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n“This snow will last another one or two days.” Feng Jin shook his head. “Shang Jing has always been like this. The snow comes earlier and earlier every year.”

nJiang Pengji stared at the roof, which was covered with a thick layer of snow. Her brows twisted together and it seemed that she was concerned about something.

nUntil the Qionglin Banquet, the snow didn’t show a sign of stopping. The whole Shang Jin was coated with white snow. However, the chilly weather was not going to stop the hustling banquet.

nPeople were making toasts with each other, appreciating the dancing still. The female dancers with hourglass figures wore light blue, yarn-made dresses and danced in the snow like they were the goddesses from heaven that were about to fly away. Jiang Pengji noticed that they had bare feet and the bottoms of their feet were frozen so bad that they had turned red. She lost her interest all of sudden.

nShe was the only one that felt uncomfortable. It didn’t affect the other gentry clan young men at all.

n“This Master Yuanjing is really a piece of work. His students took two places in the top three this time. Rumor has it, if it wasn’t that his student Lv Zheng was from a poor family and he was the son of a hunter, it wouldn’t be an issue for him to take one of the top three places. If that’s true, then it’s really scary.”

n“I’ve heard that Master Yuanjing has another student. Why did he go?”

n“Are you talking about Wei Zixiao? What I heard is that someone offended him during the evaluation. He has a temper. He hit that person and took off.”

n“That’s a shame…”

n“Why do you have to have sympathy for him? Hitting someone is such a rude move. He is nothing like literati, but more like a ruthless man.”

nJiang Pengji sat at her own seat. She was surrounded by the gentry clan members that were the same social status as her. Each of them had a big mouth. Some of them were invested in a position in the government by taking advantage of the wealth of their family. Some of them simply came for fun by using their parents’ title.

nJiang Pengji was the latter one. She kept quiet and drank some alcohol. She pretended that she was drunk and snuck out of the banquet.

nXu Ke had parked the wagon outside of the palace. He saw Jiang Pengji coming towards him wrapped in a thick, white, fussy cape. She was very much like a moving white ball from a distance. He held his laugh and quickly got out of the wagon and set up the footstool for her.

nHe was not the driver of the wagon but he was trying to get a look at the Qionglin Banquet.

nPeople from poor families would still have the chance to be there, but Xu Ke would never be qualified to be in there no matter how hard he strived for it.

nJiang Pengji was crystal clear about his intentions and that was why she didn’t stop him.

n“It gets cold very fast. You should put on more clothes if you are going out. I asked you to sit in the wagon, but you have to wait outside. Here, take this hand stove to warm yourself up––just in case you are going to complain that I abuse you behind my back…”

nXu Ke took the delicate hand stove. It was petite, wrapped with a layer of thick cloth. It didn’t burn and it was designed for young girls.

n“You are wrong about me. When have I ever complained about you behind your back? I usually just complain right to your face.”

nXu Ke wasn’t going to provoke her more when he saw Jiang Pengji’s eyes. He would never be able to hide from her. It would be easier if he came forward than to be laughed at.

n“Full of bull.” Jiang Pengji condemned him with a grin.

nShe was about to step on the footstool and get into the wagon. She glanced at him and saw that Wei Ci, who was in a dark green outfit, was standing in the snow with an umbrella.

nShe stopped her steps and turned to Xu Ke. “Take my hand stove and get in the wagon. I have something else that I need to deal with.”

nXu Ke was surprised and his vision moved to Wei Ci as well.

nAs a person who had a fetish with voices, it was hard for him not to remember people with special voices. Not to mention, Wei Ci didn’t just have the amazing voice, but he was also a charming and elegant man.

nJiang Pengji walked close to him and teased, “Are you waiting for me here?”

nWei Ci didn’t overreact like he normally did, but he said to her blandly, “I am just waiting for nothing like your accountant. About who I’m waiting for, it is all up to who comes first. If you believe that I’m here for you, then that’s fine.”

nWas he being sarcastic about her being narcissistic?

nJiang Pengji schooled her smile. She looked at him with a sense of probing.

nWei Ci didn’t back off either. He slightly lowered his eyes and looked into her eyes without timidity or guilt. He tilted his umbrella towards her and covered her head. “It is quite a snow. You’d better go home now.”

n“Did you write that paragraph?” Jiang Pengji asked him, her face serious. Her tone wasn’t nice.

nWei Ci gave her a mild smile and asked her instead, “Do you think your father intentionally leaked the questions ahead of time so I could pay someone else to write it for me?”

nJiang Pengji went mute. She hadn’t suspected that Wei Ci would find someone else to write for him. She was surprised by the contrast between Wei Ci’s opinion with the literati in the current era. If everyone went for school, then who was going to farm? The more educated people were, the more they would ask for from the society. The gentry clans who monopolized the knowledge would be reluctant to accept it. There was one other thing that was rather essential: Wei Ci was from gentry clan family as well.

nEven though the Wei’s in Langye had fallen, their ascendants flourished for a while.

nGentry clans had a sense of pride and they claimed to have better blood and that they were meant to be born in a better class.

nWei Ci either had brilliant insight or he was just a normal dumba** who barely had any experience in the human world. But he didn’t look like the latter type to Jiang Pengji at all.

n“You are indeed good at talking.” She smiled at him with a weird look. “It seems that you already learned how to remain calm in front of me.”

nThere was a bit of relief in Wei Ci’s voice. “I get to learn from my mistakes. I don’t dare to say that I’m as good as Youmo, but I’m not some stupid man without any gifts. I wouldn’t allow myself to fall at the same spot twice. You will be disappointed if you are trying to probe something out of me.”

nJiang Pengji turned to look at him and gave him a positive “yes.””You should really feel lucky that there are many people and wagons here.”

nWei Ci raised his brows and asked, “What do you mean?”

n“You have the appearance of a god, especially because your clothes match the snow. If there wasn’t anyone around…”

nJiang Pengji blinked at him and gave him a flirtatious suggestion.

nWei Ci grasped hard on his umbrella handle. His face turned back to normal and he pulled his umbrella back to himself.

nEnjoy the snow yourself! Jiang Pengji laughed so much that her shoulders shivered. She laughed because of Wei Ci’s reaction. He was just like an arrogant cat.

nJiang Pengji looked at the snow and she burst out, “My father will apply for retirement after this Qionglin Banquet.”

nWei Ci couldn’t hide his astonishment. “Your father is barely 40 years old. Why would he apply for retirement?”

n“Can you guess?”

nWei Ci stared at this short person who didn’t quite reach his chest and said to him in a low voice, “If you are not going to get involved, your father might have some leisure time after his retirement. The situation in Dongqing is getting more and more serious. The day that Nansheng collapses is the day the turmoil of the world starts. Applying for retirement is definitely a good idea to avoid the chaos. But if you are going to intervene, this application must be a measurement you guys take for a future plan.”

nWei Ci schooled his expression. If nothing had changed, the person standing right in front of him was not too ambitious to cause trouble in Dongqing with her bandit troop. Wei Ci could feel that she had the intention of taking the realm of the country much earlier than his last breaths, however.

nIf that is true… He closed his eyes and sank into his thoughts for a while. He said two words firmly to her, “Chong Zhou.”

nNothing ventured, nothing gained. No matter if it was the old her or the new her, he didn’t expect that she would start from scratch. “You know me very well.”

nWei Ci’s heart couldn’t help but pump hard after he heard her words.

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