47 Difficulties in Opening a Store
◎I want to give her a big gift◎
In a courtyard in Shengjing, the yard is not very big and is arranged in a disorderly manner. The weeds on the path are not taken care of, and the green vines on the corridor hang down like green curtains, as if no one lives there.
Walking a little further inside, there was a servant guarding the corner of the corridor, and two servants standing in the corner of the courtyard, both with their heads down and silent.
A figure in the courtyard quickly passed by. He touched the ground with his toes and exerted force on his waist and abdomen the moment he jumped up. The veins on his arm holding the Golden Knife bulged, and he took advantage of the momentum to chop down. The blade split the Ji Feng in half, making a whistling sound.
He bent down to release the force, holding the knife, and landed steadily on the ground.
Hunnamu, who was wearing a gray-green long coat, clapped his hands and said, "Sixth Prince is very talented. He has mastered the Broken Army Sword Technique to perfection in just a few days."
Xie Wuyang pursed his lips, raised his right hand, turned the blade, and put it into the scabbard.
Hunnamu shouted, and a Xirong woman about fifteen or sixteen years old came out from the side corridor and handed a clean handkerchief to Xie Wuyang.
Xie Wuyang took the handkerchief and wiped his hands carefully. Without even looking at the woman, he went straight to the study.
When Hun Namu followed him into the study, Xie Wuyang threw his handkerchief on the ground and said lightly, "Don't do unnecessary things."
Hunnamu and Xie Wuyang stayed together for a while and found that the Seventh Prince was not an easy person to get along with. He was cruel, ruthless and unpredictable.
For example, that day, an assassin broke into the yard, and Xie Wuyang stopped Hunnamu from taking action. He drew out the golden knife, with a smile on his face and his eyes flashing with strange light, like a beast seeing its prey.
At the beginning, Xie Wuyang easily resisted the opponent's attack. Later, he saw through the opponent's strength, but did not kill him with one blow. Instead, he deliberately exposed his flaws.
The assassin thought he could kill him with one blow, but he suddenly attacked with great ferocity, gouging out the assassin's eyeballs with his golden knife. The hollow eye sockets were like two pitch-black holes embedded in his face.
There was still some white skin tissue remaining around the hole, and black and red blood was flowing. How horrible!
At the same time, miserable screams rang out in the courtyard, "Ah, ah - my eyes!" The assassin was in so much pain that he had no ability to think. He dropped the sword in his hand, his hands floating in front of him, his face full of horror.
Xie Wuyang is only fifteen years old, and he has both the innocence of a teenager and the cruelty of a superior. The combination of these two makes him uniquely vicious.
Xie Wuyang stared at the hawk totem on the assassin's wrist and asked, "What is this?"
"This is the totem of Prince Qi's Eagle tribe."
"It's his men..." Xie Wuyang turned the knife and pointed the blade at the assassin who was howling in pain.
He had fled to Daxia like a lost dog, but his brother still refused to let him go. His dark green eyes narrowed slightly, "Spotting one bug in one place means there will be a second one, and a third one soon..."
Hunnamu asked Xie Wuyang what he wanted to do.
"Looks like I need to give them a little surprise."
Xie Wuyang ordered his men to place a hidden arrow in the assassin's abdomen and hang it in the yard. If any of his accomplices came to rescue him and touched the arrow, they would be killed by their "companions" in front of them.
Even Hunnamu, whose hands were stained with blood, felt that such a method was extremely cruel.
The two of them were silent in the study for a while. Hunnamu asked, "If the prince has no other instructions, I will leave first."
Seeing that Xie Wuyang remained silent, Hunnamu turned around and was about to leave.
"Wait--" Xie Wuyang suddenly called him, was silent for a moment, and asked about Song Jinyi's situation.
Ever since Song Jinyi left Beijing, Hun Namu sent attendants to follow her. During this period, carrier pigeons flew back from Yunzhou, but he did not want Xie Wuyang to be disturbed by that woman, so he never brought it up on his own initiative.
Now that Xie Wuyang asked, he naturally didn't dare to hide it. He told her everything that Song Jinyi had encountered in the past few days.
…
After Xie Wuyang finished listening, his knuckles rhythmically tapped the table, the corners of his mouth raised, and he looked very happy. He said playfully, "My sister is still so naive. How can this matter end so easily?"
He instructed Hunnamu, "I will leave for Yunzhou the day after tomorrow. Before that, please do me a favor. I want to give her a great gift."
******
The day the store reopened.
The three of them got up at 3:00 am in the morning to prepare things. Xu Ruolan and Song Jinyi used cold water to drive away their sleepiness. Li He felt heavy and after washing his face, his eyelids were still drooping.
Li He was so sleepy that he couldn't open his eyes. He stumbled forward with his arms hanging on his shoulders, his posture looking very much like a duck.
Song Jinyi and the other person standing nearby couldn't help laughing.
Xu Ruolan grabbed Li He's body and asked her to sit in the yard for a while and go back to work after she was sober.
Xu Ruolan was responsible for washing the fruits, while Song Jinyi worked hard to cut the fruits, looking forward to starting anew today.
The store has been closed for nearly a month and its reputation has been tarnished, so it must have lost a lot of customers. In order to attract new customers, Song Jinyi has specially researched three new products in the past two days.
I just hope these three new dishes can win the hearts of our customers.
The busy time passed quickly, and in a blink of an eye it was already 9:00 PM. Song Jinyi's waist was sore from standing, so she leaned back and stretched her waist.
When she looked up, she saw the warm sunlight outside the window. The warm yellow sunlight covered the brilliance of the candlelight, and the gloom faded like the tide. She murmured softly, "The sun is out."
Facing the warm sunlight, Song Jinyi went out and personally hung a wooden sign that said "Open Shop" on the door.
An hour later, only three tables of tea drinkers came to the store. Song Jinyi pursed her lips, sat for a while, stood up and stood in front of the door to greet everyone. In the past, she was always too busy in the store to come out and shout.
However, after serving customers for a long time, her throat was dry and her waist was sore, but still not many customers came into the shop. Many tea drinkers stood at the door, whispering to each other. When she took the initiative to approach them to attract customers, they hurried away as if they had seen some beast in muddy water.
What went wrong?
The first day of opening the store ended in such a dismal manner.
Considering it was the first day of the store opening, Song Jinyi wasn't too anxious about the situation. On the contrary, Xu Ruolan was in a low mood and didn't even want to eat dinner. She lay in bed wrapped in a quilt, feeling depressed.
Song Jinyi was afraid that she would develop a problem from being depressed, so she lay down next to her and tried to comfort her.
Xu Ruolan was silent for a moment, then complained to herself, "Maybe it's because of what happened to me before."
Song Jinyi patted her and said, "Isn't the store open? Isn't that incident in the past? Maybe it's something else. Don't think too much."
Xu Ruolan didn't say anything, just let out a long sigh.
******
A week passed and business was very slow. No matter how optimistic Song Jinyi was, she looked anxious. The situation did not improve until the lady with the hairpin appeared.
The day gradually became colder, the flowers gradually withered, the green leaves turned yellow and died, and the lady with flowers in her hairpin stopped wearing flowers in her hair. She tied her hair up with a red ribbon and a pearl headband.
Song Jinyi took two more glances before recognizing him.
She used to be busy with business and had no time to rest, but now she was free and chatting with Madam Sun while holding a plate of melon seeds.
Madam Sun saw Song Jinyi's distress and said, "A month ago, I heard you were going to Shengjing. You were full of energy and vigor then. But a month later, how come you look so downcast?"
Song Jinyi smiled bitterly twice: "My lady, please don't laugh at me."
"I'm also a frequent customer of your Song's shop. I know a little bit about what happened after you left, and I can see the difficulties you're in now.
But my impression of you is still the same as when we first met. Back then, you didn't have such a big store, but you were so energetic every day. Why do you seem so lost now?"
Song Jinyi felt a little sad after hearing this, holding the bamboo cup. "I could see the road ahead clearly at the beginning, but now I have tried my best and can only reopen the store. I don't know what to do next."
Madam Sun took a sip of tea and said, "People's words are terrifying in this world. Bad words will stick to you as soon as they touch your lips. But how easy is it to dispel them? Dispelling rumors is like peeling off a layer of skin alive."
Madam Sun asked before she could finish her words, "Madam Song, do you know why I am still willing to come to you?"
Song Jinyi looked at Madam Sun without saying anything, waiting for her answer: "Of course it's because of the taste, and I know your character. Those who are willing to come now must be like me. As long as Madam Song can pass this hurdle, there will be no worries about the business."
Song Jinyi wiped the cup repeatedly with her fingertips and remained silent for a long time. Madam Sun also said no more and savored the tea carefully.
Just before leaving, Song Jinyi asked, "Madam Sun said I have to overcome my own difficulties. What did she mean?"
“Your heart, what holds you back isn’t the problem, but the lack of a heart to break through.”
After seeing Sun Niang off, she looked out at the shops along the street. Each shop had a different decor, a different clientele, and people were coming and going. Above the layers of buildings hung the sun, gilding the dark grey roofs with a layer of gold.
The breeze gently brushed across her face, lifting a strand of blue hair. She casually stroked her hair, her eyes changing from confused to gentle and finally to firm.
She had finally found this place to stay, and every brick and tile in this shop was selected by her personally.
How could she give up so easily? !
She will never give up.
She wanted to let everyone on the street know that Songji Sweet Water Shop would not be framed and closed down like this.
******
After closing the shop that day, Song Jinyi was thinking about what Madam Sun had said.
The glaring seal was removed, but the thorn in the tea drinker's heart had not been removed.
With the help of Madam Li, the official from the municipal office condescended to settle the matter, but was unwilling to take the trouble to find out the truth, so Song Jinyi had no choice but to find another way.
Song Jinyi couldn't sleep in the middle of the night and tossed and turned frequently. She felt a hand on her body. She turned her head and saw Xu Ruolan slowly getting up beside her.
Song Jinyi lowered her voice and asked, "But did I wake you up by turning over?"
Xu Ruolan shook her head and said, "Actually, I thought of something. I couldn't sleep anyway, and when I heard you moving, I realized you were awake too. I wanted to tell you about this."
Song Jinyi also sat up, looked at Xu Ruolan, and waited quietly.
Xu Ruolan mentioned that after Song Jinyi took Xie Wuyang to Shengjing, the store was busy and she couldn't take care of it alone, so she hired a hardworking waiter named Yao Si.
Later, something happened in the store, so Xu Ruolan paid the people their wages and sent them away.
Xu Ruolan had previously avoided investigating the incident involving the food in the store, but every time she thought about it, she felt like something was stuck in her throat.
Now that they have passed the first hurdle together, what else can make her afraid and dare not face it?
For tea drinks, the fruits are clean and fresh, and the production is done by hand, so it will never cause diarrhea.
She thought over and over again, trying to figure out what key information was in her mind, but she couldn't remember it no matter how hard she tried. Suddenly, she thought of that guy.
Only when he serves tea...he is an uncertain variable.
After listening to Xu Ruolan's analysis, Song Jinyi continued, "Sister Ruolan, do you think it was that hired guy who did it?"
"I'm not entirely sure."
"It's okay. We'll go find him tomorrow. If it's not him, it will be better for everyone if we clarify the matter. If it's him, then we'll have to make him tell the truth!"
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