Chapter 550 "Aren't you sleepy? Go to sleep!"
Xie Shang remained calm and composed. "We are merchants from the Great Zhou Dynasty who come to the Southern Kingdom to trade silk. My wife is particularly fond of jewelry from the Southern Kingdom. She's throwing a tantrum if I don't buy her some. May I ask, sir, where in the Southern Kingdom can you find shops that sell top-quality gemstones? She doesn't like the stuff on the street."
The officers and soldiers asked in confusion, "Are you merchants?"
He then took out a money bag and handed it to the soldiers, saying, "We are new to the Southern Kingdom and have heard that the jade and jewelry there are famous far and wide, but we don't know where to buy them. Could you please show us the way, sir? My wife can't sleep at night because she hasn't been able to buy the jewelry she wants."
Seeing that they were dressed in extravagantly rich clothes and spent lavishly, the officers and soldiers immediately hatched a wicked plan: "You've come to the right place to buy jade ornaments in the South. There is no place in the world more famous for jade than the South."
No matter how precious, it's useless to the poor. They can't eat or wear it. Besides, jade artifacts from the South are indeed sold at astronomical prices, and fools from all over the world still like to buy them.
The people of the Great Zhou Kingdom, in particular, were incredibly foolish to try and trade silk for stones.
The two people in front of me were adorned with jade ornaments from head to toe, clearly indicating their wealth.
At this moment, Jiang Jinyan walked over and competed with the soldiers for business. "This young master wants to buy good jade ornaments. I can take you to buy them. I often do business in the South and I am very familiar with this place. Follow me and I guarantee you can buy jade ornaments that are both cheap and of high quality. There is an ancient street over there, full of shops selling jade ornaments. There are no fakes."
Upon hearing that someone had come to steal their business, the officers and soldiers quickly said, "Who do you think you are, daring to come here and try to solicit business?"
"Sir, look around the streets. They're all merchants from all over the country, trying to make a living. They're unfamiliar with the place in the South. I'm just introducing my family's jade products, saying they're both good and cheap."
Jiang Jinyan dressed as a southerner because he used to frequently travel to the south for business, so he spoke fluent southern dialect.
He then explained to Jiang Fenghua in the language of the Great Zhou Dynasty, "Our boss has been doing business in the South for fifty years. His jade ornaments and jewelry are all top-notch. In addition to jade ornaments, he also has pearls from the sea. I'm sure you'll like them very much, Madam."
Jiang Fenghua had no choice but to take Xie Shang's arm and say sweetly, "Husband, I want to buy a pearl necklace, will you agree?"
"Buy, buy, buy! Besides buying you a necklace, your husband will also buy you 100,000 top-grade pearls to make a phoenix coronet and wedding gown. When I marry you, you can wear it on your head. It will be so beautiful and glittering."
Jiang Fenghua could only roll her eyes when she heard the number. She said in a coquettish voice, "Oh, 100,000 pills must cost a lot of money! I am so lucky to have met my husband."
"My wife, from now on, follow me. I'll buy you anything you want."
"Thank you, my husband." Jiang Fenghua then showed off the gemstone ring on her finger. "I don't like this one. I want to buy a new one."
"You liked it yesterday, but you don't like it today."
“I just don’t like it. There are so many jewelry pieces in the South. Husband, why don’t you buy me something prettier?”
Xie Shang took off the ring from her finger and tossed it aside casually, saying, "If you don't like it, we'll just buy another one."
The officers glanced at the ring. It was an exquisite ruby ring, worth tens of thousands of gold coins. Were they just going to throw it away like that?
So another greedy soldier quickly picked up the pearls and put them in his purse, saying, "Young master, if you really want to buy 100,000 pearls, that will cost you millions of gold."
"You're worried I don't have money?" Xie Shang said in a deep voice, "Open the money bag I give you for tips and see. If you have connections, I'll tip you again in the future."
The officers and soldiers quickly opened the money bag, only to find it contained a bag of gold, not silver.
The two men's eyes lit up as they nodded and bowed, "We have connections."
Jiang Jinyan quickly stopped him, "If you really want to buy pearls, it's impossible to find 100,000 top-quality pearls in the entire Southern Kingdom. If someone has so many pearls to sell to you, they must be fake, because the pearls in the Southern Kingdom are brought by fishermen from the coast. My shop has been in the Southern Kingdom for fifty years, and we only have a total of one hundred pearls, and they are quite valuable."
"Is that so? We want 100,000 pieces. How long will it take to gather the goods? Price is not a problem." Xie Shang added, "We also want the top-grade jadeite."
Jiang Jinyan looked troubled. "It seems my family can't do business with you, young master, because my family doesn't have that many top-quality pearls."
They didn't have officers or soldiers, but they could contact their superiors; they had a wide network of connections.
In no time, the news that a wealthy merchant had arrived in Licheng spread that he wanted to buy 100,000 pearls. All the shops in Licheng combined probably didn't even have 10,000 pearls!
Jiang Fenghua pretended to yawn, "I'm tired after traveling all day. Let's find an inn to rest first! It's getting late, we can explore again tomorrow."
The officers and soldiers offered, “Young master, you have come from the Great Zhou Dynasty. The people of Great Zhou and the people of the Southern Kingdom have always been friends. Since you have not yet found an inn to stay in, we can find you the best inn in the Southern Kingdom.”
Xie Shang didn't hesitate at all and handed him another bag of gold. "Thank you for your trouble, sir. With the soldiers of the Southern Kingdom protecting our safety, we feel very welcome and safe, even though we have traveled thousands of miles from the Great Zhou. However, there are many of us, so we may need to book the entire inn to accommodate everyone."
"No problem, I guarantee the young master and his wife will be satisfied." The soldier's eyes lit up when he saw the bag of gold; he was rich.
Jiang Fenghua cursed him inwardly for being a spendthrift when she saw him hand over two bags of gold.
So the officer introduced himself, saying his name was Wang Fu, and he was a squad leader in the yamen, specifically in charge of maintaining order in this area.
Afterwards, Wang Fu personally escorted them to an empty inn.
Wang Fu saw that they were carrying several large carts full of goods, mostly cloth and tea.
While moving the goods, two boxes of gold were "accidentally" knocked over and fell out, which made him stare wide-eyed.
Xie Shang said to them, "I wonder if this inn is safe! I brought some pocket money with me, just in case I encounter bandits, so I brought more people with me. If you can help me find a channel for 100,000 pearls, I will definitely reward you handsomely. Once it's confirmed, I will have someone send enough money to the Southern Kingdom to import more jade artifacts from the Southern Kingdom to sell in the Great Zhou. Jade artifacts from your Southern Kingdom are very famous and sell very well in the Great Zhou."
"Young master, rest assured. Leave this to us brothers. You can stay here with peace of mind, and we guarantee no one will dare to disturb you." After saying that, they went off to catch the thief again.
Jiang Fenghua only realized that Xie Shang's group was well-prepared when she saw them. Fortunately, the Southern Kingdom soldiers personally escorted Meng Yao and Shen Bingxuan to the inn, and no one would come in to search them.
She thought to herself: Xie Qiyun is quite clever; he came up with this method to avoid the government's search.
She asked Xie Shang, "What should we do next?"
"Aren't you sleepy? Go to sleep!" Xie Shang said.
Seeing Lin Yu and the others staring at her in disbelief, Jiang Fenghua said, "Why are you all looking at me like that? Go to sleep."
After saying that, she left.
Xie Shang caught up with her again and put his arm around her waist, deliberately saying, "I bet the owner of this inn that Wang Fu found must be someone special. If they find out that I and my concubine are sleeping in separate rooms, it will arouse suspicion."
“They’re all greedy for money, they don’t care how many concubines Young Master Xie wants to take!” Jiang Fenghua found a guest room and went straight in.
Xie Shang quickly followed, but she smiled slightly and pushed him out, shutting him out of the door.
Xie Shang stood with his hands behind his back, trying to figure out how to get inside to sleep.
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