4 The Radishes of the Lady Boss (1/2)
”A white radish?!”
Wang Lu's eyes were wide opened with surprise as he looked at the food in his bowl.
As a dignified second generation youth from the rich Wang Family Village who completed the twelve incredibly toilsome tasks, the food that he got for dinner was actually just a boiled white radish.
He suspiciously looked at the errand boy. ”Do you have to be so frugal?”
Wang Zhong felt extremely aggrieved. ”You can't blame me about this, Young Master. Why don't you go out and see for yourself. The prices at this inn are simply crazy! One boiled white radish costs ten liang of silver!”
Wang Lu was stunned for a while. ”If it is ten liang, then so be it! Why did you only buy one, we are rich so we are not lacking money to spend.”
”The problem is that the Lady Boss limits the white radishes to one per person!”
”Have you told her that we're guests living in the best room?”
Wang Zhong nodded. ”Yes, otherwise, the price would have been five hundred liang for one radish!”
”That's even heavier than the radish! Did the price of silver drop that much lately?”
Wang Zhong was indignant. ”That Lady Boss was a bit delusional. She thinks that people are fools! Even the people in the lobby would rather starve than buy her radishes. Not to mention that she isn't the only one who sells food in the town.”
”Then why did you buy this ten liang radish then? Did you really think we don't need money?”
Wang Zhong continued to complain, ”The prices in the other shops had also been increased ages ago. Gold and silver are like dirt now. Ten liang for a radish is actually a fairly reasonable price.”
Wang Lu frowned. ”But a reasonable price doesn't equal good food... I hate radish.”
Wang Zhong snappily said, ”I'll eat it if the Young Master doesn't want to eat it. I'm still hungry.”
Wang Lu ignored his errand boy's complaint. ”I want to eat meat.”
”If a white radish costs five hundred liang, a piece of meat would probably cost five thousand liang. Our money is enough to buy half a piece of meat.”
”I see...” Wang Lu pondered for a moment and looked down at the bowl of radish, and then he suddenly asked, ”Did other people buy the Lady Boss's radishes?”
Wang Zhong shrugged. ”Of course not. Only idiots would buy her radishes.”
”In that case, we don't need to worry about our dinner.” Wang Lu's eyes lit up, his fingers kept knocking on the table as his excitement steadily intensified.
”Young Master?” Wang Zhong tilted her head in puzzlement.
”Hmm, tonight, we are going to have meat to eat,” Wang Lu said, then he grabbed his bag, got up and went out.
-
In the lobby, the Lady Boss behind the counter looked impatient. More than one hundred white radishes were cooked in the kitchen, but none of them were sold except for the one that was sold cheap for ten liang. Although those princes and sons of officials were a bunch of waste, they were not that stupid. Even if there were many of them, nobody bought her overpriced radishes.
From the cost point of view, the radishes didn't cost the Lady Boss a lot, and the loss would be minimal. But she could not afford to ruin her reputation as the Lady Boss of the Ru Family Inn. More importantly, she was probably about to lose the bet.
”Ahhh... so annoying.”
The Lady Boss took a long stretch, scanning the lobby with her narrowed eyes.
”Tsk, that big-headed fellow from the Azure Billow Country isn't here! Shame, I could've sold a couple hundred radishes to him...”
While the Lady Boss was considering whether she should promote her radishes to those princes and sons of officials in the lobby, she heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs.
The Lady Boss's eyes lit up - Wang Lu, the man who completed the twelve tasks came again.
Seeing him, she could not help but want to laugh. Especially when she thought about how he had completed the twelve tasks which was confidently described as ”unsolvable” by a particular person, she would laugh even harder.
Looking at his face, it was obvious that Wang Lu had some plans in mind as he came downstairs. Unfortunately, there were no more tasks to be completed anymore.
”Lady Boss, I want to buy some radishes.”
The Lady Boss smiled. ”That was a one-time special offer.”
”No matter. I'll buy at the original price.”
Lady Boss' smile faded a little. ”How many?”
”I want five, but bigger.”
”Big ones may cost a little more.”
”It's okay. I have money.”
”Okay then. Three thousand and five hundred liang of silver. You need to pay first.”
Wang Lu did not say anything; he just put all the money he had - more than ten banknotes of the Great Ming Kingdom - on the counter.
The Lady Boss waved at Wang Lu and said, ”I'll bring the radishes to you later. Please return to your room.”
Wang Lu did not wait any longer as he immediately turned around and went upstairs. The Lady Boss then took all the banknotes and began to slowly count them.
”What an interesting person. No wonder he can complete the twelve tasks. He thinks in a completely different way compared to those noble idlers in the lobby. That heretic up on the mountain can finally find a person of her kind.”
The Lady Boss calmly counted. After she finished counting, there were already several people standing in front of the counter.
They were all servants or bodyguards of those princes and sons of officials. They all hung smiles on their faces, but those smiles were very unnatural.
”Lady Boss, I am here to buy...”
”Lady Boss, your radishes...”
”My Young Master wants...”
The Lady Boss didn't even raise her head. ”One thousand liang for one radish. How many do you want?”