The day after the Imperial Roll Call was the Xinglin Banquet, also commonly known among the people as the Qionglin Banquet, Wenxi Banquet, Third Place Banquet, Enrong Banquet, or the Xinglin Spring Banquet.
On this day, the newly minted Advanced Scholars were required to submit a memorial of gratitude to the throne and formally thank their chief examiners. This schedule only existed because the current dynasty had suspended the elegant tradition of "inscribing names at the Wild Goose Pagoda." Otherwise, after the banquet, they would have had to leave their signatures at the Great Wild Goose Pagoda of Cien Temple as a memorial.
But first, back to the Xinglin Banquet. Early that morning, Zhao Jing and Xu Yanhe woke up bright and early.
