Chapter 423 Crazy Shell (Part 2)
But it was the next morning.
As soon as the flaming red sun jumped out from the horizon, Hong Jiu walked into the Xiankelai restaurant with a bird cage in his hand, swaying with three steps. He sat down in the middle with a dignified manner, and threw the bird cage on the eight-immortal table with a "bang".
While the parrot was chirping, Hong Jiu also shouted in a gruff voice: "Where are the people? Where did all the people go?!"
The Xiaolongbao (small dumplings in soup) at Xiankelai Restaurant are considered the best in the whole capital, so there were many regular customers coming here early in the morning. When they saw Hong Jiu's behavior, they couldn't help but look at him sideways.
The more attention he attracted, the more arrogant Hong Jiu became. He put one leg on the bench, tilted his neck and prepared to shout again.
At this time, a waiter came running over, wiping the table and smiling, "Sir, would you like to..."
However, just as the polite words began, the waiter's expression suddenly changed again. He pointed at Hong Jiu and exclaimed, "You... Aren't you the beggar Hong Jiu who lives in the dilapidated temple nearby? Why are you dressed like this today?!"
What an exaggerated expression!
Hong Jiu sneered at this guy's acting skills, but he puffed out his chest and said proudly: "Yes, it is your Master Hong Jiu!"
As he spoke, he took out a piece of silver weighing five taels from his sleeve, slapped it on the table, and sneered, "Didn't you insult Master Jiu last month, saying that you wouldn't give me one of your buns even if it was good enough to feed the dogs? Today I want to see if I can buy a few of your buns with my real money!"
The waiter looked at the silver on the table and shouted exaggeratedly: "Where did you get this silver? Did you steal or rob it?!"
Who the hell picked this person?
With so many flaws in his appearance, he still has the nerve to compete with our Master Hong Jiu!
Hong Jiu secretly complained, but he lifted his nose to the sky and sneered disdainfully: "What kind of person am I, Master Jiu, to steal other people's things? To tell you the truth, I am a good person who gets good rewards. I picked up something and sold it for more than three hundred taels of silver!"
The waiter quickly repeated the words like a repeater: "What could be so valuable? Are you exaggerating?"
"blow?"
Hong Jiu glared at him and said indignantly: "You are not deaf, have you not even heard of the name of Tao Zhu Jin Bei? I picked up a Tao Zhu Jin Bei last year. A few days ago, I heard that this thing can be exchanged for money, so I took it out to ask someone. I didn't expect it to be a high-quality gold shell. One was exchanged..."
"What?!"
Before Hong Jiu could finish his words, someone among the guests jumped up and asked anxiously, "Did you really pick up a top-grade gold shell?!"
Seeing that someone had indeed come out to question him, Hong Jiu immediately patted his chest and said, "The real money has already landed in my pocket, how could this be fake?"
Unexpectedly, the guest shook his head and sighed after hearing this, "A beggar is indeed a beggar, and he is really ignorant! How can you sell that top-grade gold shell without five hundred taels of silver? You actually sold it for three hundred taels of silver, it's really... Alas~!"
After hearing this, Hong Jiu immediately jumped up in a rage, put on a furious posture, and cursed: "How could this damned Mr. Wang deceive me?! No, I have to go find that grandson!"
Having said that, he picked up the bird cage and ran out without caring about anything else.
Everyone in the hall burst into laughter, yet they were filled with envy.
The man who had just spoken shook his head and said, "I don't know which unlucky guy actually lost this top-grade Tao Zhu Jin Bei."
Someone sitting next to him laughed and said, "Didn't you hear him? He picked it up last year. At that time, a top-grade gold shell was only worth two taels of silver. Who would have thought that in just over half a year, its value would have risen to the sky?!"
"Of course!"
Someone else chimed in, "Nowadays, if someone has a top-grade gold shell at home, they will protect it like the apple of their eye. How can they let others take advantage of it?"
"Not to mention the top grade, even the mid-grade ones are very valuable right now!"
"I heard that someone bought more than a dozen coins for three taels of silver, and the price more than quadrupled in two months!"
"It's a pity that this thing is so hard to buy. Otherwise, if I bought a few and kept them at home for a year or two, I would definitely make a lot of money!"
Everyone was discussing heatedly when the waiter suddenly shouted in surprise , "I remember now. I heard that a beggar made a fortune recently and bought a title of beggar chief from the government office. I didn't expect it to be this Hong!"
This is the last line, and it is also the only line that Hong Jiu doesn’t know.
After saying this, the waiter didn't care about the diners' reactions, and happily touched the silver in his pocket, grinning from ear to ear.
Just at this moment, a young man rushed in, came to the table in the northwest corner, and panted, "Dad... Dad... Dad..."
The guest at the table was startled and jumped up, grabbing the young man's arm and saying, "What happened to our father? Wasn't he fine when I came out this morning?!"
The young man shook his head like a rattle and stamped his feet, saying, "No... it's not our father!"
The guest was stunned for a moment, then relaxed and said speechlessly: "Since your father-in-law had an accident, what's the point of looking for me?"
"He's not my father-in-law either!"
The young man was almost going crazy. He pounded his chest several times and said word by word: "It's Jin Bei, Jin Bei fell!"
"What?!"
When the guest heard this, he became even more nervous than when he was worried about his own father. He grabbed his brother's arm and shook it hard, saying, "How could it have dropped? Hasn't it been rising three times a day recently?! How much has it dropped? How much has it dropped?!"
"It's dropped by six silver coins!"
The young man hurriedly said, "Someone has put out more than 2,000 medium-quality gold shells near the Honglu Temple, and they are selling them at 14 taels each!"
After hearing the price, the customer calmed down a little, thinking to himself that he had bought it for nine taels and eight cents of silver, so he still had a lot of profit.
But the price has dropped by six coins this morning. If it continues to drop...
"Walk!"
The guest raised his hand and said, "Go home and take the gold coins I saved, and let's go to the Honglu Temple to take a look!"
After the two men left, the remaining diners in the restaurant became a little absent-minded, thinking about finishing their meal quickly so that they could go to the Honglu Temple to watch the fun - two of them even dropped their buns and ran out immediately after them.
Half an hour later...
Prince Beijing's Palace.
Wei Rushong's face was livid as he paced back and forth in the flower hall. In the early morning, he had just made a boast in front of Shui Rong, but who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, someone would openly destroy the place!
If the price of this golden shell really goes down, how can I explain it to Shui Rong? !
"Lord Wei."
Just as he was getting anxious, he saw the steward Liu from the palace hurried in and bowed to report: "The Prince Zhongshun's Palace has also received the news. Several stewards are angrily asking who is the person who sold the Tao Zhu gold shells in the Honglu Temple!"
"It's such a critical moment right now, what's the point of asking this?!"
Wei Rusong had originally hoped that King Zhongshun would take drastic measures to suppress this troublemaker who suddenly appeared, but he unexpectedly received such conciliatory news.
Manager Liu smiled bitterly and said, "I'm afraid it's not their fault. I heard that Prince Zhongshun followed His Majesty to the temporary palace yesterday to escape the summer heat. There is no one in charge at home, so who dares to make decisions at will?"
So that's how it is, no wonder...
But in this way, the burden of maintaining the price of gold shells falls entirely on the Beijing Prince's Mansion.
Manager Liu watched Wei Rushong turn around twice more and couldn't help but urge him, "Master Wei, why don't we call the prince and invite him..."
"No!"
Wei Rusong paused and shook his head, saying, "This is not the time to hesitate. If we delay any further, the price of the gold shell will plummet!"
As he spoke, he gritted his teeth and gave an order in a decisive tone: "Immediately send someone to bring all the silver and go buy all those gold shells! At the same time, spread the word outside that a noble family plans to use Tao Zhu gold shells to build a longevity mountain as a birthday gift to the emperor!"
Manager Liu said in embarrassment: "This..."
"What is this?!"
Wei Rusong glared: "If we can't stabilize the momentum now, the 90,000 gold shells we bought will all be wasted! Besides, as long as we can stop this trend and raise the price of gold shells again, even if we buy them with 14 taels of silver, we can still make a lot of money!"
"But if after buying them all, the momentum still can't be maintained, wouldn't it be..."
"impossible!"
Wei Rusong waved his hand and said confidently: "The Summer Palace is only half a day's journey from the capital. When Prince Zhongshun returns from the palace, is there anything that cannot be settled?"
