Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 443: Eating Upstairs is Free
Yu Huishou had witnessed Zhang Shou and A Liu, the master and servant, eating the normal amount of food for six people in his restaurant. Today, when others were dumbfounded when they saw the short, weak and unremarkable young man sweeping away all the plates on the table like a whirlwind, Yu Huishou, who was as calm as a stick, looked calm.
Not only others, but even Weinan Earl Zhang Kang and Liu Zhiyuan stared at Ah Liu with eyes full of surprise. As for Lu Sanlang, he was used to Ah Liu staying calm no matter what happened. In addition, there was the precedent of Zhu Er being fooled around by others, so he not only acted as if nothing had happened, but also asked attentively: "Sixth brother, how do these dishes taste?"
Ah Liu looked at Lu Sanlang with some doubt, and then asked back: "How can something that can participate in the imperial chef selection not taste good?"
Everyone who was qualified to have a seat on the second floor had just been surprised at the boy's ferocious eating style, but when they heard this simple yet honest evaluation, they immediately grinned and were very proud of themselves - they thought this kid was a starving ghost who couldn't taste anything, but they didn't expect that he still had a very good mouth.
Lu Sanlang had never expected that Ah Liu would give such a pleasing answer. If he hadn't known that young people always said what they meant, he would have thought that the boy had suddenly become clever and changeable. But there was no doubt that such an answer would help him continue his work, so he immediately smiled and gave Ah Liu a thumbs up.
"Sixth brother has a really good palate! If you say it's good, then it must be good. You are the most meticulous in what you say and do. Otherwise, why would the emperor choose you to teach Zhu Erlang, who is always lazy and doesn't do anything?"
He praised Ah Liu without making any expression, and seeing that the eyes from all directions that were originally looking down on Ah Liu suddenly became more respectful, he smiled secretly, thinking that with your level, you don't even have the capital to be complacent in front of others!
Ah Liu saw what Lu Sanlang meant and couldn't help but frown. He didn't like such flattery. But Lu Sanlang's next words completely dispelled his dissatisfaction. As for what Lu Sanlang said in all seriousness? In fact, it was very simple. He just looked at him very sincerely and said, "I have always believed that a man who can eat and fight is a real man."
Zhang Shou was sitting there, and when he saw Lu Sanlang playing tricks on Ah Liu, he couldn't help but sneer. When he glanced at the snacks in Xiao Huasheng's hand, it seemed that the snacks were no longer in the paper bag of Huangqiao sesame cakes. It was obvious that when the subordinates delivered the dishes and snacks, they also very considerately prepared something else for people. At this moment, the person still had chopped green onions on his mouth, but his eyes kept glancing at the stage. He couldn't help but shook his head.
Compared to Zhang Shou's relaxed attitude, Liu Zhiyuan was staring at the bustling crowd downstairs. When he saw a familiar figure approaching the door of the teahouse but being stopped, he couldn't help but stand up impatiently. Zhang Kang, who was standing by, immediately noticed something and whispered a word to the waiter beside him.
The waiter hurried downstairs, and soon he came back with the person who had been stopped at the door. Liu Zhiyuan finally came to his senses, nodded to thank Zhang Kang, and then waved to call the person over and asked directly, "What's the situation downstairs?"
"Master, the various guilds have set up thirteen booths in total. Each booth has at least one chef, and at most two or three. There are already twenty or thirty people lined up in front of the booths with more people, and at least seven or eight people in the booths with fewer people are watching the fun. In addition to those who are nearby to listen to the show, I roughly counted that there are at least four or five hundred people around, and more people are constantly coming here."
Liu Zhiyuan nodded slightly . If there was no big news beforehand, such a flow of people was normal. After all, this was a relatively remote area even in the outer city. And although there were many idle people in the capital, most people still had to work to make a living. How could they all come to watch the fun?
However, when Lu Sanlang, who had just acted with Ah Liu for a while, returned to his seat, he stretched out his hand and snapped his fingers outside the window. After a while, someone came up the stairs again.
This time, Zhang Shou recognized him at a glance. This was clearly a student he assigned to help Lu Sanlang. There was a suspicious oil stain on the edge of his mouth. He probably had just eaten. He even burped loudly when he opened his mouth, and then a strong smell of green onions came out.
He realized his mistake in a moment and hurriedly shut his mouth. Then he realized that he couldn't speak like this, so he could only cover his mouth with his hand and whispered, "We followed the instructions of Master Lu and counted the number of people entering and leaving at several nearby intersections. At the first intersection north of Xinglong Tea House, seventy-one people entered within an hour, and two people left."
"At the first street intersection in the east, sixty-two people entered within one hour, and three people left. At the first street intersection in the west, forty-eight people entered within one hour, and five people left..."
"By the way, the number of people who left does not include those who followed those chivalrous men who took the flower-shooting gang out for a parade. There were seventeen of them in total."
Listening to the Jiuzhangtang student reporting out numbers very fluently, from the first street intersection in the southeast, northwest, and east to the second street intersection in the southeast, northwest, and east, Liu Zhiyuan, who had previously asked his followers to observe the flow of people, took a deep breath inwardly, and Weinan Earl Zhang Kang could not help but look at Lu Sanlang who was listening attentively in surprise, and then glanced at Zhang Shou.
Zhang Shou saw that many of the leaders and businessmen sitting at the square tables around him were eavesdropping, so he smiled and explained to Zhang Kang and Liu Zhiyuan, "This is a very simple way to count people. It can roughly calculate the flow of people attracted to an event. Especially for remote areas like the outer city where not many people pass by, this method of calculating the number of people entering and leaving is very intuitive."
"Of course, if we want to be more precise, we can also calculate the ratio of men to women among these people, whether they shop or not, and how long they stay, but that would require too many people. So, now we are just sending people to simply calculate the flow of people at the surrounding intersections as a reference. Of course, this is a very simple job, and I don't think my Jiuzhangtang supervisors will have to do it next."
At this moment, Fourth Master Hua was the first to stand up without even thinking: "Such a simple matter, our Suzhou Guild Hall is willing to send someone..."
Before he finished speaking, Lu, the head of the Shandong Guild Hall, immediately said, "Isn't it just a few people? We in the Shandong Guild Hall can have as many as you want..."
Seeing that the situation was about to turn into the same one he had experienced at the Yangzhou Guild Hall last time, Lu Sanlang quickly stood up and comforted them, "Everyone, this kind of thing is actually boring and easy to make mistakes. If you are willing to do it, that would be great. And if you have extra manpower, you can actually do one more thing, which is to count the flow of people at your own booth."
The fat boy had already been told by Zhang Shou what the so-called big data was, so he seemed very confident at this time.
"For example, each hour is a node, and the number of people who come to your booth and the number of food portions sold are counted, and then recorded one by one and drawn into a visual chart. Do you know what a visual chart means? Oh, this is what the teacher taught his proud student Deng Xiaodai, but he went out with Governor Xuan Dawang, otherwise it would not be my turn to explain this to you..."
Although Lu Sanlang's explanation was somewhat boastful of his knowledge, Zhang Shou saw that Liu Zhiyuan and Zhang Kang were also gradually listening attentively, not to mention many businessmen who wanted to write down every word. He knew that the fat man's speech already had some practical significance.
Of course, it is a bit nonsense to talk about big data and data visualization in this era when even business operations are not standardized. But even so, he hopes to spread these things. It doesn’t matter whether people believe it or not. The important thing is that as long as this is done, mathematics will have another symbolic meaning besides its application in accounting.
So, while the fat boy was giving a lecture non-stop, Zhang Shou said hello to Liu Zhiyuan and Zhang Kang, picked up little Peanut who was engrossed in watching the show, called Ah Liu, and quietly went downstairs.
He knew that someone must have noticed his departure - after all, he had seen several people with confused faces who were just trying to force themselves to listen to the fat man's theories, including Fourth Master Hua who was looking at him distractedly, but he pretended not to notice and went on his way as usual. When he walked out of the teahouse door, he saw at a glance that the three little guys were already waiting for him outside.
Even Xiao Cheng, who was reluctant to come out before, was beaming with joy, not to mention Yang Hao and Zheng Dang, who were talking eloquently. The two young men from the countryside pulled Xiao Cheng forward quickly. Yang Hao glanced at Ah Liu first, then whispered, "Master, the money is all gone."
This was an answer that did not surprise Zhang Shou. In a place like this where there were so many delicious foods, it would definitely not be enough for three people to eat together if they were full of food. What puzzled him was that this amount of money was not enough, and why no one came upstairs to ask him for more money.
The next moment, his doubts were answered. After scratching his head, Yang Laoguan's grandson added in a low voice: "Later, we spent all the extra 200 coins that Sixth Brother gave us."
Ah Liu's brows suddenly frowned, and his sharp eyes swept over the faces of the three little ones. Just as Zhang Shou was muttering that this kid shouldn't be so stingy, he almost stumbled because of what Ah Liu said.
"Why don't you go upstairs? Eating upstairs is free!" Weinan Earl Zhang Kang and that little fat guy Lu will pay the bill!
Even Peanut, who always worshipped Ah Liu in every aspect, was completely dumbfounded when he heard the god-like words "eating upstairs is free". It was the first time he knew that Ah Liu was such a money-grubber.
However, what made him even more stupid was the silly Zheng Dang beside him exclaiming as if he had suddenly realized something: "If we had known earlier, we would have taken Xiao Xiaozi upstairs to eat! The three of us ate at six restaurants!"
"That's enough!" Zhang Shou was very suspicious. If he hadn't been so happy and comforted by Lu Sanlang's perfect performance upstairs just now, he would have been pissed off to death by these funny guys at home!
The only thing to be thankful for was that Xiao Cheng suddenly changed the subject loudly, whether intentionally or unintentionally: "Brother Zhang, some of the people who were parading the flower-shooting gangs have returned. They said that those guys were identified and used the excuses of catching escaped slaves, helping people find runaway wives, or picking up relatives to run rampant in the outer city. They have kidnapped many people in the past two or three years."
After Xiao Cheng said this, Yang Hao immediately realized what he should do, and he quickly followed up, "That's right, when the news came just now, there was a commotion outside for a while, especially many people had eaten and drunk enough, so they rushed over to watch the excitement. On the vegetable market street, someone claimed to have lost his children or other people, and they were so angry that they almost beat those guys to death!"
Hearing this, Zhang Shou couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, and then asked in a deep voice: "What happened next?"
If he really allowed the so-called victims to beat the traffickers to death, then he would have to be reserved about the working methods of the emperor's elite soldiers. But just as he was thinking this, he heard Ah Liu say calmly: "I have told them that those flower-shooting gangs can vent their anger if they are beaten, but if they die, they will pay with their lives."
After these words were spoken, everyone was shocked except for Peanut who was the only one who didn't notice the scene. Zheng Dang couldn't help but yelled, "Sixth Brother, could it be that you had those people who took pictures of the flowers arrested?"
"Yes." Ah Liu answered very calmly. Seeing Zhang Shou staring at him in surprise, and obviously realizing that he had asked someone to do it, he said confidently, "I just conquered the Iron Clothes Gang the day before yesterday, so naturally they should contribute."
It is not appropriate for the madman's people to show up too often, so let the madman lead his men to raid the enemy camp!
Although Ah Liu didn't finish his words, Zhang Shou still roughly understood what he meant. He had no sympathy for those traffickers , but he felt sorry for the Iron Clothes Gang, which had a very impressive name. When he expressed his wish to know what happened next, Ah Liu immediately puffed up his lips and let out a sharp whistle.
Almost in the blink of an eye, an inconspicuous little man appeared in front of him. He first glanced at Ah Liu cautiously, then nodded and said, "Those flower-shooting gangs are being held on the vegetable market street. Although the public is furious, our Iron Clothes Gang has some reputation in the outer city..."
Before he could finish his words, Ah Liu interrupted him harshly, "Get to the point."
The little guy immediately shut up like a quail with its throat pinched , and then said very obediently: "Brothers, according to your instructions, intend to lure the snake out of its hole and the one in the jar... well, catch the turtle!"
Seeing Ah Liu wave his hand to chase the man away, Zhang Shou looked at Ah Liu with a look of astonishment rather than surprise. When did Ah Liu, who always seemed very dull, actually learn the art of war? Under his gaze, Ah Liu smiled mysteriously: "The madman said that as long as you smile like this without saying anything, others will make reasonable inferences and work hard."
At this moment, Zhang Shou was in a state of confusion. This was easy to understand, just like the emperor was unfathomable and his ministers were trying to figure out his intentions. But it turned out that the so-called luring the snake out of its hole and catching the turtle in the jar was not Ah Liu's strategy at all, but the brainstorming of the Iron Clothes Gang?
