Nightfall

On the next morning, after washing up, the young master and the handmaiden quickly prepared themselves. This was because, on this day, they were required to go to every hall for registration to retrieve his certificates for the upcoming Academy entrance exam, and they felt a need to dress themselves for such an event. Ning Que sat by the window and faced the direction of the early morning sun. He held a book in his hand and looked abstractly at it. He then shut his eyes, preparing to enjoy the moment when Sangsang helped him comb his hair. Unexpectedly, his hair was pulled with a jerk, which caused him a sudden pain. He then turned around, looked at his handmaiden helplessly and said, “Is combing hair that difficult?”

“Why don’t you, Young Master, try to comb your hair yourself? In the past, in the City of Wei, you just required me to comb it and tie a bun for you casually, but yet today, you wish to have the same hairstyle as those scholars. I’m not that skillful.” Sangsang withdrew the comb in her hand and held it behind her back, as she replied with a sulky face.

“Look at your attitude, yet you still remember to call me Young Master!” Ning Que was annoyed as he added, “Now who’s the Young Master and who’s the handmaiden? I’ve only nagged at you for a little while and you ordered me to comb my hair myself! You’ve got to understand that your Young Master is someone who’s going to enter the Academy and is considered a serious scholar. If you don’t know how to comb, then pick up the skill. I expect you to comb that style for me every day in the future!”

After seeing the drawing at Vermilion Bird Avenue yesterday, both master and handmaiden were having emotional issues. However, they were unclear about their own feelings at that point in time and were certainly unsure whether their feelings were real. Moreover, due to some obscure reasons, they had yet to discuss this incident with each other.

Ning Que took a glance at Sangsang’s grumpy face, smiled and said, “All right, all right. After we’re done with these matters, I’ll bring you to Chenjinji Cosmetics Store.”

Upon hearing this, Sangsang lifted her face and grinned. She then turned around, took out a knife from the bag and handed it over to him. Ning Que took the knife, headed for the courtyard behind the inn, and started his morning martial arts practice. His movements were swift and strong. However, his messy hairdo also shook with his every movement, causing him to look funny.

The Tang Empire was the core of the world, and Chang’an was an excellent place. Hence, the Academy was somewhat said to be the core of the Tang Empire and a place that was respected and worshipped by many commoners. Sometimes, it was even slightly stronger than the influence of the royals.

Since youth when Ning Que knew about this Academy, he had already been brainwashed by many about the power of its presence. He had never understood why the Tang Empire allowed its presence, or should he say, why the Royals would allow such a place to exist. As the old saying goes, “Above all humans is a sky, and in the sky there’s only one sun”. If that was the case, how could an empire allow the existence of two voices?

Whether he could understand the logic behind it shortly, at least, after spending a day doing bureaucracy, he had finally managed to sense the high position that the Academy was at in the Tang Empire. He had also experienced the respect, or even the fear, that the Imperial Court had towards the Academy. The simple task of retrieving his certificates for the upcoming Academy entrance exam would already require him to obtain three confirmation stamps from the various departments out of the total six, and the stamping could only be executed by officials who were Lang Zhong (an ancient official title) and above.

This day, Ning Que saw many Fifth Rank, and higher, officials of the Military Ministry, the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs, and the Ministry of Rites, many more than the ones he saw for the past sixteen years. If it were not the fact that his military status had yet to convert into citizen status, he might even need to go down to the Yamen (a government office in feudal China) of Ministry of Revenue. Though the weather in the spring was warm and cozy, traveling around the northern city of Chang’an had somewhat exhausted him as his forehead was covered with perspiration. He could not help but think silently in his heart, “Even if the Imperial Court was to send out troops against the South Jin Kingdom, I doubt it would be that troublesome.”

The empire offices were so strict that Ning Que initially believed that a small border town soldier with no background like him would be coldly ignored or looked down upon. Never did he expect when the officials saw his name, though there was no special treatment towards him, that they would not make things difficult for him either. Instead, all they did was to wave their hands and let him pass through gently. This was entirely different from what General Ma Shixiang had told him!

Ning Que thought it over carefully and realized that it might be the Princess’s work. Ever since the Princess had returned from the grassland and had an assassination attempt on her during her return to Chang’an, she would be welcomed by all the officials in the city with great feasts and celebrations in the palace. Also, she would also need to investigate on this assassination attempt in the dark hurriedly. Yet she still remembered to help him. If the person she helped was another person, that person would certainly be grateful. However, that was not what Ning Que felt. To him, he had already raised this matter to Her Highness previously. Even though he had mentioned it beside the bonfire, Her Highness was still Her Highness, so the location did not matter.

After the last stamp at the Ministry of Rites, the sun was setting. Thankfully, Tang Empire official organizations were not too bureaucratic, so the Yamen that distributed the certificates for upcoming Academy entrance exams was not too far apart from the Ministry of Rites. Furthermore, it was still open at that time, and two to three youngsters, who had just obtained their certificates, were seen gathering at the entrance discussing some topics softly.

“I can’t possibly stay at the inn long term. It’s tough to get closer with classmates like this.”

“Moving into the Academy earlier is quite a good idea. Probably I can get to know more seniors.”

“It’s not cheap to stay in the Academy. It’s much more expensive compared to a single room at the best Yuelai inn in Chang’an. Speaking of which, the Taizu (the founder of the Tang Dynasty) Period was the best. At that time, the lodging and food at the Academy were free.”

“What’s the point of saving such little money? I still feel that going to the Academy one day earlier is better. At least we can be more familiar with the area, which gives us a higher chance of passing the Academy entrance exam. I heard that the Military Ministry is crazy this year. They had recommended more than 70 students for the exams… ”

Just as Ning Que was about to walk through the entrance, he stopped upon hearing their words. He then looked at the young scholar and greeted him with a bow, hands folded in front as he asked, “Brother, may I clarify what you mean… Do you mean that the current Academy no longer provides free lodging and food?”

The three of them stared at Ning Que as if he was an idiot. They were probably thinking in their minds about why he was even taking the exam if he didn’t even know about such things.

The thing that Ning Que loved to do the most was to mock others for being an idiot behind their backs and in front of Sangsang. However, when he was being seen as an idiot in front of others, he naturally could not accept it, so he turned around and entered the office.

By the time he stepped out of the office, the group of young scholars was long gone. Should they see the lad’s pale face again, they would take the opportunity to mock him.

Sangsang had been waiting for him outside all the while. She held onto a big black umbrella to block herself from the sunlight and prevent her face from getting any darker. Just as she was grinning and happy with herself for thinking of such a great idea, she noticed the look on Ning Que’s face. She instantly became nervous as she quickly ran towards him in small steps and asked him with a trembling tone, “What happened? The Academy does not allow you to bring a handmaiden? Did you tell the adults inside that I can help the Academy to work, as long as we have a place to lodge in?”

“That’s not the problem.” Ning Que’s lips became dry as he looked at her and continued with a rough voice, “I’ve just asked them. The Academy does not provide free lodging and food at all. This means if I were to become their student, I’d need to pay 30 silver every month.”

“30 silver?” Sangsang unknowingly raised her volume, as she screamed. “Then what’s the point for you to study!?”

The moment she spurted out these words, she knew that they were meaningless. She then frowned and said to Ning Que bitterly, “Young Master, we only have savings of 76 silver and 34 copper coins after all these years. When we were accompanying the Princess on the way here, we had not spent a single penny. If we included the money that we earned from selling the horse carriage, that general that sponsored you, and the winning money from betting, there are still less than 200 silver in total. And don’t forget that we’ve stayed at the inn for two nights in Chang’an and had five meals… ”

Ning Que stopped the little handmaiden from nagging, before he replied anxiously, “There’s still one month until the Academy entrance exam. It seems like we still need to stay at the inn for another month, so deduct this expense from our savings as well.”

If only Sangsang could see how she looked right now, she would be slightly happier. That was because her dark-toned face had become much fairer than before from all the shock and anxiety she had.