"Why is it colder today than yesterday?" Yang Mosheng gathered his clothes and complained.
"Brother Yang, when did you come back last night? I didn't hear anything."
"Oh, I had a few extra drinks with the guys at the wine shop last night. I'll see you all asleep when I come back."
"Is it cold when you sleep at night? My mother prepared a basket of charcoal for you and put it at the door of your room, but you didn't use it. Don't worry, there will be no extra charge for this." I smiled.
Yang Mosheng waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, no, how can I ask for your charcoal in vain? It's not easy for you to make money."
"It doesn't cost anything. It's all what I saved from cooking on weekdays. If you feel bad, just wait until the weather clears up and help pick up some dead branches from the slope in front of you."
"Okay, are you ready?"
I tied the rope tighter: "Yeah."
"It's such a cold day, was yesterday's product easy to sell?" Yang Mosheng helped pick up two boxes of tofu.
"It was not easy to sell. By noon, half of it had not been sold. The Shaodong family just across the street came over to play and bought the rest. We cooked it and sent it to the county government to help the poor."
"Oh, that young master is a very good person!"
"Yes. Brother Yang is also a good man. Otherwise, it would take me a lot of time to carry these two loads to the inn. My mother's foot is injured and it is inconvenient to move around. After all, Jia Jia is just my neighbor, so I can't bother her all the time.
"I picked up the bean curd, followed two steps closely, and praised Yang Mosheng.
The snow on the ground has not yet melted, and the snowflakes in the sky have begun to fly again. Walking all the way to Jianghu Inn, a blanket of white has already fallen on my head and shoulders.
"Oh, it's early enough!" Ah Wu came up to me and waved off the snow on my shoulders with two handkerchiefs: "You know it's not easy to sell, why do you do so many today?"
I took off the burden and took the pole from Yang Mosheng: "Didn't the young owner of Yuelai Restaurant leave a bag of money yesterday? Those refugees are really pitiful, so I'll send some to them at noon."
Ah Wu stepped aside to the door: "Okay, you can decide on your tofu. Have you had your breakfast yet?"
"Bring me two bowls of soup cakes." I ordered, grabbing Yang Mosheng and saying, "Brother Yang, it's still early. Let's go to the bar after breakfast."
"Okay, then it's better to be respectful than obey." Yang Mosheng sat down and looked towards the cabinet.
I followed it and took a look, and it turned out to be a picture of words - Honesty Wins the World.
Although I don't know calligraphy, I still think these words are written very grandly and look very comfortable. I didn't notice it yesterday and I don't know when they were hung up.
"Boy, you're the same!" someone shouted next to me. The person was in his forties, holding an exquisite small stove in his hand, wearing a maroon long coat, a gray velvet collar and a goatee.
Son, it looked quite warm. I recognized him as the shopkeeper of the pastry shop next to him. I thought the customers didn't come so early, so I came over to have breakfast first.
"Please come in, guest officer!" Ah Wu shouted.
"Hey, shopkeeper Huang, good morning!" Uncle Fu also raised his head from the counter and said, "How's the business lately?"
"Hey, don't mention it, Leng'er Baqiu, if you weren't really greedy, who would come to my store? How is your place?"
"Hey, it's not the same. It's snowing..." Uncle Fu frowned, his chubby face looking as worried as an undercooked steamed bun.
"Two bowls of soup cakes, please use them slowly." Ah Wu greeted us and went to the kitchen again.
"Brother Yang, please."
"okay."
"What's wrong with that word?" I asked after taking a big sip of soup.
Yang Mosheng ate the cake and said: "The calligraphy is good, but I don't know whose hand it was. It's hung too far away and I can't see the signature clearly."
"Not bad, the writing is sharp and flowing! Good, good!" Shopkeeper Huang also gave a thumbs up and praised.
Uncle Fu followed his gaze and said, "Shopkeeper Huang is praising this calligraphy?"
"Hmm. When was this posted? I wonder who wrote it?"
Uncle Fu smiled: "What do you mean? Our boss wrote this yesterday afternoon when he had nothing to do. He hung it here to see if it could be sold."
"Is this for sale? Great! How much does it cost?"
Yang Mosheng and I also pricked up our ears and waited for the answer.
But Uncle Fu hesitated, paused for a moment, stretched out a finger, and whispered: "My boss said I want one tael of silver."
"What? One tael of silver!" Shopkeeper Huang was shocked.
Yang Mosheng and I looked at each other and sighed slightly. It was just a piece of writing. It couldn't be eaten, drank, or kept warm. It was so expensive!
"So expensive!" Shopkeeper Huang sighed, and muttered: "Li Dongsheng, this is not famous."
"Uncle Fu, I'll go out with Xian'er later and come back in the afternoon. I'll leave the inn to you today." Li Dongsheng came from the backyard and ordered.
"Hey, boss, you came just in time. Shopkeeper Huang likes your words."
Li Dongsheng's handsome face beamed with joy: "Really? That's great! This is the money I earned personally. Find another account book for me to record. I want to see how much my writing can earn in a month. In a moment.
Let Shopkeeper Huang of the Ah Wu Gang deliver it to your door."
"No, no, no, there's no need to deliver it to your door. My boss may not recognize me yet. I'm from Huang's pastry shop next to you. I can just take it back myself. But... can the price be cheaper?" Huang
The shopkeeper touched his goatee and began to negotiate the price.
"Could it be cheaper?" Li Dongsheng had a look of disbelief on his face: "It's only one tael of silver, is it still expensive?"
Shopkeeper Huang held out two fingers: "Two hundred coins."
"You..." Li Dongsheng stopped smiling: "One tael of silver!"
"Okay, okay, let's make friends with the three hundred coins from our next-door neighbor." Shopkeeper Huang continued to laugh with him and stretched out his hand towards the words.
Li Dongsheng pushed his hand away: "I said: one tael of silver!"
"Three hundred pennies is a lot of money. In this world, who else collects these? I happened to need one to decorate the store. Seeing that your word has a good meaning, I decided to keep it. It's just three hundred pennies.
It’s really quite a lot. If this were the case before, maybe I could add a little more.”
Li Dongsheng's face darkened: "In the past? Huh, if it were before, I wouldn't care even if you gave me ten thousand taels of silver. If it hadn't been for the Anshi Rebellion and my family suffered a tragic accident, how could I sell my writing here and accept your idleness? One tael of silver,
Buy it or not!”
"Haha, you two, you two, harmony brings wealth, harmony brings wealth, business is not about benevolence and righteousness, hehe." Fu Bo laughed at the two of them.
I lowered my head and smiled to myself. This owner is really interesting. Rumor has it that he is the son of a wealthy family in Chang'an. He lived here because An Lushan's rebels invaded Chang'an. Unexpectedly, his temper has not diminished at all. I thought I could tell the truth.
, everyone respects me.
"Okay, okay, this way, five hundred cents is really no more!" Shopkeeper Huang increased the price again, and it seemed that he really liked it.
"Five hundred cents." I smiled at Yang Mosheng: "A picture of words is so expensive! It's just five words, enough for me to sell tofu for several days, and one word is worth a hundred cents!"
"Get out!" Li Dongsheng was silent for a moment, then suddenly whispered one word.
I was stunned, what did he say?
"Ah?" Shopkeeper Huang didn't understand either.
"I said, get out!" Li Dongsheng increased his voice a little more.
"You...you...I'm here to eat." Shopkeeper Huang obviously didn't expect Li Dongsheng to reply like this, and he sat down on the bench angrily: "Waiter, where's my breakfast?"
"Didn't you hear? Get out! This is my inn, and I won't do your business today!" Li Dongsheng pointed to the door, his tone still domineering.
In the entire living room besides us, there were three tables of guests dining. They also heard the commotion, looked at Li Dongsheng in surprise, lowered their heads and started talking.
"You..." Shopkeeper Huang was so angry that his neck turned red. He covered his chest with one hand and pointed at Li Dongsheng with the other: "Tell me again!"
"My boss, we don't talk like that. Shopkeeper Huang, please calm down and calm down. You also know that our boss is also in charge on the second day, and we don't know how to treat guests. Haha, you sir are so generous, please be more considerate." Uncle Fu helped Huang.
The shopkeeper patted his back and comforted him.
"Dongsheng, have you finished explaining? Dongfanghong and his family have already passed by, and we can't go too late. I also want to introduce you to some people..."
Mrs. Mu walked out of the backyard as she spoke. She was wearing a white dress and a red cloak. Her hair was shining with golden light. Behind her was Nuan Xin, who was holding an exquisite wooden box.
When she saw Li Dongsheng's expression, she suddenly stopped talking. When she came to Li Dongsheng's side, she asked softly: "What's wrong?"
"Xian'er, I..." Li Dongsheng pursed his lips and wanted to explain.
Shopkeeper Huang interrupted him: "Mrs. Mu, please comment. Just for this calligraphy, he actually wanted to sell me one tael of silver. I paid back five hundred coins. It was fine if he didn't sell it, but he still let me."
roll'!
I'm here for dinner. Please ask the shopkeeper Fu. Our two families have been doing business next to each other for more than ten years. I basically have breakfast at your house every morning.
He actually told me to 'get out' today! If you don't give me an explanation today, I really can't swallow this tone. At worst, I'll be so angry that I'll lie down in your shop."
"Hey, Shopkeeper Huang, look how angry you are. All these wrinkles are showing. You don't look as young and handsome as yesterday." Madam Mu covered her mouth and smiled, waving the ice silk handkerchief in her hand: "Ah Wu, go give it to Shopkeeper Huang."
Put on a pot of chrysanthemum tea to relieve the heat."
"Hey, a pot of chrysanthemum tea, coming right away!" Ah Wu replied.
Li Dongsheng tugged at Madam Mu's sleeve: "Xian'er, I only sell this calligraphy for one tael of silver, do you think it's expensive?"
I thought Madam Mu should teach him a lesson, but unexpectedly Madam Mu smiled softly and said:
"Have you ever heard of 'a word worth a thousand gold'? Your handwriting is so beautiful. In my opinion, selling these five words for five thousand taels of gold is not an exaggeration. But why do you scold the guests?"
"I...it's him. He bargains over and over again, which is really disrespectful. Such a person doesn't deserve my respect. You said that I would be responsible for this inn. Can't I decide not to do it?"
Is he in business?"
Madam Mu took Li Dongsheng's hand: "You are my husband, my support in this life, and the owner of this inn. You have the final say in the entire inn. Of course you can have someone kick him out, or even close the inn.
It's up to you. When the time comes, I will accompany you to set up a stall on the street and sell calligraphy. If you write a calligraphy like this every day and sell it for five thousand taels of gold, we won't have to work so hard to guard this inn.