Chapters
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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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Outside the Ministry of Appointments. Two figures stood silently at the entrance, waiting. Li Nuo wanted to look into the records concerning Gu Wenhan, the former magistrate of Qinghe County. But he couldn’t do it alone. He had only just begun to grow closer to his wife these past few days, and as for his father-in-law—they hadn’t even exchanged a single word. After the doorman passed along the message, a thin middle-aged man soon emerged from within. Spotting Li Nuo and Song Jiaren standing…
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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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After returning to the Song household with his wife, Li Nuo deliberately kept an eye on Mu’er. He was worried that the attempted assassination earlier that day might’ve left a psychological shadow on the little girl—but it turned out he was overthinking. She was as lively as ever. During training, she even voluntarily practiced an extra half hour. Afterward, she looked at Li Nuo earnestly and said, “I’m going to train hard so I can protect Brother Li Nuo in the future!” Song Mu’er…
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A short while later, Li Nuo walked out of the county jail. That girl… she truly understood the difference between kindness and vengeance. That stab had been her way of returning the favor for the one he gave her. Though it wasn’t Li Nuo who had personally delivered that blow, he wasn’t planning to hold her accountable anymore. Before leaving, he reminded Pei Zhe to find someone to treat her wound and move her to a better cell. If her wound wasn’t cared for properly, she could die in…
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In the end, Li Nuo didn’t go question the girl. There was no need for the wretched to torment the wretched. The two of them were alike in their suffering—he understood what she was feeling right now and didn’t want to stir the wound further. When he returned to the county office courtyard with Housekeeper Wu, he saw two constables talking to County Bailiff Wang. “Have the identities of the two corpses been confirmed?” Wang asked. “Yes, sir. Though the male corpse was badly burned,…
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Li Nuo rubbed his eyes as he stared at the number on the Codex, making sure he wasn’t seeing things. Just this morning, the remaining lifespan shown on the Codex was one hundred and twenty days. Now, it had jumped to one hundred and fifty—an increase of a full thirty days. He had never gained this much lifespan at once before! But the question was—what had he done? He hadn’t done anything… The assassin had been captured, yes, but he hadn’t even decided what to do with him yet. Could…
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Outside the county office, the crowd that had gathered to watch quickly scattered in terror when they realized what had just happened. Moments ago, they’d been standing close, spectating with idle curiosity. Now, they backed away in horror. Their minds were filled with shock and confusion. What kind of crime must a man have committed to be publicly beaten to death right outside Chang’an County Office? In all their years, none had ever seen such a thing. A man dressed in black stepped into…
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The moment the middle-aged man appeared, the girl's face turned deathly pale. The young man beside her burned with fury, stretching his arm through the iron bars in a desperate attempt to reach the refined man, but he couldn't even brush the corner of his robes. Although Gu Yanran had never seen Li Xuanzheng while living in the Li residence, the face of her father’s murderer had long since been etched into her heart. The refined man calmly looked at the prisoner in the cell and said in a quiet…
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