Ouyang Nan, who worked in the capital, was well-informed and his news was exciting: allowing women to participate in the imperial examinations and become officials would greatly improve their social status.

"Ouyang Nan, you have achieved the highest honors in the imperial examinations, setting a good example for the students of Shuixian Town. In the future, Shuixian Town will produce more top scholars."

In two or three days, the results of the provincial examination will be posted. When that happens, take Xiaoyu home to visit Grandpa's grave and see the villagers.

"This time when you return to your hometown, be sure to go incognito. Your status is different now; don't alert the local officials."

"Okay, brother, I'll start preparing now. We'll head to our hometown once Xiaoyu gets her results from the provincial examination."

I'm taking two months off this time, and I'll be spending a month traveling. I need to make good use of the remaining time to spend more time with my family.

Over the next few days, Ouyang Nan visited the academy, met with the teachers, and taught several lessons to the students.

He also asked Li Guang to take him to the fields to do farm work. During his time studying at the academy, Ouyang Nan often used his days off to help with farm work. This time, working in the fields felt completely different.

Ouyang Nan grew up in the countryside and knew the hardships of ordinary people who worked hard day and night to earn food and clothing.

Li Guang was the future emperor of the Northern Dynasty. Apart from protecting his country, he devoted the rest of his time to agricultural production and crop promotion.

Li Guang cared deeply for the people and was concerned about their suffering. Over the years, his deeds have won the hearts of the people and earned him their respect.

It was a clear and crisp autumn day. Ouyang Nan took Zhao Lingling and Ouyang Xiaoyu to the lake to pick water chestnuts and to catch small stone crabs in the stream.

The kids we used to be have grown up and will soon go their separate ways to carry out the missions that God has given them. It will be hard to have the chance to play so carefree again.

Finally, the day arrived for the results of the provincial examination to be announced. After receiving the results, Magistrate Wang Zhibo was overjoyed. He personally led a team, beating gongs and drums, to visit each successful candidate and announce the good news.

This year, six students from Wufang Academy passed the provincial examination. In the entire Zhengyang County, only a dozen or so students passed, meaning Wufang Academy accounted for almost half of the successful candidates.

The most astonishing event was the Lin Fuzi Academy. Master Lin arranged for forty people to participate in the provincial examination, and twenty-six of them passed, accounting for half of the female candidates from Huizhou Prefecture. This caused a sensation in the Great Northern Dynasty.

This year is a special case, and it is completely understandable that this situation has occurred. First of all, the provincial examinations for men and women are separate, so they do not affect each other and there is no competition between men and women.

Rather than saying that this year's provincial examination was for all women in the world, it would be more accurate to say that it was a special session for Lin Fuzi Academy, since no other girls' academy in the world could be so dedicated to studying the classics.

As is well known, the provincial examination focused on three aspects: the Four Books and Five Classics, policy questions, and poetry. These subjects were rarely taught in girls' schools, and only Master Lin taught them seriously.

It seems that opportunity always favors the prepared mind, and the same was true for the imperial examinations in ancient times.

In this women's provincial examination, Ouyang Xiaoyu unsurprisingly won first place, becoming the top scholar in the provincial examination. The second-place winner and the third-place winner were all from Lin Fuzi Academy.

Zhao Lingling missed out on the top three and only got fourth place, which is already very good.

Zhao Xian was overjoyed. He had only hoped that his younger sister would be well-mannered and knowledgeable, but he never expected that she would pass the imperial examination. Although the degree of her success was not very high, the whole family was very satisfied.

Li Chun'e was overjoyed, her daughter had passed the imperial examination and was about to take up a government post.

Zhao Xian summoned the two women and asked them what their plans were: whether they wanted to become officials or continue their studies and take higher-level exams.

The two women shared the same idea: they didn't want to continue their studies; all they wanted was an official position to help Zhao Xian manage his businesses. Ouyang Xiaoyu, in particular, had long wanted to repay Zhao Xian.

Zhao Xian's idea was that Zhao Lingling was already nineteen years old and a grown woman, so continuing her studies was no longer realistic. His business was full of talented people, and he didn't need his younger sister to help him manage it.

He hoped his sister could enter the government and settle her own marriage so she could have a happy family; that would be enough for her.

As for Ouyang Xiaoyu, she is intelligent and has the potential to be a scholar. Moreover, she is still young. Even if she participates in the imperial examination three years later, she will only be seventeen years old. It will not be too late for her to enter the court as an official at that time.

After discussing it with Ouyang Nan, who also agreed with Zhao Xian's suggestion, they went to discuss it with Ouyang Xiaoyu. Ouyang Xiaoyu finally agreed to continue her studies and participate in the imperial examination three years later.

As arranged beforehand, Ouyang Nan took Ouyang Xiaoyu to his hometown to pay respects at his grandfather's grave and visit his fellow villagers.

Zhao Xian arranged for twenty attendants to protect the brother and sister's safety. In order not to alert the local government, Zhao Xian instructed them to travel discreetly and return quickly.

Ouyang Nan's return to the village this time was different from the past. He was now a sixth-rank official in the imperial court and also the top scholar in the imperial examination this year.

Ouyang Xiaoyu is the top female candidate in this year's provincial examination, the first such candidate in the Northern Dynasty.

The brother and sister only stayed in their hometown for one night before returning to Shuixian Town. After learning about the situation, the county magistrate immediately led a group of people to visit them, but Ouyang Nan and his sister had already left.

After returning to Narcissus Town, Ouyang Nan stayed for a while. Seeing that there were only ten days left of his vacation, he prepared to return to Beijing.

Zhao Xian prepared two jars of fine wine and asked Ouyang Nan to take them to the Fourth Prince as a tribute to his father-in-law. These two jars of wine were not brewed by him, but purchased at a high price from the system.

Seeing Ouyang Nan leave, Li Guang discussed with Zhao Xian the plan to build a temporary palace in Shuixian Town. The emperor had said that once the official road from Shuixian Town to the capital was completed, the emperor would travel through this road to visit Shuixian Town in person.

Li Guang promised the emperor that he would build a temporary palace in Shuixian Town as the emperor's residence. Now he must hurry, or it will be too late.

After careful consideration, the two chose the lakeside as the location for their palace, as the environment there was beautiful and there was no place more suitable for building a palace.

Zhao Xian owns 800 mu of farmland here, and he plans to use 100 mu of it to build a temporary palace. If he's going to build one, he'll definitely build a high-standard temporary palace.

When ancient emperors traveled, they would usually build temporary palaces at their destinations for the emperor to rest. The size of these temporary palaces varied depending on the circumstances, but Zhao Xian wanted to build a temporary palace that covered an area of ​​100 acres, which was far too large.

"Brother Zhao, isn't a hundred acres too big? Building a palace that occupies ten acres would be enough."

Zhao Xian smiled and said, "A palace covering a hundred acres is not large. In a few years, this place will become an important town in the Great Northern Dynasty. For the Great Northern Dynasty to last for thousands of years, it is very necessary to build a high-standard palace here."