Chapter 172: Poor and Wealthy in Liu Feng’s Eyes |
“What?” The merchants all stared at Liu Feng with widened eyes. What kind of statement is that? If we’re poor, then there wouldn’t be any rich people left in this world.
The least wealthy person present had a net worth of 27 gold coins, had lavish meals every day, had maids serving him, and had 6 wives and concubines. He never had to worry about food, drink, or clothing. If that wasn’t considered wealthy, then what was?
The richest among them was Solo. With his combined assets, he possessed around 1000 gold coins. He was also a well-known merchant in the capital. None of them would say that he was poor. Most of the merchants present knew Solo. They looked at Liu Feng with mockery, wondering how he would clean up after talking big.
“Lord City Lord, what do you consider to be wealthy?” Solo raised an eyebrow, curious about how Liu Feng would respond.
“Let’s eat first, and I’ll explain while we dine,” Liu Feng smiled lightly. Nicole immediately stood up and went to a wall, pulling a rope that was hanging there.
This was a server call service. A bell was attached to the rope, and when it rang, the servers outside would come in. Only the large private rooms had this service.
Creak…
The door opened, and a total of 24 dishes were brought in, emitting enticing aromas.
Gulp. Someone swallowed their saliva, and they all stared at the dishes on the table. Solo was no exception. Like Tori, who had inherited the foodie trait from his father, Solo had drool on the corner of his mouth.
The host had started eating, so the guests could do so too. However, they just stared at the chopsticks in their hands, not knowing how to use them. While they saw how Liu Feng used them, when they tried it for themselves, they couldn’t even manage to grip a piece of food properly.
Tori had tried it before, but he still couldn’t do it. Solo was the same. He simply used the chopsticks to push a piece of braised pork into his bowl.
Some of the merchants became impatient and just set aside the chopsticks and started to grab the food with their hands.
“Delicious! So delicious, 10 thousand times better than the food in the capital!”
“I was eating shit before. I’m coming here every day for my meals from now on.”
“We should invite those arrogant chefs from the capital to see the food here and see if they are still prideful and arrogant!”
The merchants splattered saliva around, completely abandoning their previous demeanor, and even fought over the food.
This made Liu Feng’s eyes twitch. He turned to Nicole and said, “Have someone bring in some forks.”
“Understood!”
The bell rang again, and forks were brought in, one for each person. This made the merchants’ faces turn red from shame.
Solo looked at the chopsticks in his hand, then at the fork, thinking. He felt that using two sticks better showed a person’s strategic planning and strength.
“Lord City Lord, what are these called?” Solo asked, holding up the chopsticks.
“These are called chopsticks. Compared to knives and forks, chopsticks are more convenient. You only need to carve two sticks, and they are easier to popularize and allow commoners to use them. You know, it’s not a joke that illness enters through the mouth,” Liu Feng explained.
“Erm…”
“Cough cough cough…”
The merchants who had been eating with their hands stopped embarrassingly, placing their hands under the table and wiping them on themselves. They felt ashamed.
On Earth, some people believed that forks and knives were violent and barbaric, while chopsticks were gentle and elegant.
The merchants all got their forks, but seeing that Liu Feng had no intention to eat, they reluctantly put them down again. They decided they needed to practice with the chopsticks; it was much better than using forks, especially considering the delicacy of the food here.
“Lord City Lord, as mentioned earlier, how do you view poor and wealthy?” one of the merchants subtly brought up the previous topic.
“Heh!” Liu Feng smiled faintly, and said, “Imagine a commoner who can’t even eat a full meal every day, wears tattered clothes and doesn’t even have shoes to wear. Is this considered poor?”
“Yes, that’s poor,” Solo nodded.
“One day,” Liu Feng raised a finger, speaking softly. “This commoner struck it rich. He can eat three bowls of wheat porridge daily and afford to waste food and can wear different clothes every day for 5 days in a row. Compared to other commoners, is he considered wealthy?”
“Wealthy, very wealthy. After all, he can afford to waste food,” Tory said, smiling.
Liu Feng’s lips curled upward, pointing to a vegetable dish on the table. “This is the cheapest dish on this table, costing 38 copper coins.”
“Ah???” The merchants all stared with their eyes wide open in shock. 38 copper coins, is each leaf a copper coin? You don’t eat like this even if you’re wealthy.
“Each of these leaves is the most tender leaf carefully selected from a dozen vegetables.” Liu Feng continued to gaslight the merchants. “Of course, there are also dishes that only cost 3 copper coins per dish; those are made with leaves leftover from the leaves used to make this dish.
“Hiss…” The people present were stunned. They hadn’t expected such attention to detail for a plate of vegetables. No wonder they cost 38 copper coins. The merchants didn’t bring up how expensive it was again.
“And then, the fish in the middle costs 300 copper coins; the braised pork costs 180 copper coins… These are some of the most expensive dishes in the Drunken Night Restaurant,” Liu Feng said calmly.
“…” Silence. The merchants all stared blankly at the dishes on the table. This is practically eating silver coins- this one meal will cost several silver coins.
“I eat like this in my castle every day. Does this meal suit your taste?” Liu Feng’s eyes flickered.
“Uh…” The people present felt embarrassed. Eating like this would cost them a gold coin about every 6 days. Even dukes probably didn’t eat like that.
Liu Feng’s lips curled up, and he said lightly, “Do you think, someone who can eat this table of dishes every day can be considered wealthy?”
