It's hard to be a prodigal

The jade shop closed, and Le Lian went back to the shabby courtyard where he lived alone.

The day is very cold day by day, although it is not as cold as in the north, the cold wind at night is also a bit chilly.

Le Lian boiled a pot of water, poured it into a pig sack and put it under the blanket to keep warm, then went into the back room and brought out a set of polishing and carving utensils.

He has nimble fingers and has learned jewelry carving for several years. The gemstone earrings he gave to Jiang Zong before were also made by himself.

Le Lian didn't cut the stone, but slowly polished it from the outside to the inside. There was no emerald color on the outside, and the inside couldn't be seen even when the window was opened.

With the thinning of the stone skin, a piece of extremely transparent water color suddenly appeared.

Le Lian was startled, his hands became more stable, and he polished them patiently.

The stone skin was all removed, and inside was a piece of crystal-clear glazed jade that was the size of a quail egg. There were a few fine green flowers floating in the water-colored jade.

The quality of jadeite is from the best to the worst, and it is classified according to the glass type, ice type, glutinous rice type, and bean type. Generally speaking, the more transparent the better, the better the quality. If you buy such a treasure for 20 taels of silver, you can turn over the finished product. Hundreds of times.

Le Lian held the Wenrun jade into his palm in surprise, no wonder Jiang Zong stopped him from buying this stone, it turned out that there was a lot of mystery in it.

"All this time...Jiang Zong is...pretending to be incompetent?" Le Lian suddenly felt a sense of awe, and carefully hid the gemstone in a secret drawer. Since Jiang Zong was very interested in this stone, he definitely wouldn't Let it go, he is short of money, there is no time to polish it, so he has to contact a next family to make a move.

-

For several days in a row, the Lin family's jade shop was open as usual, and Jiang Zong's shop remained open.

As long as Jiang Zong is present, there is always a way to get others to buy the materials he wants him to buy.

For the whole seven days, among the ingredients that the guests brought out, the best quality was only one piece of violet, which Jiang Zong had never seen in his previous life, so it was unpredictable, and there were also a few glutinous ice seeds, which were quite satisfactory.

Later, Jiang Zong stopped joining in the fun, and listened to a little song in Maple Leaf Residence, while hiding from his second uncle.Several new girls and young masters came to Maple Leaf Residence. There was a young lady named Ming Li who was outstanding in appearance, with a soft and pleasant voice and slender and beautiful fingers.

Jiang Zong likes it very much, and often asks him to sing and play the piano.

The maids followed Jiang Zong, Gu Duo'er was clever, and when they saw Jiang Zong's eyes, they leaned over to listen to the order, and Jiang Zong whispered a few words in Gu Duo'er's ear.

"Yes, young master, please rest, this servant will definitely take care of it for you." Gu Duo'er's eyes lit up, she pulled Hua Petal and Hua Ya'er out of Maple Leaf Residence together, and went shopping.

The little sisters go shopping and gossiping. For a whole morning, the whole street was talking about the Lin family jade shop, saying that since the Lin family killed the head of the family, their reputation has become worse and worse. No one offered anything good on the day, and anyone who bet on it would be a fool.

Boss Lin drank tea in the back room and waited all day. The accountant took the account book and reported today's income.

The accountant's face was livid, and he said in a low voice: "There are fewer and fewer customers these days, and it hasn't opened until now."

Boss Lin sighed: "I don't know what's wrong with this batch of goods, why can't they be green?"

The accountant flipped through the ledger and said anxiously: "This batch of goods is backlogged in my hand, and the bank has come to urge the account several times. If the money is not paid, they will smash the store... We still owe the Jiang family 3 taels of silver, the young master of the Jiang family has come to urge him several times."

"Jiang Heng? Heh, the little guy who doesn't even grow hair still wants to pay. When he comes again, he will tell him that he has no money, and he still thinks that his Jiang family is a rich businessman with all hands and eyes. Once Mr. Jiang dies, the Jiang family will be ruined a long time ago." , just holding on." Boss Lin said disdainfully.

The accountant mentioned that Jiang Zong had sent a maid to come: "The young master of the Jiang family said that he wants to buy a batch of stones from us, but the premise is that each piece will be received at a price not higher than the cost price of five taels. Look..."

Boss Lin was furious, and sneered: "The prodigal son can also do business? Five taels, dreaming! Load all the goods, and we will go to Suzhou in three days. Jinzhou is a small place where people don't know much. How can we do stone gambling business?" .”

The accountant thought about it, and there was a way: "Just do as the master says."

Jiang Heng came to collect debts every day, and knocked on the door for a long time, but they refused to open, so he had to go home in disgrace.

Jiang Zong was waiting for him in the room, looking at Jiang Heng's homework these past few days, the child is still working hard.

"Back?" Jiang Zong took a sip of tea.

"Hmm..." Jiang Heng was so tired that he sank into the chair, "They still say they have no money. If we can get the money back, our Zongheng pawn shop can reopen, and our annual income will be guaranteed in the future."

Jiang Zong was quite satisfied, and the little scholar began to think of ways to make money.

"You want money?" Jiang Zong turned around and sat lazily on Jiang Heng's desk, "You have to think of a way, how can you get it with your mouth."

Jiang Heng was so tired that he couldn't open his eyes, he hummed softly: "Do you have a solution?"

Jiang Zong smiled, and whispered, "Do you know where the Lin family borrowed money from?"

Jiang Heng was stunned: "Shengyun Bank. That Chengyun who has a lot of contacts with gangsters."

Jiang Zong hissed: "Tell them, Boss Lin's stone betting business is booming these days and he has made a lot of money."

"Yes." Jiang Heng suddenly jumped up from his chair and ran out.

-

On the second day, Boss Lin and Mr. Accountant were loading jade wool onto the carriage, when they heard a commotion outside the lobby door, followed by a ferocious slamming on the door, and a few burly men outside slammed and shouted: "Lin Fusheng! Get out of here!" Come out! The 20 taels of loan owed to Cheng Yun has already passed the deadline for repayment! If you don’t pay it back today, you will directly destroy the Lin Family Jade Shop!”

Boss Lin rushed out to greet him, and at least asked Chengyun's thugs for a few more days, saying that he was planning to go to Suzhou, and he would pay back the money when the stones were sold out.

The big fellows were furious: "Who knows if you want to run away or sell goods? If you haven't paid the money, don't even think about going out of Jinzhou City!"

After serving a few burly men with good food and drink, they sent away a few big gods. The other party let go, and if they didn't pay the money within three days, they came to pay with a knife.

Boss Lin was covered in cold sweat, and with a mournful face, he asked the accountant to deliver invitations to Jiang Zong, took out 3 taels of silver notes from the surplus of the past few days, and said that he would invite Young Master Jiang to Yingchun Building for a light meal.

-

Jiang Heng received the invitation, and when he opened it and saw the 3 taels of silver, he almost cried, and happily ran into the back room to show his brother.

"Jiang Zong! Jiang Zong! Look, they actually paid back the money!" Jiang Heng happily tugged at Jiang Zong's sleeves, "Zongheng's pawnshop can now open!"

"Shhh, don't worry." Jiang Zong flipped through the ledger casually, "3 taels is enough to open the pawnshop. It's a pretty good idea. It's not even enough for tea."

Jiang Heng asked him: "Lin Fusheng invited you to Yingchun Building for a light meal, will you go?"

Jiang Zong waved his hand: "Didn't you see that I was busy? Tell Gu Duo'er to call back, just say that I'm sick, and ask him to wait for two days."

Jiang Zong thought about Zhang Luo's need for debt, firstly because he was really short of money, and secondly because something happened to the Lin family in his previous life, if the debt was left until then, he would never come back.

-

After waiting for two days in a row, on the third day, Boss Lin was fidgeting, thinking of other ways to get rid of the jade, and hoping that Jiang Zong could see him quickly.

The worst case is to sell them at a price that is five taels higher than the cost price. That’s okay. They spent more than 20 taels to purchase the goods, and there is still a backlog of rough stones worth 2000 yuan in the warehouse. After repaying the debt owed to Chengyun Bank, he can make a lot of money both inside and outside.

On the night of the third day, Jiang Zong sent a maid to invite Boss Lin to Yingchun Restaurant.

Jiang Zong brought Jiang Heng here, intending to personally teach him how to negotiate business at the wine table.

After the banquet, Jiang Zong was not in a hurry to mention the purchase of stone materials, he should eat and drink, chatted with Boss Lin from time to time, and flattered each other for a while.

Jiang Heng couldn't sit still, after drinking for three rounds, the food was almost cold, and the elder brother still didn't ask for business, he was so anxious to death.

Boss Lin was more anxious than Jiang Heng, he was like an ant on a hot pot, his buttocks seemed to be sitting on a charcoal brazier, moving around.

Finally couldn't bear it anymore, he opened his mouth politely, and said with a polite smile: "Master Zong, I see that you are very knowledgeable about gambling stones. To tell you the truth, we bought the goods from Bagan, and the quality is definitely not bad. You have good eyesight, if you are also interested in the jade business, I will bear the pain and give you 300 taels per piece, okay?"

Jiang Zong laughed: "Don't tease me, the purchase price of your good-quality stone is only 100 taels, not counting those small and useless ones, and someone has to take them for free. Besides, I'm just playing around, 300 taels per piece, I can get a hundred or so at most, aren't you kidding me?"

Boss Lin rubbed his hands together: "Let me tell Lord Zong that our stone is indeed a good sale. I will give you five taels higher than the purchase price, and each piece is two hundred and five taels. What do you think?"

He still raised the price fiercely. Although Bagan is rich in jade, it is not civilized. People are busy filling their stomachs, and they don’t regard rough jadeite as a good thing, and sell it as cheap as a stone.Boss Lin thought that since this batch of goods couldn't be released, it meant there was no future, so it's better to get rid of it as soon as possible.

Jiang Zong tapped his palm with a folding fan: "100 taels, I'll take 2000 yuan."

Boss Lin's face was not very good-looking, and he forced a smile and said, "Don't, Master Zong, are you deliberately trying to make my business impossible?"

Jiang Zong stopped talking nonsense and bit the price to death: "20 taels, delivery is made, I'll give cash."

Jiang Heng choked, where did he get so much cash?

Boss Lin's face became extremely ugly.

"It's fine if it doesn't work. If it's not a business, there is righteousness. I'm just playing around anyway." With a smile in his eyes, Jiang Zong got up and left.

Jiang Zong deliberately delayed until the deadline Cheng Yun gave to Boss Lin, just to make Boss Lin dare not bargain hard. He was in a hurry to ask for money, but he didn't let him lose a lot of money. There was no reason for it.

Seeing that Jiang Zong really didn't have the heart to deal with him, Boss Lin called out and said earnestly: "Master Zong, stay for 150 taels, you can't let me drink the northwest wind."

Jiang Zong pretended not to hear, walked towards the carriage, put his arms around Jiang Heng's slender shoulders, and whispered to him: "Why are you in a hurry, you just can't be in a hurry when doing business, you have to be patient to make great things happen, brat , you still have a lot to learn."

Jiang Heng was stunned by Jiang Zong's operation of a set of old fritters from beginning to end today, and asked him tremblingly: "When did you learn to do business? No, 20 taels of cash! We can't get it out even if we sell the house." That much money, I don't...I don't sleep on the street with you..."

Jiang Zong didn't take it seriously: "Money is dead, but people are alive. Is your head used to cook porridge?"

Boss Lin chased after him in a hurry, panting, "100 taels, just 100 taels, 2000 yuan of stones, I'll get the goods for Master Zong tonight, okay?"

Jiang Zong stopped and looked back, and smiled politely: "Okay, I'll go back and prepare money for you."

-

In a single room under Yingchun Building, Le Lian lay quietly by the window, his eyes fixed on Jiang Zong and Boss Lin not far away.

"Wow." Le Lian looked at Jiang Zong with very confused eyes.