Hong Yanwu and Shui Qing were pointing and looking happily.
Unexpectedly, when the door opened, a young man wearing a white coat, black trousers and a cropped hair came out.
The young man didn't expect that there were people outside, so he looked at them timidly.
Then he placed the stool in his right hand under the eaves.
Then he stepped on the stool and hung the things in his left hand under the eaves on the left.
Don't tell me, this thing that was just hung is even weirder.
There is a circle on the top of the circle. On the circle is a barrel shape made of gold paper, with red cotton paper strips hanging down, about six or seven minutes wide.
This is great, this thing really matches the wine gourd on the right.
When the wind blows, one will sway and spin, and the other will float back and forth.
Hey, it looks really funny.
But the wine gourd is okay. It is like a piece of mop or a large tassel. What does it mean?
Hong Yanwu and Shui Qingqing were completely confused.
Fortunately, the young man is still here, Shui Qing asked him.
"Hey, hello, let me ask, what is this thing you hung up just now? What is it used for?"
I didn't expect this young man to be so thin-skinned.
He got down from the stool, didn't say anything, and blushed first.
He opened his mouth, but nothing came out, he just kept shaking his head.
Shui Qing thought it was quite funny to see his clumsy look, so she asked him again happily.
"Hey, you don't know either? Then who told you to die?"
Sure enough, upon further questioning, the young man's face became even more embarrassed, like a piece of red cloth.
After hesitating for a long time, three words came out, "the shopkeeper's", and there was no more.
At this time, a lesson was heard coming from the room.
"Hey, why are you like a piece of wood? You can't do it if you just say a few more words. Also, how did I teach you? Say hello first when meeting people, smile, and be attentive. How come you forgot all about it?"
As soon as the door opened, Li Fu came out.
Hong Yanwu and Shui Qing both called him "Uncle Li".
After another introduction, the two of them knew that this young man's name was Fang Bingsheng, and he was Li Fu's grandson.
However, we knew each other, but the young man was even more embarrassed.
What's the matter? Because he is of a lower generation. In terms of seniority, he is called uncle by Hong Yanwu and Shui Qing.
But he was also an eighteen-year-old young man. Seeing that Hong Yanwu and Shui Qing were both very young, they looked no more than a few years older than him, so he couldn't scream.
As a result, my face was as mortified as a purple eggplant, and I couldn't help but break out in sweat.
It was still like a goldfish, it just opened its mouth and bubbled, not a single word came out.
This made Li Fu even more angry. He scolded him for his lack of discipline and his ignorance.
On the other hand, Shui Qing and Hong Yanwu were quite understanding and advised Li Fu separately not to worry about it.
One said, "The child is an honest person. It's normal not to lose face. Don't make it difficult for him. Besides, you have to think about the child. There are other people in the store. It would be embarrassing if he is a lower generation."
The other one also said, "Uncle Li, please stop being so old-fashioned. I would feel uncomfortable if such a young man had to call me uncle. Why don't we just call each other by our first names, Bingsheng?"
.”
Saying this, the embarrassment was much lessened.
But for Fang Bingsheng, there is still a bit of a dilemma at this time.
Because although he was grateful to Hong Yanwu and Shui Qing in his heart, he didn't dare to call him like that, for fear that his grandpa would beat him.
But if he didn't call anyone, he would just poke him stupidly like Lao Tongtou, which would make his grandpa angry.
So at this time, he showed his clever side and actually knew how to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. He quietly picked up the stool and entered the room - and slipped away.
At the scene, Hong Yanwu was the only one who noticed this.
While he was laughing secretly, he couldn't help but be happy for Li Fu.
Because he could completely see that this kid was just kind, but not stupid.
If you cultivate it well, it will be a good seedling.
If he could truly gain it through experience, Li Fu would have someone to succeed him and someone to rely on in his old age.
So not only did he not expose it, he also actively helped divert Li Fu's attention.
This also brought up the question that he and Shui Qing had been pondering for a long time.
"Uncle Li, what's the meaning of this under the eaves? What are these hanging things?"
As expected, Li Fu would not let them down and gave them the real answer right away.
"Hey, Xiao Wu, you are such a smart person, but you can't see it? This is a cover for our business. One is in charge of drinking, and the other is in charge of eating."
"Can you see this wine gourd? It means we sell wine here. As for the one next to it, the round barrel on top represents the noodle pot, and the thin paper strips below represent noodles."
"This is to tell people that we also sell boiled noodles here. If you see that they are red, it means they are Han people. Because if it is a halal business, the note hanging on it will be blue."
Upon hearing this, Shui Qing was surprised before Hong Yanwu could say anything.
"Oh, you mean...this is all the specialties of old age? As long as we hang these two things, others will know at a glance whether this is a pub or a restaurant? If you put it this way, there is really no need to hang a sign on the door?"
Li Fu smiled and nodded.
"That's what it means. That's how it is according to the rules. You young people don't know it, but the older ones will understand it at a glance."
Shuiqing couldn't help but admire it.
But Hong Yanwu liked to ponder things, so in a blink of an eye, he expressed his doubts.
"Uncle, isn't this right? According to what you said, what kind of brand name does 'Yan Mei Lou' need to be? It's already a wine gourd. Besides, when we do business, we can't just point to older people.
"
"I think young people also like to drink and spend money happily. Who knows this now? So we still need to get a plaque."
"By the way, Shui Qing has a good idea. He thinks it would be good for our business to be called 'Red Gourd', which is homophonic to Hong Ye, the name of our Hong family. What do you think?"
Little did he know that these words of his immediately made Li Fu pout and deny them completely.
"How is it? Not so good! If this 'Red Gourd' can really be used as a nickname and spread by word of mouth, then of course it is good, but if you have to put these three words on the surface and use it as a brand name, it will fall apart.
I'm an inferior. I'm a layman."
Hong Yanwu must not be willing to give in. "Uncle Li, look at what you said, having a font size is worse than not having a font size. I don't believe it..."
"Let me tell you, there are rules in doing business, and you can't mess with the rules. What are these signs and guise used for? Everyone knows that they are used to attract customers. But what is the difference between them and how to use them?
What we are saying now is scientific, and you can’t mess with it.”
Now that the conversation was over, Li Fu simply taught Hong Yanwu and Shui Qing a good lesson in front of the two of them outside.
"It is said to be a signboard cover, but in fact there are many types. Font size, cover, signboards, plaques, pillars, couplets, they are all included. Moreover, all walks of life are different, and the styles are also all kinds of strange. What is new?
There are all kinds of gadgets. For example, people in drugstores like to use plaster-style ones, hairdressers like to use shuangguo, and hotels must use glass electric lights outside. This is called the attribute of the industry."
"Why is this happening? To put it bluntly, it is purely determined by its use. It is equivalent to today's outdoor advertising, so it is also called 'market advertising'."
"Think about it, in a truly prosperous street market, there are all kinds of shops of different sizes standing side by side. In order to attract business and make people remember you and come back next time, of course the signboard must be obvious. So.
In the past, shopkeepers from all walks of life all showed their special skills and worked hard on their signboards and guise. Some were written on the wall, some were carved in wood, some were cast in bronze, some were hung with wooden poppies, or some were hung with tin cups, decorated with
The tassels are each more colorful than the other, and each one is more "material" than the last."
"But having said that, no matter how many tricks there are, the established rules have their own rationality and customers will not admit their mistakes. Merchants in various trading houses can never make mistakes or mess up. No matter whether they are willing or not, everyone must
Decorate the signboard and cover according to the characteristics of the industry and the scale of the business.”
"Let me just take our village business as an example. In order from large to small, they are halls, buildings, and residences. Generally speaking, these places that can be seriously popular have relatively uniform forms of cover."
"Almost all halls, buildings, residences, and doors are fixed with flat irons extending out of the eaves. The front ends are rolled up into several flower shapes, and two or four wooden plaques are hung two feet downward. The Han people's ones are pitch black.
Or the red ground, embossed three-dimensional gold lacquer characters, and a red cloth strip hanging from the brand. The halal black gold lettering, tied with a blue cloth strip below. This is the guise of the store, and it will never be out of shape."
"The biggest difference is actually in the size and wording of the signboards. For example, restaurants with the Tang brand name have the most signboards and the best materials. They have hanging tassels and are engraved with 'celebration banquet', 'Sichuan-Shandong cuisine' or 'North-South cuisine'."
If it is a restaurant sign, it will have fewer words, and the words will also change to 'celebration banquet', 'seasonal snacks', 'casual drinks', 'four seasons delicacies', etc. If it is 'residence', then most of them
The words mainly focus on signature dishes, and the lower part of the sign has been replaced with red silk."
"The next level down is the 'Er Meat Shop'. These small shops also have names on their door plaques, but they can't even be called 'Ju', so they just call them 'He Liu De Shen', 'Thousand Miles of Fragrance'"
', 'Haitianchun' and the like. But correspondingly, the guise hanging at the head of the door begins to become interesting. Usually it is made of cloth and is shaped like a flag. The middle one is about eight inches wide, with a white heart and blue edges.
Each has a narrow strip about three inches wide, and each is about two feet long. Bai Xin wrote four lines of poetry, "Taibai's hundred poems about drinking wine. I went to sleep in a restaurant in Chang'an City. The emperor called me and couldn't get on the boat. I claimed that I was the immortal in wine."
.'Every sentence is played, there are four sentences in total. The more you can play, the better."
"Further down, there are pubs and restaurants with no name or brand. But the pretense is even better. Just like this wine gourd and this donut noodle pot, they are all common practices in the past. You can even use your imagination
Use your strength to come up with something unique. For example, the one who sells barbecue hangs a leg of lamb, the one who sells steamed buns hangs a steamer, or even the one who specializes in fish dishes hangs a copper fish at the door. As long as it is related to the content of the transaction and can attract people's attention, it is enough.
.It doesn’t matter whether there are words or not.”
"Why? In fact, the reason is very clear when arranged from top to bottom. First of all, the facade of a large store is large enough, and it can be comprehensively promoted through font size, cover, signboard, plaque, pillar, couplet, etc.
My own small shop has few types of business, so there are not so many signboards and pretense. The facade is also small, and I can't put on a good show."
"Furthermore, large shops focus on pomp and solemnity. The more they follow the rules and understand the rules, the more trust they will have in customers. Small shops are just the opposite. Due to their small appearance, they can easily be ignored. In order to highlight their existence, they must have other ideas.
, making it attract people's attention. You can see the "Big Cigarette Pot" (Tianheng Cigarette Shop) in the flower market and the "Black Monkey" felt hat shop (Yang Xiaoquan Felt Hat) in Xianyukou. Almost everyone in the capital knows about it.
, but not many people can tell the real name of the shop. This is a typical example of a small shop that relies on pretenses to become famous."
"Finally, there is one most critical reason. That is that customers are also divided into different levels. In the past, not everyone could read. Big merchants mainly dealt with rich owners, and their customers were mostly educated. Small shops were for the poor.
It's opened by ordinary people, but the customer level is low, and many people are blind. So who should the small shop show its sign to? It's not necessary."
At this point, Hong Yanwu and Shui Qing understood almost everything.
They really couldn't help but sigh silently in their hearts, the business in the past was really particular.
It is not only reasonable, but also interesting, fully reflecting folk wisdom and even artistry.
It's much better than just hanging a few words on the door now.
But even so, it seems that there are still flaws to be found, such as Shui Qing, who expressed his dissent out of political consciousness and class sentiment.
"Uncle Li, you are right, but you are not absolutely right. After all, that was in the past, and literacy has been around for many years. There are some white characters and other characters, but there are not many people who are completely illiterate. Then why not stop?
How about a signboard? It would be great if young people can come too."
Unexpectedly, Li Fu's truth is still sufficient.
"Hey, I was pretty much what you thought at first. But then I was convinced by the old shopkeeper. He said that in order to do business, you must first have self-awareness and understand your position. If you don't want to lose money, you have to
First think about what kind of money you make. Think about who is doing business."
"What the old shopkeeper means is that we have to rely on careful calculation to make money and buy genuine products at real prices. We should not waste a penny and make small profits but quick turnover. And the main customers are undoubtedly the elderly, and young people do not come to drink at noon.
If you really want to drink, you have to get off work at night and go to a place with cooking. Therefore, overly decorating the store or hanging a sign is a waste. It also looks ignorant and makes the real patrons of the pub suspicious and awkward."
"The old shopkeeper also said that now all stores have to pay attention to decoration and name, but it has become routine. It is like carrying a suona on the plane, not blowing it to the sky. If you turn around and make the name untrue, it will become a joke. On the contrary
Come here, let’s follow the rules and do it honestly, but it turns out that we win by surprise.”
"You think, the business has no name, you all think it's new, right? The same goes for others. This is what you want. It won't take long, through word of mouth, everyone nearby will know about our small shop. This
No, not having a name has become the biggest advantage, but it will attract young people who have never seen anything before. We do business honestly, and we are not afraid of not being able to retain people. New customers will become regular customers in the future..."
Hey, what else can I say?
Shui Qing was speechless after hearing this.
He turned around and glanced at Hong Yanwu quite embarrassedly.