When others were selling melons, he bought them. It was not enough for others to sell them cheaply, he even wanted them to give him watermelons for free, so that he could openly and legitimately embezzle a truckload of watermelons. I never thought there would be such a shameless person in the world.
Or are you a person who is well-versed in the books of sages? Are you doing human work
The people on the second floor opposite looked down on Zhu Pingan outside the window. How dare you be so unpromising when eating like a top scholar? You even cheated for a watermelon! How much do you need this
"Well, it's free."
Zhu Ping'an looked at the old man selling melons, nodded, and repeated it again.
The old man selling watermelons looked pale, his body swayed, and he seemed to be unable to stand steadily. He gasped for a long time without catching his breath. "Sir... Sir, are you kidding me?"
"I'm not kidding." Zhu Pingan shook his head and comforted the old man, "Don't worry, old man. I won't let you lose money."
Won't it make me lose money?!
Ahem, upon hearing this, the old melon seller felt as if he had fallen into an abyss. He felt how sinister people are. He gave away a whole truckload of watermelons for free, so how could he not lose money
There was a burst of boos from the second floor of the private room of the restaurant opposite. I thought the person outside the window was shameless enough, but I didn't expect him to be even more shameless. He really treated the old man as a three-year-old child! He gave it to others for free and said that he would not let him lose money. How shameless! As a person, you can't be too safe!
Seeing that the old man looked like he had met a bad official, Zhu Ping'an touched his nose, shook his head and smiled, then picked up a larger watermelon from the cart, picked it up and handed it to the old man.
What are you doing? The old man took the watermelon with a confused look on his face.
"Uncle, you have a lot of life experience. Feel how heavy this watermelon is with your hand?" Zhu Ping'an asked.
Since ancient times, the people have not fought against the officials.
The old man was reluctant, but he was an official. What could a commoner like him do? So he weighed it with his hand and felt it, then said, "About ten pounds."
"Be more precise, accurate to two." Zhu Ping'an shook his head.
"About twelve pounds." The old man felt it again and estimated the weight more precisely.
"Uncle, please weigh it again." Zhu Ping'an nodded, and asked the old man to weigh it with the scale used to sell watermelons.
"Twelve pounds and six ounces."
The old man put the watermelons into the bag, then picked up the beam scale skillfully, hooked the iron hook hanging under the scale through the mouth of the bag, lifted the rope on the beam scale with his hand, adjusted the weight until the beam scale was balanced, and then told the exact weight.
Zhu Ping'an nodded with satisfaction, then picked out another watermelon and asked the old man to weigh it in his hand again to estimate its exact weight.
"Ten and a half pounds." The old man estimated.
Zhu Ping'an asked the old man to weigh it with a beam scale, and the result was that the weight was 10.9 jin. Although the old man's estimate was close, there was still an error of 4 liang, nearly half a jin.
Then, Zhu Ping'an picked out a smaller watermelon and asked the old man to estimate its weight by weighing it with his hand again, and then weighed it with a beam scale.
The old man repeated this six times in total.
"What is he doing? He looks like he's possessed."
In a private room on the second floor of the restaurant opposite, a little maid looked out the window and asked in confusion.
"It's obvious. He was picking watermelons. You see, the watermelons he picked are either big or look sweet. He picked all the good ones..." the girl next to him replied confidently.
Then, several girls nearby nodded vigorously, thinking that the analysis made sense.
After repeating it six times, Zhu Ping'an walked up to the old man selling melons and said something to him in a low voice. While he spoke, he gestured with his hands, as if he was analyzing something with the old man.
"Mystifying..." The people at the restaurant on the second floor opposite could not hear what Zhu Ping'an said to the old man, and they could not help but pursed their lips and looked down on him.
But the strange thing was that as Zhu Ping'an spoke, the old man's face gradually changed from dark to natural, and then to rosy, as if he was a little excited.
"Can it be done?" The old man was still a little unconfident.
"You tried it just now, so you should know better than me whether it will work or not." Zhu Ping'an curled his lips slightly, his eyes flashing with confidence, like a torch in the dark night, "Do you want to try again?"
"No need to try again. I trust you, adults. I'll do as you say." The old man seemed to be infected by Zhu Ping'an's self-confidence. He shook his head vigorously, indicating that there was no need to try again.
Old man, you've been fooled!
Except for what Zhu Ping'an just said to the old man, the people on the second floor opposite could vaguely hear the rest of the conversation. They saw that the old man selling melons seemed to have been deceived by Zhu Ping'an, and their mouths opened into circles in surprise. They were very nervous for the old man selling melons.
I'm so disappointed in you.
Next, they saw the old man selling melons being "cheated" by Zhu Ping'an. If their master had not forbidden them, they would have wanted to loudly expose Zhu Ping'an's true face.
"The old man went to buy paper."
The maids watched the old man selling melons go to a nearby pen, ink, paper and inkstone shop and buy a rough piece of white paper.
"I also borrowed pens and ink from someone's shop." another maid added.
"That swindler has picked up the pen and is going to write?" After the maids saw the old man selling melons buy a piece of paper and borrow a pen and ink, they saw the swindler Zhu Ping'an, who they were talking about, take the pen and ink and start writing on the white paper.
"I didn't expect that person to be so bad. His handwriting is pretty good."
"What's so good about it? It's not as good as what our young lady writes."
For a moment, several heads from the windows on the second floor looked out, curiously watching the scene outside.
Soon, Zhu Ping'an finished writing, pasted the written white paper on a wooden board, and then stood it up in front of the watermelon cart.
The top line of the white paper reads: Free watermelon. The second line, in slightly smaller font, reads: If you guess the weight of the watermelon correctly, within an error of 2 taels, you can take the watermelon away for free, without paying a cent. If you guess the weight of the watermelon correctly, within an error of 2 taels, you can buy the watermelon for 6 cents per catty. The last line is a modern standard advertising slogan: Don’t miss it if you pass by.
After the tree was erected, Zhu Ping'an asked the old man to shout loudly beside it, also for those who could not read, "If you pass by, don't miss it, there are free watermelons."
What, free watermelon
It really is free watermelon.
Curious people nearby stopped in their tracks when they heard the news, then stopped again. When they realized that what they heard was still free watermelons, they gathered around.
In a short while, the three layers inside and outside were all filled with people. The old man saw so many people coming to the watermelon stall at once, and he shouted even more excitedly, so more people came and squeezed in.