After leaving the city, the Zhao family traveled for about fifteen minutes before stopping their carriage. In the chaos of the crowd, the carriage had been scratched.

It's unclear whether anything inside the car is damaged.

Of course, the most important target of the investigation was Zhao Qianci.

"Dad, are you alright?" Zhao Minggeng asked.

"Yes, your dad is fine. He just bumped his head and there's a bump on his head. I've already put some ointment on it."

Huang replied.

Meanwhile, Zhao Qianci, who was at the center of the conversation, was grimacing as his wife applied medicine to his face.

The red envelope looked like it had been bitten by a big, smelly mosquito; it was red and swollen.

When Zhao Minggeng heard that his father had bumped his head, he quickly lifted the carriage curtain and saw his father's grimacing and ferocious appearance.

She abruptly pulled down the curtain. "Sorry, I didn't see anything."

"Alright, Dad's fine, let's set off," Zhao Minggeng shouted.

The convoy set off again.

The day passed peacefully without any further mishaps, and the inn where we stayed that night provided reasonably good service.

At least the blankets on the bed were freshly washed.

The next day, the family got up early, had a simple breakfast downstairs, and asked the innkeeper for directions to the county town before leaving.

A line of four carriages traveled along the street in the early morning sunlight, where there were few pedestrians.

When they arrived at the city gate, it was still closed.

The Zhao family set off so early because they were afraid of a repeat of yesterday's incident.

After all, Zhao Qianci's unlucky constitution is something that most people can't compare to.

Fifteen minutes later, the city gate slowly opened, and a large number of farmers poured in, carrying loads of fresh vegetables and live fish they had caught in the river.

There are domestic eggs, and someone carrying several live chickens and ducks.

In an instant, the city gate was filled with the lively atmosphere of cooking.

The Zhao family left the city gate and continued their journey.

If all goes well today, we will be able to reach the county seat.

Halfway through their journey, the group came to a river.

The river didn't look very deep, and there was a wooden bridge spanning it.

It looks fairly sturdy.

Other pedestrians and carriages were all fine on the bridge. Only the Zhao family stopped.

They dared not gamble, dared not gamble on the old man's luck.

So one by one they got off the carriage and walked across the wooden bridge.

Then another person pulls the carriage, thus avoiding excessive stress on any one point on the bridge.

When it came to Zhao Qianci, Zhao Minggeng, in the same manner, first pulled the carriage to the other side of the river.

Zhao Qianci stayed on this side of the river with his wife.

"Father, let me go pick up Grandpa," Zhao Qingyan stopped Zhao Minggeng.

Once they reached the other side of the river, she said, "Grandma, you go first, then I'll help Grandpa across."

Huang didn't hesitate. Her granddaughter said she would help the old man across, so she did. She trusted her granddaughter's fighting skills completely.

Zhao Qingyan helped the old man onto the bridge.

We were walking fine until we reached the middle of the bridge, when we heard a cracking sound.

Zhao Qingyan didn't have time to think. She used her lightness skill to pick up Zhao Qianci around the waist and flew directly to the other side of the river.

After I stood still, I looked back at the wooden bridge, and it was falling apart with a series of cracking sounds.

Zhao Qingyan patted her head. "Master, your destructive power is amazing."

Zhao Qianci looked utterly hopeless.

Whether the bridge was in disrepair due to its age or because Zhao Qianci was poisoned, the fact remains that it is broken.

The group went to the nearest village.

"Old man, could you tell me which company is responsible for repairing the wooden bridge over the Quqing River up ahead?"

Zhao Changgeng asked.

The old man wasn't actually that old, but he looked older than his age; his hair was completely white, and his back was hunched.

I sat under a big tree at the entrance of the village to enjoy the cool shade.

"What did you say? You mean that ditch over there? That bridge was built by our village. Why are you asking about that?"

The old man asked.

Finally, they found the village chief and gave him two hundred taels of silver.

"Village chief, we were just passing through on our way to take the imperial examination. We had just crossed the bridge when I almost fell in. The wooden bridge is now broken."

This money was donated by my family to help build the stone bridge.

The imperial examinations are held in August. After the exams, our group will naturally pass through this place again. Hopefully, when we return, the village chief will have already had the bridge repaired.

The village chief was naturally overjoyed.

Although the old wooden bridge was passable, it was old and dilapidated, and would collapse sooner or later.

Unexpectedly, someone has sent money to repair the bridge today. This is truly wonderful.

Building a stone bridge would cost at most 150 to 180 taels of silver, and you could still save at least 20 taels. There's nothing better than that.

After seeing the Zhao family off, the village chief gathered the village's labor force and they all set off to repair the bridge.

That evening, when the Zhao family arrived outside the city, the city gates were already closed.

"Hey, we really rushed and still missed it. We'll have to camp out tonight," Zhao Qingling said.

"Sleeping outdoors isn't so bad. I think it's pretty good in all aspects except for not being able to take a shower."

Sleeping in a tent is quite nice.

Zhao Qingluan found living in a tent quite novel, after all, their family's tent was something that couldn't be bought elsewhere.

Once the zipper is pulled up, no insects can get in. It's much better than sleeping in a guesthouse where there are mosquitoes.

Huang and Zhao Qianci slept in one tent, Zhao Qingyan had a separate tent, and the others were divided into three tents.

The first half of the night was spent on Qingshan Mountain, the second half on Zhao Minggeng, and Zhao Yonggeng kept watch until dawn.

Nothing happened that night. Even though many creatures crawled around at night, they were kept outside the Zhao family's medicinal powder circle.

Nothing more was said that night. Early the next morning, the Zhao family prepared to go into town for breakfast and washing up.

Therefore, after waking up, he drove the carriage to the city gate to guard it.

When the sun was high in the sky, the city gates finally opened from the inside out, and the Zhao family and their party entered the city without incident.

However, they encountered trouble when they went to find an inn.

I thought that since it was a month in advance, the inn wouldn't be too crowded. But it turned out that one inn was full, and another was also full.

This is a bit annoying.

"Grandma, let's find a restaurant and get something to eat first."

Then we'll go to a brokerage firm to either rent or buy a house. I don't think we'll find an inn before the autumn imperial examinations.”

Zhao Qingyan said dejectedly.

Huang nodded.

I found the restaurant with the biggest storefront and went in for breakfast. I asked the manager for directions to the brokerage firm.

"I'd like to rent a house that's close to the examination hall. Do you have any available?" Madam Huang asked.

The tooth man smiled and said,

"There are no houses that are close to the examination hall anymore. If you don't mind the distance, there is a small courtyard house about 15 minutes away from the examination hall, which is not bad."

After Huang and Zhao Qingyan went to see it, they felt it was alright, especially since there was a well in the middle of the courtyard.

"I'd like to ask, why doesn't the owner of this courtyard live here anymore?"