Concubine

Chapter 6 Pawnshop
The shop waiter's smile froze: "If you don't have money, why live here..." When he saw the rolled tiger skin under Yang Qiuchi's armpit, he immediately changed his smile: "Guest officer, I dare you to be a hunter. You beat such a big tiger skin!" A tiger, you are really powerful!" After saying that, he gave a thumbs up, "It doesn't matter if you don't have money, don't you have tiger skins, don't you get rich if you sell them! Guest officer, our store is a century-old store, clean It is hygienic, and there are many delicious foods, such as steamed mandarin fish..."

The waiter was about to count with his fingers, but was interrupted by Yang Qiuchi waving. Yang Qiuchi was overjoyed when he heard that the tiger skin could be sold for money: "Where can I sell this tiger skin?"

The waiter in the shop took Yang Qiuchi a few steps up the street, and pointed to the distance: "Turn a corner and you will be there." After thinking for a while, he said: "Anyway, there are no customers now, so I will tell the shopkeeper, I can take you there!"

Yang Qiuchi nodded gratefully. It seems that people in the Ming Dynasty are still very simple.

The waiter ran into the shop, came out after a while, smiled and said to Yang Qiuchi: "It's done, let's go." After that, lead the way.Yang Qiuchi followed the waiter through a few streets, came to a pawn shop, opened the curtain door and walked in.

In Yang Qiuchi's mind, this pawn shop is associated with the evil old society. The common people can't live anymore, so they take the slightly valuable things at home to the pawn shop for rice, and the shopkeeper in the pawn shop affirms They all keep their mouths shut and try their best to lower the price, exploiting the little property that the common people have.Therefore, Yang Qiuchi didn't have a good impression of this pawn shop.However, I have never seen a real pawn shop except in movies and TV shows, so I can't help but feel a little curious.

Entering the pawn shop, you are faced with a row of high counters, as tall as a person. Standing in front of the counters, you can’t see the countertops at all. There is a row of dark fences on the counters. Behind the fences, sits a fat man with big ears. The middle-aged man was fiddling with an abacus, and there was a thread-bound book next to him, as if he was trying to settle accounts.The fat middle-aged man saw Yang Qiuchi and the two coming in, he just raised his eyelids slightly to glance at them, then lowered his head and fiddled with the abacus again.

The shop waiter patted the counter with his hands: "Hey! Shopkeeper Qian, there is a guest official here!"

The shopkeeper Qian raised his eyes to look at the waiter in the shop, then turned his head to look at Yang Qiuchi, when his eyes fell on the tiger skin under Yang Qiuchi's armpit, his eyes shone like a shooting star. Flying away, Fu returned to that lazy demeanor: "What are you doing?"

Yang Qiuchi took out the tiger skin and handed it to the counter: "A tiger skin!"

Shopkeeper Qian didn't flip the tiger's skin, but looked around with his mouth curled up, picked up a writing brush, and poked the bullet holes in the tiger's head with the barrel upside down, saying to himself: "This tiger The skin on the tiger's head is rotten and worthless." Throwing down the brush, he touched the tiger's fur with his hand and squeezed it: "The fur is almost gone, and I don't know where it was picked."

Yang Qiuchi was stunned: "What did you pick it up? You didn't see the blood on the tiger's skin, so it's not dry yet. I just slaughtered it!" He turned to look at the waiter, with a somewhat smug expression.The shop waiter respectfully accompanied him with a smile, full of admiration.

Shopkeeper Qian ignored it, stared at the sky, dragged out his voice, and spewed out a few words from his nostrils: "Ragged and shaved hair—a piece of tiger skin, when—silver—ten taels!"

Twelve taels of silver?How much is this?Regarding the value of silver in the Ming Dynasty, Yang Qiuchi had no idea at all, and he didn't know how to respond, so he just looked at the money shopkeeper and then at the waiter, not knowing what to say for a while.

The shop clerk bowed and reminded: "Guest officer, your tiger-skin shopkeeper's bid is ten taels of silver, should you accept it or not?"

"How much is ten taels of silver?" Yang Qiuchi was a little embarrassed.

Don't know the value of silver?It looked like this person had never even seen Baiyin before, but when Shopkeeper Qian heard about it, his intestines turned green with regret.Except for a few small holes in the head, this tiger skin is complete, and it is obviously just peeled off. It is the tiger skin of an adult tiger, which is very valuable. If you want to sell it in the market, you can do whatever you want. He sold it for more than 70 taels, but he only paid ten taels. He already took advantage of the boss, but now it seems that he should be satisfied by giving him a few taels of money, so he needs to give 10 taels.

The waiter in the shop is an honest person, after all, he is in the inn business, and everyone who welcomes and escorts them has seen everyone. However, such a person who doesn't even know the value of ten taels of silver in front of him is really rare.Although it was a bit funny, it didn't show on his face, and he still said politely: "Ten taels of silver are ten copper coins, which is 1 big coins."

Shiguan? 1 big bucks?How much is that in RMB?Yang Qiuchi was still at a loss.Thinking of the ancient coin conversion method, the most common method is to use purchasing power to convert. How much the same item was worth in ancient times and how much it is worth in modern times, the conversion value of the two currencies roughly comes out.What object is used as a reference?The most common one is of course rice, but Yang Qiuchi never buys rice, so he doesn't know how much rice costs in modern society. Should he convert it with what he knows, and use a big bowl of noodles?With roast duck?A bowl of dumplings?It seems that it is not easy to calculate. By the way, I usually like to eat Xiaolongrou buns, so I use this to convert, and asked: "How much is a Xiaolongrou bun in your store?"

The waiter in the shop heard that some monk Zhang Er was puzzled, why did he suddenly ask the meat buns? It seemed that this guy might be crazy hungry, so he smiled: "Small steamed stuffed buns cost three big coins in a cage, and there are six buns in a cage. Come down and sell two meat buns for a lot of money."

One big money and two meat buns, in modern times, one dollar and two meat buns, that is to say, in the Ming Dynasty, one big money was worth about one RMB yuan, and the ten taels of silver was 1 big money, which was also worth RMB 1. This tiger skin pawned 1 yuan, which is pretty good.Yang Qiuchi didn't know that the tiger skin was also very valuable in the Ming Dynasty. Anyway, he didn't know the value of the tiger skin. He hadn't eaten all day, so he had to find some money to buy something to eat. Redeem it.Thinking of what to eat, Yang Qiuchi's stomach started to growl.

The waiter in the shop looked at Yang Qiuchi's face fluctuating from sadness to joy, and didn't know what he was thinking, and heard his stomach growling, knowing that he was very hungry, he almost laughed out: "Guest officer, the steamed stuffed buns in our inn are delicious. It is famous in Guangde County. It has big stuffing and thin skin. The stuffing is made of finely-chosen meat, and the mouth will be full of oil when you bite into it. When you pawn something, go back to the inn, and the small one will serve you two baskets to try."

Yang Qiuchi was already so hungry that his eyes glowed green, now that the waiter in the shop said about the delicious and hot steamed buns, he wished he could fly to the inn immediately and order a few big steamed buns for a meal.Hastily said: "It's a pawn! Give me the money!"

Shopkeeper Qian sighed, although he regretted it, but now that the words had been spoken, how could he go back on his word, so he had to open a pawn ticket, weighed ten taels of silver and gave it to Yang Qiuchi.

(End of this chapter)