Chapter 61: The Unwelcome Guest Arrives

  Before long, the weather turned cold, and early in the morning, frost could be seen on the withered grass. The leaves of the trees outside the city had mostly fallen, but the most beautiful ones were the waxberry trees, whose leaves had turned from green to orange-red, and when they rustled in the autumn wind, they brought up a sea of red. Many trees with thick leaves still stood upright with their green color.

  The business of Fulaiguesthouse was getting better and better, and the old customers all liked the new dish that Fulaiguesthouse had just launched, which was cabbage and tofu. The cabbage and tofu with chili peppers were served in a clay pot on a small stove, placed in front of the guests to eat while simmering, and it was unlimited, with refills as needed, and the price was very cheap, two cents per person, half off for children. This was also Wang Kuang's idea. It really worked, the cabbage that no one used to eat before, after being simmered in hot chili peppers, didn't taste bitter at all, and even had a special flavor. And on this cold day, the dish was still steaming hot until the end, especially the tofu, which became more flavorful as it simmered. You would take a piece, blow on it twice, put it in your mouth, and stir it with your tongue, if you didn't stir it wouldn't work, it was too hot. When it wasn't so hot anymore, you would swallow it in one gulp, the heat mixed with the special flavor of the old tofu, going straight down your throat, warming all the way to your stomach, and after a while, your whole body would be warm. And the cabbage and tofu could also be served with other side dishes according to the guests' preferences, such as potatoes or yams, or for those who were more affluent, they could add some mushrooms for extra money. Some guests even brought their families to eat at the guesthouse and didn't cook at home anymore. On good days, they would order a few more dishes; on bad days, they would just order cabbage and tofu, which could fill them up and warm their stomachs. And Fulaiguesthouse would also selectively allow guests to exchange food for rice, chicken eggs, duck eggs, etc., in other words, as long as it was ingredients that Fulaiguesthouse could use, they could be exchanged, and the price was fair.

  As a result, every time it's mealtime, even the streets outside the restaurant are filled with tables and chairs. Many diners bring their whole families, carrying children on their shoulders or backs, waiting for a table to become available, creating a lively scene in Jian'an. Even so, some people still have to wait for a while before getting a seat. Fortunately, the local customs are simple and honest, and diners who are seated will speed up their meal when they see others waiting for a table.

  However, there was one seat that no matter how many people were around, nobody would sit in it. Everyone knew it was Xiaodong's seat. Who knows when Xiaodong might come and sit down? Although the inn didn't stop others from sitting there, some of the staff had received instructions from Wang Kuang, and even led guests to that seat during busy times. But as soon as the guests saw the seat, they would all smile and decline, preferring to wait instead. Of course, there were also new customers who didn't know any better and would sit down after being led by the staff. At this point, other customers nearby would remind them with a few words, and most of them would get up and wait for another seat to become available. But some wouldn't budge, having been led there by the staff. If Wang Kuang came out and saw his seat occupied, he would retreat back to the backyard to play with Da Bai and Xiao Bai, or go to the neighboring shop to sit and have a bowl of mutton soup. It was mostly locals from Jian'an who went to that shop for mutton soup; outsiders rarely knew about it. This was probably an early version of those local specialties that only locals know where to find.

  That afternoon, the sky was still early, and there were not many people in the inn. Wang Kuang brought a plate of his own mixed dishes and a pot of warm wine and sat down at that seat. In the past, he was young and controlled himself, plus Sun Mingqian and Sun Zhanggui did not allow him to drink so much. Now that he is almost an adult, Sun Mingqian no longer cares about Wang Kuang drinking or eating wine, and Wang Kuang himself likes this kind of thing, so he gradually started to eat and drink as well.

  Many guests saw Wang Kuang come out and all greeted him, Wang Kuang also smiled and responded one by one. Then sat down, continuing to listen to their nonsense.

  Half of the wine had been drunk and the number of diners gradually increased. The door was already full, and the shopkeeper started to set up tables and chairs at the entrance of the inn, and also set up a shed.

  "Hey, isn't this seat still available? Kid, hurry up and eat, someone's waiting for this seat." The sudden words made Wang Kuang, who was originally listening to the bragging while thinking about what to do next, raise his head.

  Two people stood in front of the desk, one young and one old, dressed as master and servant. The young man was about twenty years old, wearing a blue satin robe with a rare piece of jade on his black hat. He looked like a young noble from a wealthy family, but his eyes seemed unfamiliar, so he shouldn't be from Jian'an. If he were from Jian'an, he wouldn't have such an unpleasant tone; instead, he would come over and exchange pleasantries with Wang Kuang before finding another seat.

  The speaker was a man with a servant-like appearance, but looking at his face, it was extremely consistent with the standard of good people in later film and television works (disgusting now's film and television works, good people must look upright, bad people must be ugly or have an ugly expression, typical is to instill the idea of judging by appearance into the flower buds of the motherland from a young age!), square face, nose, eyes, eyebrows all grew very regular, looking at it was full of positive energy, Wang Kuang, who had been poisoned by later film and television works for a long time, couldn't react for a moment, how could such words come out of this kind of person's mouth?

  Seeing Wang's situation didn't change, the national character face was somewhat annoyed and said another sentence: "How? Didn't you understand? Let you eat quickly. Or you vacate your seat now, this money will belong to you." After finishing, he threw the money on the table with a swoosh, and the money flipped over when it fell on the table, just half of it landed in the plate.

  "Sit down and eat, there's plenty of room." A square wooden table, Wang Kuang sat only on the side against the wall, with three sides empty: "Also, this two mace is not enough to compensate for the dirty dishes you made, it should be four mace." Four mace is equivalent to 400 wen, and it's not that Wang Kuang intentionally asked for more. The dishes in his plate were all good stuff, braised duck tongue, braised pig mouth, braised fish lips, etc., which were all expensive ingredients that he had specially spent time to braise. He had soaked the sauce for three days and three nights, and after braising once, he had used rice to steam it again before braising it a second time. It was extremely labor-intensive, and usually only during Chinese New Year would Wang Kuang make such an effort. This time, because of the progress in the matter of the grinding stone ball, all three of them had gained Wang Wu's favor, and after eating for over a month with ant powder mixed into his rice, Wang Wu could already walk with a cane. So, Wang Kuang was so happy that he made another pot of it.

  "Hey, you're getting a bit too big for your britches! You dare to speak up with just this little bit of food in front of you? I'll make sure you don't even get to eat!" As soon as he heard the words "two copper coins", Guozi's face turned red with rage. He immediately flipped over the plate, spilling all the food on the table, and snatched the wine jug from Wang Kuang's hand, pouring all the wine onto the floor. Then, with a defiant air, he stood with his hands on his hips, glaring at Wang Kuang: "Are you leaving or not? Clear out of this seat right now! This one copper coin is still yours, but if you're late by even a single bronze coin, don't even think about it!"

  From start to finish, the young master who was in charge didn't say a word, just coldly watching. In his opinion, it was a small matter that the servants could quickly resolve, and he would soon be able to sit down and enjoy what was said to be Jiangnan's number one delicacy. As for Wang Kuang's feelings, he wouldn't take them to heart. Wasn't he just dressed up nicely? Wasn't he just the son of a wealthy family? Wasn't he just an underage youth? These were not problems.

  The diners next to them still wanted to come up and persuade, but seeing the evil servant's posture, they didn't dare to make a sound. Being so fierce, it was likely that he had some background. If it were the son of the governor or the county magistrate, they would have come forward to say a few words, but the key was that none of them knew Xiaodong's family. Such a thing wouldn't happen at all.

  Sun Erzheng came out of the kitchen, saw the commotion and pulled down on the thinner of the two ropes hanging from the door frame. Instantly, the entire inn was filled with the clear tinkling sound of copper bells that had been installed last year but never used before. The thin rope only rang the bell in the dining area, while pulling the thicker one would also ring the bell on the guest side. Several times Sun Erzheng itched to pull the ropes, but feared being scolded by Wang Kuang. This time was a good opportunity for him to finally use them.

  The bell had not stopped yet, and six or seven partners rushed out from upstairs, outside the door, and from the kitchen, including Kuang Da and Wang Shifu who were supposed to be cooking in the kitchen. Li Dabao is now in charge of the second and third floors, but he was the first to rush down from the second floor.

  Li Dabao rushed down and ran to the door, snatched the big general's stick from Sun Er's hands, and jumped in front of Wang Kuang in three or two steps: "Who is blind?"

  After a glance, they finally saw the master and servant, Li Dabao raised his big general stick to sweep over, but was stopped by Wang Kuang: "What's the point of making such a big fuss? It's just a small conflict."

  Sun Erping's usual general's staff had been taken away by Li Dabao, so in a hurry he picked up the bamboo stick used to lift the curtain on the counter and ran to Niu Dabao's side, complaining: "You go find other things, why did you snatch mine?"

  Li Dabao didn't swing it out that time, and was somewhat regretful that he had swung too slowly. He irritably retorted back to him: "How did it become yours? Whoever grabs it first gets it."

  The master and servant were both startled by the sudden commotion, and the young master hastily pulled Guozi's face in front of him: "What do you want to do? Is there no king's law?"

  The country-faced man was also somewhat afraid, and with a stern expression, he opened his arms to protect his master and shouted: "Who dares to move? Do you know who this is?"

  "Whoever you are, how dare you provoke Xiao Dongjia and even flip over his food? Even if the King of Heaven came, I would still beat him back. " Li Dabiao saw the dishes on Wang Kuang's table being flipped over and the wine spilled all over the floor, and he was even more furious. He raised the big general stick in his hand and put it down again, restrained by Wang Kuang's previous stop, and never swung it out.

  "What? You don't dare to fight anymore?" Guozi's face saw Li's boldness and his courage grew again. He straightened up, puffed out his chest, and said: "You'd better come at me! If a single hair on my young master's head is harmed, I'll make sure your inn goes out of business!"

  As soon as he heard this, Sun Er was delighted and stepped forward to strike Guo's shoulder with a stick: "What are you going to do after beating me? What are you going to do after beating me?" With Sun Er leading the way, the crowd rushed forward. Li Dabao saw that Wang Kuang didn't want him to use his general's staff, so he threw it aside, rolled up his sleeves, tucked a corner of his robe into his waistband, and squeezed in with punches and kicks. The food customers nearby were already very dissatisfied with the two men, and now they had someone leading them, so they all shouted and rushed forward together. Before long, they beat the two men until they heard their pitiful pleas: "Stop, stop quickly, can't we just compensate you?"

  Wang Kuang didn't want to make a big deal out of it either, but he couldn't bear the threat that would shut down the inn. He saw that they had surrendered and called off the crowd. At this point, looking at the two men again, their faces were bruised and swollen, their robes torn in many places. The young master's jade pendant was gone, and his hat was askew.

  "If I had known this would happen, why bother with what happened in the beginning?" Wang Kuang smiled as he looked at the two of them.

  Seeing that everyone had finally stopped, the young master nodded to Guozi's face and carefully took out a string of coins and placed them on the table before quickly running away.

  "Little Dong's family, these two guys are probably not reconciled and may still call someone over. Did you see that the young master didn't say a word from start to finish? He's a ruthless character."

  "Don't worry, if soldiers come we'll resist, if water comes we'll dam it. I'm sure they won't be able to do much, they'll disperse and go their separate ways. Also, all the food and drink for the guests on this floor will be half price." After finishing his instructions, Wang Ke made a bow: "Thank you everyone for your help, if you've finished eating please hurry up and leave, these two are probably not willing to give up, I'm afraid they'll gather more people to come back."

  "Where did this come from, if I can help Xiaodong's family a bit, that would be our good fortune. It's just that we're ashamed to have not helped in time and let Xiaodong's family suffer humiliation. This wine and food, we don't dare accept it with a discount." One of the regular old customers said repeatedly.

  "Hah, help is help, no need to distinguish between first and last. If you all think highly of Fulu Inn, then come often to drink wine in the future, and let Fulu Inn earn some more money." Wang Kuang's words made the diners smile awkwardly, for they had never seen anyone so bluntly say they wanted to make money off others. But this money was earned by Fulu Inn with their willing consent, after all, the food and wine were good, and the young master was also very affable.

  Division

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  Once again, I declare: this book is neither a double wear nor a multiple wear, so everyone can stop arguing about it.

  Continue typing, don't know if I can upload another chapter later tonight, you guys don't have to wait anyway, it'll still be up tomorrow, right? Health is important.