Can the Wang family bear it
Immediately, she put the long-handled spoon in her hand and shouted, "Feng Cheng's family, what do you mean? It's fine if you sell buns, where did you get 'Mr. Wen's porridge'?"
The daughter-in-law of the Feng family said, "Who stipulated that this 'Grandpa Wen porridge' can only be sold by your family? Besides, the world is not limited to the old lady Wen from Hanshan Town. There is also an old lady surnamed Wen in the same village as my parents' family. What's wrong?"
This is simply a rhetoric. The Feng family's daughter-in-law didn't say enough, but she stood up specially, facing Wang Shi with her arms on her hips and her chest. The appearance of being slapped almost aroused Wang Shi's hands.
Gu Yin held Wang Shi, and Wang Shi turned around and saw that the people who were lining up in front of her stall were already urging them to start selling quickly, so she had to go back to do business first.
The guests who have tasted Gu Yin's craftsmanship before know that their family is authentic, and naturally they will not queue at the Feng family's daughter-in-law's stall.
But the bad is the bad, and now there are people from other places who come to patronize it under the nickname "Grandpa Wen Porridge".
When they first arrived, they saw the two stalls next to each other as if they belonged to the same family, so they arrived at the end of the line and started lining up.
If you are lucky, you will naturally buy authentic ones from Gu Yin's house.
With some luck, I bought a copycat.
After buying the porridge from the Feng family's daughter-in-law's stall, the other party tasted it and immediately shouted, "Isn't it right! Didn't you say that this 'Mr. Wen's porridge' contains dark preserved eggs with a special taste? You are clearly Salted egg and lean meat porridge! And it's not just this porridge, this bun is so salty, is this a salt seller who was killed? It's really unpalatable!"
The preserved egg is a product that has not yet been found in this era, and it was made by Gu Yin herself. Others naturally can't imitate it, so they sell salted egg lean meat porridge.
The two stalls were next to each other, and Wang Shi immediately said: "Their family is fake! Our family is the real one!"
The daughter-in-law of the Feng family didn't change her face and said, "My family only said it was 'Grandpa Wen's porridge', and it didn't say that it was selling preserved egg and lean meat porridge, just salted eggs. Otherwise, why only charge a penny? chant."
The man finally got in line and took another look at the long dragon in front of Wang's stall. Naturally, he didn't want to. He wanted to break up with the Feng family's daughter-in-law. Unexpectedly, the nurses who spontaneously queued up at her stall began to talk to each other. Started to help.
"You don't suffer from a big bowl of salted egg porridge and meat porridge for a penny!"
"That's right, if you want more money, go next door to buy the two cents. Don't get in the way of us queuing."
That man was not a native at first, so he could only pinching his nose to recognize these tall and powerful local men.
The man left from the Feng family's daughter-in-law's stall and said to Mrs Wang, "I just got in the wrong line, but I have to go back in a while. It's not easy to come all the way. Can you sell me another bowl?"
If it is time to put it aside, the Wang family will naturally sell it to him.
But she hasn't answered yet, and the other guests in front of the stall have their opinions.
"It's your fault that you line up in the wrong line, why do you join our line?"
"That's right, I came here from other places, and I'm patiently lining up here!"
The man had to admit that he was unlucky and left.
This morning, this happened several times. At first, Mr. Wang was still saying that he would wait for Mrs. Wen to come over to testify for her family, but unfortunately, when Mrs. Wen didn't come, his servant said, saying that Mr. Wen has been blowing too much river wind these days, causing a headache. The master did not allow him to go out. It will take a few days for the old man to be completely healed before he can come back.
When it was almost noon, the porridge on Gu Yin's side was almost sold out, so it was time to close the stall.
There was still a lot of porridge left at the Feng family's side, and that wasn't enough. The man from the Feng family's daughter-in-law, the one named Feng Cheng, came over with two more porridge buckets to restock.
Wang Shi, who was full of anger, had already rubbed her back molars and wanted to beat someone. Gu Yin persuaded her, and then asked her to go to the police. Thinking of Tie Mian's selfless arrest, Wang Shi suppressed his anger and asked Gu Yin to look at the guy first, and she immediately went to invite someone over.
Guan Zhaotou naturally knew that Gu Yin's porridge was the authentic one, and after hearing Wang's explanation, he immediately brought people to see it.
Feng Cheng and his old lady hid aside when they saw Guan Caotou like a mouse seeing a cat.
Although the daughter-in-law of the Feng family was also afraid, she still managed to defend herself: "Guan Jutou Mingjian, our family sells steamed bun porridge and soup in the town every day. You can ask about it. As for the 'Grandpa Wen's porridge ', it's just a name. No one said that it can only be sold by her family!"
Guan Jutou didn't talk to her about those things, he just said: "'Mr. Wen's porridge' is indeed a name, but we all know in our town that it is talking about preserved egg and lean meat porridge. If you can make the exact same thing, this You can use the name as you wish. If you can't do it, you shouldn't call it that."
"My parents' home in Quanshan Town also has a respected old man Wen. He likes my salted egg lean meat porridge very much. My porridge is called 'Quanshan Town Wen's Old Man's Porridge', right?"
Guan Caotou had already seen the difficulties of the family, but the laws of the dynasty did not clearly stipulate these, so he could only nod his head, "That's okay."
The Feng family's daughter-in-law gave Wang a proud look, and then asked the old woman to shout by the new name.
Afterwards, Guan Jutou went on patrol, and the last bit of porridge on Gu Yin's stall was sold out.
But we all know that as soon as they leave, more people will definitely be deceived, especially most of the people lining up in front of the Feng family's daughter-in-law's stall are their own people. Although their names are different, you can tell me a few people It is easy for a foreigner to be deceived.
Naturally, Mrs. Wang would not sit idly by. She asked Gu Yinxian to go back to rest, while she stayed on the pier and explained to others that this was a fake.
Gu Yin picked up the guy and went home, and first went to the next door to take a look. Li Zhaotou and Gu Ye were not at home, so she went to the other side next door and asked Xu to borrow the book of imperial laws.
The Xu family had some books, and the Xu family lent them to her without hesitation.
After simply flipping through the law book, it turns out that there is no registered trademark in this era, and naturally it is impossible to sue someone for infringement and counterfeiting. Gu Yin also began to analyze today's events.
The Feng family's daughter-in-law was obviously here for her own family, with inferior methods, unable to imitate the porridge she made, but she set up a stall with her family, and took advantage of the laws of this era to create a similar one to her own. Famous, and hired people to line up, creating the illusion of a booming business and deceiving guests from other places.
The Feng family lives in Zhenyi Lane, and their life is not as good as their own, otherwise, if they didn't learn the craft from him before, they would suffer from pantothenic acid. If such people have such ideas and means, they should have made a fortune and got rid of poverty long ago. Moreover, there are three people in his family, and the only one who knows how to cook is the Feng family's daughter-in-law. Later, his man brought freshly boiled porridge over. Naturally, she did not make it herself, but someone else gave it!
Therefore, there must be an ambassador behind her family, and the Feng family is just a puppet pushed out by the people behind her to be the boss. You can't sue for infringement and counterfeiting, but if you can find out who is behind it, you can sue someone for maliciously disrupting the market.
Not long after, Mrs. Wang came back from outside, with a smile on her face, she said, "People from other places also know that our family only has a half-day stall, so there are no foreign guests after noon. Plus I said a word by the side. , except for the few of their own family members who took turns queuing next door, they failed to make a sale all afternoon!"
Seeing Gu Yin's frowning and pondering appearance, Mrs Wang said, "Don't worry, although I was busy with you in the morning, I was actually careful, they sold five bowls of porridge and three or four steamed buns in the morning. If you don't know how much money you lose in one day, it will definitely not last!"
Even the Wang family noticed it, and Gu Yin naturally knew this.
Gu Yin got up and poured a bowl of water for Wang Shi, "Have you ever thought about it, maybe they're not thinking about making money."
Wang Shi almost choked when he drank the water, "It's not for making money, what's wrong with his family?"
"What if they just want to ruin our reputation? Today is only their family, right next to us. We can share our efforts and explain to the customers while doing business. If one day they spend another stall, or even two There are three, more than a dozen stalls, and dozens or hundreds of people are hired to line up... There are only two of us, even if we count the two children of Wu An and Gu Ye, there are four people in our family. Can you explain it clearly? If things go on like this, I am afraid that our reputation will also be affected by them. Do you think that the few people who are in the wrong line today, if they are asked when they go back, they will be embarrassed to say that they have been deceived by them. Will they directly say that it is ours? Is the porridge bad?"
Wang Shi said nonchalantly: "No way, our business is not so good that the sky is angry, what about it?"
This is the key point that Gu Yin can't figure out. The business of her family has been good during this period, but it is far from being so good that it will make people worry about it.
"But what you said is right, business is all about word of mouth. We can't let them fool around and risk our name..." Wang shi stood up as he spoke, and hurriedly wandered around the room, "You said whether we want to hire or not. Some people, help us to refute the rumors? I don't know how much it costs to hire people a day, we will open a shop next month, and something went wrong at this time!"
Gu Yin thought for a while and said, "Don't worry, mother, it's not at the level I said right now. We don't need to ask people to refute the rumors, I have a way. Let's make a signboard, I thought that there was no need to make a signboard on a small stall. , but now it’s impossible to do it.”
The Wang family naturally listened to her. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law went to the shop outside to make a signboard, and they made a plaque with the "Authentic Hanshan Town Wen old man's porridge" and a few cards with the same content, but a smaller size. The big signs are naturally hung on the stalls, and the small cards are placed in the back of the queue to prevent the wrong queue from happening again today because the queue is too long.
Because it was going to be used the next day, Gu Yin paid a lot of money and had someone do it on the spot.
By the time they got the signboard and went home, it was almost dusk.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had just returned to the entrance of the alley on the front feet, and met Wu An who was returning home from school. Li Zuotou and Gu Ye also returned on the back feet.
Gu Ye jumped in front of him, while Li Chutou followed behind, panting and staggering.
As soon as Gu Ye saw Gu Yin, he went up to help her with the things in her hand.
Gu Yin took a handkerchief to wipe his sweat, and whispered, "Where did you go to wash it?"
Wang Shi smiled and said, "Li Zhaotou took it with him, so of course he went to learn martial arts, right?"
Li Zhaotou gasped and laughed awkwardly. After all, he was a young man. He breathed out and said, "I'm running with Xiao Ye."
Wang Shi couldn't help laughing after hearing this. She also knew that Gu Yeduo could run, and said in surprise, "Why did you run with him? How long have you been running?"
Speaking of this, Li Zuo's head and face froze, "Morning... I've run to the present in the morning."
"Oh!" Mrs. Wang immediately went home and put things away, and then came out to support Li Zhaotou, "We Xiaoye are used to being wild outside every day, but the wild ones can't get home, so I went to beg your master to be treated. He practices martial arts. You are a kid too, why are you running with him for a whole day? Have you eaten at noon?"
Li Zhaotou blushed and shook his head, and he let Wang shi into the house while he was talking.
He wanted to refuse, but he didn't feel anything before, but now he stopped, his legs seemed to be filled with lead, and his stomach was growling.
Gu Yin also put things away, called Gu Ye to her, and whispered helplessly, "They brought you to practice martial arts, not to let you walk around! How can you walk people all day?"
Gu Ye put away his smile and explained seriously: "He said he would take me to run, so I ran."
Li Zhaotou drank a bowl of hot tea poured by Wang's family, and explained embarrassedly, "I don't blame him, it's true that I said from the beginning that I would run with him until he couldn't run anymore."
But I didn't expect that this little guy could spend a whole day outside without getting tired.
What made it even more difficult for him to accept was that he had been practicing with his master for more than ten years. Although he could not be as light as a swallow and walk over walls like his master, his feet were still much faster than ordinary people. With a solid foundation in kung fu and short legs, he could take three or five steps as far as Gu Ye, so he could naturally accompany him easily.
But Gu Ye understands the terrain of Hanshan Town better than he does. With his small and flexible body, he knows how to walk and drill in the narrow alleys that ordinary people can't enter, or even dog holes. Follow the same path.
He had lost people several times, but every time he didn't know how to walk, Gu Ye would suddenly appear from the corner and wave at him, motioning him to follow.
Li Zhaotou was embarrassed to say this, and only said: "If you don't advance in martial arts, you will retreat. I'm really fine, so I'll just practice."
Wang shi and Gu Yin were really sorry, they kept him for dinner, and Wang shi opened the door for him in person, and sent Li Zutou, who was staggering, back.
"What a little ancestor," Gu Yin reluctantly looked at Gu Ye who was happy, "Let people say something good about you."
Gu Ye smiled ingratiatingly, and helped and Wu An to clean up the tableware.
Several people went to wash and sleep, Wu An had a day's class, and fell asleep with the pillow.
However, Gu Ye was rolling on the kang excitedly, and it was because his family slept on a large kang now, and he had to sleep on the old bamboo bed, so he really couldn't stand his movement.
"Going to bed soon." Gu Yin slapped his little butt, "Mother will tell you again seriously, you are not allowed to compete with people tomorrow, and you are not allowed to walk around the town with people. Do you know? "
As soon as these words came out, Gu Ye suddenly became honest, lying in her arms and said pitifully: "I like to run, it's uncomfortable not to run."
Gu Yin really didn't hear that it can be uncomfortable if you don't run, so she asked him how uncomfortable it was
He couldn't tell, so he said, "I just like it. I used to run every day. And I can run very well!"
He is really good at running. Except for Guan Zatou, who is very skilled in martial arts, there is no match for him. Even Li Zatou has been slipped by him for a whole day.
Before he was adopted by Gu Yin, he was always haunted.
Gu Yin hugged him and patted him, and asked after a long while, "Will that mother please do me a favor?"
"Don't say 'please'!" Gu Ye lay beside her ear, "Mother hurry up!"
…
As soon as it was dawn, the Feng family's daughter-in-law got up. Instead of getting up and doing work, she dressed up and went elsewhere.
Just out of the alley, the Feng family's daughter-in-law couldn't help shivering when the cold wind blew in the spring morning.
Out of the corner of the eye, he saw a dark shadow, and the Feng family's daughter-in-law hurriedly turned to look at it.
There was no one behind her, she muttered and scolded the wild cat that was flooded in spring, and walked away quickly.
All the way to the back alley of Wangyuelou, Chef Zhao was already waiting for her.
Seeing her coming, Chef Zhao complained, "Didn't I tell you to come earlier? Our shopkeeper Zhou will be back today. Unlike yesterday, I can give you things at any time!"
The daughter-in-law of the Feng family did not dare to reply when she was scolded, and smiled in a pleasing manner: "Isn't this an errand that your boss explained! What does it mean for him to be the shopkeeper for a week? In the future, you will not be the one who will be the chef of Wangyuelou in the future? "
Chef Zhao was flattered by him, but he finally stopped cursing, but said: "It was indeed explained by the owner, but we can't let the surnamed Zhou know now. Alas, in short, don't worry about it, run this errand well in the future. If your family uses the kitchen waste from our restaurant, you don't have to pay any more money, and it will be given to you in the future. Let's benefit each other!"
The daughter-in-law of the Feng family was in a hurry and brought up two heavy porridge buckets.
Chef Zhao saw how hard she was, but he didn't help, he just copied his hands and asked, "Where's your man? Why didn't he tell you to help you?"
Feng Cheng is tired and lazy. Yesterday, he helped her to carry porridge from Wangyuelou once, but he cried out that his arm hurt and wanted to rest at home.
But the family couldn't count on her in the past, and the Feng family's daughter-in-law was used to it.
"Then I'll go first, and I must finish the errand you gave me."
The two are separated.
When it was dawn, the daughter-in-law of the Feng family went to set up the stall, and Gu Yin and Mrs Wang came first. Their stall was still full of customers, and there were long queues.
In front of the Feng family's stall, there are still only the people they hired.
At the back, Gu Yin's house put up a sign, and then put up a sign along the line of people, and now fewer people are misled.
As the morning passed, all the food of the Feng family was given to the people who were hired to line up.
At noon, Gu Yin and Mrs Wang closed the stall. In the afternoon, there were fewer guests. In the evening, according to statistics, only three out-of-town guests were deceived in one day.
The old lady of the Feng family couldn't bear it anymore, and before closing the stall, she scolded: "What are you doing? We sell well elsewhere, so we have to go to the pier to go to the muddy water. It’s okay to have the same thing, but it will only make up a similar name, and you can’t make something like that! How much money do you think you will lose this day?”
The food at their own stalls, even the rent of the pier, and the money for hiring people to line up are all paid by others.
But the daughter-in-law of the Feng family knew that her man and her mother-in-law were unreliable, so she didn't give it to them before, she only said that she was also hired by someone.
She lowered her voice and said, "Mother, what do you care about the business? We will receive a day's money on this day, and we don't need to care about the profit and loss."
This old lady Feng knew it before, but if she knew it, she knew it. When she saw that the stall next door was making a lot of money, could she not be moved
"I don't care, that money is what we should receive, and we must earn another share in business, you can find a way yourself!"
After speaking, Madam Feng took Feng Cheng away and left the stall to the Feng family's daughter-in-law to clean up.
The Feng family's daughter-in-law thought and thought, but she could only secretly send a message to Chef Zhao. She didn't say that her mother-in-law wanted to make another share of money, but only said that Gu Yin made that kind of trick, and she couldn't deceive herself. people.
The next day, the Feng family also used the signs and inserts, which read "Authentic Grandpa Wen Porridge of Quanshan Town".
On the third day, a new stall was opened next door to the Feng family, selling steamed buns and salted egg lean meat porridge.
On the fourth day, there were two more restaurants on the wharf called "Grandpa Wen Porridge of Qingshui Village, Hanshan Town" and "Grandpa Wen Porridge of Taohua Village, Hanshan Town".
Now, as soon as you arrive at the pier, you can see all kinds of big signs, small cards, and every house is full of people.
Guests from other places don't know how to come in, and they ask people to find them. Of course, normal people say that the one in Hanshan Town is authentic. But there are also a lot of people who ask about those nurses, all sorts of crooked ideas are messed up, some stupid people really believe it, some smart people don't believe it, they just feel that there is a lot of confusion here, so don't go into this muddy water.
Gu Yin's business was not actually affected, but as she had guessed before, the bad thing was word of mouth. She and Mrs Wang inquired about the merchants who ran the boat, and they said that there are several shops in Hanshan Town that are known to sell "Mr. Wen's porridge". It is easy for outsiders to be confused and it is extremely unpalatable to buy. Yes, it was fooled, so although the reputation of this porridge is getting better and better, it doesn't have a steady stream of new customers like it used to.
After closing the stall that day, Mr. Wang said with a bitter face: "You think right, this family is really wrong, obviously they can't make a lot of money, but they keep learning from us, just to ruin our reputation! Son, You thought of this long ago, did you think of a way to deal with it?"
Gu Yin patted Mrs Wang's hand and said with relief, "The method didn't exist long ago, but it does exist now. Mother, go to bed early today, and I'll show you the fun tomorrow morning."
…
In the early morning of the next day, Li Chutou was soundly asleep, when he was half asleep, he suddenly noticed another very shallow breathing sound in the room.
Out of the instinct of a martial artist, Li Zhaotou immediately sat up.
When he saw that it was Gu Ye who was standing beside the bed, he relaxed and said with a smile, "You brat, I am indeed taking you with me today, but I won't come so early!"
Gu Ye smiled and waved at him.
Li Zhaotou had no choice but to get up and get dressed and follow him out.
Two people, one big and one small, went out of Jinyi Lane. Gu Ye took him to the back alley of Wangyuelou, and hid in a small shack, and put a rotten straw mat on top of their heads.
"What's this for?" Li Chutou asked in a low voice.
Gu Ye didn't answer, he just put his short fingers to his lips to silence him.
Not long after, the Feng family's daughter-in-law and several other stall owners from the cottage stalls came over one after another.
Not long after the crowd gathered, Chef Zhao opened the back door and distributed the freshly cooked porridge to everyone.
"Be alert! It's been a few days, how many bowls of porridge have you sold? Do you still want to get paid?"
The others were silent, and the daughter-in-law of the Feng family, who was most familiar with Chef Zhao, said with an apology: "Don't be angry, although we sell less porridge, isn't this also causing a lot of trouble for the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law! Take care! Do as you ordered!"
"Ha!" Gu Ye lifted the rotten straw mat covering his head and jumped out of the shack.
Several people were startled by his "ha", and they were relieved at the same time when they saw that it was a child who was not taller than an adult's waist.
"Where are the children making trouble?" Chef Zhao scolded and chased people away.
When he saw Li Zhaotou who followed Gu Ye out of the shack, his expression changed immediately.
Li Zuotou came out in a hurry, without shackles, but with a saber.
He pressed the scabbard and said: "The law does not stipulate that the name of a certain food can only be used by the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law of the Wu family, but if you are so organized and planned, you deliberately disrupt the market maliciously, which can be criminalized. You are Now tell me, do you want to go back to the yamen with me and go to the jail?"
The daughter-in-law of the Feng family and several other street vendors were ordinary people. When they heard this, they immediately turned pale and began to beg for mercy.
Chef Zhao was also afraid, but there was someone behind him, so he insisted: "Li Zhaotou, the guilt of disrupting the market is only a fine of dozens of dollars, why should we take us all back? I'll hand over the fine to me. you!"
It was at this time that Gu Yin and Wang Shi came out.
They arrived earlier than Gu Ye and Li Zhaotou, but they were afraid that Chef Zhao and others would find out, so they just avoided it.
Gu Yin smiled and said, "Who said you were only suing you for disrupting the market? I sued you for selling kitchen waste to guests!"
Chef Zhao's face turned pale again, "You have nothing to say..."
Gu Yin said without hesitation: "Your food is made so salty, and the salt is not free of money. Someone just told me a 'trick' for food business. They said that the stale food waste should be left with more seasonings, and the guests will naturally I can't eat it." Her eyes first fell on the pale-faced daughter-in-law of the Feng family, and then on the porridge buckets next to her, "Why don't you invite someone to test it? After the test, ask someone to check it. Looking at how many disputes the Feng Cheng family has had in business over the years, there should be records in the yamen, right?"
The book of laws states: All food that stinks is poisonous. The breast meat is poisonous, and if there is any excess, it will be quickly burned, and those who violate the law will be punished with ninety sticks. . ①
In other words, if the food is not fresh, it is considered poison. If it is found that their food is poisonous, no matter if someone eats someone badly, it will take ninety sticks to start. The torture rods in the yamen are as thick as an adult's forearm, and with thirty rods down, they can tear people's skin to pieces and kill them half-life!