National Tide 1980

Ning Weimin thought he was blind at first.

As a result, he stared again and searched carefully...

Later he discovered that there really wasn't.

The tavern opened by Kang Shude and Zhang Dashao looks like a long, five-bay room, but this shop has no sign or plaque.

There is only a red and black lettering on the door of the store that says "Have a drink at your leisure".

On both sides of the door is a couplet, "The universe is great in the wine, the sun and the moon are long in the pot."

The writing is really good and the meaning is good, but this is definitely not the name of the store.

In Ning Weimin's eyes, if there were no plaques and signboards, how would it look like a shop doing business?

Hey, there's something interesting though.

That is, under the eaves on the right side of the main entrance of the tavern, a very conspicuous red object is hung with wire.

It swayed when the wind blew, and spun around from time to time.

What the hell is this?

Don't be busy, if anyone sees it clearly, they will definitely laugh out loud.

Qingqing is a large gourd with red paint and a crooked mouth, with a wooden old coin attached to it and several strips of red silk.

There are two big characters written in black paint on the gourd, one side is "Kang" and the other side is "Zhang".

"Old man, your store looks really fresh. Why doesn't it even have a name? And you're so cool with this gourd. I knew you opened a tavern, but I thought you were going to sing " "Running at Night"? Hey, tell me, there is a big red-tasseled gun at the door. If people look at it, they will think that Lin Chong is drinking inside. "

Ning Weimin couldn't help his curiosity and joked a few words.

Unexpectedly, his lack of understanding turned out to be his ignorance, which completely exposed his ignorant side.

"You know nothing. You've only been doing business for a few days? Don't always be so self-righteous. You are so weird."

Kang Shude's first words confirmed Ning Weimin's doubts, and then he even taught him a shameless lesson.

"Where is this? Capital City. What kind of business am I running? A tavern in Capital City. In this case, you must follow the trading rules of Capital City. Otherwise, it will be a joke. Have you seen this gourd? This is called a pretense. Also called 'Shizhao'. Did you see the words on it? What is a store name? This is the name of the store. Whether it's Kang Kee, Zhang Kee, or Kang Zhang Kee, you can call it whatever you want. But I'm telling you. Just hang this , others can tell at a glance that this is my tavern. Is there still a need for a signboard?"

At this point, Ning Weimin had already realized that the cognitive difference made him laugh.

But he was a little unwilling to do so, and his face couldn't be improved.

The second one is also a little interested and wants to get to the bottom of it.

So in a blink of an eye, he continued to insist on strong arguments.

"I say, old man, I don't agree with what you say. According to your statement, what kind of signboards and plaques do the villas in the capital need? They can all hang wine gourds. Besides, you are also particular about old age. Now What era is it in? Who still knows this? It’s just the name of your store. It’s not clear. Young people can understand it, but only older people can understand it. When we do business, you can’t just point at older people. Are you coming? So I think you should at least have a signboard with a brand name."

Unexpectedly, his doubts were still completely rejected by Kang Shude, but he ended up even more humiliating himself.

"You can go cool down somewhere for me. It doesn't matter if you don't understand. I'm afraid you, a smart guy like you, will pretend to be an expert. I also tell you that Master Zhang and I opened this small shop just to relieve our boredom. , we don’t plan to make much money. What we want is older people to come and talk to us. Why do we need to recruit a bunch of juniors and wait for them to eat and drink? Young people can’t understand the most important thing. Okay. Come here if you understand, but that’s still troublesome. Besides, there are rules for doing business in shops in this capital city, and you can’t break the rules. What are these signs and pretenses used for? Everyone knows they are to attract customers. But what is the difference between them and how they are used? They are all scientific. In today's terms, it is scientific. You can't mess with it. Hey, by the way...I...I remember telling you about the difference between Zhuangguan and Zhuangguan. Yes. What's the matter? All I have to teach you is drinking wine and eating. I'm just spitting on you in vain. Isn't that right? "

Ning Weimin was more and more interested in Kang Shude at this time, for fear that the old man would lose his interest in talking.

So he quickly changed his attitude, softened his tone, lowered his body, and rubbed it softly.

"Hey, you just want to use this guise to accurately position and select your preferred customer groups. Gao, you are really smart! But I don't know your intentions. I am just kind-hearted and afraid of you. The business is mediocre. As for what you told me, I remember that I understand it. Counting from top to bottom, these restaurants are restaurants, restaurants, restaurants, restaurants, and food stalls, right? They also have their own standards. I remember all the business methods and business methods. But the problem is, you really haven’t told me about the business name on the signboard. It’s not a sin for those who don’t know. Why don’t you explain it to me carefully, so as not to worry about it in the future? Disciple, I show my timidity in front of others."

No one can understand each other's nature better than this master and apprentice.

Kang Shude saw Ning Weimin and asked for advice humbly.

No matter how smooth his ears were and how comfortable he felt, he couldn't hide it.

After all, he opened the store just to chat, so who was he talking to?

He thought that this thing in his stomach would not be of much use if he kept it.

If you want to give it to your apprentice, maybe it can help this kid learn something.

So he stopped talking and just faced the red wine gourd outside to teach Ning Weimin a good lesson.

"Want to hear it? If you want to hear it, let me tell you. In our capital city, if you ask about the signboards, there are actually many types. Names, names, signboards, plaques, pillars, and couplets are all included. . And all walks of life are different, and the styles are also all kinds of strange. There are all kinds of new things. For example, people in drug stores like to use plaster-style plasters, hairdressers like to use shuangguo, and hotels must use glass electric lights outside. This is called an industry. Attributes. There are three hundred and sixty lines, and each line has its own characteristics. Early every morning, the first thing any business shop does when opening its doors is to take down the banner and hang up the cover."

"Why is this? To put it bluntly, it is purely determined by its use. It is equivalent to today's outdoor advertising. Think about it, in a truly prosperous street market, there are row upon row of shops of different sizes and colors. . In order to attract business and make people remember you and come back next time, of course the signboard and cover must be obvious. Therefore, in the past, stores from all walks of life all used their special skills and worked hard on their signboards and covers. Some The writings on the pink wall are some carved in wood, some cast in copper, some hanging wood poppies, some hanging tin lamps, and decorated with tassels. Each one is brighter than the other, and each one is more material than the last."

"No matter how many tricks there are, the conventional rules have their own rationality and customers will not admit their mistakes. Merchants in various trading houses absolutely cannot make mistakes or mess up. No matter whether they are willing or not, everyone must follow them Decorate signs and camouflage according to the characteristics of the industry and the scale of the transaction.”

"Since you know the difference between a restaurant and a restaurant, let me take the restaurant as an example. As you just said, the scale ranges from large to small, restaurants, restaurants, restaurants, restaurants, and food stalls. Generally speaking, like In serious stir-fried places, the form of guise is relatively uniform. In almost all halls, buildings, and residences, a flat iron is fixed above the door and extends out of the eaves. The front end is rolled up into several flower shapes, and it is bent two feet downward to hang There are two or four wooden plaques on the top. The Han Chinese ones have a dark or red ground, embossed three-dimensional gold lacquer characters, and a red cloth strip hanging from the bottom of the plate. The halal ones have dark gold characters and a blue cloth strip underneath. This is the guise of Zhuangguanxing. It will never look out of shape.”

"The biggest difference is actually in the size and wording of the signboards. For example, restaurants with the Tang brand name have the most signs and are made of the best materials. They have hanging tassels and are engraved with 'celebration banquet' for foreign parties, 'Sichuan-Shandong cuisine' or 'North and South'. "Full banquet" and other words. If it is a restaurant sign, there will be fewer words, and the words will also become "celebration banquet," seasonal snacks, "casual drinks", "four seasons delicacies", etc. If it is "residence", then most of them The words mainly focus on signature dishes, and the bottom of the sign has been replaced with red silk."

"The next level down is the 'Er Meat Shop'. These small shops also have names on their door plaques, but they can't even be called 'Ju', so they just call them 'He Liu De Shen', 'Qian Li Xiang'" ', 'Haitianchun' and the like. But correspondingly, the guise hanging at the head of the door begins to become interesting. Usually it is made of cloth, which is shaped like a flag, with a middle strip about eight inches wide, a white heart and blue edges, and two sides. Each has a narrow strip about three inches wide, and each is about two feet long. Bai Xin wrote four lines of poetry, "Taibai's hundred poems about drinking wine. I slept in a restaurant in Chang'an City. The emperor called me and couldn't get on the boat. I claimed that I was the immortal in wine." .’ Each sentence is played, four in total. The more you can play, the better.”

"Further down, there are pubs and restaurants with no name or brand. But the pretense is even better. Just like this wine gourd, it is the usual practice in the past. You can even use your imagination to come up with something unique. . For example, those who sell barbecue hang a leg of lamb, those who sell steamed buns hang a steamer, or even those who specialize in fish dishes hang a copper fish at the door. As long as it is related to the content of the transaction and attracts attention, it is enough. There are words but no words. It doesn’t matter.”

"Why? In fact, the reason is very clear when arranged from top to bottom. First of all, the facade of a large store is large enough, and it can carry out comprehensive and all-round publicity and introduction through font size, cover, signboard, plaque, pillars, and couplets. Myself. Small shops have few business types, so they don’t need so many signboards and pretense. The facade is also small, and it’s hard to show off.”

"Furthermore, large shops focus on pomp and solemnity. The more they follow the rules and understand the rules, the more trust they will have in customers. Small shops are just the opposite. Due to their small appearance, they can easily be ignored. In order to highlight their existence, they must have other ideas. , making it attract people's attention. Like the "Big Cigarette Pot" (Tiancheng Cigarette Shop) in the flower market, and the "Black Monkey" felt hat shop (Yang Xiaoquan Felt Hat) in Xianyukou, almost everyone in the capital knows about it. , but not many people can tell the real name of the shop. This is a typical example of a small shop that relies on pretenses to become famous."

"Finally, there is one most critical reason. That is that customers are also divided into different levels. In the past, not everyone could read. Big merchants mainly dealt with rich owners, and their customers were mostly educated. Small shops were for the poor. It's opened by ordinary people, and the customer level is low, and many people are blind. So who should the small shop show its sign to? It's not necessary. Do you think this is the right thing?"

At this point, Ning Weimin had almost heard everything.

He really couldn't help but sigh silently in his heart. In the past, doing business was really fastidious.

These things under the guise of signatures are not only reasonable, but also interesting.

It fully reflects folk wisdom and even artistry.

It seems to have the same effect as the lanterns in Japanese restaurants.

It's really much better than today's buying and selling shops, which are all the same, with a few random words hanging on the door, and trying to make nonsense.

There's no way to describe a restaurant like this. It's obviously a small restaurant but it has to be called a restaurant. It obviously doesn't have a few rooms, but it still dares to be called a restaurant.

It seems that this makes you appear capable and attracts customers.

But as everyone knows, a name that sounds good is useless.

On the contrary, it will be counterproductive and will only ruin your reputation.

If the name is not worthy of its name, it will not attract enemies, and in the end, even the original regular customers may be offended.

This kind of "motivation" is really unacceptable.

"Old man, don't say it. There is something in your words that I can really ponder and tease. At least I have a feeling now. In this business, you must first have self-knowledge. The correct positioning is more important than anything else. If you want to make money If you don't want to lose money, you must first think clearly about why you make money and whose money you want to make. Take your small shop as an example, I kind of understand your thinking. Since we are doing it as a neighbor The business in the neighborhood is for everyone to have a place to have a drink and chat. If you want to run a good business, you have to buy genuine goods at real prices and rely on careful calculation. Don't waste a penny, and make small profits but quick turnover. So, If you over-decorate your store or hang up a signboard, it will be a waste. It will also look incompetent and make the real customers you are targeting suspicious and awkward. Is that what you mean?"

Ning Weimin revealed his understanding, and Kang Shude was happy.

"Okay, if you kid can think of this, I won't say it in vain."

So he even imparted his business experience to others.

"But, what you said is still a little short of understanding. Think about it, all stores now have to pay attention to decoration and names. They are all so bluff, doesn't it become normal? This is carrying a suona on the back. Planes have to blow into the sky. If I turn around and make the name false, it will become a joke. On the other hand, I will open the store honestly according to the old rules, but it will become a success by surprise."

"You have to think like this. The business has no name. Does it sound novel to you? Then it must be the same for others. This is what I want. I guess it won't take long. Through word of mouth, everyone nearby will know about our little business. No, the lack of a name is the biggest advantage, but it will attract more people. I am a real businessman, and I am not afraid of not being able to retain people. New customers will become regular customers in the future..."

Hey, what can Ning Weimin say?

He was completely speechless and could only ponder the feeling.

The old man's brain is amazing, he can actually think backwards.

However, what Ning Weimin didn't expect was that it wasn't over yet. What happened next gave him a little more insight.

Surprisingly, at this moment, a young man with a short haircut actually walked out of the shop.

This young man had an apron tied around his waist and sleeves on his arms. At first glance, he knew he was a clerk in the store.

But he didn't expect there was anyone outside.

He glanced at them timidly, then called Kang Shude again, "Uncle Kang, you are here."

Then Dou Shou placed the stool in his right hand under the eaves.

Then he stepped on the stool and hung the things in his left hand under the eaves on the left.

Don't tell me, this thing he just hung up is even weirder.

Looking at it, there is a circle on top. On the circle is the barrel shape of the gold paper lake, with red cotton paper strips hanging down, about six or seven minutes wide.

This is great, this thing actually matches the wine gourd on the right.

When the wind blows, one is swaying and spinning, and the other is floating back and forth.

Hey, it looks really funny.

But the wine gourd is okay. It's like a piece of cloth, or a large tassel. What does it mean?

Ning Weimin felt that he couldn't understand it again.

Fortunately, Kang Shude told him the answer this time without him opening his mouth.

"It looks fresh, right? The round barrel on top of this cover represents the noodle pot, and the thin strip of paper below represents the noodles. Now that it's hanging out, do you understand what it means?"

Ning Weimin suddenly woke up. "It means you sell noodles here now. Drink, old man, this small shop of yours is fine. Just two pretense, one to eat and one to drink, that's all."

Kang Shude smiled triumphantly. "By the way. Let me also tell you that the noodles here are not ordinary noodles. In addition to the rotten pork noodles that you can't eat elsewhere, there are also authentic Shanxi shaved noodles."

With a wave of his hand, he called the guy over.

"Hey, let me introduce you. This is Fang Bin, my shop assistant. He's from Datong, and his uncle is in charge of cooking noodles. When you meet me later, just call him Master Fang."