Siheyuan's Silly Pillar has been replaced by someone else

In Nanluoguxiang, Yi Zhonghai and his group are still selling braised meat.

At first, their business was quite good, with many people in the neighborhood buying from them.

Over time, before the customers even reacted, things fell apart internally.

As everyone knows, all four of them are incredibly stingy.

They're all people who would lose money if they didn't pick up their wallets when they went out.

Getting them to do business properly is harder than taking their lives.

If it weren't for their experience from the previous two failures, they would have given up long ago.

Now they've reached their limit of patience, and the group has started resorting to underhanded tactics.

"Grandpa, give me a pig's ear and this pig's liver," a young man in his twenties said to Yi Zhonghai.

Yi Zhonghai mechanically picked up the pig's ear and prepared to put it on the scale.

The young man quickly said, "Wait a minute, could you please cut it for me?"

Some customers are too lazy to go back and cut it themselves, so they ask you to cut it for them when they buy it.

This is normal.

Yi Zhonghai, however, was not very happy.

He's an elder; what right does a junior have to boss him around?

Fortunately, Yi Zhonghai knew this wasn't a traditional courtyard house, so he suppressed his anger.

He put the things on the table, made a couple of quick cuts, and was about to pack them up.

"Sir, could you please chop it up a bit? We don't have a knife, it's inconvenient for us."

The young man was dissatisfied with Yi Zhonghai's cut, so he continued to make demands.

Yi Zhonghai snorted: "What exactly do you want? Don't you know you should respect your elders?"

The young man said, puzzled, "I'm paying for things, you're selling things, what's with this talk about respecting the elderly?"

Yi Zhonghai angrily threw down the knife in his hand, the tip of which stuck into the cutting board.

"Does buying things give you the right to disrespect elders? Don't you know that there are no elders who are always right?"

The young man got angry: "What a joke! I came here to buy something, and now some elder is showing up?"

If you don't want to sell, fine, but I don't want to buy either. I don't want it.

Seeing that things were going badly, Qin Huairu quickly called out, "Young man, don't go. He's in a bad mood, don't take it to heart."

I'll cut it for you.

Seeing that Qin Huairu's attitude was good, the young man didn't say anything and let Qin Huairu help him cut it.

After paying, the young man took the items and left.

Qin Huairu turned to look at Yi Zhonghai: "What exactly are you trying to do? The people buying things didn't provoke you, so why are you treating them like that?"

Yan Bugui couldn't help but chime in, "Yes. We're doing business now, so we need to be friendly to make money."

"By doing this, you've offended all our customers. Who will buy our products in the future?"

The two joined forces and gave Yi Zhonghai a severe dressing-down.

Yi Zhonghai remained silent, fuming, his face grim.

He had never been so humiliated by anyone when he was young.

Yes, in Yi Zhonghai's view, smiling at others when selling things is a humiliation.

Now that he should be an ancestor, he still has to put on a smiling face for others every day and beg them to buy things. This in itself is a humiliation.

Every time he returned to the courtyard house and saw Liu Haizhong living a comfortable life, he felt unhappy.

In addition, Xu Damao would deliberately provoke them whenever he ran into them, so it's no wonder Yi Zhonghai was in a bad mood.

Qin Huairu and Yan Bugui didn't dare to push Yi Zhonghai too far, so they could only let him sit in the room and rest.

Soon another customer arrived: "Give me about a pound of braised meat."

Qin Huairu personally took the stage, and with a few quick movements, he managed to get more than two pounds for that person.

An extra pound appeared out of nowhere, but the person didn't want it.

Qin Huairu felt wronged, which made the other person feel both frustrated and uncomfortable.

After paying and returning home, I still felt uneasy and made up my mind never to buy anything from Qin Huairu's shop again.

Yan Bugui put the money away and praised, "Huai Ru is truly amazing."

"That way, we can sell twice as much stuff. I think we can buy more meat tomorrow." Qin Huairu laughed and said, "I didn't do anything. When it comes to selling things, once you cut the knife, who can predict the outcome?"

A little more, a little less, it doesn't really matter.

Yi Zhonghai felt that the two men were saying he couldn't sell things, which made him even more upset.

A little while later, an old lady came and ordered half a pig liver.

Qin Huairu wanted to try the same trick again, but the old lady was not happy.

The young men were too embarrassed to argue, but the old lady was not happy about it.

“I don’t need that much. My grandson is too young. This is enough for him.”

Qin Huairu was unwilling to give up: "Auntie, this really isn't much. If your child can't finish it, the adults can."

The old lady insisted: "If children are greedy, can adults be greedy too?"
I wouldn't have come to buy it if my grandson hadn't wanted some. Are you going to cut it or not? If not, I'm going somewhere else.

Qin Huairu's methods were ineffective on the old lady, so she had no choice but to obediently cut off a piece.

"It costs three yuan and thirty cents in total."

The old lady took out a handkerchief from her pocket, slowly unfolded it, took out three yuan and thirty cents, and handed it to Yan Bugui.

Yan Bugui refused to accept the money, specifically emphasizing, "Sister, it's three yuan and thirty cents in total."

That's not enough.

The old lady said, "I don't have a single penny, just three yuan and thirty cents."

When I go to other people's stores to buy things, they don't want even a penny or two.

Why are you still keeping a close eye on this?

Yan Bugui was displeased: "Why are we keeping an eye on this?"
The saying goes, "You won't get poor from eating or dressing, but you will get poor if you don't plan ahead."

If I charge you one cent less today and him one cent less tomorrow, how am I supposed to continue doing business?

Hey girl, if you want the money, take it; if not, don't interfere with our business.

Our shop is famous for its honesty and integrity, treating everyone, young and old, fairly and honestly.

We won't take advantage of others, and others shouldn't even think about taking advantage of us.

The old lady angrily put the meat down: "Fine, I don't want it anymore!"

Yan Bugui, however, was not happy: "We've already cut it for you, how can you just say you don't want it?"

Aren't you interfering with our business?

If you don't want it anymore, who am I supposed to sell it to?

Unable to bear the whispers and pointing fingers, the old lady had no choice but to give Yan Bugui another penny.

Yan Bugui proudly showed off to Yi Zhonghai: "See that?"

With me around, no one will be able to take advantage of us. If you want to make money, you have to be shameless.

Yi Zhonghai had stopped talking. He hadn't thought about making money; he just wanted to retire comfortably.

It's unclear when exactly, but the three of them lost control and revealed their true colors.

Yi Zhonghai has been told off several times, but he hasn't changed his problem. He shows his dissatisfaction when he encounters people who are demanding.

Qin Huairu, relying on her good looks, would cut at least two pounds for anyone who wanted one pound.

Yan Bugui was not to be outdone. No matter how much others bought, he wouldn't give up a single penny.

Not only would he not give it up, but if someone's item was worth four or nine cents, he would even round it up for them.

That's one thing, but their braised meat is getting worse and worse.

After being ripped off once, the locals were no longer willing to buy anything from their shop.

While these individuals were basking in their own glory, their business plummeted.

Even if Qin Huairu used his methods to buy two or three extra pounds each time, it was to no avail.

Several people were unaware of their own mistakes and felt that it was all someone else's fault.

Inside the courtyard house, their trick didn't work either. Everyone just pretended not to see them selling things.

"What's going on? Why are fewer and fewer people buying braised meat?"

They discovered the problem, but couldn't find its source.

Of course they couldn't find it, because the source lay within themselves; they never felt there was anything wrong with them. (End of Chapter)