Chapter 18: A Wolf with Nothing
Although Ji Yanli deliberately lowered his voice, he still attracted the attention of the surrounding students.
He had a handsome face and stood with the fresh and beautiful Su Shengsheng, complementing each other, like a stretched ink painting.
Of course, what he raised was exactly what many Juren students were worried about.
Su Shengsheng replied softly, "Don't worry, Master Ji, these fake copper coins will be sent to the Mint later."
The Mint was mainly responsible for the circulation, recycling and recasting of copper coins, and also supervised the smelting of minerals.
If a large number of counterfeit copper coins appear, the Mint will be the first to be held accountable.
Improving anti-counterfeiting technology, catching counterfeiters, and stabilizing the coin market have also become urgent matters for the Mint.
Therefore, the Mint would offer a huge reward in the hope of capturing the counterfeiter as soon as possible.
Upon hearing this, Ji Yanli became even more confused.
He had just seen the amount of the prize. Even if Su Shengsheng melted all the fake copper coins, the proceeds would be far from enough to pay the prize.
If she sent all these fake copper coins to the Mint, where would the reward come from?
At this moment, a scholar's eyes gleamed, and he speculated, "Could it be that Miss Su wants to reveal the list in exchange for the reward offered by the Mint?"
Su Shengsheng did not hide anything and responded frankly: "I am grateful for your help today. I will definitely reward you in the future."
Upon hearing this, the students looked at each other, but they did not have much confidence in their hearts.
After all, the conditions for being on the list are harsh and the chances of winning are slim.
If the conditions cannot be met in the end, where will the bonus come from?
Su Shengsheng saw through their doubts and said, "Don't worry, everyone. We still have one step to go."
After saying that, she turned to face the people waiting for the lottery.
"Everyone can line up with the redeemed lottery tickets and enter the drawing. The winners will be announced on the spot. Please be vigilant."
The lottery tickets in their hands were actually freshly printed brochures from the bookshop, which were stamped with Su Shengsheng's personal seal.
Originally, she planned to wait for her family to agree to start a business before promoting it, but she couldn't waste the resources she had gathered.
After a long time of trouble, it was finally time for the lucky draw and everyone was very excited.
Su Shengsheng reiterated the rules again, and then asked those who held the fake copper coins from the three places to go behind the curtain to claim the mysterious grand prize, and then the lottery officially began.
Su Shengsheng took the pen and ink and went to the desk set up behind the scenes. Seeing this, the other students followed him in spontaneously.
Compared to the lottery, they were more curious about what Su Shengsheng would do next.
Ji Yanli also came behind the scenes and looked around. He saw that the desk was empty except for some rice paper for painting.
He was just feeling puzzled when someone came in curiously.
"What mysterious grand prize?" Seeing that the line was still long, the man asked his companions to help queue up while he went in to take a look first.
Su Shengsheng extended her hand and motioned him to sit down.
"If you got a fake copper coin this month, you can exchange it for a first-class prize. If it's an old one, you can exchange it for a prize based on the year."
The man muttered, "You can't possibly know what month I got it?"
"Then I'll test your memory." Su Shengsheng spread out the rice paper. "You need to describe the appearance of the person who gave you the copper coin before you can claim your prize."
When the man heard this, he was very frustrated. "It's been so long, how could he still remember it?"
Su Shengsheng didn't embarrass him. "It's okay. Just tell me who you suspect and you can claim the prize."
The man's eyes wandered for a moment, perhaps thinking that Su Shengsheng was easy to fool, so he boldly described it.
As soon as he started talking, someone came in to see what was going on.
Seeing that Su Shengsheng really exchanged a generous prize for that person on the spot, they immediately rushed forward.
Su Shengsheng accepted all the portraits and finished them in one go. Soon, countless portraits appeared on the paper.
She moved very quickly, capturing the most striking features in people's descriptions.
With just a few strokes, the character is sketched out with both form and spirit, and is very vivid.
After a while, a scholar discovered the pattern in Su Shengsheng's collection of portraits.
The man was also skilled in painting, and he could tell at a glance that Su Shengsheng was summarizing the figures based on the proportions of their facial features.
Ji Yanli also noticed this.
He picked up a few slightly unusual portraits of men and compared them with a frown.
Su Shengsheng raised her eyes and looked at him, "Master Ji, did you also notice that these people were in disguise?"
Upon hearing this, Ji Yanli's brows relaxed, "No wonder the proportions are so symmetrical, it turns out they are the same person."
At this point, they all had a vague guess in their hearts.
Su Shengsheng's entry point was the person under the counterfeiter who was responsible for distributing fake copper coins.
The portraits of these characters have gradually overlapped...
This undoubtedly boosted the confidence of Ji Yanli and others.
Afterwards, three of them were identified by many people and their identities could almost be confirmed on the spot.
At this time, cheers came from outside. Someone won the second prize.
The other people in the curtain rushed out to see who was so lucky.
Su Shengsheng stopped writing, turned his wrist, and said with a smile to the people holding the portraits for comparison, "If you have nothing to do today, why not come with me to receive the reward."
What reward? Of course, the bounty offered by the court.
At first, they were a little confused and even suspected that Su Shengsheng was being mysterious.
But at this moment, their moods were as ups and downs as mountains.
Hearing this, I naturally didn't want to miss this farewell show.
Someone asked, "Miss Su, do you need help moving the box to the Mint?"
Su Shengsheng said that it was not necessary and that the government would come to take it themselves.
By then, the people will be waiting to redeem their prizes, and if the government shirks responsibility, it will be difficult to resolve the matter.
Of course, she also had a backup plan.
The several Juren students were not bookworms and they quickly understood Su Shengsheng's intention.
What a great trick to get something for nothing!
Despite this, several candidates were still excited.
After all, being able to participate in such a major event is also a resounding start for their upcoming official career.
Even if Su Shengsheng did not fulfill the reward in the end, it would be understandable, after all, they did not play a key role in it.
Mint
When he heard that someone had taken down the notice and claimed to have important clues about the forger, Minister Fang was overjoyed and went out to greet him in person.
He adjusted his official hat as he walked, "Who announced the results?"
When he saw a woman walking in front holding the list, followed by several local scholars, he was slightly stunned.
Su Shengsheng stepped forward and responded respectfully, "Sir, I was the one who accepted the list. These three people must have been involved in distributing counterfeit currency."
The official hesitantly took the portrait handed to him by Su Shengsheng and glanced at it without comment.
But when he heard that several people had identified the person in the portrait, his eyes lit up.
In fact, Su Shengsheng was just collecting big data. If there was facial recognition technology, it could be done in minutes.
The government is only having difficulty with the first step, which is that it lacks the support of the people.
The information here is delayed, which is a little troublesome, but based on the three-point positioning, we can basically infer the activity range of the three people.
Of course, she had seen the map of the border town in the bookstore before.
Now we just need to take the portraits of the three people and search the area to find a breakthrough point.
After hearing this, the official was still hesitant, but seeing so many candidates present, he couldn't help but believe it a little.
Especially when he heard that Su Shengsheng was collecting fake copper coins before the notice, he asked him to send someone to get them.
They were even more afraid that the counterfeiters would escape after hearing the news, so they immediately sent people to the three locations.
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