Chapter 197
There were no jobs for the laborers at Jiangcheng Wharf, so they sat in groups of three or five in various corners, chatting and bragging, waiting for work to come.
They didn't understand international affairs, so they only talked about the latest hot topics in Jiangcheng. It was a hot topic from top to bottom, and even those of them who worked as laborers at the docks had heard about it.
"Uncle, is what they say true?" A young man in a pudding jacket followed his elders out to eat a meal. After listening to the others' conversation for a long time, he couldn't help but ask the adult who brought him out, "How beautiful was the opera that the opera singers performed? They gave us a box of pearls that big. One of them could last a year, right?"
The boy couldn't calculate how much silver a pearl could be sold for. The unit of measurement in his mind was grain. The grain that could be exchanged for one pearl was enough to feed the people in their village for several months.
"It's just a matter of listening to what the rich people say."
"That boss is so rich." The young boy was envious and a little jealous. He would never give away so much money if he had it.
The Juyuanlou Teahouse was, as always, packed with guests. The storyteller on the stage closed his folding fan and gently tapped his palms. "From behind the curtain, a woman in white emerged. She was breathtakingly beautiful, a goddess, with delicate features like jade and flowers, a beautiful lady..." He launched into a slang. Who was he praising? "It was the beautiful Du Liniang." Well, this appearance not only captivated Liu Mengmei, but also drew the admiration of the audience. Among them was a wealthy merchant from the sea. While others offered tips like tinkling oceans, this one was truly generous: twelve pearls the size of eggs. Just tell me, isn't that a bit magnanimous?
The storyteller spoke and wrote on the stage, as if he had seen it with his own eyes, and the people below listened with gusto. What was the most lively thing in Jiangcheng right now? Wasn't it the mysterious rich man and the amorous actor?
Of course, the storyteller said whatever was popular and what everyone wanted to hear. This really touched everyone's heart, and they discussed it while listening.
"Are the pearls only as big as eggs?" Four people sitting at a table in the corner discussed in a low voice.
The people sitting here are more knowledgeable than the people moving goods at the dock, but no matter how knowledgeable they are, they have never seen pearls as big as eggs.
"Well, my eldest uncle was there that day. He told me that the pearl was not as big as an egg, but not small either. He had never seen such beautiful pearls. You know my eldest uncle is a merchant and has been to Shanghai and Beijing. He had never seen such pearls before, so they must be top-notch." One of the men, a round-faced man with a small mustache and wearing a melon-shaped hat, boasted and showed off.
"Then has your brother-in-law met that boss Yuan? Is she really so stunningly beautiful, worth spending a fortune on? This is more expensive than the big candle lit by the top prostitute in Chun Manyuan." The man sitting diagonally opposite him peeled a peanut and put it in his mouth, chattering with a look that everyone understood, which means lighting a big candle to celebrate the virginity of the top prostitute in the brothel.
In the theater, only the famous pillars would call the boss the respectful title.
"Well, that's nothing. The top performer was sold for 1,200 taels of silver. Now that Boss Yuan is here, the price together with Zhenzhu must be at least this much." As he spoke, the man loosened his short and thick hand and gestured with his five fingers forwards and backwards.
"10,000 taels of silver?" The person at the same table couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. The voice was a little loud, attracting the stares of the people at the surrounding tables. They quickly lowered their voices and asked, "Is it really 10,000 taels of silver?"
"It's more than 10,000 taels. I heard that the pearls have already been sold, and Boss Yuan's custom-made new outfit is also worth more than 10,000 taels."
"Wow, it's all spent so quickly." The person at another table who was eavesdropping on their conversation couldn't help but sigh, which was heard by these four people. They turned their heads and immediately turned away with embarrassed expressions. They came back and stopped chatting.
Who was this person sighing? It was the second-in-command of the Bailang Society, one of Jiangcheng's local tyrants. Sitting directly at the table was the head of the group, a figure no one wanted to mess with. The four people who had just been chatting were eager to leave, but couldn't show it too obviously. They could only sit there in silence, concentrating on listening to the storyteller above them.
The eldest, second, and third bosses of the Bailang Society were all sitting in the big teahouse drinking tea, but they weren't there to listen to stories. The third boss stroked his goatee and said, "Boss Yuan is a smart man. He sold the treasure right away without even keeping the money. What a brilliant man."
"What a wonderful person..." The second brother didn't say the rest of the sentence. It was obvious that he was a little angry and wanted to curse. Their target was the box of jewelry. After they sold the jewelry, they even exchanged the money for costumes. It was useless for them to steal the costumes since they didn't perform in the opera.
The boss, who had been silent the whole time, tapped the table with his fingers, listened to the vivid description of the gentleman above, and asked, "When will that Boss Yuan take the stage? Let's go and see it." Of course, the boss was not looking at Boss Yuan. He wanted to see which mysterious wealthy businessman was generous and generous. If he gave a box of top-quality pearls as a reward, it meant that he didn't take these things seriously at all.
Opportunities always come to those who are prepared.
The third brother's glasses rolled, and he understood what the eldest brother was thinking: "This Boss Yuan started out well, and was praised as soon as he debuted. Now it's always hard to see him. He only performs two shows a week, and they're always sold out. The next show is in two days, and the tickets are probably sold out. We brothers can still get him a ticket, but he hasn't shown up in more than half a month, so it's probably useless to go."
The second brother also understood what the two meant and immediately perked up: "A lot of people have been asking about this person recently. He's probably a mixed-race aristocrat with overseas ancestry. He looks a bit like a foreigner, so he might be a foreign aristocrat. Otherwise, how could he be so rich?"
It's no wonder some people would make such a guess. In this era, every foreigner is respected, and they can only do their best to make their guesses lean towards this side. After all, the Huangqi descendants in China are fleeing backwards, and no matter how powerful they are, they can only rely on foreign countries.
Besides, the face used by Lu Daju, no matter how ordinary it is, is a model face with deep eye sockets, a straight nose, and sharp edges. At first glance, it is indeed a bit different from the people of the Tang Dynasty, so it is not surprising that there are some misunderstandings.
"Don't talk nonsense if you don't know. Why would a foreign noble run to our small town instead of lying down in the Magic City?" the military advisor retorted.
"Hehe, maybe it's just to become some kind of Boss Yuan." The second brother chuckled wickedly, "It's true that he likes to play around, there are men like this, those who are rich and have nothing to do like love affairs, otherwise why would they give a gold ingot the first time they meet, and a box of priceless pearls the second time. No matter how good the opera is, it's worth that much money, isn't it just a person's character?"
It's not that simple for men to beat around the bush when chatting.
Don't underestimate the small pond in Jiangcheng, as there are many mixed fish in it, not to mention that at this time several red-headed whitetail fish swam in from outside.
Bang, the wake-up stick on the stage was hit: "The calm is turned into a turbulence, the playboy spends all his money in Jiangcheng, will he get the beauty he embraces from the stage, or will all his money be wasted in the end, let's wait and see what happens next." Bang.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
