A newly promoted employee, known as "Jiang Ku Zi" and also known as "Qi Qi Qi", stuck his sleepy head out from the crack of the half-open door of the back compartment and asked, "What? No customers yet?"
This guy has been working the night shift lately. He goes on a business trip to the ghost market at four o'clock in the morning and comes back to sleep at daybreak. In the past few days, when "Xuantian" was opened, Xianjin was surprised to find that her subordinates were facing a shortage of staff: Generally speaking, a store should have a principal and a deputy, but now all the stores are almost in a state of reduced staffing. Jingxian is under the charge of Manager Dong, and there is no deputy; the head of "Fubai" is Zhao Dezheng, and the second-in-command is Aunt Zhong; the nominal head of Jixi Training Base is Qu Da Mao, but the person who actually has the final say is Li Sanshun, and in terms of administration... it is Zhou Ergou (Zhou Ergou is in charge of administrative logistics, so you know there is a shortage of staff); therefore, the second-in-command of the newly opened "Xuantian" is Brother Zheng, and there is no head, so Xianjin does it herself.
The one who suffered the most was actually Lu Badan. After Xianjin put Hao Zinian's accounting office on ice, the financial burden of the three shops fell entirely on his skinny shoulders.
Lu Badan: Although I have a heart that wants to make progress, I don’t have a healthy body to support my progress.
After Lu Badan had a fever twice and coughed twice in one month, each time for half a month, Xianjin finally came to his rescue and handed over the account book of the Jixi training base to Suoer to practice - in such a situation of staff shortage, the only option was to recruit talents without any restrictions.
Qi Qiqi, the "Jiang Elbow", was targeted by Xianjin and became the acting manager of "Xuantian" at a rocket-like speed. Meaning, you are still a one-bar, but you have to do three-bar things, even though I only pay you one-bar money...
The deputy manager, Jiang Elbow, rubbed his eyes and squinted to see that the hall was empty. There was no one there. He murmured, "How can a shop open without employees? People see that you don't even have a receptionist here. Who would come in to buy things?"
Xianjin gave a signal, and Zheng Da pushed the head of "Jiang Elbow" back.
The men in long gowns at the door hid behind the pillars and chatted with each other. After a while, the scholar Zhou, who was being talked about by everyone, was finally pushed out of the crowd and staggered into the "noisy" shop.
It was as if some barrier had been broken through.
Before Mr. Zhou could turn around and curse, he shrugged his shoulders, crossed his arms across his chest, and looked around vigilantly, in a very standard defensive posture.
Mr. Zhou waited for a long time, but no one came who smiled and greeted him on the surface but actually tried to empty his wallet. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, his shoulders gradually relaxed, and his peripheral vision slowly looked around the huge hall - they had counted wrong at the door. There were not just seven or eight shelves. There were two rows hidden behind the pillars, which were blocked by the door. There were a total of fourteen or fifteen shelves. Each shelf had three rows, and each row had three kinds of paper.
There is a small label on the iron shelf under each category, with the price clearly marked on the label. The most expensive one is no more than one or two taels of silver per knife, and most of the prices range from six hundred to eight hundred coins per knife.
The price is not expensive, and corresponding to it is naturally the common Xuan paper on the market, such as four-foot Xuan, plain white paper, spiral paper, etc. These papers are not labor-intensive or time-consuming, and are simple to make. They are widely circulated among the common people and low-level scholars in Xuancheng Prefecture.
Looking more closely, there are three stacks of each category. Each stack of unopened paper is tightly wrapped in a cowhide bag from beginning to end. On the top are a dozen scattered sheets of paper of that category. Each row has a small inkstone, a brush and a piece of felt for absorbing ink, so that buyers can experience writing.
Mr. Zhou was amazed at what he saw. With the remaining reputation of "Fubai" not cheating the poor, he tried two sheets of ink timidly. He watched the ink slowly spread around on the silk-like paper. He relaxed completely and stood on tiptoe to try almost all the scattered varieties.
Finally, I want to buy plain white paper at 600 wen per piece and corrugated paper at 800 wen per piece.
Mr. Zhou raised his chin and opened his mouth to call the waiter, but he saw six or seven wooden carts in the corner. He looked up again and saw three half-person-high counters in the southeast corner.
Zhou Xiucai thought for a moment, and then, with his wisdom, he pushed out a small cart from the corner, moved two new pieces of white and threaded cloth he wanted to buy onto the cart, and then walked around the remaining shelves to the counter. He took a closer look and found that the large counter was actually composed of two platforms. One of the wooden platforms was hollowed out, with a hidden lock at the bottom, and two holes the size of copper coins dug on the top, with a line of words written on the side of the holes: "Please deposit the payment here";
On another table was a well-cut small book and a soft-bristle brush for writing. When I opened it, I saw an example on the first line of the first page - "On February 20th of the 16th year of Zhaode, I bought a piece of four-foot rice paper from the Wang family in the east of the city."
Another line of words followed.
"If you are in financial difficulty, please ignore the last line of signature and take the paper without paying."
Zhou Xiucai was startled, then looked up. Not far away, the shopkeeper He, whom the scholars had disliked for the past month or two, was standing calmly behind the counter of the flower shop, fiddling with a plate of wooden beads. Zhou Xiucai moved his lips and decided to remind this profit-seeking young shopkeeper who had suddenly found her conscience.
"Master He, the world is dangerous. If you do business this way, and someone comes and is unreasonable and refuses to pay and just walks away with the paper, you... aren't you courting death?"
Xianjin finished dialing the ten-digit abacus beads, raised his head, smiled and tucked his hair, "Thank you for your reminder, we will only be cheated once by such people. There are no waiters in the hall, but it does not mean that we do not have waiters in the flower room and the back room. Our waiters hide in the dark so that you can better experience the quality of each type of paper. Xuancheng Prefecture is such a small place, this kind of waiter can't hide for long, and will definitely be exposed in broad daylight, and then he will be drowned by the spit of the neighbors!"
People at that time were smart, but they were also honest and simple. Although there were some cunning and malicious ones, the simple and kind people still accounted for the majority.
If you really eat at the waiter's table, once you find out, it will leave a stain on the rest of your life.
Nowadays, the population is solidified and people don’t move easily. They grow up and are buried where they are born. Once a scar is left, it will be indelible in this lifetime.
Zhou Xiucai thought about it and nodded, then said, "Also, what if the person who comes to buy paper can't read? No matter how clearly you write, it's useless!"
Xianjin calmly placed the abacus beside him and said gently, "If he can't read and still comes to buy paper, then I can give him this piece of paper as a gift."
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