Chapter 277: Chapter 277: Inspecting the Shop
Qi Manman stretched her arm, letting her mother dress her: "Mom, today’s Uncle Liu is red."
The seemingly unrelated statement made Yi Meng’s hands pause.
"Red?"
"Mm, red."
Qi Manman nodded: "I almost let it slip, but mom, Manbao didn’t say anything else, don’t be mad."
"I’m not mad."
Yi Meng didn’t know her daughter had already said something like this, and with her attention focused on the word "red", she felt that this time, the shop should be fine.
But she still continued, "Manbao, why don’t you go with your dad and me to check out that shop later, okay?"
The little girl was the granddaughter of the Heavenly Dao, after all!
Yi Meng didn’t think the Heavenly Dao wouldn’t look out for his granddaughter.
Upon hearing this, Qi Manman immediately nodded: "Yeah! Can dad let Manbao ride the big horse later?"
The little girl loved riding horses especially.
But everyone in the village was busy, and no one really had the time to take her around on horseback rides.
There was no way Yi Meng wouldn’t comply.
Soon, the group left the second courtyard.
Qi Ercai drove the carriage, taking the two old ladies, Liu Meiniang, and Qi Shiyi to visit the Liu Family, while Qi Quanjin drove another carriage, taking his wife and daughter, following Liu Qinghe to the shop.
The teahouse indeed was still open.
But inside, there weren’t many people seated, and even the waiter was lazily dozing off on the table by the door.
No one was at the counter.
In the hall, there was only the low talk of two tables of guests, but both tables were too far from the entrance to hear what was being said.
"Brother Quanjin, wait here for a moment. I’ll go inside and see if the owner is around. If not, I’ll see if I can take you to see the backyard."
Liu Qinghe was just hoping that the lord’s brother-in-law wasn’t at the teahouse.
Qi Quanjin understood the reason, so he naturally didn’t object.
But just as Liu Qinghe was about to step onto the stairs, he heard someone call his name.
Turning his head, it was actually the County Magistrate’s serving boy.
"Brother Liu!"
The boy dashed over to Liu Qinghe, cupped his fist, and said, "Brother Liu, are you about to take someone inside?!"
"Exactly. May I ask what brings you here, young sir?"
Liu Qinghe observed him, feeling apprehensive, wondering if the lord had sent him over to take over the shop.
The boy smiled and said, "The lord asked me to come over and give a heads-up to the people inside. Brother Liu, if you’re not in a hurry, why not wait a bit before going in, how about that?"
What else could he do?
Of course, he agreed!
Liu Qinghe cupped his hands in thanks and watched the boy enter the teahouse.
Before long, the boy came back out, followed by a slightly chubby middle-aged man.
The man’s hair was a bit messy, and his clothes weren’t neatly worn, looking as if he had just crawled out of bed.
"Brother Liu, this is the shopkeeper of the teahouse. Old Wang, this is Mr. Liu, who was sent by our lord to handle affairs."
The boy made the introduction.
But from his tone, it was clear that he was polite to Liu Qinghe, but showed no courtesy whatsoever to Manager Wang, even showing disdain.
Manager Wang quickly cupped his fists in salute.
Liu Qinghe nodded to him, then turned to Qi Quanjin and said, "Brother Quanjin, shall we go inside and have a look?"
"Sure, sure."
Qi Quanjin nodded, also nodding to Manager Wang and the boy, and only then, holding his daughter, did he enter the teahouse with his wife.
The teahouse was indeed not large, with the front hall measuring only about forty to fifty square meters at best.
Besides the counter, there were only six tables.
The back door was covered by a dark blue curtain, and not far from the door was the staircase leading to the second floor.
"Should we go see upstairs first?"
The boy asked Liu Qinghe, but his gaze turned to Qi Quanjin.
Qi Quanjin looked at his wife.
Yi Meng nodded, and only then did Qi Quanjin, with a smile, ask the boy to lead the way.
The second floor had three private rooms, all facing the street.
At this time, there was not a single guest on the second floor; it was eerily quiet.
Opening the middle room’s door brought a sudden rush of stale air, mixed with the smell of dust and some other scent of something having gone bad.
It was quite unpleasant.
Manager Wang led the way, and he was the one who opened the door. Upon smelling the odor, his face changed, and he quickly tried to cover it with a smile: "It was fearing rain, so we didn’t dare open the windows. I’ll open them now to let in some air."
Saying this, without waiting for anyone’s response, he hastily opened all the windows in the room.
With no windows blocking it, the noisy street sounds instantly flooded into the room.
But likewise, the bright sunlight highlighted the dust particles in the air unmistakably.
Qi Quanjin and his family remained standing at the doorway, not entering.
This place had too much dust; who knew how long it had been since it was last cleaned.
The third floor also had three single rooms, but there was even more dust than on the second floor.
You didn’t even need to open the rooms; just the dust on the hallway floor showed that no one had been to the third floor in ages.
The boy’s face was turning so dark it was like ink could drip from it.
Being the County Magistrate’s personal serving boy, he naturally knew about the lord’s private properties. He also knew that this shop, after being handed over to his uncle, had always been lackluster, but he hadn’t expected it to be this lackluster.
Coming down from the third floor, the group went to the backyard.
The backyard wasn’t large, a square courtyard.
The backyard was kept relatively clean.
On three sides were flat houses, all with brick and tile roofs.
With the shadows from the second and third floors in play, Qi Quanjin chose not to inspect each room.
If they bought this shop, they would need to furnish it again. As for the remaining furniture, it wasn’t that the Qi Family was extravagant, picky, or disdainful of old things; it was just that... it was too dirty to want to use.
When they returned to the front hall, the customers had already left.
The waiter nervously cleaned up, occasionally glancing at the group.
The group pretended not to see him.
Liu Qinghe looked at the boy, who immediately ushered Manager Wang away.
With no outsiders, Liu Qinghe asked, "Brother Quanjin, what do you think of this shop?"
"This shop..."
Qi Quanjin didn’t know whether the shop was good or not, so he turned to his wife.
Yi Meng had already taken their daughter into her arms, holding a teacup to her lips.
After hearing this, she also looked at her husband.
"Brother Liu, the shop itself is good, but buying a shop is a big deal. We’ll need to go back and discuss it with our family."
Yi Meng didn’t want to ask her daughter’s opinion in the presence of outsiders.
Liu Qinghe didn’t know Yi Meng’s thoughts, only feeling that this matter indeed needed careful consideration.
Whether it was four hundred silver or three hundred fifty silver, it wasn’t a small sum!
