Promise!

Chapter 34, Old Friend

The place where Zhuang Jin had dinner that day was the same restaurant that Bi's father and Bi Kai had treated Zhuang Jin to last time to express their gratitude. The name of the restaurant was "Shixianlai".

As soon as we entered the door, a waiter came up to us warmly and said, "Dear guests, please come in!"

"Is there a new waiter here? Oh, he's an acquaintance."

When Zhuang Jin saw the other person, he secretly sighed in his heart what a coincidence. He knew this person - Zhu Bin, the waiter who gave him three copper coins when he went to stay at the inn the night before the martial arts recruitment and who then shared hot water from the upper room for him to take a bath.

While Xiang Qichen and others were calculating prices and ordering dishes, he and Zhu Bin went to the side and asked each other why they came here.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Bin glanced at Zhuang Jin, his face filled with a complex expression that was hard to describe.

It turned out that after Zhuang Jin's stay at the hotel, Zhu Bin had a new idea: Is this even possible? Use the hotel's resources to earn your own tips!

With a single thought, the world becomes wider, and from then on, Zhu Bin couldn't stop. He developed his own business strategy: promoting his services to the guests staying in the lower rooms of the inn. For example, if he tipped a certain amount, he could get hot water for a shower; if he tipped a certain amount, he could get free meals in the upper rooms... Compared with the service, the tip was definitely worth it, not to mention the money he would have to pay to stay in the upper rooms.

In short, there is only one principle: steal the store's business and fill your own pockets... and for a while, it was very successful.

However, there is no wall that is impenetrable. Zhu Bin encroached on the resources of the upper room in this way, and the guests in the upper room complained several times in a row. The innkeeper investigated the matter and found out that he was kicked out. He came here these days.

"Zhu Bin is a talented person! But, this matter is actually related to me?"

Zhuang Jin felt a little guilty and touched his nose, but he changed his mind and said, "That's not right. I can't be like Xiong Lei and take everything on myself. How could it be my fault that Zhu Bin was kicked out?"

"Well, even if I inspired him and opened the door to a new world for him, if he had a good character and didn't fully utilize his subjective initiative, then what happened later wouldn't have happened, right?"

"So, character still determines destiny. It was Zhu Bin's own character that determined his own fate." He felt much better when he thought of this.

When Zhuang Jin returned, Xiong Lei asked him how he knew the waiter there, but he casually dismissed him.

At this time, Xiang Qichen and the others had discussed and ordered the dishes. Zhu Bin took the menu and reported: "Okay, one portion of roasted chicken with reed flowers, one charcoal-roasted duck, and one braised sea bass..."

The dishes were served soon, and the table was full of chicken, duck, fish and meat. Even though Zhuang Jin and others had no shortage of oil and water recently, they were all salivating. After all, the big pot meal in the outer courtyard of the Shen family did not have all these kinds of meat!
For them, this table was also very rich.

The eight people ate heartily, so there was no need to be polite. Warriors have big appetites, so they talked a lot about these things, and in the end, only soup was left.

Qian Wende should be mentioned here. Before coming here, this guy said that he would be restrained and pay attention to his eating manners. Well, he was indeed relatively restrained this time, but he still ate the most.

……

After the meal, the group paid the bill. Since they ordered the dishes according to the prices, they did not overspend too much. The total was four taels of silver, a few cents more. Xiang Qichen paid the extra few cents out of his own pocket.

Behind the counter, the shopkeeper took the money with a broad smile and handed over a fortune stick. "Our shop is offering a special treat to new and old customers. If you spend fifty copper coins or more, you can draw a fortune stick. If you draw a good fortune stick, you'll receive a gift: the best fortune stick is a set of teacups; the middle fortune stick is a folding fan; the best fortune stick is a stack of straw paper. Dear customers, please try your luck."

There are nine types of lots in the lottery box: top-top, top-middle, top-bottom, middle-top, middle-average, middle-bottom, bottom-top, bottom-middle, and bottom-bottom, all mixed evenly. A top lot wins a prize, and the one-in-three chance of winning is quite high. With eight people in Zhuang Jin's dormitory, there's just enough time for each person to draw.

"Let me go first!" Xiang Qichen took the lead and drew a lot: middle to upper.

"We almost got the lottery, what a shame, boss." Qian Wende was a good comedian. "According to the order of our dormitories, Brother Xiong, you're next?"

"Okay." Xiong Lei agreed and went up to draw a lot.

He was lucky: he got a stack of straw paper by chance.

"Brother Xiong is so lucky." Wu Hao sighed with an envious look. In his mind, getting a stack of straw paper for free was already a great benefit.

Qian Wende took a look at it, but he was not very envious. After all, if Xiong Lei won, it was equivalent to him winning. Xiong Lei might not use this stack of straw paper as much as he did!
Then, Jiao Kun drew a lot: bad, and cursed: "Bad luck!"

Then came Lin Hong, who was extremely lucky as he actually drew a very good lot and won a set of tea cups. The tea cups had a saucer underneath and a lid on top, and the surface was painted with a wintersweet pattern, which looked quite delicate.

"Fuck!" There was an immediate cry of surprise, especially from Jiao Kun, who had just drawn a bad lot. Seeing Lin Hong's good luck, his face looked as if he had eaten shit.

"Brother Lin is amazing!" Qian Wende looked at the teacup with envy and said, "Brother Lin is so lucky today, why don't you help me draw it later?"

Lin Hong glanced at Qian Wende and smiled, declining politely: "Who can predict luck? I might have just drawn this lucky number and it's already ruined my luck for the day. You should do it yourself!"

When it comes to lottery, if you win well, it will be good for everyone. But if you don't win well, people will inevitably blame you. He will not do such a thankless task.

The next person, Zhuang Jin, drew a lucky number and was rewarded with a folding fan, which was not bad, but compared with Lin Hong’s excellent number just now, it was still less shocking and did not cause any exclamation.

Afterwards, Bi Kai, Qian Wende and Wu Hao, who were ranked average, upper average and lower average, did not receive any rewards, so there is no need to say more.

After drawing lots, Zhu Bin escorted them out the door: "Goodbye, gentlemen."

Zhuang Jin suddenly thought of something, paused, and took out three copper coins from his pocket as a reward.

I was indeed indebted to him for his attentive service that day. Now that I have become a formal warrior and have enough money, I am no longer as frugal as I used to be. This is a perfect opportunity to make up for it.

"Hey, thank you, sir." Zhu Bin smiled even more warmly after receiving the reward and bowed attentively.

Zhuang Jin nodded, glanced at him, and turned away, lost in thought. "Back then, Zhu Bin was an innkeeper, and I was just a beggar. Now, Zhu Bin was kicked out by the innkeeper for his opportunism, while I, through self-discipline, hard work... well, and that insignificant, insignificant golden finger, became a full-fledged warrior and stayed with the Shen family. It's truly a world of change."

"However, every sip and every bite is predestined." He thought again of the saying "Character determines destiny," and a vague understanding came to his mind, which he used to reflect on himself.

……

(End of this chapter)