Dou Zhao's attitude was extremely firm, and Ji returned in disappointment.

Ji Ling couldn't help but ask his aunt softly: "Does cousin Dou have a bad relationship with his stepmother?"

Ji brought Ji Ling to Zhending to participate in Dou Zhao's rituals, and there was another intention.

Ji Lingze has been engaged to the sixth son of the Han family in Huzhou. The sixth son of the Han family has been studying in Kyoto. Ji Lingze's wedding date was set in October this year, which is one of the reasons why Ji Lingze arrived in Kyoto early. After Ji Lingze became married, he would travel to Kyoto with the sixth son of the Han family. After the Wei family was dismissed from the ward next July, the Wei family would soon set a marriage date with the Dou family. After Dou Zhao went to Kyoto, he also had a companion. Moreover, Ji Lingze was extremely intelligent. Since childhood, he studied with Ji's aunt who was well-educated and returned home. He was generous and smart in dealing with people everywhere. The Han family is also a family of officials. Now there are two masters who have joined the government. One is in Huguang County, and the other is in charge of the Qing official department of the Ministry of Works, and is in charge of the world's river engineering.

Dou Zhao and Ji Ling had only good things but no harm.

Now, when Ji Lingze spoke, she seemed to be quite puzzled by Dou Zhao. She did not want Ji Lingze to misunderstand Dou Zhao's unfiliality, so she quietly told Ji Lingze about the grievances of that year one by one.

Ji Lingze was stunned when he heard this, and after a while he sighed: "If it were me, I'm afraid it would be difficult to be calm!"

"Yes!" Ji sighed, "So there are some things that cannot be blamed on Shou Gu." He said again, "It seems that I have to come back for a few days next year to help Shou Gu take care of the matters before getting married."

Ji Lingze laughed and said, "It's so nice for my aunt to treat my cousin in the Dou family!"

"Of course." Ji smiled and gestured, "It's no different from her own child when she watched her grow up so little by little." He also said, "She has been alone since she was a child. In the future, you must treat her like your relative's cousin."

"I understand!" Ji Ling took Ji's arm and joked with his aunt, "You are too biased. It's not enough to make Jianming recognize her as a cousin, and I also recognize her as a cousin. Fortunately, Meng Chun is not here. If Meng Chun is here, are you going to let him recognize this cousin?"

Ji Mengchun, whose name is Ji Yang, is Ji Yong's cousin. Although he is not as famous as Ji Yong, he is better at being kind and steady, and has a higher prestige than Ji Yong among the younger generations of the Ji family.

Ji said with confidence: "That's natural!"

Ji Lingze couldn't help laughing and said, "Do you know that he has written Zhang Dou Si now, and his note is pressed against the big desk in the study room. He has to look at it a few times every day and then start reading?"

Ji was shocked and said, "What happened?"

"It was seen when Uncle Thirteen saw it when he went to visit Ming." Ji Lingze said, "Uncle Thirteen dared not ask Jian Ming, and arrested Zi Shang and Zixi to inquire about the news." She said, her expression gradually became solemn, "Zi Shang and Zixi did not hide it. It was said that Jian Ming had decided to take the scientific examination because he was ridiculed by his cousin of Dou's family. He also said that Jian Ming had never suffered any losses no matter who he met, but he was repeatedly frustrated by his cousin of Dou's family. Uncle Thirteen heard that I came to be true, so he asked me to find out what happened to Ming and Dou's cousin? I was afraid that when Jian Ming became a little bit angry, he would tease Dou's cousin for a while, so that it would be difficult for you to be a human being in the Dou family."

"What's going on?" Ji frowned and returned to Kyoto. The first thing he did was to call Dou Zhengchang and Dou Dechang brothers to ask questions.

Dou Zhengchang became anxious as soon as he heard this and said, "Do you want to talk to your father about this? Seeing Ming's temper may not be the fourth sister who messed with him!"

Dou Dechang disagreed and smiled and said, "If Cousin Ji has the upper hand, why should he grit his teeth? I think we should pretend not to know for the time being. Anyway, we have been studying at Shuntian Prefecture School these days. If he has any movement, as long as we pay attention, we will definitely find out. It is about to end. If Cousin Ji has some twists and turns because of this incident, it will be ours."

Ji thought what the second son said was very reasonable, so he nodded slightly and repeatedly reminded his two sons: "Be careful and wait until you see the Ming Dynasty exam. It is best to be able to untie this knot; if it cannot be untie, you must ask your great-grandfather."

The two nodded and observed Ji Yong carefully without moving.

Ji Yong seemed to know nothing. He studied hard every day, got up as soon as he heard the chicken, and went to bed in the middle of the night, skimming the five-year paper papers. He did not worship the ancestors of the Ji family on the ninth day of the second month. Zi Xi went to the street to pick up the exquisitely crafted test baskets, brought his usual pen, ink, paper and ink, and put some food in them. When Ji Qi and others arrived, there was no trace of Ji Yong.

Ji Qi couldn't help but stamp his feet and scolded Zi, saying that Zixi was ignorant.

Zixi didn't know how much blame Ji Yong took for him, so he knelt there tremblingly begging for mercy, but he was not afraid. He knew that Ji Yong would not nod, unless he provoked the old man, the rest of the family would not punish them.

Ji Qi just sighed a few times and let Zi Shang and Zixu get up.

After the three exams, Ji Qi did not dare to ask him if he was good or not. If his son thought he was good, he failed. His son lost face in front of him, but he was afraid he would not want to see him even more in the future: If his son felt bad, wouldn’t it be wasted all his hard work during this period? His son would still be able to bring him down in front of him. He simply said that his mother, Han, knew his fate, and rushed over from Yixing, cooked himself and waited for him at home.

Ji Yong thought about it and followed Ji Qi back to Yuqiao Hutong.

Ji Qi breathed a sigh of relief.

Ji Yong was raised by the old lady of the Ji family when she was born. If she grew up, she would follow the old master of the Ji family. Han’s chances of seeing her son were not as good as those of Ji Yong’s servants. Her feelings for her son were very delicate.

She was proud of Ji Yong, but sometimes she felt that the son she gave birth to did not belong to her, but to the Ji family, but was born through her belly, and occasionally she felt that "it would be great if my son was not so smart." But she never dared to mention this feeling to others. She was even more inconvenient to ask about Ji Yong's affairs, so she just took his hand and asked him how much food and clothing he spent these days.

Even if the two of them were like this, the rest of the Ji family would not make things boring. They all thought that Ji Yong had gone out to visit the door and asked this and that, but they would not mention the imperial examination.

In fact, Ji Yong felt that he was doing well in the exam and could enter the top five. He really wanted to talk to others, but no one else mentioned it. He couldn't mention it on his own initiative, right?

The main reason is that even if he mentioned it, they would just smile and say perfunctorily, "You will definitely be on the list of the gold medals."

It would be great if Dou Zhao was here.

She would definitely ask him what he had done in the exam, how he answered, and maybe he might even ask him why he answered like this.

Thinking of this, he thought of Dou Zhao's shiny almond eyes.

No matter when I am full of energy, I don’t have a time to get tired.

The mother's careful questioning immediately made Ji Yong feel particularly boring, and she also felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

He was not the kind of person who compromised, so he simply stood up and said impatiently, "I'm back to the house." Then he left.

Han sighed.

She and this son really have nothing to say.

Ji Yong was lying on the bed, but he thought about the small camphor wood box placed in the study in Shuntianfu School's house.

He ordered: "Go and take that box over."

The son left in response.

When I came back, I met Han.

Han felt uncomfortable and called Ji Lingze to talk to him.

Seeing that I was still out after being in so late, I asked.

The son was valued by Ji Yong, so he was naturally not the one who didn’t know the depth. He heard this and hurriedly stepped forward respectfully and answered.

Han was surprised, but he didn't ask too much.

Early the next morning, she went to her son's house to help her pack up her things. Her son had already gone to the house at Shuntian Prefecture School.

"Why is it so early?" Han was very disappointed.

The maid who served in Ji Yong's house hurriedly said, "Madam, the young master said that most of the books on Shuntian Prefecture School are the Four Books and Five Classics, and the art of literature is made. Anyway, he will not be able to use it in the future. He wants to give all the books to the two young masters of the aunt's house. He asked the two young masters of the aunt's house to move books, not to live in Shuntian Prefecture School."

Han looked happy and asked the maid: "So, is the young master doing well in the exam?"

How dare the maid answer this way? She had to stammer: "I don't know. The young master came back last night and kept wandering around the house until he came back."

Han was stunned when he heard this. From the corner of his eyes, he somehow accidentally swept over the green square pillow at the head of Ji Yong's bed, and found a corner of a camphor wooden box exposed under the pillow.

She couldn't help but walk over, pulled out the box and opened it.

Inside is a hairpin of camphor wood.

The simple style of long hairpin is carved with various camellias throughout the body. Some are in bud, some are just buds, and some are in bloom. The workmanship is not necessarily exquisite, the materials are not necessarily exquisite, but the appearance is very novel. Not only that, the wood carved objects exudes a simple and natural demeanor, but the flowers on this hairpin are clustered together, but the flowers are all scrambling to bloom, giving people a sense of glory.

The person who carved hairpins was very ordinary in craftsmanship, but the person who designed the hairpins was superb in painting!

This kind of half suddenly appeared in Han's mind, and then the scene of Ji Yong using a small mat to cushion his feet when he was a child, laying on a large painting table in the garden pavilion to paint the camellia at home...

She couldn't help but gasp, closed the box with a "splash", and asked the maid in a hurry: "This is..."

The maid smiled and said, "This is the box I sent to you yesterday." As she said, her eyes were confused, "Last night, I clearly saw the young master put it in the box, so why did it beneath the pillow..."

Han's head was inexplicably frightened.

She put the box back and hurriedly told the maid two words "Don't let the young master find that someone touched his things", and hurriedly returned to the inner room and reminded her wet nurse, Madam Han: "You wait in front of the Hanhua Gate. When the young master comes back, he will report to me immediately." (To be continued)
Chapter completed!