During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a Gao Ji Restaurant in the county seat of Jing County, and the business had always been very prosperous. The boss, Shopkeeper Gao, could earn a lot of money every day. Shopkeeper Gao had a son named Gao Qingsong, who was in his twenties.

The chef in charge of Gao Ji Restaurant was named Ma Shan. He was a superb cook from Nanling County, more than 200 miles away. He had been a chef in a restaurant since he was 30 years old.

That morning, Gao Qingsong was busy in the restaurant when he suddenly saw his father sitting there sighing uncontrollably, so he quickly asked him what was wrong. The shopkeeper Gao sighed and said something.

It turned out that three days ago, Ma Shan told Shopkeeper Gao that he did not plan to be a chef at Gao Ji Restaurant. Shopkeeper Gao repeatedly asked him to stay, but Ma Shan refused to change his decision. He also said that tomorrow morning he would leave for Nanling County.

After listening to his father's words, Gao Qingsong was taken aback: "Father, our restaurant can't do without Ma Shan!"

Shopkeeper Gao sighed again: "Alas, after Ma Shan leaves, the business of our restaurant is bound to plummet. He is a very rare chef in charge!" Gao Qingsong thought for a while and said, "Father, I will persuade Ma Shan to see if he can stay."

Gao Qingsong quickly looked around for Ma Shan, but after searching every corner of the restaurant, he couldn't find Ma Shan, so he left the restaurant and hurried to the adjacent street, because Ma Shan lived in two houses on the adjacent street. He had just walked more than ten feet away when he suddenly stopped — he was attracted by a voice.

The voice came from a house in the street. The owner of this house was Lu Quanyi, a neighbor of the Gao family.

Gao Qingsong quietly looked into the open door and saw Lu Quanyi, his neighbors Cao Duo and Lu Wang sitting around a brazier, talking while cooking.

Lu Quanyi said in a regretful tone, "Ma Shan is going home to retire. From now on, the three of us will no longer be able to win his silver together!"

Cao Duo continued: "Since twenty years ago, when Ma Shan was paid a monthly salary, shopkeeper Gao asked the three of us to find Ma Shan to play mahjong, partner with him, and win seven or eight of his wages, we have won a lot of money!" Lu Wang sighed, "Alas, we will never win his money again in the future!"

When Gao Qingsong heard this, his brain "hummed." He couldn't even hear a word of what Lu, Cao, and Lu said next. After standing blankly for a long time, he woke up and turned back to Gao Ji Restaurant. He wanted to ask his father what happened.

Gao Qingsong asked eagerly, "Father, why did you let Lu Quanyi, Cao Duo, and Lu Wang play mahjong with Ma Shan once a month?" As he spoke, Gao Qingsong repeated what he had just heard from Lu, Cao, and Lu.

Shopkeeper Gao blushed for a while: "Qingsong, you... you know everything..."

It turned out that because of Ma Shan's superb cooking skills, shopkeeper Gao had to pay him a large sum of money every month. Because of this, shopkeeper Gao worried about it twenty years ago, fearing that Ma Shan would leave Gao Ji Restaurant and open a restaurant by himself after accumulating enough money. Therefore, he secretly instigated Lu, Cao, and Lu. Whenever Ma Shan received the salary, he would pester him to play mahjong, partner with the old man, and win seventy-eight out of ten of his monthly salary, so that he could barely support the family's livelihood.

His father's words made Gao Qingsong's mind "hum" again. He never expected that his father would use such despicable means in order to keep Ma Shan!

After being stunned for a long time, Gao Qingsong finally opened his mouth: "Father, you shouldn't be like this! You must compensate Ma Shan for the money he has won over the years!"

Shopkeeper Gao said lightly, "There is no reason to take back the water that was poured out. Ma Shan is going home tomorrow, and he has nothing to do with Gao Ji Restaurant anymore!"

Gao Qingsong still insisted, persuading shopkeeper Gao to compensate Ma Shan with silver, but shopkeeper Gao was unmoved at all. Gao Qingsong had to sigh, walked into the account room, and went quietly to settle the account.

Gao Qingsong dialed the abacus, ostensibly calculating the entry and exit accounts in the restaurant for the past few days, but in fact, he was flipping through the old accounts in the restaurant for 20 years.

After flipping through the ledger, he calculated the total wages that Ma Shan had received over the past 20 years, and then calculated the amount of 8/10.

Put down the abacus, Gao Qingsong spread out a piece of white paper and wrote quickly. After writing, he ordered a few silver tickets and stuffed them into an envelope together with a piece of paper. Then he found a few steamed buns and a piece of fabric, wrapped the steamed buns and envelopes with fabric, stood up, and rushed to Ma Shan's residence. He stuffed the package into Ma Shan's luggage, saying that it was a little dry food, and asked Ma Shan to take it with him to eat on the way.

Returning to the restaurant, Gao Qingsong finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The next morning, Shopkeeper Gao took the silver to buy something, only to find that a few silver tickets were missing, so he shouted in surprise: "No, there are thieves!" Gao Qingsong said: "Dad, those silver tickets were taken by me to compensate Ma Shan."

It turned out that after Gao Qingsong finished the account yesterday, he wrote a letter to Ma Shan, stating that the shopkeeper Gao had instigated Lu, Cao, and Lu for many years, and then expressed his deep apologies to Ma Shan, and said that the silver bills were compensated to Ma Shan by the Gao family.

After listening to his son's words, the shopkeeper Gao stomped his feet angrily: "Qingsong, Qingsong, aren't you stupid?"

But Gao Qingsong said, "Father, our Gao family has done something wrong. If we don't give Ma Shan an explanation, I really feel sorry for it!"

Shopkeeper Gao stomped his foot again, but he was helpless.

Besides Ma Shan, after returning to his home in Nanling County, he put down his luggage and tidied up. While tidying up, he suddenly saw the small package, and then remembered that it was the dry food that Gao Qingsong had given him.

Ma Shan unwrapped the package and found the envelope. When he opened it, he found a few silver bills and a piece of paper full of words. Ma Shan unfolded the paper, looked at it, and suddenly hit his head: "I'm a bastard!" His wife asked strangely, "What's wrong with you?" Ma Shan hit his head again and said, "I almost did something evil."

It turned out that one day more than a month ago, Ma Shan went for a stroll on the street and accidentally heard Lu Quanyi bragging to a neighbor that he, Cao and Lu could win Ma Shan a lot of money every month. As he blew, Lu Quanyi got carried away and told the shopkeeper Gao who instigated the three of them.

After learning the reason why he lost money every time he played mahjong, Ma Shan was furious, so he came up with a way to get revenge: before returning to Nanling County, he purchased a lot of cooking oil and put it in the kitchen of the restaurant. He thought that after a while he would sneak back quietly and set fire to the Gao Ji restaurant - the Gao family lived in the backyard of the restaurant, so that the Gao family would die in the sea of fire, and Ma Shan could be considered a big revenge!

Ma Shan finished these words in one breath, then picked up his luggage and walked out the door. His wife asked in surprise, "Where are you going?"

Ma Shantou did not turn back: "The young shopkeeper is so affectionate and righteous, I must go back to Gao Ji Restaurant to explain the truth."

All the way day and night, Shan Shan rushed to Gao Ji Restaurant, and said to the Gao family father and son with a look of remorse: "I shouldn't! I shouldn't have such a big evil intention!"

As he spoke, Ma Shan repeated his original plan. Shopkeeper Gao was taken aback: "Ma Shan, I'm sorry for you. It seems that it was Qingsong's good intention that saved the lives of my whole family!

But Ma Shan said, "In fact, the young shopkeeper also saved my life. If I really committed that heinous crime, how can I not be found out? How can I escape the result of paying my life? If the Gao family can forgive my evil thoughts, I am willing to continue to be the chef in charge of the Gao Ji Restaurant!"

Shopkeeper Gao nodded frequently: "Ma Shan, you can stay! From now on, I will hand over the Gao Ji Restaurant to Qingsong."

The next day Lu, Cao, and Lu heard that Ma Shan knew the inside story. They were afraid that he would report to the official, so they quickly returned the money they had won over the years to Ma Shan. And Gaoji Restaurant became more and more prosperous.