Chapter 41 Abnormalities in the Scholar’s ??Family
"Shopkeeper Zhou, long time no see. How are you?"
"Shopkeeper Qian, what kind of wind has brought you here! Please sit down quickly!"
The person who came to see Zhou Shi was none other than shopkeeper Qian De'an Qian of Huaiyue Tower.
In the memory of shopkeeper Zhou, Qian De'an has been the shopkeeper of Huaiyue Tower, one of the four famous buildings in Jiangdu, for nearly thirty years. He can be said to be an old-timer.
When shopkeeper Zhou first arrived in Jiangdu, he became a beggar for a time. He was taken in by his old boss in Fengde Building and then started working as a waiter, and finally became the shopkeeper. Such a background is the lowest in the eyes of peers like Meng Xingyuan, and is not worthy of the public opinion at all.
Look at him with a straight eye.
But Qian De'an was different. He had repeatedly given guidance to Zhou Shi, who had just become the shopkeeper. When Fengde Building was in decline, he even advertised Fengde Building in his own Huaiyue Building, helping Fengde Building return to the ranks of famous buildings in Jiangdu.
.The two have a very close personal relationship and can be said to be both teachers and friends.
The middle-aged man, who had gray hair and started to put on weight, smiled heartily and sat down with Zhou Shi.
"Shopkeeper Qian, what are your orders from me?"
"Oh, look what you said, you can't even come and see me?"
"Okay, okay! Xiaosi, make tea!"
Qian De'an exchanged greetings with Zhou Shi, took some tea, and said in a low voice:
"Shopkeeper Zhou, we are so familiar with each other that I won't go around in circles with you. I heard that you were kicked out of the young master's family. What happened?"
Zhou Shi made a bitter face and said, "Oh, that's it..."
After his old boss passed away, the young boss's family was anxious to divide the family property, so they kicked out shopkeeper Zhou Da on the pretext of hiding his secrets. As a result, the creditors blocked the door of Fengde Building, and told him again about inviting him back from the countryside to put out the fire.<
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Qian De'an said angrily: "These two losers are bullying others too much! Where are they? I have to teach them a lesson!"
As a well-known old shopkeeper in Jiangdu, Qian De'an is from the same generation as the old boss of Fengde Building, so he is certainly qualified to teach the two young bosses a lesson.
After talking about this, Zhou Shi remembered it and called Xiaosi over and asked:
"Has the second boss started?"
"Uh..." Xiao Si looked embarrassed and said hesitantly, "I just took a look and there was no one in the second boss's room... maybe he escaped over the wall."
This little thing! Zhou Shi was irritated, but Fengde Building is so busy now, where can he free up manpower to look for it? He had to let him go first...
"What!" Shopkeeper Qian said with his eyes widened, "Shopkeeper Zhou, where do you think this kid will run to?"
Zhou Shi smiled bitterly and said: "Where else could it be, Goulan House, brothel casino, it's just these places."
"That's unreasonable! Just wait, I'll let someone go find him right now, and I'll tie him up in front of you before dawn tomorrow!"
After that, he was about to leave, but Zhou Shi quickly stopped him.
"Shopkeeper Qian, our Fengde Building has received a lot of care from you, how can we ask you to help us with our housework?"
"Xiao Shi, please don't be polite to me. Brother Zhu and I have a relationship, and his son is also my nephew. Of course I have to take care of it! Take the first step!"
Qian De'an left in a hurry, leaving Zhou Shi in a daze.
"This shopkeeper Qian is really a chivalrous man...
"He has been the shopkeeper of Huaiyue Tower for more than thirty years and has a wide network of contacts. It is indeed not difficult to find someone in Jiangdu.
"If he could find Zhu Benshan, I really don't know how to thank him..."
Zhou Shi shook his head to drive away distracting thoughts, and went to the back kitchen to inspect, watching the chefs put the food into buckets and fix them on the poles.
"Agui, thank you for your hard work."
Although Zhou Shi originally wanted to go to the pier to sell food in person, firstly, he had not had a good rest last night and could not bear to be exposed; secondly, he was the center of conversation in the major restaurants in Fengde Building. He was kicked out of Fengde Building last month.
Yesterday, Mr. Turtle from the brothel came to visit him again. If he disappeared again, people would gossip and damage the reputation of Fengde House. So he gave this task to Agui.
"Shopkeeper, I'm leaving."
Agui led the two new waiters and the waiter, and together they carried the pole and went out.
Zhou Shi asked Agui to take Xiaosi with him so that he could learn how to deal with people.
Seeing the group of people disappear at the corner of the street, Zhou Shi returned to the store, called out the new waiter, explained some rules and precautions in the store, and prepared to open at noon.
Although he is a new employee, he has probably done waiter's work before. There is basically no need to teach you how to serve food and sing it. You can start immediately.
The business situation is good, and the first floor is almost full. But this can only restore the reputation, but it is far from filling the debt black hole of Fengde Building.
"It still depends on the situation at the dock..."
Just after noon, Agui came back with his people.
"How's it going?"
"Very good!" Although Agui was sweating profusely, he looked excited, "This is not enough to sell, the boatmen said it is affordable and delicious!"
He handed the collected money to the shopkeeper for accounting. Zhou Shi clicked it and said, "Not bad."
Xiaosi on the side found that the shopkeeper was not as happy as he expected, and asked: "What, shopkeeper, isn't this a great success?"
Zhou Shi shook his head and said: "Where are you going... Agui, what conditions did the steward of the dock impose?"
"Ten draws will be drawn, and a deposit of twenty taels of silver must be paid first."
"Look, this is really like a goose plucking its feathers."
Liu Xiaosi was dumbfounded. He probably didn’t expect that the people at the dock would take a cut from it.
Zhou Shi smiled and said, "Let's learn from your brother Agui. There are still many ways to do this! But everything is difficult at the beginning. Today is a good start. We will double the food prepared tomorrow and strive to expand the business."
Achieve A and C berths."
When he went to the dock to look for Xu Baocai's fleet, Zhou Shi found that the ships moored in the berth were getting smaller and smaller from A to D, so he could infer the economic status of the ship's crew.
From the beginning, he targeted the boat in berth B. The boatman on this boat had some spare money and could afford some good food to improve it, but unlike the boat in berth A, the rules were strict and people had to be kept on board.
After listening to Agui's report, Zhou Shi asked them to go to rest first, and then he went back to his room and slept until dinner.
After closing the door in the evening, he promised to double his purchases tomorrow, told the waiters and cooks about today's business situation at the dock, and encouraged them.
"Fengde Building is encountering difficulties now, but with the pier line, we will definitely be able to make up for the shortfall!"
The newlyweds and the old smiled together, and it was clear that they also had confidence in the future of Fengde Building.
When it was almost time, Zhou Shi came to the small courtyard where the scholar rented, and after confirming that no one was around, he climbed over the wall and entered.
"Xiucai said that there are four families living in this small courtyard... Although the courtyard is not big, the fact that he, a copywriter, can afford to rent such a place shows that the business situation is very good."
Having had many experiences of "visiting" other people's courtyards in the middle of the night, Zhou Shi quickly entered the scholar's house without making any sound under his feet.
This room is the smallest room in the yard, and can only accommodate a bed, a desk, and a small bookcase.
Zhou Shi touched the flint on the table. After thinking about it, he took out the flint and used the yin fire to illuminate it.
One is fire protection, the other is concealment - only a few people with strong Yin energy can see Yin fire.
Under the faint blue light, Zhou Shi immediately discovered two anomalies——
There are no bodies in this house!
Writing papers were scattered all over the floor, it was obvious that someone had come in!