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墨書 Inktalez
They slowly walked up to the second floor and found several empty tables. They sat down at one of them and looked at the menu placed on the table.
On the other side, there was an old man with white hair, who also looked thin and had many wrinkles on his face. He was passionately speaking while sitting at a table, holding a thick black wooden block in his hand.
Below, a large crowd was gathered around, listening intently. There were quite a few Scholars among them, as well as some men in ordinary clothes who didn’t seem like Scholars; they might be businesspeople.
Everyone was happily listening, clearly enjoying the performance. Some had benches to sit on, while others stood without feeling tired.
In front, there were many people seated, and those in the back could only stand and stretch their necks to see better.
Qin Feng still didn’t understand what was going on with the book reading; he came here to eat and drink heartily, so he started looking at the menu.
Braised fish for three taels of Silver, steamed chicken for five taels of Silver, braised goose for six taels of Silver, spicy and sour potatoes for one tael of Silver, and stir-fried lettuce for one tael of Silver.
A portion of peanuts for half a tael of Silver, dishes priced at fifty wen per plate, ordinary water wine is free, while premium water wine is charged at original price; details can be found on the menu.
This is too expensive! Just one dish costs one tael of Silver; that could buy quite a bit of grain!
He slammed the table heavily; it was truly outrageous! No wonder the Boss looked at him with disdain; this stuff is way too pricey—it's practically robbery!
His voice was very loud, but few people listening to the book turned back to look; they were all focused on listening, and some even started clapping loudly.
Qin Fu understood what was going on; the master was complaining that the food was too expensive. He used to feel the same way.
He would come here in the evenings when he felt his emotions couldn’t be expressed and would listen to books or music played by beautiful women on the Xylophone; it had its own charm.
Looking at his master, he knew he still wasn’t willing to spend money. He said, “Why don’t we just order a portion of stir-fried lettuce and a portion of peanuts? That should be enough for both of us.”
Of course, he understood Afu's intention; it was to save money for himself, but even that little bit could be eaten by him alone.
It was still noon, and dinner time was still quite far away; besides, he had plenty of money on him.
Just then, a person dressed in gray-brown clothing from the Second Floor quickly ran down the stairs with a smile on his face.
“Qin Sir, are you going to order two more dishes? The drinks are free; if you really only want those two dishes, the Boss can accommodate you since you are a regular customer here!”
Qin Feng clearly felt that this Second Floor worker was mocking him; a dog doing someone else's work actually dared to ridicule him like this—it was unbearable!
“Bring me all those dishes listed above! I have money; today I won’t just eat those two dishes nor will I accept your offer because I have money!”
He pointed out all those dishes above and threw the menu back at the Second Floor worker—what a lowly creature! Did he think that being related to a current prime minister gave him the right to cheat people?
He also pulled out two pieces of Silver from his pocket—there were more than ten taels—and tossed them to the Second Floor worker like throwing bones to a dog.
The Second Floor worker was quick-witted; having been around for several years, he remembered those dishes well and caught both the menu and the heavy pieces of Silver.
He hurriedly retreated while facing them and said, “Qin Sir, please wait a moment; those delicious dishes will be coming soon! I’ll instruct the chef to prepare them right away.”
As he reached the stairs, he quickly turned around and ran downstairs—truly worthy of having worked there for such a long time.
Thinking about it still made him angry; selling such cheap dishes at such high prices—if it were an ordinary restaurant, they could probably serve several dishes for that price!
Qin Fu felt somewhat angry as well; these two were clearly mocking their master—how arrogant! Just a mere errand boy dared to act like this.
It was one thing for relatives of the master’s wife not to look up to him; even this kind of person dared to behave like this?
“Master doesn’t need to be angry; actually, he didn’t mean it that way—it might just have been a slip of the tongue. When you came before, you only ordered two dishes and then drank wine while listening to books or music.”
Qin Feng looked unconvinced; how could anyone be so pathetic as to just order two dishes and then sit there with a pot of wine listening to books or music?
Wasn’t that just like that old man? In his own time, even old men might not listen to old stories—let alone himself!
Over there were various sounds: the old man's reading voice mixed with laughter and discussions from others nearby made it hard to hear clearly what was happening over here.
Suddenly, that old man raised his black wooden block high in excitement; his eyes became very spirited as he slammed it down forcefully. The loud sound startled everyone surrounding him!
“Everyone, please stop discussing among yourselves! Let’s be quiet for a moment! New guests have arrived outside; I’m reading here so everyone can hear me—let’s keep it down for Old Zhang’s sake.”
At first, people were worried by his words and turned their heads back to look behind them—sure enough, new guests had arrived.
Some must have recognized Qin Feng and steward Qin Fu but pretended not to know them as they turned back around to focus on Elder Zhang, waiting for his exciting story.
Steward Qin Fu sensed something unusual as well; although their master had lost his memory, many people had seen him before and often spent time with him composing poetry together—why did they all act like strangers?
He didn’t confront them directly but noted their faces in his mind; if they revealed themselves later on, he would truly be furious.
A man dressed in a red long robe wore a deep red high hat on his head. His face was quite pale but his demeanor elegant—he seemed like an educated person.
“Elder Zhang,” he said, “can you tell us something other than these old stories? The great achievements of Tang Zong and Song Zu are too far removed from us now—it’s different now! The Dajin attacking our Song Dynasty is unreasonable behavior from those northern barbarians.”
Another man dressed in blue-brown clothing stood up wearing a black hat as well. “It’s those Jin people invading our territory! Our Great Song can only be chased around by them—can’t you talk about more recent events? Inspire our morale so we can resist against Jin together!”
The two men sang in harmony as more people began discussing matters between Song and Jin—the Jin people truly were despicable! They tore up treaties between both nations and invaded our territory.
Qin Feng hadn’t expected that old man would sit at the front while many stood behind him; how did he sense new guests arriving? Was it because he reprimanded that Second Floor worker that made him so keenly aware?
That seemed rather unscientific! This old man must be over sixty years old yet still had sharper hearing than younger people!
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