Piaoxiang Tower is two stories high, about seven feet long. The ground floor is so large that it occupies about half an acre of land. The door is more than two feet wide, and a plaque hangs above the wide doorway, with the words "Piaoxiang Tower" written in block letters.
It is said that this word was obtained by the owner of Piaoxianglou who spent a lot of money to find someone in one fell swoop. Although the characters are in regular script structure, the brushwork appears rounded and the strokes are vigorous and powerful, which makes people feel happy when they look at it.
Night has come quietly.
The earth, which was scorched by the scorching sun during the day, is now experiencing a gentle cooling.
It's night, the moon is bright and clear. You can clearly see things on the street even without a lantern.
The time before the curfew in the city is the best time for people to play and cool off at night.
A gust of night wind blows by, bringing a unique cool feeling in summer, which makes people feel very comfortable.
"Here they come, your fish..."
"Gentlemen, this is what you ordered..."
…
At this time, Piaoxiang Building was brightly lit to welcome customers, and business was booming.
After returning home from work and freshening up, Wang Li and Jiang Wei arrived at the door of Piaoxiang Building as promised.
"You two are here for dinner? Do you want to listen to books or music?" asked the waiter outside the door of Piaoxiang Building.
Listening to books and music are new things introduced by Piaoxianglou.
In this era when entertainment is scarce, it is a luxury even for a wealthy family to listen to stories and songs while eating, let alone ordinary people, they dare not even think about it. However, Piaoxiang Tower provides such services. For some ordinary people in need, if they do not take advantage of such a good thing, they will be at a disadvantage.
Perhaps it is precisely because of this that Piaoxiang Restaurant, as a newly opened restaurant, has such a booming business and a large number of customers.
Listeners are on the first floor of Piaoxiang Building. The store has set up two podiums at the middle points on the left and right sides of the store for storytellers to tell stories.
Since the threshold for storytellers is relatively low, people who listen to books and eat on the first floor spend little money, almost the same as other restaurants. The main consumption is the common people at the bottom.
Listening to music, of course, is on the second floor of Piaoxiang Building. Singing songs is more difficult than telling stories, so those who want to eat here will naturally have to pay more. Most of the consumers are scholars, merchants, and the like, with a little extra money.
Of course, in addition to an elegant sitting hall on the second floor of Piaoxiang Building, there are also several elegant private rooms for those in need. However, the price will be much higher than that of the elegant sitting hall.
Although the price of private rooms is higher, the people who come to the second floor to spend money are not those who cannot afford this amount of money. However, people who go to the second floor to eat often like to sit in the private seats in the lobby.
It's not that they can't bear the money for the box, and it's not that they like the noise, it's just that most of them come with a purpose.
Nothing else, probably because there are so many people here.
Scholars who came to dine here could improve their reputation by reciting poems, writing lyrics and music, etc. The merchants used their spare time to try to find some 'targets' to invest in.
"Listen to books or music? Do you even need to ask? Of course, listen to books." Jiang Wei thought in his mind.
In fact, it is normal for Jiang Wei to think this way without thinking. Because dining on the second floor of Piaoxiang Building will be more expensive, there is also a special rule:
Anyone who comes to eat on the second floor of Piaoxiang Building must have someone at each table who can compose a poem or song. Otherwise, you will have to pay an extra cent of silver①, which will be used as prize money for the poetry and song competition held by Piaoxiang Tower at 3:00 every day.
It is precisely because of this special rule that most ordinary people consciously choose to eat on the first floor. Scholars, in the name of winning a jackpot, chose to eat on the second floor to avoid being laughed at.
However, probably because of this special rule of Piaoxiang Building, the business on the second floor has been booming, even much better than the cheaper first floor.
Because in addition to gaining fame, the person who comes out on top will also receive a nice bonus. In addition to the silver collected by Piaoxiang Building, this bonus will also receive an additional two taels of silver provided by Piaoxiang Building.
Two taels of silver may be nothing to the children of rich gentry families, but it is extremely attractive to students from relatively poor families, not to mention the reputation of being the top one, which makes them all yearn for it.
It is said that there was once a poor scholar who received a huge sum of four taels of silver because he wrote a good poem, and even won the favor of a financial owner.
Everyone who was dining on the first floor that night felt honored when they heard about this, as if they had seen the number one scholar in the imperial examination.
"Listen to the book." Jiang Wei replied naturally.
"Okay." The waiter called back: "Let's eat on the first floor, you two..."
"Hey, Skinny Monkey Jiang, are you coming to Piaoxianglou for dinner too?"
At this time, a voice came from behind Jiang Wei. Jiang Wei looked around and saw a man whose stature was almost the same as him shouting.
This man's surname was Feng Mingle, and he had known Jiang Wei since childhood. Because of his thin body, he was also called Feng Caitou. Unlike Jiang Wei who was a city guard, he was a jailer.
Although the salary of a jailer is not high, he can often make some money. Even if the big part is given to the top, the soup that leaks out is enough to nourish life.
"Feng Caitou? What, you too?" Jiang Wei asked.
"What do you mean, me too, I'm here to listen to music, and you probably just want to listen to books." Feng Le said with contempt.
"Hey, long time no see, Feng Caitou, are you crazy?" Jiang Wei asked.
"We can't talk about hair. We have to go there soon." Feng Le replied.
"Not bad! Sure enough, those who work in the yamen are better than us who guard the city gate. Doesn't this sound good?" Jiang Wei said.
"Listen to the music? If you haven't heard it, you won't understand it. Ever since I last heard the dance music played and sung by Miss Qihong, I always felt that there was something missing. No, I'm here again!" Feng Le replied.
"In the words of those scholars: We are destined to meet each other. It is rare for us to meet each other. I will take you up to listen to music tonight and let you learn a lot."
"Thank you, Feng Caitou. I've invited my brother Wang Li to have dinner with me. I'll listen to music with you again when I have the chance!" Jiang Wei said and introduced Wang Li to Feng Le.
"Skinny Monkey Jiang, if you say so, you are out of touch. Your brother is also my brother. When can I not listen to books? It's a rare chance that you can go listen to music with me today." Feng Le said.
"Sure, since you said so, we can't go against your will. Brother Wang, you say so!" Jiang Wei said to Wang Li.
"Yes, yes, thank you very much, Brother Feng." Wang Li replied.
"good…"
"Waiter, three of you are listening to music." Feng Le said to the waiter at the door.
"Understood, let's listen to music on the second floor, the three of us..." The waiter's voice sounded loudly.
Note: Thanks to the world for not favoring sentimental people. Thank you for the 20 yuan reward!
Shukeju reading website:
