When Zhang Yingqi heard that a quarrel had broken out, he immediately became anxious.
While he took Qingtian off his shoulders and held him in his arms, he pushed through the crowd and walked quickly towards Madam Lu and Martina.
When they got closer, they saw that Madam Lu looked helpless, while Martina looked indignant.
"What happened?" Zhang Yingqi asked anxiously.
Madam Lu briefly explained the situation to him.
It turned out that Martina saw a few Westerners buying things here and felt that the stall owner's price was too high, so she came over and interrupted the transaction.
Seeing this, several Westerners hurried away, and the stall owner was so angry that he stopped them from leaving.
In fact, according to the rules of doing business, both the buyer and the seller are willing to fight and the other party is willing to be beaten, and others should not interfere.
But Martina is not a native of Daqi, so it doesn't make sense to tell her this.
The stall owner had a big deal ruined by Martina, and he was so angry that he was furious.
He grabbed Martina and insisted that she compensate for his losses.
“Is it easy for me to get up early and work late at the market to do business?
"I have elderly parents and young children at home, and my whole family depends on me to make money for their livelihood!
"I finally met some Westerners and could have made a lot of money, but you messed it up for me!"
The stall owner pointed to the stall opposite him and said, "Why didn't you say anything when those Westerners were buying things at his stall just now?
"I haven't offended you, do you have a grudge against me?"
Everyone looked in the direction of his finger towards the stall opposite.
The owner of the stall opposite was also a bit shameless, and even held up the silver coins he had just earned to show off.
When the stall owner saw this, he was so angry that he covered his chest and felt like he was about to die with heartache.
But Zhang Yingqi suddenly discovered a problem.
He took a few steps forward, walked up to the stall owner opposite, and stretched out his hand, saying, "Let me see your silver coin!"
"Who are you? If you want it, I have to give it to you..." The stall owner recognized Zhang Yingqi before he finished speaking, and immediately changed his expression and said, "Oh, it's Captain Zhang. If you want to see it, then of course I have to give it to you with both hands."
As he said this, he actually held the silver coins in both hands and raised them in front of Zhang Yingqi in a servile manner.
Zhang Yingqi took it, looked at it, weighed it, and immediately frowned and asked, "Didn't you see the notice posted by the government office a few days ago?"
The stall owner suddenly had a bad feeling when he saw this, and stammered, "W-what notice? I-I haven't been there these days!"
"Recently, there's a group of Westerners who have been using fake silver coins to buy things and defraud people.
“We’ve already scammed a lot of people at the Nan Da Market, so the government has posted notices outside every market gate and sent runners to give speeches.
"Don't you know?"
The stall owner's face turned pale upon hearing this, and he said in a trembling voice: "I, we are too far from the gate, and we all came in from nearby...
"Captain Zhang, please take another good look at this coin for me. This coin can't be fake, right?"
"You can't say it's fake..."
The stall owner felt relieved when he heard this, but before he could be happy, he saw Zhang Yingqi squat down, picked up a stone from the ground, and hit the silver coin twice.
Soon, the silver coin was smashed into two halves.
Zhang Yingqi looked at the middle himself, then handed it to the stall owner and said, "Look for yourself!"
The stall owner took the half silver coin with trembling hands and took a look at it, and almost fainted.
It can be clearly seen from the cross section that the color of the outside and inside of the silver coin are completely different.
This silver coin only has the outer layer of silver, and the inside is all this unknown metal.
In recent years, with the increasing development of sea transportation, more and more Westerners have come to Da Qi.
In the minds of people in Tianjin, Westerners are all stupid and rich.
They often used large amounts of silver coins to buy very cheap tea and porcelain, as if they had endless money.
Moreover, since some Western silver coins are very exquisitely made and have Western-style patterns on them, most stall owners are reluctant to cut them open for inspection.
Because if you take it to the store intact, it can be sold for a price higher than the silver itself.
This group of Westerners discovered this point, and they also found a metal that was very close in size and weight to silver. By wrapping it with a layer of pure silver and then selling it, most stall owners could not see any flaws.
At this moment, the two stall owners' emotions immediately changed.
"It's over, it's all over. So these are fakes?" The stall owner said as he grabbed his purse and dumped it out. Dozens of silver coins fell to the ground with a clink.
He just sold a lot of fabrics!
The cost is more than ten taels of silver.
"Everything is ruined now!" He sat down on the ground and burst into tears.
Zhang Yingqi quickly said, "Stop crying, pick up all the silver coins, and go to the gate to find the yamen runners to report the case.
"The government has been investigating this gang recently. After they solve the case, maybe we can get your goods back."
When the stall owner heard this, he didn't care about anything else. He wiped his tears and asked the stall owner next door to help him watch over the stall. He picked up all the silver coins and ran to the door.
The stall owner who had just grabbed Martina and asked her to pay compensation was dumbfounded. He never expected things to turn out like this.
"this……"
Madam Lu said, "I'm so sorry for disturbing your business just now. I didn't expect that I could have saved you a disaster by accident.
"Do you still need us to pay compensation now?"
"..." The stall owner said, "No, no..."
The goods those Westerners wanted to take from him just now were twice as much as those from the other side.
He didn't dare to imagine what would happen if he exchanged so much fabric for a bunch of fake silver coins.
Although Captain Zhang said that we could report the case, once the case was solved, we might be able to recover the goods.
But who can say for sure about such things? Who knows when the county government will be able to solve the case and arrest the suspects?
Thinking of this, the stall owner no longer blamed Martina. He wanted to worship her as a bodhisattva.
"It was all a misunderstanding!" the stall owner said with a smile, "You two just said you wanted to see some silk. My warehouse is not far away.
“The warehouse has a lot of goods, why don’t you go over and take a look?
"Don't worry, no matter what material you like, you won't be at a disadvantage in terms of price.
"Besides, you have Captain Zhang with you, what else do you have to worry about?"
Upon hearing this, Madam Lu looked at Zhang Yingqi.
Zhang Yingqi nodded and said, "His goods are indeed quite comprehensive, and I was originally planning to bring you to see his goods.
"I just didn't expect it would almost cause an accident."
The stall owner couldn't help but chuckle when he heard this and said, "Well, maybe good things come to those who wait!
"It's not too late to go and see it now. We are like this, after all, there is no acquaintance without fighting!"
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