Hearing his own wife’s name spoken from his teacher’s mouth left Ning Qingtian more than a little shocked.

Strictly speaking, although Black Wind Stronghold had a bit of a reputation in Anqing Prefecture, very few people actually knew his wife’s name.

Outsiders only knew that this band of mountain bandits was led by a woman, who headed a group of outlaws to rob passing merchants on the roads nearby, but hardly anyone knew what his wife was called.

Still, now that his teacher had said the name out loud, there was nothing left for him to hide, so he could only nod in acknowledgement.

Seeing him admit it, Qi Yuanshou thought of an old friend and, after glancing at Ning Qingtian, said, “In that case, for Miss Yan’s sake, this old man will agree.”

At that, Ning Qingtian couldn’t help showing his delight.

Although he had no idea why his teacher was agreeing for his wife’s sake, the result was the same either way.

But right after that, he immediately remembered the purpose of this trip and felt a bit torn.

He didn’t know whether he should bring his teacher up the mountain first or go deal with the exam in Bianjing.

Noticing the troubled look on his face, Qi Yuanshou, who could easily read people’s hearts, spoke up at once.

“What, you still have other matters to attend to?”

Ning Qingtian glanced at his teacher and finally explained the whole story, from how his father had forced him to sit the imperial exam to how he had no desire to go at all.

“Your student really doesn’t want to take this imperial exam held by that muddle-headed ruler. If even someone of your calibre can’t pass, how could I dare hope for anything? But a son cannot easily defy his father’s orders, your student… your student…”

As his teacher remained silent, Ning Qingtian laid his heart bare in detail.

He really didn’t want Mr. Qi to think, So you trick your teacher into becoming a bandit, then run off to take the exam yourself—are you treating this old man like a monkey?

Qi Yuanshou sighed.

He had met Ning Qingtian’s father before.

He knew the man was even more fanatical than himself.

In the past, he had thought such devotion to the imperial examinations was a good thing.

But after decades of “ten tries, nine failures” in the exam halls, he had grown completely disillusioned.

And after recently almost starving to death, that brush with death finally woke him up; he no longer placed any hope in the examinations.

Now, looking at this student he had taught since childhood, his heart softened and he couldn’t bear to watch the boy charge blindly down the same dead-end road, so he advised, “Very well then. Go to Bianjing and give it a try. After ten bitter years of study, you owe yourself an answer. As for going up the mountain, we can talk about that later. If you pass and the court grants amnesty, that would be a good outcome. Of course, if you fail and still insist on your path, your teacher will follow you up the mountain.”

Hearing this, the tension in Ning Qingtian’s chest finally eased, and he agreed with a smile.

In his heart, though, his resolve was already rock-solid—this trip, he was absolutely determined to flunk.

* * *

Early the next morning, Ning Qingtian left some banknotes for his teacher.

After a reluctant farewell, the two of them once again parted ways, and he resumed his journey to the exams.

Only when the carriage had left Anqing Prefecture and returned to the main road did Ning Qingtian finally pull his gaze away from the rear.

Sitting in the steadily swaying carriage, his mind involuntarily went back to the words his teacher had said to him not long before.

“Qingtian, when you came of age three years ago, I planned to grant you a courtesy name. But you suddenly vanished back then, so I never got the chance. Now you’re going to the capital for the exams. When you talk with the other candidates, it will be awkward not to have a courtesy name. So, I’ll give you one now, and I hope it will remind you to hold fast to your true heart.”

“Your student respectfully asks sir to bestow it.”

“‘He strives with all his might and never rests, walking up the steep, towering Jade Steps.’ So I will grant you the courtesy name Yujie—Jade Steps. From now on, I hope you will constantly encourage yourself and never stop striving, only then can you climb the Jade Steps and reach the clear sky.”

“To climb the Jade Steps and reach the clear sky, to climb the Jade Steps and reach the clear sky…”

Ning Qingtian chuckled and shook his head.

If he ever climbed “Jade Steps” to reach the sky, it would definitely be steps he built himself.

* * *

On the fifth night after Ning Qingtian left the stronghold, with the full moon hanging high in the sky, Wu Qianlan in the mountain fortress suddenly felt her vision blur.

When she opened her eyes again, she discovered that she had actually returned to the imperial palace.

Looking at the familiar bedchamber in front of her, and with no idea what had just happened, Wu Qianlan jumped in fright and quickly pinched herself.

As the sharp pain from her arm spread, she finally realised clearly that, for some unknown reason, she had returned to her own body.

At that moment, she couldn’t care less that it was already the dead of night.

She shouted at the top of her lungs, “Attend me!”

Immediately, the eunuchs and palace maids waiting outside pushed open the doors and came in, kneeling on the floor.

“Your servants are here.”

“Transmit my order. Summon Celestial Master Zhang to court at once and tell him I have urgent matters to discuss.”

Suppressing the excitement in her heart, Wu Qianlan issued her command at once.

She didn’t know whether she would suddenly be pulled away again, so she had to race against time.

The eunuch took the order.

Though puzzled as to why the Empress would call for Celestial Master Zhang at this hour, he didn’t dare ask and hurried off.

Once the eunuch had left to pass on the decree, Wu Qianlan finally managed to calm herself a little.

Thinking back to what had just happened, she tried hard to work out why she had suddenly been brought back here.

She had originally planned to personally leave the mountain and travel to the palace.

She hadn’t expected that before she could act, she would be pulled back again.

But what exactly had caused it?

No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t find the slightest clue.

Her mood grew more and more agitated as time passed and Celestial Master Zhang still hadn’t appeared.

To make it worse, she suddenly felt a tight, suffocating pressure in her chest, a strangling sensation that made her very uncomfortable.

When she lowered her head to look, her anger flared even higher.

Where she normally couldn’t see her own feet when she looked down, her front was now perfectly flat.

She pulled open the loose dragon robe and saw that the two hills on her chest had been tightly bound by some bastard with a strip of white cloth, pressed completely flat.

That suffocating feeling that had almost made it hard for her to breathe earlier was coming exactly from this.

But when she tried to tear off the tight white cloth, she couldn’t get it to budge at all.

In an instant, she felt like she was going to explode with rage.

The angrier she got, the tighter the binding wound.

Before long, her vision was swimming, and her whole body felt heavy and drowsy.

Realising something was wrong, Wu Qianlan knew that if this went on, she might become the first Empress in history to suffocate to death because she’d bound her chest too tightly.

If she died like that, she would be infamous for generations.

Helpless, she could only call her personal maid in.

“Xiang’er, you damned girl, get in here and save your sovereign!”