When the words left his mouth, he suddenly realized what he had said and almost jumped up in shock, covering his money bag and quickly taking three steps back, “Young, young master, just now I, I was talking in my sleep, you, don’t take it to heart.”
Gu Yi said without mercy, “It’s over, I’ve taken it to heart.”
Xiao Si regretted that he wanted to slap his mouth twice, the young master was already thinking about his silver ticket, now it was too good to keep the only ticket he had.
The first time I saw him crying, Gu Yi beckoned towards him, Xiao Si came forward like a brave man, and was about to take out the silver ticket, when Gu Yi knocked him on the head with a chestnut, “Young master I have plenty of silver, keep your little silver ticket.”
Xiao Si’s eyes suddenly lit up, “Young master, you actually hid the silver tickets!”
Gu Yi knocked another chestnut on his head, “Shut up.”
Xiao Si meekly shut his mouth, but in his heart he was pleased that his young master was not stupid enough to know that he had hidden the silver tickets, then he thought of something else and took a step faster to follow Gu Yi’s pace, “Young master, since you have all the silver tickets, can you return the ones you took from me this morning?”
Gu Yi lifted his foot this time, and Xiao Si nimbly scurried to the side, “I’m just saying, don’t take it to heart, young master.”
The two of them walked half a street and then entered a jewellery shop.
The shop was very large and there were quite a few women picking out jewellery.
As soon as the two Gu Yi entered, they were greeted by a fellow, who saw that he was just a child of about ten years old, and after a moment’s daze, he quickly regained his enthusiasm, “This gentleman, what kind of jewellery do you want to buy?”
“For little girls.”
“Do you want something more expensive, or something cheaper? Our shop has silver, gold, jade and amber.”
“The usual ones are fine.”
The mate had a plan in mind and led him to the counter, taking out the jewellery for him to see.
Gu Yi glanced over and saw nothing that looked good to his eyes and shook his head, “Any more?”
“Yes, there is, but it’s a bit more expensive.”
“Take it out and I’ll have a look.”
The mate brought out some more, but Gu Yi was still not satisfied, “Are there any better ones?”
“These are the ones that little girls wear, then there are hairpins and beaded hair clips.”
“Bring them to me.”
With the experience he had just had, the man didn’t take the inferior ones and brought out the good ones directly. Made of pure gold, the butterfly was lifelike, with wings as thin as cicada wings, and when it moved slightly, the wings swayed as if it was really going to fly.
“I’ll take this one, how much silver?”
“This one is made of pure gold, it’s more expensive, two thousand taels.”
“You wrap it up for me, I’ll go and get the silver.”
The mate happily answered and Gu Yi led Xiao Si out of the jewellery shop.
Seeing that he was able to buy two thousand taels of jewellery at once, Xiao Si thought he had hidden a lot of money and said happily, “Young master, it’s still you who think long term and know to hide some silver notes up.”
Gu Yi ignored him and looked into the distance and saw a big “pawn” hanging on a pole in front of him, so he lifted his foot and walked towards it.
It was only when he reached the door of the pawnshop that Xiao Si reacted and stopped him in a panic, “Young master, no, you can’t go in and pawn anything.”
Everything the young master had on him had been carefully chosen by the master and madam, and was unique, if not valuable.
Gu Yi peeled away the hand, “It’s just a temporary mortgage, when I go back, I’ll just have someone come and redeem it.”
Xiao Si was determined not to let go, this was the capital city, not the county, what if the stuff was sold by the pawn shop during the days of redemption? It wasn’t as if this hadn’t happened before, he had heard it said several times in his own restaurant alone.
Gu Yi did not care, “If it’s sold, it’s sold, just buy it again later.”
Xiao Si still blocked it, saying nothing to let him in, “Young master, let’s think of another way. Why don’t we send someone back now to ask the master for silver and come back two days later to buy it?”
Gu Yi was a little upset, but still gave him patience, “Little girl is so smart, if I send someone back she will surely guess, this is a surprise I am giving her, I can’t let him know.”
Xiao Si still stopped it and Gu Yi sank his face, “Get out of the way!”
Young master, you have to think twice, this pawnshop is a place that eats people and eats silver, even if the things you pawn are worth a lot of money, they won’t give you a high price, they might only give you a few dozen silver taels, even if you pawn everything you have, you won’t have enough for two thousand silver taels, let’s send someone back.”
Gu Yi waved his hand away with force and walked in.
The old courtier at the pawnshop raised his eyes slightly and lowered his head again.
He had seen a lot of wealthy young men who came here, all of them dressed like human beings to hold up appearances, in the vain hope of pawning some more silver.
Gu Yi did not go straight over to the window, but sat down on a chair prepared for the guests at one side and absently unhooked the jade pendant from his waist and placed it in the tray on the table.
Still an old hand at pawning things, the old courtier sighed in his heart and gave the mate a wink. The servant walked over to him, “Sir, is this jade pendant you want to pawn?”
Gu Yi’s body shifted back and leaned against the back of his chair, the rich gentleman’s faction posed to the full, “What else, young master I come up here to play with you?”
The mate choked.
The old courtier looked over again.
The mate bent down to carry the tray away, “Wait a moment, my lord.”
Xiao Si was uneasy and followed him over.
The mate handed in the jade pendant through the window.
The old courtier picked it up, and after just one glance, he looked at it with a different expression, but after all, he had been a courtier for many years, so he quickly steadied himself and looked it over “carelessly” before putting it back into the tray, “Fifty taels.”
Xiao Si reached out and took the jade pendant back, it had been given to him by the master on the young master’s birthday last year, and he had personally heard the master tell the madam that it had cost tens of thousands of taels.
Gu Yi snorted, “I say, old man, are you blind, or are you blind? This jade pendant of mine is of ten per cent colour and ten per cent water, and it’s worth fifty taels?”
It wasn’t a ten percent loser yet, but since he could enter a pawnshop, he thought his family must be going downhill too. The old courtier also gave a laugh, “Fifty taels still depends on the silver you’re waiting for, if you’re not satisfied, go out and turn left, take your time!”
Gu Yi really stood up, “I originally saw that your shop was very big and thought that it must be sincere, but I didn’t expect that the shop would bully the customers.”
After saying that, he lifted his feet and walked out.
The old courtier hurriedly gave his mate a wink.
Having worked together for many years, the fellow naturally understood the meaning of the old courtier’s wink, so he came forward to block Gu Yi, “Sir, don’t rush to leave first, how much silver do you want to pawn?”
“Two thousand taels, not a penny less.”
“Impossible.”
The old courtier flatly refused, “I will give you an additional fifty taels at most.”
Gu Yi continued to walk out the door when the fellow stopped him again, “Don’t be in a hurry, we’ll discuss it again.”