In Jingxian County, Jiangnan, there was a wealthy businessman named Xu Zongming, and he had a daughter named Xu Caihe, who was born beautiful. This year, Xu Zongming betrothed his daughter to Zhou Shao, the shopkeeper of the "Zhou Ji" grocery store, and only waited for the auspicious day to get married in the next year.
Zhou's family was well-off, and Zhou Shao, the shopkeeper, was very smart and good at doing business. Therefore, Xu Zongming was very satisfied with this marriage, so much so that he often laughed out loud in his dreams.
One day, Xu Zongming finished a business and was walking on the street. Suddenly, his eyes were attracted by the scene in front of him.
I saw a table on a street corner, behind which stood a young man selling paintings. And in front of the table, stood two young women, as if they were buying paintings.
Xu Zongming recognized the young man, his surname was Lu, and he was a scholar. A few years ago, Lu Xiucai's parents were both ill, and he had to live alone. The Lu family has always been poor. After his parents fell ill, Lu Xiucai's life became even more difficult. He had to rely on selling paintings on the street to make a living. Because his paintings were not well-known, rich and powerful people looked down on his paintings, and ordinary people did not have the elegance, so , he often failed to sell a painting for several days.
Every time Xu Zongming passed Lu Xiucai's art booth, he passed by in a hurry. Today, he stopped far away, and it was not Lu Xiucai who caught his attention, but those two young women. He not only knew the two women, but was very familiar with them. One of them was his daughter Xu Caihe, and the other was Xu Caihe's maid.
Xu Zongming knew that his daughter liked ink painting since she was a child, and she learned painting at home every day. Now, the reason why she came to Lu Xiucai's painting booth to buy paintings must be because she thought Lu Xiucai's paintings were good.
Xu Zongming was about to walk over to help his daughter choose paintings, but before he could take the steps, he actually took his feet back. Because at this moment, he suddenly noticed that his daughter didn't seem to be buying paintings.
Xu Caihe unfolded a painting for Lu Xiucai to see. Lu Xiucai looked at the painting, compared the pictures, and kept talking, while Xu Caihe kept nodding while listening. Xu Zongming understood that his daughter was asking Lu Xiucai to guide her in her own painting! What surprised him was that Xu Caihe and Lu Xiucai blushed in the process of pointing, and there was a hint of affection between their eyebrows!
Xu Zongming stood there blankly for a while, then sighed and went home. In the days that followed, he discovered that Xu Caihe often went to Lu Xiucai's painting booth and asked Lu Xiucai to point out her paintings. It became more and more difficult to hide the look of eye contact.
Xu Zongming knew that Xu Caihe and Lu Xiucai had taken a fancy to each other, which made him very annoyed: Xu and Zhou's family had already engaged, how could Xu Caihe and Lu Xiucai flirt with each other again? No, he has to persuade his daughter well, let her cut off her love immediately, and marry the shopkeeper Zhou Shao with peace of mind!
Xu Zongming has always loved his daughter, so although he decided to persuade her, he didn't know how to speak for a while. One day, he felt depressed, so he went to a teahouse he frequented, and sat at a table near the window to drink tea, and Lu Xiucai's painting booth was just outside the window.
He was drinking tea, thinking about his thoughts, when suddenly, a voice came through the window, Xu Zongming looked out, and saw Master Zhou coming to Lu Xiucai's painting booth to buy paintings.
Shopkeeper Zhou Shao and Lu Xiucai bargained for a while, and then they made a deal. Shopkeeper Zhou Shao bought a painting by Lu Xiucai for 20 Wen. Shopkeeper Zhou Shao took out twenty Wen and put it on the table, while Lu Xiucai handed over a painting to shopkeeper Zhou Shao. Just when Lu Xiucai turned around and put the copper coins into his purse, the scene in front of him made Xu Zongming's eyes widen. Shopkeeper Zhou Shao quickly rolled up another painting on the table, stuffed it into his sleeve, then turned around and walked away as if nothing had happened!
Xu Zongming never expected that Master Zhou would steal paintings! He couldn't help blaming the shopkeeper Zhou Shao in his heart: Zhou's family has such a big family business, how did you become a thief and steal a painting worth only twenty cents? Moreover, you stole the paintings that the impoverished Lu Xiucai relied on to make a living, you should never have done it!
Xu Zongming decided to persuade Zhou Shao, the shopkeeper, to return the stolen painting to Lu Xiucai, and not to do that kind of petty theft again.
Not long after, Xu Zongming came to the gate of the "Zhou Ji" grocery store. At this time, he suddenly hesitated: Although shopkeeper Zhou Shao is my future son-in-law and not an outsider, if he bluntly persuades him to return the stolen painting and stop being a thief in the future, it is tantamount to exposing his shortcomings. I'm afraid I won't be able to hold back on my face, I must think about my words in advance, and then I will persuade…
Xu Zongming was wandering outside the "Zhou Ji" grocery store, thinking about his words in his heart, when suddenly, there was a burst of talking in the store.
I only heard shopkeeper Zhou Shao said: "When you sell things in the future, you must control the catty. For example, if a customer buys a catty, you can only weigh him nine taels at most. That is to say, you have to weigh nine taels. Sell the stuff as if it were a catty, so that I can earn more money!"
Xu Zongming could tell that the shopkeeper Zhou Shao was speaking to the fellows in his shop. Why did shopkeeper Zhou Shao let the guys cheat? Xu Zongming was wondering, when suddenly, the voice of a waiter came over: "Young shopkeeper, if we sell nine taels of things as one catty, won't we be discovered by customers?"
As soon as the man's voice fell to the ground, Zhou Shao's shopkeeper's words came out again: "In order not to let customers find out that there are two catties missing, you must master the skills when weighing the weight. This skill is that although the items sold are Jiuliang Kungfu Huang Lezong is dead , but you must hang the string with the weight on the star of the one-jin scale. In this way, the customer will think that the weight of the thing he bought is one catty, and will not suspect that we are short It weighed two pounds on him."
The man was still very worried: "The thing being weighed is only nine taels, but the weight must be hung on the weighing star of one catty. If the two sides are unbalanced, the beam of the scale will inevitably slope down, and the weight will slide down to the ground. As soon as it hits the ground, how can the customer not notice that it’s missing two catties?”
Shopkeeper Zhou Shao had obviously thought of a countermeasure a long time ago: "As long as you pretend to be casual when weighing the weight, when the customer is not paying attention, secretly hook the scale beam upward with your fingers. In this way, the scale beam will It will be upturned, and when customers see it, they will think that not only we have not shorted him, but we have given him more!"
The buddy was relieved: "Young master, you still have more ideas, we will do this in the future…"
The conversation in the shop made Xu Zongming outside the shop listen to every word. He never expected that the shopkeeper Zhou Shao would teach his staff how to save money from customers and make money. The stealing of the painting was only at the expense of Lu Xiucai alone, but it was at the expense of every customer!
Xu Zongming knew that shopkeeper Zhou Shao's love for taking advantage had penetrated deep into his bones, no matter how much he persuaded him, he would not be able to change his mind. Thinking of this, he stomped his feet and returned to his home.
From that day on, for several days, Xu Zongming frowned, thinking about one thing: Master Zhou is a villain who loves to take advantage, if I marry my daughter to him, I will cheat her for the rest of her life. It seems that this marriage must be withdrawn, and the future son-in-law must be replaced!
On this day, Xu Zongming rushed to the "Zhou Ji" grocery store and told the shopkeeper Zhou Shao about the resignation. He originally thought that shopkeeper Zhou Shao would definitely not agree, and would even make a big fuss, but he didn't expect that shopkeeper Zhou Shao would readily agree to withdraw the marriage.
After retiring from the marriage, Xu Zongming secretly investigated Lu Xiucai's character. Soon, he discovered that although Lu Xiucai was poor, he often used the money he earned from selling paintings to help neighbors in the neighborhood. Everyone praised him when they mentioned him. Xu Zongming couldn't help thinking: Although Lu Xiucai is poor, it is rare for him to have such a good character. In addition, he and my daughter both love painting and have a crush on each other. From this point of view, he is indeed my future The best candidate for son-in-law.
After making up his mind, Xu Zongming asked Lu Xiucai to hire a matchmaker to go to the Xu family to propose marriage, and then he asked his daughter to make an engagement with Lu Xiucai.
Half a year later, Lu Xiucai and Xu Caihe got married. On the day of getting married, Xu Zongming didn't invite him to his home for a wedding because he was worried that shopkeeper Zhou Shao might cause some unpleasant things, but unexpectedly, shopkeeper Zhou Shao came uninvited.
After the couple had bowed to heaven, earth, high hall, and each other, they were about to be sent to the bridal chamber. At this time, Lu Xiucai led Xu Caihe, who was covered in a hijab, to the shopkeeper Zhou Shao and bowed deeply. Lu Xiucai also said seriously: "Master Zhou, thank you for your idea, thank you for your fulfillment!"
All the guests were in an uproar. Xu Zongming hurriedly pulled Lu Xiucai to a secluded place, and asked him what he thought of thanking Master Zhou? Lu Xiucai said: "Yue Zhang, if it weren't for Young Master Zhou's idea, Caihe and I wouldn't be where we are today…"
It turned out that half a year ago, shopkeeper Zhou Shao also discovered that Xu Caihe and Lu Xiucai had taken a fancy to each other. In addition to being sad, he felt that instead of making the three of them suffer, it would be better if he chose to quit and fulfill Xu Caihe and Lu Xiucai. But he knew that if he proposed to withdraw the marriage, Xu Zongming would definitely not agree, so he came up with an idea to let Xu Zongming take the initiative to withdraw the marriage.
Shopkeeper Zhou Shao knew that Xu Zongming often went to that teahouse to drink tea by the window, and Lu Xiucai happened to set up a stall outside that teahouse to sell paintings. So that day, he took advantage of Xu Zongming's opportunity to drink tea and "stealed" a painting by Lu Xiucai under Xu Zongming's nose. In fact, he had already agreed with Lu Xiucai in advance, so that Lu Xiucai pretended not to see it.
Afterwards, seeing Xu Zongming wandering outside the "Zhou Ji" grocery store, shopkeeper Zhou Shao hurriedly gave some instructions to the clerks in a soft voice, and then deliberately loudly taught the clerks how to cheat…
Shopkeeper Zhou Shao did this, of course, to make Xu Zongming look down on him, so he proposed to withdraw from the marriage and betrothed Xu Caihe to Lu Xiucai.
After listening to Lu Xiucai's words, Xu Zongming suddenly realized whether Huang Lezong, his mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, is dead . He couldn't help muttering: "In order to make others happy, shopkeeper Zhou needs to belittle himself so much and damage his own image…"
From then on, Xu Zongming and the shopkeeper Zhou Shao felt like father and son.