I Just Won’t Play by the Book - Chapter 27

Chapter 27: I Really Cannot Remember What They Looked Like
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Taking the broom to sweep the dust on the floor, the manager made an inviting gesture to Master Chen. “Master Chen, please come inside. What do you want today? Our boss just opened a pot of osmanthus liquor…”
The manager was about to continue the introduction but saw Master Chen wave his hand at him and say, “Let’s not drink today. I came to ask you about something.”
“Eh! Master Chen, pray tell. I will definitely tell you everything I know,” the manager replied.
“Find me an unoccupied booth first.”
“Okay, please follow me.”
Taking Master Chen to the best Heaven Grade booth in the inn, the manager wiped the table with his hand and said, “Master Chen, do you think this is alright?”
The manager had just spoken when he saw Master Chen pull out the knife on his waist and put it to his neck.
This frightened the manager, and he shouted repeatedly, “Master Chen, spare my life, Master Chen, spare my life. I have elderly…”
“Shut up!” Master Chen roared impatiently.
The manager heard him and hurriedly shut his mouth, but his legs were unable to stop trembling.
“What I’m going to ask you next, do not spread a word about it. If a third person knows… You understand the consequences, right?”
“I understand, I understand!” The manager nodded his head repeatedly.
“Good. Let me ask you, did any sect personnel with a distinguished aura stay in your inn recently?” Master Chen asked.
The manager listened and thought for a while before shaking his head and saying, “There haven’t been many guests staying in the inn recently. As for sect personnel… There should be none.”
“What do you mean by there should be none!? Are you joking around with me?” Master Chen glared at the manager, the knife in his hand pressing closer to the manager’s neck.
This scared the manager so badly that he was on the verge of wetting his pants, and he said repeatedly, “Indeed none! Indeed none! In the past two days, other than a few young gentlemen from the Dongshao Province, all the guests were commoners in coarse clothing and hemp garments.”
“Good. Now, go and call all the staff under you. I have something to ask them,” Master Chen said.
“Yes, yes, yes, I’ll go immediately.”
After the manager finished speaking, he ran out of the booth, went to the lobby, and yelled, “Mazi, Xiaoliu, Shitou, come here. All of you, come here quickly.”
The staff who were serving the customers in the lobby heard him and first apologized to the customers, then ran to the manager and asked, “What’s wrong, Big Brother Liu?”
“Put down the work in your hands and come over with me.”
“Huh? We’re all going, eh? What about the store’s business?”
“Eh, I can take care of that for now, just hurry over.”
The three servers were confused, but they followed the manager.
When they arrived at the Heaven Grade booth and saw Master Chen inside, they instantly understood what was going on. They immediately bowed and shouted, “Good day, Master Chen.”
“All of you, stand over here,” Master Chen said, glaring at them.
Looking at the long knife in Master Chen’s hand, the three servers were terrified and felt as if they were no longer in control of their feet.
“What? Do I have to say it again?” Master Chen asked, glaring at them.
At this time, the manager hurriedly kicked each of the three servers and said, “Hurry up and go!”
Only then did the three servers stagger over to Master Chen. Before he could say anything, the three servers knelt down and kowtowed in unison, saying, “Master Chen, spare us. Master Chen, spare us. We really didn’t do anything…”
“All of you shut up! Stand up!” Master Chen shouted.
The three servers stood up in a hurry after hearing this.
After threatening the three junior officers in the same way again, Master Chen said, “Describe to me the appearance of the customers you have received in the past few days one by one.”
The three servers listened and began to describe the guests they had received, and whenever he heard that the customer was a woman with a straw hat, Master Chen would ask in detail.
After Mazi answered, Shitou immediately picked up from where he left off and said, “I… I only received six guests yesterday, and they all wore straw hats.”
Master Chen immediately said, “Tell me all about their physical characteristics.”
“Yes… Yes,” Shitou finished saying. He tried to remember but found that the six guests had only left an extremely vague impression in his mind. He could not remember what they were wearing no matter how hard he thought about it.
“What are you thinking about? Speak!” Master Chen ordered.
Hearing Master Chen’s roar, Shitou hurriedly kneeled on the ground and said, “I… I really can’t remember what they looked like.:
After saying that, Shitou tensed up, deeply afraid that he was soon to receive a severe beating.
But Master Chen did not kick him as he had expected. Instead, Master Chen frowned and said, “The guests came yesterday, but you cannot remember what they looked like today?”
Shitou hastily slapped himself and said, “It’s my fault. I’m useless, but I really can’t remember what those guests looked like.”
Feeling that he had found his target, Master Chen suddenly kicked Shitou in the stomach and shouted violently, “Think properly! Tell me whatever you can think of, or I’ll kick you to death!”
At that moment, Shitou was in pain and anxious. Sweating, he desperately tried to remember, and finally, his eyes opened wide and he shouted, “The… the mister rewarded me five coins.”
Upon hearing that, Master Chen reached out and asked, “Where is the money?”
“Here it is, here it is.” Shitou endured the pain and fished out five coins from his lap and handed them to Master Chen.
“Are you sure it’s these five?” Master Chen asked, looking at the coppers in Shitou’s hand.
“I am sure because it is rare to receive a tip from a customer. I intended to hide it and use it for protection, and I hid it in the innermost layer.”
Nodding, Master Chen took the five coppers from Shitou’s hand and studied them carefully for a while.
‘Upright, peaceful, prosperous, and auspicious…’ he read.
Looking at the four words engraved on the copper coins, then feeling the weight of the coins, Master Chen stroked his chin and thought. “The three treasure coins of the Huainan region is it…”
The main value of money lied in its credit standing. For example, a modern hundred-yuan bill might only cost a few dozen cents, but because of the credibility of the yuan, paper bills that cost only a few dozen cents could be used to store the value of a hundred yuan.
But there was no unified formal currency exchange system in the Land of the Black Dragon, so the purchasing power of the currency was difficult to guarantee. That was, the credit value of the currency was almost equal to zero, which caused the face value of a copper coin to almost be equal to the value of its material.
Because of the lack of precious metals in the Land of Black Dragon, even copper was scarce, so money made of pure copper was almost non-existent. Most of them were mixed with lead, which was of low value and heavy weight, and would make the produced copper coins turn gray and dull.
Also, not only were coins produced officially, but there were also a lot of private coins. So, depending on the texture of the coins, you could find out in which area it was circulating, and even where it came from.
Pinching the five copper coins over and over, Master Chen thought back to whether he had heard of any skilled warriors from sects in the Huainan region being sent there recently.
Eventually, he stopped reminiscing and asked Shitou, “Are these six guests still staying in the inn?”
“They already checked out and left this morning,” he replied.
“Is there anything else that didn’t come to mind?” Master Chen once again shouted sternly.
“No, Master Chen. I really can’t remember what those guests looked like, and I don’t dare to deceive Master Chen with falsehoods. I really can’t remember,” Shitou replied.
“I bet you don’t dare to deceive me either!” Master Chen said as he threw the five copper coins in front of Shitou. He then turned around and walked to the door of the booth.
Before going out he looked back at the servers and said, “If I learn that any of you dare to spread a word about what happened today…”
“We dare not, we dare not, we dare not…” the three said repeatedly.
“You better not!” After saying that, Master Chen pulled open the door of the booth and left.
When the sound of Master Chen’s footsteps gradually disappeared in the distance, the four staff finally took a long breath and thought with a resigned look, ‘What bad luck!’