Chapter 264 As a Dish
Lin Changning, holding the invitation card, was led into a bamboo grove by the servant at the entrance. Various seats were arranged in the bamboo grove, indicating that there must have been quite a few people invited this time.
Moreover, most of them were sons of officials or students who had ranked high in the imperial examinations in the past two years. The men were engaged in idle talk, while the wealthy and noble women of officials took the opportunity to inquire about outstanding young talents.
This is to lay the foundation for future marriages. However, most of the daughters of officials have already been betrothed. A woman's marriage should be arranged when she is in her teens.
The older ladies who came this time were mostly seventeen or eighteen years old, and most of them had already arranged to come with their sisters. As for the younger ones, they were the girls that the ladies of each family were looking for.
The various factions in the capital were intertwined and complex, so people were extremely cautious when arranging marriages between their children and relatives.
Several young masters gathered together glanced at each other as they saw the servant leading Lin Changning to his seat, raising their eyebrows in surprise.
Fang Zhige glanced at the group of young men beside him, then sideways at Lin Changning: "Which family in the capital is this? Why does he look so unfamiliar?"
Qin Huaiyu and a group of disciples immediately turned to look at Lin Changning. After sizing him up, they all secretly wondered what the identity of this newcomer was.
His overall demeanor didn't quite resemble those pretentious, aloof scholars, but it also didn't quite fit their group.
After sitting upright at the table, he calmly poured himself some tea, displaying a graceful and elegant demeanor that seemed unlike that of an ordinary person.
Fang Zhige racked his brains, but he really couldn't figure out which family Lin Changning belonged to, so he led a group of people over to him.
"Brother, whose family are you from? I haven't seen you at the previous banquet."
Lin Changning looked up and saw a group of well-dressed, handsome young men walking towards him.
The group of people were probably not very old. The one in charge was around 20 years old, and the rest were probably a little younger, looking no more than 18 or 19 years old.
When Lin Changning saw the person approaching, he slowly stood up, cupped his hands in a respectful but not arrogant manner towards Fang Zhige, who was leading the group, and said, "I am Lin Yan from the Lin Family Merchant Guild. I have just arrived in the capital recently and this is my first time attending a banquet."
Qin Huaiyu looked at Lin Changning with some disbelief. Judging from the man's humble yet arrogant attitude and overall demeanor, he really didn't seem to come from a merchant family.
Merchants are profit-driven, so when they see these sons of officials, they either bow and scrape or fawn over them.
But the young man in front of him didn't look like someone from a business background at all.
The group looked at each other, and many felt that Lin Changning was hiding his identity, so they were not quite sure what was going on.
Fang Zhige broke the awkward atmosphere first: "So, Brother Lin, this is your first time here. My surname is Fang and my given name is Zhige. My father is the Minister of Rites. The gentleman next to me is named Qin Huaiyu. Most of the people behind us are sons of officials in the court. Since Brother Lin is new here, why don't you sit with us?"
Lin Changning thought about it and felt that this was a good idea. After all, these people were all sons of officials of the current dynasty. Getting closer to them might help him get to know Princess Chaoyun sooner.
Moreover, this was his first time attending such a banquet, and he didn't understand many things. So, the master had explained the general course of the banquet to him, but he had never seen one before.
"Then thank you very much, Brother Fang."
As the group was talking, a group of men dressed in blue scholar's robes suddenly emerged from the other side of the bamboo forest.
Unlike the youthful faces of everyone here, the people opposite can only be described as having mostly regular appearances, or being somewhat less attractive than the group around Lin Changning.
Moreover, several of them looked quite old, seemingly around 30 years old.
Fang Zhige saw Lin Changning looking over and couldn't help but explain, "Those people over there are the candidates from the last three years. They are all still unmarried, but most of them are just there to make up the numbers and to show off their refined tastes. These people are used to looking down on others."
Lin Changning looked at Fang Zhige with some confusion: "You're already looking down on people before you've even taken office??? Aren't you afraid of being retaliated against by your elders?"
Fang Zhige and the group of spoiled young men next to him burst into laughter upon hearing this, finding Lin Changning increasingly amusing.
Qin Huaiyu chuckled and explained, "Brother Lin's words do make some sense, but these people don't care about such things. Our fathers have been in power for many years and naturally wouldn't stoop to their level."
However, Qin Huaiyu did not reveal the deeper reason. Killing so many people was not a big problem, but the subsequent handling would be very troublesome. If these people were to marry into a higher family in the following years, or catch the emperor's eye, then it would be a case of losing more than one gains.
After all, there were similar examples in previous years. A few years ago, the old prince's daughter took a fancy to a scholar who had passed the imperial examinations, but unexpectedly, that scholar already had a wife.
Unwilling to marry the old prince's daughter, the old prince, in a fit of anger, ruined the scholar's path to the imperial examinations.
Unexpectedly, just four years later, the scholar, through some unknown means, caught the eye of the then-Crown Prince. After serving as his advisor for several years, less than six months after the new emperor ascended the throne, evidence of rebellion was found in the old prince's home.
I heard that the person who led the investigation was that scholar. No one would believe there was nothing fishy about it.
Later, the emperor promoted several new batches of talented people and replaced a group of people in the court. These talented people in the capital gradually became more obedient, after all, no one knew whether the next person to offend would be someone favored by the emperor.
Lin Changning sat down with the group of people, and silently shook his head when he saw the group of candidates opposite him talking loudly.
It's nothing more than spouting some pretentious poetry and prose; she has absolutely no interest in that kind of thing. What she's more concerned about now is whether the mats and clothes belonging to the women's family can attract attention.
After all, Princess Chaoyun was an indispensable link in the process of getting in touch with the Eldest Princess.
Lin Changning was pondering the fact that the group of scholars opposite him seemed to have misunderstood his shaking his head, thinking that he thought their poems were not good enough. He stood up and looked at Lin Changning aggressively, saying, "Brother, do you have any suggestions for our poems? Seeing you shake your head just now, do you already have better words or phrases?"
The two groups had been at odds for a long time. One side was arrogant and looked down on these spoiled young men, while the other side felt that these people were already looking down on others even before they had entered the court to serve as officials. Both sides disliked each other.
Seeing that the other side had launched the first attack, Fang Zhige sneered: "I wonder if you guys have some kind of paranoia? Brother Lin just shook his head, how do you know he was talking about you? From this distance, who could hear what you were saying? Don't think too highly of yourselves!"
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