Volume 2: A sudden change in the prison, a red-clothed man goes out to find a thief Chapter 175 Asking acquaintances to take care of business is a routine operation
"Um, Fourth Brother, have you ever really been in the martial arts world?"
In the lobby where there were almost no guests, the waiter Ning Caihe sat next to Li Si, looked at Li Si with curious eyes and asked.
He asked very carefully, fiddling with his fingers nervously while asking, his eyes flickering a little, as if he was afraid of asking something he shouldn't ask. But even so, being able to take the initiative to talk to Li Si was already a rare improvement for him in the past few days.
Three days had passed since the shopkeeper decided to keep Li Si. Li Si had become familiar with the other shop assistants, at least knowing their names, and also learned some of their stories from Banjiexian.
In addition to the waiter Ning Caihe, the old scholar who manages the accounting office is called Luo Ansheng. It is said that he was once rich for a period of time when he was a child, so he did some learning with the teachers invited by his family. But later his family fell into poverty, so he had to wander around. Unlike his name, it can be said that he has never had a peaceful life. The experiences in the first half of his life were not wonderful, but they were also numerous. He worked as a book boy for others, worked as a zither player in a brothel, examined women's needlework, and rang the hexagram bell for passers-by. He once indulged in depravity, but he also persuaded prostitutes to become good people. Finally, he came here, ready to settle down and spend the rest of his life.
The cook's name is Hao Dayou. It is said that he became a cook because he loves to eat. When he was a child, his family could not afford to support him, so they left him alone on the road to fend for himself. Later, an old cook picked him up, took him around, and taught him cooking skills, so he became a little cook. He took the old cook's surname and named himself Dayou, not only because it was easy to pronounce, but also to get a good omen. Hao Dayou has a wide range of knowledge, from south to north, from west to east, it seems that there is no place he has not been to, so it is usually very interesting to chat with him. After the old cook died, he came here with a letter of introduction, just because the old cook told him that he would not starve to death here. So he stayed here, and he didn't know how many years he had been there. On weekdays, he took the most care of Xiaohe, and would give him more when eating, probably because they were both orphans.
The woman doing odd jobs was called Cao Wenxuan, a nice name, not like a girl from an ordinary family. But Banjiexian did not say much about her origins, but only told Li Si that her origins were not good, so he did not say more.
The waiter Ning Caihe is an orphan. He wandered here on a snowy night five years ago. He was only eight years old at that time. The shopkeeper took him in without saying much. He said he was asked to be a handyman, but in fact he was just taking care of him. Ning Caihe is very sensible. Although he is not very old, he does no less work than Cao Wenxuan and others every day. I think he wants to repay the shopkeeper. This time when the restaurant encountered difficulties, he did not think of leaving. In his words, he would go wherever everyone else is, and the others would not go anywhere. After hearing this, the shopkeeper's eyes were red for several days, and no one knew what he was thinking.
The shopkeeper is called Zhang Susu, a girl from an ordinary family. Although her name is very plain, her figure is charming enough, and it has been one of the main means to attract customers over the years. But it is said that she has a destiny of being unlucky. When she was young, she killed her husband and parents, so she was recruited by Banjiexian to be the shopkeeper. She has been doing this for more than ten years, and she has always been in charge of this store. However, it must be said that her destiny is really extraordinary. Since she took over this store, the store has been getting worse and worse, to the point where it is about to fail. However, Banjiexian did not seem to care about this, and had no intention of firing her. Instead, he regarded this as an experience for her.
Finally, there was Banjiexian, who claimed to be He Zhancheng working in this store. This was probably the longest time he had stayed in this store. He said that he had been there for several years on and off.
"Yes, I did work there for a few years." Li Si answered Ning Caihe's question with a smile, and then asked again.
"Who told you this?"
"Uncle Zhan Cheng said so. He said that Fourth Brother was a gangster before he came here." Ning Caihe would not lie and told the source of her information truthfully.
"Really?" Li Si nodded, reached out and patted Ning Caihe's hair, then glanced sideways at Banjiexian who was standing in the corner wiping the table, and curled his lips.
Banjiexian quickly shrank his neck and continued wiping the table as if nothing had happened.
He has a weakness that an information dealer should not have, that is, he is a leaky mouth. Xiao Muchu is much better than him in this aspect. I really don't know how he can survive in this world without his mysterious disguise skills. The people he has offended alone are estimated to implicate half of the world.
"Hehe." Ning Caihe smiled shyly, and continued to look at Li Si and asked, "Then Fourth Brother, are you famous in the martial arts world?"
Although he looks like a girl, he is a boy after all, and has a natural yearning for stories about the martial arts world.
"This..." Li Si didn't know how to answer for a moment.
"I heard that there is indeed a man named Li Si in the world, known as the King of Thieves, and his martial arts skills are the best in the world." At this time, Lao Luo, who was standing by the counter and counting on an abacus, suddenly spoke. He didn't raise his head, probably because he was still calculating how much he would lose today.
"Wow!" Ning Caihe's eyes suddenly lit up, and she looked at Li Si with surprise, as if she had discovered something big.
"But they should not be the same person. After all, they don't even have the same name. Besides, it's impossible for the King of Thieves to come to work in a place like ours." But Lao Luo said lightly, directly breaking Ning Caihe's fantasy.
In order to conceal Li Si's identity, Banjiexian pronounced his name as Si as four characters when introducing Li Si. Well, from some perspectives, it does have some effect.
"Ah." Ning Caihe lowered her eyes as if a little disappointed.
"Hehe." Hao Dayou, who was sitting at the table, laughed at this, cracked the melon seeds in his hand, and said jokingly: "If he is the thief saint, then I am still Dugu Bufu. Xiaohe, do you want me to teach you the Hanchuan Zilai move now?"
As there are no customers, he, the cook, is now quite idle.
"Brother Dayou, you're teasing me again." Ning Caihe looked at Hao Dayou with a reproachful look, then clenched her fists and said to Li Si.
"But I believe that Fourth Brother is also very powerful."
Judging from his serious look, he probably didn't want Li Si to be hurt by the conversation just now.
Knowing that he was being taken care of by this little brother, Li Si could only smile bitterly and shook his head.
"It's okay. I was just an ordinary person in the martial arts world before."
"That's good too." Ning Caihe spread her hands and said exaggeratedly, "At least I can know how big this world is. Unlike me, I haven't been to other places to see it yet."
But even though he said this, he seemed to remember something, grabbed his hair and smiled foolishly.
"But I'm happy as long as I can stay here."
Well, as long as it's like this, he seems to be satisfied.
Lao Luo paused for a moment as he was calculating on the abacus. Hao Dayou glanced at Ning Caihe sideways, then fell silent and stopped talking.
Because they all know that even such a small request may be difficult to maintain.
Seeing the atmosphere in the store, Li Si breathed a sigh of relief. He was indeed powerless to do anything about this matter. After all, he was not good at doing business. All he could do was write a few letters to a few friends and ask them to take care of the business here.
After he finished cracking the melon seeds in his hand, Hao Dayou patted his clothes, stood up and said.
"What do you want to eat tonight? I'm going to go buy some groceries."
"Whatever." Lao Luo replied calmly.
"That's fine with me too." Ning Caihe responded with a smile.
Banjiexian was still working. Hao Dayou looked at Li Si. Li Si spread his hands to indicate that he had no requirements.
With a nod, the cook turned around and prepared to go out.
But at this time, two people came back from outside the door.
"Don't leave yet." Cao Wenxuan pushed Hao Dayou back into the door and said with a smile, "The shopkeeper has something to announce."
Behind her, Zhang Susu walked in over the threshold with a smile on her face, as if there was some happy event. She clapped her hands on the table and spoke to everyone.
“I have a way to get my business back!”
In response, the people in the restaurant didn't seem to have much reaction, because this was the sixth time she had said this during this period, but each time it didn't have much effect.
"Is there anything else? No, I'll go buy some groceries first." Hao Dayou raised his eyebrows and was about to walk past Cao Wenxuan.
Lao Luo's abacus calculation continued, and Ning Caihe pursed her lips helplessly.
"Hey, don't." Cao Wenxuan quickly grabbed Hao Dayou and said, "This time is different. This time it might really work."
Hao Dayou rolled his eyes, stopped and stood still.
Li Si smiled awkwardly, gave the shopkeeper some face, and asked.
"Boss, I don't know what solution you have come up with yet."
"Humph." Shopkeeper Zhang smiled, put his hands on the table, and said solemnly: "We will use girls to attract customers."
"Crackling." Only the sound of abacus was heard in the store. Lao Luo stopped, looked up and calmly announced a result.
"We can't afford a girl."
"Who said I'd treat you?" The shopkeeper smiled with his hands covering his mouth, then looked at himself and Cao Wenxuan.
"Aren't there two beautiful young ladies?"
…
The store was silent for a while. Lao Luo sighed, shook his head and said, "Boss, you've been under too much pressure recently. You should go and have a rest first."
"Yes." Hao Dayou also looked at Cao Wenxuan worriedly and said.
"It's good to be confident, but we can't be blindly confident."
"Bah!" Hearing what they meant, Cao Wenxuan rolled her eyes at them and said, "Why am I not as good as Hua Siyu?"
"Think about it, I was a famous beauty in this area for hundreds of miles, right?" Zhang Susu's face darkened and she glared at Hao Dayou and Luo Ansheng.
But then, she smiled again and squinted her eyes to look at Li Si and Ning Caihe who were sitting at the table.
"And even if we can't do it, aren't there two more here?"
"Ah?" Li Si was stunned for a moment and suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Boss, boss, what do you mean?" Ning Caihe also felt a chill for some reason and shrank her shoulders.
"Don't worry." Zhang Susu waved her hand and chuckled, looking like a brothel madam.
"Xiao Cao and I have already discussed this on the way back. If you two dress up, you will definitely charm those stinky men. Leave the rest to us, oh."
Li Si could no longer maintain the smile on his face. Ning Caihe stood up and was about to run away, but was pinned down by the quick-witted Cao Wenxuan in the blink of an eye.
"Don't be afraid, the sisters will make sure you look pretty when meeting the guests~"
