Madam, protect me!

At the Qionglin Banquet, the newly-appointed Jinshi are the absolute protagonists.

In addition, some dignitaries in Chang'an will also participate.

Even if these newly-appointed Jinshi cannot be recruited as sons-in-law, they can be won over to their own camp.

In previous banquets, even His Majesty would appear to encourage the newly-appointed Jinshi, but in recent years, His Majesty has rarely appeared, and this process is done by the regent prince.

This month's regent prince is You Wang, who first congratulated everyone, and then said some words of encouragement and exhortation. In the end, everyone raised their glasses and drank together, and You Wang left the stage, leaving the place to the newly-appointed Jinshi.

Although each class of newly-appointed Jinshi comes from different places, there is naturally a special friendship between the same class of Jinshi.

It is very common for the same-appointed Jinshi to help and support each other in officialdom.

This banquet is actually for them to get to know each other.

Next to Li Nuo, a handsome man raised his wine glass and said with a smile: "I am Cui Jing, toast to the number one scholar."

Li Nuo remembered him. He was the second in the imperial examination. If it wasn't him, the other party would be the number one in the imperial examination.

He raised the wine glass, took a sip, and nodded to indicate that they knew each other.

"I am Wang Lin."

"Pei Qian."

"Zheng Hao..."

After Cui Jing, several more people came over with wine glasses. All the Jinshi came forward one by one according to the imperial examination ranking.

According to the imperial examination tradition, the number one scholar must not leave until he is drunk at the Qionglin Banquet.

But facing the number one scholar of this session, no one dared to do so.

For the number one scholars of previous sessions, the number one in the imperial examination was the highest honor of their lives.

But for him, the number one was not his most commendable identity.

Not to mention the prospective son-in-law, the son of the Dali Temple Minister, even if he is a senior official in the court, has to be a little bit afraid.

Don’t look at these newly-appointed Jinshi, who have enjoyed unlimited glory these days.

After tonight, they will have to face the cruel reality.

The top scholar in the imperial examination can only be appointed to the sixth rank official position.

After the 20th Jinshi list, there is only the eighth rank, and after the 40th, they can only be appointed to the ninth rank, which is the lowest official position in Daxia.

Most of them will never cross the threshold of the fifth rank in their entire lives.

And the fifth rank official can be arrested by the Dali Temple whenever they want.

After more than ten years of hard study, they finally passed the imperial examination, and then struggled in the turbulent officialdom for decades. I don’t know how many hardships they have experienced, but the final outcome is just a wisp of wronged soul in the Dali Temple’s Tianlao.

It’s not easy to pass the imperial examination with the son of the Dali Temple’s minister. Of course, they have to leave an impression on him. Not for mutual support in the future, at least when encountering problems, he can give them a way out for this weak friendship...

Not far away, Zheng Zhi looked at the figure surrounded by people with a complicated expression.

I really didn't expect that he was actually the son of the Dali Temple Minister.

When he thought about them discussing Li Xuanjing in front of him, he was so embarrassed that he wanted to find a hole in the ground to hide in.

Although Zheng Zhi didn't have much contact with him, he seemed different from his father...

Thinking of this, Zheng Zhi also picked up the wine glass and walked over slowly.

Li Nuo saw Zheng Zhi among the new Jinshi. He also contributed to his six top scorers. When others toasted, Li Nuo just sipped it lightly. When it was his turn, Li Nuo gave him a smile and drank the wine in the glass.

When the crowd was almost dispersed, Zhou Yu came over and said, "I have to toast Brother Li. If it weren't for Brother Li, I would definitely not pass the Jinshi exam. I'll do it. Brother Li, please do as you like..."

Li Nuo was a little surprised that Zhou Yu could still make it to the Jinshi list with his total score even though he didn't get the first place in the Imperial Examination.

Unexpectedly, in addition to his outstanding performance in the Imperial Examination, his other subjects didn't lag behind too much.

In fact, except for the Book and Music subjects, which were B, Zhou Yu's other four subjects were all above A.

Among them, archery is A, and the imperial examination, mathematics, and rituals are all A+.

The weight of the literature is extremely high. If these two subjects are improved, his ranking can easily enter the top 50.

Li Nuo smiled and said, "Don't thank me. You can pass the exam because of your own efforts."

Zhou Yu knew in his heart that his success had nothing to do with himself.

If it weren't for Brother Li, he wouldn't have studied the law in depth. If he didn't answer all the law questions correctly, he wouldn't get B in the literature, and it is very likely that he would fail in the first subject like Song Yu.

The reason why he was able to pass the mathematics was that Brother Li invited several mathematics masters to help him make up for the mathematics.

As for the ritual and music subjects, it was all thanks to the divine calculation.

He still finds it incredible when he thinks back on this incident.

He used to sneer at the idea of ​​divination, but now he has to believe it.

The divine calculation said that he could become a prime minister in the future.

With his grades, he can only start as a ninth-rank official. His father was the top scholar in the imperial examination, and he started as a seventh-rank official. Now he is only a fifth-rank official in the imperial department. Can he really be promoted to the second-rank official and become the prime minister of a country in the future?

Zhou Yu didn't know what he was thinking, and he had been in a daze for a while.

Li Nuo was a little bored in the hall, so he walked outside the hall.

There were many people in Furong Garden tonight, but except for the newly-appointed Jinshi, others could not enter the hall. They were waiting outside the hall or playing in the garden.

Although it was night, the whole Furong Garden was brightly lit.

At every distance, there was a long table with fruits, cakes, wine and drinks on the table. The guests could take them at will. In various buildings, there were also performances such as dances and acrobatics for viewing.

Li Nuo saw Li An Ning and Song Yi Ren at a glance.

They were standing by a long table, and Song Yi Ren would take every kind of cake on the table and taste it.

Li An Ning stood behind her, with a helpless look in her eyes.

Seeing Li Nuo coming out, Li An Ning's beautiful eyes lit up slightly, and she quietly made a gesture to him behind Song Yi Ren.

Li Nuo walked to a place by the lake in the garden, and Li An Ning came over on tiptoe. Looking back, she saw that Song Yi Ren had already started looking around. She immediately took Li Nuo's hand, jumped onto a small boat, and said, "Let's go boating on the lake..."

There were many small boats docked on the lake, and the guests attending the banquet could take a boat to boat on the lake by themselves, and watch the lights of Furong Garden on the lake, which was also a different view.

There was a small cabin in the middle of the boat.

The two rowed the boat to the center of the lake, and Li An Ning bent down and got into the cabin, dragging Li Nuo in as well.

Although the cabin was small, it was beautifully decorated. The lake was brightly lit. The light shone in from the window, making it difficult to see clearly, adding a bit of ambiguity.

There were also some small boats floating on the lake.

There was no wind at night, but the water surface under the boat was rippling.

Li Anning breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Finally got rid of her."

The cabin fell into a brief silence. 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 you still need to answer?"

Li Anning 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... Um!"

Li Nuo did not answer, but responded with action.

Li Anning opened her eyes wide. After a brief surprise, a smile spread on her pretty face, and her beautiful eyes slowly closed.

Asking the emperor to take back his decision was of course a lie...

If the emperor could take back his decision, he would not let her get married.

After a long time, their lips parted.

Li Anning gently twisted Li Nuo's waist, snuggled in his arms, and said, "You are sure to get the top score in six subjects, but you didn't tell me, making me worry for so long..."

Li Nuo said, "You didn't tell me that if you got the top score in six subjects, His Majesty would definitely grant you a marriage..."

Li Anning curled her lips and said, "Then why did you do so well in the exam? You did very well in six subjects and didn't leave any chance for others."

When Li Nuo knew that Li Anning was going to get married, he found that he was also greedy.

At first, he only thought that it would be very happy to have someone who loved each other and spent his life with each other.

Later, his thoughts changed a little.

If there were two people who loved each other and spent their lives with each other, it would be very happy.

He didn't want to lose his wife, nor did he want to miss Anning.

He was thinking about the pot before he had eaten the food in the bowl. He was indeed a vulgar person.

Li Nuo gently hugged her and smiled, "Because I don't want my wife to marry someone else, of course I have to go all out."

This "wife" made Li An Ning blush and her body became softer.

Although he had called her wife countless times before, this time was different from before.

She hooked Li Nuo's neck and closed her eyes again.

Before their lips touched each other, the boat suddenly "banged" and shook violently.

Li An Ning opened her eyes and thought she had collided with someone else.

A pair of hands lifted the brocade curtain of the cabin, and Song Yiren stood outside and said dissatisfiedly: "Why didn't you call me when you were rowing?"

...

Before the banquet was over, Li Nuo and them left Furong Garden.

The carriage first sent Li An Ning back to the princess's mansion. Today was just a marriage, so of course she couldn't stay at the Li family at night.

The wife should go back to the Song Mansion, and Li Nuo and Song Yiren went back together.

When facing Yiren alone, Li Nuo didn't know what to say.

Especially when she leaned against the carriage and looked at him with resentful eyes all the way.

That look made him look like a heartless man who abandoned his wife for fame and fortune...

The carriage stopped at the gate of the Song Mansion. When 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.