Xiao Youran stepped forward, gave the old man a curtsy, and said in a clear voice, "Grandpa, please don't be in a hurry. We are indeed the owners, but as we have said, we only provide the money. The business of this restaurant and how it will be managed in the future are all handled by the Shen brothers. We were just passing by today and came in out of curiosity. If you mind, Grandpa, you don't have to pay any attention to us."
The shopkeeper, having calmed down a bit, sat down again and looked at the Shen brothers suspiciously, asking, "Is what this little girl said true?"
Shen Zhangyu also sat down at the table. "It's true. We have signed a contract with the brother and sister. The manager can rest assured to entrust the winery to us."
The shopkeeper sighed deeply, "In that case, let's continue the discussion. If my wife hadn't fallen seriously ill and urgently needed to purchase high-quality medicinal herbs, I really wouldn't have been willing to sell this tavern."
While pulling her brother around the lobby, Xiao Youran listened intently.
This is a three-story restaurant covering an area of about 300 to 400 square meters. There are about 20 tables in the lobby on the first floor, while the second and third floors are divided into private rooms.
Xiao Youran pulled her brother up to the second floor. Standing in the corridor and looking down, she saw that the tables and chairs were dilapidated, the floor was gray, and the window paper looked like it hadn't been replaced in a long time, as if it were covered with a layer of soot and ink. The whole hall looked dim and gloomy.
So this old man's business isn't doing well.
Xiao Youran basically had a good idea of what was going on.
Downstairs, the eldest brother of the Shen family was bargaining with the old man, "The rent is three hundred taels a year, that's the most I can do. We can pay it once a year."
The old man was so angry his beard almost bristled. "My wife's ginseng costs fifty taels a single ginseng root, which adds up to at least six hundred taels a year. Three hundred taels isn't even enough for my wife to eat for half a year. Just like I said, the rent is three hundred and eighty taels a year, no less!"
Shen Zhangyu began to argue, "Manager, look, the tables and chairs in this room are all very old, and we need to get rid of them all. The pots and pans in the kitchen are also very old, not to mention the tables and chairs in the private rooms upstairs, all of them need to be replaced with new ones. All of this will cost at least five or six hundred taels of silver. We are a small business, and there's a restaurant right across the street, so I'm afraid business won't be easy for us."
"In business, everyone has their own fate. This old man is also powerless, which is why the restaurant's business is declining day by day. You are young, so you can manage it well, hire a few chefs to design some signature dishes. Look at my location and popularity, how is it inferior to Xiankelai? My restaurant is just too big, and most people can't eat it all, so I want to sell it off cheaply. Originally, seeing that you were sincere in wanting it, I offered you a fixed price of three thousand taels to sell the whole restaurant to you cheaply, but who knew you couldn't afford it and still wanted to rent it. Since you want to rent it, then it really is three hundred and eighty taels a year, no less!"
Brother Shen said, “We are familiar with this market area. A restaurant or shop of this size would normally be worth only 1,500 taels. Your asking price of 3,000 taels is really too high.”
The shopkeeper, his beard bristling and eyes wide, said, "Don't look down on these worthless tables and chairs. Have you seen the second and third floors? This old man once indulged in a bit of refined taste, collecting quite a few antiques and fine items, which are displayed on both sides of the corridor for guests to admire. Those antiques and paintings cost me at least several thousand taels of silver. If I were to pawn them, they would be worth a thousand or eight hundred taels. Moreover, this old man spent decades collecting them and placing them in these upstairs locations. I really can't bear to move them; they represent my life's work. I was thinking of selling them all to you as a package deal, so they could finally find a good home. Alright, alright, if you want to rent, you can rent this building. Consider the items stored here for now, a free loan. Please don't let anyone damage them. This old man can still come and take a look from time to time."
The old shopkeeper spoke with great emotion and passion.
Xiao Youran's heart skipped a beat when she heard this, and she glanced at the walls on both sides of the corridor. Sure enough, she saw more than a dozen ornaments and some calligraphy and paintings.
She examined each item one by one. The ornaments were all sorts of strange and unusual, but most of them were inexpensive wood or stone carvings. There wasn't even any jade carving. The calligraphy and paintings, however, were of some high quality. But she didn't know much about calligraphy and paintings, so she couldn't tell the difference between the real and fake pieces at the moment.
She was stunned when she saw a bronze Buddha statue about half a foot tall in the corner.
She recognized the bronze Buddha statue.
To be precise, she recognized the expression on the bronze statue's face.
This bronze statue is of Maitreya Buddha, whose facial expression has always been that iconic smiling face with his mouth wide open.
However, although the bronze statue is smiling, its mouth is tightly closed, as if someone forcibly pulled a person's tightly pursed lips apart, which looks very forced.
Therefore, the facial expression of the entire bronze statue looks very strange.
If she hadn't witnessed the true nature of this bronze statue in her previous life, she would have only thought it was a bit strange.
Seeing that she was staring at a bronze statue for a long time, Jiang Youchen walked over curiously and asked, "What are you looking at, little sister?"
Little Youran pointed at the bronze statue and asked, "Brother, don't you think he's strange?"
Jiang Youchen looked at it carefully and nodded, saying, "It does look a little strange."
Xiao Youran pointed to a painting next to her and asked, "Brother, look at this painting again. Doesn't the Jiang family in Dingzhou have one that looks exactly the same?"
Jiang Youchen looked up again and nodded in agreement, "There is indeed an identical one, a landscape painting by the Six-Fingered Immortal of the previous dynasty. But our Jiang family spent tens of thousands of taels of silver to buy that one. This one here is probably a fake, isn't it?"
The two were not far from where Shen Zhangyu and his three companions were sitting in the lobby on the first floor, and their conversation was clearly heard by the people downstairs.
The old man's lips twitched violently.
Of course he knew these antique paintings and calligraphy were fakes; otherwise, who would dare to display them in public for people to admire? Wouldn't they be afraid of being targeted by thieves?
He knew it when he bought it, but being exposed in public by a four-year-old child was embarrassing, so he raised his head and shouted at the top of his lungs towards the second floor, "Little girl, this antique market is a deep rabbit hole. Even fakes are worth a lot of money. These things, arranged here, add a touch of elegance to this restaurant, don't they?"
Xiao Youran nodded, then ran to the edge of the corridor and shouted to the shopkeeper downstairs through the railing, "Two thousand five hundred taels, are you selling this restaurant? We'll take all these fakes too."
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