On March 16, Lei San, the platoon leader of the Polu Regiment, went to buy a luxurious villa.
Lei San got engaged last month. Through the help of a matchmaker, Lei San married the daughter of the Han family, a famous and beautiful girl from all over the country. Lei San thought that he could not let the daughter of the Han family endure hardships with him, so he prepared to live in the new city of Fanjiazhuang.
He bought a luxurious villa in his hometown. He sold his original small villa and got 70 taels of silver. He also used his savings of 160 taels over the years to buy this Yao family's house for a total of 230 taels of silver.
Luxury villas.
The villas in Fanjiazhuang are very popular these days, and the new houses released by the government have long been sold out. The price of second-hand villas on the market is 30% to 40% higher than the official original price. The small villa that Lei San originally bought for 50 taels is now sold to recruits for 70 taels.
Silver. But the price of the second-hand luxury villa Lei San wants to buy is also sixty taels higher than the official price.
The seller who sold the villa to Lei San was a businessman who was planning to follow Lord Jin to develop in Tianjin Acropolis, so he sold the luxurious villa in Fanjiazhuang.
Lei Sanhe stood at the door of the luxury villa, standing on tiptoes and looking inside, very happy. The luxury villa was different from ordinary villas, and the workmanship was much more exquisite. The gatehouse had double eaves, which looked very grand.
There are various carvings on the roof ridge, depicting birds and animals.
This luxurious villa covers an area of nearly 150 square meters, with two floors, six bedrooms, a study room, and two bathrooms. In addition to the main hall and dining room, it is perfect for a new house.
Lei San seemed to have seen the bride's happy expression after entering this luxurious villa.
The more Lei San looked at the villa, the happier he became. He used to be just a farm boy whose father didn't care for his mother, and he didn't even have enough to eat. However, after joining the Huben Division, he rose to prominence and now he has become a platoon leader. This time I heard that he was going to
When he got married, matchmakers flocked to his home and he had his pick of girls from all over the country, and finally he picked the most beautiful one.
After buying this luxurious villa, Lei San will have everything he needs.
Lei San waited at the door of the villa with his money for a quarter of an hour before he saw the seller coming with the "Lizheng" of this street.
However, the seller was not a good person. When he saw Lei San, he said carelessly: "Lei Platoon Commander, I've been waiting for a long time! But I'm sorry! The price of my villa has increased, and it is now sold for two hundred and forty taels!"
Lei San was stunned for a moment, speechless for a moment.
Lei San thought for a long time and then asked helplessly: "Yao family parents, you said two hundred and thirty taels three days ago, why did the price increase by ten taels today?"
The seller spread his hands and said: "House prices everywhere are rising now, not mine. Among the people selling houses on this street, my price is the lowest. If you don't believe me, ask here."
There he looked at Lei San and nodded.
Lei San looked at the seller in annoyance, opened his silver bag, and took a look. There were only two hundred and thirty taels of silver in the bag. Lei San searched the pockets of his military uniform and found another five taels for pocket money.
The money comes out.
But the total amount of silver was only two hundred and thirty-five taels.
Lei San looked down at the silver in his hand and was stunned without saying anything.
The seller laughed and said, "If Platoon Commander Lei doesn't have enough money, I will sell it to someone else. Yesterday, someone said they would buy my villa for 245 taels!"
Lei San looked at the seller, thought for a moment and said, "Yao family parents, don't raise the price so much. Can you get it cheaper by five taels of silver?"
The parents of the Yao family glanced at Lei San, laughed, and didn't even bother to answer this question.
Lei San was caught off guard.
Lei San's entire possessions are only these two hundred and thirty-five taels of silver. If he wants more silver, he will have to wait until next month for the monthly payment. However, his wife is getting married next month. If he doesn't buy this house, he will have to wait until next month.
How to welcome a bride?
Lei San became a little anxious, and even broke into a thin sweat in the March spring breeze.
Lei San doesn't like borrowing money from others, especially for things like buying a house to welcome his bride. He doesn't like being said that the house was bought with borrowed money.
Lei San thought for a long time and then said: "Seller, a lot of my silver comes from Master Hu Ben's reward. The barefoot blowing Nanlu silver issued by the Duke of Guo is no better than the 94% silver ingots on the market."
The seller rolled his eyes and said, "I don't care what silver you have, but you can't use one tael of silver as two taels? In short, it needs two hundred and forty taels."
There, he looked at the opening of Lei San's silver bag, pondered for a moment, and said, "You really blew away the silver from Nanruo!"
Lei San looked at the seller and sighed when he saw that the seller was not prepared to give in at all. He was about to put the money bag away when he heard someone say: "Platoon Leader Lei, why don't you go to Jinqi Bank and try it?
When exchanging banknotes, you should carefully identify the quality of the silver. You may be able to exchange more than one hundred taels of banknotes if you use your bare feet to pick out the silver."
Lei San was stunned and looked at the businessman who bought the house.
The host nodded and said: "If there are any banknotes from the Duke of Tianjin, I will accept them. Nowadays, these banknotes have tax benefits, and all of us who do business like them."
When Lei San heard this, he walked to Jinqi Bank with the money without saying a word.
After waiting in a long line at the bank entrance for an hour, Lei San finally walked to the counter. Although there were twelve counters in the bank, there were so many people coming to change banknotes that the tellers in the bank were so busy that they couldn't move.
.
Lei San put the silver bag containing more than two hundred taels of silver on the table and said, "I'll change the banknotes! I have one hundred and twenty-five taels of Chuiba Nanrui silver and thirty-five taels of Ding silver."
The teller hurriedly took a sip of tea, nodded to Lei San and said, "Okay, merchant, don't worry, if you have good money, we will exchange it for you at a premium."
Lei San felt relieved and watched the teller check the money.
The best silver in the Ming Dynasty was called "grained silver" because the surface was cast with wrinkles. Silver with poor color was called "low silver" or "low-quality silver", which was doped with lead and other metals. Silver of various colors circulated on the market.
, very confusing. For example, in the twelfth chapter of "Jin Ping Mei", it was mentioned that Chang Shi borrowed a sum of "fine silver" from Ximen Qing in a brothel, which refers to the poor silver containing 80% silver.
Because the fineness of silver varies, disputes often occur during transactions. Therefore, when exchanging silver for banknotes, Jinqi Bank must verify the fineness of the silver.
The teller first carefully looked at the color of Lei San's one hundred and twenty-five taels of silver, and nodded. Then he used a steel knife to cut the silver ingot and looked at the stubble. He continued
He found six or seven pieces of silver cake and cut them out. He found that they were all the same barefoot silver and nodded again.
Finally, he picked out seven or eight pieces of silver cakes, walked to a table behind the counter, put the silver on the fire and burned it. After burning, the teller looked at the color of the flames, and then looked at the result after burning.
The color of silver nodded again.
The teller came back and said with a smile: "Businessman, are you an officer of the Huben Division? The one hundred and twenty-five taels of silver you have is indeed a piece of silver. It can be exchanged for one hundred and thirty-one taels of banknotes."
"Your thirty-five taels of silver are also of excellent quality. Thirty-five taels can be exchanged for thirty-five taels of silver banknotes."
"Together, these two hundred and thirty taels of silver can be exchanged for two hundred and thirty-six taels of silver banknotes."
Lei San laughed when he heard the teller's words. He happily took the banknote handed over by the teller and looked at it carefully. The top of the banknote was stamped with the seals of Jinqi Bank and the Finance Department of Jinguogong Shogunate. On the right side of the banknote was written
There are three rows of extremely small characters:
"This banknote is a certificate of deposit of Jinqi Bank. You can get one tael of silver with this banknote. Anyone who forges this banknote will be executed!"
Lei San smiled and put the banknotes into his purse. He could buy the Yao family's luxurious villa for himself!
