The three people who continued on the road, except for the old man who knew that two completely different groups of people were following him, Jiang Ergou and Su Ruyu did not notice at all!
Of course, we can't blame them, because they are the two weakest among all the people before and after!
At noon the next day, before the last drop of water in their gourd was exhausted, they finally saw the Qingzhou City.
This Qingzhou City is different from other cities. Before you walk in, a breath of time hits your face. Some black marks on the city walls that have been burned by fire indicate that even this city in the hinterland of Dachu is facing
Overcome the enemy's strong attack.
Qingzhou City not only existed during the previous dynasty, it has actually stood here for nearly a thousand years. Countless winds, rains and numerous repairs have made this city even more ancient.
If Luochuan City is prosperous and Wangyou City is refreshing, then Qingzhou City feels heavy, truly, historical...
The first thing Jiang Ergou and the others did after arriving in Qingzhou City was to go straight to the pawn shop, because they couldn't get out a penny from their pockets!
If I don't change some money, I really won't be able to stay in a hotel, so I will have to sleep on the street.
Qingzhou City is very big because it has existed for nearly a thousand years. Another reason is that it is the Qingzhou City of the previous dynasty.
The three of them wandered around the city for a long time, and finally found a pawn shop that seemed more reliable - Yongfu Pawn Shop.
Speaking of this pawned thing, the one who is most familiar with it is probably Su Ruyu. After all, when I was in the capital, my family was very strict, and there were always times when I was short of money when I was living and drinking, so this jade pendant, pendant, etc. I carried with me was left in the pawn shop.
But there are too many.
The three of them walked into this pawn shop, which had a lot of people coming in and out. It was no different from pawn shops in other places. The first thing that caught their eyes was the high counter. At this height, even Su Ruyu's tall figure was probably only
Obediently, he stretched out his hand and handed the thing over.
Looking at both sides, there is a couplet written on red paper.
Write left:
Lost tickets cannot be redeemed without insurance
Write right:
Insect-eaten and rat-eaten, everyone is left to their fate.
This simple couplet clearly explains the rules of this pawn shop.
In fact, there is another saying about this pawn shop: Don’t pawn if you are too poor.
What this means is that there are too many twists and turns in the pawn shop. Unless you have something urgent to do, don't pawn.
The reason why the counter of the pawn shop is so high is not only to prevent some bold thieves from coming to rob, but also to create a kind of psychological pressure for people who come to pawn things.
Generally speaking, people who go to pawn shops to pawn are in urgent need of money. If this kind of pressure is added to the pressure, people in the pawn shop can easily determine the price.
There is a good saying in the world of martial arts: I opened a pawn shop just for profit, and you came to pawn just for emergencies. I can't see your suffering, so don't try to persuade me to be generous.
Therefore, from ancient times to the present, pawnshops can be regarded as a dark place. Knights and heroes in the world will not come to this pawnshop to pawn their things unless absolutely necessary.
Of course, these things and rules are of little use to the three people who just walked into the pawn shop, because they don't care about the price difference at all.
Of course, it's not that Ergou doesn't care, it's just because this thing belongs to Su Ruyu that he doesn't feel bad about it!
"Chaofeng, we're here for business!"
Su Ruyu shouted loudly as soon as he walked into the store, not treating himself as an outsider at all. After speaking, he threw his ivory folding fan on the counter.
As for the word "chaofeng", it is the name given to the person who appraises and appraises money in the pawn shop.
Because the counter is high, people who come to pawn have to hold their items up to the clerk, as if they were "going to worship," which is where the name "Church" comes from.
The court official at the counter naturally didn't dare to be vague. Although the person's clothes were shabby, he had an extraordinary bearing. He knew that this must be a young man.
So I picked up the folding fan
I looked carefully and couldn't help but nod my head after looking at it for a while.
"Great stuff, great stuff! It's been a long time since I've seen such an exquisite ivory folding fan."
"Hey, old guy, you have some sense. You still know that this is a good thing!"
Hearing the old man praising her things, Su Ruyu felt a little proud.
"Hahaha, this thing is easy to return, but it has some shortcomings. Look here, there is still soil in it. I don't know if the owner of the fan used it to dig the ground. And here, look at it, tsk
Tsk tsk, this master also..."
"Okay, okay. I don't know about those frivolous items in your pawn shop?...Aren't you just trying to lower the price? Can you just tell me how much they are worth?"
Su Ruyu was not interested in what this court official said. In the past, when he pawned things in the capital, he would give them things and the other party would give them money. It was very neat and refreshing.
Of course, that was in the capital, and no one dared to trick him, the young master of the Prime Minister's Office. But that was not necessarily the case in Qingzhou City. Even if he reported that he was the young master of the Su family in the capital, it would be useless. This was not
It is said that Su Xiang’s reputation is not great enough, but no one believes it!
Just imagine, the noble son of the prime minister will be reduced to pawning things? Just go to the yamen in this city to report it, I'm afraid the prefect of Qingzhou City will also come out to greet you!
"Hahaha! Since the young master is a sensible person, I can save myself some drool. Although the young master's folding fan has some minor flaws, it is generally good. The old master is willing to offer seventy taels of silver. What do you think of the young master?"
"What! Seventy taels! When I came out, I spent a full two hundred and thirty taels on it. How long has it been since I could only buy it for seventy taels?"
Su Ruyu also thought that this was in the capital, and she couldn't accept the price. If it were in a pawn shop in the capital, it would be worth at least 1,780 taels, but no matter how you say it, this is not the capital!
"Haha, sir, please don't think it's unreasonable. There are pawnshop rules in the pawn shop. We usually value the items being pawned at 30% of their value. This fan of yours is a bit worn, but I can still give it 70%.
Two, this is already a very generous price."
Hearing this, Su Ruyu calmed down a little, but Jiang Ergou jumped up in anger. Who told this guy to love money as much as his life?
"What? I bought it for 230 taels and it was only 70 taels! What a crap! I think this store is a black shop, let's go to another one."
Ergou said that he was about to go to the counter to get the fan back. The court official did not panic and presented the fan with both hands very respectfully.
But Ergou failed to get the fan back after all. Instead, the old man grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back. He also hit him hard on the head.
"Don't talk too much if you don't understand! I have to abide by the rules wherever I tell you, but I don't have a long memory."
Chao Feng on the counter saw what the old man did and smiled at him and said.
"Looking at their accents, the three of them don't look like they are natives of Qingzhou City. Are they from other places?"
"Haha, that's right. I've run out of money while traveling, so I can only come here to pawn things for emergency relief."
Chao Feng heard the old man say this and nodded.
"Since we're just passing by, it's very likely that we're going to die. Let's see, this guy knows the rules. I've come up with a compromise. What do you think?"
"Oh! Please ask the shopkeeper to come and listen."
"Haha, I don't want to be the shopkeeper. It's just a small tribute. The way is that I write a short-term pawn ticket to the three of you. When the expiration date is reached, the fan will belong to our pawn shop. The advantage of this is
, I can raise the price to one hundred taels! How about three people?"
Hearing this, the old man felt that this method was very good. He had been in the world for so many years and knew a little about the rules of the pawn shop. Although the pawn shop made the majority of the profit, the price was already reasonable, but this thing was not his after all.
, so he also turned his attention to Su Ruyu.
In fact, Su Ruyu was also a little tempted, and he had no intention of redeeming it anyway. He was just a little confused as to why the price was so different from the time in the capital.
So much.
Seeing that the young master was still hesitating, the court official continued to speak with a smile.
"Haha, since the three of you are outsiders, you can still reveal some things. Except for our Yongfu Pawnshop, this fan cannot be pawned in other pawnshops in Qingzhou City, or in other words
, there is no pawn shop that bids higher than my Yongfu."
"Oh! This is quite new. I have never heard of it. Old man, please tell me why, and I will give you a hundred taels of this fan!"
Su Ruyu and the others, including the old man, seemed to be hearing such a statement for the first time, and found it very fresh.
The court minister still had that smiling expression, as if he would never get angry.
"Haha, it's not easy to do this or that business. It's the same for our pawnshop. In order to avoid malicious competition, the pawnshops in the same city discussed a method together. When I saw this thing, I had already used a special technique to leave marks on it.
If there are some traces of it, you will naturally see it when you take it to other pawn shops, and you will know that this thing was seen by Yongfu, and you will also know what the minimum price I paid is. According to the rules, they will not
Offer a higher price than my reserve price. If you violate the rules, you will naturally be squeezed out by pawnshops across the city."
"Hahaha, interesting, really interesting! I've never heard of this before, but, this method?"
"That's the secret of our industry. I'm sorry I can't tell you."
"Hahaha, okay, it's okay. I'll ask again when I get back."
The court official didn't say much about this, not to mention whether he could find out. Even if he found out, it would do no harm to Yongfu. Everyone in this city had their own methods, not to mention that this person didn't know where he was.
Here comes the young master.
"So, sir, this fan?"
"Yes, yes, I will do as you say!"
"Okay, Ah Da, go to the back and get the one hundred taels of silver notes! Master, wait a moment, I will write you a pawn ticket right now."
Seeing that the business was done, the court official also had a smile on his face.
While calling the boy to pick up the banknote, he began to write the pawn ticket with ink. In a short time, all the necessary procedures were completed.
The three of them walked out of the pawn shop with the banknotes and the pawn ticket that had been crumpled into a ball by Su Ruyu.
When the young man named A Da saw that they had gone far away, he approached Chao Feng and asked.
"Second uncle, this fan is worth a hundred taels, can we still make money?"
"Hey, what do you know, silly boy?"
The old man whom Ada called his second uncle carefully took out the ivory folding fan, looked at it and said.
"This ivory folding fan is almost undamaged. It will be new after polishing! The young master doesn't know where it came from. The ivory folding fan is a rare item in Qingzhou City!"
Then, the court official who had made a lot of money took out Su Ruyu's pawn ticket from his arms and smiled from ear to ear as he looked at it.
"I wrote them a ten-day period. Once the ten days are over, this fan will be ours. When it is sold, it can be sold for at least three hundred and fifty taels in Qingzhou City. This goes in and out.
Our pawn shop has made a profit of two hundred and fifty taels, do you think we can make any profit?"
The young man named Ada was already frightened by the huge profit, but ten days of entry and exit was a profit of 250 taels. No wonder this pawn shop is a hugely profitable business!
"Second uncle, in this case, we can obviously lower the price to seventy taels. In my opinion, they will still take it in the end! Aren't we making more money?"
Young Ah Da thought of the transaction process and felt that his second uncle had no need to add money.
"You kid, you don't have any passion when you work, but you have a lot of crooked ideas. Just like what the old man said just now, rules are rules. We in the pawnshop can't eat too much at one time. The brave ones will be starved to death, and the brave ones will starve to death.
This sentence is not suitable for our pawnshop, you! There are still many things to learn in the future!"