The palace examination ended at exactly noon.

Naturally, the court officials had no reason to let their new colleagues leave the palace hungry.

The officials of the Ministry of Etiquette have already prepared the food and wine for the palace test as planned. Each table has five plates of tea and food, five plates of fruit, one portion of rice, four-color dishes, and five minutes of wine.

Each Jinshi was given two steamed buns and a bowl of soup.

The meal was relatively simple, because the Ministry of Etiquette also organized a dinner - there were all the good things at the dinner, including geese, sheep, deer, braised pork, and smoked ham. It could be said that in the auspicious words of Liaodong, you must eat this to death?

However, although the food at the Jinshi banquet is good, not all Gongsheng students will attend the banquet.

At the end of the palace examination, except for the candidates who aspired to become Shujishi, who were still nervous, the other candidates completely relaxed the moment they walked out of the Huangji Palace.

In this relaxed state of mind, what was on his mind was not a banquet for the Ministry of Etiquette.

Instead, go back to your room and cover your head for a good night's sleep, or invite a few friends to go out and recite poems.

Li Kun belongs to the former.

Citing abdominal pain as an excuse, he asked the official of the Ministry of Etiquette for leave for tonight's dinner.

Then he put the steamed buns into his arms and hurriedly left the palace.

Too tired.

From the time I passed the imperial examination at the age of twenty-six, I have been taking the Jinshi examination for thirteen years.

The clan's ardent expectations, the day and night hanging on the beam, and the dwindling energy and energy pushing behind him... He sighed tiredly in his heart, which was already very reserved and restrained.

At this moment, he just wanted to let go of everything, forget about the imperial examinations, Jinshi, and common people, and sleep soundly on the bed until the results were released five days later.

pity.

Being an official means working hard. From the moment I was in high school, I had no control over when to take a break.

As soon as Li Kunfang undressed and lay down on the couch, there was an untimely knock on the door.

Dude.

Tuk Tuk.

Li Kun lifted the quilt, and his eyes were so angry that they were staring at each other.

These people in the Henan Guild Hall are too unlucky. Can you wait until people have finished resting?

Visit every day, visit every day!

Either a member of the Communist Party of China or a fellow from Henan Province, they are already very annoyed. They promised to rest today, but they chose to disturb me at this time!

Mr. Li Kun and Mr. Li were just doing their best in high school and no longer cared about Qi-nurturing skills.

He got up, rushed to the door angrily, and opened the door forcefully.

He was about to scold him.

But instead of seeing familiar faces from the Henan Guild Hall, they saw two unfamiliar faces.

The two men were dressed in ordinary clothes, but their faces were slightly feminine, which gave Li Kun an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

Li Kun couldn't figure out where he was coming from, so he naturally swallowed the words that came to his lips: "What are you two?"

The leading man did not say any pleasantries and went straight to the point: "Mr. Li, my master has a book to give to you."

As he spoke, the person behind him opened the wooden box in his hand, took out a book, and handed it over.

Seeing that the two of them were so rude and didn't even inform them of their whereabouts, Li Kun felt even more shocked and suspicious.

By some strange coincidence, he took the book and looked down at it, "Lü Family Treaty".

Li Kun frowned, what did this mean?

After all, he is a quasi-jinshi, and he is also familiar with these "non-best-selling ancient books".

This is the "Four Lus of Lantian", that is, Lu Dazhong, Lu Dajun, Lu Dali, and Lu Dafang. In the ninth year of Xining, a book was written to restrain the villagers - they crossed the prefectural government office and made an agreement that the villagers "will encourage each other in virtue and industry." The books of "Keeping abreast of mistakes, keeping etiquette and customs together, and showing sympathy to each other in times of adversity".

During the Hongwu period, the gentry in the family had no virtue, so Emperor Taizu followed Xie Jin's suggestion and "imitated the Lu family's rural covenant in Lantian and the Zheng family's family model in Pujiang, taking the lead in setting the standard for the family." That is to say, the Lu family's rural covenant was regarded as the rule of the family. model.

In the subsequent Zhengde period, mountain people in the Southern Gansu region continued to have uprisings. When Wang Yangming was clearing up border troubles, he developed the "Southern Ganxi Township Covenant" on the basis of it to restrain Jiangxi elders who did not obey government orders.

However, whether it is a model family or a disciplined common people, what does Li Kun have to do with him?

Who sent this book?

When Li Kun thought of this, he closed the book and wanted to return it: "I wonder who your master is?"

The feminine man looked businesslike, shook his head and backed away: "What my master means is that I hope Mr. Li will study well."

After that, he turned around and left without waiting for Li Kun to reply.

Li Kun watched the two people leave, his face full of sorrow.

After a long while, he closed the door.

Li Kun casually threw the book on the table.

He lay back on the bed with his back stretched out, his eyes covered by the quilt.

Guess! Children still guess!

Mr. Li hates people who like to make people guess riddles the most in his life!

Debt collection is debt collection. If you explain it clearly, does that mean you lose character or something?

If you don't study well all day long, you will be like the Emperor Jiajing!

As he cursed in his heart, Li Kun's vision became hazy again.

Obviously, the interlude was not enough to curb Mr. Li's sleepiness.

Not long after, snoring sounded in the room.

…

Three days later.

Li Kun put "Lu's Township Agreement" and "Nangan Township Agreement" back on the table, and only took a copy of "Pujiang Zheng Family Model" and went downstairs to eat.

He randomly found an empty seat and sat down, ordered a few of his favorite dishes, and started reading with gusto again.

He definitely didn't want to guess, but since an elder asked him to study a certain book carefully, he did not refuse to listen.

Just listen to people's advice and eat enough.

It's just that the surroundings are a bit noisy, so reading is not very efficient.

"The dust should have settled today, right?"

"To be precise, the dust settled yesterday. It was customized by the imperial court. Two days after the palace examination, the emperor went to the Wenhua Palace, where the scroll reader unfolded the scroll and read it aloud. Then, the emperor approved the first three people, and the rest were received by the cabinet officials. So the dust has settled yesterday, and the next two days are just copying the yellow list."

“I don’t know whose family the Three Cauldron Flowers will belong to.”

"You will know whose family the flowers will fall into in the future, and maybe you and I will be among them."

"Hahaha, just because of Brother Qian's auspicious words, I'm going to treat you to this meal today."

Li Kun was reading a book, so he couldn't help but be amused when he heard this - although the Henan Guild Hall was very picky and fussy, it was still very generous to these prospective Jinshi. Before the results were released, they were allowed to eat and drink as they pleased without asking for invitations from others.

"It may not be known until later. Only those below the second grade will be taken back to the Yamen by the record readers to open the papers and fill in the yellow list. There are already rumors about the first and third graders since the emperor's decision yesterday."

"There's a rumor!?"

"That's for sure. There are more than a dozen record readers, plus the Zhongshushe people and female eunuchs on the spot. It's strange that there was no news about it."

"Let's talk about it! Let's talk about it!"

"What are you talking about? I just heard some rumors last night, saying that there is a Jinshi named Sun. He has lofty aspirations, gorgeous rhetoric, concise language, and powerful arguments. He was directly selected as the number one scholar."

"Is that the grandson of Sun Jigao? I've also heard that this guy tried to figure out the tendencies of the emperor and the cabinet and forced the topic of 'reform'. He's a complete villain."

"Hey, you can't say that, there are still outsiders."

"Outsiders? This guy would say the same thing to me!"

"Okay, okay, let's wait until the yellow list is released. It may not be accurate. Yes, what about the second place and the third best? What's the rumor?"

"The second place pick and the top pick are still not as popular as the top pick. Not much news has come out. I only heard that the top pick's surname is Li."

"Don't be that second-generation dog official Li Sancai, right?"

"..."

Li Kun was eating and drinking at the next table and couldn't help but shake his head when he heard this.

As expected of someone who likes to form associations, when his surname was mentioned, everyone guessed Li Sancai.

Why don't you guess yourself?

Who doesn’t have the last name Li?

Of course, this was just a remark in his heart. Based on his understanding of himself, it would be more practical to think about how to become a Shujishi.

"Indeed, let's think about how to get the Shujishi exam."

"Do you still need to tell me? A certain person has prepared the fifteen ancient essays a long time ago. I will go to the Ministry of Etiquette to submit them when the results are released."
To be continued...