Zhao Rang's heart shrank when he heard the child's words.
Children who grow up in such an environment have primitive characteristics. This characteristic is closer to the most essential desire, which is survival. In order to survive or live a better life, they are willing to pay any price.
A question can be exchanged for an omelette. Even though the oil used in the omelette is disgusting and the taste is strange, it is still rare and delicious.
But good and bad come from comparison. Children who have never eaten omelettes from other places will naturally think that omelettes all over the world look and taste like this.
He could eat fried eggs just by moving his mouth. This was pie in the sky, and he had no right to refuse.
"first question."
Zhao started to talk, but then stopped. The child stared at him eagerly, and even more at the fried egg in his hand.
Asked suddenly, Zhao Rang had to think about it carefully. Once many things are stipulated, people will be at a loss.
“Is the person who made this omelette deaf?”
Zhang San also didn't expect that Zhao Rang would ask this as his first question.
Why do you need to ask again when you already know the answer? He was simply wasted...
The child didn't expect that Zhao Rang's first question would be so easy to answer.
Who in Lotus Lane doesn't know that the shop owner is deaf?
He could earn an omelette for knowing something without having to pay anything at all. The child felt that Zhao Rang was simply a fool...
But he still nodded seriously and answered.
"Second question, what does your family do in Lotus Lane?"
This question is somewhat interesting.
If you want to understand the entire Lotus Lane, you have to start from a point, then form a line from the point, and finally spread it out.
"Don't think about it, just say it! Otherwise there will be no fried eggs!"
Zhao Rang shook the fried egg in his hand and said threateningly.
The child suddenly became anxious and said quickly:
"I didn't think about it, I didn't think about it, my family sells rat poison!"
"Rat poison?"
"Yes, it's the medicine that kills mice."
There are also small vendors like this in Dawei selling rat medicine in the streets. Most of them carry a cage with several rats in it. When the crowd of people gathered, he caught a mouse and fed the medicine into it. Not long after, the mouse kicked off his legs and died, proving that his trick was not only effective, but also effective. The onlookers watched the excitement, and a pack of medicine cost only a dollar. Many people just wanted to have fun, buying a pack and going back to play. Little did they know that this vendor of rat medicine fed the rats doing the demonstration real medicine, but what he sold was adulterated. Even if it works, it's not that effective!
If people come to look for him again in a few days and say that his medicine is not working, he will say that the person bought less and take advantage of this to make another profit. Going back and forth like this several times is equivalent to selling a medicine several times, and making several times more money.
Therefore, people who sell rat medicine will definitely raise rats. Otherwise, when he goes out to set up a stall, what will he use to demonstrate?
"How many rats do you have at home?"
The child was a little surprised, but he still answered accurately:
"My family doesn't raise them. Because there are too many in the alleys. Just catch them when needed. My dad said raising rats is very troublesome and wastes food."
Zhao Rang was very satisfied with this answer and nodded before starting the next question.
"What do the vendors in this alley do?"
The child began to think deeply and kept clapping his fingers. Zhao Rang did not rush him, because it does take time for a child to figure out this issue.
"Pake sellers, medicine sellers, wine sellers, and laborers, masons, blacksmiths...and..."
"Oh! There is also an old gentleman!"
"Old sir? What do you do?"
When Zhao Rang saw the child, he singled out the old man. This man must be a little special.
Unexpectedly, the child did not answer this time. He looked at Zhao Rang with a smile and pointed at the fried egg in his hand.
"Who is the old gentleman?" This is another question. As usual, I have to give him an omelette from the previous question. Zhao Rang just asked repeatedly and forgot to give it, but the child remembered it clearly.
Another egg was given to the child. After putting it in his pocket, he replied:
"Old Mr. is the respectful name given to him by the people in Lotus Lane, because he has read books."
"Is the old gentleman a scholar?"
Zhao Rang asked rhetorically.
The child obviously didn't quite understand the difference between a scholar and a scholar. He answered rashly and was afraid of being regarded as a lie by Zhao Rang, so he pretended to talk to him vaguely.
"Okay, okay, just keep talking and I'll ask again after you finish."
The child breathed a sigh of relief and continued:
"During the day, he writes letters for people in the market, and at night he goes to the lively places in the city to sell gadgets."
"He makes all his stuff by himself, how interesting it is! Just wait, I'll show it to you. The old gentleman gave me one!"
The child said and ran away.
His home is not a house on the ground, but a semi-underground shack. Not to mention living in such a place, even rats would probably dislike it.
It only took a few breaths to get in and out again.
When he emerged again, the child was holding a small clay figurine in his hand.
Zhao Rang's expression and clothing look exactly like this child's!
"Is this made by the old gentleman and given to you?"
The child nodded.
It was his only treasure, so it was well preserved. Even in such a nest, it is clean and refreshing.
"So the old gentleman writes letters for people during the day and makes clay figurines and sells them for money at night?"
The child replied:
"That's right, the old gentleman can squeeze it very well! Just sit down in front of him, and within a quarter of an hour, he will squeeze it."
Zhao Rang waved the remaining omelette in his hand in front of the child and said:
"Last question, answered, these are all yours."
"Where does the old gentleman live?"
The child got all the fried eggs as he wished, and Zhao Rang also learned the old gentleman's specific address.
He felt that if any vendor could provide clues, it would be this old gentleman.
First of all, it's because he can read and write.
People who have read books will treat people differently. When they meet strange people and strange things, they will often use their brains more. In addition, he has clay sculpture skills and can make children look so lifelike, which shows that he has good eyesight and strong observation ability.
And he would also go to lively places in the city to set up stalls at night.
There are probably not many people who meet these three conditions at the same time in the entire king's city. If you can find one in Lotus Alley, you are lucky.
Regardless of whether the old gentleman went to Qingshan Inn last night or not, Zhao Rang was ready to try his luck.
The address the child gave him was correct.
The old gentleman lives in a place different from others.
The plaster on the exterior walls of his house was neatly plastered, with no rough edges at all. There is also a layer of tiles on the top, which is somewhat incompatible with the surrounding dilapidation.
Looking left and right, you can see that the old gentleman's house is the best in this alley! It seemed that writing letters and making clay figurines did earn him a lot more than others, allowing him to live a life like no other in Lotus Lane.
But the child forgot to tell Zhao Rang that the old man was not at home at this time, so Zhao Rang missed it.
The stall where the old gentleman writes letters is set up every afternoon. After waking up in the morning, he would go to the teahouse in Lotus Alley to drink a pot of milk tea and eat two baked buns. Then he would go to the east end of the alley and play around for half a day.
The eastern end is close to the palace of Shanye Kingdom, and there is a long-abandoned side door that leads directly to the palace. When not on duty, many people in the palace would sneak out through side doors and have fun in Lotus Lane. One of their favorite games is called Hidden Hook.
Hidden hook is very simple to play. Each person holds a jade hook and lets people guess whether it is hidden in the left hand or the right hand. If you want to increase the difficulty, you can pass it around among several people. In this way of playing, even if the person hiding the hook is less than a thousand, the chance of guessing it right is very low. What's more, hiding the hook is a kind of fun that the banker uses to make money, and it is the pockets of old gamblers who don't have much money but are stubborn.
The old gentleman has a skill and is making money every day. Although he is not an old gambler, he is an old bachelor.
A man without a home is not willing to go home at all. The house is deserted, and there is only one person sitting there. It is better to be outside, even if you listen to people you don't know bragging, it is still lively.
So the old gentleman would go and play hide hook with them every day.
It goes without saying that you lose more and win less, but the old man only brought a fixed amount of money every time. After he lost, he smiled and left, and went to the market to set up a stall. Therefore, although he doesn't lose much money every time, he wins because of the steady flow of water, and those people are naturally happy to have fun with him. After all, it is extremely rare to find a gambler who comes to give away money every day and never loses his temper.
Zhao Rang regretted that he didn't ask the child two more questions... at least to confirm whether the old gentleman was at home at this moment.
Finally, after a lot of twists and turns, we finally found our way to the eastern end of Lotus Lane.
This is simply a paradise for gamblers!
Mahjong, Pai Gow, dice, everything is available, and there’s even some insect fighting!
It's just that the insects they fight are not crickets, but scorpions caught from the Gobi Desert.
Gobi scorpions raise their tails high. Driven by splendens, they fight each other and desperately insert their poisonous hooks into the opponent's carapace. The killing is back and forth, but it is much more exciting than fighting a cricket. More than twice that!
Zhao Rang only watched it for a short while before he was entranced, and he already secretly had someone to support in his heart.
"Look, one coin. The minimum bet is two coins, just look at it!"
A skinny middle-aged man stretched out his skinny palm towards Zhao Rang.
Zhao Rang wanted to give it, but he didn't have any money on him, only silver ingots marked with Tongbao Bank's fire paint.
Such a silver ingot was too scary to take out in Lotus Alley, Zhao Rang could only turn his head and look at Zhang San.
Zhang San was also very embarrassed and whispered to Zhao Rang:
"Master... I have used up all the loose money I had on me to buy omelettes just now, and now I have the big ingot you gave me in my arms!"
