Chapter 571
Pawnbroking
Outside Zhengyang Gate.
Chen Ji rode aimlessly along the cobblestone path, the setting sun casting a long, slanted shadow across the street. Passersby, noticing his striking robe adorned with a qilin emblem, glanced away, yet couldn't resist turning back to peek.
Few people in the capital recognized his appearance, but the Qilin robe was unique in the Ning Dynasty.
A gust of wind swept across the street corner, carrying with it scattered whispers: "Have you heard? The Qi family has brought those two纨绔 (playboys) into their mansion..."
"Now Viscount Wu Xiang will have nowhere to get money, won't he?"
Under the eaves of a gray-tiled house by the roadside, several scholars in blue robes stroked their beards and nodded: "Qi Jia's actions, unafraid of the tyranny of the eunuch faction, and protecting the sons of good families, are a model for our Confucian community."
Across the street, at a meat stall, the butcher wiped his knife and sneered, "What are you pretending to be? One openly robs, the other secretly protects; who's cleaner?"
"However, this time Viscount Wu Xiang is probably unable to save Princess Bai Li. He can't fight city hall."
Chen Ji seemed completely oblivious, simply sitting in the saddle, his body swaying with the horse as if he might fall off at any moment, lost in thought.
It wasn't until sunset that Chen Ji slowly returned to Shaojiu Hutong. Two small lanterns were hung in front of the door, making it look somewhat like home.
As soon as he entered, Xiaoman took a white cloth and patted the dust off his clothes, carefully observing his expression as she did so: "Is the young master alright?"
Chen Ji said casually, "You've heard about it?"
Xiaoman nodded: "It's all over the place, everyone's saying the Qi family has made a move, and even if you're fierce, young master, you can't do anything to the Qi family... Don't worry, young master, there's definitely another way. Tonight I made your favorite pan-fried tofu and stir-fried eggs with chives, they were delicious."
As she spoke, she went into the kitchen, brought out the food, forced the chopsticks into Chen Ji's hands, and then pressed Chen Ji down next to the table.
Chen Ji sat at the table, picked up a piece of tofu with his chopsticks, but didn't put it in his mouth for a long time: "Xiao Man, what about the things the palace bestowed upon us earlier? One hundred taels of gold and one thousand taels of silver, ten horses and this house."
Xiaoman was taken aback: "What does the young master want to do?"
Chen Ji thought for a moment: "Tomorrow, go and convert the gold into silver. One hundred taels of gold should be worth one thousand five hundred taels of silver... How much silver can this house be sold for?"
Xiaoman thought for a moment: "The area outside Donghua Gate is already the best location in the eastern part of the inner city. A house like this can sell for 2,800 taels of silver. But you can't rush to sell a house. You have to find a suitable buyer. If you don't, sometimes it can take half a year to sell it."
Chen Ji didn't eat any of the vegetables, but absentmindedly picked up a piece of rice with his chopsticks and put it to his mouth: "Go to the pawnshop to pawn it."
Xiaoman's eyes widened: "Young master, it's quick to pawn the house, but pawnshops are too greedy. They dare to only give 1,500 taels for a house worth 2,800 taels, and the 'live pawn' has a monthly interest rate of nine percent, compounding interest. It's easy to pawn the house, but it will be difficult to redeem it."
Chen Ji pondered for a moment: "What else in this house can be used as collateral?"
Xiaoman lowered her head and started counting on her fingers: "The furniture in this house is excellent. Each of those old-fashioned chairs is worth fifty taels of silver, and there's also a table. But young master, these are all imperial gifts. To pawn them without permission is to be exiled."
Chen Ji shook his head: "We can't worry about that now."
Xiaoman gave a soft "oh": "We just got a new home. With such a huge shortage of silver, how about I take Tianzun to breed? It's so smart, maybe we can earn several taels of silver per breeding session with a high-ranking official..."
Before she could finish speaking, the dark cloud had already jumped onto her shoulder, aimed at her head, and punched her twice with its claws.
Xiaoman covered her twin buns and complained, "Didn't the Heavenly Venerable see me trying to make the young master happy?"
Only then did the dark clouds let her go.
While eating, Xiaoman secretly observed Chen Ji's absent-minded appearance. Finally, she gritted her teeth, put down her chopsticks, and went to her west wing to retrieve a wooden box: "Inside are the land deeds for the fertile fields of Changping, as well as the house deeds for Gufulou, Tianbaoge, and Baoxiang Bookstore. Young master, take them and pawn them."
Chen Ji was somewhat surprised: "These are what I promised you before, you don't need to give them to me."
Xiaoman opened the box, revealing the house deeds inside, and sighed, "My aunt said that when you encounter difficulties, a neutral friend is an enemy, and a neutral enemy is a friend. If you've done all that, then you shouldn't take over this house, otherwise the censor will impeach you again."
Chen Ji repeatedly confirmed, "Are you really willing to give it up?"
Xiaoman pounded her chest and took a deep breath: "You really went for it."
Chen Ji smiled and closed the wooden box: "Then I'll take it to the pawnshop to pay for the silver."
Xiaoman was heartbroken: "Young master, won't you refuse again? This is all the family business that my aunt worked so hard to build up! Do you know how hard it was for me to clean up that mess at Gufulou? Everyone there was a parasite. And that Tianbaoge, the manager just took advantage of his seniority to fool me..."
Chen Ji asked curiously, "How did you deal with them?"
The young monk suddenly said, "If someone doesn't listen to her, she threatens them, saying, 'If you dare to fool me again, my young master will kill you all.' The other person gets scared on the spot. It's hard to say whether other young masters kill people, but her young master has really killed hundreds of people."
Chen Ji slowly looked at Xiao Man, who quickly said guiltily, "I'll go wash the dishes."
After she took all the dishes to the kitchen, she didn't forget to come back and pinch the little monk's waist, making him wince in pain.
……
……
Fourth day.
Chen Ji changed into a gray cloth outfit early in the morning and went out, carrying the wooden box, first heading to Li Ji Pawnshop outside Donghua Gate.
He looked up at the signboard, stepped over the high threshold, and found the interior dimly lit.
A pungent smell of stale ink mixed with camphor wafted over. The counter was ridiculously high, its surface made from a single piece of elm wood, polished to a gleaming shine. Behind the counter sat an old shopper, carefully examining the yellow patina on a Hetian jade thumb ring in the dim light. Hearing footsteps, the shopper didn't even look up, drawing out his words, "What can I do for you, sir?"
Chen Ji placed the wooden box on the counter and opened it, revealing a stack of contracts inside.
The magistrate then looked up, slowly extending two fingers to pick up the top land deed: 500 mu of fertile land in Changping.
He held the contract up to the light, carefully examining the seal, the edges, and the paper texture. After a long while, he slowly said, "The land in Changping is too far from the capital; it's not worth much."
Chen Ji remained silent.
The clerk picked up the deed for the Gu Fu Lou building again: "I've heard of this building before. It used to be very popular, and it was hard to find a place there. But in recent years, business has plummeted, and it's not worth much anymore."
Chen Ji remained silent.
Old Chao Feng looked through the bills one by one, and when he picked up Baoxiang Bookstore, he curled his lip slightly: "Baoxiang Bookstore? It's not worth much."
When Chao Feng saw the deed for Tianbao Pavilion, his eyes lit up. Before he could examine it closely, Chen Ji had already snatched the deed away.
The old clerk peered at Chen Ji through the counter: "Are you the owner of Tianbao Pavilion, sir?"
Chen Ji calmly replied, "Yes."
The old swindler asked again, "I didn't get a good look just now. Is this a red contract or a white contract, sir?"
Chen Ji, standing outside the counter, replied, "Red Contract."
Old Chao nodded: "Red contracts are good."
A red contract is an official contract stamped by the government, while a white contract is a private contract, and their values differ significantly.
The old swindler rolled his eyes: "Sir, would you be willing to split Tianbao Pavilion into individual items for separate pawning?"
Chen Ji shook his head: "No, let's do it together."
"To pawn alive or to pawn dead?"
"It works."
“That’s for urgent cash needs, a temporary loan,” the old pawnbroker stroked his beard, pulled out an ebony abacus from under the counter, and started clicking away, muttering to himself, “Five hundred mu of land in Changping, valued as top-grade, is worth fifteen taels per mu. But since you need money urgently, my pawnshop will give you seventy percent. The Gu Fu Lou occupies half a mu and would originally be worth five thousand taels, but since the building is old, I’ll give you another twenty percent, making it four thousand taels.”
He calculated extremely slowly, glancing at Chen Ji every time he finished a calculation.
Chen Ji simply stood quietly, his expression calm.
After calculating to the last minute, the old magistrate pushed the abacus forward and peered through the gap in the railing at Chen Ji: "Sir, all of these are worth this much. If it weren't for Tianbao Pavilion, they wouldn't even be worth this much."
He held up four fingers.
Chen Ji looked at him.
The old clerk said slowly, "Forty thousand taels. This is a flexible pawn, with a monthly interest rate of nine percent and a term of six months. If you don't redeem it after the term, the item will be returned to the counter."
Forty thousand taels.
Xiaoman once said that if these properties were sold normally, they would fetch at least 60,000 taels of silver, and Tianbao Pavilion alone would be worth 40,000 taels of silver.
Chen Ji pondered for a moment: "Too low."
“Sir,” the old clerk leaned back, tapping his fingers lightly on the counter, “our Li’s is a century-old establishment, honest and fair to all, young and old. If you don’t believe me, you can go out and ask around the whole capital; who else can offer a higher price?”
He pulled a purple clay teapot from under the counter, took a sip from the spout, and squinted his eyes: "If you think it's acceptable, sir, we'll write a pawn ticket right now. If not..."
The old magistrate gestured to those outside the door, indicating that they were free to proceed.
Chen Ji stood outside the counter: "Forty-five thousand."
The old swindler said with a sneer, "Sir, forty thousand taels, not a penny more. If you want to buy, we'll write the ticket right now. If not, the door's over there."
Chen Ji remained silent for a long time before replying, "Yes."
Old Master Chao beamed. He spread out a sheet of pawn paper, took out a wolf-hair brush, and densely wrote on it: "I hereby pawn five hundred mu of farmland in Changping County, one shop at Gufulou, one shop at Tianbaoge, and one shop at Baoxiang Bookstore, for a total of forty thousand taels of silver. The monthly interest rate is nine percent, and the term is six months. If insects or rats eat it, so be it. If it is lost due to water, fire, or theft, this pawnshop is not responsible. We only accept the pawn ticket, not the person. If it is not redeemed by the due date, it can be sold at will..."
After writing, he blew on the ink to dry it and took out four small seals from under the counter. One was the seal of "Li's Pawnshop", one was the seal of "Duty Officer", and one was the seal of "Insects and Rats Damaged Property".
With all three stamps affixed, the pawn ticket is ready.
The old magistrate handed the pawn ticket and four strings of Buddhist coins to Chen Ji, smiling as he said, "Sir, interest on live pawns is calculated daily. If you wish to redeem them, you'd better do it soon."
Chen Ji turned and left without any hesitation. He now had 240,000 taels of silver, but still had more than half of it left.
He didn't want to waste any more time here; he had many other things to do. (End of Chapter)