Chapter 2721: Living on Air

The servant boy didn’t know any of this and thought the shopkeeper was helping the old man, feeling extremely aggrieved.

He always considered the guesthouse, how could the shopkeeper help others and not himself? He found it incomprehensible.

The shopkeeper faced the old man and immediately put on a benevolent and kind expression, smilingly saying: "Sir, come down first, we can talk things over."

This made the servant boy feel even more uncomfortable.

Shopkeeper, what do you mean? I kindly think about your guesthouse, and you’re helping this old man who almost murdered me, where has your conscience gone? Was it eaten by a dog? The servant boy fumed inwardly, but externally, he continued to stand obediently, no choice, poor people are like this, even when angry, they have to bottle it up when faced with the boss.

The old man rushed down aggressively, angrily questioning: "Shopkeeper, I ask you, why do others stay first and pay later, but why must I pay first before staying?"

The shopkeeper looked bewildered: "No, sir, did you misunderstand?"

The old man huffed: "What misunderstanding? Ask your servant boy, he just said that if I don’t pay now, I have to leave immediately."

All the unlucky things in life happened today, how did he become so unlucky?

The shopkeeper turned to look at the servant boy and asked: "Did you really say that just now?"

The servant boy, looking displeased, said: "Shopkeeper, you don’t know, his servant ran off with all his luggage and bundles, he’s penniless now, staying at our guesthouse for free. I’m doing this for the good of our guesthouse."

The shopkeeper angrily exclaimed: "Be quiet."

The servant boy lowered his head in grievance, thinking, fine, shopkeeper, if you want to play the good guy, do it.

The shopkeeper smiled and said: "Sir, don’t listen to his nonsense, there’s no such thing, you can stay, our guesthouse rules are to settle accounts every three days, you can come and pay after three days."

The servant boy pouted, he knew the shopkeeper wasn’t kind-hearted, how could he let someone stay for free at the guesthouse?

The old man was penniless, even the Silver that Xuexue gave him, the servant boy ran off with every last bit, he had no choice but to stay temporarily at the guesthouse.

The shopkeeper, knowing he had no Silver, naturally delivered meals that were other people’s leftovers, cold food and broth, even tea was no longer offered, making him go down to drink cold water.

Three days passed quickly, and that morning, the shopkeeper smilingly arrived with the account book.

"Sir, you see today is the due date for settling accounts, shouldn’t we settle these days’ expenses now?"

Then, he took out a small abacus from his pocket, calculated a bit, and raised his head laughing: "Sir, you have spent five taels and five mace these past few days."

As the saying goes, you don’t hit someone with a smile on their face.

They speak kindly, and besides, paying Silver to stay at the guesthouse is only fair.

For a moment, the old man didn’t know what to say, lowering his head, saying nothing, the clothes given by the servant boy had been run off with, even having no change of clothes, he wore this set for several days, not only was it dirty, it had a sour smell.

"Shop... Shopkeeper, could... could you be more lenient for a few days?"

The old man’s anger subsided, not as overbearing as a few days ago, even somewhat meek, having no money, he couldn’t straighten his back, and relying on the shopkeeper for food and drink, of course, he had to be tactful.

The shopkeeper, still in a good mood, said: "Sir, it’s not that I’m not lenient, but we’re small business owners, originally not earning much, we have to support our families, if everyone were like you, staying without giving Silver, how can I continue running this guesthouse? Wouldn’t our family have to drink northwest wind?"