This was already the second time Shao Qing had referred to Song Jiyun as "Boss Song."
Yuan Yunzhong’s mouth corners twitched imperceptibly as he listened to Shao Qing, who was animatedly illustrating, "Ordinary people who want to sell goods have to rent a shop space. But not Boss Song! She went to the Silver House. Do you know what she did at the Silver House? She took a pair of plum vases, each a foot tall, and asked the Silver House’s manager how much they would offer if she pawned them. This shocked the manager on the spot.
"He didn’t even dare to discuss the price with Boss Song and directly called over their owner.
"That owner was willing to offer one thousand taels for the pair.
"Boss Song didn’t even bother to respond.
"Resultingly, that very night, during the busiest time by the Qinhuai River, they acted out a street play titled ’The Profligate Son Sells the Family Heirloom to Flatter a Brothel Girl, and the Feisty Bride Beats the Family-Wrecker and Snatches Back the Treasure in the Street.’
Yuan Yunzhong was astonished and sat upright.
Seeing this, Shao Qing chuckled and said, "You didn’t see that coming, did you?"
His smug expression looked as if he had orchestrated the event himself.
Yuan Yunzhong scoffed and asked, "What effort did you contribute to this matter?
Shao Qing immediately deflated like a pierced ball.
When it came to killing the mood, their young master could claim second place, and no one dared claim first.
"The next day, everyone in Nanjing City was talking about it, knowing that the heirloom plum vase of that wastrel was worth two thousand taels of silver," Shao Qing said, rekindling with excitement, "Within a few days, rumors spread that the clever wife secretly pawned that plum vase for five hundred taels of silver and ran off with her lover.
"Then people questioned, wasn’t that plum vase said to be worth two thousand taels? How come it was only pawned for five hundred?
"The most famous pawnshop in Nanjing City, Chao Feng, came out and said that if it were a pair, it would indeed be worth two thousand taels, but since there was only one, it would only be worth eight hundred taels.
"With this statement, everyone became even more curious and started to inquire about what was so special about this plum vase.
"Chao Feng then elaborately explained the features to everyone, counting them off.
"Only then did people realize that there was such a plum vase originating from the Song Family Kiln Factory in Jingde Town.
"Chao Feng even joked that if anyone could find the other one, they would certainly offer eight hundred silver taels for it.
"Everyone laughed, calling the pawnshop greedy.
"Yet, there were those crooked characters who, after hearing about this, tried their luck by taking other plum vases to the pawnshop to pawn.
"All were identified by the pawnshop as fake.
"Who knew that this situation would grow more and more intense, causing the pawnshop endless annoyance, so they simply placed a glass cover and displayed that plum vase in the middle of the pawnshop hall, letting everyone see the difference between an ordinary plum vase and one from the Song Family Kiln Factory in Jingde Town.
"Once the story was told by the sisters on the flower boats along the Qinhuai River, even more people went to see the plum vase."
At this point, he looked expectantly at Yuan Yunzhong and asked, "What do you think happened next?"
Yuan Yunzhong dismissively snorted and said, "The owner of the Silver House came knocking!"
Shao Qing stared blankly at him, then after a long moment asked, "How did you know?"
Yuan Yunzhong felt even more disdain for him and said, "Didn’t you mention the Silver House at the beginning?"
He then tapped on the large desk, reminding him to continue the story.
Shao Qing couldn’t help but regret, saying, "Would it have been better if I hadn’t mentioned the Silver House at the start?"
But if he hadn’t mentioned the Silver House from the beginning, how could he have told the story clearly?
Moreover, like pawnshops, the essence of Silver Houses was to make money. However, pawnshops deal with common people, pawning everyday items; Silver Houses, on the other hand, deal with the possessions of the wealthy, pawning large estates, shops, and properties. It’s just that ordinary people don’t know it.
Yuan Yunzhong, uninterested in reminding him, tapped on the desk again.
Shao Qing let out a low "oh" and said listlessly, "The owner of the Silver House is also a tough character. He directly brought a generous gift to visit Boss Song and said that Boss Song was a formidable person, asking how the porcelain was for sale?
"Boss Song didn’t set a price at first; he took him to the storeroom."
"That storeroom, I don’t know when, but Zhou Zheng and his team had cleaned and arranged everything neatly in a well-organized manner. It made the porcelain look very expensive at first glance.
"When the owner of the Silver House saw this, his eyes went wide.
"Then Boss Song named her price!"
He sighed, "All the porcelain, sold as a bundle, one fixed price, five hundred thousand taels!
"She even said that if she weren’t urgently waiting to use the money, she would squat in Nanjing City and slowly sell, not just for five hundred thousand taels, even one million taels could be made.
"The owner of the Silver House immediately went silent, paid a deposit of 100,000 taels of silver on the spot, and cleared the remaining payment by night, carefully transporting all the porcelain away."
As he spoke, he slumped into the Taishi Chair opposite Yuan Yunzhong, gazing at Cheng Chen and muttering, "My annual salary is only 1,310 taels, not even as much as a pair of Plum Vases by Boss Song.
"Now when I look at Boss Song, she isn’t just Boss Song anymore, but a golden person!
"Tell me, why didn’t she sell them separately? By doing all at once, she missed out on earning five hundred thousand taels.
"Boss Song really has a big hand!"
As he spoke, his spirits revived as he looked earnestly at Yuan Yunzhong, "So, Young Master, is it true that Boss Song said she would give you 100,000 taels of silver when you leave?!"
Yuan Yunzhong’s mouth twitched, and he had absolutely no desire to talk to him.
Isn’t time a cost?
Aren’t expenses in Nanjing a cost?
If they could sell everything in one go, why not do it?
The Silver House knows who the real wealthy people in Nanjing are, and they might even form a long-term partnership with Song Jiyun. Song Jiyun wouldn’t even have to go to Nanjing; she could directly send the goods there and save on transportation costs for carts and boats, not to mention the porcelain wouldn’t risk being damaged. What’s bad about that?
"When you went to Nanjing, did anyone mistreat Miss Song?" Yuan Yunzhong asked.
Shao Qing’s attention was immediately diverted.
He patted his chest, saying, "With me there, who dares to trouble Boss Song!"
He also told Yuan Yunzhong a joke, "When I accompanied Boss Song to see the pawnshop owner, the owner recognized me and thought our family wanted to pawn something. He discreetly suggested to me that if we were short on money, we could bring an empty box sealed with seals over. We could pawn it for as much silver as we needed and later redeem the box with the pawn ticket. It was utterly unnecessary to borrow from their Chao Feng."
He proudly said, "He must be blind in his dog eyes, does our family look short on silver? Not to mention, back when the old patriarch was in Yunnan-Guizhou...
Yuan Yunzhong shot him a cold glance.
Shao Qing quickly covered his mouth.
*
Back in her own courtyard, Song Jiyun comfortably washed her hair and took a hot bath, finally feeling revived.
Though Shao Qing had taken great care of her along the way, traveling by boat and horse was still physically demanding, and she had rushed continuously; she felt somewhat tired.
After combing her hair and changing her clothes, she and Song Jixue, who had been waiting outside her bathhouse, went to Madam Qian’s place.
It was only then that Madam Qian learned of her arrival.
Seeing her, tears welled up in her eyes as she grasped her hands, eager to know every detail.
Song Jiyun shared the essentials with her. Upon learning that the porcelain Song Jiyun had taken had arrived safely in Nanjing without any damage, and had all been sold in such a short period, she joyfully chanted "Amitabha Buddha" but then her face fell, and she cautiously asked, "You know I have given you a sister, right?"
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