(A little something about this side couple, the bandit chief × County Magistrate pair from Nine Dragons Stronghold.)
Mu Jiu and Zhou Yanqing were Presented Scholars from the same Imperial Examination cohort. They came from the same hometown, had studied the Four Books and Five Classics at the same private school, and had always been on good terms.
What Mu Jiu took issue with was that Zhou Yanqing, whose future seemed boundless to him, apparently had a taste for men and spent all day being lovey-dovey with the Marquis of Anping's heir.
They were always saying they were just good friends, but Mu Jiu did not believe a word of it.
Did they think I couldn't tell whether they were just friends?
"Even if the Marquis of Anping's heir is good-looking, he's still a man. How could you fall for him?" Mu Jiu had once asked Zhou Yanqing curiously.
It defied common sense.
"Fate, I suppose. When fate comes, there's no stopping it. You'll understand when you meet someone you like."
Mu Jiu did not understand, nor did he want to.
Afterward, he kept preparing for the Imperial Examination and had no attention to spare for his dear friend's love life.
Although Mu Jiu and Zhou Yanqing were both newly appointed Presented Scholars, not all Presented Scholars were equal.
Only a handful could remain in the Capital City with boundless prospects ahead.
Most Presented Scholars struggled to stay on as officials in the Capital City. Mu Jiu was sent to a frontier town to serve as a County Magistrate, a mere Ninth-Rank Sesame Official, supposedly to gain experience and surely earn a promotion someday.
But everyone knew that being posted to a bitterly cold, harsh place that was tantamount to exile might mean being buried there for the rest of