Seeing the displeasure in his tone, the shopkeeper came to him and explained.
"Sir, it's not that I don't appreciate your kindness, but I simply cannot accept it. To be honest, today is the last day my little shop is open. Even though I'm closing this restaurant, I still have to live in Yilan County, and I dare not offend these officials."
"Your restaurant is doing well, why don't you run it?"
The shopkeeper sighed heavily.
"To be honest, situations like the one just now happen almost every month. You said my little shop can only make a dozen taels of silver a month. If I give ten taels to these officials, then my work would be in vain. Instead of working here and not making any money, I might as well go home and find something else to do."
Hearing this, Leng Yu asked even more angrily,
Do they come every month?"
"Yes, they don't just come to our restaurant, they go to other places too. The big ones charge ten or twenty taels, the small ones charge three or five taels. Anyway, no one can escape it. This is the rule that has been formed here for many years."
"That's outrageous."
Leng Yu clenched his fists with a dark face.
"Then the magistrate doesn't care?"
The shopkeeper looked around and saw that no one was around, so he said cautiously:
"This is all instructed by the county magistrate, otherwise these officials would never dare to do it!"
Upon hearing this, Leng Yu became even angrier.
He slammed the table and said angrily:
"How dare they do such a heartless thing in broad daylight? It's truly... truly audacious."
Seeing Leng Yu was a little angry, the shop owner waved his hands to explain.
"You're probably a guest passing by. Look at my mouth, I'm not very careful. Please enjoy your meal."
Just as he was about to leave, Luo Lan called him back.
"Shopkeeper, wait a minute."
The shopkeeper stood still a little nervously, turned around and looked at her cautiously.
"What else do you want?"
Luo Lan chuckled softly,
"You just said you don't want to run the restaurant anymore, so are you renting out the house?"
Hearing this, the shop owner nodded hurriedly.
"Of course we have to rent it out, but Yilan County is in a recession right now, business is bad, and people from the county government are always causing trouble, so no one dares to rent it!"
"Would you please rent it to us?"
The shopkeeper was stunned for a moment, then looked at Luo Lan in surprise.
"You want to buy this shop?"
Luo Lan nodded solemnly.
"Yes, we are from another place and want to start a small business, but we are worried about finding a suitable storefront."
The shopkeeper suddenly shook his head and sighed.
"Logically, I should be happy that you want to buy my shop, but I can't cheat you just because you're from outside. If you want to do business, find another place, not Yilan County, otherwise you'll easily lose everything."
Seeing the shopkeeper's kind reminder, Luo Lan narrowed his eyes and glanced at Leng Yu.
Leng Yu looked at the shopkeeper.
"Since my wife has taken a fancy to your shop, please sell it to us. But thank you for reminding us, boss. In business, there are gains and losses. We will be mentally prepared."
Hearing this, the shopkeeper was stunned for a moment, then nodded reluctantly.
"Okay, I'll pack my things now..."
"No need to rush to clean up. We are new here and don't know much about this place. Could you tell us about Yilan County?"
Upon seeing this, Ah Hou hurriedly gave up her seat and asked the shopkeeper to sit down.
The shopkeeper sat down without hesitation, hesitated for a moment, and said:
"If I hadn't seen you, I wouldn't have dared to say much. Since you want to do business here, I'll just briefly tell you a few things to keep in mind so you don't get hurt."
Leng Yu gestured with her hand.
"I'd like to hear about it."
The shopkeeper then slowly spoke,
"The magistrate of Yilan County is named Hu Mingtian. Even though he's the magistrate, he has to obey his advisor, Boss Wang, in everything, because Boss Wang has a powerful backer."
When he mentioned the word "expert", he lowered his voice mysteriously.
"This tall man is not just tall, he's bigger than you can imagine."
Luo Lan took a breath of cold air and could not help but sneer:
"How much bigger can it be? The most powerful people in Daning Kingdom are the Emperor and the Empress..."
The shopkeeper suddenly slapped his thigh in surprise.
"Miss, you are right. The master behind Boss Wang is indeed related to the current Queen..."
"Uh-huh……"
At this point, the waiter coughed several times behind him to signal him not to say any more.
He realized once again that he had spoken too quickly and waved his hands in embarrassment.
"Dear guests, please just treat what I just said as nonsense. Please enjoy your meal. I'm going to go pack up."
After saying this, the shopkeeper ran away in shame.
Leng Yu's face was once again covered with a black line.
He turned around and looked at Luo Lan, lowered his voice, and said cautiously:
"Who are these people? They dare to use your identity to commit evil deeds. If they didn't have a basis, they would never dare to act so recklessly."
Luo Lan frowned and pondered for a while, then shook his head.
"I don't understand what's going on either, but as you said, these people can't do these evil things in my name for no reason. I'm even more eager to find out what's going on than you are."
At this time, the shop owner packed up his things and came out from the back room with the waiter and the chef. He took out a piece of straw paper and spread it on the table.
"Girl, you just said you wanted to buy this shop. I'll give you a discount, fifty taels of silver a year. If you agree, let's sign the agreement now. After all, you're from out of town and need a place to stay tonight. I'm thinking, I don't plan to open this shop anymore. If you have no objections, let's sign the agreement now, then we'll take the money and leave. You can just clean up the backyard and move in. How's that?"
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