He extended a hand to Li Jincheng, who grabbed his arm to pull himself up and said, slightly annoyed, "You really talk too much!"
Yang Ge glanced at him and walked to the outer deck of the ship on his own. "I’m treating. What would you like to eat?"
Li Jincheng’s eyes lit up, clutching his head as he followed Yang Ge’s pace. "I have a headache..."
Yang Ge, furiously, "I already said I’m treating, are you still trying to scam me?"
Li Jincheng, "You said it yourself, I didn’t force you. I want spicy fried kidney, stir-fried beef with green onions, and mutton cooked in a copper pot..."
Yang Ge walked ahead, picking up his pace.
The menu-reciting Li Jincheng hurried to catch up, shouting angrily, "Don’t even think about skipping out on the bill!"
...
Li Jincheng feasted wildly upstairs in the main hall, while Yang Ge, wiping his hands, came from the backyard to the main hall, where the salted-fish patrons promptly invited him to join in throwing pots.
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Yang Ge waved his hand, declining the salted-fish patrons’ invitation, and then said seriously, "Gentlemen, you’re all old hands at this. I’d like to ask you to relay a message for me to Louwailou, telling them that stealing my silver was totally unscrupulous. I am very angry, and the consequences will be severe. If they don’t return my silver within two months, their Louwailou... might as well close down!"
Once he said this, the main hall went quiet immediately, and even Li Qing looked at Yang Ge in astonishment, not understanding why he was making such a fuss over some lost silver.
"Holy shit, the shopkeeper’s guts!"
"I always said the shopkeeper’s got a tiny heart, now you believe me, right? Louwailou offended the shopkeeper just once, and has been shivering and hiding for so long and still couldn’t avoid this direct hit."
"Shopkeeper, I still owe you for the wine earlier, is it too late? You’re not going to hit me, right? I can scream, you know..."
The stirred up salted-fish patrons came back to their senses, far from being scared off, instead growing even more enthusiastic in their opinions, their eyes gleaming with excitement as if this wasn’t a major upheaval but a grand celebration.
Yang Ge could not be bothered with them. He knew, among these salted-fish patrons, there definitely were undercover agents from Louwailou.
They would convey his words, word for word, to the master of Louwailou.
Thinking this, he walked behind the counter, took out paper and pen, and gestured to Miaomiao, who was munching on melon seeds nearby. "Miaomiao, come over and help me write a couple of characters."
Zhao Miao, who was chasing after the salted-fish patrons to find out what Louwailou was and how it had managed to offend Yang Ge, returned reluctantly to the counter and rolled up her sleeves saying, "What should I write?"
Yang Ge answered, "Pay up!"
Zhao Miao rolled her eyes at him. "Did you lose your mind in money?"
Yang Ge looked at her menacingly. "Feeling itchy again, are you?"
Zhao Miao shivered suddenly, nodding her head vigorously, "I’ll write! I’ll write! Isn’t that enough... What font should I use?"
Yang Ge, "Use whatever font you normally use."
Zhao Miao, muttering "Okay okay okay," raised her hand and meticulously wrote the characters "Pay Up" in a font resembling thin gold script: "Second Brother, does this look all right to you?"
Yang Ge looked at it and nodded. "Not bad, go play now!"
"Okay!"
Zhao Miao dropped the brush and dashed away from the counter like a rabbit released from its cage, her eyes gleaming as she continued to mingle with a few familiar salted-fish patrons.
Yang Ge stood alone behind the counter, slipped the characters written by Zhao Miao into an envelope, sealed it carefully with glue, and wrote "Yang Erlang" on the bottom.
After he was done, he took the envelope outside, looked around, then waved to the middle-aged man selling flatbreads across the street.
The middle-aged man, carrying a stove, came over quickly, a broad smile on his face, "Shopkeeper, how many would you like? I’ve got flatbreads just out of the oven, nice and hot..."
Yang Ge tossed a copper coin and wrapped up two flatbreads in lotus leaves, biting into one and immediately grimacing, "This flatbread tastes awful. You aren’t a wrestler from Shang You Suo, right? If you have time, go take an induction training course there, learn how to make flatbreads properly, it’ll do you good..."
While speaking, he stuffed the envelope into the boss’s chest. "Send this to the capital, present it to your officials."
The middle-aged man’s smile froze on his face, beads of sweat pouring down as he stuttered, "This... that... your humble servant... little man..."
Yang Ge looked back at the jubilant scene inside the shop, then said, "Last time, that mung bean cake you sent to your princess wasn’t bad. Bring me some next time."
The knees of the middle-aged man nearly buckled, almost dropping to the ground: "Your humble servant is disrespectful..."
Yang Ge supported him, "It’s fine, I don’t blame you. Just try to make the flatbreads more palatable next time."