Although there is only a provincial examination between scholars and juren, the difference between them is like a gap.

To put it bluntly, the two are the difference between officials and the people. Even if a scholar has already made great achievements, he does not have to kneel down when he sees an official, and he can usually watch the seat, but in fact he is still only the people. But the juren is different. It is a local force that can truly be on par with officials, and may even be an official at any time. Although this official may not be too high, he has entered the real ruling class after all.

To put it simply, the benefits that the two can obtain in this identity are huge. A scholar can only care about his own family and a few people, but a Juren can exempt dozens or hundreds of people from labor service and taxes, and use them to gain a lot of benefits. This is exactly the reason why there are people who say that the poor scholars have never been said to be poor. No matter how unsuccessful the Juren is, he is still a gentry, far from being comparable to a scholar.

If a person's ambition is to live a rich life, it is enough to pass the imperial examination. Of course, for a person with ideals and greater ambitions, passing the imperial examination is just the beginning of that step.

Li Ling was also excited at this moment. Even though he had always told himself that life was not the only way to achieve the imperial examination, and there were other ways to succeed. However, after learning that he was indeed on the list, the joy in his heart still came like a wave, which made him unable to come back to his senses for a long time.

It was not until the soldier who reported the good news came to him and repeated loudly: "Congratulations to Mr. Li, the 56th provincial examination in high school!" He suddenly woke up, smiled and reached out to take the document, skillfully took out five taels of silver from his sleeve and handed it to the other party: "Happy and happy together."

"Thank you Mr. Li to reward you. I wish Mr. Li to be the Jinshi again next year. He will enter the center in the future and become the chief minister of my Great Yue!" This man was immediately excited. The five taels of silver rewards were worth more than half a month's salary. He immediately said flattering words like flowing water, which made the other two soldiers jealous, because they only received one tael of silver. By comparison, the compliments they said seemed weak.

Xu Cang was also full of joy at this time and greeted Li Ling with a cup, saying, "Wen Zhong, congratulations. This time, you and I can go to the exam together."

"Yes, we will advance and retreat together, and maybe we can be the same court as the officials." Li Ling also smiled and collided with the glass, and then the two of them drank the wine in the glass in one breath.

After the soldiers left, other candidates from Jiangcheng County and Hengzhou Prefecture also came to congratulate the two, but their tone was somewhat disappointed and envious, because someone had just asked that there were only 62 people who passed the provincial examination this year, and the third soldier who reported the good news was the juren in the 60th. It seems that there is probably no one who will pass the imperial examination again.

Seeing this, Li Ling and the other two couldn't act too proud, so they just smiled and said something to them one by one, and then returned to the cross-agency behind with a excited mood.

Until he entered the door, Xu Cang's face turned solemn, and he suddenly bowed deeply to Li Ling: "Wen Zhong, I, Xu Cang, are so grateful for your help for me like this..." Li Ling was stunned and reacted very quickly, and quickly supported the other party: "Brother Zhuowu, what are you doing? Why should you and my friends be so polite?"

Xu Cang said with emotion, "What was the situation before I met you? I couldn't even pass the college entrance examination for many years, and I almost died of despair because I failed the exam... It was you, I didn't regard me as a friend because of my humble background. Not only did I help me many times in money, but I also gave me more guidance in the study exams. Now I have made me become a famous teacher... If I hadn't had a good friend like you, I, Xu Cang, would still be a poor and useless person in Jiangcheng County. If I didn't say it today, would I still be a human?"

Li Ling forced him to refuse to bow his head, but his tone was quite gentle: "Brother Zhuo Wu is so serious. The reason why you can have today is the first thing you have to thank is your mother, younger siblings and others in your family. It is their support that allows you to get to this point; the second is for yourself, you have been studying hard for many years, and relying on your own efforts to make a way out in one exam after another. As for me, Li Ling, at best, you can just help me."

"No, I know very well that if you hadn't woken up my swearing, if you hadn't given you guidance and comforting me many times, I wouldn't have been able to get out of the inner demon..."

"That's the result that you helped me first. Don't forget that you and me really saved people first. If you hadn't acted righteously and ignored your own entanglement with the thief, I'm afraid my sister and I might have died on that night last year." Li Ling said, holding him straight and then patted him on the shoulder: "So, you should not calculate the favor and help too clearly. We are friends, real friends, that's enough."

"Real friend..." Xu Cang said this gently once, and the gratitude on his face slowly turned into a smile. He nodded vigorously: "Yes, we are friends, friends. There is a long way to go in the future. Those false words of gratitude do not need to be mentioned."

"That's right!" Li Ling also grinned, then suddenly took a step forward, reached out and hugged Xu Cang hard, "Let's join hands and try again, and work together!"

Xu Cang's body was obviously stiff. He obviously did not adapt to Li Ling's actions, but he did not dodge, but just took it passively, and then whispered: "Yes, let's go further!"

...

The results of the provincial examination were announced, but Li Ling and the others could not leave Xuzhou, because there was Lu Ming Banquet waiting for them next. This was a rule that had been established. Every time the provincial examination candidates were invited by local officials to a banquet in a famous garden in the city, which was to celebrate them. In fact, it was to introduce these future officials into this circle. Only after attending the Lu Ming Banquet, these juren truly had their own status and identity.

However, before this, Li Ling and the others received many posts for banquets, which were all famous gentry or officials in Xuzhou City invited them to literary and poetry meetings. The two received almost the same number of posts.

It goes without saying that Xu Cang is one of the five classics of this provincial examination. His talent and reputation has spread throughout the city, and those gentry officials naturally have to make friends with this future upstart. As for Li Ling, he was actually famous before the provincial examination. After all, he was a powerful figure who helped Zhang Rushi refute his opponent to vomit blood directly at the literary meeting.

But at that time, because the provincial examination was about to be held, no one could be sure of his final results, so no one came to him. But now, Li Ling has become a juren, which is completely different. The scholars in the city are naturally rushing to invite him, and they all want to see Mr. Li's style.

However, Li Ling and Xu Cang both refused to refuse such an invitation. Xu Cang obviously had not adapted to the change of identity and was at a loss for socializing. In addition, he was introverted by nature, so he naturally would not go to such literary and poetry meetings. As for Li Ling, he knew that he would only make a fool of himself, so it would be better to find a reason to refuse.

Although he was a time traveler, he could recite some poems and sentences from many people in the Ming and Qing dynasties, but this was not the capital he could use to talk to those literati and poets. The so-called protagonist in the story only recited a certain masterpiece or a quatrain for the eternal quatrain and was sought after by everyone at the literary meeting will not happen in the real literary world, or at the literary meeting.

Because literary and poetry meetings generally have themes, but it is not something you want to memorize. So just this topic is not something that Li Ling can do to withstand. Also, poetry and prose are precipitation of a person's experience. You, a young man in his twenties, use an old-fashioned tone to make a sad poem that is always a guest, and you have been on stage for more than a hundred years of illness, and you must believe it.

Of course, these are not the key. The most important thing is that the Dayue Dynasty itself was strange. Li Ling dared not say whether the famous quotes from later generations had been written before. So anyway, he was not his best friend to write poems and essays. He did not think about using this to increase his reputation, so he simply refused.

Of course, they could politely decline these invitations, but the serious Lu Ming Banquet was still unavoidable.

On August 28, the two of them came to Taoyuan to attend the grand event.

As the Lu Ming Banquet that once every three years, today's participants are naturally not ordinary. In addition to some local officials, all the famous local gentry and people in Xuzhou were also present, including Zhang Hefeng.

However, Li Ling was not qualified to sit at the same table with these big names. Xu Cang, the leader of the Five Classics, was invited to the main table, and his teacher happened to be next to him. As a new imperial examination juren who had crossed the list line at a low altitude, he could only stay with the last seat.

But this is good, at least it will not be deliberately targeted. At this slightly boring official banquet, it is just a few names and impressions. The only interesting thing is that the undergraduate Jie Yuan and the leader of the Five Classics recite the poem "Yuyou Lu Ming, Eat the Wild Apple" together. This is also the origin of the name of Lu Ming Banquet.

Seeing the leaders in a slightly stiff tone, he recited the ancient poem that had been recited by countless people again in a slightly stiff tone, Li Ling and the other juren at the deskmate showed strange smiles.

At the end of the banquet, Li Ling received the silver medal representing the identity of a juren from the chief examiner. This means that from today on, he has become a real juren and is one step closer to his ambition.

After the banquet, everyone turned around, and Li Ling planned to go home. After all, he had been out for almost a month this time, and he really missed his sisters and other relatives and friends at home.
Chapter completed!