The bait was eaten away by 20 (of something)

  "Think, think, Liu brother, do you have a way?" As soon as Zhang heard that he could strike back at his opponent, he immediately became enthusiastic. Usually, he had to put up with a lot from that guy, but now that Liu had a way to help him get revenge, he suddenly became much more polite and started calling him "Liu brother".

  It's much more intimate this way.

  Liu Yuan chuckled twice, then lowered his voice and said: "We're going out to do business, that's not for wealth. This Chen Changdong is putting on a show, using one hundred taels of gold as bait, no doubt wanting to spread the reputation of his Yu Man Lou far and wide, so more people will come to his Yu Man Lou. Otherwise, we'll just swallow his bait whole, and he won't even get a single grain of rice."

  "Liu, you mean... that couple, they're a match?" Zhang was taken aback, and his gaze at Liu took on a slightly different tone.

  Liu Yuan smiled and said nothing.

  Zhang Pangzi slapped his forehead, lightly fanned himself, and looked at Liu Yuan with a face full of admiration: "Look at me, I'm really stupid, Liu brother, you can even recite the famous phrases 'this wood becomes firewood, mountain after mountain comes out, lighting the lamp and ascending to the pavilion, each attacking books', this couplet is simply a trivial matter for you, Liu brother, I really admire you now."

  "You've always been so low-key, nobody knew you were actually hiding your talents. To be honest, after Old Man Yuan passed away, we all thought the Jin Yu family business was going to collapse. I even planned to buy out your storefront and expand my own operations. But who would have thought? You're a god! In such a short time, not only did you clear up all the debts, but you also turned Jin Yu into a thriving business, and now it's even surpassing mine. If my wife and two concubines weren't so quarrelsome, I wouldn't even have had a son. But if I had a daughter, I would definitely marry her to you."

  Liu Yuan lowered his voice and said, "You call me little brother, that's because you look up to me. Just for this one 'little brother', I've been too popular lately, a big tree attracts wind, so let Zhang take the blame for this popularity, as for that adoption..."

  "Of course, all of that is Liu's younger brother's treat. Moreover, the top-grade wine and dinner at Tianfu Restaurant, one table, is on me, don't you dare decline!" Zhang Pangzi heard this and was overjoyed, hastily patting his chest in response.

  As a businessman, apart from making money, fame and benefits are also very important. Otherwise, why would they donate so much money every year to repair bridges and roads? Isn't it all for the sake of fame and benefits?

  Now is a good opportunity, so many talented people are here and no one has come up with it, a small businessman like me has come up with it, definitely making people look at me in a new light, not just a banquet, but also a bargain that's even cheaper than cabbage, even donating money to build a small bridge is not just this amount.

  Seeing Liu Yuan's hesitation, Zhang Baozi, who had seen countless people, understood what Liu Yuan was thinking. He took out a crystal-clear ancient jade from his pocket and handed it to Liu Yuan: "Liu brother, this is an ancient jade that someone offered 500 taels for but I refused to sell. You take it first, and when I get the Golden Jade back, we'll exchange it."

  A hundred taels of gold is not a small sum, Liu Yuan hesitated for a moment, fearing that Zhang would forget his righteousness after seeing the wealth and deny it later, which would result in a loss of one thousand taels of silver. Now that ancient jade has been acquired, its quality is fine and warm to the touch, said to be worth five hundred taels, definitely with room to appreciate but not depreciate.

  Liu Yuan didn't hesitate, anyway this Zhang Pangzi on Jinshui Street had never had a credibility issue. After taking the ancient jade, he leaned in and whispered something into Zhang Pangzi's ear.

  "Great, great!" After hearing Liu Yuanxiang's next sentence, Zhang Dagou wanted to kneel down for him.

  This difficult verse was recited by so many people, but unexpectedly, Liu Yuan perfectly matched it in just a moment.

  "Zhang, what do you think of this sentence?" Liu Yuan asked with a smile.

  "In the middle, it's okay, although I only attended a private school for a few years. Although my writing skills are not that good, I still have some ability to appreciate the high and low. Liu, with your talent, you should take the imperial examination, you will definitely bring glory to our family." Zhang said with emotion.

  Liu Yuan smiled and said, "Forget it, I'm not interested in that. It's not just a matter of saying something and then it's done. Every year, there are so many students, and it's like a crowd of people squeezing through a single-plank bridge. Moreover, couplets are just for fun, and the exams don't test these things anyway."

  "Right, right, it's still our merchant's carefree life. Although the status is not high, it's also quite beautiful to live like this. However, little brother, such a difficult couplet, how did you think of it so easily?"

  "Hehe, just in time for inspiration! Didn't Chen Chang tell the two of us to leave? I was furious at the time, shouldn't he have shown some respect and called us 'two gentlemen' instead of 'two people'? Why did he call us 'two'? Then I accidentally overheard a young woman calling her husband 'husband', and my heart skipped a beat. Suddenly it came to me - 'one wood is originally rice', adding a wood radical can change it into 'origin' or combine it into 'rice'. Two people can form the character for 'husband', but also the character for 'heaven'. Nowadays, it's still a man's world, from ancient times, men are superior to women. One man and one woman come together, the man is the heaven of the woman. The two characters for husband are simply perfect."

  Zhang Pangzi listened with a stunned expression, then gently applauded: "Incredible, incredible, indeed heroes emerge in youth. You said these words, I was also present earlier, but I didn't feel anything, yet you grasped the next line. Now I really admire you."

  Liu Yuan put the top-grade ancient coin in his sleeve, smiling and saying: "Hurry up and go, this pair isn't that difficult, I can match it, maybe others can too, first come first served."

  "Alright, alright, Liu brother, you don't need to eat dinner today, just keep your stomach empty, tonight we'll go to Tianfu Building and have a good drink."

  Zhang Pangzi finished speaking and hurriedly ran towards Yumanlou.

  At this time, Chen Chang of Yu Man Lou was flushed with pleasure as he accepted the praise of those familiar friends, literati and wealthy patrons, who mostly said that he was elegant and refined, striving to enhance Yangzhou's good reading atmosphere, not forgetting a reader's integrity, making Chen Chang scratch his ears and cheeks with joy, unable to contain himself.

  "No, no, this is what I should do. Master Zhao and Mr. Zhou, you are both giants of the Yangzhou literary world, role models in the hearts of scholars. I must learn more from you." Chen Chang said happily.

  Chen Chang's heart was as sweet as honey when he got the support of two great Confucian scholars.

  The man known as Zhao Lao Fuzi stroked his white beard and said with a calm face: "Where, where? Confucius said that learning has no bounds. As for us, we are just relying on our age to sell ourselves off. Don't mention the word 'master'. Those two exceptional pairs from the Golden Jade family had me thinking day and night, but I still couldn't come up with anything. Now you've thought of something here...

  "This is a good phrase from a wooden block, I'm really ashamed, can't even come up with one sentence, we're all too ashamed to show our faces."

  Mr. Su smiled and said: "Xiao Chang, you're really generous to use so much silver as a gift."

  It's nothing, it's just a form of entertainment.

  "If it's true, wouldn't you lose a lot of money, Master Chen?" Even the 100 taels of gold made Old Man Zhou's heart skip a beat.

  "Hmph, it's really that easy? You think I'm a fool? This pair has been circulating among the upper class for a long time, and none of those literary guests have figured it out. My hundred taels of gold didn't come from thin air, you can't just take it, it's not that easy."

  Chen Changyi had planned it out long ago, just hang on for ten days to half a month and then collect the money, by that time he would have both fame and profit, and as for the gold, it was still his own.

  "This golden opportunity has arisen, and I'll just pretend it's not mine. Let it wait for someone with a good affinity to come along, and let's make a contribution to the literary scene in Yangzhou." Chen Chang said hypocritically.

  "Rip~~~psst"

  Just as Chen Chang finished speaking, a sudden sound of silk tearing shocked everyone. Chen Chang turned his head and immediately got angry, shouting loudly: "You, Zhang, dare to make trouble on my turf?"

  The person who tore down the special banner with a five-character couplet was none other than Zhang Baozi, the boss of Jinyu Zhai on Jinshui Street. Chen Chang's first thought was that this guy had been provoked by him and had come to cause trouble on purpose.

  Zhang Pangzi puffed out his chest, proudly holding up the red cloth streamer he had torn down and said: "I've already solved this pair of couplets, why would I still stay here?"

  What? The fat guy in front of me who looks like he can't even take care of himself came up with that brilliant line?

  Not just Chen Chang, but everyone present heard it, and in an instant, they were all stunned.

  ;