Others also arrived one after another. People who knew each other gathered together to chat. Wang Yu and his friends met classmates from the prefectural school and chatted for a while. After a while, they heard a voice from the front, "Master Fang has arrived, Master Fuzun has arrived!"

A group of people came forward one after another to pay their respects. They saw a man in crimson official uniform standing next to Lord Cui, who should be the chief examiner of this exam.

After meeting several adults, everyone found their seats, which were arranged according to their ranking. Wang Yu and Song Boyan sat at the front. As the banquet just started, melodious piano sounds came from the side. Wang Yu looked over and saw a pianist sitting under the banyan tree on the right, playing the piano.

Not long after Wang Yu and the others sat down, a voice came from the main seat, "Master Cui, your Shangyong Prefecture is indeed blessed with outstanding people and a land of talent. So many talented people have emerged."

"Hahaha, Lord Fang, you're too kind. I remember Lord Fang is from Jinling, right? Your place is truly a place of outstanding people and talents."

"Shangyong is also very good. I read the essay written by the provincial examination champion. It's really well written."

Wang Yu was listening to the two people bragging about their business. Although it was his first time attending such a banquet, he was indeed a little bored at the moment. The servants had already served the dishes, but he didn't dare to move because the person at the host seat hadn't spoken yet.

While he was daydreaming, he heard the voice of the Lord of the Mansion speaking from the front. Wang Yu looked up and saw the Lord of the Mansion standing up and speaking.

"You are all young talents from Shangyong Prefecture. Please feel free to be informal. Today's banquet is for you."

Everyone stood up, thanked the Lord, and became more casual. What else could a bunch of scholars do when they got together? Besides eating and drinking, they would have competitions to show off their literary talent. Of course, the first program of every banquet was the new champion singing and reciting the poem "Deer Singing".

"The deer is calling, eating apples in the wild..." Wang Yu turned his head to watch Song Boyan finish singing. Not to mention that he sang very beautifully.

Both Lord Cui and Lord Fang praised him for his singing, saying, "Not bad, not bad. You are worthy of being the champion. You write well and sing well."

After Song Boyan sat down, Wang Yu gave him a thumbs up and said, "You sang really well." The man blushed, which was rare for him, and Wang Yu looked at him in surprise.

The next program was a literary competition. Lord Fang was the chief examiner. He started the atmosphere by asking a question: "I smell the faint fragrance of osmanthus in the garden. In the golden autumn of September, I will write a poem on the theme of osmanthus."

Inevitably, as the top scorer, Song Boyan had to start his journey on a good note. However, he was not afraid. After thinking for a while, he said, "It's not like..."

As soon as Song Boyan finished speaking, Lord Fang clapped his hands and cheered, "Well done, the champion is the champion. Although it is a five-character regulated verse, it is catchy and has some fairy-like charm. It is not worse than the poem you wrote in the provincial examination."

Everyone cheered, and some even took out pen and paper to write it down. Then they all waited for the second person to speak. No one stepped forward for a long time. Wang Yu thought, no way, are all the students in this class so reserved? Why don’t they show off with such a good opportunity?

"Brother Wang is Ya Yuan, how about singing a song too?"

He was complaining in his heart when he heard this sentence. Wang Yu looked over and didn't know who said it. He wanted to kill someone at this moment.

It had come to this point and he had to write something. He stood up and bowed to the host. After thinking for a while, he started to write a poem. It was quite standard, but a little worse than Song Boyan's. Lord Fang only commented that it had a good rhythm and parallelism, and was easy to understand, but he couldn't praise it much else.

Of course, the third place was not spared either, but he did very well and was comparable to Song Boyan. After that, he completely let go, and those who could write poetry had to write one to get praise from the master in the main seat.

Wang Yu watched their performance silently, listened to the piano music and ate the food. The food was cold, but fortunately the weather was not cold in September, so it was okay to eat some cold food.

After the poetry battle, they started to propose solutions to the problem. The husband said that the husband had his own way of dealing with things, and the wife said that the wife had her own way of dealing with things. Wang Yu was good at this. Now that he had eaten his fill, he brought out the same momentum as in the university debates and defeated everyone present. Wang Yu became completely famous in this debate.

Even the Lord of the Mansion and Lord Fang above could not help but praise him, thinking that this man's poetry was a little poor, but his essays and policy papers were good.

Chen Yanwen was a few tables away from them. If he was next to Wang Yu, he would probably want to say "awesome", but now he could only give him a thumbs up.

The subsequent communication became much more polite. Although polite, most of them wanted to show off in front of the adults, so they showed their true abilities. The banquet lasted until the evening.

There were souvenirs after the event. Each person received a set of exquisitely crafted gold and silver inlaid pen holders. In addition, the top three received a gold-inlaid wooden plaque. Wang Yu's plaque was engraved with the words "Second place in the Yongfu County Examination in the 12th year of the Dali Yuankang period", and Song Boyan's should have been the first place, which is the same as the certificate given to modern students for good performance in exams.

After the Lu Ming Banquet, the provincial examination came to an end. They would need to participate in the metropolitan examination in the capital in March and the palace examination in April next year.

It takes about forty to fifty days to travel from Shangyong Prefecture by land. Although road construction has been advocated since the founding of the country and the official roads are well built, it is ultimately a two-wheeled carriage, not a four-wheeled car. It will take forty to fifty days to travel more than a thousand kilometers, and the faster water route will take about thirty days.

Wang Yu and the others discussed it. Chen Yanwen was seasick, so it would definitely take a month or so to travel by sea. They had to travel by land. The winter got colder the further north they went, and it might snow in the capital in October. Sometimes the snow would last until January of the following year, so they needed to set off early.

After returning home, Wang Yu talked about this with Cheng Chen. She said that she could not celebrate Dabao's birthday at home. Cheng Chen was also in a very low mood at the moment. As her husband said, if the exam went well, they might have to be separated for ten months. She had never been separated for such a long time since she married her husband.

Wang Yu was also upset. He didn't want to be separated from Cheng Chen, but Dabao was too young and it was winter, so it was not suitable for a long journey. "Achen, if you stay in Beijing next year, I will come back and take you and Dabao with me."

Cheng Chen looked up at him, then leaned into his arms and nodded. He was not an ignorant person. His husband's imperial examination was a big deal, and he could not stop him from going to the capital. He was just a little sad because they were about to be separated for a long time.

Wang Yu hugged him and joked, "If you don't pass, I'll come back to accompany you and won't take the exam again."

Cheng Chen quickly covered her husband's mouth and said, "Don't talk nonsense. How could my husband fail?"

Wang Yu kissed his hand, and the two of them stayed affectionate for a while.

I also told Wang's father and mother the next day. I originally planned to return home to hold a banquet after my son passed the imperial examination, but considering the long journey to the capital, it is right for my son to go early. If he goes after the New Year, the road may be difficult to travel, and it will be bad if something delays him. It is always better to go early than late.

Although the two were reluctant to let their son go, they knew that passing the exam would bring honor to the family, so they just asked him to be careful on the road and remember to write a letter to let them know he was safe when he arrived.

Afterwards, Wang Yu asked Zheng Shu to go out and find out if there was any caravan going to the capital. They had never been to the capital before, so it would be best for them to go with the caravan, otherwise they could only hire a few bodyguards. Although it was a peaceful and prosperous time now, the journey was really long, and there was no guarantee that something might happen. It was not safe for three people to go alone.