In the afternoon, Fan Lou, the first restaurant in the capital, had long been out of vacancies, Xu Ping and a few colleagues walked around the Donghua Gate for a while, and finally found a seat in Zhongshan Zhengdian, which was not far away, and chose a small pavilion to sit down.

These restaurants say how prosperous they are, and the guests who come here are either rich or noble, but in fact, the real high-ranking officials and nobles in the city still disdain to come. They have good cooks in their own homes, they have the best wines, they have a thousand charming courtesans, and they can enjoy all the pleasures in their own homes, so why bother to come to these places to show their heads.

The most common officialdom characters in the restaurant are Xu Ping, who has a bit of real power, and the higher-level attendants and high-ranking officials disdain to come, and the lower-level low-level petty officials can't afford to come.

Today, it was naturally Xu Ping who was pushed to the main seat, and the guest sat down.

Wang Gongchen was the youngest and had the closest relationship with Xu Ping, so he called the little guy over and ordered wine and food, and sent him out.

Most of the people sitting here today are Xu Ping's colleagues in the third division, their home is not in the capital, there is nowhere to go at this time, it is rare that Xu Ping still thinks about them, and comes out to get together to talk about the loneliness of being an official in a foreign land.

Except for Wang Gongchen, who was single, most of the others were already forty-five years old, so they only called two female prostitutes to sit and sing popular tunes, and slowly waited for the wine and food to come up.

If it is said that the family is the farthest away, it should be Wang Bin, who sentenced the three divisions to owe the division. His ancestors were originally from Gwangju, but later they went to Fujian Road with their clansmen, and because of disputes with others, they traveled from the sea to Silla. Since then, the Wang family has made a fortune in Silla, and Wang Bin's grandfather and father are both ruling ministers of Silla and have real power. When Wang Bin was eighteen years old, he entered Taixue as a new Robin Gongsheng, and was a Jinshi in Chunhua for three years, and became an official in the local area.

In the words of Xu Ping's previous life, this Wang Bin was still a returnee, and his family was also quite powerful in Silla. However, there was no preferential treatment for returnees in this era, and he was slowly promoted step by step like his team of jinshi, and he only entered the capital as an official at the age of forty or fifty.

"The moonlight shines through the branches, and the short-leaved florets are weak. Beibin played a flute, complaining that Jiangnan got first.

Who teaches the strong half of the wax to open before, and the affection is the spring memory. Keep everyone drunk, and the rain is resting. ”

The female prostitute sitting in front of her was only fifteen or sixteen years old, and she was also handsome, bowing her head and singing Zhang Xian's new words "Good Things Are Near", which had not been in Beijing for a long time, and her expression was half coquettish and half shy.

Listening to the melodious singing, Xu Ping suddenly remembered that Zhang Xian and Liu Sanchang, the two great lyricists who ascended to the top in the eighth year of the Heavenly Sage, were still sinking in the place at this time. Poetry is flattering, words are a pastime, this era is not valued by literati and doctors, even if the new words spread all over the world, the two still have no personal appreciation.

Everyone here today is far inferior in reputation to these two lyricists in later generations, but except for Wang Gongchen, their current official positions are something that Zhang Xian and Liu Sanbian can't earn in their lifetime, although these people are not high-ranking officials, just officials.

History is like this, the vision of future generations is very different from that of today, although there is no right or wrong in this.

Xu Chang walked inside with the white-faced staff, and several figures flashed out of the curtains on both sides of the road from time to time, the same food and drink were extremely luxurious, and even the tableware and wine utensils were all made of silverware, and the same was accompanied by thousands of charming women.

The mouths of the white-faced officers kept introducing, what Du Shangshu, Zhou Servant, Wu Shizhong, along the way, Xu Chang heard more official titles than the number of existing high-ranking officials in the court.

Although Xu Chang was careful, he still couldn't figure out which family these people belonged to. One thing is certain, however, that their masters are either noble or powerful.

After passing through the courtyard, we finally came to a hall.

The white-faced man had a smile on his face, stood by the door and bowed down and said, "Xu Shilang, please come in, when I got to the house, I saw the Taishi, and we will be a family from now on." ”

In this era, civil officials are respected, and the top of civil officials is Taishi, which is a more respectful title than any prince and county king. Xu Chang was puzzled in his heart, although the slaves liked to be commensurate with big officials, at most they were only one or two levels higher than the master's family, and those who were four or five levels higher were a bit excessive. is called the Taishi, I don't know what position this person has, in the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, the servants can be counted by the officials who can be called so on their fingers.

When I entered the hall door, I saw five or six people sitting in the hall, and I didn't know what their identities were, and behind each of them stood two teenage maids, gently pinching their shoulders and rubbing their legs behind their backs.

In the middle of the hall, there sat an old man with white beard and hair, looking at his kind eyebrows and kind eyes, with a ruddy complexion, he could really be described as a crane-haired childish person, like a fairy-like person.

The white-faced officer followed behind Xu Chang, bent over and said: "The one sitting above is Taishi Liu, and we people can have this kind of life, all of which depends on Taishi Liu." ”

A middle-aged man next to him said loudly: "In Kaifeng City, the affairs of the official side are decided by the emperor and prime minister in the imperial city, and the official face is under the official face, but it is our Taishi Liu who has the final say!" ”

Taishi Liu glanced at the middle-aged man and said slowly: "Yubi, how can you say such a rebellious thing?" We are just a mouthful of food, thanks to the blessings of those officials, how can we be so disrespectful! ”

The middle-aged man hurriedly laughed and said: "The master has taught me a lesson, it is Yubi who said it wrong!" ”

The white-faced man greeted the old man, and then he introduced Xu Chang: "Taishi, this is Xu Shilang in the mansion of Xu Lang, the Marquis of Yongning and the deputy envoy of Yantie." The affairs of the Xu Mansion are all handled by Xu Shilang. ”

Xu Chang didn't know what kind of formation this was, so he had to bow his hand to the old man: "Xu Chang has seen Taishi Liu." ”

Taishi Liu smiled and nodded: "Yes, Xu Shilang is also a young talent, and the old man often hears people around him mention you." Your master Xu Ping is a good family with Uncle Li's family, the Li family is an upstart in the imperial court, and none of the relatives outside the clan can compare, and your master is naturally not better than others in the eyes of the emperor. Coupled with the young jinshi, Lingnan has military exploits and a bright future. ”

The white-faced man standing beside Xu Chang added with a smile: "Taishi, not only that, when Xu Pingzhong was a jinshi, the sky appeared Ruiguang, which was considered to be an auspicious omen for this dynasty." I often hear people mention it these days, and the emperor must also take a fancy to this. ”

"Yes, yes, I forgot if you didn't mention it." Taishi Liu nodded with a smile, "What's even more amazing, Deputy Envoy Xu Ping is a native of Kaifeng, and it is much more convenient for you to do things in your house than in other people's homes." ”

Xu Chang didn't know what this person was talking about, so he just watched coldly. The white-faced staff is called Sun Wanglou, and everyone calls him the white-faced Sun Qilang, who runs a rice noodle shop in the capital. Xu Chang got acquainted with him by chance, just because they could talk, they often walked around each other, and a few days ago he said that he wanted to partner in opening a shop, and it was Sun Qilang.

Xu Chang originally thought that he and Sun Qilang were just following fate, but he didn't expect that there would be any Taishi Liu in the future.

Seeing that Xu Chang didn't speak, Master Liu said with a kind smile: "You and I are inevitably alienated when we meet for the first time. It doesn't matter, the so-called once born and twice cooked, walk around with Shichiro more in the future, you naturally know the trick here. There are always many difficulties in doing things in the eunuchs' house, they have to use the money, and some small things need to be taken care of, and you know the difficulties at that time. (To be continued.) )