Chapter 118 Being a Tour Guide (Part 1)

The next morning, just as the sky was getting light, the entire courtyard of No. 28 Ping'an Hutong was still asleep. The courtyard was so quiet that the dripping sound of the leaking faucet could be clearly heard.

“Beep, beep—”

Suddenly, two sharp car horns were heard at the entrance of the alley.

Early in the morning, there were two sudden noises, which woke up many people who were lightly asleep in the alley. Complaints were heard one after another in every courtyard.

"Who is it? Why are you blowing the flute so early in the morning? Don't you know everyone is still asleep?"

"I'm so fucking impressed. It's just a car, why are you showing off? Why are you honking your horn so early in the morning? Who do you think can't afford a car?"

"Who on earth is disturbing people so early in the morning?"

"He deserves to have his tires punctured..."

It was obvious that everyone was quite resentful after being woken up so early in the morning, but there was an exception, and that was Shi Yue.

Hearing this, Shi Yue, who had already tidied himself, stood up. He pushed open Shi Qiushui's door and said to Shi Qiushui, who was sleeping in a messy position with her head rolled to the foot of the bed and her feet kicking the pillow, "Daughter, Daddy's gone out."

When Qiu Shui was half asleep, he vaguely felt someone talking in his ear. He frowned, waved his hands in the air, and mumbled "hmm" in response.

Shi Yue silently left Shi Qiu Shui's room, closed the door, then picked up his bag and went out.

As he walked out the door, he saw a black car parked at the entrance of the alley, and Gong Fa smoking next to the black car.

Gong Fa also saw Shi Yue. He took a puff of the cigarette in his mouth, then threw the cigarette butt to the ground. He extinguished the cigarette butt with his foot and waved at Shi Yue: "Shi Yue, here!"

Shi Yue also waved at him and then walked over with big strides.

Walking up to Gong Fa, Shi Yue raised his eyebrows and said, "Hey, Old Gong, you changed your car? And it's an Audi? That's pretty cool!"

Gong Fa: "Oh, what? I borrowed this car. I borrowed it from someone specifically to save face in front of the foreigners."

He opened the car door and said, "Come on, get in!"

Shi Yue also opened the door on his side and sat in the passenger seat.

Gong Fa: "Hold on tight, buddy. I'm starting the engine."

He stepped on the accelerator, and the car quickly drove out of the alley. Watching it drive onto the main road, Shi Yue asked curiously, "Hey, by the way, I haven't asked you yet, where are we going so early in the morning? You just told me yesterday that you'd pick me up this morning, but you didn't tell me where we were going. And what about that foreigner you mentioned? Where is he?"

Gong Fa slapped his thigh and said, "Oh, I really forgot about this. I'm so sorry, buddy. If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten to tell you."

He said, "We are going to the Great Wall Hotel to pick up the foreigner and his translator. They are staying at the Great Wall Hotel."

Shi Yue: “Oh.”

It was early in the morning and there were not many cars on the road. Shi Yue and Gong Fa were lucky and had green lights all the way. They soon arrived at the parking lot of the Great Wall Hotel. Gong Fa parked the car and took Shi Yue to the main entrance of the hotel.

It’s true, this place is quite fashionable. The main entrance is a revolving door. It was the first time that Shi Yue had seen such a door. When he walked past, he looked at it twice out of curiosity.

After entering the revolving door, he arrived at the hotel lobby, which was even more beautifully decorated. In the magnificently decorated and dazzling lobby, the first thing that caught Shi Yue's eye was a landscape painting about six or seven meters long and three meters high. Although it was unclear which master created the painting, Shi Yue could sense the natural and unrestrained style and grandeur of the brushwork at a glance.

Next to the landscape painting is a piano. Shi Yue originally didn't understand these Western things, but as the pianist sitting in front of the piano moved, beautiful music came into his ears, and he actually felt some of the charm of piano music.

Shi Yue really thought the pianist played well. Gong Fa happened to have gone to the front desk to borrow a phone to contact a foreign client, so he just stayed here to enjoy the piano playing.

When Gong Fa came back after finishing the call, he saw Shi Yue standing next to someone playing the piano with his hands in his pockets. He twitched his lips and pulled Shi Yue towards the sofa next to him.

Shi Yue: "Hey, no, Boss Gong, what are you doing? Didn't you go to contact foreign clients? Where are they?"

Gong Fa: "Well, those two foreigners haven't woken up yet. When I called them, they just woke up and told us to wait downstairs while they packed up and came down right away."

Shi Yue: "Oh, so we have to wait a while, right?"

He looked up at Gong Fa and said, "No, since we have to wait a while, why did you pull me over here? I still want to listen to people playing the piano for a while."

Gong Fa twitched his lips, glanced at Shi Yue, and said, "Can't we hear the piano playing here too? Can't we listen to it from here?"

Shi Yue: "It's different. How can we hear it clearly here compared to people standing next to us?"

Gong Fa: “…”

He looked at Shi Yue and asked seriously, "Don't you feel awkward standing there? There are so many people coming in and out of the hall, and you're standing there alone. Don't you feel awkward?"

Shi Yue: "It's not embarrassing. What's there to be embarrassed about? Isn't the purpose of playing the piano for people to listen to? He plays and I go over to listen. Isn't that normal?"

Hearing this, Gong Fa's expression became even weirder.

He stared at Shi Yue for a long time and found that what Shi Yue said was really the truth.

This shocked him even more.

Gong Fa: "What about others? Don't you feel embarrassed when people passing by look at you?"

Shi Yue: "Just look at me. I'm so good-looking, it's not strange for people passing by to look at me a few more times."

Gong Fa twitched his lips and said, "You have a pretty good attitude."

He really meant what he said. He admired Shi Yue's mentality. He didn't care about other people's gazes at all and didn't think too much about them. After all, he couldn't do that. Otherwise, he wouldn't have borrowed a car today just to save face in front of the foreigners.

However, Gong Fa thought about it and realized that his situation was actually different from Shi Yue's. After all, the foreigner he was going to receive today was his client. He borrowed the car not only to save face in front of the foreigner, but also to demonstrate his strength and let the foreigner feel at ease to cooperate with him.

Thinking of this, Gong Fa stopped worrying about it and started asking about something else.

"By the way, Shi Yue, did you have breakfast this morning?"

Shi Yue: "No, I got up too early, so I don't feel very hungry yet."

Gong Fa: "Are you hungry now?"

Shi Yue touched his belly and said, "It seems a little."

Gong Fa: "Then let's go to the restaurant to eat something?"

He pointed to a flyer on the table next to him and said, "It says here that there's a buffet breakfast on the 12th floor, all-you-can-eat."

Shi Yue took a look and said, "Doesn't it say that breakfast on the 12th floor requires a meal coupon?"

Gong Fa pulled out two meal coupons from his pocket and said with a chuckle, "I have some here. The pretty lady at the front desk gave them to me when I checked those two foreigners in yesterday. They booked two rooms, and each room comes with two meal coupons. I just have two extra, so let's go eat."

Shi Yue smiled: "Okay, let's go!"

Gong Fa and Shi Yue grabbed their meal vouchers and headed to the 12th floor. True to the Great Wall Hotel's reputation, even the breakfast spread was incredibly diverse. The Chinese breakfast alone included Beijing-style breakfast, Suzhou-style dim sum, and Cantonese-style morning tea. There were also British, American, and other international breakfasts. The sheer variety dazzled even the uninitiated Shi Yue.

Shi Yue took a bite like Gong Fa and tried everything. Although the chef's cooking skills were extraordinary and everything he made was delicious, Shi Yue and his wife couldn't eat fine bran. After trying a lot, they felt that the simplest big buns were the most delicious.

In the end, each of them showed off two big buns. After showing off, they strolled back to the first floor. As Shi Yue and Gong Fa got out of the elevator and arrived at the first floor, they saw a foreign man with brown hair and blue eyes walking towards them.

He wore a white short-sleeved top, jeans, and a pair of leather sandals.

As he walked towards Shi Yue and the others, he bared his two big white teeth and shouted, "Gong—Gong—"

Shi Yue poked Gong Fa and asked, "Is that your client?"

Gong Fa nodded at Shi Yue, then waved and shouted, "Mike!"

The foreigner called Mike by Gong Fa took big strides and quickly came in front of Shi Yue and Gong Fa. When he saw Shi Yue next to Gong Fa, he looked at Gong Fa questioningly.

Gong Fa understood what he meant and stepped forward to introduce him: "That's Mike, this, him." Gong Fa pointed at Shi Yue and said, "He's your tour guide, our tour guide today, the one who'll take you to see the antiques. Antiques, that's what you wanted to see before. Didn't you want to go to Panjiayuan?"

He spoke loudly and gestured with his hands.

Shi Yue frowned in confusion. What does that mean? Doesn’t this foreigner understand Chinese?

Then why is he acting as a tour guide for foreigners today?

He can't speak foreign languages!

Gong Fa gestured for a long time and finally explained Shi Yue's identity to Mike. He breathed a sigh of relief. It was so tiring for him that he was sweating.

After learning that Shi Yue was his tour guide today, Mike turned to face Shi Yue, grinning widely. He extended his right hand to Shi Yue and said in broken Chinese, "Nihao, I'm Mike!"

Shi Yue was stunned for a moment, then he also stretched out his right hand, shook it, and said, "Hello, hello, Mike, hello, my name is Shi Yue."

Mike tilted his head in confusion. "April? Your name is April, right? I like April! I was born in April!"

He mumbled a bunch of nonsense, and Shi Yue didn't understand a single word he said. What was this about short woman or not? He was neither short nor a woman-in-law.

Shi Yue frowned and said, "I'm not a short woman, my name is Shi Yue, Shi-Yue-"

At this time, Mike realized that he seemed to have misunderstood. The person in front of him was not called April.

He opened his mouth, trying to pronounce it correctly: "Four - about -"

Shi Yue waved his hands: "No, no, it's not Si Yue, it's Shi Yue, Shi Shi—— Yue Yue——"

Mike: "Appointment?"

Shi Yue: "No, uh, forget it, just read it like this."

Seeing how Mike was struggling to roll his tongue, almost getting it tangled in his mouth, he gave up.

It's better to pronounce his name wrong than to let Mike tangle with his tongue.

Mike scratched his head and shouted at Shi Yue with a silly smile: "Shi Yue."

Shi Yue: “Hey.”

He looked at Mike. This foreigner looked good and tall, even taller than him, probably about 1.95 meters. He had big eyes, a high nose bridge, and fair skin, but he looked a little stupid.

If the occasion wasn't inappropriate, Shi Yue would have wanted to pull Gong aside and ask, "Your foreign customer is not a fool, is he?"

At this moment, Gong Fa spoke up. He turned to Mike and asked, "Where's your brother?"

Mike looked confused and obviously didn't understand what Gong Fa meant.

Gong Fa didn't know English either, so he could only use gestures again. He stretched out his hand and measured Mike's height. He gestured for a long time, but what he said was still not in sync with Mike.

Before Gong Fa could explain everything to Mike, the brother Mike he was looking for arrived.

He was a foreign man who was about the same height as Mike, with the same brown hair but green eyes. Gong Fa introduced him to Shi Yue. His name was David and he was Mike's brother.

David did not come here alone. He was accompanied by a male translator. Because of the translator, Shi Yue's greeting to David was very smooth, unlike when he greeted Mike, there was no misunderstanding due to language barrier.

Knowing that there was a translator, Shi Yue felt much more at ease. The language barrier was too torturous. Just now, they just exchanged names and couldn't even speak in unison. If there was no translator, the foreigner probably wouldn't understand a few words the whole day.

David politely asked Shi Yue and the other man if they had eaten. If not, they could go to the restaurant to eat something.

Shi Yue and Gong Fa quickly said that they had already eaten and there was no need to bother.

Of course, their communication was assisted by an interpreter.

After David knew that Gong Fa and the others had finished breakfast, he mumbled a long string of English to the translator. The male translator nodded and said to Gong Fa, "David said that since you have eaten, let's go. He is looking forward to today's trip and can't wait to go to Panjiayuan to shop."

Shi Yue was stunned for a moment and asked, "Well, don't David and Mike need to eat breakfast? Didn't they just get up?"

The translator shook his head and said, "David and Mike don't have the habit of eating breakfast. They only drink coffee in the morning, which we just bought."

Shi Yue: "Oh oh oh, okay, let's go then."

He was quite curious. Mike and David refused to eat breakfast, so would the translator not eat either?

But when he got in the car, Shi Yue knew it, because the translator also had a cup of black coffee and was sipping it in the back seat with Mike and the others.

Shi Yue smelled the bitter smell of coffee in the air and wrinkled his nose quietly.

If you ask him, what's so good about this bitter coffee? How can it be as delicious as the big buns and fried dough sticks?

But he also knew that everyone had different habits. Mike and the others were used to drinking black coffee, and he was used to eating buns. He had no reason to complain.

After Mike and the other two in the back seat finished their breakfast, they started talking to Shi Yue. Mike started first. His blue eyes were full of curiosity as he muttered a lot to Shi Yue.

Shi Yue didn't understand a word, but it didn't matter, there was a translator. He turned to look at the translator.

The translator readily helped translate: "Mike is asking you if Panjiayuan is really filled with antiques. He's heard that it is true, that you can see hundreds of years of history everywhere, even things used by past emperors and queens."

Shi Yue pursed his lips. These were things used by emperors and queens. This foreigner had a nice idea. He had never dared to think so.

But thinking of Mike's financial backer, he suppressed his desire to complain.

Shi Yue chose his words and said, "That's about right. Panjiayuan does have a lot of antiques. As for whether there are any items used by the emperors and queens you mentioned, I'm not sure. There are so many things there, and I can't be sure I know everything."

Mike became even more excited after hearing what the translator said.

His eyes sparkled and he talked for a long time.

This time, the translator relayed a simple message: "Mike said your words made him even more excited about Panjiayuan."

Shi Yue nodded and smiled.

He thought for a moment and reminded, "But there are also a lot of fakes in Panjiayuan, and Panjiayuan has a lot of rules. Mike and David, please try to follow my instructions and don't touch anything inside casually. If there is anything you want to buy, tell me first."

After hearing what Shi Yue said, Mike and David both agreed seriously.

Shi Yue felt relieved when he saw that they agreed so readily. He was afraid that these two people would rely on their wealth and be unwilling to cooperate with him.

Then Mike and David asked Shi Yue about some of the rules of Panjiayuan and inquired about Shi Yue's experience of shopping on Taobao in Panjiayuan. Shi Yue picked and chose and told them what he could tell others. The eyes of the two foreigners lit up again and again. In such a harmonious atmosphere, they arrived at Panjiayuan.

There was no good place to park nearby, and the car Gong Fa was driving today was not his own, so he didn't dare to park it on the side of the road. So he dropped Shi Yue and the others off at the intersection of the market, let them go in and shop first, and then he drove his car to find a place to park.

As soon as the two foreigners got off the bus, they were shocked by the variety of stalls that had everything they wanted. Like bumpkins who had just arrived in the city, they pointed at one stall after another and shouted in surprise.

The appearance of these two foreigners was already quite eye-catching, and the fact that they kept talking attracted the attention of people nearby.

Seeing them like this, a few stall owners knew that they knew nothing. They rolled their eyes and came up with obviously fake things.

"Hello, hello, my friend, would you like to take a look at the blue and white porcelain? It's from the Song Dynasty, so beautiful!"

"Friends, take a look at mine. This is a jade pendant from the Ming Dynasty. It was sold to me by a descendant of Zheng He. Guaranteed authenticity!"

"Friends, come and look at my snuff bottle. It's the snuff bottle used by the Empress Dowager Cixi. Do you know the Empress Dowager Cixi? That old woman who declared war on the Eight-Nation Alliance back then. You know her, right?"

"Hey, come and look at mine. This is the chamber pot used by Emperor Qianlong. Don't look at it as a chamber pot, but this is what Emperor Qianlong used. The emperor's urine is dragon urine..."

Hearing this, Shi Yue couldn't help himself. He pushed away the guy holding the chamber pot and said, "Get lost, stop disgusting me with dragon urine."

If he was selling anything else, Shi Yue wouldn't have said such harsh words, but the problem was that this kid was selling chamber pots!

The boy said "Hey", glared at Shi Yue and said, "What do you mean? Are you trying to ruin my business?"

Shi Yue looked him over and said, "Do you really want to do business, or do you just want to find a sucker to make a fortune? You know it yourself without me telling you."

"No, who are you? Those two foreigners haven't spoken yet. Who do you think you are to act like the boss?" The boy looked at Shi Yue with an unconvinced look on his face.

Shi Yue silently rolled up his sleeves, revealing the strong muscles on his arms. Then he glanced at the boy without saying a word.

Although Shi Yue didn't say anything, his actions were much more effective than words. The boy took one look at Shi Yue's muscular body, then at his own arms, which were as thin as sticks, and decisively shut up. He took his chamber pot and returned to his stall in shame.

Shi Yue turned to the remaining stall owners and said, "Come on, everyone, stop trying to deceive people by selling fake things."

Some people who were not convinced said to Shi Yue, "How can I tell it's fake at first glance? It's obviously the real thing."

However, they all dispersed.

They also realized that Shi Yue was in cahoots with the two foreigners. With someone as knowledgeable as Shi Yue around, it would be impossible for him to cheat the two foreigners.

Seeing that everyone who came up had left, Mike looked at the translator with a confused look on his face.

Although the translator didn't know much about antiques, he understood what Shi Yue said. He immediately realized that the stall owners who came up just now were holding fake things and were trying to cheat Mike and David.

He told this to Mike honestly.

After hearing this, Mike looked relieved and chattered to the translator.

After he shut up, Shi Yue curiously asked the translator, "What did he say?"

The translator said with a strange expression, "Mike said it was a good thing Gong Fa invited you over, otherwise he and his brother would have been scammed if they had come. Although he didn't understand what the people who gathered around him were saying, he looked at the things in their hands and they were all so beautiful that he almost wanted to buy them. His favorite was the jar that the man was holding in his arms. He even wanted to take it home to grow flowers. Who knew it was fake? It's so sad."

Shi Yue: "Cough cough cough——"

He was completely unprepared for what he heard, and was so shocked that he choked on his own saliva. He coughed for a long time, and finally caught his breath. He asked the translator with a strange expression: "What the hell? Mike just took a fancy to the jar that kid had?"

If he remembered correctly, the man holding a jar-shaped object just now was the guy who sold Qianlong chamber pots?

The translator's expression was also complicated, but he nodded and said, "You're right. Mike is attracted by that chamber pot."

Shi Yue: ...

He glanced at Mike and thought to himself that it was a good thing that Mike and the others invited him.

Otherwise, this kid might have taken a chamber pot home to arrange flowers.