After being reborn as a man, the woman improved her family's fortunes through education.

Having formed her own conjectures, Jiang Xiaoqi became even more cautious about what to talk about.

Regardless, since his master never mentioned the Ouyang family, he tacitly accepted that his master had no connection with the Ouyang family.

The last time Master was willing to come out of seclusion to help the generals in the northern border, it was out of a sense of righteousness, not because Master was willing to get close to the imperial court.

Seeing the little boy who once held some affection for him in the school now so cautious and timid in his presence, Ouyang Qun fell silent.

"Alright, I've already taken up too much of your time. Aren't you going back to your elders? Go ahead."

"Yes, Mr. Ouyang, please excuse me."

Jiang Xiaoqi left cleanly and decisively, without any hesitation, leaving Tan Hao momentarily stunned.

By the time he realized what was happening, he only saw a pale white hem disappear into the entrance of the warm pavilion.

For a moment, he didn't know whether to get up and chase after him, or to remain as still as Mr. Ouyang.

Tan Hao finally decided to get up and chase after Jiang Xiaoqi.

He hurriedly bowed to Ouyang Qun and then quickly walked out of the warm pavilion.

Although Jiang Xiaoqi walked quickly, Tan Hao had long legs and big strides, and soon caught up with him.

"Mingfei, is everything alright between you and Mr. Ouyang?"

Jiang Xiaoqi stopped and turned to look at Tan Hao: "What could be wrong? Oh, by the way, don't forget to visit your house the day after tomorrow~".

"Ah? Oh! I won't forget. I'll go with the butler the day after tomorrow."

Okay, thanks! See you later~

Waving goodbye, turning away, without taking away a single petal.

Tan Hao stared blankly at Jiang Xiaoqi's departing figure, feeling inexplicably lost in thought. He and Ming Fei were indeed still unable to become closer; Ming Fei was, after all, not Ah Xuan.

Two days passed quickly, and Tan Hao, accompanied by his steward, arrived early at the inn where the Jiang family was staying.

Jiang Xiaoqi and her family had eaten breakfast early and were all ready to go see the house as soon as Tan Hao arrived.

The three generations of male heads of the Jiang family—Landlord Jiang, Jiang Wenqing, and Jiang Xiaoqi—sat around a table downstairs in the inn.

When Tan Hao arrived, Landlord Jiang had just put down his teacup, looking like he was saying, "Let's leave now!"

Tan Hao naturally couldn't say that he was a little thirsty and asked if he could have some tea before setting off. He withdrew his left foot, which had just stepped into the inn, and pressed the "retract" button on half of his body at the same time.

Two quarters of an hour later.

"This is the house closest to the examination hall in my family."

Tan Hao pointed to the somewhat old but still grand house in front of him and said somewhat apologetically, "If we had known that this house was going to be sold to the Jiang family, we should have repaired it first."

The house is now in a good location and is a good size, but it is somewhat dilapidated. The main gate is still very grand, but the flowers, plants, rockeries and ponds inside are really not a good sight.

There was nothing that could be done about it. Each house in the family was assigned one or two old servants to guard it. It was really difficult to manage such a large house. It was already quite an achievement to be able to guard even one gate.

It wasn't that the Tan family was unwilling to spend money; they simply didn't take these inanimate objects seriously. After all, the Tan family had many other businesses that actually made money, and those of the Imperial Household Department were not even worth mentioning.

No wonder they don't take these slow-appreciating properties seriously. For the Jiang family, the house outside the examination hall is a mansion, but for the Tan family, it's just something to gather dust.

This wealth gap made Jiang Xiaoqi, who possessed millions of gold and silver, feel a pang of envy. He himself had some money, but his Jiang family had none!

A powerful family can't be just one thing. If some members hold official positions, some are businessmen, and some wield military power, and all of these can be combined into one family, wow, that's incredible! They might even start a rebellion in no time!

Ahem, just kidding~

Jiang Xiaoqi followed Landlord Jiang and Jiang Wenqing into the house, and after "scanning" the surroundings, he realized the value of the house.

Thirty thousand taels of silver, is it expensive? Absolutely worth it! This is a three-courtyard residence outside the Imperial Examination Hall in the capital!

It only takes less than fifteen minutes to walk to the imperial examination.

Let's put it this way: while others were getting up and rushing to the examination hall, the Jiang family's candidates could still sleep for another half an hour!

Is half an hour unimportant for test takers? Absolutely!

Can a test taker who gets up in the middle of the night to prepare be in the same state as a test taker who has had a good night's sleep and even has time to eat breakfast?

Jiang Xiaoqi became more and more excited as she thought about it, and couldn't help but rub her hands together.

Landlord Jiang chuckled when he saw his beloved grandson like this: "Look at you, so greedy! This house is nice, but we still need to renovate it properly before we can move in."

Jiang Wenqing nodded in agreement. The house was big, but it was really dilapidated. The withered weeds alone needed to be cleaned up, and the dirty pond and flowerbeds took even more effort.

He was not good at administrative affairs, but he had lived in nice houses before. Although the Jiang residence in Xinghe Prefecture was not exquisite, it was quite tidy and clean.

"Yes, but staying at the inn all the time isn't a good idea. We can move in first, set up a few rooms for us to live in, and then set up the rest as needed. That way, we won't have to keep running back and forth between the inn and the house."

Landlord Jiang thought for a moment and said, "Alright, let's pay the money and get the deed done first. Once the deed is done, we can move in directly."

The Tan family steward, who had been waiting on the sidelines, finally felt relieved when he saw that Scholar Jiang was very satisfied with the house.

He shared the same thought as Tan Hao: they both felt that the Tan family's house was now rather shabby.

"Old Master Jiang, Master Jiang, Young Master Jiang, are you satisfied with this house?" Although the other party's expression was written all over their face, the butler still asked as usual.

Landlord Jiang nodded, "Satisfied. When can we finalize the contract?"

Landlord Jiang didn't waste any words. His family lacked nothing but time.

While he and his son were out looking at houses, his two grandsons-in-law and that young master Xue Xu must have done countless practice questions!

Yesterday he asked Dong Jin to come along, but the boy cried and refused, saying that this was a private matter for the Jiang family and that as the son-in-law, he shouldn't interfere too much.

Li Haisheng is even more of a character to talk about. He's not even a son-in-law yet; he hasn't officially entered the family!

That is, Jiang Wenqing, unaware of the seriousness of the matter, foolishly followed along.

Landlord Jiang: No, we must finish this quickly. After that, the repairs to the house will be left to my daughter-in-law and granddaughters. I will definitely not get involved anymore.

The Tan family steward smiled and took out the contract he had prepared beforehand. After carefully examining it, Landlord Jiang readily handed over the silver notes.

There was no other way; it was 30,000 taels of silver. If they didn't give us banknotes, we'd have to use horse-drawn carts to move it. 3,000 catties, that's 3 tons! One cart wouldn't be enough; we'd need several. And they weren't that ostentatious.

After the handover was completed, the registration with the government was completed very quickly and smoothly. After all, it was a business between a royal merchant and a scholar, and no one would obstruct it.

After leaving the government office, the steward handed the keys to Landlord Jiang and said, "Grandpa Jiang, from now on this house will belong to you."

Landlord Jiang gripped the key tightly, unable to suppress the urge to smile.

That very night, the Jiang family immediately began the process of moving.

The Dong, Li, and Xue families assisted by helping to move large pieces of luggage and belongings.

Landlord Jiang waved his hand and said, "Move out! Everyone move out!"

It's not like the Jiang family lacks the power. The Dong and Li families are the son-in-law and future son-in-law, so it's nothing for them to move along.

Xue Xu had traveled with them all the way, and they had developed a bond. Since the mansion was large enough, there was really no need to leave Xue Xu alone in the inn.

Besides, everyone is here to participate in the imperial examination. There are places to stay closer to the examination hall, so why stay in a noisy inn?

Isn't this just eating without suffering?

Xue Xu was happy, after all, the Jiang family had moved away, and it would be difficult to see Miss Lan'er in the future.

Although the house has a front and back yard, it still gives him more opportunities to get to know Miss Jiang than staying at an inn. He understands the principle of "being close to the water tower makes it easier to get the moon".

"Young Master, what are you laughing at?"

Kan Yun felt a pang of sympathy looking at his young master's expression. Recently, the young master's illness had been getting worse, not physically, but psychologically.

After recuperating in the capital for some time, Xue Xu felt much better, especially after drinking the ginseng tea sent by the Jiang family. He felt as if he had been reborn.

Jiang Xiaoqi couldn't bear to watch any longer, so she took the cup that her grandfather had used to drink the health-enhancing pills, rinsed it, and fed it to Xue Xu as ginseng tea.

That small amount of effect was enough to give the physically weak Xue Xu the physique of a normal person.

Jiang Xiaoqi felt that she was too kind and couldn't stand Xue Juren's sickly appearance.

After drinking the water used to rinse the cup, Xue Xu said, "It's okay. Can't I laugh when I'm happy? A-Yun, you're so stiff."

Daiyun: Yes, yes, yes, only the young master isn't stupid. His eyes are practically glued to Miss Jiang. Who wouldn't see that?