Chapters
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Chang’an. The Pei Residence. Pei Jun lay face-down on the bed, bare-bottomed, groaning one low moan after another. Just earlier, at the Chang’an County Office, he had learned a harsh new lesson: Fistfighting: 40 strokes. Fighting with weapons: 60 strokes. Three people or more? Sentence increased by one grade. Five or more? Two grades. Ten or more? Three grades. For gathering a crowd and fighting, he had just taken ninety strokes. His backside was almost flayed open. The moment his…
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Yunmeng Academy. In one of the classrooms, a military strategy lecture was in progress. The lecturer, a retired general, was passionately describing a classic battle in which the Great Xia army had triumphed despite being outnumbered. His voice was loud and animated, full of energy and flair—but the students below were hardly paying attention. After all, this was Class B, not the academy’s elite group. Most of these students had no real hope of ranking in the imperial exams. Their path had…
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When Li Nuo woke the next morning, his wife was, as usual, no longer beside him. Only a faint, lingering fragrance remained in her place. After washing up and finishing breakfast, he moved around a bit in the courtyard to stretch, then brought out a book and sat down to read. Not long after, Song Jia Ren walked into the courtyard. Spotting him there, she looked surprised and asked,“You’re not going to the county office today?” She’d grown used to him heading out rain or shine—so seeing…
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Li Nuo sat there with a puzzled look on his face.Could it be that while he lacked talent in martial arts, he had maxed-out potential in Legalist cultivation? No, that couldn’t be. Legalism wasn’t martial arts—it didn’t rely on talent at all. The Legalist path, like all the major schools of thought, was built on practical effort. Everyone started from the same line. The more you did, the more you gained. Do less, and you got less. There was no such thing as faster progress due to better…
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Although Song Mu’er ended up sharing half her peach with Song Ning’er, the latter still wore a rather unhappy expression. Li Nuo felt a little awkward. At this moment, he was exactly like a parent with two children who couldn’t treat them equally. No—he wasn’t just like one. Between the two sisters, he did favor Mu’er more. Whatever was delicious or fun, she was always the first to come to mind. Because Mu’er was well-behaved. She had played with a fool like him from the…
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Zhao He stood in front of the screen, listening to the commotion behind it. After a moment of hesitation, he cautiously asked, “My Lord, are you all right?” There was the sound of rustling for a while, then silence finally returned behind the screen. That voice spoke again, calm but deep, “I’m fine. You may leave. Just remember what I told you—if anyone else checks the dossiers of Gu Wenhan or Zheng Tianxing, report to me immediately.” “Yes, understood.” Zhao He replied…
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Li Nuo never expected that the unfortunate Master Zheng, who had died so miserably in his own home, turned out to be a jinshi from the 18th year of Zhisheng. Though his rank was low, he still would have received a proper Ninth-Rank official post. So how had he ended up as a mere merchant? That instantly piqued Li Nuo’s curiosity. In Great Xia, merchants held a low social status, while officials—even a humble Ninth-Rank—were still men of privilege and rank. It was hard to imagine anyone…
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It took quite a while before Li Nuo finally recovered from his shock. To confirm whether what he saw was something rare or just his overreaction, he flipped to the beginning and end of the volume, carefully examining the top scorers of every imperial exam year. And then he realized—it really wasn’t just him making a fuss. Since the founding of the Great Xia and the establishment of the imperial examination system, in several hundred years, no one—no one—had ever managed to be the top…
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Song Zhe furrowed his brows and asked, “What do you mean?” “It’s nothing…” Li Nuo replied quietly and turned his attention back to Gu Wenhan’s performance evaluations. And just like that—he really did notice something strange. The Ministry of Appointments evaluated its officials across many categories: number of cases handled in the year, number of bandit incidents, grain production, marriage registrations, population growth, tax revenue, and so on. In Gu Wenhan’s evaluations,…
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It was already mid-morning when Li Nuo finally arrived at the county office. The Song residence wasn’t far from the Chang’an County Office, but he had deliberately asked Housekeeper Wu to take a longer route. This morning, instead of traveling down the wide main roads of Chang’an, Li Nuo had chosen the quieter, less-traveled alleys. These places were beyond the reach of street patrols and palace guards—perfect spots for ambushes and assassinations. In just half an hour, a single…
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