xu Qing was also acting on orders, why should she make things difficult for Xu Qing?

  "Tell your family's young master that we'll meet at Tianzhuang tomorrow!" She said calmly, "However, this is just for this one time, don't make it a habit."

  "Fourth Miss!" Xu Qing was both shocked and delighted, hastily saying. "I won't dare again..." Before he could finish speaking, he swayed and fell to the ground.

  "How annoying!" Du Zhaozi stomped her foot and went to find Cui Yiniang, leaving Xu Qing to Su Xin.

  Grandma Ni asked Dou Zhao with a smile: "How's the business of that pen and ink shop of yours?"

  "Being able to maintain expenses." Duan Zhao smiled and said, "This time going to Tianzhuang, I also want to discuss with Mr. Chen, see if there's a good way for the shop to make a profit."

  Grandma nodded and asked about Tian Fugui, who had given Du Zhao a brocade chicken at the Douzhao and Jiuli ceremonies: "Thirteen took him away, didn't he cause any trouble for you?"

  The old man thought that since it was a place where Cui Shi San had to go, if anything went wrong, the responsibility would be entirely on Cui Shi San's shoulders.

  Dong Zhao couldn't help but purse his lips and smile.

  This Tian Fugui is indeed a material for doing business. He went to Kyoto and got the hang of it in just a few days, and did even better than Cui Thirteen.

  "You can rest assured. There's no mistake with Cui Thirteen's recommendation."

  "That's great!" The grandmother was delighted when she heard this and personally saw Duan Zhao off at the gate the next day.

  A clear autumn day, with not a cloud in the sky, and a refreshing tranquility.

  Dong Zhao took a deep breath.

  The horse carriage was stopped by someone at the corner of the village entrance.

  "Fourth Miss," said Chen He, who was bowing to her, "Young Master is waiting for you by the river at the back hill."

  That was where she and her father used to go fishing.

  There is a small path at the foot of the mountain leading to the back mountain, but it's not suitable for horse-drawn carriages.

  The road is very close, and after turning over the mountain, it will arrive. Duan Zhao got off the carriage with Su Xin's support, and a soft sedan was parked beside him.

  Chen Tao lifted the curtain and went forward.

  Dong Zhao got into the sedan chair.

  The sedan chair swayed gently as it went up the small path.

  The forest, which was usually deserted, now had a faintly discernible sharpness every few steps, subtly blocking the path leading to the back mountain.

  Dou Zhaowalked on the familiar path of ordinary days, but as if walking on the edge of a deep precipice.

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  Only two more days until liberation...~~~~~(_

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