After sending away the bitter lord and the official errand in a few words, Lu Guangzu ordered someone to write down the names of those who asked for officials, and he walked in front of Shen Mo, stretched out his hand and said, "Brother, please." ”

He smiled silently and said, "Brother Wutai, I'm causing you trouble." ”

Lu Guangzu smiled gently: "My own family is just for trouble." ”

Shen Mo laughed and said, "I'm embarrassed to say this." Then he pulled Li Zhen beside him and said, "Let's go, let's go in." ”

Li Zhen was a little stunned, but still followed obediently.

The three of them entered the yamen of the Ministry of Officials, and came to the 'Wenxuan Qing Officials Division' in the East Cross Courtyard, and Li Zhen opened the door of the signing room and invited them in. After watching the tea, the guest of honor sat down, and then asked Li Zhen: "Dare to ask this brother Taigao's surname?" ”

Li Zhen was a little uncomfortable and said: "Lord Lu, under Li Zhen, the word Hongfu, a native of Quanzhou, Fujian, was formerly a doctor of Guozijian, and he left his post due to Grandfather Ding's worries, and is now returning to Beijing in service and waiting for his new position. To put this crepe to put it bluntly, I went home to mourn for three years because my grandfather died, but when I came back, I found that my professorship at the Central National University had been occupied, so I had to come to the Ministry of Officials to ask for another position.

Lu Guangzu nodded when he heard this, glanced at Shen Mo and said, "Brother and Master Li are old acquaintances?" ”

Shen Mo smiled and said: "Yes, I have been an old friend for many years, and I dealt with him a lot when I was in Suzhou a few years ago. In order to improve the admission rate of students, Shen Mo naturally studied the "Li Zhen Treasure Book", which can be called a god for a long time, and it is not a complete nonsense.

Li Zhen's lips twitched a few times, but he finally didn't say stupid things like 'I don't know him'.

Lu Guangzu nodded and smiled: "In this way, I can't say anything if I don't help with this." He ordered someone to take the rosters of the Guozijian, the Hanlin Academy, and the Zhan Shifu to see if there were any vacancies to fill...... To fill the vacancies of officials below the seventh grade, he can be self-sufficient, and he only needs to report afterwards, Dr. Guozijian is just a petty official from the eighth grade, and it is just a matter of Lu Guangzu's words.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lu Guangzu asked Shen Mo again: "Brother, what are you doing here?" ”

"Zhao Butang of the Ministry of Rites has opened a letter of introduction, and I have to hand it over." Silently speaking, he took out a letter from his sleeve and handed it to Lu Guangzu with both hands.

Lu Guangzu took it with both hands and said in his mouth: "Just send someone to send it over, why bother to run again?" ”

"Familiar is familiar, and the rules can't be messed up." Shen Mo smiled: "Besides, it's been more than ten days since I came back, and I haven't seen you, so I'm panicked." ”

Lu Guangzu laughed loudly when he heard this: "I asked you for this sentence, I invited you at noon today." Saying that, he said to Li Zhen: "Brother Hongfu also wants to be together." ”

Li Zhen smiled awkwardly, he knew that he should say it at this time...... I have a treat, it can be regarded as the upper way, but I am helpless and shy, and I invite them to eat steamed buns with vegetarian filling, how dare I open this mouth.

However, Lu Guangzu didn't think about letting him treat him at all, so he turned his face to Shen Mo and smiled: "Uncle heard that you came back, and he had been talking about it for a long time, and our grandfather and wife can play together again." However, His Majesty suddenly retreated, so he had to go to protect the Dharma first, and he had to wait until he came out. Li Zhen was stunned when he heard this, and said in his heart that this is still a [***]? Looking at the silence again, it turns out that the relationship is so hard, no wonder there is no fear outside.

Shen Mo smiled: "Yes, I miss my senior brother too, so I'm waiting for him to come out." ”

Li Zhen was confused again, what kind of seniority is this...... After a while, the scribe came back, knelt in Lu Guangzu's ear, and whispered a few words, Lu Guangzu nodded, signaling that he could go out.

After the scribe left, Lu Guangzu said: "Dr. Hanlin Academy, Dr. Zhan Shifu, Dr. Guozijian, which one does Brother Hongfu want to choose?" "He doesn't have the power to promote officials, so he can only arrange at the same level.

Li Zhen has mixed tastes in his heart, he came to Beijing a few months ago, just because he had no money to give gifts, he tried his best to make up for the shortage, and he had to sleep on the streets if he went down. Unexpectedly, Lu Guangzu could choose from the three yamen at will, which made him feel relieved and a little more resentful in his heart.

In the end, he still decided to return to the country, although 'good horses don't eat back grass', but he was born in a small family, and in the eyes of others, he can only be regarded as an inferior horse. Who can listen to their own chatter? So it's better to go back to the country and teach those sub-prisoners, so that your 'Li's exam**' can still be useful.

There are people in the yamen who are easy to do, this sentence is really true, what Li Zhen has not done for a few months, now with Lu Guangzu's care, in less than a quarter of an hour, he got the appointment letter he dreamed of.

Pinching the thin piece of paper in his hand, Li Zhen said with emotion: "If I knew this, I would have beaten that old bastard earlier, and I wouldn't have to suffer from the bird's anger these days." ”

Shen Mo and Lu Guangzu couldn't help but laugh, and got up together and said, "Let's eat, Brother Hongfu." ”

Li Zhen put the appointment letter close to him, and said to the two: "It is supposed that I should have invited a treat, but when the two of you look at my poor and sour appearance, you know that you really can't afford to invite you." ”

The two smiled and said: "Remember first, and when you become rich and noble, don't forget each other." ”

"Hehe......" Li Zhen smiled: "Next life." As soon as these words came out, the two of them choked enough.

Shen Mo hurriedly played a round and said: "Brother Hongfu is used to joking, and Brother Wutai has to get used to it." ”

Lu Guangzu is also very well-cultivated, and he smiled when he heard this: "It's okay, it's okay." ”

Yanjing City is a large city with a population of one million, where princes and nobles are everywhere, and bureaucrats and politicians are as cheap as dogs. These people come to make easy money and enjoy it, and it is reasonable for the catering industry to develop. In Yanjing City, all kinds of fancy cuisines from all over the country, as long as you can think of it, you will definitely be able to find it.

But if you can find it, you may not be able to eat it, because in this hierarchical city, restaurants and restaurants are also prepared by people, and they are about four grades. The most upscale is the big restaurant, which is opened in Dongsi, Xidan, Gulou, and Qianmen, the most prosperous areas of the capital. They are all high-end large courtyards, the inside is tall and wide, the decoration is exquisite and luxurious, the dining tables and chairs must be mahogany at the least, and the calligraphy and paintings hanging on the walls must be the worst of the Southern Song Dynasty. Even the small dishes, spoons and chopsticks are beautiful and exquisite, a complete set. In the spacious courtyard, there is also a stage with a permanent surname, and in addition to the guests' banquets, there are also theater troupes stationed in the theater, so that guests can listen to the play while eating.

If you think about it on your toes, you can know that these are all places where money is spent, and in fact, if you have money, you may not be able to get in. Because people only regard high-ranking officials and nobles as their customer groups, and are commonly known as 'those who serve the door of the mansion', even ordinary officials and ordinary businessmen who want to go to their place for a meal will always get a polite but rejecting reply: 'I'm sorry, this store is full.' ’

If you are not convinced, you say, 'Why don't you entertain you when you look at so many empty seats?' ’

The answer will always be: 'That's a seat for so-and-so.' 'Make it clear that I won't make your money.

Are these big restaurants stupid? Not really. People have figured out the psychology of the upper class, and the real nobles do not necessarily have to use gold bowls and silver chopsticks to eat dragon marrow and phoenix brains, but the food must be interesting enough...... People don't want to get involved with the 'laity'...... To put it bluntly, the upper-class people eat, and they eat it called 'privilege', and they don't blink an eye for these two words.

In addition to these big restaurants with cowhide coaxing, Yanjing City has the most, and the loudest ones are restaurants all over the city. These restaurants are a grade lower than the big restaurants, and are generally opened in ordinary courtyard houses, or shop houses facing the street, some are single-storey and some are two-storey. There are no dozen or dozens of grand banquet halls, let alone big theaters. Generally, it is a single room downstairs and a single room upstairs, and the downstairs is suitable for casual drinking, and the upstairs is suitable for banqueting guests. There are also plaques and calligraphy and paintings hanging in the single room, but they are all bought from the glaze factory for a few taels of silver, and the tableware is not so particular, clean and flawless.

If the restaurant is the most particular about style and pomp, then the restaurant wins with the quality of the dishes, and the target customers are ordinary officials, businessmen, and wealthy citizens, and even those dignitaries and nobles, when they are not pompous, they also like to come to these places, because these restaurants are the essence of Yanjing City's 'eating' - the dishes are rich and the flavors are varied, which is more suitable for feasting than the big restaurant that blindly pursues light and elegant, and it is much cheaper.

However, ordinary people, waiting for leisure can not afford to go to the restaurant, and they correspond, it is an inconspicuous 'restaurant', which is opened in the alley facing the street, with one or two rooms at most, and the store is very narrow. I can't make a whole table of banquets, only home-cooked stir-fried dishes, and the taste is relatively salty, in order to eat less vegetables and eat more, and it is clear that it is a place to be full, and the object is ordinary people, and rich people are disdainful.

In fact, even ordinary people will never go to the restaurant to set up a banquet, just to fill their stomachs, eat when they come, and leave after eating, which saves trouble.

But this is not the lowest, the cheapest is the 'roadside stall' that there are no shops, just on the side of the road, a long table, two rows of benches, at most a few bamboo poles, to prop up a straw shed, to protect customers from the rain and the sun. Dumplings, buns, pies, wontons, noodles, and pickles, cold dishes, etc., are sold in poor people, and ordinary citizens disdain them. The hygienic conditions are poor, but the price is cheap. There are also some picky eaters, food trucks and so on, pushing and selling along the streets and alleys, recruiting some residents in the alleys, and basically the same level as the roadside stalls.

The four grades of restaurants correspond to the four classes of Yanjing City, everyone knows each other, each looking for their own food, and it is rare to have the kind of chaotic string in the south of the Yangtze River, which makes people sigh that no one can compare to the people in the capital in terms of the degree of compliance with the ranks.

Undoubtedly, the lower restaurant is most in line with the identity of the three silent.

Lu Guangzu has been living in the capital for several years, knows all the restaurants well, and took the two of them straight to the silver ingot bridge in the north of Shichahai, and smiled at them on the way, "We southerners don't get tired of eating, but in fact, the restaurants in Yanjing can't make that feeling, even if the chef is from the south, when he arrives in the capital, it seems that he has been infected by the rough man of the north, and he can't be fine anymore." ”

"Brother Wutai is still a gourmet." Shen Mo said to Li Zhen: "Brother Hongfu, we have to bow down in this regard." "Although he came from a slightly cold background, he has been eating delicious food all over the world for more than ten years, so he just saves face for Li Zhen.

Li Zhen didn't speak this time, firstly, because he was hungry, and secondly, he was also reflecting on how he spoke too much, and he was really inappropriate to be like that to two people who helped him.

While speaking, the carriage arrived, and Lu Guangzu said with a smile: "This time, let's eat some authentic northern flavors." ”

When I got out of the car, I saw the plaque hanging high in this restaurant, which read "Mobei Barbecue Zhang".

"You're going to treat us to a barbecue?" Silent smiled: "It's true that I haven't eaten for many years. ”

Lu Guangzu smiled a little proudly: "The owner of this shop is said to be an old cook who followed Emperor Yongle to Mobei back then, and his unique skill in barbecue meat is full of praise even for Yongle Ye." ”

"Really?" asked with a silent smile.

"Whether it's true or apocryphal." Lu Guangzu said with a smile: "But they are a century-old shop, and in the barbecue shop in Yanjing City, it is one of the best." ”

As soon as he entered, a smart-looking Xiao Er, a small hat in a green coat, and a white towel on his arm greeted him, and said with a smile: "Hey, I said why the magpie can't stop calling today, it turns out that the sixth master, your old man is coming, and the little one is asking you to say goodbye." As he spoke, he smiled at Shen Mo and said, "Second master, I am so small that I will also say hello to the two of you." "As soon as you enter the door, this kind of enthusiasm is not seen in the Southern Hotel.

Lu Guangzu smiled and asked, "Is there still a place upstairs?" ”

"Look at what you said, even if you don't have it, I have to make it for you." Xiao Er smiled: "It's still an old place, Room No. 2?" ”

"Yes." Lu Guangzu nodded, and the three of them followed the hall to the second floor. As soon as he sat in the spacious room, Xiao Er immediately sent a hot hand towel, asked the third master to wipe his hands, and asked in a crisp voice: "What do you want to eat today, barbecue or stir-fry?" ”

"Nonsense, what else can I eat here?" Lu Guangzu scolded with a smile.

"I know it, but I can't help but ask." Xiao Er said with a smile: "We only bought a batch of Hetao lambs yesterday, the number is limited, and I have reserved one for you, let's eat it, right?" ”

"How much is one?" Lu Guangzu asked with a smile.

The little two stretched out a slap and said, "This number." ”

"Don't take me as the blame." Lu Guangzu still smiled.

"You are noble and eat precious things." Xiao Er said with a smile: "It's not easy to transport those lambs, you have to take care of them all the way, drink mountain springs when you're thirsty, eat grass when you're hungry, there are no twenty in total, do you always say it's worth the money?" ”

"Let's get one." Lu Guangzu laughed and said, "This mouth of your running hall can blow the old hen into a golden phoenix." ”

"It's so little that it's telling the truth." The person who ran the hall made tea for the three of them, brought some side dishes and snacks, bowed down and withdrew, and said, "The three masters will wait." ”

After a while, the runner came in again, brought a brass pot with sparks to the table, Shen Mo and Li Zhen saw that it was lit charcoal, mixed with some pine branches and cypress, and said that this was the brazier for barbecue.

Xiao Er sat on the brazier with a round iron meat grill, and when it was hot, he put the cut and marinated mutton slices neatly on the meat grill, and introduced while swinging: "This is all marinated in soy sauce, vinegar, cooking wine, minced ginger, and marinated shrimp oil for three hours, so as to ensure that the taste is sufficient." ”

Lu Guangzu is a frequent visitor, so naturally he didn't need to introduce him, so he waved his hand and said: "Come on, you go and get busy, let's do it ourselves, it's more interesting to eat." ”

"You're always in love!" Xiao Er put down the meat tong when he heard this, and instructed Shen Mo to say: "After it is cooked for a while, the second master will use bamboo chopsticks to hold it, soak it in a bowl of cold water and then eat, it will be ......so clean" After speaking, he went out and closed the door for them.

I saw the fire shining in the single room, the smoke was rising, and a few silent people held a wine glass in their left hand and a chopstick more than a foot long in their right hand, eating while roasting, feasting, looking very rough and feeling very interesting.

But what surprised Lu Guangzu was that Shen Mo and Li Zhen were even more skilled than him, an old customer, and they had obviously eaten it a long time ago, so they couldn't help but be curious: "I haven't seen this kind of barbecue restaurant in Jiangnan?" When did you two eat? ”

The two of them said in unison: "It was ...... many years ago" and they were all emotional memories with a face.

Although the answers are the same, the memories of the two are very different. Shen Mo remembered that in the winter of that year, in Zhang Jing's Lu Garden, he and Xiao Aman and Rou Niang secretly barbecued meat, and seven or eight years had passed in the blink of an eye. Mrs. Washi was also seriously wounded in a battle with the Japanese and died after forcing her territorial soldiers back to Guangxi. Xiao Aman was only a teenager, and he became his grandmother's successor, which made Shen Mo very worried, and he didn't know why Mrs. Washi made such a decision...... And what Li Zhen thought was much more powerful, and several pictures came to his mind, the sea, sailboats, accomplices, eating meat in large pieces, and drinking wine in large gulps...... That is the life of Mr. Li before he was raised in the middle school...... Yes, Mr. Li has been to the sea and is a brilliant smuggler, but that was before the flood of pirates.

(To be continued)