If the pawnshop business wants to grow bigger and stronger, it must be knowledgeable and well-informed. Otherwise, how can it bargain with customers on pricing?

Especially for big pawnshops like Deheng Pawnshop, they can know at the first time what is valuable, popular, depreciating, and outdated in Nanjing.

He said that the sugar in Mr. Zhang's hand was the one he heard the day before that Tang's Southern Goods Store on Gulouwai Street had bought a large amount of high-quality Western sugar, so he hurriedly asked someone to buy some to find out what was going on.

But this thing is really expensive. Although the box is not small and the packaging is very beautiful, there are only three taels of sugar in total, but they dare to sell it for ten taels of silver!

If it wasn't for his job, Mr. Zhang would never buy this kind of rip-off. But after studying it, he had to admit that this thing was expensive for a reason.

Compared with icing sugar, this white sugar is crystal clear, looks better, and tastes far better than the former. Tang Youde even gave it a nice name "Frost into Snow".

Frost condenses into snow, as the name suggests, it is like it is refined with icing sugar. It is more expensive than icing sugar, which is natural.

Based on Mr. Zhang's understanding of the wealthy people in Jinling City who pursue novelty and like to compare with each other, he knows that this thing will definitely sell well.

~~

Deheng was in the private room.

Mr. Zhang suppressed his surprise and pointed at the bag of candy and asked, "Did you buy this frost-in-snow from Tangji?"

"Frost turns to snow? What is that?" Zhao Shouzheng muttered to himself, but he said as Zhao Hao instructed: "I didn't buy it, I made it myself."

"Don't tease me, my dear brother." Mr. Zhang sneered, "I am not ignorant. I have never seen this kind of Western candy in the Ming Dynasty!"

"I really made it myself." Zhao Shouzheng said honestly, "And then I sold it to Tang Youde."

As he said this, he handed the delivery document to Mr. Zhang.

Zhang Yuanwai took it with a suspicious look on his face, and was shocked when he saw it. The contract clearly stated that Zhao Shouzheng sold 30 kilograms of white sugar to Tangji for 500 taels of silver, and the payment was in full payment. There were also seals of Tang Youde and Tangji, as well as Zhao Shouzheng's signature.

"No doubt, he sold it to Tang Ji..." Chao Feng leaned close to Mr. Zhang's ear and whispered, "Sea transportation has been cut off. Even if Western sugar can be imported, it won't be the turn of Tang Ji to get involved. I have also asked several suppliers to Tang Ji, and they all denied that there was no such sugar at all!"

"Yes." Mr. Zhang nodded imperceptibly, looked deeply at Zhao Shouzheng, and asked in a deep voice: "I will buy as much of this kind of candy as you can get, just according to the price Tang Ji gave you!"

"That's all I have. I sold it all to Boss Tang." Zhao Shouzheng spoke the truth, very naturally.

Zhang Yuanwai heard this and couldn't help but said coldly: "So you're just making fun of me?"

"Didn't I tell you?" Zhao Shouzheng said with wide eyes, "This candy is made by my family. I have the recipe for making it!"

"Really?" Mr. Zhang's eyes lit up immediately.

"My father gave the official title to my elder brother and this prescription to me. I didn't need money before, so I kept it under my bookcase." Zhao Shouzheng took out the envelope while reading from the book and said, "This is the foundation for my father and I to make a living."

As he spoke, he took out half of the prescription that was covered with words and waved it in front of Mr. Zhang.

Zhao Shouzheng has this advantage. He knows that he always thinks things through, so he will not act on his own and always strictly follows Zhao Hao's instructions.

Mr. Zhang wished his eyes had hooks so he could get the prescription into his own hands.

He couldn't help swallowing hard and said, "Isn't this a Western good given to the old man by someone?"

Zhao Shouzheng spread his hands and said honestly, "Whether my family originally had this kind of candy or not, others may not know, but Brother Shi may not know, right?"

"That's true..." De Hengdang took over all the wealth of the Zhao family. The goat-bearded court official brought hundreds of servants and turned the Zhao mansion upside down like plowing the land, but they really didn't find this kind of white sugar.

"How much are you willing to pay for this recipe, brother?" Mr. Zhang asked tentatively.

"This was passed down to me by my father. I wouldn't dare sell it without his permission." As Zhao Shouzheng spoke, he stuffed the recipe back into the envelope.

"Brother, why do you want to be the recipe owner? Wouldn't it be more profitable to make sugar by yourself?" Mr. Zhang urged Zhao Shouzheng again, thinking that if you don't sell it, I can form a partnership with you and still get the recipe.

"Oh, forget it. I only sold candy once and it already attracted thieves." Zhao Shouzheng said with a lingering fear: "If I continue to make candy, I'm afraid I'll make money but not live to spend it. It's better to wait until I pass the imperial examination and have someone to rely on before I make plans."

The beauty of Zhao Hao's design lies in the fact that it is nine-tenths true and one-tenth false. It allows Zhao Shouzheng to easily remember the routine without making mistakes, while also preventing the other party from getting suspicious.

~~

As expected, Mr. Zhang had no doubts about it and even had the leisure to exchange glances with the court official, obviously not believing that Zhao Shouzheng could pass the exam.

"Alas, the cost of studying is quite high. I have to buy a new house and hire servants. In the future, I will have to open a sugar factory. A few hundred taels of silver are simply too much to handle." Zhao Shouzheng muttered to himself, "So I want to keep him alive as my brother, and redeem him in half a year."

Zhang Yuanwai was delighted and looked at Zhao Shouzheng calmly and asked, "How much do you want to be?"

Zhao Shouzheng gritted his teeth and said, "I want ten thousand taels."

Zhang thought for a moment, then smiled disapprovingly and said, "My dear brother, you are joking. Just based on a piece of paper whose authenticity cannot be verified, you want to take 10,000 taels of silver from me? Do you think my money was blown by the wind?"

For this part, Zhao Hao did not teach Zhao Shouzheng what to say. He only told him the bottom price and left the rest to him to express freely.

This made Mr. Zhao suffer. Asking a man like him to bargain was even more painful than killing him.

Then Zhao Shouzheng said with a chuckle: "Well... we have eight thousand taels, but one tael of silver equals one tael of sugar. This recipe is worth at least twenty thousand taels!"

Mr. Zhang shook his head decisively and said, "In my business, secret recipes are something that Chao Feng would not touch easily."

"That's right." The goatee-bearded court official also echoed, "Secret recipes are secret recipes. Once others see them, they are no longer secret recipes, so there is no way to verify them in advance. So even if the store takes on one or two recipes out of respect, they are all bought at a very low price from the owners of wealthy stores."

"Oh, so that's it..." Zhao Shouzheng stood up disappointedly and thought to himself, son, you guessed wrong this time, they don't accept this prescription at all.

Seeing that Zhao Shouzheng believed it, Chao Feng thought that he was going to make things worse, so he hurriedly asked Zhang Yuanwai, "What does the boss mean?"

"Brother, you've already asked me, how can I let him go back empty-handed?" Mr. Zhang worked well with him and immediately changed the subject. "Business is nothing more than human relations, do you understand?"

"Yes, yes, the master is right." Chao Feng was educated for a while, then he pulled Zhao Shouzheng and said, "Second Master Zhao is so lucky to have a friend like my master who is so generous and helpful. I really envy him."

"That's right." Zhao Shouzheng thought to himself, my son is really smart, they really did stop me.

Now he felt more at ease and asked more confidently, "How much are you willing to pay, brother?"

Mr. Zhang held up two fingers again.

ps. The moment of performance has come, there should be thunderous applause here (FirstFolio) Please vote for recommendation~~~~