Cheng Yaojin was unconvinced and said: "My dear nephew, I just don't understand. Why do you have to give out the money you can obviously earn by yourself?"
Li Mu didn't answer and asked instead: "Uncle, tell me, why should I tell you the idea of the racecourse?"
"..."
Seeing that Cheng Yaojin couldn't answer, Li Mu sighed and said: "Uncle, the most important thing in doing business is not making money, the most important thing is to have the 'right to speak'. As long as you have the right to speak, when you want to make money, money will come naturally
Here it comes. If you are the only one operating in an industry, then everyone who wants to enter this industry will be your enemy. Even His Majesty, he cannot put all the money into his own funds, right? If we
If you want Marseille to become a long-term business, the first thing you need to think about is not the immediate benefits, but the long-term view. This is like baking a cake, you must first make the cake bigger..."
Cheng Yaojin understood a little bit and said: "Then we eat the biggest piece!"
Li Mu corrected: "No, we have to be the ones dividing the pie. If you want to eat bigger, eat bigger, if you want to eat smaller, eat smaller. Do you understand?"
Cheng Yaojin still half understood, and Li Mu stopped explaining. It didn't matter whether he understood or not. Just follow his arrangements. As for the person who divided the pie, he could only be himself.
Li Mu asked Cheng Qian to bring a pen and paper, and ordered: "After this Marseille is over, the news must be released, the net profit of these two Marseilles must be revealed, and the matter of His Majesty's involvement must also be revealed in a vague way.
But don’t reveal it in too much detail. It’s best if people can’t figure it out. Focus on the fact that the Cheng family intends to cooperate with others. As for how to divide the accounts, don’t mention a word for now and let them guess.”
While Li Mu was talking, Cheng Qian was taking notes. He took a look and saw that the records were accurate and said, "Okay, that's it for now. Once we've done that, we'll think about the next step." He turned to leave, but suddenly remembered something.
He turned around and said, "The brochure for Marseille is almost ready. I'll send someone to my house to pick it up tomorrow."
Cheng Yaojin pulled his neck and shouted: "Boy, if you come on the day of the game or not, I will reserve a seat for you. If you don't come, I will give away the ticket!"
Li Mu didn't look back, raised his hand and waved, saying: "No need to leave a ticket for me, I don't have time!"
Cheng Qian asked curiously: "My lord, the Marquis said he has no time... What does he do every day to be so busy?"
Cheng Yaojin probably guessed that it was for the opening of the Supreme Emperor's Heaven and Earth. When the words came to his lips, he suddenly stopped, stared at Cheng Qian, and said, "Is this what you should ask? What a lot of nonsense!"
Cheng Qian hurriedly said: "You know you are wrong, but you are talking too much."
Cheng Yaojin glanced at the paper in Cheng Qian's hand and said, "Do you remember everything you asked me to do?"
"I remember everything."
Cheng Yaojin took a deep breath and said: "It still doesn't work. Don't let the wealth go to outsiders. Isn't it Luoyang? Don't look for others. Send someone to bring a message to your younger siblings. Just say that the lady misses her and let her come again."
Stay at home for two days.”
"I'll make arrangements now, little one."
…
"Come on, come on, Si'er, don't be polite. We have enough food and drink in the Marquis Mansion. The Marquis never skimps on food. He gives us three meals a day. There is meat for lunch every day. Look at the patches on your clothes. They look very...
Eat less meat, right? Come on, uncle will give you this too..."
Zhao Youcai said as he gave some pieces of meat in the bowl to Li Tai.
When it was time to have lunch at noon, Zhao Youcai usually ate with the other servants in the mansion. But today there was an extra Li Tai, so he told the chef, asked for an extra pair of bowls and chopsticks, and served lunch.
Come out and take it to the concierge to share with Li Tai.
Li Tai held a big bowl that was similar to his face and looked at the 'noodles' and mutton in the bowl. He felt very complicated in his heart. Prince, when had he ever eaten such vulgar food? But in the face of Zhao Youcai's enthusiasm,
He really couldn't say the word "I don't want to eat". Moreover, he didn't forget that he was playing the role of a poor student. Just imagine, as a poor student, how could he not want to eat mutton when he saw it?
But, do you really want to eat it?
Li Tai took a deep breath, moved closer to the bowl and smelled it. The heat stung his eyes, and he squeezed his eyes, flashing with tears.
"Oh, why are you crying? Let's eat! This is the condition of our Marquis Mansion, and there is still a kitchen in the back. I stewed a whole lamb today. The big guy is not here, so the big guy can't eat it. If you don't have enough to eat, uncle will give it to you later.
Sheng."
Li Tai thought to himself, "Uncle, you have really good eyesight. How could you tell that I was moved to tears? I was obviously intoxicated by the mutton smell!"
Zhao Youcai's urgings kept ringing in his ears, so Li Tai had no choice but to pick up the chopsticks, open his mouth, and try to take a bite.
"Eat a big meal! Don't be restrained. You're so fat. You must be a foodie on weekdays. You can eat whatever you like at home, but you can eat here as well. How about eating?" Zhao Youcai gave him a blow, and he continued to do it while he was moaning and groaning.
Bowl, indicating to Li Tai not to be polite, he also followed his example and ate. Li Tai was about to cry. He had been practicing etiquette since he was a child, and his emphasis was on eating without speaking, sleeping without speaking, and chewing slowly. Being so fat is not a bad thing.
Is it because he loves to eat so much, how can he absorb it well? In addition, he hardly exercises, so he gained weight.
Asking him to eat like Zhao Youcai was more uncomfortable than killing him. But he was forced to do this now. Unless he wanted to give up his status as a 'poor student', he could only eat.
For the four arithmetic algorithms, we fought hard!
Li Tai was heartbroken, hugged the bowl and started to eat with a loud slurp. Strange to say, just now he smelled a bit of mutton, but after eating it with such a slurry, it really didn't feel that obvious anymore.
.And I don’t know if I’m hungry, but this noodle soup tastes very delicious. After a few mouthfuls, I felt like I couldn’t stop eating.
Seeing that he was enjoying his meal, Zhao Youcai also laughed. At this time, there was a knock on the door. Zhao Youcai did not dare to neglect, wiped his mouth, stood up and opened the door. Li Tai also raised his head to look outside, thinking that it was Li Mu who had returned.
, he still wants to become a disciple.
The door opened, but it was not Li Mu. Li Tai saw the face of the person clearly and hurriedly squatted down holding the bowl.
"I, Li Chunfeng, the Qiuguan of Qin Tianjian, have come to pay homage to Marquis Zhulu. Please let me know."
"It turns out to be Li Qiuguan, whose name I have admired for a long time. The Marquis is not in the mansion now. If Qiuguan has something urgent, he can wait in the lobby."
"So he's not in the mansion..." Li Chunfeng thought for a moment and said, "That's fine, then I'll stop disturbing you and ask the concierge to lead the way."
"Li Qiuguan, please," Zhao Youcai let Li Chunfeng in, closed the door, and led him to the lobby. Li Tai listened to the footsteps walking away, and then stood up. His ankles were so numb that he could barely stand still with his back against the wall.
At this time, he had finished a large bowl of pimple soup. Li Tai put the bowl down and flexed his ankles, secretly thinking that it was very dangerous. He should have thought a long time ago that Li Chunfeng would definitely come to ask for advice after untying Baiji and asking such a big question.
Fortunately, he was not discovered, otherwise the dignified prince pretended to be from a poor family. If the news got out, it would really disgrace the royal family.
He couldn't stay any longer today, so he had better come back tomorrow! Li Tai made up his mind and wanted to slip away. But as soon as he walked to the door, he remembered that Zhao Youcai had treated him so well, and he felt that it would be a bit awkward if he just left like this.
Ashamed of him. After hesitating for a moment, Li Tai took out a purse from his arms, took out two gold leaves, and put them on the table. Although he was a fat man, he was not a fool without any knowledge. He still knew how to go out.
When he was out, he had to carry money with him. But he had little place to spend money, and carrying silver and copper coins was too heavy, so he brought gold leaves. There were only ten pieces in total. Each piece weighed about one penny, which is equivalent to a lot of money.
the value of.
After eating a bowl of pimple soup, the reward of two dollars was really quite a lot.
After the arrangements were made, Li Tai put away his wallet, backed out of the door of the concierge, and ran to the gate with his short legs tight.
Just as he was about to pull the door latch and go out, the sound of horses neighing suddenly came from the door. Li Tai was startled. Before he could react, he heard someone shouting: "Old man Zhao, the door is open, the Marquis is back."
!”
Zhuluhou is back!
Li Tai felt happy and quickly unbolted the door bolt and opened the door.
"Are you Zhulu Hou?" Li Tai said excitedly as he looked at Li Chongyi who was riding a hill like a mountain. The first few words he sounded were quite exciting, but after he saw them clearly, the last few words became a bit weak. Li Tai said
This was the first time he saw such a strong person. He was already fat enough. But in front of Li Chongyi, he immediately looked much slimmer. Especially when Li Chongyi was still looking down at him on the horse, a sense of oppression arose, which made him involuntarily
The ground became tense.
Li Mu just got off the horse and heard Li Tai's voice. He came over and looked at him. When he saw that he was wearing expensive clothes but was patched, he was young and had become a fat ball, he felt something was wrong in his heart.
Because of Yang Guifei's relationship, later generations thought that people in the Tang Dynasty regarded fatness as beautiful, and the portraits passed down to later generations also all looked very rich, so they thought that everyone in the Tang Dynasty was fat. But in fact, the reason why people in the Tang Dynasty regarded fatness as beautiful was because there were few fat people and they had many things.
Rareness is precious. And portraits are because the people whose portraits can be passed down are either rich or noble. They have the opportunity to gain weight, and most people, let alone gain weight, are living a good life even if they are not skinny.
It is obviously unusual for him to be as fat as Li Tai. It can also be seen from the silk on his body that this boy's family is very rich. But the fact that he covered his ears with patches shows one thing, either this boy
The fat man is missing a nerve in his head, or he is just a homebody who doesn't usually get out and about. Looking at Li Tai's image, Li Mu is more inclined to the latter.
Li Mu suppressed the suspicion in his heart and asked: "I am Li Mu, the Marquis of Zhulu. Who are you? How come you are in my house? Where is Lao Zhao?"
"Uncle Zhao took people to the lobby..." Suddenly Li Tai remembered what he was doing, and hurried back to the concierge, took the baggage he had brought, bowed and raised his hands above his head, handed it to Li Muche:
"My name is Li Si'er. I am a poor student who will take the imperial examination next year. Today I am going to the mansion to become an apprentice. This is my gift. I also ask my mentor to accept it, accept me as a disciple, and teach me four algorithms. I will be here tomorrow.
Second, we must never forget our mentor’s great kindness!”