Female Supremacy and Rise to Power: Lin Shu's Imperial Examination Adventures

"Hah...hah..." Suddenly hearing the sound from outside the door, Lin Dafeng was startled. The grape she had just put in her mouth suddenly got stuck in her throat, and a feeling of suffocation suddenly came over her. A sound like a bellows kept coming from her throat.

"Feng'er? Has something happened?" The person outside the door seemed to have noticed the abnormality inside the room and asked again.

Lin Dafeng hurriedly rolled off the daybed, quickly moved to the table, poured a cup of cold tea and gulped it down. She then pounded her chest a few times to catch her breath.

Her voice was slightly hoarse as she responded to the person outside the door:

"Cough cough...no...it's nothing! I just choked on some water!"

"crunch..."

After saying that, he went over and opened the door to the side room.

Standing outside the door was a man in his fifties or sixties, holding Buddhist prayer beads, but because he was well-maintained, he looked like he was in his forties.

The fabric he wore was simple in color, but it was an extremely rare and high-quality material. Perhaps it was because he had been worshipping Buddha for many years, which gave him a kind face and an ethereal aura, like a secluded orchid in a valley.

Although his face now shows some wrinkles, one can still glimpse that he must have been an exceptionally handsome man in his youth...

Ji Yan followed Lin Dafeng into the side room and sat down at the table. Looking at the scattered teapots and cups on the table, and then at the grapes on the daybed, she roughly understood what had just happened. However, she only shook her head slightly, looking at her with gentle eyes:

"How can you be so careless, child?"

"Hehe..." Lin Dafeng scratched his head and chuckled awkwardly.

Ji Yan glanced at Lin Dafeng with a hint of reproach, then said, "Never mind, I will teach you slowly in the future. I came here today to tell you that you should focus on recovering from your injuries, and we will set off for the capital in a few days."

"Ah? Back to Beijing? Ouch..." Lin Dafeng was too excited, which aggravated the injury on the corner of her mouth. She quickly covered her mouth and cried out softly.

Before Ji Yan could speak, she pretended to be in a difficult position and said, "But... but I was chased by thugs from the gambling den before... If I have implicated you and your family, I will feel guilty and uneasy."

"Hmph! Feng'er, there's no need to worry. If those blind fools dare to come again, my Ling family in the capital is not to be trifled with!" Upon hearing this, Ji Yan's aura changed drastically, and he became much more fierce.

Upon hearing this, Lin Dafeng's eyes lit up, and she began to make some plans. Then, with a hint of hesitation, she looked at Ji Yan and said, "What about my husband and daughter..."

"Bring them along. When we return to the manor, we'll send someone to fetch them, father and daughter." Ji Yan was very understanding, gently patting Lin Dafeng's hand to reassure her.

"Thank you, godfather! We will certainly take good care of you in the future..." Lin Dafeng said to Ji Yan with flattery after she got what she wanted. However, what she was really thinking was unknown.

“Good child! Your sister is still in the Northwest. If she knew she had a younger sister like you, she would be overjoyed... When she returns, we will establish a clan and include you in the family genealogy!”

Ji Yan seemed to be very pleased with Lin Dafeng's sweet words, and even agreed to important matters such as being added to the family genealogy.

The two talked for a while longer, but in the end, because Ji Yan was old and his spirits were not very good, he was persuaded to leave by his servants...

Lin Dafeng escorted the person to the door, stood in front of the red lacquered wooden door, watched the receding figure, and spat lightly.

Unexpectedly, this chance encounter with the "sucker" turned out to be someone of considerable importance...

...Time boundary line

Let's rewind to a few days ago.

Lin Dafeng placed bets at the gambling den as usual, and recently she has made a fortune by cheating.

I wonder if it's because they made too much profit that they attracted envy.

Not long after the gambling began that day, the casino owner led several thugs to capture the "dealer" who was working with her. In a panic, the "dealer" confessed to her involvement.

Seeing that things were going badly, she tried to sneak away, but was grabbed and severely beaten. However, the men didn't stop there, claiming that anyone who dared to cheat in the casino would have their hands chopped off.

In her panic, she forcefully knocked down a thug, threw the loose silver in her arms into the air, and fled outside while the surrounding gamblers picked up the money.

Unexpectedly, the gambling den thugs relentlessly pursued her. To avoid losing her hand, she had no choice but to flee into the woods on the outskirts of the city.

The forest was vast and overgrown with weeds, providing a rare natural barrier. She found a cave in the forest and hid there for two days before finally venturing out to find some food, driven by unbearable hunger.

So Lin Dafeng followed the mountain path uphill, intending to find some wild game. But when he was halfway up the mountain, he saw a person lying in front of him. Judging from his figure, it should be a man.

She hid in the shadows and watched for a long time. Seeing that the man was motionless, she assumed he was a corpse, cursed under her breath, and prepared to leave.

He had just taken a step when, as if remembering something, he turned back and crept closer to the person.

She forcefully turned the man over, ripped off his purse, opened it, and her expression instantly darkened. She spat out, "Bah! Only a few taels of silver."

I had thought that if I got more money, I could find a new place to live, but now... oh well, a few coins are fine, it's better than nothing.

After thinking it over, he glanced at the clothes on the ground again. They felt delicate to the touch and must be worth some money. So he reached out to "dig up the corpse".

Unexpectedly, the person on the ground seemed to be awakened by her undisguised actions and grabbed her wrist.

Lin Dafeng was so frightened that she almost lost her mind. She struggled to pull her hand back while screaming, "Ah! A ghost... Let go..."

After a long while, Lin Dafeng realized that the man was not dead. He was now slightly opening his eyes, staring at her, and muttering something like "Lord Marquis".

Just as Lin Dafeng was thinking of going all the way, footsteps came from afar, presumably attracted by her scream. Her hair stood on end, but she just couldn't pull her hand away...

Just when she was feeling utterly hopeless, the person who arrived was not a thug from the gambling den, but the servant of the man on the ground.

As they were about to leave, the man still held her hand tightly. Helpless, the servants had no choice but to invite her to go up the mountain with them back to the nunnery. Only then did she learn that he had slipped and fallen down the hillside while collecting flower dew, but fortunately the slope was gentle, preventing a major disaster.

When the man awoke, he asked Lin Dafeng many questions. Upon learning her mother's name, that her mother had died early, and that she had no father, a feeling she couldn't understand appeared in his eyes. He even expressed his pity and said he wanted to take her in as his goddaughter...

……

Lin Dafeng was unaware that the man was none other than Ji Yan, the former master of the Dingbei Prince's Mansion.

Ji Yan's wife, the late Marquis, loved to brew tea with flower dew during her lifetime, so he always did it himself, a habit that continues to this day.

Unexpectedly, his gathering of flower dew today would lead to such a mishap. However, it was also a blessing in disguise, as he saw the old Marquis again in his dazed state...

When he woke up, he realized he had mistaken someone for someone else. However, the woman in front of him looked remarkably like the Marquis. Judging from her age, Ji Yan couldn't help but ask Lin Dafeng about her. Upon hearing her mother's name, he was taken aback...

It all clicked. Although Hua Nan bore some resemblance to the Marquis, his appearance was more like his own; while this woman resembled the Marquis even more…

He had accompanied the Marquis on a campaign, and had just given birth to twins. The treacherous barbarians of the Northern Wilderness seized the opportunity to launch a general attack, and the Marquis was seriously wounded. In this critical moment, the Marquis had no choice but to order two of his lieutenants to take the children away, promising to return them once the war situation stabilized.

However, decades have passed, and there is still no news of the second son. Even the former deputy general Lin has disappeared without a trace. As he grows older, his concern for the two women becomes more and more profound.

That's why I came to this temple to eat vegetarian food and chant Buddhist prayers... also to pray for my eldest daughter who guards the Northwest and my two missing daughters...

Now that it has been found, it is time to return to the capital...

……

Lin Dafeng snapped out of her daze, glanced again at the figure that had long since disappeared ahead, and seemed lost in thought...

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