“Eh…” said the old man as he looked up. He
looked at the fair beauty standing in front of her and wasn’t irritated that he
was interrupted. He smiled at her and asked, “How can I help you, miss?”
“Pardon my interruption, Mr. Innkeeper, I
have a favor to ask!” Seeing his frown, she immediately explain herself, “Mr.
Innkeeper, it’s nothing troublesome, just want to ask for a little of your
time. Can you help me out, please?”
“Oh…..” Looking her polite mannerism, the
innkeeper had no heart to turn her down. He nodded slightly and asked, “Okay,
what kind of help do you need?”
“Mr. Innkeepeer, can I borrow you for a
few minutes to come outside and check out our goods?” Asked Cheng Xiao Xiao
with a big smile.
Check out goods?
The innkeeper had exactly expected that.
He nodded and came around the counter, “Okay, I will go with you.”
Just when the two of them were about to
walk outside, the perplexed server, who just return from the kitchen asked,
“Hey, innkeeper, where you going?”
Cheng Xiao Xiao took a look at the
thirty-something server and nodded at him lightly.
The server was a bit surprised. He had
never seen her around before. The innkeeper spoke, “Server1, you
keep an eye out here, I’ll be right back!”
“Okay, Innkeeper!” Replied the server
quickly. He watched them leave the lobby before he turned his attention to the
diners.
Exiting the inn, the innkeeper saw nothing
but a woman with three kids along with a cow-drawn wagon. He couldn’t help but
looked at Cheng Xiao Xiao suspiciously.
Cheng Xiao Xiao laughed, “Mr. Innkeeper,
please follow me!” As she approached her mother and younger sibling.
The innkeeper was a bit worry that it was
going to be something huge, he frowned with hesitation, but followed Cheng Xiao
Xiao nonetheless.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Inkeeper!” Said Mrs.
Cheng with a bow.
The slightly unhappy innkeeper was a bit
surprised, but before he could say anything, the three kids all smiled at him
and greeted him politely, “Good afternoon, Mr. Innkeeper!”
The three cute kids brought the smile back
onto the innkeeper’s face, she nodded at the two woman, “Okay, what would you
like to show me?”
He caught sight of the several cages and
the linen bag as he was speaking. A look of surprise crawled up his face when
he saw the chickens and rabbits.
He has been in the business for quite a
while, he could tell these chickens and rabbits were of high quality. Cheng
Xiao Xiao smiled silently and immediately opened up her big bag of rice and
also put the cabbages in front of him!
The innkeeper sniffed the rice and patted
the rabbits. After all his inspections, he smiled at Mrs. Cheng and Cheng Xiao
Xiao, “This lady with her kids are trying to sell all these goods, I presume?”
“Yes, Innkeeper, we couldn’t eat all these
ourselves so it would be nice if we can sell some of them for cash. We won’t be
able to sell too many of them on the street so we came here to see you can help
us out. If you will buy these from us, we will come back to you in the future.
Can you please help us out?”
Mrs. Cheng explained their situation
mildly. She sounded sincere and not pitiful. The innkeeper had also picked up
on her upstanding demeanor and deportment which made him even more fond of her.
He nodded, “No problem, we can use all these at our inn. If you guys have more
goods of this quality in the future, I will also buy them from you. How does
that sound?”
___
1.
It’s
customary to refer to each other with their job title back then (at least
that’s how it is in the TV shows J), though it sounds a little odd directly
translating into English. J
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Happy New Year everyone!
ReplyDeleteMay this year be a step towards peace and a better world for all of us! May 2019 be a year of compassion and understanding.
I wish you courage, hope and faith to overcome all of the hurdles and challenges you may face.
May all your dreams and resolutions come true and your hopes be fulfilled!
I wish you all good health, joy, love, warmth, success and inspiration!
May this year as well be filled with wonderful stories and books!
Happy New Year!!
ReplyDeleteThat old frog definitely thought she was trying to sell herself or other girls when she said "goods".
ReplyDeleteLOL. I totally did not think about it that way.
ReplyDeletemuchas gracias
ReplyDeleteThank you
ReplyDeleteDid he just used the bargaining spill "how does that sound"?
ReplyDelete