Seeing that Xu Yue and the others showed no resistance, the female shopkeeper immediately continued:
"That's it. You must have seen it when you entered the city. There are four or five restaurants on our street alone. In the past, my family had only one restaurant on this street. The business has improved in recent years. Everyone is jealous of my business and they are all jealous of it.
Opened a restaurant."
"But there are only so many customers. There are more restaurants. If we divide it up, there will be fewer customers in my restaurant. Now I rely on some regular customers to come and patronize me. Before the new customers come to my door, I let the restaurants in front of me take them away.
gone."
"No, I just happened to see that you are a troupe, and I thought that if you stay in the city for a few more days, you can help my restaurant liven up and attract more customers."
"Look, when you are free, you can help my house lively for a while. How about I also charge you less rent?" the female shopkeeper asked anxiously.
She ran a restaurant and met many kinds of people. She had a sharp eye and could tell at a glance that it looked like the young troupe leader was organizing the troupe, but in fact, every time before the troupe was organized, the troupe leader would first
Look at this deputy leader with a beautiful beard.
The female shopkeeper guessed that perhaps the deputy leader was the old leader. Seeing that the apprentice had almost finished his training, he abdicated and passed the troupe to the apprentice.
That's why there are situations where the head teacher asks the deputy head teacher for instructions on everything.
The remaining young brother and sister also have a close relationship with the deputy leader. They don't look very similar in appearance, but they should be blood relatives. Otherwise, they would not have such comfort and intimacy.
Seeing the expectant look on the female shopkeeper's face, Xu Yue and his daughter thought to themselves, isn't this exactly what I want?
However, this is suspected of being a deception. After all, their performances contain private goods.
Seeing that her father was about to agree, Xu Yue suddenly said: "You have to ask the class leader and senior brother about this first, right?"
Xu's words reached his lips, but he took them back angrily, and looked at his daughter helplessly, "That's right, this is not a trivial matter, I should ask the class teacher."
Seeing that there was hope, the female shopkeeper hurriedly said: "No hurry, no rush, then give me a reply after you ask. If the class leader agrees, I will give you half the rent."
Xu Da nodded reservedly, greeted his children and grandchildren, got up and went back to the guest room in the backyard.
Wen Qing and others have packed up the luggage on the bullock cart, and the cows have been fed and are washing and getting ready to rest.
This Datong shop was full of his own people. Xu Da closed the door and asked everyone to put down what they were doing. He sat down in front of the desk and discussed how the female shopkeeper would entrust the troupe to help perform in the restaurant.
Money or not is not the point. The point is whether to use the restaurant as the first pilot and see the effect.
"Of course, once it starts, we must be ready to escape at any time, so I want to know your opinions." Xu Yue reminded seriously.
They had just entered the city and had not had time to meet up with their fellow Taoists. Without understanding the local situation, they had to be cautious.
Her family is very good at escaping, but she doesn't know if Wen Qing and the others can escape.
How to deal with it in case of being caught requires detailed planning.
Wen Qing and several important members of the drama troupe looked at each other, then all looked at Xu Yue, "We all listen to you!"
Xu Yue nodded, "Okay, then according to my idea, we will meet with the local Taoist friends tomorrow to understand the situation, and then decide whether to agree to the female shopkeeper's invitation."
"Moreover, once this is done, it may affect the female shopkeeper and cause a lot of trouble to the restaurant. Therefore, before the performance starts, we must make a plan to minimize the damage to the restaurant."
Wen Qing and others nodded without any objection. Although Xu Da wanted to go ahead regardless of the consequences, for the sake of the overall situation, he still endured it and did not express an opinion.
Xu Dalang naturally supported his sister's proposal a hundred times. Even the twins followed the aunt's side and said whatever the aunt said was true.
Everyone talked about the meeting with Taoist friends tomorrow, and then everyone took a rest.
Xu Yue took Xu Pingyuan to sleep with several female members, while Xu Dongbei slept with his grandfather and uncle and slept with the male members.
After a good night's sleep, Xu Yue woke up at dawn the next day, took her niece to her father's side, and together with Xu Dalang and Wen Qing, left the restaurant and walked towards the residential area in the south of the city.
On the way, I met a vendor selling tofu puffs. The three of them each bought two bowls of salted tofu puffs, which they had for breakfast.
To be honest, looking at the wide cement road in front of her and the nearby stalls selling tofu bread, steamed buns and buns, she felt as familiar as Youzhou, but Xu Yue felt an indescribable awkwardness in her heart.
This city is obviously so prosperous, but the people around it give people the feeling of being miserable and about to be overwhelmed by life.
They had just bought six bowls of tofu puffs in one go. The vendor smiled for a brief moment, but was soon covered in sadness again. His body hugged by the dog seemed to be weighing down a heavy mountain.
With a strong sense of disobedience, Xu Yue and his group walked out of the main road and came to the alley leading to the main residential area in the city.
As soon as they entered this alley, the three of them smelled the strong smell of life, which was the smell of sewage and livestock excrement mixed together.
In an instant, Xu Yue's memories of living in the slums of Hejian County were brought back.
It's around seven o'clock in the morning, it's just dawn, and most of the residents in the alley have already gotten up.
The woman in patchwork linen carried a child on her back and held one in her hand, carrying a bucket full of water as she walked home step by step.
The child she was holding in her hand, who looked about four or five years old, took the initiative to push open the heavy wooden door for her mother.
The home behind the door was narrow and crowded, and the courtyard was so small that only two shelves were erected inside, taking up most of the yard.
On the shelf are some wild vegetables being dried. Smart women will go out to the city to pick wild vegetables in spring, then pickle them and eat them slowly when food is scarce.
Xu Yue remembered that there used to be such a smart and thrifty woman who would take her sisters out of the city to pick wild vegetables. The first jar of pickles in the family was learned from her.
Xu Dalang saw his sister looking at the woman in trance for a long time, and said softly: "This person looks very much like Aunt Tong of the Wang family."
Xu Yue said "hmm", smiled apologetically at Wen Qing, and motioned for him to continue leading the way.
The bustling main streets are paved with cement, but the alleys in residential areas don't even have bluestone slabs, just compacted dirt roads.
The road surface is uneven and full of muddy traces of people walking through it after the rain. The traces have been left on the ground after being dried by the sun.
Xu Yue and the others walked forward while inquiring, and finally stopped in front of an old wooden door in the deepest part of the alley.
