ps. I posted the last chapter right after I finished writing it. I didn't notice that there was a plot that was a bit too exaggerated. Thank you for your criticism and correction. I have revised it. Your criticism is right. Stand at ease and accept it humbly. I am updating a chapter here to express my apology.

"Twenty taels?"

Zhao Hao almost cried out in shock. This is such a bummer!

"Don't feel wronged, Mr. Zhao. This is the rule of this business. Unless you can call Lu Zigang over, we can only estimate the price based on the quality of the jade itself." Then the court attendant said from the side, "The boss is considering us as fellow countrymen. If it were someone else, he would have given us ten taels."

As he spoke, he brought over a tray. On the tray was a written pawn ticket and ten small ingots of silver, each weighing two taels.

Zhao Shouzheng was a little nervous after hearing the two people singing the same tune. He wondered if he had made a mistake and really bought a fake product?

He also thought of the big words he had said last night. If he returned empty-handed, wouldn't that disappoint his son?

"As the saying goes, no deal can be made by pushing too hard. You should go look elsewhere. If anyone can give you more than 20 taels, I will write this letter backwards."

Mr. Zhang looked impatient and waved his hand, and the court attendant pretended to take away the tray.

"No, no, I'll just pawn it." He was fooled, how could he not be fooled in a pawn shop? Besides, Zhao Shouzheng was a scholar who didn't know much about worldly affairs? He really fell for the trick, hurriedly stopped Chao Feng, and sighed, "Okay, I'll just pawn it."

"Yeah." Mr. Zhang nodded and looked at Zhao Shouzheng without saying a word.

Zhao Shouzheng was becoming increasingly short of breath. He lowered his head and took a closer look at the pawn ticket, which had illegible handwriting that was too painful to read. He had not forgotten his son's reminder last time that he should read the document carefully before signing.

"What the hell is this..." Zhao Shouzheng secretly complained, and reluctantly finished reading the pawn ticket. Seeing that the current period was one month and the interest rate was not outrageous, he signed his name on it, sealed his name, took the money and left.

Seeing Chaofeng put away the pawn ticket, Mr. Zhang finally smiled, stood up and politely escorted Zhao Shouzheng out.

"My dear brother, please take good care of me when I have business in the future."

"Okay. I will come to redeem it before next month." Zhao Shouzheng couldn't forget his jade pendant, and he didn't know what special thoughts he had.

Seeing his father coming out, Zhao Hao quickly turned sideways to face the counter, pretending to be a customer who wanted to pawn something.

Zhao Shouzheng was so preoccupied with his own thoughts that he didn't notice that he had passed his son.

~~

After sending Zhao Shouzheng out, Mr. Zhang and Chao Feng returned to the living room and finally couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Zhang Yuanwai was seen caressing the jade pendant lovingly, and said to the court official with great pride: "I heard that the new emperor loves Lu Zigang's works. This is a genuine work of his great skill, and it is also a rare Khotan jade pendant. You can't buy it now even for five hundred taels."

"This is a missed prize, it's so satisfying! The boss is really experienced, a few words made Mr. Zhao panic and mistook the real thing for a fake one." The goat-bearded Chaofeng gave a thumbs up and flattered him. After that, he smiled complacently and said, "Besides, Mr. Zhao looked at it for a long time and didn't realize that this living pawn could actually turn into a dead pawn."

"If a bookworm like him can figure it out, why would I open a pawn shop?" Mr. Zhang smiled smugly and handed the jade pendant to the imperial guarantor, saying, "Without this poor young man who doesn't know how to deal with worldly affairs, who would we make money from?"

Watching the two of them chatting and laughing as they went into the inner room, Zhao Hao gritted his teeth and left.

~~

It was already dark when Zhao Hao returned home.

Zhao Shouzheng was standing at the entrance of the alley looking out.

Seeing Zhao Hao coming in, he was relieved and said, "Son, where have you been? If you don't come back, I will report it to the police."

Zhao Hao sighed inwardly, no matter how bad Mr. Zhao was, he was still the closest person to him in the world.

At worst, I'll just be more careful with him in the future...

Then he said to Zhao Shouzheng in a rare gentle tone: "I'm sorry for making father worry. I will come back early next time."

"That's not necessary. Just tell me before you go out." Zhao Shouzheng was not used to him being like this. He hurriedly brought water for his son to wash his face and said, "Hurry up and wash up and have dinner. We have been making do with this for the past few days. I am sorry for my son's hardship."

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded, washed his hands and face, and then at Zhao Shouzheng's urging, he sat down at the square table.

There were three dishes and one soup on the table, both meat and vegetables. But compared to the previous time, it was much more frugal.

Zhao Hao's gaze fell on the ten small silver ingots next to the plate.

Zhao Shouzheng handed the chopsticks to his son, and said proudly as if he was presenting a treasure: "What do you think? Am I bragging? I raised it so easily."

"Another classmate of mine not only invited me to drink, but also gave me a hundred taels of silver. However, Zhu Zi said, 'Know when to stop and don't be greedy.' So I didn't take any more money from him."

"But don't worry, if my son feels that it's not enough, I will go to him for it another day!"

Zhao Shouzheng was spitting all over the place, gesticulating and talking, and he almost believed it himself.

Zhao Hao's nose was sore and he silently poured Zhao Shouzheng one glass after another, hoping that he would get drunk quickly. Don't force yourself to act...

This must be very painful. Very painful.

Fortunately, Zhao Shouzheng had a low alcohol tolerance and was successfully drunk in a few drinks.

~~

In the main room.

Zhao Hao first carefully put away the twenty taels of silver, then turned back, struggled to help his father up, and sent him into the east room.

After getting drunk, Zhao Shouzheng lost control of his mouth. He walked into the house with one foot deep and one foot shallow, tears streaming down his face.

"Brother Liu, Brother Liu, when your father was seriously ill, who helped you find a doctor and medicine? When you had no money to bury him, who gave you a hundred taels of silver? How come now that I'm unlucky, you won't even lend me one tael of silver?"

"Brother Feng, Brother Feng, you've been eating and drinking my food all day long, and you've been around me for seven or eight years. Why is it that now you won't even let me in the door?"

"Alas, human nature is colder than that of Wujiang River, and worldly affairs are more difficult than the road to Shu..." Zhao Shouzheng sang a tuneless tune and fell asleep on the bed.

Zhao Hao realized that his father didn't take the jade pendant to heart, but was upset about the cold stares he received during the day. When he was rich, his classmates treated him like brothers and took advantage of him. Now that he was defeated, no one paid any attention to him.

It’s hard for outsiders to understand the ups and downs of this situation.

Zhao Hao sighed, bent down to help Zhao Shouzheng take off his boots, and then took off his robe.

The pawn ticket that Deheng had pawned fell to the ground.

Zhao Hao picked up the pawn ticket and looked at the words on it: "The holder of this pawn ticket is Zhao Shouzheng. I am in urgent need of money and I am pawning my property for 20 taels of silver. All my payments and receipts will be in cash. The interest will be 9 cents per month. The pawn ticket will expire in one month. After the expiration, the shop can sell the property at its own will. This ticket serves as a proof."

At first glance, there seemed to be nothing wrong. But Zhao Hao heard the conversation between the boss and the court official, and knew that there must be something mysterious about the ticket. He read it stroke by stroke for a long time, and then he suddenly realized it.

It turns out that the "月" in "期期壹月" has two legs that are abnormally short, so it seems more appropriate to say it is the "日". However, the "月" in the previous sentence "每月行利" is very normal. If you read it in order, you certainly won't associate it with the "日".

Presumably, the word "日" on the pawn ticket preserved by the pawn shop would be more standard.

This is the trick of turning a "living pawn" into a "dead pawn" as Chao Feng said. It is so simple and crude, and it is simply unscrupulous!

But then I thought about it again, the other party had a background in the Southern Ministry of Revenue, and my father was just a poor student who had failed the imperial examinations many times, so it seemed so logical...

"Alas..." Zhao Hao shook his head, carefully put away the pawn ticket, and gritted his teeth again and said, "Mr. Zhang, you dare to steal my Zhao family's money. I will make you pay it back a thousand times!"