manynovel Chapter 570 I'll Pay the Money
Chapter 570 I'll Pay the Money
Jiang Youzhen strolled around the market, bought some novel gadgets, and bought himself some ordinary pens and ink for daily use.
"You are so rude, shopkeeper. I just damaged your inkstone. You tell me how much money I will pay. Why are you saying such bad words?"
Suddenly, a familiar voice sounded. Jiang Youzhen was about to leave the shop selling four treasures of the study, but when he heard the voice, he turned around to look.
"My lord, is this about an inkstone? This is a valuable item sent to the Fourth Prince's residence. It is an ancient inkstone. Do you know how much it cost? This is not the point. The point is that the Fourth Prince's residence bought this inkstone. Antique items are hard to find. This is the Fourth Prince's favorite. What do you want me to give to compensate the Fourth Prince?"
The shopkeeper was so anxious that he almost cried. The inkstone was damaged. It happened that the Fourth Prince had asked people everywhere to buy an ancient inkstone. He finally found it. The prince also took a look and found that some places needed repairs. Unexpectedly, the inkstone was broken by the old woman next to the man.
Jiang Youzhen first saw a familiar figure. She did not rush forward to check, but stood aside and observed the situation here.
"This? You said it was for the Fourth Prince? Then why don't you put it away properly? It will easily get damaged if you leave it on a counter with so many people coming and going!"
The man was also speechless. Why don’t you keep such a precious thing away for yourself?
"Hey! Sir, this is my counter. I can put it wherever I like. How can you break it and still be so self-righteous?"
The shopkeeper was furious. Although he was also angry that the clerk put it in the wrong place, now that the inkstone was broken, he had to find someone to bear the Fourth Prince's anger, right?
The man sighed, "Okay! You decide how much money to pay! It's broken and can't be restored, so I can only pay money."
As he spoke, he picked up the broken inkstone on the table. When he saw that a corner of the inkstone had fallen off, he knew that he had to pay for it today.
"Xiaoyi, is this for the prince to use? Then, how much silver will I have to pay as compensation?" The old woman standing aside was trembling, her face full of regret.
"This inkstone has passed through several hands, and it cost a total of 1,600 taels of silver. We won't make it difficult for you. You pay the silver, and we will have to find a way to go to His Highness's residence to apologize and send other treasures to make amends!"
The shopkeeper sighed repeatedly. What was going on?
"What? Sixteen hundred taels?" the man exclaimed, his face full of disbelief.
"How can such a broken thing be worth so much silver? Are you trying to blackmail me?" The man looked at the dusty inkstone in his hand and couldn't believe it.
"We at Moyuzhai have always been fair in business, and there are many knowledgeable people in this shop. If you don't believe me, just ask someone and you will know. How could we destroy our own reputation?"
The shopkeeper was very angry. He even asked for less! If it weren't for the clean-handed appearance of the man in front of him, he would not have asked for less. After all, their boss certainly didn't intend to accept the money from His Highness for the other gift, so he just regarded it as an apology.
"Xiaoyi, what should we do? It's so expensive? One thousand six hundred taels?" The old lady trembled even more.
"It's all my fault. I really didn't do it by accident. I, an old woman, will die to atone for my sin..."
As the old lady was about to touch the door in front of her, she was stopped by the man.
"Mom! What are you doing? We'll just pay for it, don't think too hard."
"I say, old lady, you want to threaten us with death because you don't want to pay the money, right? If you die in our shop, then our Mo Yu Zhai will have to bear the reputation of forcing people to death. You are deliberately trying to make it impossible for our Mo Yu Zhai to gain a foothold in the capital!"
The shopkeeper was almost laughing out of anger. Do this mother and son have any shame?
"Boss, I don't have that much money on me right now. You tie me up and take me to the Fourth Prince's house, and I'll make amends to him. I'll pay whatever he says, and it doesn't matter if I take my worthless life."
"Do you think everyone can see the Fourth Prince? Can the Fourth Prince see you?" The shopkeeper felt unlucky in his heart. He still had to think about how to explain to his boss.
Jiang Youzhen squinted his eyes and was originally wondering how Fang Zhongyi got involved with the Fourth Prince. Now it seems that it was because of the inkstone incident.
"Tell me what you want! You can't compensate for the inkstone, and you're not willing to compensate for the silver. Forget about wanting to see the Fourth Prince, but I can see the official."
The shopkeeper said this and called to the waiter behind him. Fang Zhongyi sighed and was about to take out his badge from his pocket when a voice suddenly appeared beside him.
"Brother Fang!"
Fang Zhongyi turned around and was stunned when he saw the young man walking towards him.
Jiang Youzhen? Because he was suddenly transferred to the retest, he no longer lived in the original dormitory and was not allowed to move around the palace freely, so he was unable to see Jiang Youzhen again.
After the retest, he came back and heard that Jiang Youzhen had come to see him. But it was the day before the palace exam, so he didn't look for Jiang Youzhen again in order not to distract him.
I wanted to wait two days to look for an opportunity, but I didn't expect to encounter it today.
"Young Master Jiang!" Fang Zhongyi didn't know how to address this prospective Jinshi, so he could only call him Young Master.
"What a coincidence! I didn't expect to meet you here." Fang Zhongyi said this and suddenly remembered that he was in trouble. He was about to solve the trouble first, but Jiang Youzhen spoke.
"The shopkeeper's!"
"It's Young Master Jiang!" The shopkeeper naturally recognized Jiang Youzhen. Firstly, Jiang Youzhen was a frequent customer, and secondly, all the educated people knew Jiang Youzhen. He sold the four treasures of the study and was well-informed.
Besides, Jiang Youzhen, who won two prizes in a row, has already become famous, so as the shopkeeper, he certainly cannot be so lacking in vision.
"Brother Fang, I just overheard something. Could you please let me take a look at this inkstone?"
"Look here!" Fang Zhongyi said as he handed the inkstone to Jiang Youzhen.
Jiang Youzhen looked at it for a moment and found that the broken corner did not affect the grinding of ink, but it just did not look very beautiful.
However, if the edges are carefully carved, it should not be ugly.
"This is indeed a Duan inkstone, and it's an antique. A top-quality Duan inkstone is worth a fortune. This one isn't the best, but it's of good quality, and it's an antique. Shopkeeper Liu's asking price is fair, and it's not extortion."
Jiang Youzhen said something fair, the inkstone was priced at one thousand six hundred taels, which was indeed not expensive.
Manager Liu's face suddenly improved. "Mr. Jiang is fair. We at Moyuzhai never do such things. If it is just an antique, then this gentleman can buy it. But this inkstone is not ours. The Fourth Prince only asked Moyuzhai to repair it. He even paid for it. It is his now."
Shopkeeper Liu sighed repeatedly, and this time it was the boss who had to make amends.
Fang Zhongyi frowned immediately, he really didn't have that much money. The old lady snuggled up to Fang Zhongyi even more tightly, the shopkeeper just said that it was unlucky to die in the shop, she didn't even dare to die.
"I'll pay for the money." Jiang Youzhen said suddenly.