Just now, no one could guess, but now the two of them are vying to guess, which is quite surprising.
"This is... blatant cheating!"
The man in the cotton coat, whose coat had been pulled away, pointed at the two men and said angrily, "Don't think I don't know what you two are doing? You two went to the back to talk just now, and you probably planned it out. You give him money, and then he tells you the answers to the riddles. After you guess them all, you split the money, right?"
"Don't talk nonsense!"
The bald waiter glared at him fiercely: "My relationship with this young master is completely innocent. When did such a sordid thing happen?"
"Pah, innocent my foot! You want me to guess too? Are you worried that if I guess too many right, you won't be able to come up with the money?"
As she spoke, she pointed at Jing Zhe: "I suspect that this person is a plant hired by your Juxianlou and Zhou Family Cloth Shop. You only sent him out when you saw that I had answered all the questions. Shameless!"
As he spoke, he spat at Jing Zhe.
"..."
Holy crap...
This guy's acting is amazing!
Are you trying to catch a shill?
If Jing Zhe hadn't known he was a plant, he would have been completely bewildered. Zhou Ziqiong was also stunned: the man in the cotton-padded coat who was speaking was clearly the plant, so how could he act so convincingly?
"What are you all arguing about?"
At this moment, Manager Hu came down from upstairs.
Upon seeing this, the man in the cotton-padded coat immediately perked up: "Manager Hu, you've come at the perfect time! Look at your waiter, he's colluding with others and preventing them from guessing riddles. Manager Hu, please uphold justice!"
"Oh? Really? What happened?"
As he spoke, Manager Hu turned to look at the bald waiter.
The bald waiter looked flustered: "Shopkeeper, don't listen to this person's nonsense. This young master promised to guess all these riddles, so I didn't let anyone else guess them!"
"Yes, yes, I guessed it all! Money's no object!"
Jing Zhe patted his chest proudly.
"Oh? What about the money?"
"I'll hand it in right away!"
As he spoke, Jing Zhe took out a two-hundred-tael silver note.
"Young master, you mustn't..."
Chen Jiannan and the others behind him immediately tried to stop him, but Jing Zhe ignored them and said, "Don't get in the way of me making money!"
"..."
So the bald waiter took the silver notes, and Jing Zhe glanced triumphantly at the man in the cotton coat, "How about that? Now that I've handed over all the silver, all these riddles are mine!"
The man in the cotton-padded coat protested, "This...this is not fair!"
"This young master has already handed over all the money, how is that unfair?"
"That's what Manager Hu said."
"I can pay too!"
"But there has to be a first-come, first-served order, right?"
"I--"
The man in the cotton-padded coat looked at Manager Hu, then at Jing Zhe, and then, as if suddenly realizing something, sneered, "Alright, I get it! You're all in cahoots! He's your shill! You were afraid I'd guess right and you wouldn't be able to pay the fines, so you paid me in advance to prevent me from guessing?"
"You can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want!"
Shopkeeper Hu said sternly, "Since you think he's a shill, then let's end the riddle guessing game today. Nobody should guess anymore. Are you satisfied?"
"Not satisfied!"
Jing Zhe and the man in the cotton-padded coat spoke at the same time.
"Oh? It seems you two are determined to win this riddle. If you both guess it correctly, won't our Juxianlou and Zhou Family Cloth Shop suffer heavy losses?"
"Heh, since you dared to make such a rule, you should have guessed this possibility!"
"Yes, a bet's a bet!"
After saying this, Jing Zhe and the man in the cotton coat exchanged a glance, and at that moment they both seemed to think that the other was probably not a plant.
Then the man in the cotton coat suggested, "Young master, I was a bit rash just now, and what I said was incorrect. You shouldn't be a shill! How about we each guess half?"
"Well, that's five thousand taels of silver then..."
"..."
Jing Zhe was still immersed in the joy of making money and agreed.
However, Manager Hu disagreed.
"You've clearly come prepared. Wouldn't that mean I and the Zhou family's cloth shop would each have to lose five thousand taels of silver? No way!"
"This is fraud!"
The man in the cotton-padded coat complained.
"Hehe, surely you wouldn't expect me to lose money? Of course, you could guess, but—"
"But what?"
Both Jing Zhe and the man in the cotton-padded coat asked curiously.
"However, you need to pay two thousand taels of silver! As long as you pay two thousand taels, you can guess as many riddles as you want! I don't care if you're colluding with him or not! But let me make it clear beforehand, you must answer at least twenty riddles in a quarter of an hour, otherwise it will take too long. How long will it take to guess two hundred riddles? Will the Lantern Festival Poetry Gathering still be held?"
"hiss!"
"Two thousand taels..."
Everyone present gasped in shock. What kind of family could afford two thousand taels of silver? There probably weren't many in the entire city of Ruzhou. Manager Hu was clearly trying to drive people away!
Sure enough, the man in the cotton-padded coat protested: "This is pure extortion! Where am I supposed to get two thousand taels of silver?"
Shopkeeper Hu chuckled and said, "This is a matter of mutual consent, how can it be called extortion? If you want to guess, then pay up; if you don't have the money, then don't guess. It's that simple."
"..."
The man in the cotton-padded coat was indignant but had no way to refute it. In the end, he still took the two hundred taels of silver he had won for the four riddles he had guessed correctly, and left cursing and swearing.
"If two people guess 100 riddles each, the last person will get 5,000 taels of silver. Now, if one person guesses 200 riddles, pays 2,000 taels of silver, and gets 10,000 taels of silver if they guess correctly, they will make a net profit of 8,000 taels of silver. It's a sure win!"
"..."
Jing Zhe was muttering to himself, and what's more, he was quite loud. The surroundings had become quieter after the man in the cotton coat left, so everyone could hear what he was saying instantly.
What kind of...divine logic is this?!
Everyone looked at Jing Zhe as if he were a fool.
However, everyone was very curious as to why he said he would take out two thousand taels of silver so easily. It seemed he really had it on him!
A bitter feeling welled up inside me: Why am I not stupid but have no money, while this person, who seems so stupid, has so much? Truly, some people are just stupid and have too much money…
Jing Zhe pondered for a while, then looked up with a bright smile, excitedly saying, "Alright, two thousand taels it is! Nobody can guess these riddles anymore, they're all mine! Hahaha..."
Hearing his "silly laugh," everyone was speechless.
"No, my husband!"
At this moment, Zhang Xiaoyu also spoke up to stop them.
"Two thousand taels of silver is no small sum. Moreover, the secret lantern isn't so easy to guess. If we guess wrong, we'll lose more than two thousand two hundred taels of silver!"
Zhang Xiaoyu looked worried, with tears welling up in her eyes. Her distressed appearance, like a pear blossom in the rain, was truly pitiful.
Everyone who saw this couldn't help but feel sorry for her. How could such a beautiful girl have chosen such a foolish man?
We're not lacking anything more than him, except for money and good looks!
————
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