"Wow, it's so expensive, why is this inn in Taoqiu City more expensive than the inn in Naweidu."

"Hehe, although the Weidu is the capital of the city, how can it be compared with Taoqiu, this Taoqiu is a rich place in the world."

"This, this, I have to ask Master." Zimo stuck out his tongue and turned back to find Chi Songzi.

"Master, the room fee here is so expensive, even the lowest room costs eight yuan, or let's change it."

"Don't change it, don't change it, just this one, go to the first-class guest room, and let you see it today."

"Okay." Zimo took the order back to the counter and asked the shopkeeper for a first-class room.

After putting the luggage and parcels away, the master and apprentice decided to go out for a walk first and see the wind of the old capital of Cao Kingdom.

Walking on the street, looking at the bustling past merchants, and then looking at the dazzling array of storefronts, its variety covers all aspects of clothing, food, housing and transportation, the hawkers' shouting, the bargaining of merchants, the lively and extraordinary, it is really incomparable between the city. But there is another discovery that shocks people's eyes, and the shops all over the street, whether they sell cloth, wine, grain, or livestock, will see a few similarities, that is, the three words "Tao Zhu Gong". The word "young uncle" also appears a lot.

Who is this Tao Zhugong? The business is so wide and involves all fields. The master and apprentice were also curious. It seems that in this Taoqiu City, only that young man can compete with him, and none of the other merchants is his opponent, an absolute monopoly.

If you are curious, you will inquire.

When the master and apprentice came to a liquor shop, Chi Songzi shouted to the shopkeeper, "Shopkeeper! Please get a jug of wine! ”

The shopkeeper was sitting on the bamboo chair with his eyes closed, and when he heard that a guest was buying wine, he stepped forward with a smile: "Guest officer, what kind of wine do you want?" There are three kinds of liquor sold in the shop, sorghum wine, millet wine, and fruit wine. ”

"Then come to the Sorghum Bar."

"Okay, a pot of sorghum wine! You're good! The shopkeeper made a pot of wine and handed it to the red pine nuts.

"Shopkeeper, we are from other places, we see a strange image in this city, why are so many shops in the name of Tao Zhugong, what's going on?"

When I heard Chi Songzi mention Tao Zhugong, the shopkeeper's eyes suddenly showed resentment: "This Tao Zhugong doesn't know where he came from, he came here last year, and after coming here, he bought a lot of restaurants, inns, and later bought all kinds of shops, and I don't know where he got so much money, hum!" But in this way, it robbed us of a lot of business, which is really hateful! ”

"Oh? Don't local officials care? ”

"Tube? The local official wanted to take care of it, but he took care of it, and now he has become a guest of Tao Zhugong! ”

"Hmmm! This man is indeed capable. I'm just curious to ask, okay, I won't bother you. ”

Leaving the wine shop, he walked forward again, stopped and stopped, and came to a grain shop, which was hung in front of the guise "Shaobo Grain Village", and walked in.

There were two merchants haggling with the shopkeeper.

"Shopkeeper, this rice, I got it from the palace from Juyang, it's a high-grade rice, you have to add more price." A merchant said.

"Shopkeeper, my rice is not bad, but it was transported from Qufu, do you know that Qufu is the hometown of Confucius, the place where the sages were born, and after such a long journey, you have to add some price to me." Another merchant also said.

Listening to the meaning of these two merchants, it is that this young uncle wants the goods of the two merchants, and the merchant wants to start the price.

But I saw the shopkeeper smile and said: "You two should also often come and go to this Taoqiu, less than two, during this period of time there are constantly merchants to sell rice, all to catch up with this green and yellow time to make a good price, but my boss said, business can not be rich and unkind, this is the time when the people are hard, we who do business also have to consider the difficulties of the people, so a price is set, the price of grain in Taoqiu City should remain stable, so that the price of foreign merchants selling grain can only reduce the price, and will not increase the price." The shopkeeper glanced at the two of them, "This still depends on the fact that the grain of the two of you is really good, so you gave such a high purchase price, otherwise it would be lower." If you want, let's unload the goods, if you don't, how about you go to other places to see? ”

"Isn't it just to sell grain at a good price from so far away, but this is similar to other small towns, isn't it a loss-making business, let's go, I'll go to other grain stores and take a look, if I don't believe it, I won't be able to sell it at a good price!"

"Let's go!"

As soon as the two of them saw that the price could not be negotiated, they turned around and left.

"Okay, let's go slowly!" The shopkeeper said politely, seeing that the two were about to walk out of the door, he added, "In addition, remind the two of you, the grain shops in this Taoqiu City are all one, and it is the same when you go to other homes, if you want to sell at a high price, you have to go to another city!" ”

The latter sentence was really amazing, and the two merchants were immediately stunned, and slowly turned around with their mouths open, looking at the shopkeeper: "What you said is true?" ”

"Of course, if you don't believe me, you can ask for yourself."

The two looked at each other and smiled miserably: "It seems that our grain is not profitable in this Taoqiu, this loss is huge!" The two of them stomped their feet, "Well, since the shopkeeper said so, I think it is true, and we will no longer waste our legs and feet, and the grain will be given to you at a loss!" ”

Chi Songzi and Zimo were secretly surprised when they listened on the sidelines, there are also three or five grain shops in Taoqiu City, and the guise of hanging is not Shaobo, if it is not Tao Zhugong, there is no other name, according to the meaning of this shopkeeper, that is to say, Shaobo is Tao Zhugong, Tao Zhugong is also Shaobo, and then think about all kinds of shops full of Shaobo and Tao Zhugong in the city, it turns out that it is just a pretense to confuse outsiders, and it is basically one.

This analysis is amazing, that Tao Zhu Gong or Young Uncle, his business occupies eighty percent of Taoqiu City, it's too terrifying!

After the two merchants finished selling the grain and left, Chi Songzi stepped forward and hugged his fist to the shopkeeper: "Shopkeeper, the old man is polite!" ”

"You're welcome, two. Seeing that the two of you have been in for so long, and you don't mention selling grain or buying grain, is there something else that can't be done? ”

"It's not a secret, my master and apprentice have traveled here, and I saw that most of the large and small shops on that street are called Tao Zhu Gong or Young Uncle, and just now you mentioned that these two are originally a family, I want to know, who is your boss? What is the last name? I don't know if the shopkeeper can tell him, but please rest assured that we have no malice. ”

The words of the people of that era were true, and since they said that there was no malice, then others would take it seriously, unlike people today, even if they swore an oath, they could not take it seriously.

The shopkeeper listened, and said with a smile: "I don't think the two of you look like bad people, in fact, there is nothing to say, my master is a native of Wandi (Nanyang, Henan) in Chu State, and he was once a doctor of Yueguo. This Tao Zhu Gong is the master's number. ”

"Fan Li? How did this name sound so familiar? Chi Songzi read in a low voice, "Fan Li, Gou Jian, Yue Nu, Xi Shi." I remembered, it turned out to be him, haha. ”

The shopkeeper looked at Chi Songzi in surprise: "Old man, do you know my master?" ”

"I've never seen him, but I've heard a little friend talk about him, he's a character!" Chi Songzi said with a smile, "Can you ask the shopkeeper to report on your behalf, just say that the old man Ji Ran is here to see if it is convenient for him to meet." ”

When the shopkeeper heard that the old man was the elder of the master's old friend, he hurriedly came to the counter and gave a big salute: "I don't know that the old gentleman is the master's acquaintance, this accusation, I will go to inform the master, and ask the old gentleman and this little brother to sit." ”

He asked the servant below to hand over the tea, and then he straightened his clothes and hurried to the master's house.

At this time, Fan Li is boiling a pot of tea, while tasting tea, while reading bamboo slips, although the chin is long, the sideburns and long hair are a little white, slightly thin, but the whole person is very energetic, the eyes are bright, giving people a very capable, calm, wise feeling.

The shopkeeper came to him at a trot through the doorman's courtesy, and saluted Fan Li: "Master, Xue Ping has something to do!" ”

"Let's talk about it!" The voice is calm, but there is a majesty of its own.

"There are two guests from the grain shop today, one old and one young, and before that, there are two grain merchants." The shopkeeper recounted what had just happened, and when he was done, he added, "The old gentleman said that he was the elder of an old friend of yours. ”

"Oh? The elder of the old friend, which old friend can you say? Fan Li put down the bamboo slips, stared at the shopkeeper and asked.

"Said it was Ji Ran, and muttered the names of a few people."

"It's the elder of the teacher!" Fan Liteng stood up suddenly, "Could it be Lao Tzu?" But the master has not seen him for many years, and even the teacher may not have seen him for a long time. Tell me quickly, whose name did he say? ”

The shopkeeper hurriedly replied: "There is the name of the master, as well as Yue Wang Goujian, Yue Nu, and Xi Shi." ”

"It's strange, this old man still knows who Yue Nu and Xi Shi are?" Fan Li paced and wandered a few times, then looked up and said to the shopkeeper, "Take me to see him quickly." ”

Following the shopkeeper of the grain shop to the grain shop, I saw two people sitting at the guest table, an old man, although he was wearing a linen robe, but he was like a god king and noble, and he had his own momentum; A young man, also wearing a linen coat, has a slightly dark face, and his facial features are distinct. I don't know. Fan Li paused for a moment, thought for a moment, and then stepped forward quickly, hugged his fists, and made a gesture, "Under Fan Shaobo, I don't know what the old man is called?" ”

Chi Songzi put down the teacup, sat on the chair and looked Fan Li up and down, and said with a smile: "The old man Chi Songzi is also." ”

"Red pine nuts?" Fan Li quickly searched for the names of the people he had seen or heard of before, and none of them were named Chi Songzi, so he saluted again, "Forgive the young uncle, I have never heard of your name, and I heard from the shopkeeper of the grain shop that you are the elder of Wenzi?" ”

"Exactly, that Wenzi once asked me for some knowledge, and I saw that he had some understanding, so I ordered some of it." Red pine nut road.

"Please forgive the old gentleman for your rude question, the young uncle once heard Wenzi say that his teacher is Lao Tzu, I don't know what your relationship with Lao Tzu is?"

"Hehe, if it's not the old man, that Lao Tzu is also my junior."

It doesn't matter if you say this, Fan Li was surprised, others don't know, but he knows, that Lao Tzu is a character born during the period of King Zhou Ling, it has been more than a hundred years, and this old man said that he is the elder of Lao Tzu, doesn't that mean that this old man is at least a hundred years old, is it true? Is it fake? If it's true, then isn't this old man a legendary immortal? If it's false, then what is its purpose?

Fan Li muttered in his heart, and his brain spun rapidly. Turning his head and signaling the shopkeeper of the grain shop to step back first, closing the door, Fan Li clenched his fists again, "Old man, can you prove that you are both the elder of Wenzi and the elder of Laozi?" ”

"Hehe, it proves that it is Lao Tzu's elders, and you don't know whether it is true or not, or that Wenzi." Chi Songzi said with a smile, "When Wenzi accepted you as an apprentice to teach you knowledge, he once told you that King Yue is a human being, with a long-necked beak, and you can share hardships and hardships, not prosperity and happiness with you. Yes? ”

When Fan Li heard this, he was suddenly shocked into a cold sweat. This is indeed what Wenzi said, by chance, Fan Li met Wenzi Ji Ran, who traveled to the country, that Wenzi was twenty-three years younger than Fan Li, the two sides exchanged at the beginning of the year, Fan Li found that although the appearance of Wenzi seems to be mediocre, dull but actually erudite, astronomy and geography are all-encompassing, and he is good at talking from when things first start to appear, he can know the law of development of things, and know what others think. Fan Li was worshiped by the demeanor of Wenzi, so he worshiped him as a teacher, learned the way of governing the country, at that time he was already a doctor in the Yue country, seeing that Wenzi was so knowledgeable, he wanted to recommend it to Goujian, the king of Yue, but Wenzi said that Goujian "long-necked bird beak, can share hardships with you, not with common prosperity." "If you have to recommend it, you can just be a petty official.