Chapter 551: The Power of Lies

The first floor of Bai Xu.

It has a hall layout; customers coming to eat, whether in family units or simple gatherings of friends, pay in cash when settling the bill.

Where there is no reimbursement accounting, the idea of signing slips also dies out.

The birthplace of IOUs is usually on the second floor.

Fifteen large private rooms, each table seating ten to fifteen people, the resources they consume or money they spend for a meal are often three to five times that of a single table in the first-floor hall; sometimes, to save face, they will randomly order dishes they could never finish, relying on the convenience of signing the slip after the meal, they are truly unashamed, like a son selling his father's field without a care.

Last month, Huang Shiren's messing up his own duties had a great deal to do with those people who came to the second floor to eat and drink recklessly, not caring about money, eating and drinking to excess.

If Shazhu were in charge of Bai Xu, those harboring ulterior motives, not knowing whether they wanted to give Shazhu a good excuse, the fifteen private rooms on the second floor were all filled with people, averaging about fifteen guests per table.

Each person ordering one dish makes fifteen dishes.

Moreover, there is the thought that ordering too few dishes will make the host look petty; even though they know there is enough food, they still order a few more dishes to show off their strength.

Finally, they don't even take away the leftover dishes.

They dislike losing face.

These people, taking advantage of Bai Xu, all had leftover dishes to take home, and Shazhu, thanks to You Fengxia, ate Bai Xu's leftovers for a period of time.

You Fengxia just took advantage of a quiet moment to catch up with Shazhu, saying that the second-floor servers, while serving dishes, unintentionally overheard some gossip concerning Shazhu and Bai Xu.

It came out unintentionally from the mouths of those private-room guests.

Having heard that Bai Xu had reopened and even declared grandly that it would not accept IOUs, today's customers who came to eat deliberately wanted to weigh Shazhu, to see whether they would ultimately sign the slip and issue an IOU, or whether Shazhu would finally receive cash.

Worried about Shazhu's safety and also concerned about Bai Xu's future, she specially ran to the first floor to tell Shazhu what she had heard.

Liu Lan immediately began to scold.

"This bunch of childless extortion ghosts, how can people be so lacking in virtue? Knowing full well that Bai Xu now does not accept IOUs, they still insist on settling with IOUs—do they think Bai Xu is easy to bully?"

In her hand she also had a rolling pin.

She expressed her stance toward Shazhu.

"Shazhu, if they don't give cash later, don't argue with them; I'll step in. As a female comrade, I don't believe they'd dare cause trouble with me. If pushed, I'll report them for hooliganism."

Thus: Thus: Mahua, who was chopping vegetables, said nothing but grabbed his knife, sharpened the blade on the edge of the nearby water vat, and moved to Liu Lan's side.

If those people give Shazhu trouble, as his disciple, he would indeed have to step up for Shazhu.

Shazhu laughed.

His gaze swept slowly over Liu Lan and Thus: Thus: Mahua, then he saw the few hired helpers he had brought in, and he silently thought, at a critical moment, one still needs reliable own people.

Those who share his heart.

The remaining people.

Truly unreliable.

Shazhu didn't mean to resent those people; he simply spoke from feeling, laughing and scolding Liu Lan and Thus: Thus: Mahua.

"Put away your hooligan tactics; we're a restaurant, running an eatery means greeting guests with smiles. One says they'll sue for hooliganism, the other wants to brandish a knife—I already have an idea for this."

……

Inside a second-floor private room, a man wearing glasses, about forty years old, grinning, turned the topic to Shazhu.

"I didn't expect that Bai Xu's head chef still has a few tricks up his sleeve."

"So what if he has a few tricks? In the end he'll still have to follow the rules honestly."

The rule he referred to.

Referring to the IOU.

This is also an insurmountable problem at present.

Not to mention the modest Bai Xu, even century-old establishments like Abundant Marsh Garden and Celebrating Abundance Tower must accept customers' IOUs; some people cannot be offended.

For example, when people from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative come here to eat, would you dare make them pay cash?

They would directly cut off your supplies; even the street director would be three-tenths shorter in stature before the head of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

This is the basis of confidence.

Connections in every aspect are intricate and complex.

The bespectacled man in his early forties is named Lu Jiasheng, a deputy director of the Operations Department at the Capital City Coal Company, someone with actual authority, specifically responsible for coal transportation; the Yagangchang needs coal, and the two units have this kind of transaction on paper.

This is also where Lu Jiasheng's confidence comes from; if Bai Xu today demanded cash from him, the coal that Yagangchang needs in the future would surely be blocked.

Today someone came specially to give Shazhu a show of force.

Lu Jiasheng is related to Huang Shiren.

Because of a marriage exchange, this familial relation is a bit tangled—he is both a brother-in-law and a brother-in-law.

Huang Shiren's wife is Lu Jiasheng's sister; Lu Jiasheng calls Huang Shiren brother-in-law, and Huang Shiren calls Lu Jiasheng his brother-in-law. Huang Shiren's sister is also Lu Jiasheng's wife; according to the wife's side, Huang Shiren is again Lu Jiasheng's brother-in-law, and he calls Lu Jiasheng brother-in-law.

They are both brothers-in-law and brothers-in-law, and each has slept with the other's sister.

After Huang Shiren was dismissed, he sought out his brother-in-law Lu Jiasheng and said some words to clear his own responsibility, claiming that all this was Shazhu's fault—that Shazhu had abandoned his post, forcing Huang Shiren to be thrust into the role and become Bai Xu's manager; he said Shazhu clearly knew the IOUs would cause trouble but deliberately did not warn him, instead hiding aside to watch the show, waiting for Huang Shiren to be caught and removed, then Shazhu would step on him to rise.

Lu Jiasheng does not dare to make things difficult for Factory Director Yang, but he dares to give Shazhu a show of force.

He brought a bunch of drinking and eating friends, swaggering into Bai Xu, sitting in private room number six; the compliment the servers had just overheard about giving Shazhu and Bai Xu a good face was exactly what this Lu Jiasheng said.

From his appearance, he is clearly not a good person.

He is much like ancient bandits who waylaid and robbed travelers.

When he got excited from drinking,

He took off his shirt, bare-chested, insisting on performing a deep-water bomb for those present, surrounded by a bunch of flatterers.

After Lu Jiasheng downed a mix of beer and baijiu in one gulp, feeling some stomach discomfort, he got up and went to the restroom, where he met an acquaintance who was not a close friend.

"Old Wang, you're here too—we two really came up with the same idea: on the day Bai Xu reopened, we wanted to give that guy named Shazhu a show of force; later, when settling the bill, we'll do it together, giving him two IOUs, not believing he'd dare refuse."

"Lu Jiasheng, you bastard, keep your voice down."

Old Wang warily looked left and right.

A look of extreme guilt.

Lu Jiasheng became interested. In his heart, this Old Wang is, in his view, a person who, even with his butt on fire, still maintains his composure slowly and calmly. What happened? Why does he look as timid as a mouse seeing a cat?

"Old Wang, what exactly is wrong with you? It's just a white slip, what's the big deal? All over the country they can sign, but they Bai Xu can't? It seems Bai Xu is the exception; I still don't believe it today—I must sign this slip, let's see what they can do to me, Lu Jiasheng."

"Lu Jiasheng, lower your voice, damn it, you don't want to live—I still don't want to die."

Seeing Old Wang's tone so grave and his expression unusually solemn, Lu Jiasheng realized he could no longer joke around with Old Wang.

Following the conversation, he asked a question.

"Old Wang, what exactly happened?"

"Damn, I originally wanted to give Shazhu a treat, but just now downstairs I met Factory Director Yang's secretary Xu Donglai. I called out 'Secretary Xu,' but he didn't acknowledge me. After I pressed him hard, he told me something—never mind, it's not a big deal. When we settle the bill later, I'll just pay cash."

Lu Jiasheng pondered.

We had agreed to pay with an IOU.

Upon seeing Secretary Xu, he immediately changed it to cash payment.

No way!

An unthinkable answer popped into his mind; seeing Old Wang preparing to leave, he hurriedly grabbed Old Wang's arm.

"Old Wang, tell me what's going on—isn't it supposed to be an IOU? How did it become cash?"

"Nothing, I just suddenly didn't want to use an IOU."

"Old Wang, are we still brothers? You even... your own younger siblings!"

"Lu Jiasheng, I'm telling you, you must not tell anyone." Old Wang cut off Lu Jiasheng's train of thought, his face tense as he lowered his voice to Lu Jiasheng: "I questioned Secretary Xu for a long time, and Secretary Xu finally told me that Bai Xu is currently a pilot project of the higher leadership, that person."

Old Wang pointed his finger upward.

"They've been keeping an eye on Bai Xu, and because of the incident where Bai Xu's IOUs led to its near-collapse, someone leaked word to Factory Director Yang of Yagangchang that the higher leadership would soon send people incognito to investigate. Secretary Xu was sent by Factory Director Yang to gather information because of this. I'm just a low-level leader at the transport company; if the higher-ups' people saw me paying for a meal with an IOU, I'd likely lose my position. Lu Jiasheng, remember, you must never tell outsiders."

"Don't worry, I definitely won't tell anyone."

Lu Jiasheng didn't say anything, although...

But walls have ears.

Just like that.

You told me, I told him, and the whole private dining room upstairs—all fifteen guests eating there—knew about the higher-ups sending people to investigate covertly.

No one dared to gamble with their own career.

When settling the bill,

They honestly paid everything in cash.

Yu Li simply tallied the bill; tonight's total profit was 320 yuan, with the first-floor hall contributing 20 yuan of profit and the upstairs private rooms contributing 300 yuan of pure gain.

Also blame those people for being ruthless; they just wanted to order more dishes and then use IOUs to disgust Shazhu, but they didn't expect that Shazhu's big act of 'fox borrowing the tiger's might' would leave them suffering the loss of both wife and troops. They ordered a huge spread of food and drink, had plenty left over, yet out of face-saving reluctance to take leftovers, they ended up giving Bai Xu's people a free gift.

The biggest reason.

Is that these people don't have to spend their own money when eating.

If they had to pay themselves, they definitely wouldn't be so wasteful.

Some untouched food and drink went back to the kitchen untouched; reheated tomorrow, it becomes a new dish. Some food and drink that had been touched by chopsticks, Shazhu had Thus: Thus: Mahua and others organize a bit, a big group gathered to eat and drink heartily. The remaining leftovers were taken home by Bai Xu's people, divided per person.

Shazhu worried something might happen, so he arranged for male comrades to escort the female comrades home.

As a war god, he escorted his own wife and You Fengxia, walking together toward the Siheyuan.

On the way.

You Fengxia still excitedly bragged to Shazhu and his wife, saying that according to today's profit, they might become a ten-thousand-yuan household in a month.

They now just have the slogan of a ten-thousand-yuan household.

She also said that today's single day's profit would surpass what Huang Shiren would earn in a month during his tenure.

Shazhu laughed and said a few cold remarks, saying that those people came today with the intention of giving him a show of force, demanding as much as possible, even though they knew they couldn't finish it, they still ordered several extra dishes.

Now that they know Bai Xu has someone conducting a covert visit, they naturally won't order so much.

After all, they paid in cash, not with an IOU.

Of course.

He was also quite curious, wondering whether those people would keep coming tomorrow and the day after.

They arrived at the Siheyuan.

Yan Fugui probably heard the noise of Shazhu and company returning to the courtyard, hurriedly came out from the inner room—he was about to lock the gate—Shazhu greeted him and handed over the leftover vegetables he was carrying.

Yan Fugui took it with a grin, pulled Shazhu aside, and chatted a few casual words.

They returned home.

Yu Li prepared the foot-washing water for Shazhu; after Shazhu washed his feet, Yu Li threw both his socks and her own into the wash and cleaned them thoroughly.

As bedtime approached, Shazhu only then recalled the incident of Yu Li being shoved to the ground; seeing Yu Li lying on the mattress, he also noticed the swelling on her buttocks.

He felt a pang of heartache.

He said a few words to Yu Li, walked over to the table, took out the erguotou, fetched a large bowl, poured a little erguotou into it, lit the erguotou with fire, his hand touching the burning erguotou, he earnestly massaged the swollen spot on Yu Li, all the while complaining at her.

"From now on, if you encounter such a situation, you should stay far away. As a female comrade, seeing those people all red-eyed and still wanting to charge forward—this is a bump on the butt; if it were on the head, wouldn't you be scalped?"

"I was also panicked, I didn't think that much."

"No matter how panicked, you can't do that—thank goodness I was there; if I weren't, what would we do if those people stepped all over you?"

"I understand, I'll pay attention. By the way, I was thinking: why not make some number cards for the diners? When the seats are full and they don't want to go elsewhere but insist on waiting, we give them a number card indicating an empty spot, then we call them in by number to eat. What do you think?"

"Pretty good. By the way, I also have an idea: I want to look for Jianguo tomorrow. Tonight's incident with those people also gave me a heads-up—we need to hire a few people to guard the door."

"Can it work?"

"That's why I want to consult Jianguo—he served in the military, so he definitely has comrades who farm in their rural hometowns; having them guard the door at Bai Xu would also be a job, earning at least twenty-something yuan a month."

"You handle it yourself, by the way—just now San Daye stopped you, what did he say, why are you sighing?"