Red Mansion: Bastards rule the roost

Chapter 24 Let’s talk about it later
  Jia Cong left the East Mansion, called Jia Huan and walked to Gulou Street, which is the most prosperous and lively area in Shenjing.

He wanted to exchange these two pieces of jewelry for silver first.

"Brother Huan, do you know any big pawn shops in the city?"

Jia Huan rolled his eyes, "I've never cheated, how do I know?"

"By the way, brother Cong, if you pawn this thing, how can you have the money to redeem it and return it to others?" Jia Huan whispered.

Jia Cong glanced at him disdainfully and said, "Why should I pay back something I borrowed based on my ability?"

Uh... Jia Huan's views exploded. He stood there for a long time and sighed in admiration: "Brother Cong, I thought I was shameless enough, but I didn't expect you to be better. Listening to your words is worth ten years of reading."

Jia Cong laughed and rubbed his head, "You little bastard, you don't know anything. She lent me a ray of sunshine, and I will give her the whole spring in return."

Bah, Jia Huan curled his lips. The tiger borrowed the pig and said it so grandly and shamelessly, "Don't forget, my two taels of silver."

"Haha, who can rely on your third master Huan's money?"

"makes sense."

Jia Cong and the two chatted and laughed, and arrived at Gulou Street. This street is located to the north of the Imperial City and is famous for its huge Bell and Drum Tower. The street is wide and flat, with bluestone paving and water-milled seams. Pedestrians crowded together, merchants gathered together, and the sound of shouting, shouting, talking, laughing, and bargaining filled the sky.

On both sides of the street, flags and flags are displayed on the fronts of restaurants, teahouses, silk and satin shops, and inns, and there is an endless stream of customers. There are many vendors pushing carts, food stalls, and carrying burdens on the road, and they occupy the road in a lawless manner, squeezing the wide street until there is only a small lane in the middle that can barely allow two cars to meet.

Jia and Cong were riding horses and trudging forward on the road. Suddenly they looked up and saw a pawnshop in front of them, named Heng Shudian. Their hearts moved. The name of this pawnshop seemed familiar, and it seemed to be opened by the Xue family.

He hurriedly pulled Jia Huan over. A waiter had already come to meet him at the door of the pawn shop, helping him lead the horse and kick it off.

"My lord, please come inside."

Jia Cong and Jia Huan walked in and saw that the pawn shop was very spacious. The lobby was decorated in a quaint and unique way. There were various marble screens in the corners, and small rooms were separated. There were tables, chairs, tea, fruits and snacks for the pawnbrokers to rest. Consideration also facilitates negotiations between the shopkeeper and the pawnbroker.

In front of the counter is a high counter, where the shopkeeper is condescending and watching eagerly, forcing the pawnbrokers to put their feet up and raise their heads to offer the items with both hands, creating an unfair psychological advantage. Jia Cong knows that this is an unspoken rule of the pawn shop.

Ignoring them, he walked directly to a chair in the hall and sat down. Seeing the two of them wearing fine clothes, the waiter didn't dare to look down on them and served tea enthusiastically.

"Call your shopkeeper here." Jia Cong said loudly. He has now found some feeling of being a descendant of Rongguo, and his words naturally have a sense of superiority. Don't tell me, it's pretty cool.

"Wait a moment, I'll go right away." The man nodded and bowed.

After a moment, a tall and thin old man in his fifties, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a gold-patterned brocade robe, walked out.

"Two gentlemen, I am the manager of our shop. Do you have any advice?"

Jia Cong took out the handkerchief bag from his arms and spread it on the table: "Look, how much are these two things worth? First of all, I remind you that I am the third master of Rongguo Mansion, and I am cousin to your boss Xue Pan. Brother, think it through before you speak."

The shopkeeper's pupils shrank, he stepped forward and took two pieces of jewelry, observed them carefully, and said with his hands, "Since Mr. Cong is in front of you, I don't dare to talk nonsense. If others can only treat you as 200 taels of silver, in Congsan's case I can keep 500 taels in my hands."

Jia Cong didn't know the prices, so he touched his chin, and realized that 500 taels of silver was enough to support him for several months. He didn't argue, so he just pawned the money, and waved his hand: "Well, if you write a pawn ticket, I will be a pawn for a year."

"Yes, yes, I will write you down immediately. You two will come later."

The shopkeeper turned back to the counter and pawned the two tickets with a wave of his hand. The gold bracelet was pawned for 200 taels, and the jade bracelet was pawned for 300 taels, with a monthly profit of 2 cents for one year. Jia Cong smiled slightly, took the pawn ticket, picked up the money and left. No matter how high the interest rate is, I will find an opportunity to show the pawn ticket in front of Sister Bao, and someone will redeem it. After all, Sister Bao has always shown pity to the poor and the weak. Yes, hehe. This was the reason why he came to Hengshu Dian. After going around in a circle, he finally wanted to use his brain on Sister Bao.

Jia Huan had never seen so much money in his life, and said excitedly: "Brother Cong, we are rich."

"It's me, not us. Even though we are brothers, our accounts must be clear." Jia Cong teased him.

"Stingy, how can I, Third Master Huan, be greedy for your money?"

Jia Cong laughed, took out a piece of silver weighing five taels and threw it to him, "Take it, follow me from now on, and take you to eat and drink."

Well, Jia Huan smiled brightly and nodded fiercely, Brother Cong is still reliable, Baoyu only has a skin and is useless.

When he got home, he ordered Qingwen to keep the money.

Qingwen was surprised, "Where did you get all this money?"

"Ahem, don't you know that I have a way of making money? What are you looking at? It's not like you stole it. Call the woman in the courtyard to come in."

Qingwen rolled her eyes at him and turned away.

Two women in their thirties walked in. Ever since Duke Xianrong came down to enlighten Jia Cong, the women, daughters-in-law, and girls in the house all looked up to Jia Cong, were a little in awe, and didn't dare to do anything. neglect.

"I'm recruiting people from the Bao family (I'm recruiting people from the Fu family). Please pay your respects to the third master and ask for his instructions."

Seeing that these two people were clean and tidy, Jia Cong nodded, told her about the bathing conditions needed for martial arts training, and asked her how to deal with them.

"It's easy. Just build a stove in the bathroom, replace the bathtub with a big urn, and put it on the stove. When the third master takes a bath, the servants will watch the fire below and keep it lukewarm." The Zhaobao family rushed over. Offer suggestions.

"To make the third master more comfortable, a small chair made of iron wood can be placed inside the urn, with an iron wood grid underneath to avoid burning your feet." Zhaofu added hurriedly.

Jia Cong nodded with satisfaction, "How much will it cost?"

The two looked at each other, and Zhao Baojia held out two fingers: "At least 2 taels of silver are needed."

Jia Cong chuckled, knowing that there must be some moisture, but he didn't bother to care. Asking Jia Huan to do things would cost money for errands, not to mention these servants with a wealthy heart and decent eyes.

"Give them 5 taels of silver and the prescription. From now on, you go to Ji'antang Pharmacy to pick up 10 doses of medicine for me every day. I will go and say hello to the shopkeeper and calculate the general ledger at the end of the month. In addition, what I just mentioned will not happen tomorrow. Everything must be prepared, I will use it tomorrow night." Jia Cong then informed the two of them how to use the medicine.

The two of them were overjoyed. Each of them earned more than one tael of silver from this little thing, which was almost equal to their monthly income for two months. They hurriedly said: "Don't worry, Mr. Cong, I will do my best."

The monthly salary of the servants of the Jia family was the highest for first-class girls, such as Yuanyang and Xiren, who received one tael of silver a month, second-class girls such as Qingwen and Sheyue, who received only a few hundred coins. These rough messengers' mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law are no more than third-class girls.

After sending the two of them away, Jia Cong looked at the sky and saw that it was already getting late. It was probably the end of Shen Shi. He suddenly thought of Baochai. While he was free today, he might as well go and get in touch with each other to avoid getting into trouble. After all, Sister Bao is now his biggest source of wealth.

"It's time to have dinner, and Third Master still wants to go out?" Qingwen called from behind.

"I'll go see Sister Bao. You can eat by yourself."

Does other people’s food taste good? I specially ordered a roast goose for you today. If you don’t want to eat it, forget it. I’ll eat it myself, hum. Qingwen stamped her feet behind.

(End of this chapter)