The blacksmith was in a daze, obviously not knowing what Xia Shang was talking about.
But the blacksmith's wife was quick-witted and quickly asked: "Young man, you are not joking, are you?"
Xia Shang didn't show any pretense, he directly took out four ingots and ten taels of silver and handed it to the woman: "This is one month's wages, let me tell you whether you can do it or not?"
Before dawn, the morning light was thin, and the lady felt it was unreal as she carried the heavy silver. She put it to her mouth and tried it gently, and her eyes suddenly lit up: "Hey, it's real silver! Old Zhang, look at it."
"Young man, what do you mean?"
"Oh, you fool. I see that this young man is a big businessman from the capital. He must be in the iron business. I am asking you to help him work."
Xia Shang smiled: "Yes, I just want to ask you to help me work."
"Forty taels of silver per month?" The blacksmith rubbed his eyes and stared at the white silver in his hand with an uncertain look on his face.
"Yes, there is also a two percent commission. You don't have to worry about any fees, and you don't have to worry about whether your things can be sold or not. As long as you complete the monthly casting task, forty taels of silver will be a penny. And every month
Your tasks will never be more arduous than yours now, but will be easier."
"Sir, you are not lying, are you? Is there such a good thing in the world?"
"It doesn't matter if you don't believe me, but it doesn't mean you don't believe in the money, right? If you find out that I'm cheating, you can leave then. Is there any loss? I'll give you these forty taels of silver as a deposit. Do you want it?
Please give me an answer."
The blacksmith was still thinking, but his wife became anxious again, pinched her husband, and hurriedly responded: "We will do it! No matter where we are, we will do it!"
"You don't have to go far. You can continue to stay at Mingjian Villa. I will pay you the monthly share in the future. If you are worried, you can go to the capital. I can also make arrangements for you."
"Can I still stay at Mingjian Villa?" The blacksmith was shocked and speechless.
"Master, just stay here with peace of mind. You will know the truth soon."
The blacksmith looked at his wife, whispered something in a low voice, and then his expression became firm: "Okay, then I will trust you for once."
Xia Shang nodded, turned to the Jade slave beside him and said: "Now there is a task for you. You follow this master in the outer village to visit other blacksmith masters, and talk to them about unified standards and prices to see if they are willing.
Work for us."
"Yes, Master."
"Master, please be more careful. I need you to contact all the unsatisfactory blacksmiths in this village. If they are willing, they can make weapons for me with forty-two months' wages. Similarly, each person must first pay four
Twelve taels of deposit."
The blacksmith still didn't believe it, but he believed it when he saw Xia Shang taking off a bulging money bag.
This young man must be a wealthy businessman in the capital!
"Young master, don't worry. I understand what you want. There are several unsatisfactory blacksmith masters in the outer village, and they will definitely be willing to work with you."
"I hope that the more people there are, the better. It is best to talk to all the masters in the entire outer village. If you can help me complete this matter, I can give you an increase of one hundred taels of silver."
"ah?!"
Xia Shang ignored the blacksmith's surprise and left Yu Nu alone to go to the inner village.
When he came to the iconic long staircase at the entrance of Neizhuang and saw the ancient sword stone carving on the platform above, Xia Shang thought of that girl Fu Qianqian.
I wonder how that girl is doing, whether she is still as unruly as before.
"who?"
The disciples from the inner village of Mingjian Villa who were cleaning in front of the ancient sword stone carving came over.
"The Ming Cult leader Xia Chunqiu came to pay a visit to the village owner."
The young disciple in front of him was stunned: "The leader of the Ming Cult..."
This stumped the young disciple. He threw away the broom in his hand and bowed respectfully to Xia Shang. But he was muttering in his heart: "Mingjiao? When did the Mingjiao appear in the world? Is this young man the leader?"
Shouldn’t it? But looking at his posture and aura, he doesn’t look like an ordinary person…”
"The leader is here, and the entire Mingjian Villa is in full bloom. Leader Xia will wait a moment to announce the arrival of the villain."
"Thank you." Xia Shang said lightly, walked to the side, stood with his hands behind his hands, and faced the wind. For a moment, his clothes were fluttering, his hair was swaying, and he was full of coquettish aura, which frightened the young disciple.
The young disciple thought that this man was not easy to mess with, so he hurried up the mountain, notifying the other disciples along the way that they should entertain the nobles at the entrance of the village and not to neglect him.
…
…
Villa main hall.
The owner of the village, Xue Baihe, frowned as he took the account book handed over by the manager of the village.
Two days ago, a group of Jianghu people who called themselves the Huahai Gang fought.
Qiu Feng also took away several fine swords from the village and borrowed more than a thousand taels of silver.
These small sects who are in the middle of the rivers and lakes are also shameless. They know that Mingjian Villa is easy to bully and has a lot of money. A group of people come to the Villa every now and then. They say they want to make friends, but in fact they just want to be in the Villa.
Get some benefits.
Mingjian Villa itself has no masters in charge, and it is a good old man with no reputation in the world. It is an open secret that money is used to buy fame and status in the world.
In the past, not many sects knew the details of Mingjian Villa, and only some sects came to ask for some things.
At that time, Mingjian Villa could still offset this loss by selling famous swords.
In the past six months, some middle-class sects have begun to pay attention to Mingjian Villa.
The owner of the village, Xue Baihe, knows his own way. Although the Mingjian Villa is famous, it is not a match for some middle-class sects in terms of force. He even dares not accept challenges from some sect leaders.
I didn't want to break my skin, but I also wanted to keep my reputation, so I ended up in the embarrassing situation of Mingjian Villa.
Ever since some middle-class sects knew that Mingjian Villa was easy to bully, more and more sects began to come to search for it.
They don't even want to break up with Mingjian Villa. They just have a friendly relationship on the surface. It all depends on how much Mingjian Villa can give them. As long as they can get some benefits, those middle-class sects will be satisfied.
These Jianghu sects completely regard Mingjian Villa as a fat sheep, and they will harvest the wool every time they come over.
Nowadays, this kind of thing happens more and more frequently, and even the fattest sheep are being shepherded clean.
After reading the accounts, Xue Baihe knew that there was no more wool to harvest at Mingjian Villa, and he would only have this mutton left.
Whoever comes again will have to eat mutton and drink sheep blood!
At this moment, a disciple broke in.
"The owner of the village, the owner of the village!"
"Why are you so panicked?"
"There is a man coming from outside, claiming to be the leader of the Ming Cult."
"The leader of the Ming Cult?"
"Yes, his name seems to be Xia Chunqiu. He looks quite handsome, looking like he is in his early twenties."
Upon hearing this, Xue Baihe slapped the table and stood up: "Lawless, a twenty-year-old boy knows that he has come to my Famous Sword Villa to fight in the autumn wind! Take my sword, today I must let the world know about my Famous Sword Villa