Chapter 511: Expensive Pen Holder
Zhou Erlang also whispered, "Don't bother with this. We have the village head as a witness. Uncle Shi is a well-known figure in the county and he wouldn't lie to us. We'll take the contract documents to the county government office to register them shortly."
Manbao was stunned for a moment and asked, "Isn't it a day off today?"
"Yes, but your fourth brother knows a clerk. Although he is closed, if you go find him, he should be willing to help record the documents, so it can be done today."
Manbao was very surprised, scratched his head and asked, "Is it so urgent?"
Zhou Erlang smiled and nodded. "Although we are not in a hurry, we would rather settle down when we can, and our parents are still waiting at home."
Shi Xiaoen had been standing aside waiting for them to discuss. Their voices were very low, but he could still hear some words.
He raised his eyelids and glanced at them, then said to Manbao, "Your brother is right. It would be better if we could settle it. However, my favors are worthless in the city now, and I can't find anyone to help you with the paperwork. It would be best if you could find someone."
Manbao blinked and nodded in agreement.
She intuitively felt that there was something here that she didn't know yet, so she decided to ask her brothers later.
So she left, and Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang hurriedly followed, saying, "We still need to buy something for Lord Yang? That money is not enough."
Manbao waved his hand generously and said, "It's okay, I have money."
She took out a string of money from her cloth bag and said, "Let's go see what's on sale at the market."
"Let's buy some snacks." Bai Jilang suggested.
Bai Shanbao said, "The snacks made by their cook are even better than those outside. He won't eat them if we give him some, so what's the point?"
Manbao nodded and said, "It's a pity that there are not many fruits and vegetables in the market right now, otherwise it would be nice to buy some fruit."
The three children walked around and came to a bookstore. They subconsciously looked inside, and Manbao saw a pen holder carved with a little monkey.
Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang also saw it. The three of them rushed over to take a look and saw three little monkeys of different shapes on a pen holder. Some of their mouths, some their tails, or their feet were connected to the openings. When the pen was hung on it, it looked as if the pen was hung on the three monkeys' mouths, tails, and feet.
The three children were staring at it with their eyes sparkling.
The bookstore owner saw his acquaintances and immediately came out from behind the counter with a smile on his face. He looked at the three children and asked, "Young masters and young ladies, are you in town to play again?"
The three of them nodded together, and Manbao asked, "Uncle Shopkeeper, do you have any more pen holders like this?"
"No more," he said with a smile, "There's only this one. There's no other like it in the entire Luojiang County."
The three of them were filled with regret and reached out to touch the pen holder at the same time, expressing the same idea at the same time - they wanted it!
The shopkeeper smiled so hard that his eyes almost narrowed. He asked, "You two young gentlemen and young ladies have really good taste. This pen holder is very rare. I begged for it for a long time."
The three of them had a bad feeling when they heard this. Bai Shanbao withdrew his hand and asked, "How much does this pen holder cost?"
The shopkeeper smiled and held up two fingers, saying, "Two taels of silver."
Manbao reluctantly withdrew his hand and said, "The wood used is very ordinary."
"It's only two taels of silver because it's ordinary. If the materials were high-quality and the carving was exquisite, it would be worth more than two taels." The shopkeeper pointed the pen holder at the three people, pointing to the auspicious clouds and the lifelike monkeys on it. "With this carving, if the craftsman used the finest red sandalwood, it would be worth twenty taels."
Manbao glared and asked, "How many cows can you buy with that?"
Bai Erlang reluctantly withdrew his gaze and asked Bai Shanbao and Manbao, "Do you want to buy it?"
Bai Shanbao thought for a moment and said, "We've been under his care for a long time, so it's only right that we give him a valuable gift."
Manbao thought so too and looked at the shopkeeper first, "Can you make it cheaper?"
The shopkeeper looked at them in surprise, "You want to buy together?"
Shouldn't it be bidding?
The three of them nodded together and said, "We want to give it to someone. Uncle shopkeeper, can you give it a discount? Just sell it to us for one and a half taels. That will be convenient for us to divide it up. Half a tael of silver per person."
The shopkeeper's eyes almost popped out of his head as he glared at Manbao and said, "How can you bargain like that? You're cutting it in half. No, no, two taels... I'll give you at least one tael and nine hundred coins."
Bai Shanbao: "One tael, six hundred coins."
"It's only one ounce and nine hundred coins."
Bai Erlang said, "Then add another hundred coins, so one ounce and seven hundred coins?"
Bai Shanbao and Manbao wanted to step on his feet, but there was no barrier between them and the shopkeeper, so it was not easy for them to do so without making a sound.
The shopkeeper smiled and said, "One tael, nine hundred coins."
After the three people's constant persuasion, the shopkeeper finally gave in and gave them one tael and eight hundred coins.
The three of them began to pool their money.
As the shopkeeper wrapped their gifts, he asked, "Who are you giving these to? You're really generous."
Luojiang County is very small, so anything worth more than one or two taels is considered a big item, even something worth more than five hundred coins.
The three children pooled their money to buy such an expensive gift, which even surprised the experienced shopkeeper.
Bai Shanbao said, "It's for the county magistrate."
The shopkeeper couldn't help but smile with his eyes narrowed. He looked at the three children and nodded repeatedly, "There is a future, a future."
At such a young age, he already knows how to give gifts and use connections.
The three of them had no idea what the shopkeeper was thinking. They took the gifts and went back to find Zhou Dalang and the others. They felt that such expensive gifts should not be given away in vain, so they decided to go there earlier so that Lord Yang's kitchen could prepare their lunch.
Zhou Dalang and his companions had already waited for the head of the village. They signed the contract under his witness and handed the 120 taels of silver for purchasing the shop to Shi Xiaoen in front of the head of the village.
After seeing them finish the handover, the village head took the red envelopes given by Shi Xiaoen and Zhou Dalang, and left with his hands behind his back. Before leaving, he looked at Shi Xiaoen, shook his head and sighed, but said nothing.
When Manbao and the others came back, Shi Xiaoen had also left, and Zhou Dalang and the others were leading people to clean up the shop.
Manbao ran in and asked, "Have you signed the document? Where is it? Let me see it."
Xiao Qian smiled and said, "I've given it to your second and fourth brothers to take to the county government office for registration. What did you buy for the county magistrate?"
Manbao coughed lightly and said, "We pooled our money and bought him a pen holder."
"Did you only buy a pen holder? You should also buy some snacks or something," said Xiao Qian. "You can't be rude when you visit someone's home."
In Xiao Qian's view, pen holders are very cheap things. The pen holders used by the children in their family are all made by Zhou Erlang with bamboo. They are very simple.
Manbao didn't dare tell them how much the pen holder cost. She looked around and saw that everyone thought she was in the way, so she walked out and said, "Then I'm leaving."
"Let's go, let's go," Lian Xiaoqian waved her hand, "but don't play too late, you have to be back at 3 p.m. at the latest."
She felt relieved knowing that Daji was always following her three children.
The next chapter will be around 6 p.m.
(End of this chapter)
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