Lu Xu spent the afternoon doing calculations at the grocery store. By the end, he had memorized the prices, and the oral calculations were about to take off.
The customers who were queuing up to settle accounts listened to his counting in bewilderment: "This is ten pennies, this is fifteen, twenty-five plus thirty, fifty-five, fifty-five plus forty-five, one hundred, this is Eight cents each, you bought eight, eight eight sixty-four, sixty-four plus one hundred, one hundred sixty-four, one hundred sixty-four plus eighty, two hundred and forty-four, a total of two hundred and forty Four, right?"
guest:"……"
Lu Xu put the things into her basket, took out a small piece of square oil paper from the box, took out a piece of candy from another jar, wrapped it and put it into the basket, "You give me two Bai Si, I’ll give you another candy. Welcome to come again next time.”
Two hundred and forty articles?
The aunt silently made an estimate in her mind and found it to be cheaper than elsewhere!
She doesn't care, it's cheap overall, who cares about the little details.
She happily took out her wallet to pay and walked out with the basket.
Lu Xu continued to take the goods picked by the next person, and quickly put the priced items from one side to the other side of the counter, "This one is expensive, ninety cents, a total of four, four nine thirty-six, three hundred six." Ten coins, add ten, add fifteen, add thirty, add fifty, add eight, add one hundred, add twenty.”
Lu Xu put the last item on the other side, "The total is...five hundred and ninety-three, right?"
guest:"……"
He just listened to Lu Xu's report on how much each item cost. Who knows if it's right or not?
The person behind asked: "You don't have an abacus?"
"Abacus?" Lu Xu looked at the abacus that he pushed to the corner because it was in the way, "I'm not familiar with abacus, how about I try it again?"
The customer who was paying the bill immediately said: "No need! Five hundred and ninety-three is five hundred and ninety-three!"
Buying these things elsewhere would cost more than 600.
Lu Xu: "You can give me five hundred and ninety coins, and I'll also give you a piece of candy."
Guest: "Choose a big one for me."
Lu Xu: "No problem."
This jar of candy had been placed in the corner before. There were too many people and it would be kicked by anyone who passed by. Lu Xu saw that it was small pieces of crushed candy, so he simply moved it to the counter and gave it away as a gift.
He was so busy until nightfall that Lu Xu was so hungry that his chest pressed against his back. The store was about to close and there were still customers who wanted to buy things.
Lu Xu closed the door first, paid the bills for the last few people in the store, pulled over the bench and sat down to rest.
Lu Xuan was leading people to clean up the warehouse in the back. Seeing that the front door was closed, he also locked the warehouse and asked Lu Xu to go back to the inn for dinner.
Lu Xu took a few bites of rice and asked, "Do you still remember the couplets posted in my room?"
Lu Xuan held his chopsticks in his mouth and thought carefully, "Couplet?"
Lu Xu: “Not in the county, but in the village!”
Lu Xuan thought for a while, "I have an impression."
When Lu Xu smiled, he knew that Lu Xuan had a better memory than him, "Write out that couplet."
Lu Xuan: "...???"
He put down his chopsticks and reached out to touch Lu Xu's forehead.
Lu Xu dodged away and said disgustedly: "What are you doing?"
Lu Xuan: "I want to ask you again! It's been almost a year, can I remember? How many times have you seen it, how many times have I seen it, but you don't remember it, can I remember it?"
Lu Xu: "..."
Lu Xuan picked up his chopsticks and continued eating: "The ones in your room look like paintings. How can I recognize them? I don't know as many words as you do."
Lu Xu hated him for not arguing: "Can't you recognize me more?"
Lu Xuan was also angry: "Do you think everyone is Yan Shulang? Why don't you go back and ask him?"
Lu Xu: "..."
It's not like he didn't ask.
Yes, he asked, why didn't Jun Qi say anything?
Lu Xu held up his chopsticks and fell into deep thought.
Lu Xuan muttered, "Okay, what do you want to do with the couplet?"
Could it be that seeing the nearby literary toy shop reminded me of Yan Shulang?
Lu Xuan couldn't understand, so he rapped the table with his knuckles, "Come back to your senses. Brother, please think about my shop first. What do you think about opening our own grocery store in Qinglong City?"
When Lu Xu mentioned the grocery store, his mind began to buzz with math problems again. He complained: "Why did you open a grocery store?"
According to his plan, these things would be shipped to Qinglong City and sold to a few big customers for wholesale. Why bother with retailing?
Lu Xuan disagreed: "I saw that Qinglong City is short of these, and even the price of bowls and chopsticks is much higher than that of Guanyang. When the whole car is sold to the merchants, they are unwilling to pay. It seems that the big merchants like Qinglong City have negotiated with them. , selling it to them at a low price is better than selling it retail.”
Lu Xu thought about it, and it seemed that Qinglong City's business monopoly was also very serious. He sighed: "But we are short of manpower right now. Who cares if you open a store?"
Lu Xuan: "Just hire someone."
Lu Xu: "Who to hire?"
Lu Xuan: "Jiu Sheng."
Lu Xu: "Who?"
Lu Xuan said in disbelief: "Lu Jiu Sheng! Do you remember the couplet but not Jiu Sheng?"
Lu Xu was so angry that he wanted to beat him up: "I remember! ... If you don't fear getting beaten when you go back, just let Jiu Sheng stay."
Lu Xuan snorted: "If I tell Sister-in-law Qiuyun that Jiu Sheng is the shopkeeper here, she will have to kowtow to me, and she might even come to Jiu Sheng with her child in her arms."
Lu Xu thought about it, it was really possible.
Although Lu Jiusheng's surname is Lu, he is not from the same clan as Lu Xu and others.
His family has many children, eleven brothers and sisters together. The first children were precious, but later they became worthless. His father chose his name just because he was born after a long time - the time when he was born was special. Long.
Among the eleven children, he is the youngest, several years younger than his eldest nephew. His older brothers and sisters had already married. When the brothers separated, he was only eight years old. He was an eight-year-old kid and was not taken seriously at home. Naturally, he did not have any money or land.
His parents took him to live in several brothers' houses in turns, which was fine at first, but when his brother's house started to have more children, everyone thought he was a burden.
When he was about to get married, his mother was gone and his father was confused and didn't remember him at all.
No one spoke to support him, so his brother and sister-in-law were naturally unwilling to help him.
There was no house, not many fields, and no girl from the nearby village was willing to talk to his home.
The last family mentioned is also a poor family from a neighboring town and small village.
The young couple got married, but they still lived in a shabby house that his elder brother didn't want. It was leaky and leaky, and the walls had long been eaten by snakes and rats. His wife was cleaning the house at home and was almost bitten by a snake.
In the end, Lizheng still couldn't stand it, so he asked his brothers for a round of money, and got some money from the Lu family ancestral hall for him to build a new house.
Lu Jiusheng did not dare to build a big house. The couple did not hire anyone. They built two thatched houses on the edge of the village. They cultivated wasteland by themselves. During the off-season, the couple worked as part-time workers. Now they are raising two children and living a good life. passable.
When Lu Xu bought a mountain and hired people to cut down trees, his family was the first to sign up.
Lu Xu was recruiting people this time, and Lu Jiusheng was among the first to sign up. He wanted to make more money and renovate a house so that his children could live more spaciously.
Lu Xu thought about it and decided to ask Lu Jiusheng to come over and talk.
Being away from home is very hard.
Especially since he has little business experience, he will definitely encounter all kinds of unexpected difficulties, and he will have no one to talk to when he is wronged.
Lu Jiusheng was seven or eight years older than Lu Xu and Lu Xuan, but he looked like he was in his thirties, and he was a little dull.
Lu Xu took a breath and told Lu Jiusheng one by one about the difficulties and troubles he might encounter.
Qinglong City is not as snobbish and complex as Guanyang, and cannot be compared to a small county town.
If they were in Dengzhou or Guanyang, Lu Xu would definitely let them come and do whatever they wanted, and he would be confident that he would be able to tell the truth if anything went wrong.
But Qinglong City...
He really can't do it.
He has been here several times, and none of the local gangsters in Qinglong City have even looked at him.
In a place like this, Lu Xuan and Lu Xu would not be at ease, let alone Lu Jiu Sheng.
Lu Xu: "Qinglong City is not as good as Guanyang, and I have no connections here. If you encounter any trouble after we go back, we won't be able to help you at all."
When Lu Jiusheng heard what he said, he also wanted to quit, but after thinking about it for a long time, he still said: "I will do my job here and do some small business, and I won't offend anyone."
He didn't meet many good people in his life, and he encountered even fewer opportunities. In order to make money in the past, he worked as a coolie and replaced others in doing labor. He could do all the coolies. Is this business of sheltering from wind and rain worse than working as a coolie? Disaster?
No matter for himself or for the sake of his children, he wanted to try it no matter what.
Lu Xu has always liked smart and lively guys, but looking at Lu Jiusheng, he somehow reminded him of the first time he met Lu Yong.
Lu Yong was selling rice dumplings with a basket. He saw him and was so frightened that he could not speak smoothly. He asked Lu Yong to set up a stall with him to sell rice dumplings and tofu. Lu Yong had to prepare it for a long time before talking to others. Only then did I dare to speak...
People will change under pressure and motivation. Some people can overcome it and become better, while others will be crushed by the pressure. No one will know unless they try.
Lu Xu frowned and pursed his lips, thinking for a long time.
After a while, Lu Xu said: "Okay, you stay and open the store, and you can ask others to see if anyone is willing to stay and help you. I will think about how to do it specifically."
Lu Jiusheng was so happy that he even knocked on the door with his hands and feet when he went out.
Lu Xu laughed.
He didn't know if Lu Jiusheng could change like Lu Yong, but since Lu Jiusheng wanted to try, he would give it a try. Maybe such a determined person might be better than a smart and capable person.
But he couldn't just leave the person here. He had to think carefully about how to stay in Qinglong City for a long time.
Lu Xuan: "Let's sell the valuable things and only sell the cheap ones in the grocery store. We can't be targeted by others for our small business, right?"
Lu Xu thought to himself, your brother and I thought the same way when we first went to Guanyang County to sell snails.
He was selling a few bowls of snails at that time, but wasn't he inexplicably targeted by Song Liu?
Lu Xu: "Go and call the inn man."
With experience in Guanyang, Lu Xu now understands that it doesn't matter if there is no way out. If you want to establish a business in a strange place, there is nothing you can do. It's very simple, just pay the protection fee!
Didn't the Luo family do this business secretly in Guanyang?
However, protection money must be paid by the right person.
For example, if you want to open a shop in Guanyang to ensure safety, the best choice is to find Luojia, the price is not too high and guaranteed; if you want to do small business, go to Guanyang Alliance, which is cheap and affordable; for shipping, go to Guanyang Alliance or The boat gang has strong strength on the water; if they encounter any trouble, they don't want to expose it and alert the government, so they go to the Ma family. In the entire Guanyang County, there is nothing wrong with the Ma family, and even the county magistrate has to give them some face.
Is it okay to open a store with Ma's family? Of course it's okay. Ma's family takes the lead and no one will refute Ma's reputation. But if you want to ask Ma's family to do this, the cost is not ordinary.
If Lu Xu wanted to do business in Qinglong City, he had to find out how many snakes and dragons there were in Qinglong City, and who was good at spraying water and who was good at lighting fires.
When the waiter was called, he thought Lu Xu wanted to order dinner. When he heard this question, he was a little confused. Why: "I have to ask other guests if they want to eat..."
Lu Xu: "Everyone eats it, and the animals also need to be fed. Let the kitchen do it."
Guy: "..."
That's right, the people staying in their store today are all people brought by the Lu brothers.
Lu Xu: "You eat with us, let the kitchen cook whatever you want, and I'll pay the bill."
The waiter happily told the kitchen to cook. When he came back, he brought a pot of hot tea. He was fully prepared and came over to gossip.
There are so many powerful families in Qinglong City, big and small, even a local man like me can't explain them clearly, but everyone knows that there are only eight families.
"Eight families?" Lu Xu was stunned. So many?
The guys who came from big cities were also surprised. Their Qinglong City was so big, but there weren’t as many as eight? These are just the ones that everyone knows, he hasn't counted the low-key, second-level ones yet.
Lu Xu signaled him to speak quickly.
After gossiping for a whole night, Lu Xu finally figured out that in Qinglong City, everyone is trying to influence the small family, and the small family is trying to influence everyone. The snobbishness of those small families is more or less related to the Eight Families.
The eight families are even more complicated. There are some who are related by marriage, some who are enemies, some who were originally relatives and later fell out, some who were originally enemies who joined forces later, some who broke up the family and broke up, some who are natives, and some who later became rich. They married each other and competed for each other's territory. The longest family had been in Qinglong City for hundreds of years, which was longer than the previous dynasty of Daqika.
As for which of them is the most powerful and has the most background, the local people don't know much about it. Most of what the clerk can tell Lu Xu is hearsay and gossip.
If you want to find a mountain top to pay protection fees, it seems that anyone can do it, but no one seems to be particularly suitable.
Lu Xu was a little depressed. After asking for a long time, it was actually just superficial! These big business owners are so complex that it is staggering to understand. Isn’t there anything simple and easy to understand?
Lu Xu suddenly remembered what Chen Lian said when he introduced him to stay here, that this inn was guarded by their general.
Lu Xu had an idea and asked curiously: "Which store is your store behind?"
"We?" The clerk was confused and said matter-of-factly: "We are different from them. We are under the control of the Beiying Xiaoqi Military."
When it comes to his backers, the guy has even more to say.
After another long period of time, Lu Xu extracted objective facts from his sincere admiration and subjective flattery——
Qinglong City is the most important garrison in Shuozhou, a defensive fortress, and the generals have a transcendent status.
Although many of the eight families control the land and economy of Qinglong City, each family has to pay protection fees to the Xiaoqi Army.
Especially in the past few years, the war between Daqi and the barbarians was at a fever pitch. The barbarians broke through Qianjiao Ridge and marched to Qinglong City. The former general Xin Xinghuai of the Xiaoqi Army died in the battle. The current general Zhang Chang was ordered to face the danger. The first thing he did was to forcibly attack Qinglong City. Recruiting food and troops, and exhaustion delayed the main force of the barbarians for three months. It was not until Li Xiu arrived with his troops and attacked the main force of the barbarians that Shuozhou was saved.
Since then, the Qiaoqi Army has been marching sideways in Qinglong City, knocking out a large amount of silver grain every year. The imperial court cannot pay them, and they can only support Li Xiu's Northern Army, but they all rely on the big players in Qinglong City.
In short, they are experts in collecting protection fees in Qinglong City.
What Lu Xu wants to find is such an expert with simple and rough business. However, the Xiaoqijun family is too big, and the whole Qinglong City has to pay them protection fees. Lu Xu just opens a small grocery store, will they like it?
Lu Xu was worried again.
How about going to find Chen Lian and hugging He Chengye shamelessly?
Thinking of this, Lu Xu became confused again. Since the Qiao Cavalry Army was so prosperous in Qinglong City, Chen Lian and Wu Gang had to chase a group of bandits across two counties, all the way to Longxing County, and still fight against his little food. Drooling?
You can't pretend to be poor just to deceive him as a small businessman, right?
The words of the whole family are not trustworthy. Based on his understanding of Chen Lian, their Xiaoqijun cannot gain weight, so he had better inquire further.
The author has something to say:
Lu Xu: It’s so troublesome to send money to people. Big cities are really annoying.
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