“Why are watermelons given away for free?”
“Are watermelons really free?”
People gathered around, asking questions all at once, and it was so crowded.
"If you want that watermelon, just weigh it with your hand and then tell me the weight, accurate to the nearest liang. As long as the difference between the actual weight and the actual weight is within two liang, it doesn't matter if it's two liang more or two liang less. You can give me this watermelon for free, and I don't want a penny. Of course, if you guess wrong, you have to buy the watermelon, six cents per catty." The old man selling melons repeated loudly to everyone according to what Zhu Ping'an said.
"If you buy two taels more or two taels less, can you still take the watermelon away for free?" someone in the crowd asked.
"Yes, as long as you guess right, you can take it away for free. I don't want a penny." The old man selling melons nodded vigorously.
"Everyone has heard it, and everyone can testify. I'll go first." A man was the first to step forward. He picked the largest one, weighed it with his hand, and reported a weight of "15 jin."
It was his first time, so the old man selling melons was a little nervous.
At the man's urging, the old man selling melons weighed the melons with a beam scale in front of everyone and found that it was 15 pounds and 4 ounces.
The error was four taels, and he guessed wrong. Because he had agreed that if he guessed right, he could take it for free, but if he guessed wrong, he had to pay for it. So the man had no choice but to pay for the watermelon. Six coins per catty, a total of 92 coins, after deducting the decimal, he received 90 coins. Touching the heavy copper coins in his pocket, the old man selling watermelons smiled from the bottom of his heart.
"Hey, just a little bit."
Everyone sighed with regret.
People always want to take advantage. Although the first man failed, he was just one step away from taking the watermelon for free. More people couldn't wait to start picking the watermelons.
The second person picked up a watermelon that was smaller than the previous one, weighed it, and reported a weight of 14.5 kilograms.
I weighed it and it was 14.2 jin, so I had no choice but to buy the watermelon.
The third person was lucky and picked a watermelon, which he estimated to be 13 jin. After weighing it, it was exactly 13 jin, so he took the watermelon away in the envious eyes of everyone. He walked proudly with the watermelon in his arms, and told everyone he met about it and boasted about it. So, everyone who heard about it came to the watermelon stall from far away.
The third person's success immediately ignited everyone's enthusiasm, and more people came to take up the challenge.
People came one after another to challenge, but only the third person was lucky enough to get the watermelon for free. The rest failed, with errors of three ounces, half a catty, and even one catty. So one by one they paid for the watermelons.
There were even a few people who were very competitive and failed to guess correctly after three or five attempts, so they bought all three or five watermelons home.
Soon, in less than an hour, the old man had sold out all the watermelons in his cart, not even the smallest ones were left. Not only that, people also asked the old man if he had any more watermelons at home, and if he would come here to sell watermelons tomorrow, saying that they would come to buy them next time.
The purse the melon seller brought was not big enough to hold the coins, so he simply wrapped the extra coins in clothes, which became very heavy.
The old man selling melons looked at the clothes wrapped in money, grinning, unable to close his mouth.
The maids and old women on the second floor of the restaurant opposite were all stunned. Their mouths were so wide open that they could stuff an egg into them. From the moment the first melon was sold, they couldn't close their mouths. Looking at the enthusiastic melon sales outside the window, they were all stunned as if struck by lightning and couldn't recover for a long time...
Li Niang also widened her beautiful eyes in surprise, staring out the window without moving, with her mouth open but unable to utter a word.
Only Miss Yan was not surprised at all. She bit her red lips and cursed, "Sly little thief!"
"Huh? Where's he? Why is he gone?"
After the little maid came to her senses, she looked out the window and exclaimed in surprise.
Then the other maids also looked out the window. The old man selling watermelons outside was still there. His cart of watermelons had all been sold out. However, Zhu Ping'an, who had just been despised by them for cheating people out of buying watermelons, was nowhere to be seen.
"It seems he didn't buy any melons."
"It seems so. Just now, all the watermelons in the truck were sold out, but he didn't leave any behind."
The maids thought about it, and then suddenly froze, as if they had thought of something.
"Well, well, I think I saw him. Just now when many people came to guess the melon, he seemed to have left. He left empty-handed... No, he seemed to be holding two books..." A little maid raised her hand and said in a low voice.
As a result, the maids became even more silent, their faces getting hot. They just despised that person for being a melon swindler, being worthless, shameless, and stinking, but in the end, he didn't get any advantage from the melon...
"My Lord, my Lord..."
The old man selling melons looked at the money he earned from selling the melons, grinning foolishly for a long time. After a while, he came to his senses and went to find Zhu Ping'an to express his gratitude. However, when he turned around, he found that Zhu Ping'an was gone, and he couldn't help but shouting several times anxiously.
It was the people at the stall next to him who told him that Zhu Ping'an had left a long time ago.
"Sir... benefactor, benefactor..." The old man selling watermelons shouted loudly a few times, looked at the empty cart, and slapped his head in regret.
There is not a single melon left!
The adult wanted to buy some melons, twice, but I was only thinking about myself and didn't leave any melon for the adult.
However, the adults generously taught me a method to sell watermelons. It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish. This method is enough to benefit me endlessly. At least this year's hot spring watermelons will not be a problem for sales.
The old man who bought the watermelon had some tears in his eyes and his face was hot. He was really embarrassed for himself. At the beginning, he not only didn't believe the adults' good intentions, but also cursed them in his heart. He thought the adults wanted to take advantage of his little watermelon, but in the end... ... He was really embarrassed.
Adults are adults.
I am a villain!
What have I done? Oh, I am so embarrassed. I will sell the melons tomorrow and bring the biggest and sweetest melons from home to the adults... But I don't know if the adults will come tomorrow, and I don't even know their names.
What a good official! The old man selling melons stared at the direction where Zhu Ping'an left for a long time, unable to come back to his senses. It would be great if there were more good officials like this.
"interesting... ... "
The charming Li Niang stood in front of the window and looked out, looking at the direction where someone was leaving. Her watery eyes flowed like spring water, her red lips were slightly raised, and her breath was as fragrant as orchid.