Chapter 131: It's Eleven Jin, Not One Jin

A single remark about a black shop successfully drew the attention of that group of customers, who stood there pointing and commenting.

Now it's done, the situation has blown up.

Manager Xiao's face changed drastically; he hurriedly turned his head to explain to the customers, 'Don't listen to him, he's just here to cause trouble, everyone rest assured, our shop is honest and fair.'

'Honest and fair, huh? Come on, let's judge.' Ye Cheng suddenly flung open the water tank lid, pointing at the red-spotted fish inside and said,

'I have a wild red-spotted fish weighing over ten jin, still alive, and you want to take it for 1000—if this isn't a black shop, what is?'

As soon as Ye Cheng finished speaking, the whole place was shocked.

'How big is it?'

'A red-spotted fish over ten jin—I've never even heard of such a thing.'

'And it's wild, such a rare thing—let me have a look.'

Several customers rushed forward, surrounding Ye Cheng's water tank to have a look.

That red-spotted fish in the tank was half-dead, but still breathing.

'Really, young man, is this truly wild?' an older customer eagerly looked at Ye Cheng.

'Right, it couldn't be farmed, could it?'

'The biggest I've ever eaten was only three jin, and that was farmed—how could a wild one be this big?'

Ye Cheng calmly said, 'Boss, farmed fish wouldn't be raised this big; they'd be sold off long before, raising them to this size isn't profitable.'

'Exactly, that makes sense.' The customer kept nodding, 'Farming needs to be quick; spending this much time isn't worthwhile.'

'You're offering only 1000 for such a big red-spotted fish?' the older customer asked.

'Yes, and no need to weigh it—just a set price.' Ye Cheng seethed with resentment; he'd seen shady deals before, but never this black. What kind of person did Zhao Zhiming introduce him to? Next time he'll have to treat Zhao to a drink.

The older customer turned to Manager Xiao with an incredulous look, 'You guys are really ripping people off—wanting to take such a huge wild fish for just 1000?'

Seeing the customer speak up for Ye Cheng, Manager Xiao panicked and hastily explained, 'No, it's the price President Wang gave me—I don't even know.'

'Then call President Wang out; I want to see if he usually does this.' The older customer seemed to have some background and was quite rude.

'Mr. Li, wait a moment, I'll call President Wang right away.'

Without him calling, Wang Ke had already arrived.

'What's going on?' an anxious voice came from behind, and Wang Ke hurried over.

'President Wang has arrived, good. Come, look—this huge wild red-spotted fish, you're only offering 1000? That's going too far.' Mr. Li frowned and questioned.

'Xiao Ye? Are you causing trouble?' Wang Ke looked at Ye Cheng, bewildered.

'Yes, your price is too low.' Ye Cheng nodded.

'For a red-spotted fish over one jin, I'm offering 1500 to buy it—still low? If it weren't for Old Zhao introducing you, I wouldn't have bought it at all.' President Wang was displeased; he thought his price was fair, but he was doing it for Zhao Zhiming's sake.

Ye Cheng stared, puzzled, at Wang Ke, 'No, I have a red-spotted fish over ten jin, not over one jin. Besides, Manager Xiao just said 1000, not 1500.'

When Wang Ke said 1500, Manager Xiao's face turned deathly pale; he looked at Wang Ke in a panic,

'No, President Wang, I thought 1500 was too much, so I quoted 1000.'

Hearing that, regardless of the fish's size, Wang Ke immediately understood the foul play afoot.

He snorted coldly, 'No need to explain—you just wanted to pocket that 500, right?'

'No, President Wang, I really didn't—I just wanted to save the shop some money.' Manager Xiao hurriedly stood before Wang Ke, anxiously explaining.

'Enough!' Wang Ke raised a hand to stop him, 'This isn't the first or second time—I'm formally telling you now, you're fired.'

Seeing Wang Ke fire Manager Xiao on the spot, Ye Cheng was somewhat surprised.

Perhaps there really was some misunderstanding here; he stayed silent for the moment, waiting to see how things would develop.

Manager Xiao still wanted to explain, but Wang Ke wouldn't budge, merely waving his hand as someone escorted Manager Xiao out.

Then he walked over to Ye Cheng's water tank and took a look.

Upon seeing it, his eyes widened as he looked up at Ye Cheng, 'You didn't say it was over one jin, did you?'

'Huh?' Ye Cheng was also dazed, wondering when he had said it was over one jin.

'No, I said it was over eleven jin.'

Wang Ke gave a helpless smile, patted Ye Cheng on the shoulder, and apologetically said, 'Brother, I misheard—I thought you said "over one jin," but it's actually over eleven jin.'

After a moment, Ye Cheng also understood.

If it were a red-spotted fish over one jin, offering 1500 would indeed be acceptable.

Now the misunderstanding cleared, Ye Cheng felt a bit embarrassed, recalling how he had just caused a scene here and disturbed so many customers.

He sheepishly lowered his voice, 'President Wang, sorry about that—I've caused all these customers to misunderstand you.'

Wang Ke patted him, then turned to the customers and said, 'Mr. Li, everyone, it's just a misunderstanding—such a huge wild red-spotted fish couldn't possibly be bought for 1000; we'd never let such quality slip, and the price will certainly be fair, so rest assured.'

After he finished, the customers didn't say anything else and wandered off to order dishes.

Only Mr. Li remained, lightly pointing at Ye Cheng's fish and telling Wang Ke, 'I'll take this fish—settle the price, then prepare it for me. I'm entertaining honored guests today, and this fine fish is perfect; I saw it first, so it's mine—you can't give it to anyone else.'

'Sure, I'll give you a quote shortly.' Hearing that the customer had already decided, Wang Ke felt pleased inside.

'Thank you, sir, for speaking up for justice just now.' Ye Cheng bowed his hands to the old man, who had indeed helped him earlier.

Mr. Li waved his hand, 'It's nothing; next time you have such good stuff, if they don't want you, come straight to me—I'll take it.'

He said that, but it was just polite talk—he didn't leave Ye Cheng any contact info and went straight back to his private room.

After everyone left, Wang Ke had someone come over to weigh it—11 jin 4 liang.

'Xiao Ye, we originally bought red-spotted fish at 1000 per jin, but this one is truly huge and still alive, and the customer wants it too, so I'll give you 1500 per jin—how does that sound?'

Ye Cheng didn't even think, just nodded, 'Fine, I'll go with what you said, President Wang.'

A price of 1500 is quite high—maybe that's what it would be in later times.

Being able to sell it at this price is due to two factors: first, the fish is genuinely large and rare; second, Wang Ke wanted to compensate Ye Cheng.

When calculated, the fish came to a total of _ yuan, Wang Ke simply rounded it up and handed it over.

Looking at him like this, I estimate that when the dishes are served, we'll need at least several times more.