Chapter 350 The Boss Clears the Sky (Second Update)
The old lord acted immediately, putting his plan into action.
Gu Jiao was unaware of the mess she and Gu Yan had stirred up. After bidding farewell to the old Marquis, she returned to the clinic, removed her mask, changed her clothes, and went to the Imperial Academy to pick up Xiao Jingkong.
Knowing that Gu Jiao would pick him up from school, Xiao Jingkong was in a great mood and even behaved much better in class, not arguing with Teacher Sun all day.
Master Sun had the most relaxing day of the year so far, and even his middle-aged hair seemed less sparse.
"Come to my house to play!" Xu Zhouzhou said to Xiao Jingkong as she came out of the classroom.
Xiao Jingkong shook his head aloofly: "I'm not going today, I'm going home with Jiaojiao!"
Xu Zhouzhou thought for a moment and said, "Okay, how about tomorrow?"
Xiao Jingkong continued to shake his head: "I'm not going tomorrow either. I'm going home with Jiaojiao tomorrow!"
During the few days that my bad brother-in-law was away, Jiaojiao came to pick him up and take him home together. Just thinking about it makes me so happy!
Little Jingkong shook his head and walked away, extremely proud of himself.
Xu Zhouzhou was left standing there alone, feeling resentful. Brothers, they really are just there to be backup options!
After Xiao Jingkong left the Imperial Academy, Gu Jiao met him, and the two of them, one big and one small, walked back hand in hand.
Little Jingkong tilted his head and said cutely, "Jiaojiao, I missed you so much! You're even more beautiful today than yesterday!"
Gu Jiao smiled and curved her lips into a smile: "Really?"
Xiao Jingkong nodded vigorously: "Yes, yes! Monks don't lie!"
So are you still a monk?
Gu Jiao looked at the man's short haircut, which was now the umpteenth time he had grown it out, and thought to herself, "This time, hopefully nothing will go wrong. Will he be able to grow a head of thick, black hair and tie it into a pretty little bun?"
Little Jingkong skipped and hopped excitedly back to Bishui Hutong.
Gu Jiao went to fetch water and chop wood, while Xiao Jingkong went back to his room to do his homework. Since Xiao Liulang wasn't there, his homework was checked by the old priest.
The old libationer has not yet been appointed.
Xiao Jingkong quickly finished the homework assigned by Master Sun. He came out of the house, walked to Gu Jiao who was chopping wood, put his little hands behind his back, rolled his eyes, and said, "Jiao Jiao, I'm going to go next door to play with Zhao Xiaobao."
Zhao Xiaobao is Grandpa Zhao's grandson, one year younger than Xiao Jingkong, and is Xiao Jingkong's playmate with the same age.
Gu Jiao did not refuse: "Okay, I'll call you when dinner is ready."
The little guy's eyes darted around again: "Then... can I bring some things with me?"
"Okay." Gu Jiao had no objection. She was mainly chopping wood and didn't see the sneaky little expression on someone's face.
Xiao Jingkong returned to his own room—the east room. That's right, although his brother-in-law also lived in the east room, Xiao Jingkong firmly believed that he was the master of the east room.
She's been taking in her brother-in-law, who's in danger of losing his job at any moment. What an adorable guy he is!
Xiao Jingkong left half of his shabby belongings at home and moved the other half to the clinic's courtyard.
He opened the wardrobe, dragged out his small box, and dumped the books out of his book bag. Then he picked out some things he thought were interesting from the small box and put them back in.
"Jiaojiao, I'm leaving!"
He slung his schoolbag over his shoulder and ran out of the yard, chirping as he went.
When Gu Jiao turned to look at him, the little guy had already disappeared.
She chuckled.
Naughty.
Xiao Jingkong is a very self-controlled child who rarely runs around. Therefore, Gu Jiao did not expect that the little guy did not go next door, but instead carried his little tattered clothes to a pawnshop on Xuanwu Street.
When the pawnshop owner saw that it was a child, he assumed that the child had come in to play around and quickly waved him out: "Go play somewhere else!"
Xiao Jingkong said, "I'm not here to play! I'm here to pawn things!"
This wasn't his first time here. He had scouted the place before with Xu Zhouzhou and Brother Chu Yu, and knew that there was a slang term for it called "pawning."
The shopkeeper chuckled upon hearing this; it's always amusing when a child talks like an adult. Instead of kicking the man out, the shopkeeper asked with a smile, "What do you want to pawn?"
"Hmm... these! Take a look and see if there's anything you like! Whichever one you like, I'll be that one!" Little Jingkong stood on tiptoe but still couldn't reach the counter. He got impatient, "Hey you, you, you, come out and look for yourself!"
The boss was amused by Xiao Jingkong. He opened the door to the side, came out and said, "Okay, let me see what good stuff you have."
He didn't think the child was really there to pawn something; he was probably just playing around.
Xiao Jingkong handed him the book bag.
The shopkeeper took the items out and placed them on the counter. Goodness, the first person to do that burst out laughing.
Those who work in this line of work need to have some knowledge, ranging from antiques from previous dynasties to calligraphy by contemporary Confucian scholars, and even rare items from the six kingdoms.
Look what this kid has packed!
The Liang State house deed, the Chen State luminous cup... and then things got even more impressive, with even the imperial seal and tiger tally appearing.
The boss was laughing so hard his stomach hurt.
Are toys for kids these days made in such a wildly different way? I must say, some of them are surprisingly convincing.
The boss didn't believe these things were real at all.
The shopkeeper packed his things back for him, then smiled and handed him a piece of malt candy, giving it to him because he was so cute: "So many good things, impressive! Okay, go back now."
Little Jingkong, suppressing his drooling, said, "I don't want candy, I want to pawn it!"
The boss said, "I can't do it."
Xiao Jingkong opened his eyes wide and said, "Why? Is there nothing you like in here? You haven't finished looking, there's more inside! If you like something, I can pawn it to you for a discount!"
Xiao Jingkong was in a hurry to get money. Although he was a small landlord with two rent payments every month, he had entrusted all his money to Jiaojiao for safekeeping. If he needed to use it, he would have to go to Jiaojiao to get it.
But he didn't want Jiaojiao to know.
That's why he came up with the idea of pawning!
Looking at the cute little face, the shopkeeper couldn't bring himself to tell him that his things were fake and couldn't be pawned. He just said, "If it can't be pawned, it can't be pawned. Don't run around like that, go home right now!"
Xiao Jingkong was rejected and let out a long sigh.
He walked slowly out of the pawnshop with his head drooping and his schoolbag on his back.
There are three pawnshops on Xuanwu Street. He went to two other pawnshops, but he was kicked out before he could even enter.
The little guy, feeling a bit hurt by being rejected repeatedly, pouted his little mouth in grievance.
He walked back dejectedly.
Suddenly, a man dressed in a moon-white robe, with a dark blue gauze overlay and a jade belt around his waist, blocked Xiao Jingkong's path.
The man had a gentle expression, held a folding fan in his hand, and smiled as he looked at Xiao Jingkong: "Young brother, do you want to pawn something?"
"How did you know?" Xiao Jingkong looked at him warily.
The man patted his palm with his folding fan and laughed, "I was just choosing something at that pawnshop when I saw you being kicked out by them."
"Oh." Xiao Jingkong said with relief, "So you saw it."
The man smiled slightly: "What a coincidence, I didn't see any suitable antiques at the pawnshop. I wonder if you have anything I like here, young man?"
Xiao Jingkong thought for a moment and said, "I can show you!"
The man squatted down, reached into Xiao Jingkong's book bag, and kept showing surprise as he looked inside: "Young man, you have quite a lot of good stuff!"
Little Jingkong puffed out his little chest: "I knew it! I have lots of good stuff! You know your stuff! What do you want? I'll give it to you cheaply! No, wait, I don't know you, so I can't redeem it later. How about this, I'll sell it to you cheaply!"
He asked his great-uncle what pawning meant and knew it was different from selling.
The man lowered his eyes and smiled, then took out a golden abacus from Xiao Jingkong's book bag.
The owner of the first pawnshop didn't see the abacus; otherwise, he would have known it wasn't fake.
Of all these things, Xiao Jingkong's favorite is this golden abacus.
He felt a pang of heartache when he saw that the other party had actually chosen this.
The man laughed and said, "How about you sell this to me?"
Xiao Jingkong suppressed her deep reluctance, bit her lip, and nodded: "This, this is very expensive!"
"How much silver?" the man asked.
Xiao Jingkong said with a pained expression, "Five...five hundred taels!"
This is exactly the number he needs; he won't sell it for less than this price.
“Alright!” The man readily handed him five one-hundred-tael silver notes.
Xiao Jingkong accepted the silver notes, and took one last, reluctant look at his beloved golden abacus.
Goodbye, Xiao Jin.
I'm sorry, I don't want to sell you either.
But there was nothing we could do.
Xiao Jingkong knows real banknotes, after all, he collects rent every month.
He pocketed the banknotes, shouldered his book bag, and turned away with tears in his eyes.
Looking at Xiao Jingkong's sorrowful little figure, the man couldn't help but chuckle and said, "Little brother! My name is Mingyue, you can call me Young Master Mingyue! Until we meet again!"
Xiao Jingkong raised his hand to wipe away his tears.
Ugh.
Xiao Jin is gone.
I'm so sad!
"Young master." A young guard in gray robes walked out of the alley, looked at the golden abacus in his hand, and said, "He has so many good things, why did you choose the least valuable one?"
That's right, any one of the few trinkets in Xiao Jingkong's bag is more valuable than the Golden Abacus.
The man glared at him: "You're taking advantage of a child too?"
The young guard curled his lip, as if you didn't get a good deal. Five hundred taels of silver notes for a gold abacus, you're really at a loss!
"However," the young guard said, getting back to the point, "is this child really related to that person?"
The man scoffed coldly: "Besides that person, who else could get their hands on so many treasures?"
The young guard paused for a moment: "Then... will that person show up?"
The man watched the small figure gradually disappear at the end of the street and said, "If we keep watching over this little monk, that person will appear one day!"
(End of this chapter)
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