CH 20

Chapter 20: 到来 (Arrival)

Translator: LittleYen

Little did Zhong Ziqi know that a big shot was coming towards his stall, which was at the moment sporadically occupied by five or six people.After Zhong Ziqi and Zhao Ning had made the noodles, they sat down with Zhao Sheng and Zhao Zheng’an at another empty table to rest.

“Ziqi, what do you think is in this cargo ship?” Zhao Ning asked curiously, as he had never come into contact with these things, he could not figure out in his head what the cargo ship was selling.

“I don’t know.” Zhong Ziqi shook his head, he hadn’t come into contact with this either, but he could imagine what they were, “But they should all be local and valuable things!”

Zhao Ning nodded and continued, “So— why not sell it in the south, but go through a lot of trouble travelling to the north?”

It is a way of doing business that Zhong Ziqi is very familiar with. The rarer something is, the greater its value, anywhere is entirely popular. In ancient times, this method was even more developed. Many ordinary people made their fortunes through merchandising.

[物以稀為貴 : wù yǐ xī wéi guì: the rarer sth is, the greater its value (idiom)]

“Do you know why the goods carried by the merchants in the north and south are so profitable?” Zhong Ziqi asked ‘to keep listeners in suspense’

Zhao Ning shook his head like a drum-shaped rattle, Zhao Zheng’an who also did not understand what his wife was saying, so he also joined in the fun,shook his head along with him. Zhong Ziqi cannot help laughing looking at him like this.

Zhao Sheng, on the other hand, looked as if he was thinking.

“To give you an example, well – take ‘small tangerine’ it’s known to be ridiculously expensive, only the rich and famous can afford to eat it, and it’s not always available, because ‘small tangerine’ is an authentic southern product, but in the south it’s everywhere, super cheap, while the north can’t grow it due to climate and other reasons. So the cheap tangerine in the south has become a rarity in the north, and naturally the price is very expensive, while on the contrary, our specialties in the north are also a good thing in the south, because they are not available in the south, got it?”

Zhao Ning and Zhao Sheng suddenly looked as if they were suddenly enlightened.

“Ziqi, you know so much!” Zhao Ning said with a look of admiration.

Zhao Sheng was also very impressed, mixed with a hint of shame, he was not as knowledgeable as a young ger who never leaves home and has little contact with the outside world; so he secretly resolved to learn more and ask more questions in the future.

Ziqi just smiled, “That’s what I heard my father say before, so I remember it.”

He was also a bit embarrassed to put everything on the deceased person, but otherwise he would definitely be exposed, so he could only be sorry.

Although Zhao Zheng’an could not understand what his wife was saying, he could see Zhao Ning and Zhao Sheng’s admiration, and he immediately proudly said, “My wife is the best!”

“Who’s the boss?” A cold voice interrupted the four of them, Zhong Ziqi and Zhao Ning looked up in unison, in the direction of the voice,then they froze.

They were not the only ones who froze, the entire stall’s owners were silent. The man who spoke was handsome with a hint of fierceness, but he was not the main character. The main character was the man behind him who was even more good looking and beautiful than a ger, shaking his paper fan, his lazy gaze surveying the surroundings, with perhaps with a hint of disgust and disdain on closer inspection.

Zhong Ziqi was only shaken for a moment, immediately he came back to his senses, got up and said blandly, “I am the boss, what would you two like to order?”

Zhao Ning and Zhao Sheng also stood up immediately, they could see that these two people were not ordinary people, even Zhao Zheng’an, who failed to understand the reason why, also stood up.

Looking at the direction the two men had come from, the crowd had a suspicion in their hearts that they might be the ones from the merchant ship.

The cold man swept a glance at the others’ food: “Same as them, two bowls.”

“Good, please wait.”

The four tables in the stall were sporadically occupied,the only empty table was the one they were sitting at, therefore the four men hurriedly got up to give them their seats. The two men just walked over to them.

Gao Hanjin really despised such small stalls, in his impression, they were dirty and noisy, if it wasn’t for the fact that many people said this place was good, he really wouldn’t have come.But it was interesting, all the stalls owners he saw on the way were either uncle or Amu, suddenly four good-looking people appeared, how could he not be surprised,that was also one of the reasons he didn’t turn around to leave immediately, he wanted to see how delicious they said delicacy was.

“A Zhuo.”

The cold man understood and took out a handkerchief from his pocket to carefully wipe the stool and the top of the table before Gao Hanjin sat down.

This scene was seen in the eyes of several busy people. Zhao Ning muttered angrily, “What? You don’t like us? If you don’t like it, you can leave!”

Zhao Ning didn’t know that after he finished muttering, the cold man, who was called Ah Zhuo, gave him a look.

Although Zhong Ziqi was also a little upset, he knew that some people had a cleanliness problem, not to mention the big shots,so it was only natural for them to dislike his little stall: “Okay, stop it! When it’s done, bring it up.”

Zhao Ning and Zhao Sheng each brought a bowl of cold noodles to the table. Zhao Ning’s clear voice said, “Ten wen.”

Ah Zhuo took out ten wen from his pocket and handed it to Zhao Ning.

Gao Hanjin looked at the food in front of him with a raised eyebrow, there was hardly a trace of oil in the bowl, it looked like it was all water.He picked up his chopsticks, picked up the rice vermicelli to put it into his mouth, then he paused when he realised that besides the food was kind of mysterious,the noodles were also cold. No wonder it was called what? Cold noodles, right?

He took another chopstick, tucked it into his mouth.It was a little sour, with a hint of sweetness in the sourness.Gao Hanjin, who had eaten a lot delicious foods, could tell that this noodle was not a exceptionally delicacy, but in the summer it was definitely a delicacy among delicacies, even he had to praise it, as if eaten a bowl of noodles, as if it could eat away the heat.

What he didn’t know was that the water Zhong Ziqi put inside was freshly fetched well water, of course it was cold enough,he didn’t want water that wasn’t cold, which is one of the reasons why many people came to eat it.

Ah zhuo was surprised to see the young master to be not a picky eater so he took a bite of his own noodles, then he immediately knew the reason for this, his young master was especially afraid of the heat, if he didn’t have to come out, he would definitely like to stay in the south all the time.The sweetness and sourness of the noodles also suited the young master’s taste, so he was happy to see it. How could he possibly dislike it?

“Hey,hey no matter how much you dislike it, you still lose out to Ziqi’s cooking, right?”

Zhao Ning was joyfully satisfied as he said this.

Zhong Ziqi shook his head helplessly. He knew that most of his noodles were made to be cool enough to eat, it was not quite as good as it should be.

Gao Hanjin was full after a bowl, he sat down on a chair, rested a bit,while he looked around casually with a pair of his phoenix eyes.Zhong Ziqi’s face caught his eye straight away.Gao Hanjin squinted his eyes for a while, suddenly he felt that his face looked familiar, he felt that he had seen this face somewhere before, but why did he have no memory of it? He couldn’t think of it, so he just didn’t think about it.

“Boss, return the bowl.” At this moment an amu came over with a bowl.

Zhong Ziqi answered, took his bowl over to look at the bottom, took two wen and handed it to the amu.

Gao Hanjin was curious as to what wonder was that? So he picked up his bowl and looked at the bottom, a strange symbol? The symbol appeared at the bottom of the bowl,even with his vast knowledge he did not recognize what it was, like a word but not a word.

Ah Zhuo also followed the young master’s example, he picked the bowl up: “Young master, there is …. under this one too.” AZhuo paused for a moment not knowing how to describe it.

“Oh? Let me see yours.”

Gao Hanjin took AZhuo’s bowl and found that it was different from the one at the bottom of his bowl. With the marks of the symbols, it was clear that the person who wrote it had sufficient literary skills. Immediately intrigued, Gao Hanjin got up and walked leisurely towards the four people who were free over there.

“Hey…Ziqi, look, that man is coming over.” Zhao Ning poked Zhong Ziqi.

Zhong Ziqi looked up,glanced at him,and saw that the man had already come to him.

He smiled calmly and said, “Would you like anything else, sir?”

“No, I’m just curious what is written under your bowl, boss?” Gao Hanjin’s voice was low with a smile at the corners of his mouth, looking at the handsome and elegant ger in front of him, if it was any other ger, his cheeks would have been flushed with confusion, but to his surprise, not only him but also the ger next to him, there was no reaction, had he lost his charm?

The real reason is that Zhong Ziqi is just purely admiring this kind of beauty, but can’t afford to have a hint of interest, it’s not his cup of tea. On the other side, Zhao Ning looks at him with a smile like that, like a wolf with a big tail. Just one glance, he knew that he had no good intentions.

It was Zhao Zheng’an who walked nervously next to Zhong Ziqi,he glared angrily at Gao Hanjin. Don’t look at him as a fool, but he could feel threatened, for example, this man gave him a very unusual feeling, he didn’t know what it was called, but anyone who didn’t feel right was not allowed to get too close to his wife.

Gao Hanjin glanced at him, he could tell right away that this man was a fool. He averted his eyes disinterestedly and looked at the ger.

Zhong Ziqi frowned, not liking the way the man was looking at Zhao Zhengan, but he couldn’t drive him away, so he could only put a fake smile on his face, ” This is only the marks that I personally wrote conveniently.”

“Oh? You can read and write?”

“My father has been teaching me to read and write since I was a child, so I know a bit.”

Gao Hanjin tapped his hand with his fan, “Then… with so many bowls, aren’t you afraid that someone will imitate this mark to cheat you out of money?”

Zhong Ziqi was impatient, but he knew that this person was not a common people so he could only bear it: “One person has one kind of handwriting, my handwriting is clear to me, if someone can imitate it, then that mean that person is excellent, I admit defeat.”

Gao Hanjin laughed: “Good line ‘admit defeat(认栽)’. ”

Then he stopped asking questions.How could he not see the impatience of this person?He had never been treated like this before, especially by a ger. He didn’t know what had annoyed him, but although this ger was interesting, he wasn’t going to humiliate himself. Having eaten and drunk his fill, it was time for him to leave.

Gao Hanjin didn’t stay in the small town much longer.After selling some of his goods and staying overnight, he continued the next day to set off for his final destination, the capital.