Looking at the strange middle-aged scholar in front of him, Li Ling just wanted to scratch his head: "So you are also my Huaibei student?"

"That's right, in the Tao family, Tao Yun, and Tao Zhongqian in Xuzhou." The man smiled and reported his identity, but Li Ling raised his eyebrows slightly. His identity is really not low. The four great masters of Xuzhou, Yang Tao and Luohua, are all big families with deep feet and rich family property, far from being comparable to those of his poor families.

But because of this, this matter is even more and more troublesome, because they are all here in person and have been waiting for more than half a day, so it will be difficult to refuse any requests to themselves.

After the debate at Guihaiju, Li Ling became famous in the Shilin, the capital city, and many local scholars were proud of him. In this way, there were people who came to ask for advice. Before, he could refuse on the grounds that the imperial examination was about to be held and he needed to study behind closed doors, but when the imperial examination was over, this reason would no longer exist.

So early this morning, he thought about going out for a walk, and went to Dongcheng with his sister to move around dusk. He thought about this, when the door of the house was closed, the scholars who came to the house had to go back. However, he didn't expect that as soon as he entered the house, he saw Tao Yun sitting in the front hall and laughing with Xu Cangyan. At this time, the sound of drums closing the house was thudding, so why didn't he be afraid of not being able to go back?

This idea is hard to explain, so Li Ling could only sit down and smiled, "I wonder what happened to Brother Tao when he came to the door today?"

"Brother Li, I really have no choice but to delay your study." Tao Yun said and looked at Xu Cang again, "I wonder if you have heard of the dispute between the two Huaihe Rivers?"

"This... I heard of it." Li Ling nodded slightly. The so-called dispute between the two Huai Rivers refers to the long-standing disputes and contradictions between Huainan and Huaibei. In any field, as long as people from these two regions collide with each other, even if they are harmonious on the surface, they must compete in secret, and they will definitely decide the outcome.

To put it in a big way, the competition between officials in the court, the annual harvest and taxes, and the number of Jinshi students who were awarded the imperial examination; To put it in a small way, some battles in the business world, and the literary competitions between ordinary scholars... Anyway, as long as you can distinguish a higher place, as long as the two people are present, the two sides will fight in Huainan and Huainan.

Of course, in Li Ling's opinion, this fight for face is too childish and really boring. However, since he is from Huaibei, he can only follow the other party's words: "So Brother Tao is here to see you today for this?"

"That's right. In this imperial examination, both Huaibei and Huainan had scholars to Beijing. Originally, everyone was comparing more people from any party who could pass the Jinshi. However, this time, there was a Cui Huairen who was regarded as the number one talent in both Huainan. Some people in Huainan even said that even if there are many people who pass the Jinshi in Huainan, they are not as good as Cui Huairen, which makes us very dissatisfied.

"So after a confrontation, the two sides decided to fight in Hongxiuzhao tomorrow night, which is considered to be a friend by literature. However, since Cui Huairen has a reputation, his talent and knowledge are naturally not low, so we in Huaibei also have to find a talented man who is evenly matched. And you, Li Wenzhong, are now famous in Luoyang City, and are the best candidate to compete with him, so... please don't refuse!" As he spoke, Tao Yun stood up solemnly and bowed his hand.

The literati are inferior to each other, and the contradictions that have always existed between regions have made the contradictions between these two sects completely irreconcilable. But this thought seems too boring to Li Ling. Can you win one more place in the exam tomorrow if you beat the other party tomorrow? The victory or defeat in terms of face is really that important?

However, looking at the other party's solemn appearance and deliberately waiting here for half a day, the answer was obviously yes. This made Li Ling difficult to refuse. After all, he was sincere and put his posture so low. He was a member of the aristocratic family. If he really refused this invitation, he would be afraid that he would offend the other party and even the entire Huaibei Shilin. This was obviously not the result he wanted to see.

The only thing that can be said is: "The name of Hongxiuzhao should be a romantic place like the brothel Chuguan, right?"

"That is, it is one of the three most famous festivals in Luoyang City today. The flower courtesan Su Yue is the first beauty in Beijing selected last year's Mid-Autumn Festival. Many high-ranking officials and nobles, literati and poets are proud of being able to meet the beauty and spring night. We also took a lot of effort to get into it." When we said this, Tao Yun, who was almost forty years old, was also intoxicated with expectation, just like some brainless fans in later generations who wanted to meet their idols, but this age seemed really inconsistent.

Li Ling's mouth twitched slightly: "But you, a scholar, a candidate, should be clean, how can you go to such a place? Once you are known to the government, it would be a good idea to let the censors and censors participate in one book."

"Hey, Brother Li, you're too old-fashioned. Even the saints have said that food, sex and nature are. What's the big deal about being a scholar and a talented man? Besides, we are not officials of the court after all, so how can we have time to take care of us? So you can rest assured."

"You mean it's day and night? Then will it be a curfew that comes out by then?"

"Haha, Mr. Li, please rest assured that this curfew rule cannot fall on our priest. As early as more than ten years ago, Your Majesty now felt that the scholars from all over the world were too deserted at night in the capital, so he issued a special order. After the examination, the scholars and candidates could pass through the entire city with the silver talisman of the juren, and were not restricted." Tao Yun said, blinking at him, "What's more, if you really enter a gentle place like Hongxiuzhao, you are still thinking about coming out overnight? Brother Li, you don't understand the true meaning of romanticism, you are not as good as a young man."

Well, this time, even the last reason for refusal was no longer there. Li Ling could only smile and nodded with a wry smile: "Since Brother Tao has made such a warm appointment and is involved in the reputation of my Huaibei scholar, I naturally dare not refuse to do this. But I can say that in front of me, those things like romance and love are limited, and I really can't help. You can't blame me."

"Haha, Brother Li is too humble." Seeing that Li Ling finally agreed, Tao Yun was even more happy and hurriedly expressed, "Don't worry, I will deal with those drinking and sex. Brother Li, all you have to do is to show your talents. Maybe Brother Li's performance will also attract the love of the flower court Su Yue and recommend yourself to the pillow table."

There is no need for this. I have no idea about such a woman in the fun... Li Ling curled his lips in his heart, but he still smiled and said a few words on the scene.

After the matter was finalized, the other party did not stay much and stood up to say goodbye. As he said, the number of students could pass through the city with silver medals in the past few days, so even if the time has passed and the gates of each Fangfang are closed, he can go back smoothly.

It was not until Tao Yun left that Li Ling shook his head helplessly: "I thought I could avoid all the entanglements and social events, but I still couldn't hide it clean. By the way, what about you?" He asked naturally, Xu Cang was on the side.

Xu Cang also smiled bitterly: "I said I can't recite poems and essays, and I have never entered a brothel, so I will definitely not be able to help. But Tao Zhongqian said that one person has more momentum, and I will insist on pulling me away, so I can't refuse."

After a pause, the two looked at each other and said in unison: "What should we do?" Then they looked at each other and laughed.

All the scholars and scholars around him are eager to attend such gatherings. Making friends with this kind of people will naturally be of great help in the future. Even if you fail to pass the Jinshi exam, with so many of them in the same year, you may have a good future in the future.

But they were aliens. They didn't understand the rules and social interactions in the Shilin. After all, compared to others, they only rose for one or two years, and there was no social circle outside each other. Li Ling actually had it, but his friends were either businessmen or people in the martial arts world, so they were too far from Shilin.

Finally, Li Ling could only sigh softly: "I can only take one step at that time..."

...

For all candidates who have participated in this exam, these few days are the most relaxing and comfortable time. While the results have not yet come out, everyone can relax and believe that they will definitely pass the exam.

However, in the Gongyuan, the examiners were so busy that they didn’t even have time to sleep. Just over twenty people had to face more than 20,000 papers and articles, and they had to read them all within eight days to evaluate the quality. This workload can be described as horrible.

Almost all examiners read the papers at their desks and did not straighten their waists. But there is an unusual character in the middle. Our chief examiner, Fan Meisheng, the Minister of Rites, is not the candidate's paper, but a novel - "Bao Gong's Case".

The examiners had no objection to the chief examiner's open act of reading novels, because the novel was given to Fan Shangshu two days ago by someone from the palace, leaving only one sentence for him to appreciate the true meaning of it.

In fact, when Fan Meisheng took over this book, he already understood the emperor's intentions. Obviously, the author of this book was in this imperial examination, and what he had to do was to select the candidates among the candidates! This is the talent that His Majesty values.

Perhaps the imperial examination is the fairest channel for talent growth in thousands of years, but after all, it is also operated by people, so it can only be said to be relatively fair, but there is no absolute fairness.
Chapter completed!