Chapter 84 Damn it, give me my money back!
You Bingyue glared coldly at Yu Zhiyi: "You'd better have nothing to do with this, otherwise I will definitely not let you off the hook!"
Yu Zhiyi picked at her ear: "But what can you do to me?"
As You Bingyue was about to go downstairs, she stumbled and almost tumbled down.
She was extremely ashamed and indignant.
For a moment, she really couldn't think of what she could do about Yu Zhiyi.
That woman definitely couldn't beat her, but!
The opponent remained holed up in the so-called defensive formation, and she couldn't touch them!
Behind her, she felt as if countless mocking and contemptuous gazes were fixed upon her. She didn't want to look at these opportunistic guys anymore, because she was afraid she would lose control and rush back to go on a killing spree, gouging out all those eyes filled with contempt!
"Come on, let's go down and see what's going on!" Hongluan grabbed You Bingyue's hand and excitedly went downstairs, heading straight for Nanfeng Bookstore.
Yu Zhiyi looked at the woman's enthusiastic expression and chuckled helplessly. Although she had already figured out the cause and effect, she let her have her way.
Hongluan was quite familiar with the area and quickly found a good vantage point to watch the spectacle.
At that time, You Bingyue had already rushed to the outside of Nanfeng Bookstore.
Inside the bookstore, the shopkeeper and staff were trembling behind the door, none of them daring to go out and risk offending the angry crowd.
The shopkeeper looked at one of the staff members beside him and asked, "Why hasn't the young master arrived yet?"
The staff member said with a pained expression, "We've already notified them, but it will probably take a while."
The shouting and cursing outside did not stop. Seeing that the bookstore staff were still acting like cowards, the angry crowd became even more furious, and some people couldn't help but bang on the door.
The shopkeeper and others could only hurriedly block the door.
But there were only about ten of them, while there were hundreds or thousands of angry people outside. How could ten people possibly be enough?
You Bingyue appeared at this time.
"stop!"
She gave a cold rebuke, her icy voice ringing out powerfully, successfully silencing the angry crowd.
Hongluan took out a handful of melon seeds and gave half to Yu Zhiyi: "I didn't realize this woman was so capable."
Putting everything else aside, just the composure he has in the face of thousands of troops is something that not everyone possesses.
Many women in this era, confined to their homes, would probably have their legs go weak just from seeing so many troublemakers, let alone muster the courage to face them.
Yu Zhiyi took the melon seeds, but she didn't want to eat them right now.
After a while, a handful of peeled sunflower seeds were handed to her.
Yu Zhiyi paused for a moment, then reached out and took it, this time not letting the good intention go to waste.
Hongluan took the unpeeled fruit from her hand and started tapping it herself.
The bookstore's bustling activity continues.
After You Bingyue appeared, she coldly questioned those people about why they were causing trouble.
"Are we causing trouble, or is your bookstore trying to scam us?"
The leader was a burly young man who, despite wearing the attire of a scholar, did not have the demeanor of one.
But he was indeed a scholar.
"Where did we lie?" You Bingyue was already furious at Jinxiufang, and now she couldn't suppress her anger any longer, her tone was very sharp.
"You cheated us poor people out of our money, and you still dare to shirk responsibility!" The young man's face flushed with anger. "You heartless bookstore! You heartless manager! Do you deserve the high praise the people of Beijing have for you!?"
Seeing that this person had been talking for so long without getting to the point, Hongluan was getting impatient: "Oh dear, what exactly did Nanfeng Bookstore lie to them about? Stop rambling on and on, just get to the point!"
Yu Zhiyi looked at the person beside her, who was so eager to try it, and smiled slightly as she explained, "Because of money."
There's no harm in talking about what's about to happen, especially since she already knew about it; it wasn't something she divined: "In order to attract customers, You Bingyue has introduced a series of measures, such as offering free tea and snacks, and allowing impoverished scholars to copy books for free, and so on."
"All of this is to attract customers; it's purely a loss-making endeavor to gain publicity."
“I’ve heard about all that,” Hongluan said curiously. “But doesn’t that mean these people are the ones who benefited?”
She's been so busy lately that she has no time or energy to care about gossip. Even though Jinxiufang and Nanfeng Bookstore are not far apart, she doesn't know much about them.
Yu Zhiyi said, "These are just ways to attract customers and make money, of course. And these troublemakers came because of this matter."
"You Bingyue introduced a membership system where everyone only needs to pay two taels of silver to become a member of the bookstore."
"The free tea and snacks we had before were time-limited. They stopped being free seven days ago. Students who come to read or buy books can only continue to enjoy the free services by paying to become members."
"However, not many students can afford the two taels of silver. Most people come because of the reputation of it being free, and many non-students also take advantage of the situation to sneak into the shop and enjoy the free services."
"During that period, in order to attract customers, the tea and snacks in the shop were supplied in unlimited quantities, and the daily cost was about ten taels of silver."
"Because of the surge in customers, the number of books in the store has also increased four or five times."
"In less than a month, the store had spent more than five thousand taels of silver in costs."
"But the membership fee was less than five hundred taels."
"Hiss, this is way too different!" Hongluan exclaimed.
Yu Zhiyi nodded: "The cost of tea and snacks is secondary. It's about ten taels a day, and only two or three hundred taels a month, which the bookstore can afford. The main problem is that the cost of books is too high. The purchase price of a book is about one tael for the cheapest and two or three taels for the most expensive. If the bookstore suddenly buys two or three thousand books, the cost will increase instantly."
"Good heavens, spending over five thousand taels to earn over five hundred taels, this You Bingyue is truly Du Ziheng's spendthrift daughter, a good daughter of the people."
Yu Zhiyi smiled and continued, "Most of these people who came to cause trouble have paid membership fees. You Bingyue said that as long as they pay, they can read all the books in the bookstore for free for a month, including the collection books, and also enjoy tea and snacks."
"However, after she's been doing this for more than half a month, the bookstore is already operating at a loss, and now it can't even afford to order custom-made pastries and buy tea."
"So, we had no choice but to close down."
Actually, if You Bingyue had done all this before Du Ziheng was injured, the bookstore wouldn't have faced closure so quickly.
The problem lies externally; she chose the wrong time.
Du Ziheng's private stash of money is empty.
Seeing how outrageous he had been these days, Yao would not give him any extra money.
"What a show!" Hongluan gave Yu Zhiyi another handful of peeled melon seeds.
At this point, the young man also voiced his accusation: "What did the people at your bookstore say back then? As long as we pay the membership fee, we can read any book in the store, eat any tea and snacks, and the person who wins first place in the competition organized by the store will also receive a prize."
"And what happened? We paid the money upfront, and then you closed down right after?"
"You're a scammer! Either let us in or give us our money back!"
"Yes! Refund!"
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