Chapter 381: Better to Eat Without Meat than to Hide Without Shells
It was almost dawn.
Wu Lu, the newly promoted chief steward of Ningguo Mansion, hurried to Jia Rong's courtyard. He did not even bother to find the maid to report, but shouted directly from under the window sill:
"Master, this is unbelievable! The man we sent to bribe Zhang Hua yesterday was tied to the stone lion outside the gate with his buttocks naked, and was fed by mosquitoes all night long!"
"What?!"
Before he finished speaking, a weathered voice came from inside, and then the door creaked open. Jia Zhen came out in dishevel, fastening his belt while angrily saying, "How could this be? Could it be that Zhang Hua did it?!"
In his haste, he even wore Hu's bloomers by mistake.
Wu Lu did not dare to look any further, and quickly replied obediently: "I heard that Sun Zhizhong had sent people to ambush Zhang Hua's home a long time ago. As soon as our people made their intentions clear, they were caught by the other side. I heard that they even recorded their confessions..."
"waste!"
Jia Zhen roared angrily, turned around and shouted at the room: "Didn't you say that this plan would definitely work? How come that guy surnamed Sun got hold of it?"
Following his scolding, Jia Rong also left the room awkwardly, still holding a pair of pants in his hand, and said awkwardly: "Dad, look at this..."
"waste!"
Jia Zhen snatched the pants away and hurried back into the inner room. Not long after, he heard him changing his pants on the bed in the inner room, panting, and angrily asked, "You came up with the idea, but now that guy surnamed Sun has the upper hand. If he bites back, I may not be able to protect you!"
It turns out to be my biological father!
The disaster hasn't even happened yet, but you're already thinking about distancing yourself from it.
Fortunately, Jia Rong was used to it, and he said servilely outside the door: "Father, calm down. If that Sun guy really wants to bite back, wouldn't it be more appropriate to just hand him over to the Dali Temple? Since he sent the man back, he must not have any intention of breaking up completely."
There was silence for a moment, and then Jia Zhen came out again with a dignified look on his face, sneering, "So, Sun Erlang is really afraid of the prestige of our Ningguo Mansion?"
If he was really afraid of the Ningguo Mansion, how could he dare to tie someone naked in front of the door?
However, Jia Rong did not dare to say this, so he just followed Jia Zhen's tone and said, "Although Sun Erlang has become cowardly, he still has the leverage over us. We should not threaten him too much. In my opinion, it is better to let Brother Qiang go over and mediate."
"Whatever."
Jia Zhen flicked his sleeves and said reluctantly, "Let's just spare him this time!"
It was obvious that he was cowardly and wanted Jia Qiang to surrender, but it was thanks to the sweet words of the father and son that they managed to pretend that they wanted to let Sun Shaozong go.
Not to mention the father and son, how they called Jia Qiang over to explain.
However, Sun Shaozong got up before dawn, asked Xiu Ju to help him wash up, and then climbed over the wall and through the window back to the study.
As the sky gradually brightened, he first went to the east courtyard and mentioned to Yu Qian the matter of taking Jia Lan as his apprentice.
When he heard that the man wanted to take the eldest grandson of the Rongguo Mansion as his disciple, and that Sun Shaozong had strongly recommended him, it was naturally difficult for Yu Qian to refuse - but he could not be careless in accepting a disciple, especially since this was his first disciple.
So he agreed ambiguously at first, saying only that he would make a decision after the examination for the title of Scholar of the Imperial Academy was over and he would meet the child.
After coming out of the east wing, Sun Shaozong went to the backyard to visit Ruan Rong. Seeing that she was no longer seriously injured, he promised to take her and Xiangling to Wangjiang Tower to watch opera tomorrow.
The book does not elaborate.
After breakfast, Sun Shaozong hurried to the Criminal Law Division, called Wei Ruolan, Lin Delu and others to accompany him, and called together the officials and servants under the Criminal Law Division. There were no less than two or three hundred people standing in the courtyard .
Sun Chengye moved a chair and placed it on the steps of the main entrance. Sun Shaozong sat upright on it and asked Sun Chengye to ask on his behalf: "My Lord summoned you today to ask if anyone has ever heard of 'Tao Zhu Jin Bei'?!"
The officials below were whispering to each other, and someone among them responded, saying that he knew about the matter.
Sun Chengye then ordered loudly: "Everyone, don't panic. Anyone who has heard of this thing, please stand in front and speak!"
The square formation of more than 200 people began to move in a disorderly manner, and finally thirty or forty people squeezed out, including clerks and three shifts of yamen runners.
Among the government, there is actually one-sixth of this proportion? !
Sun Shaozong's heart sank, and he personally ordered: "Anyone who has bought or sold this item, please stand out separately!"
This time, everyone stared at each other for a long time before four people timidly stood at the front of the team. They were a clerk and three yamen runners.
Fortunately, the conversion rate is not very high.
If most of the people who have heard of 'Tao Zhu Jin Bei' bought this thing, then things would really get out of hand.
Sun Shaozong now felt a little relieved, and asked the four people, "Why do you want to buy and sell this thing?"
"Reply to your Excellency's words."
The clerk bowed first and said, "This item symbolizes good luck and is said to bring prosperity to the family, so I bought twelve and kept them at home."
"But I don't know how much it will cost?"
"I bought it earlier, and it cost me thirty-two taels of silver."
The clerk was quite complacent when he spoke of this, because now the price of these twelve middle-grade gold shells had risen to nearly fifty taels of silver in the market.
"Oh my god, this thing is really so valuable!"
A yamen runner nearby couldn't help but exclaimed, "No wonder people use this as chips when they go to the casino nowadays!"
"As a bargaining chip?"
Sun Shaozong raised his eyebrows and asked hurriedly, "Are casinos really using this as chips now?!"
The bailiffs exchanged glances, and the one who was shocked bowed and said, "To answer your question, sir, it seems that not every family is like this. It's just that the gambling house we often go to has recently replaced some bamboo chips with this thing. It is said that one chip can be worth five cents of silver!"
Another person added: "Master, we only used it in the gambling house and didn't bring it home - in fact, there are quite a few people like us."
As soon as he finished speaking, two clerks and four yamen runners appeared from behind him, all of them said in fear and trepidation: "My lord, it is not that I concealed it intentionally, but I did not know how to use it as a bargaining chip, which can be regarded as buying and selling this thing."
Tsk~
Using bamboo chips as bargaining chips in a gambling house is not worth mentioning, to put it simply. After all, many gambling houses used to use bamboo chips as bargaining chips to avoid the trouble of weighing silver.
But if we look at this matter in a broader sense, it gives the gold shells the function of being exchanged for equivalent silver at any time!
Sun Shaozong hesitated for a moment, then asked, "If you bring similar gold shells with you, can they be used as bargaining chips?"
"this……"
Several gamblers exchanged glances and shook their heads, saying, "The gold coins in the gambling house are all stamped with red seals on the inside - I'm afraid they won't recognize gold coins from outside."
One of them said, "It's not that I don't recognize it. I heard that two gold shells from foreign countries can be exchanged for one gold shell with a seal, but this thing can be sold for more than four coins of silver outside. Only a fool would be willing to exchange it with them!"
In this way, although it is far lower than the legendary market price, it can indeed be exchanged for silver in the gambling house!
"Hmph~"
At this time, the clerk who collected the gold shells suddenly sneered with disdain: "Sir, the gold shells they are talking about are just some low-grade defective products. Compared with the real gold shells, their value and appearance are far inferior, let alone the top-grade 'Tao Zhu Gold Shells'!"
From the looks of it, he should be the one most familiar with this thing among the hundreds of people present.
Sun Shaozong pretended to be very interested and asked, "But I don't know what the difference is between the two?"
"Reporting to the Lord."
Then the clerk continued to talk: "The real gold shells are pure white, and the gold lines that make up the coin pattern are bright gold; while the inferior gold shells have mixed colors, and the gold lines that make up the coin pattern are even duller, and the pattern is even blurred!"
"As for the top-quality 'Tao Zhu Jin Bei', not only is the color more transparent, but you can even faintly see some text in the coin pattern!"
As he spoke, he spread his hands and said, "It's a pity that I didn't bring any gold shells with me, otherwise I could have carefully distinguished them for you, sir."
As soon as he finished speaking, someone behind him suddenly called out, "You didn't bring it, but I did!"
The crowd split to the left and right, and Qiu Yunfei came slowly, carrying a cloth bag. When he got closer, he shook the bag open, but saw nothing else inside except three shells.
"After your Excellency gave the order yesterday, I sent someone to find three of them, worth four coins, four ounces, and thirty ounces of silver respectively!"
Although the people this kid associates with are not very good, his work efficiency is still acceptable.
Sun Shaozong raised his chin to the clerk and said, "Since the things are already there, I would like to trouble you to distinguish them for me."
The clerk did not refuse. He came closer with shining eyes, carefully took the three gold shells, and quickly discarded one of them because it was of impure color.
As for the other two, he carefully distinguished them in his hands for a long time before taking one in each hand and holding the one in his right hand in front of Sun Shaozong, saying, "Please look, sir. This gold shell is completely white, with clear and bright gold lines, which is very different from the gray one. You can tell at a glance that it is the genuine one!"
Then, he showed another one to Sun Shaozong and said excitedly: "As for this one, the color is delicate and transparent, just like ivory, and there is a word 'treasure' faintly on the left side of the money pattern. It is indeed a rare 'Tao Zhu Jin Bei' in the world!"
When he was introducing them, Sun Shaozong also took a closer look at the two shells. To be honest, they looked really good and should be seashells. The gold lines did indeed faintly form a copper coin pattern.
but……
If the clerk had not assured him that the word "Bao" was actually a character, Sun Shaozong would not have realized it was actually a character.
Seeing the clerk's excited face, Sun Shaozong asked curiously, "How much do you think this 'Tao Zhu Jin Bei' is worth?"
"Fifty... no, sixty taels!"
The clerk said confidently: "If it is me, as long as it is not more than 60 taels, I will sell everything I have to take it!"
"Sixty taels?"
Sun Shaozong frowned and said, "Didn't they say that the market price of this thing is about 28 taels?"
"That's the price we'll give when there's only one blurred word on it." Then the clerk said, "But the word 'Bao' on this piece can already be vaguely discerned, so its value is naturally far higher than the average 'Tao Zhu Jin Bei'!"
"If the word 'treasure' can be clearer, the price can easily exceed one hundred taels!"
The price is over a hundred taels?
Lin Delu's eyes widened and he said in a lost voice, "You want a hundred taels of silver to exchange for this shell with a strange pattern? Are you crazy?!"
"Your Excellency is wrong!"
When the clerk heard someone belittling the value of the 'Tao Zhu Jin Bei', he immediately stopped caring about hierarchy and raised his head and continued to talk: "The rule of treating shells as treasures has existed since ancient times, so there is the saying of 'treasure'!"
"What's more, this kind of gold shells can only be found by the Mandala Lake in the Western Regions. How difficult would it be to transport them from a thousand miles away to the capital?"
"So I am not just a villain. There are many masters in the city now, and they all respect me very much!"
"For example, a certain Mr. Li in Dongcheng has a treasured 'Tao Zhu Jin Bei' with a clear 'Zhou' character on it. It is truly a treasure of our Great Zhou Dynasty. I heard that someone offered 500 taels of silver, but he refused to part with it!"
"An old Hanlin in the Hanlin Academy even once said, 'I would rather eat without meat than hide without shells!'"
"If I can get such a 'treasure' in exchange , what's the point of a mere hundred taels of silver?!"
After listening to all he said, many people, including Lin Delu, felt that the golden shell was sparkling with gold when they looked at it again.
