[The seventy-first year of the Great Qiankang Dynasty, March 14, noon, in front of the Star Picking Tower in Chang'an City]

After Li Qi left, Xu Ke and Nangong glanced at each other silently, and they couldn't help but smile bitterly.

For Nangong Buyu, today his sister ran to this Tsing Yi guard and cried, he knew that it was his sister who was wrong, but he still felt guilty about his sister in his heart. At the same time, because of Nangong Wuhua's big trouble, Xu Ke and Li Qi were very embarrassed, and he couldn't help but feel sorry for Xu Ke. Moreover, in front of Princess Lingyu today, he wanted to leave a good impression on the other party, but he was so troubled by his sister, and then he didn't know if the princess would blame him, and he was even more worried in his heart.

For Xu Ke, he was really reluctant to follow Li Qi to Tianbao Pavilion, but fortunately, Nangong Wuhua "got in the way", which finally allowed him to take the opportunity to get free, and he originally wanted to be grateful to Nangong Wuhua. However, he didn't expect that Nangong Wuhua would be so excited, at this moment, he was originally an outsider's mind, but he was forced to become an insider, facing Nangong Wuhua to be so "affectionate" to him, but how could he be embarrassed?

The two were silent for a moment, but Nangong coughed silently and took the lead in breaking the silence:

"Brother Xian, it's noon now, why don't we go to dinner together?"

Xu Ke nodded immediately, at this time, neither of them should mention the matter of Fang Cai, that is the best way.

Nangong was silent and wanted to chase out to comfort his sister-in-law, but he thought about it again, and let her cry for a while, even if she was deeply affectionate to her disease-free brother, she would not become a dependent with her without illness......

Nangong silently called his two guards and ordered them to clean up all the broken dishes in the official room.

After the guard cleaned up the broken bowls, he asked the Lord Qianhu for instructions: "Do you want to order the gang to bring the lunch of the two Qianhu to the official room?"

Xu Ke immediately waved his hand and said, today they went out to eat.

According to the Tsing Yi Wei regulations, all Tsing Yi guards and above can eat in the guard at noon. Moreover, Tsing Yi Wei's food is also divided into five classes according to the different identities of the people who eat them. The governor and the five thousand households eat first-class meals, referred to as A meals, 100 households are B meals, school captains are C meals, Zhangqi is D meals, and the following leaders are all E meals.

When it is the turn of those who eat Wu, they can only eat a few coarse noodles and steamed buns, plus a bowl of clear soup and a few vegetable leaves. However, for those guards who did not have much money, they were overjoyed to be able to take the opportunity to have a lunch in the guard house without money.

The first meal enjoyed by Qianhu and the governor generally has two large dishes, three dishes and a pot of meat and vegetable soup per person, and the main food is rice and thin noodles. However, even if the lunch of this public house was so rich, Xu Ke was already tired of eating, he waved his hand, and then walked out of the door of the thousand official houses with Nangong Bushu.

After leaving Tsing Yiwei, the two of them immediately went to Deyue Tower, but after walking a few dozen steps, Xu Ke suddenly had a whimsical idea in his heart, and he immediately suggested that the two of them go to the Star Picking Tower for dinner today. Nangong was silent about these trivial things to eat, and he had always been casual in his heart, and he had heard the name of the Star Tower for a long time, and when he saw Xu Ke's warm invitation, he was naturally happy to follow.

Xu Ke has eaten the wine and food of the Moon Tower countless times, but he has only been to the Star Picking Tower once, when he and Yiqing drank and chatted, and now when he thinks about it, he doesn't feel happy in his heart!

The two walked slowly, walked for about a quarter of an hour, and then came to the gate of Taipingfang in the north of Chang'an City.

The star picking tower is located in the Taiping Fang, the location of the restaurant is close to the imperial city, it sits in the north and faces south, facing the whole Chang'an City, the momentum is like the king of the world.

The restaurant that Chang'an people talk about, in addition to the Deyue Building, is this towering star-picking building. The whole restaurant is seven floors high, almost the same as the calyx building in the Daming Palace. At the same time, the number of these seven layers also alludes to the meaning of the Big Dipper.

Everyone in Chang'an City knows that if you want to eat in this star-picking building, you not only need a lot of silver, but also need to have a certain official reputation. If you are an unofficial and nameless person, even if you take out 10,000 taels of gold, the shopkeeper will not even look at you.

Xu Ke and Yiqing wanted to eat in the Star Picking Building that day, but the shopkeeper first regarded him as a move to enter Beijing to catch the exam, so he agreed to let him eat on the first floor.

Later, in order to take care of Yiqing's face, Xu Ke had no choice but to turn out his "expired" Black Iron Lion card, and then he was lucky enough to go up to the second floor for dinner.

Today, he came here with great interest and Nangong Buyu, his intention was to take a look, with his official position and reputation today, which level can he go up to the banquet?

After Xu Ke and Nangong Bu Si both stepped into the gate of Taipingfang and came to the front of the Star Picking Tower, a runner immediately stepped forward and greeted:

"Two officials, where did you come from?"

At this moment, Xu Ke is wearing a blue official robe from the fourth grade of the Eagle Dove Pattern Lake, while Nangong Buyu is wearing a scarlet official uniform from the third grade, the shopkeeper has seen the officialdom for a long time, how can he not know the rank of the official uniform of these two people? One of the ones he saw was the fourth grade, and the other was the third grade, and he was extremely polite in his words, if this sentence was said bluntly, it was exactly: "Which yamen are the two of you from? What kind of officials are you doing?"

Xu Ke raised his eyes and saw that this running hall was the shopkeeper who had entertained him in the past, he immediately sneered, took out the "gold-inlaid tiger card" on his waist, handed it to the shopkeeper, and asked with a smile:

"Little Er, take a look...... Do you recognize this waist card?"

The shop's small second-hand hand Xu Ke's "gold-inlaid tiger brand", his face immediately changed, and he respectfully returned the waist card to Xu Ke, and said:

"It turned out that the thousand households of Tsing Yi Wei have arrived, two thousand households, the fifth floor, please!"

Xu Ke and Nangong looked at each other silently and smiled, and then followed the shopkeeper and went up to the private room on the fifth floor to take a seat.

The two of them walked up the wooden ladder while looking at the scenery in front of the window, only to feel that the higher they got, the more beautiful it is!

Xu Ke couldn't help but sigh in his heart, it turns out that today, I can go to the fifth floor of this star-picking building to eat!

In fact, according to the rules in the Star Picking Building, those who can go to the fifth floor for dinner must at least be the third-grade important ministers of the court, and those who can go up to the sixth floor for a banquet must be the ministers of the second rank or above, as well as the prince, the prince and the royal relatives to be eligible.

Today, if the shopkeeper is stricter, only Nangong can barely enter if he can really go up to the fifth floor to eat, and Xu Ke can only go up to the fourth floor to eat at most. However, after all, Tsing Yi Wei was famous, and the shopkeeper was afraid, so he still took both of them to the fifth floor.

The construction style of this star-picking tower is wide at the bottom and narrow at the top, and the higher it goes, the narrower the space in the floor, and when it reaches the fifth floor, there are only four private rooms left in the entire pavilion.

The shopkeeper introduced Xu Ke and Nangong silently and courtetously into the "Yanmei Pavilion" on the fifth floor to sit down, and when the two of them finished ordering, they went to take care of themselves.

There are four private rooms on the fifth floor, each with a large window that overlooks the building. At this moment, Xu Ke and Nangong looked out of the window without saying a word, and saw that under the high-rise building, those people who came and went in Chang'an City were already insignificant, Nangong watched from the window for a long time, and couldn't help but sigh leisurely:

"Brother Xian, I won't tell you, this foolish brother of the star building is still the first time to come, I have heard the reputation of the high-rise building for a long time, and today I overlook it, the scenery is really good!"

Xu Ke said with a smile: "If Brother Nangong likes it, we can come often when we are free in the future!"

Nangong said silently: "Brother Xian, why did you show that little second your waist card? We just came over for dinner today, do they still need to verify their integrity before they are willing to let go?"

Xu Ke couldn't help laughing, he didn't have to guess to think that it must be that this Nangong has been immersed in court official affairs for many years, and it is rare to go out for entertainment, because he doesn't know anything about the rules in this star-picking building.

At that moment, Xu Ke roughly explained the rules in the Star Picking Tower to Nangong Bu to know, but Xu Ke himself was mostly just hearsay.

Nangong listened silently, looked down at the crowd downstairs, and couldn't help sighing:

"Brother Xian, I can't imagine that my Nangong has been diligent for half my life, and what I got is just a qualification to be able to eat on the fifth floor of this Star Picking Building!"

"Brother Nangong, it's already very good that we can go up to the fifth floor for dinner today! Do you know that the floor above us can only sit when we are the prime minister and the prince?" Xu Ke smiled.

Nangong looked up at the top of his head silently, as if he could feel how conceited and proud the person sitting there should be after going to the next level!

At this time, the shopkeeper had already walked into the "Yanmei Pavilion" with wine and food, and he had just entered, but he heard the red-shirted official uniform, pointing to the top of his head, and said to another blue-shirted official-uniform:

"Brother Xian, you work hard!