Since he couldn't keep a low profile, Lin Jue simply stopped being low-key. He rode up the street with a big belly and arrogantly, pointing out the scenery and talking and laughing with the people around him. It wasn't until he reached what seemed to be the most prosperous street in the city that Lin Jue stopped.
He got off the reins of his horse, took out a piece of silver from his arms, and asked a group of idle men on the side of the road who were stretching their necks to look at him.
"Who can tell me which is the most luxurious inn in this city? Where is it? This ingot of silver belongs to him."
As soon as this statement came out, the eyes of the idle people on the street lit up and they shouted: "I know, I know."
That was a large ingot of silver, at least five taels, which was a lot of money. How could you miss such an opportunity? The crowd was noisy and crowded together. A thin young man was originally in the front, but was beaten by someone.
He grabbed his hair and clothes and threw them under the eaves. He was stepped on several times and was almost injured.
Lin Jue saw this, pointed at the young man and said, "It's up to you, you tell me."
All the idle people were stunned. The young man was rubbing his ribs and grinning. He couldn't help but feel happy when he heard the words. He forgot about the pain on his body. He squeezed out of the crowd and cupped his hands and said: "Thank you, sir. I know the best inn, which is not far in front."
The Sihai Inn is far away, I'll wait for the gentlemen to go there."
Lin Jue smiled and said: "Okay. Continue."
Lin Jue threw the silver away, and the young man caught it with both hands. He couldn't help but be happy. He put it in his mouth, bit it a few times, and happily put it into his tattered cotton coat. The eyes of everyone around him were about to burst into flames. This kid was gone.
What a blessing, such a large ingot of silver fell into his hands. He was really unwilling to accept it.
Lin Jue raised his hands to the crowd in the dark street and shouted: "Everyone, I am a merchant from the south. This time I came to your place to buy a batch of dried and fresh seafood. I bought it at a high price. Please go home and prepare the dried and fresh seafood. Take care of it.
I promise you will suffer losses, everyone will make money. Let’s just leave, let’s leave.”
Everyone cheered loudly when they heard that the product here is seafood. Some people buy the seasonal seafood in summer and autumn. The dried seafood smells bad, smells bad, and tastes bad, but not many people are willing to buy it. Even if
It is the warm season, because seafood is easy to perish and is inconvenient to transport. Only merchants from nearby state capitals come to buy some. Therefore, although you can eat from the sea here, you can't think about making money. Today, there are actually merchants coming to collect dry goods. This
But the great news is that these people have nothing but plenty of dried seafood. This is great news.
Lin Jue looked at everyone's roar of joy and nodded with satisfaction while stroking his beard.
Bai Bing whispered: "Husband, what are you doing? Why are we collecting these dry goods? Should we take them back to the mountains?"
Lin Jue smiled and said: "When we come here, we should be kind to the people. If we have a good reputation, no one will make things difficult for us. This will make things easier for us. Otherwise, our identity will be suspicious. Secondly, this is a way to hide people's eyes and ears. We want to start from here.
When going to sea, covering up with sea goods is the best way."
Bai Bing nodded and smiled: "I see, it will cost a lot of money."
Lin Jue smiled and said: "Is money still a thing? It's a trivial matter."
Under the leadership of the young man, Lin Jue and his party quickly arrived in front of the Sihai Inn on the corner of the street. Seeing the lintel of the inn, Gao Muqing was disappointed and smacked his lips: "This can be considered the best inn?"
Sun Dayong and others felt the same way. The Sihai Inn in front of them was dilapidated and dilapidated. The gatehouse was not small, but the pillars were mottled and tangled with dead vines. It was unknown how many years it had not been repaired. However, the courtyard inside was quite large, and there were vaguely visible buildings behind it.
The style of the two-story building is indeed different from the low-rise buildings along the street.
"Madam, this is our Bohai Sea
This is the best inn in the county. A room costs one tael of silver per night, which is very expensive. If you find it too expensive, I can take you to another hotel." The young man was afraid that the money would be taken back, so he hurriedly said.
Lin Jue waved his hand and said with a smile: "No need, little brother, this is it. Are you a local? What's your name?"
The young man said hurriedly: "Yes, I am a local. My name is Ma Haisheng, and the gentlemen call me Ah Sheng. My parents are from here, and my father is a fisherman."
Seeing his cleverness, Lin Jue nodded and said: "Okay, Ah Sheng, if you have nothing to do, you will come to serve us these days and run errands for me. I will pay you five taels of silver a day. What do you think?"
The young man was so happy that he knelt down and kowtowed and shouted: "Thank you all, ladies and gentlemen. When I went out this morning, my eyelids were twitching wildly. My mother said that I was either lucky or unlucky today. It turned out not to be unlucky, but because I was gone.
You're lucky. Master and madam, just tell me what you want. I will serve you properly."
Lin Jue chuckled and said: "Very good, let's get up. You first find a place to take a shower and change into clean clothes. At least you must wear a pair of shoes. Look, your toes are all exposed. What a shame.
Master, wouldn’t it be a loss of status if I do something?”
The young man looked down at his tattered cotton-padded jacket and shoes with leaky toes, with a look of shame on his face. He said hurriedly: "What I'm saying is, isn't this embarrassing for you? I'll go to the dock to take a bath.
.As for clothes, I don’t have any, but I will wear my father’s jacket when I go home. Although it’s a bit tattered, it’s much better than this one.”
Bai Bing smiled and said: "Didn't I give you some money? Why don't you buy one?"
The young man shook his head and said, "Isn't that possible? Cotton-padded jackets are very valuable and I can't bear to part with them. Each one costs one tael of silver, which is enough for our family to spend for a month. I can't touch even one tael of this silver and give it all to my mother.
.”
Lin Jue praised: "What a good boy, he knows how to be filial. Da Yong, let someone go with him and buy him a new robe to put on."
Sun Dayong smiled and nodded, and ordered a guard to take the young man away. Gao Muqing sighed: "Who would have thought that there would be such poverty under the rule of Zhou Dynasty? Listening to his tone, there is not even a decent cotton-padded jacket at home.
.In the middle of winter, I’m almost barefoot. It’s really pitiful.”
Lin Jue nodded and said: "Yes, people's livelihood is difficult, and there are many poor people in the world. When you are in the capital or other wealthy places, the hardships are not limited here? It is really uneasy."
While he was talking, the innkeeper came out after hearing the news. He was a thin and dry old man with an exaggerated smile on his face and he bowed his hands repeatedly. Someone had already informed him of the news that a group of wealthy businessmen from other places came to invest in the hotel. This was the case this month.
This is your first business, how can the shopkeeper not be happy and not pay attention to it?
"Old Peng Lianhai, welcome all distinguished guests to our small shop. The small shop is simple, but we will try our best to serve all of you distinguished guests and make you feel at home." The old shopkeeper spoke with great interest.
Lin Jue cupped his hands and said with a smile: "That's easy to say, that's easy to say. Shopkeeper, there are thirteen of us in the group. I wonder if we can stay in your inn?"
"It's a good place to stay. It's a small place. By coincidence, the hotel has thirteen guest rooms. Isn't it God's will? They just happen to be shared. Ah Fu and Cai, what are you doing standing here?
"Why don't you lead the horses and move them to salute the guests? Fish and shrimp, tell the kitchen to quickly light a fire and boil water, and make tea and water for the distinguished guests to keep away the cold. Oh, what a bunch of elm lumps, hurry up." The shopkeeper kept ordering.
.
"Oh oh oh, yes yes yes." Several shopkeepers heard the sound and immediately got busy. However, their help was blocked by the other party.
They refused, and the guards waved their hands to signal them not to touch the luggage, with fierce eyes, which frightened Ah Fu and Ah Cai to the point where they were at a loss.
Lin Jue chuckled and said: "We can do it ourselves. There are some valuable things in the luggage, so we can do it ourselves. If the guys have passed the hands and there is something missing, it's hard to tell. Mr. Peng, the shopkeeper, has all the guest rooms.
I've taken care of everything, and the rent is easy to negotiate. I only have one request, no other guests are allowed to live in the store. Your store clerks should also behave themselves, and don't do anything we don't tell you. I come from Jiangnan, and I live in this place.
If you are not familiar with me, you will naturally be a little cautious, so please forgive me for that.”
Mr. Peng, the shopkeeper, nodded repeatedly and said, "Just do as you are told. Everything will be done according to your guest's instructions."
Lin Jue said with a smile: "Shopkeeper Peng doesn't need to call you a distinguished guest, it sounds awkward. My surname is Fang, please call me Lao Fang."
"How dare you, how dare you, how could you be so rude, calling you Mr. Fang Daguan. Please ask Mr. Fang Daguan and his entourage to come into the store and have a rest. There is such chaos outside. People in this small place have never seen the world. When they see outsiders, they like to watch. Fang Daguan
Officials, don't be offended." The old shopkeeper said as he invited Lin Jue and others into the inn courtyard.
Although this inn looks very dilapidated from the outside, when you enter the yard, it still has the style of the largest inn in the area. The yard is wide and the floor is paved with blue bricks, which makes it look smooth and clean. It is the same as the main street of the county town.
The appearance of muddy potholes is in sharp contrast. The county town here is so poor that even the main street is still a mud road. It must have snowed here before, and the black mud rolled up on the ground, making it smelly and muddy and difficult to walk. At this moment, I entered this place.
In the flat courtyard, people feel instantly relaxed.
There is a row of stables and a large shed in the corner of the yard, which seems to be where the large carriages are. All signs indicate that this inn is indeed a well-equipped inn. I just don’t know if there are any big merchants in this place where birds don’t poop.
If we are doing business, is there any need for this carport and horse stable? But at least it came in handy today. With more than a dozen horses to give way to, the stable was full, and even the carport occupied half of the space.
The old shopkeeper was obviously in a good mood. He loudly ordered the waiters to get busy. Looking at the bustle of people in the shop, shopkeeper Peng's eyes turned into slits with laughter. If he was so busy every day, he would be so busy every day.
It will be great if the inn is full. The inn has not been opened for the past month. Unexpectedly, it is almost the end of the year and a big business has come. This is called "not open in March, open in March". These guests stay here.
You can earn dozens of taels of silver a day, and you can make a lot of money just by staying there for a few days. I don’t know how many days they stayed, but I’ll have to ask around later.
The guest room at the back is quite decent. The beddings are all freshly washed and dried. They are put away when there are no guests. At this moment, the guys take out the bedding and put them on. Although the guest room is simple, it is also tidy. There are more than ten people in the two-story building.
Lin Jue took care of all the guest rooms. In fact, he couldn't live in so many guest rooms, but Lin Jue didn't want to mix in outsiders, and it would be inconvenient for him to act and speak.
Lin Jue and Gao Muqing Baibing chose the third room on the east side of the second floor. There was a small wooden balcony next to it. Standing on the balcony, you could actually see the vast and misty sea in the distance.
Excellent sea view room. It's just that the wind is a bit strong and the smell of the sea breeze is a bit strange. Everything else is perfect.
After everyone was busy and settled down, it was getting late. They entered the city at noon, and it was already past midnight. The group of people had been traveling for more than ten days in a row. They suffered from wind and frost and were very tired and sleepy. They immediately declined the shopkeeper's offer.
In response to the good intentions of the meal, everyone ate some solid food and went to the room to rest. Soon, except for the two guards who were on guard, snoring started to sound loudly everywhere in the guest room.
