Chapter 191 The Mastermind
At the Qionglin Banquet, the newly-appointed Jinshi were the absolute protagonists.
In addition, some dignitaries in Chang'an will also participate.
Even if you cannot recruit these new scholars as sons-in-law, you can still win them over to your camp.
In previous banquets, even His Majesty would appear to encourage the new batch of Jinshi, but in recent years, His Majesty has seldom appeared, and this process has been taken over by the prince who serves as regent.
The prince regent this month was King You. He first congratulated everyone, and then said some words of encouragement and advice. Finally, everyone raised their glasses and drank together. King You left the stage and handed the place over to the new Jinshi.
Although each batch of new Jinshi comes from different places, there is naturally a special friendship among the Jinshi of the same batch.
It was very common in the court for successful candidates in the same imperial examination to help and support each other in officialdom.
This banquet actually allowed them to get to know each other.
Next to Li Nuo, a handsome man raised his glass and said with a smile, "I am Cui Jing, and I want to toast to the number one scholar."
Li Nuo remembered him. This person was the second place in the imperial examination. If it wasn’t him, the other person would have been the top scorer of that year.
He picked up the wine glass, took a sip, and nodded, and that meant they knew each other.
"I am Wang Lin."
"Pei Qian."
"Zheng Hao..."
After Cui Jing, several more people came over with wine glasses, and all the Jinshi candidates came forward one by one according to their ranking in the imperial examination.
According to the imperial examination tradition, the top scholar must not leave the Qionglin Banquet until he is drunk.
However, facing this year's top scholar, no one dared to do so.
For previous top scorers, being the top scorer in the imperial examination is the highest honor in their life.
But for him, being the top scholar is not his most commendable identity.
Not to mention the future son-in-law, even a high-ranking official in the court would have to be wary of the son of the Grand Court Minister.
Don't underestimate these newly-minted scholars who seem to be enjoying great glory these days.
After tonight, we will have to face the cruel reality.
The top scorer in the imperial examination could only be appointed to an official position of the sixth rank.
After the 20th place on the Jinshi list, there is only the eighth rank, and after the 40th place, there is only the ninth rank, which is the lowest official position in Daxia.
Most of them will never be able to cross the threshold of the fifth rank in their entire life.
As for the fifth-rank officials, the Dali Temple could arrest them at will.
After studying hard for more than ten years, he finally passed the imperial examination and struggled in the turbulent officialdom for decades. He went through countless hardships and setbacks, but in the end, he was just a wronged soul in the Dali Temple's prison.
It was not easy to be admitted as a Jinshi with the son of the Dali Temple Minister. Of course, I had to leave an impression on him. If not for mutual support in the future, at least if they encountered problems, he could give them a way out for the sake of this weak friendship...
Not far away, Zheng Zhi looked at the surrounded figure with a complicated expression.
I never thought that he was the son of the Chief Justice of Dali Temple.
When he thought about them talking about Li Xuanjing in front of him, he felt so embarrassed that he wanted to find a hole to crawl into.
Although Zheng Zhi didn't have much contact with him, he and his father seemed different...
Thinking of this, Zheng Zhi also picked up his wine glass and walked over slowly.
Li Nuo saw Zheng Zhi among the new Jinshi candidates. He also had some contributions in his six top scorers. When others toasted him, Li Nuo just took a sip. When it was his turn, Li Nuo gave him a smile and drank the wine in the glass.
When the crowd had almost dispersed, Zhou Yu came over and said, "I have to offer a toast to Brother Li. If it weren't for Brother Li, I would definitely not have passed the imperial examination. I'll drink it. Brother Li, please do as you please..."
Li Nuo was somewhat surprised that Zhou Yu was able to make it onto the list of Jinshi based on his total score even though he did not get first place in the Imperial Examination.
Unexpectedly, apart from his outstanding performance in the Imperial Examination, his performance in other subjects was not too lagging behind.
In fact, except for the subject of literature and music which were B, Zhou Yu's other four subjects were all above A.
Among them, the archery subject was A, and the imperial examination, mathematics, and etiquette subjects were all above A.
The weight of the book subject is extremely high. If these two subjects can be improved a little bit, his ranking can easily enter the top 50.
Li Nuo smiled and said, "No need to thank me, you were able to pass the exam because of your own hard work."
Zhou Yu knew clearly that his success in the exam had little to do with himself.
If it weren't for Brother Li, he wouldn't have studied the law in depth. If he hadn't answered all the law questions correctly, he wouldn't have gotten a B in the literature subject and would have most likely failed in the first subject of the imperial examination like Song Yu.
The reason why he was able to get an A in mathematics was that Brother Li invited several mathematics masters to help him improve his mathematics skills.
As for the subjects of ritual and music, it all depends on that diviner.
Whenever he thinks back on this incident, he still finds it incredible.
He used to scoff at the idea of divination, but now he has to believe it.
The fortune teller said that he would become prime minister in the future.
With his grades, he can only start as a ninth-rank minor official. His father was the top scorer in the imperial examination and started as a seventh-rank official. Now he is only a fifth-rank Langzhong in the Imperial Guard. Can he really be promoted to the second-rank official and become a prime minister in the future?
Zhou Yu didn't know what he was thinking and had been in a daze for a while.
Li Nuo felt a little bored staying in the hall, so he walked outside.
There are many people in Furong Garden tonight, but except for the newly-appointed Jinshi, no one else can enter the palace. They either wait outside the palace or play in the garden.
Although it was night, the entire Hibiscus Garden was brightly lit.
At regular intervals, there is a long table with fruits, cakes, wine and drinks on it for the guests to take at will. In various buildings, there are also performances such as dances and acrobatics for people to watch.
Li Nuo saw Li Anning and Song Yiren at a glance.
They stood beside a long table, and Song Yiren picked up every kind of pastry on the table to taste it.
Li Anning stood behind her, looking somewhat helpless.
Glancing at Li Nuo coming out, Li An Ning's beautiful eyes lit up slightly, and she quietly gave him a gesture behind Song Yiren.
Li Nuo walked to a place by the lake in the garden. Li An Ning tiptoed over. Turning back, she saw Song Yiren already looking around. She immediately took Li Nuo's hand, jumped onto a small boat, and said, "Let's go boating on the lake..."
There are many small boats moored on the lake. Guests attending the banquet can take a boat trip on the lake and enjoy the lights of Hibiscus Garden from the lake, which is a unique sight.
There is a small cabin in the middle of the boat.
The two rowed the boat to the center of the lake. Li Anning bent down and got into the cabin, pulling Li Nuo in.
Although the cabin is small, it is beautifully decorated inside. The lake is brightly lit, and the light shining in from the window is dim and unclear, adding a bit of ambiguous atmosphere.
There are also some small boats floating scattered on the lake.
There was no wind at night, but ripples appeared on the water surface under the boat.
Li Anning breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Finally got rid of her."
There was a brief silence in the cabin. She glanced at Li Nuo and said, "You haven't answered the question I asked you last time!"
Li Nuo said: "Your Majesty has granted the marriage, do I still need to answer?"
Li An Ning snorted coldly and said, "Of course, if you don't want to marry me, I will go to my father tomorrow and ask him to withdraw the imperial decree... Ugh!"
Li Nuo did not answer, but responded with action.
Li Anning opened her eyes wide, and after a brief moment of surprise, a smile spread across her pretty face, and her beautiful eyes slowly closed.
Asking the emperor to take back his decision was, of course, a lie...
If my father could take back his order, he would not let her get married.
After a long time, their lips parted.
Li An Ning gently twisted Li Nuo's waist, snuggled in his arms, and said, "You are sure you can get the top score in six subjects, but you didn't tell me. I was worried for so long..."
Li Nuo said: "You didn't tell me that if I won the first place in six subjects, His Majesty would definitely grant me a marriage..."
Li An Ning curled his lips and said, "How come you did so well in the exam? You scored excellently in all six subjects, leaving no chance for others."
When Li Nuo learned that Li An Ning was going to get married, he discovered that he was also greedy.
At the beginning, he just thought that it would be a great happiness to have someone who loves him and spend his life with him.
Later, his thoughts changed a little.
It would be a great happiness if there were two people who loved each other and spent their lives together.
He didn't want to lose his wife, nor did he want to miss out on peace.
He is really a vulgar person. He hasn't even eaten what's in the bowl, but he's already thinking about what's in the pot.
Li Nuo hugged her gently and said with a smile: "Because I don't want my wife to marry someone else, of course I have to do my best."
The word "wife" made Li Anning's face turn red and his body became softer.
Although he had called her "wife" countless times before, this time was different from before.
She hooked her arms around Li Nuo's neck and closed her eyes again.
Before their lips touched, the boat suddenly made a "bang" and shook violently.
Li Anning opened his eyes and thought he had collided with another boat.
A pair of hands lifted the brocade curtain of the cabin, and Song Yiren stood outside, saying dissatisfiedly: "Why didn't you call me when you were rowing?"
…
Before the banquet was over, Li Nuo and the others left Furong Garden.
The carriage first sent Li An Ning back to the princess's mansion. Today was just a marriage arrangement, so of course she couldn't stay at the Li family at night.
The lady should go back to the Song Mansion. Li Nuo and Song Yiren will go back together.
When facing Yiren alone, Li Nuo didn't know what to say.
Especially when she was leaning against the carriage, looking at him with resentful eyes all the way.
That look made him look like a heartless man who had abandoned his wife for fame and fortune...
The carriage stopped at the gate of the Song Mansion. The two got off the carriage and walked to the gate of the courtyard. Song Yiren suddenly said, "I know who was the mastermind behind the assassination of you last time..."
Li Nuo paused and looked at her.
(End of this chapter)
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