HLnovel Chapter 232 She's really too daring!
Chapter 232 She's really too daring!
The mother smashed the signboard of Juxian Restaurant. In his anger, Manager Zhang only made them pay 500 taels of silver. The parents sold grain and used all their savings to raise a few dozen taels to pay off the debt.
Following Xiaotang's suggestion, he proposed dividing the debt into five parts. The four brothers felt like the sky was falling when each of them received more than eighty taels. The eldest brother and Xiaotang rented a shop, and the monthly rent was two hundred taels. This was too... too unbelievable!
This amount completely overturned Shen Qianchuan's previous understanding.
He used to think that his father earned a lot of money by receiving a hundred coins a month for tuition. His older brother, who carried a load of eggs and tofu to Yunlai Restaurant, could earn several hundred coins a month. He thought his older brother was more capable than his father, who was a teacher at the school.
Later, his elder brother and sister-in-law went to the county to do business. He felt that his elder brother had gone from having only a few taels of silver when the family separated to buying a house in the town and moving the whole family to live in the town. His elder brother was the most promising person in their Guihua Village and the only one who knew how to do business.
But he didn't know what a hundred taels of silver meant.
Later, because of his mother, his family owed Manager Zhang of Juxian Restaurant five hundred taels of silver. That's when he came to the idea that some people could have hundreds or even thousands of taels of silver, and that such a large sum of money did exist in the world.
After all, Mother was a strict woman who would not easily give her children money. From childhood to adulthood, the eldest brother was the least favored in the family, so no matter how hard or tiring it was for the eldest brother and sister-in-law, or how much they sacrificed for the family, Mother would not give them a single copper coin.
Among his four brothers, he only saw one or two copper coins a year. His mother and youngest brother bought all the writing implements, and his clothes were made by his mother from cloth bought in town. So his mother always had a reason to say that they didn't have any money.
For someone who had only ever seen a few coins in his life, Shen Qianchuan felt that two hundred taels of rent was far too expensive.
So he grabbed Xiaotang and pulled her aside, lowering his voice to say, "Xiaotang, it costs two hundred taels of silver a month to rent a shop like this. It's too expensive. Two hundred taels of silver could buy a whole bunch of servants. Why don't we go look at other places?"
Anyway, he felt that it was not worth it to spend two hundred taels of silver a month so easily, just like that.
No, there's no sound at all! I can't hear a single sound!
Lin Xiaotang knew that her fourth uncle was worried about the money. After all, her fourth uncle had never seen so much money before, and it was impossible for him to suddenly break through his understanding.
She gave her fourth uncle a look, signaling him to put his mind at ease.
"Fourth Uncle, don't worry, let me negotiate the price with him first, and then I'll explain it to you."
Shen Qianchuan twitched his lips, wanting to say something more, but seeing that his niece seemed confident and his elder brother stood silently to the side, he swallowed back the words he wanted to use to persuade his niece.
Lin Xiaotang turned to look at the man and said with a smile, "Uncle, your shop is excellent. We really like it. However, we are just running a small business. There are only three of us: me, my father, and my uncle. We can't live in such a big place. We just want a place to stay, a shop will do."
Your shop is quite large, and to be honest, we can't use it all. Many rooms will have to remain empty. Two hundred taels a month is really too expensive for us.
How about this, we'll set a fixed price. I won't let you lower it little by little. You're a busy person, and it wouldn't be good if rent delayed your plans.
Still dropping?
Such a big shop! The upstairs can be used to entertain guests or even converted into living quarters. There's a separate courtyard in the back, which is perfect for living. It's very quiet, and the customers in the front shop won't disturb the people in the courtyard. Where can you find such a good shop?
If it weren't for the young lady's special arrangement, he wouldn't be here smiling and haggling with a little maid.
If it were anyone else, and they had asked for 500 taels and then lowered the price by 300 taels, and she still wanted to lower it further, they would definitely turn around and leave as fast as they could!
Hesitating for even a moment is disrespectful to yourself!
He chuckled awkwardly and asked, "Xiao Tang, two hundred taels a month isn't much. If you still can't accept that, how much rent would you like to pay per month?"
Lin Xiaotang pretended to think mysteriously for a moment, then she held up one finger and made a "one" sign.
She smiled somewhat shyly and said, "Uncle, how about one hundred taels?"
puff……
The man nearly vomited blood after hearing this.
You think you can rent such a nice shop for just 100 taels?
She's really daring!
As soon as the young lady woke up this morning, she hurriedly told them to empty the shop of all the goods, leaving only the usable tables, chairs, and benches, saying that she was waiting for a friend to rent them.
He thought it was some important person of great status, but he never expected it to be such a eloquent little girl.
This little girl is much younger than her mistress, but her eyes are bright and sparkling, and she looks extremely intelligent.
Sigh, what can you do when your daughter is willing to rent herself out?
A thousand pieces of gold cannot buy the young master's willingness!
One hundred taels it is. Anyway, the master's business is quite large. It's just one or two shops. The master is willing to spend that much.
He sighed and said, "Alright, one hundred taels, one month's rent as deposit, and monthly payments thereafter, how about that?"
In Dushui County, shop rents are paid in installments for one or two years, or even longer. The minimum payment is six months' rent. However, Miss specifically instructed that Xiaotang is beautiful, kind-hearted, and clever, and that we must not make things difficult for her.
Since she's willing to pay one hundred taels of silver, let's make a deal.
Miss is spoiled and has few friends. When she returned yesterday, she was so happy that she ate an extra bowl of rice and kept chattering about how she was kidnapped. She also praised Lin Xiaotang for being brave and resourceful several times.
Lin Xiaotang was the youngest, yet she led everyone to move the wooden frame in front of the window, revealing the entire window. They initially wanted to jump out of the window to escape, but found that there was water stretching as far as the eye could see outside. So they broke down the door and escaped... In short, Lin Xiaotang was the one who helped the young lady the most. She also comforted and encouraged the young lady when she was scared. She was the most loyal friend the young lady had just made.
Lin Xiaotang never expected that the man would actually agree to let her rent it for one hundred taels.
She felt like she was dreaming; it was so unreal. This person must be incredibly rich!
She initially lowered the rent by 200 taels, eventually reducing it to 100 taels a month. Surprisingly, the man wasn't angry and readily agreed.
Is there really such a good thing in the world?
Could a windfall really fall into her head?
She suddenly became alert and immediately asked, "Uncle, is this shop really yours?"
The man's smile froze; he hadn't expected Lin Xiaotang to ask him that question.
He smiled and said, "This shop belongs to my master; I'm just his steward."
Lin Xiaotang looked the man up and down again. He didn't seem like a bad person, but no bad person would wear the word "bad" on their face.
She then asked, "Uncle, has something bad happened at your shop? Is it unlucky?"