Chapter 181

"Brother, stay in the hotel." A Xuba shouted at the dozing waiter.

The waiter shivered and suddenly opened his eyes and looked at the door. Seeing that there were men and women among the people, he yawned and asked: "How many rooms do the guests want and how long will they stay?"

A Xu said: " I want three rooms."

The waiter rubbed his sleepy eyes and said, "Only the upper-class rooms cost two yuan a night. Do you want them?"

A Xu: "..." What kind of room is worth this price?

He turned back to look at Xu Yi and said in a low voice with dissatisfaction: "Lang Jun, the price of this store is too expensive. Let's choose another one."

A Xu had just finished speaking in a suppressed voice, but he didn't expect the waiter behind him to hear it. Got it crystal clear.

He wasn't angry either. He said with a smile, "If you find it too expensive, some of the guests will go look elsewhere and see if they can still get rooms."

"Oh? There are no rooms in the inns in the city?" Xu Yi looked at him .

The waiter said: "That's right. In the past two days, many outsiders came to Zhaohua. The inns near the teahouse where the tea party was held were all full. There are still some vacancies. I think we are the only ones who come further away. "That's all."

Ah Jin asked him, "Are there really so many people coming to this tea party?"

The waiter said in an aired voice, "No, it's held every year, and there are hundreds of people attending, all of whom are proficient in various tea arts. Master." As he spoke, he looked back and forth at Xu Yi and others.

He smiled and said, "You are not here for the tea party, are you?"

Xu Yi raised his eyebrows and asked him: "How did you tell?"

The waiter said: "It doesn't look like it, it really doesn't look like it."

Come to the tea party. In addition to tea-ordering ladies and tea-ordering masters in tea shops, there are also tea-loving literati. No matter which one it is, Xu Yi and the others are not alike.

What he said was right. Xu Yi and the others had just learned about this.

Xu Yi hesitated for a moment, then asked A Xu to give him the money bag. He took out a piece of broken silver and put it in front of the waiter, and said, "I'll open three rooms, and the extra money will be a reward for you."

The waiter suddenly laughed happily. I got up, touched the broken silver and bit it. After I found out that it was real, I weighed it on the scale. It weighed seven coins. In other words, every extra penny belongs to him.

He put away the money and asked with a smile: "What do you want to ask, sir? As long as I know, I will tell you one by one."

Xu Yi then asked him: "How to participate in this tea party?"

This matter has already happened in Zhaohua. It's not a rare thing, of course the waiter knows about it.

The waiter said: "It's easy. The reason why so many people come to this tea party every year is because the owner of the tea house has made many friends. Anyone who wants to participate can go upstairs. But..."

He hesitated for a while. Looking at Xu Yi, he said, "Although you can go upstairs, you have to win the tea guardian guarding the ring before you can go to the second floor. There are many people who can go to the second floor. Only the top ten tea masters can go to the third floor. As for losing, you can only watch but not participate in the competition. "

Xu Yi said: "If you win, will you win?"

The waiter said with a smile, "Of course there is, but the winner is different every year, and this year's one has not been announced yet."

From the waiter's mouth, they also learned that the time of participation was three days later, and the location was Yongxing Teahouse in the east of the city.

The inn where they stayed was located in the south of the city.

The reason why they dared to raise such a high price was the owner of this inn. She was going on an outing in the past few days and didn't want to guard the inn, so she asked the waiter to raise the price of the room to two yuan a room, which allowed Xu Yi and the others to take advantage of them. Only then will they be encountered.

Xu Yi: "..."

But we entered the city very late today, so I might not be able to find another inn at this time.

Not wanting to sleep in the open air after entering the city, Xu Yi could only console himself that he was spending money to buy news.

That night.

Xu Yi and the others were resting in the room, and the waiter went upstairs with hot water and knocked on the door.

"Guests, do you want hot water?" After asking, he answered, "This hot water is free."

Xu Yi nodded and asked the waiter for four pots.

The waiter felt a little pained when he heard it, but he said he would give it away, so he bravely agreed.

He went downstairs, went to the firewood room, added a few pieces of firewood to the stove, and poured a few more ladles of well water into the iron pot.

After he finished all this, before he could wipe away his sweat, the wooden door that was closed outside made a "pop" sound.

The waiter murmured to himself, why is business so good today and why are there still customers coming?

While he was thinking about it, he quickly ran to open the door. The moment the door opened, he heard a familiar voice shouting: "Why did it take so long to open the door?"

Xi Rou, the wife of the shopkeeper, looked at her shop boy and as soon as she finished speaking, She said "Huh", glanced towards the stairs with red eyes, and said leisurely: "A guest is coming? Didn't I tell you, if the house price is raised to two cents, there are still people coming to stay?"

The waiter said hehe: "Yes, they also booked three rooms. They spent a lot of money. They gave me seven coins and gave me the extra one as a reward."

Xi Ju said, "Are you from out of town?"

The waiter covered his hands with his hands . Mouth, muttering softly, told the story of what happened today.

After hearing this, Xi Rou waved her hands and said, "That's all. These two coins are all blackmail. You can calculate the extra coins tomorrow and return them to them."

The waiter in the shop hesitated, wanting to say that he would give them all the money. I was wet, and I was afraid of being scolded by the shopkeeper, so I had to swallow these words.

He sent the hot water up and eagerly went downstairs.

It was getting late, the night was dark and windy, and the waiter looked at the gloomy night outside the corridor, trembling with fear and not daring to stay any longer.

He closed the door of the inn and hung the "rest" sign before turning off the lights in the lobby on the first floor, holding the prepared lantern, and returned to his room.

The next day, everyone woke up to the sound of roosters crowing. They came downstairs and saw the shopkeeper Xi Rou, whom they had not seen yesterday.

Xirou was a widow who had a female household. Twenty years ago, she married a pig butcher in the city. Unexpectedly, he died of a sudden illness within two years. There was a child in her belly at that time, but the child did not survive and died prematurely.

At that time, the neighbors all said that she was a Kefok child and did not even leave a bloodline for her husband's family.

Later, I saw that she was a good earner. Within two years, she had earned a sideline business for herself, and many matchmakers came to propose marriage.

Xi Rou had a bad temper and kicked all these people out. Later, her bad reputation spread. But over time, it was spread from unknown sources that she had a wild man outside, which caused some female guests to harbor grudges, fearing that she would seduce their men, causing the business of her inn to deteriorate again and again.

Of course, Xi Rou doesn't care.

She supported her shoulders with her thin hands, and when she saw Xu Yi and the others coming down, she took the initiative to say hello: "Mr. Sir, wait a minute."

Xu Yi and the others stopped and looked at her, thinking about the waiter's words, he said: "What's the matter with the shopkeeper? "

Xi Ju said: "Yesterday the boy in the shop was so stupid that he actually took my words seriously and charged the officer four more silver. If the officer takes this money back, don't blame me."

Xu Yi said: "It doesn't matter, this money. The shopkeeper keeps it, we have to stay here for a few days, this money is not enough."

"Okay, I'll keep it." Xi Rou generously threw the money back into the cash box and asked, " There is breakfast in the shop, and today it is steamed cakes, fragrant chicken, and bean porridge. If you want, five cents per person can be enough."

When Xu Yi heard this, his eyes lit up slightly, this is not only five cents per person. Is there a breakfast buffet?

He quickly agreed and asked A Xu to take twenty coins and give them to the shopkeeper.

Then, he ordered eight steamed cakes, eight fragrant chickens and four bowls of bean porridge.

This steamed bun is actually a multigrain steamed bun, not made with all-white flour, so it tastes a bit rough. But it is big, one can hold two modern steamed buns, and it is quite fragrant when chewed, with a natural wheat flavor.

Just be careful when swallowing, it can be too dry and cause choking.

Xu Yi used it to eat with porridge. His appetite was not big among the three men.

I was full after eating two steamed cakes, one fragrant chicken and a bowl of porridge.

But A Xu didn't stop and asked for more steamed cakes and fragrant chicken. Er Qing had less food than him, but he also ate more than Xu Yi. He is growing taller now, the food he eats has become more diverse, his hair has become darker, and he has become stronger. In more than half a year, he is actually half a head taller than when we first met him.

This made the waiter who had been carrying the food dumbfounded. These two people were so good at eating.

The waiter shrank his shoulders sadly, the shopkeeper suffered a big loss this time!

...

After solving the problem of breakfast, Xu Yi took them out to inquire about the news.

They first came to Yongxing Teahouse in the east of the city. Before the donkey cart arrived, they heard a burst of lively noise.

Less than a few meters away from the teahouse, there was an acrobatic troupe performing a sword-swallowing performance on the street. There were many spectators around. The sword-swallowing performer on the stage was a man in his twenties, wearing a blue shirt with a waistband and a blue tie on his forehead. The cloth revealed an ordinary face.

He slowly swallowed the sword and quickly took it out, causing a burst of warm cheers from the surrounding people.

"Dang, dang, dang -"

Many people threw copper coins towards the stage, which made a crisp sound when they fell to the ground.

Immediately, two children ran over, bent down to pick up the coins on the ground, and thanked the person who threw the money with a smile on their face.

Er Qing's eyes grew hot, so he took a few steps forward and lost two copper coins.

When he came back, two beggars crowded beside him, one on the left and one on the right, holding up a broken bowl and shouting, "Well done, young man, please have mercy on us."

Erqing was stunned, not knowing what to do for a moment. Just when she was about to take the money, Ah Jin came to the rescue and said, "You are so clean, you don't look like beggars. Go on your way and don't cause trouble."

After that, she pulled Er Qing back.

Ah Jin said: "Are you stupid? Those two people don't have much dirt on their bodies. They only have two black spots on their faces. They want to deceive people. You are naive. You want to give them as many copper coins as you want.

" Qing blushed at the words and pursed her lips in aggrieved manner.

Xu Yi glanced at them and said, "Those two beggars want to see where your money bag is."

"Ah?" Er Qing was a little confused.

A Xu, who was driving the car, answered and said: "If A Jin calls you later, your wallet will probably be stolen."

Er Qing suddenly realized why they were so close and said angrily: "They How can this be done? I, I want to give them money."

Xu Yi narrowed his eyes. This behavior of stealing has been around since ancient times. This was the first time it almost happened in front of him.

When they returned to Zhaohua, they had already missed a fortune once, and they couldn't afford to miss it again next time.

However, this little episode passed quickly. After Xu Yi and the others finished watching the acrobatic troupe's performance, they went into Yongxing Tea House to drink tea like ordinary guests.

The tea party has not yet started, and everything in the tea house is open as usual. There are many people sitting inside drinking tea and chatting. Xu Yi and the others went upstairs and looked at the tea table in the front hall. They were almost empty.

He asked the tea attendant who was leading the way if there were any rooms in the tea house. The tea attendant smiled and said, "The guests are late. There are many rooms in the tea house. If the officials want to enter the room to drink tea, they have to send a servant first." Book a room, otherwise, I'm afraid there won't be any room left."

Xu Yi nodded, he didn't really want a room.

However, most of the people who came to the tea house came to taste tea. Xu Yi and the others sat down near the window and ordered a pot of this year's spring tea.

In addition, Xu Yi also ordered a tea master to order tea for them.

The tea waiter smiled and agreed, and Shi Shiran left. After a while, he came back with a tea tray and knelt down on the mat opposite Xu Yi.

As he finished placing the tea sets, he said calmly: "Officials, I will order some tea for you, please accept it with a smile."

Xu Yi's eyes showed a strange look, this Yongxing Tea House... is really interesting. .

The tea guardian who welcomes guests is also a tea master with tea skills. It can be said that everyone in the tea house is a tea orderer.

Such an advanced business model shows that the owner of this tea house must be a wonderful person.

Xu Yi sighed in his heart, no matter where or when, the ancients should not be underestimated.

This is the owner, and so is the innkeeper.