Chapter 222: The Eight Immortals Meeting
When Shopkeeper Liu saw the treasure bowl, he no longer felt embarrassed. He thought he might have gone to the wrong place. Which aristocratic family’s birthday party or wedding was this?
He had been a shopkeeper in Ping’an City for 20 years and had never seen such a generous gift for the opening of a business.
Sister Dan poked Mr. Zhou next to her with her elbow, "This Miss Gu is not simple. Didn’t you say that her family just fled from famine? How did she get to know these rich people?"
Mr. Zhou didn’t understand. When he first met Gu Fei, Gu Fei was still dressed like a country girl. How did she suddenly become so successful?
Old man Huang stood far away. He was dressed neatly today, changed into clean clothes, and combed his usually messy gray hair neatly. He glanced at the treasure bowl, then looked at the stone, and the corners of his lips curled up slightly.
At this moment, two beggars in patchwork clothes came over.
One of them held a broken bowl, and the other held a pot of beautiful crabapples.
The two stood at the door and shouted with the broken bowl, "The Eight Immortals Association congratulates an inn on its grand opening!"
Gu Fei was stunned for a moment. She, she had a relationship with the beggar?
How could she not know?
Seeing her stunned, Sister Dan quickly pulled her aside and whispered, "This Eight Immortals Association is the gang of beggars in Ping'an City. They will be there no matter which family has a wedding or funeral."
"They brought you a gift, so you have to give a return gift. If you don't give a return gift, they will come to your store every day to make trouble."
Gu Fei glanced at the crabapple in the beggar's hand and took a breath, "How much return gift should I give?"
Sister Dan stretched out a finger, "One or two silver coins."
"From now on, someone will come to collect money every month. The merchants on this street give two hundred coins a month. If you give money, those beggars will not enter your store."
Gu Fei nodded and understood. This is to collect protection fees.
It's not protection money. They don't protect you, they just promise not to make trouble.
As long as you still want to do business, you have to give this money, whether you want to or not.
Otherwise, if the beggar enters the store, the business will not be able to be done.
She took out a small piece of silver from her arms, walked to the beggar with a broken bowl, put the silver in, bowed, and said with a smile: "Thank you brothers from the Eight Immortals for coming to support us."
The beggar saw the silver in the bowl, smiled and waved his hand, the beggar next to him put down the crabapple flower, and the two bowed and left.
Gu Zhang shouted at this time, "Xiao Fei, the auspicious time has come."
Sanlang hurriedly lit the firecrackers, Gu Fei took a deep breath, walked under the plaque, pulled the red rope, and the red silk covering it fell down.
The four golden copper characters "Youjian Inn" on the plaque were revealed.
There was a sound of congratulations all around, and this was considered the opening.
Mr. Zhou stared at the plaque for a long time, clapped his hands and laughed, "This name is good."
"It looks a bit vulgar, but vulgarity is elegance, and the best thing is that this name is easy to remember!"
Easy to remember means easy to spread by word of mouth.
Gu Fei smiled. This name was plagiarized from a classic work of a comedy king. Using it can also be regarded as a tribute to the master.
Sister Dan smiled beside her. Just for this name, this little Fei must be an interesting person.
Gu Zhang invited everyone to go in. When everyone went in, they saw that the store was filled with various green plants, some of which were more than one person tall, and some were small and exquisite. They were all planted in white porcelain pots. The white and green were matched, refreshing and full of vitality.