Unconvinced by the reprimand, Lin Tong rolled his eyes and prepared to drag someone down with him.
So they started making fun of Jing Zhe, saying that the reason why the watermelon stall business was not good was because of Qingliang Yixia's actions, and that they deliberately opened their store opposite them in order to squeeze them out!
What's most infuriating is that they made people with the surname Lin change their surname to his "Fan"—that's utterly arrogant!
Lin Wenyao was no pushover to begin with, and upon hearing the news, he was furious.
That's why we had the scene just now where the constables went to Qingyixia to collect commercial taxes.
At this moment, the two constables were sitting in the side room of the watermelon stall, each holding a small porcelain jar containing ten popsicles, which they considered as spoils of their cool summer.
These two not only started by eating two popsicles each, but also ended up taking ten more with them. Even so, they didn't get away with their summer coolness. Their shamelessness is beyond compare.
"How did things go?"
Lin Tong showed little respect when facing the two constables.
He was a shop assistant at the Lin residence and also the person in charge of the watermelon shop. But his most important identity was actually Lin Wenyao's number one lackey, the kind who would bite wherever he was told. Lin Wenyao valued him highly, otherwise he wouldn't have let him manage the watermelon shop.
He was in charge of this whole affair, so the constables came to report to him as soon as they finished their work.
The two constables weren't afraid of Lin Tong's identity, after all, their superior was Prefect Lin, and dealing with Qingliang Yixia was just helping the Prefect's son.
"It's done."
As he spoke, the lean constable pulled out ten taels of silver from his pocket and placed it on the table. "This is the commercial tax we collected from over there!"
"Ten taels?"
He glanced at them both. "So many?"
Lin Tong naturally knew that the commercial tax was two or three-tenths of every hundred coins. Even if they sold three hundred taels of goods today, they couldn't possibly collect ten taels.
Moreover, as far as he knew, they hadn't sold it for three hundred taels...
"Hey," the lean constable tilted his head back, "Since he's someone who's offended Young Master Lin, the commercial tax can't be collected at the usual rate. We'll collect a little more as a lesson to him!"
The lean constable spoke calmly and seriously, leaving the other constable speechless.
"Excellent, excellent!"
Lin Tong nodded, then took out a tael of silver from inside and handed it to them: "Consider this tael of silver as a reward for your trouble. You two go out for a drink!"
"No need!"
The lean constable didn't even look at it and refused.
“Serving Young Master Lin is our duty, so why would we be thinking of asking for money?”
"Alright! I will report the truth to the young master tonight. Since you are so sincere, the young master will certainly not treat you unfairly! Bring watermelons!"
Then he said to the two of them, "It's hot, let's eat some watermelon to cool off!"
"No, thank you."
The two constables exchanged a glance and simultaneously shook their heads.
The lean constable glanced at Lin Tong, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping himself.
After noticing this, Lin Tong asked, "Just say what you have to say, why hide it?"
"We just went to that Cool Summer place and tried their mung bean popsicles. They're several times more effective at cooling you down than watermelon, and they taste great too! They're truly a perfect way to beat the heat!"
Ignoring Lin Tong's darkening expression, the lean constable continued, "In my opinion, simply collecting commercial taxes won't have much effect on suppressing them. As long as they continue selling popsicles, the watermelon stall's business won't be good!"
"Oh? In your opinion, what should be done?"
Lin Tong squinted and asked.
"With Young Master Lin's abilities, if we could obtain his ice-making formula, hehe..."
Having made his point, the lean constable said no more.
He stood up, cupped his hands in greeting to Lin Tong, and said, "Now that the matter is settled, we two will return to the yamen! Farewell!"
"May you two have a safe journey!"
Lin Tong didn't even bother to bow, and simply said something indifferently. Upon seeing this, the lean constable's eyes flashed with a ruthless glint.
After leaving the house, the two came to a small alley.
The lean constable took the remaining ten taels of silver from his clothes, and handed five taels to another constable.
"Thank you so much, brother!"
The man took the constable's bag, beaming with joy.
After he put the silver away, he asked curiously, "Brother, why didn't you take the silver that servant offered us?"
"hehe."
The lean constable sneered, "Ten taels of silver? Young Master Lin would naturally disdain it; it would most likely end up in that guy's pocket! Yet he only gives us one tael, not even enough to fill a tooth gap. He's much more greedy than us! Rather than give others something to talk about, we'd rather not take a single cent!"
"Luckily, I was smart enough to only give him ten taels of silver. If I had given him twenty taels, we would probably have ended up with just one tael!"
"Brother is wise!"
Another constable quickly flattered him.
"Hehe, let's not go back to the yamen. Let's find a hotel and have a good drink, and then spend the night at Zuimenglou. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
The other constable's eyes gleamed, and he grinned like a fool.
...
Inside the watermelon stall, Lin Tong's face was clouded with gloom.
Two constables were sent to collect the commercial tax, as a lesson to Qingliang Yixia and Jing Zhe.
Just as the lean constable said, the cool summer drinks will continue to be sold, but their watermelon stall business will remain a failure.
Lin Wenyao has already asked the constables for help once. If he still can't sell the watermelons, another storm is brewing for him!
The method of making ice...
After pondering for a moment, Lin Tong arrived at the watermelon shop and looked outside.
Huh…
He happened to see the Cool Summer restaurant across the street, which was closed, suddenly open its front door and a fat man walked out.
He had just seen this guy before. Wasn't he the fat guy who almost died of heatstroke the day before yesterday and caused trouble in the Cool Summer area?
How did he get inside?
He looked back and saw that the watermelon shop had hardly had any customers lately, and the shop assistants were all very idle, leaning against one side listlessly, each wandering around.
"Hey, Gou Dan, come here!"
Lin Tongchao was leaning against the window, beckoning to a shrewd-looking young waiter.
Upon hearing this, Gou Dan, whose name was simple, easy to understand, and very down-to-earth, quickly ran over and asked, "Brother Lin, you were looking for me?"
Lin Tong nodded and pointed outside, saying, "See that fat guy who looks like a ball?"
"Yes, I saw it."
"Go and follow him, then subtly ask him—"
What is "indirect approach"?
Dog Egg looked completely bewildered.
"that is…"
Lin Tong had to exert tremendous effort to finally explain it to him. Watching Gou Dan run out of the shop and disappear into the distance, Lin Tong muttered to himself:
There are fewer and fewer guys like me who are educated and knowledgeable!
————
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