In every city, the hotels or inns named "Yelai" are probably long-established ones of considerable size.

The same is true for the "Yelai Hotel" in Okura City. Not only is it not small, the six-entry bluestone courtyard has three floors of attics and forty or fifty superior suites. In the front hall, not only

It is luxuriously decorated and equipped with elegant tea rooms. There is simply no other inn of this size and configuration in the entire Okura City.

The location of "Yelai Hotel" is also very good, facing the east gate of Okura Castle. As soon as you enter the city gate, you can see the hotel's gold-lettered signboard.

On the door in front of the hotel, in addition to a large plaque with the words "Welcome to welcome guests", there is also a square wooden sign about a foot long with a picture of a wine glass painted on it, and next to it is

Several strange foreign characters: "inn"

Xiao Qian'er crossed one foot and sat on the wooden chair behind the counter in the lobby. This is where the hotel manager originally sat. Xiao Qian'er is just a waiter in the hotel and should not sit here.

.

However, in this rainy and bad weather, there are only two people in the huge "Yelai Hotel". Shopkeeper Sun is very fond of antiques and jade and has already gone upstairs to play with his treasures. Naturally, this place is reserved for

Gave it to Xiao Qier.

Xiao Qian'er is a fifteen-year-old girl, whose surname is also Sun. She is a distant relative of the hotel's shopkeeper Sun, who can only be beaten with a stick. She has fair skin, pretty appearance, two very smart eyes, and a hair

Her black hair was tied into a ponytail on top of her head and swayed behind her head.

Although she is not very old, her figure has grown. She is wearing a blue and white satin dress, which exposes a large section of her snow-white neck, and on her feet are a pair of short boots made of sea animal skin.

This outfit is indeed a bit nondescript. If it were in various towns on the mainland, it would be called a strange outfit, but in Okura City it is not surprising.

In this season, there are not many guests, but the big storm that started ten days ago means that no fleet can sail on the sea in the near future, so there will be no ocean-going cargo ships arriving at Okura Island. Now the entire "Yelai Hotel"

There is not a single guest here.

Since there were no customers, Xiao Qian'er was enjoying her leisure time. She had been sitting behind the counter doing her nails and applying blush since the morning. It was not until almost noon that she heard the shopkeeper upstairs shouting: "Xiao Qian'er, get up quickly.

Guests have arrived!"

Although she heard shopkeeper Sun shouting, Xiao Qian'er still didn't take it seriously. At this time, since there was no ship arriving at the port, where would any decent guests come from? Old man Sun must have been dim-sighted and saw someone coming upstairs.

After entering the city gate, I thought they were coming to stay at the hotel, but in fact they were mostly just indigenous Babas from the sea who came to the city to sell fish.

Therefore, Xiao Qian'er still sat behind the counter and did not move until she heard the sound of footsteps, and then she was somewhat surprised to see four people walking in from the door of the inn.

It was raining outside, and these four people did not hold umbrellas. When they entered the inn lobby, they were all soaked to the skin and looked quite miserable. And looking at their clothes, they were exactly what the indigenous people often wore.

The linen shirt was made of linen and was dirty and old, which made Xiao Qian'er raise her face even higher.

It is impossible for the natives on Okura Island to afford to stay in a hotel, let alone the "Yelai Hotel", one of the best hotels in the city.

"Hey! You! Stop! Your feet are muddy, but don't make the floor dirty! Let me tell you that we don't collect fish or vegetables here. There is plenty of food and there is no shortage of anything! I won't buy from you. Those things, please leave quickly!" Xiao Qian'er shouted.

"Really?" one of the four people said, "But it seems to Xiao Ke that there is still something missing in the girl's shop."

Xiao Qian'er said: "What is missing?"

The man said: "This big hotel is empty. What it lacks are guests. Am I right?"

Xiao Qian'er frowned and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? What does the lack of guests have to do with you?"

The man said: "Of course it matters, because we are guests."

Xiao Qian'er originally thought that these people must be indigenous people who came to the city to sell fish and vegetables, and she didn't even look at them. At this time, she took a closer look at these four people.

These four people turned out to be three men and one woman. The person who was talking to Xiao Qian'er just now was a thin young man in his twenties. Although his appearance was ordinary, he had an elusive look on his face. The woman on the side is quite beautiful, with beautiful eyebrows and beautiful eyes. She can be called a beauty.

A young man with a body as strong as an iron tower and a pale face was supported by women like a sick man. He was as weak as a wooden stake that was about to fall to the ground at any time.

Standing behind the three people, and the last thing Xiao Qian'er saw, was another pale man. He was similar in age to the young man who spoke before, but was much more handsome, but with a tinge on his face. His slumped expression was completely different from the young man's strange demeanor.

As a waiter at the largest hotel in the city, Xiao Qian'er was certainly not blind. She immediately saw that although these four people were wearing Baba clothes, they were definitely not natives of the island.

"Oh, the four of you are guests, so you are invited!" Xiao Qian'er stood up from the chair behind the counter, her expression still a little lazy. After all, even if these people are not indigenous, they don't look like them. What a rich man.

"I wonder if you guys want to stay in a hotel or have a meal?" she asked.

"To stay in the hotel, we need four rooms." The thin young man replied.

Four rooms? Upper room? Unexpectedly, these people are quite wealthy, at least their tone is not small. However, Xiao Qian is not someone who can be easily intimidated. She sang: "Okay--! Store The upper rooms are all empty, so Xiao Qian'er will take the guests there right now. But please pay the deposit first, which is ten silver dollars for one room, and a total of forty silver dollars for four rooms."

As she spoke, she stretched out her palm in front of the young man.

"Silver dollars?" The young man seemed a little surprised when he heard this word, but then he said: "We have spent all the silver coins we have. I wonder if your store can exchange large amounts of silver notes? How many of us and others are going to stay here? After a few days, the expenses will be deducted from the banknote."

"Money tickets are also fine, bring them here!" Xiao Qian'er said.

The young man took out a pile of crumpled paper from his pocket, as if it had been soaked in water and then dried, and he took out a piece of paper and handed it to Xiao Qian'er.

Xiao Qian'er took it in her hand, took a look at it, and asked, "What is this?"

The young man said in shock: "This is a thousand taels of silver note from Hongxiang Bank. It can be exchanged for silver taels in all areas of the Ming Dynasty. Is there anything wrong?"

Xiao Qian'er said: "I have never heard of red auspiciousness or green auspiciousness. In Okura City, we only recognize Wanbao Bank's banknotes. I'd be sorry if the officials don't have them."

He was indeed a liar. He took a few scraps of paper and pretended to be a thousand-yuan ticket. He was treating her like a monkey!

However, the young man pretended quite well, with a look of astonishment and innocence on his face, and his acting skills were top-notch. He took the piece of torn paper back, put it in his pocket, and said: "I don't accept the title of Hongxiang." Can the bank notes be exchanged for jade and agate for some silver?"

"I'm sorry, sir, we are an inn here, not a pawn shop. We don't accept anything except silver dollar bills!" Xiao Qianer refused flatly. After using fake banknotes to defraud, she tried to use stones to pretend to be fake. The idea of ​​jade and agate? Humph! Xiao Qian'er is well-informed, what kind of liar has she not seen? How could she be fooled like this!

But at this moment, a voice came from the stairs: "Xiao Qian'er, don't be rude to the guests!" A big fat man came down the stairs, it was shopkeeper Sun.

The hotel manager was of short stature and wore a blue silk gown. He had a fair face and no beard, and the fat on his face and body was swollen. He looked like a big meat ball rolling when he walked.

He cupped his fists and said: "I am the manager of this inn, my surname is Sun. Are you new to Dakang Island from the mainland? Hey, this little girl Qian'er is ignorant and has offended many people. Please don't do it." Sorry!"

The young man also returned the courtesy and said: "Shopkeeper Sun, you are so polite. We are indeed new to this place and don't know much about the rules of your city. I can't blame this little girl."

Shopkeeper Sun said: "Yes, yes, in our Dacang City, most of them are actually Han people who migrated from the mainland. When we first came here, everyone was the same, so there was nothing unknown. The little old man was also eight years ago. I just came here and opened this small shop. At that time, Okura City was not half as big as it is now. It was only in the past year or two that the number of new people coming here gradually decreased."

"Isn't this place no longer the realm of the Ming Dynasty?" The person who asked the question was another handsome young man with a pale face standing behind.

Shopkeeper Sun said: "Of course the realm of the Ming Dynasty is not bad, but Dacang Island is far away in the South China Sea, thousands of miles away, and the imperial government has no control over it. Everything has its own rules, which are somewhat different from those on the mainland. different."

With a smile on his face, he added: "The official said just now that he wanted to exchange jade and agate for silver, but is it true?"

The thin young man said: "We don't have any silver coins around us, so we have to do this."

He took out a translucent azure ring from his arms and said, "This sapphire ring is made from Hetian jade. Please take a look at it, shopkeeper Sun."

Shopkeeper Sun's eyes suddenly shone when he saw this jade ring. He took it in his hand, looked at it, touched it again, and said, "Not bad, not bad. This is indeed carved from Hetian jade in Xinjiang. Well, Very good! It’s worth at least eight hundred silver dollars, ahem, that’s three hundred and fifty taels of silver!”

The thin young man smiled slightly and said: "Shopkeeper Sun is a man who knows the goods. That's all. I will give this finger to the shopkeeper for three hundred and fifty taels of silver."
Chapter completed!