Early the next morning, Zhao Hao announced that he and his father would go into seclusion until three days before the exam, and ordered all his disciples to prepare well for the exam, urge each other to do their best, and not slack off.

He had already said this beforehand, so the disciples were not surprised. After helping the master and the grandmaster to arrange the retreat place in the East Courtyard, they reluctantly returned to the West Courtyard.

Taking into account various factors such as the lack of absolutely trustworthy manpower, Zhao Hao did not choose to go to the wilderness as he did last time, but instead went into seclusion at home.

However, the defense was not relaxed.

In order to avoid too many people, Zhao Hao specially announced that the science exhibition was temporarily closed, and more than ten guards were divided into two shifts to guard outside the room day and night. Gao Wu brought food and drink to the door every day, and no one was allowed to step into the door.

Zhao Shizhen wanted to go in and serve, but was ruthlessly kicked back to the west courtyard by Zhao Hao, who asked him and Zhang Jian to tinker with the automatic water-lifting device.

~~

When only the father and son were left in the room, Zhao Hao closed the door and took his father into the inner room.

As soon as Zhao Shouzheng saw the portrait of Emperor Taizu of Song Dynasty pasted on the wall, he immediately knelt on his knees in surprise, wishing he could pounce on the fat black man and kiss him twice.

"Our ancestors really do love us!"

"When our ancestors do things, they will naturally have a good start and a good end." Zhao Hao rolled his eyes secretly, thinking that no wonder Master Zhao was so careless all day long, it turned out that he had placed all his hopes on his ancestors.

If his ancestors were not good, it would be a huge blow to him. He would probably have to be a filial and honest official for the rest of his life, living off his wife and children...

But it saved a lot of nonsense. After Zhao Shouzheng finished burning incense and kowtowing to his ancestors, Zhao Hao took out a yellow paper from his sleeve, handed it to his father and said, "Old rules."

"I know. Burn it after reading it. Don't tell anyone even if you kill me." Zhao Shouzheng held the treasure in his hands and unfolded it. It turned out to be a big question:

'The Master said: You, did you teach me to know? To know what you know and to know what you do not know is knowledge.'

Master Zhao couldn't help but feel surprised and delighted. He kowtowed to Zhao Kuangyin repeatedly, saying: "Ancestors bless you, ancestors bless you!"

You know, if it is a conventional cut-and-match question, a lot of people will fail just in the question review. It's like the examiner cuts cucumber, eggplant, and bitter gourd into pieces and puts them together. Do you think it is an eggplant with cucumber and bitter gourd, or a cucumber with eggplant and bitter gourd?

That doesn't mean that the longer you think about it, the more you will understand the examiner's mind. You still have to be on the same page with the examiner. If you don't, your essay will be too far off the topic, and you won't pass the exam no matter how fancy you are.

It was different when it came to the big questions. The examiners couldn’t do anything they wanted to do and could only follow Zhu Xi’s annotations.

At this time, it was a matter of who had a solid foundation and who made fewer mistakes. Mr. Zhao had an open-book essay and more than 20 days to prepare. If he still failed, there must be something fishy going on. After all, it was much easier to pass the imperial examination in Beijing than in Nanjing.

What made Zhao Hao feel a little relieved was that Li Chunfang was a mature and cautious official, and he should be able to do things in a measured way...

However, thinking too much about those uncontrolled variables is useless and will only add to your troubles.

Zhao Hao calmed himself down and sat by the stove in the outer room, tending the fire while reciting the tutorial for the next class for his disciples.

~~

Three days later.

The eldest princess' phoenix sedan arrived at the Fire God Temple.

Although the Fire God Temple is called a temple, it enshrines the Taoist Southern Fire God and is a branch of the Baiyun Temple.

The Taoist priest Wang who presided over this place was a Taoist priest in Xiao Penglai more than ten years ago. He got this opportunity because he often helped the princess to fetch water and water the flowers.

Hearing that His Highness had arrived, the fat Taoist priest Wang hurried out to greet him. Along with him came the jade master Lu Zigang who was staying here.

Master Lu showed no surprise at the eldest princess's arrival, and he respectfully invited Her Highness in according to the procedures.

The eldest princess first burned incense at the Fire Ancestor Temple, and then went to the Jade Emperor Pavilion to rest.

Knowing that His Highness was looking for Lu Zigang today, Taoist Wang served tea and then tactfully withdrew.

"Thank you for what happened that day, Master."

The princess smiled and said to Lu Zigang, "I am so sorry to have to ask you to act with me."

Lu Zigang thought to himself that he didn't seem embarrassed at all at that time.

However, Her Royal Highness the Princess was willing to give it her all to help her first love resolve his unnecessary worries, which made Lu Zigang admire her.

He shook his head slightly and said, "Your Highness, you are too kind. Besides, I am not acting. The person I am talking about is real."

"Oh?" The princess looked at Lu Zigang in surprise and said, "I thought the master was talking to Zhao Lang."

"That's not the case. Her name is Xiu Niang. Concubine Liu might still have some impression of her." Lu Zigang looked at the middle-aged palace maid standing by and said, "I heard from Eunuch Chen that you two were selected into the palace at the same time."

"Embroiderer?" Lady Liu recalled carefully, shook her head apologetically and said, "I was trembling with fear when I first entered the palace. We didn't dare to talk to each other, and we were assigned to different places before we could get to know each other well."

"Is that so..." Lu Zigang smiled slightly disappointedly, then took out a brocade box from his arms and presented it with both hands.

"Your Highness, the jade pendant has been put back together."

Liu Shang Gong took it, opened the brocade box and presented it to the eldest princess.

I don't know what method Lu Zigang used to restore the jade pendant to its original state, as if "Shou Zheng" and "Ning An" had never been separated.

The princess picked up the round jade pendant and looked at it carefully in the sunlight, but still could not see any flaws on it.

"It's really amazing." The princess was very satisfied. She happily put the jade pendant close to her body, then smiled at Lu Zigang and said, "Master, you have helped me a lot this time. Don't worry about your affairs. Next time I go to the palace, I will persuade my brother to let you go back to Suzhou."

"Then I would like to thank Your Highness in advance!" Lu Zigang said happily, "I am old now. Even if I am in Suzhou, I can still carve jade for Your Majesty. I don't have to stay in the palace."

The eldest princess nodded and said with empathy: "Yes, that kind of place is really too depressing for someone like the master."

~~

It is true that Lu Zigang was invited by Emperor Longqing, but the craftsmen who assisted him and the jade materials they used were mostly from the imperial shop in Beijing.

Because of a connection they had in the past, the eldest princess had taken good care of Lu Zigang over the past year or so, and the two of them had become close friends regardless of age difference.

Seeing that Zhao Lang was still unwilling to come to his senses, the princess came up with a whimsical idea and asked Lu Zigang for help. Lu Zigang also wanted to ask the princess for help and persuade Emperor Longqing to let him go back to Suzhou... After the old man knew that his childhood sweetheart had died in the Forbidden City, he felt suffocated every time he entered the palace.

That day she asked Lu Zigang to wait at Yinding Bridge, and she took Zhao Shouzheng along the way to look for him, which led to the reunion sixteen years later.

Otherwise, how could such a coincidence happen?

ps. The first update is here, please give me monthly tickets and recommendation tickets~~~