Chapter 23: Silver!

  Xu Yuansuo had read "Dream of the Red Chamber" and naturally knew that no matter what project a wealthy family had, it was divided among their relatives and managers to do, and this task only had a budget, without any compensation.

  Where does the remuneration of the staff come from? Of course, it is to make full use of the budget and then get a rebate. This is not only an implicit rule, but even can be said to be an explicit rule, and when the master himself makes the budget, he will also include the part of the rebate.

  "Don't be in a hurry." Xu Yuansuo said: "At present, we can't handle large sums of money. If we take advantage of that little bit and lose the trust of our master, it's not worth it."

  Niu Dalì looked at Xú Yuánzuǒ with a different gaze and said: "I didn't think you knew how to cast a long line to catch big fish."

  Xu Yuansuo smiled and thought to himself: You can't understand the great benefits that "loyalty" and "integrity" bring!

  As a modern business magnate, those sinister and cunning things have long been familiar. If only stopping at this point, then this person can only become a disgusting little trick. Only by understanding the greatness of positive emotions can one make a name for oneself in the business world.

  So Xu Yuansuo not only did not plan to embezzle now, but also never thought of embezzling in the future. Unfortunately, such a noble sentiment would only bring about Niu Dali's incomprehension, and even self-abasement.

  Niu Dalì led Xu Yuansuo to turn over two streets, and a small river appeared in front of them. The shops along the riverbank were obviously much larger than those on the street just now, and they all had two or three courtyards behind them. Many shop doors had the words "Qīng Yín" written on them, and Xu Yuansuo only then knew that this kind of shop was called a Qīng Yín shop, although saying silver shop didn't seem to cause any misunderstanding either.

  "Second Uncle, business has arrived." As soon as he entered the door, Niu Dali shouted loudly.

  Xu Yuansuo followed behind him, really wanting to kick his butt.

  The counter of the Qīng Yín Pù was divided into two parts by a counter. In front, there were chairs and tea tables for customers to rest. Behind, it was naturally the working area of the partners, and also connected to the warehouse and wing room in the back. Perhaps the owner's family lived here too.

  An Zhanggui raised his head, slightly tilted it, bypassed Niu Dali, and expressionlessly asked: "Want to pour? Want to sell?"

  Xu Yuansuo hastily stepped aside and said, "We will divide these two large ingots into five-liang ingots."

  An Zhanggui let Xu Yuansuo put the silver on the counter, took it in his hand and weighed it, with a look of surprise on his face.

  Xu Yuansuo suddenly felt a bit uneasy, his eyes fixed on the silver in An Zhuang's hand, even remembering the position of the holes on top, fearing that he would switch it.

  An Zhanggui put the silver ingot under his nose and sniffed it repeatedly, even licked it with a look of disgust, then threw it on the counter and said in a cold tone: "It's fake."

  Xu Yuansuo hastily picked up the silver ingot and carefully compared it with the holes in his memory, and indeed there was no substitution.

  It was precisely because there was no substitution that Xu Yuansuo's heart became even heavier. Because these two silver ingots were handed over from Xu Cheng, and he absolutely did not exchange them, so the root of the problem lies with Xu Cheng.

  He first ruled out the possibility of Xu Cheng betraying him.

  It's not easy to find a reliable person in this era, and everyone has to be on their guard. So the middleman is crucial. Lu Fuzi is also a respected figure in Zhu Li, and Xu Cheng is also a worldly-wise person. How could he possibly cheat him for just thirty taels of silver? Moreover, since Lu Fuzi knew that the Xu family was poor, even if he wanted to collude with Xu Cheng to set up a trap, he wouldn't have chosen him.

  Then there is only one possibility, Xu Cheng was also deceived by someone.

  The prevalence of counterfeit silver in the Ming dynasty is an undeniable fact recorded in historical books.

  During the Jingtai period, the court's reward to Esen included three taels of counterfeit silver, which caused the Mongols to make a scene and embarrassed the Ming court. By the time of the Jiajing period, China's chemical industry had developed to the point where concentrated sulfuric acid was available, so making counterfeit silver by plating lead or copper with tin was not exactly cutting-edge technology.

  Xu Yuansuo didn't care who had deceived Xu Cheng, the key was that this matter would end up in his own hands, which was really hard to accept.

  "An Zhanggui," Xu Yuansuo asked aloud, "How did you tell that this was counterfeit silver?"

  "Take a look." An Zhanggui said gruffly.

  This time even Niu Dalì had doubts.

  Taking two ingots of fake silver to exchange at someone's store, indeed has a suspicion of fraud!

  Xu Yuansuo had no choice but to bring out his "dumb and stupid" talent again, with a sincere expression: "Boss An, this is the first task assigned to me by my master. You have a keen eye for spotting fakes, and if it's fake, you'll definitely say so. But how can I go back and explain to my master?"

  An Zhanggui's expression slightly cleared, but he still had that stiff look on his face. He pulled over a nearby salesclerk and said, "You come tell him why this is fake silver."

  That fellow seemed to have received great favor, trembling with fear, he went forward and picked up the big ingot, also put it under his nose to smell, and licked it again, looking like he wanted to sprinkle some salt and take another bite.

  "Master, this is copper mixed in with silver medicine." The apprentice respectfully said to An Zhanggui: "Because it has a salty flavor, upon closer inspection, there's a smell of copper."

  "You knew it was fake silver." An Zhuanggui scolded his apprentice, "I told you to look at the color first! This is 97% silver with fine patterns. When you come across such good silver, the first thing to do is suspect that copper has been mixed in."

  The apprentice bowed repeatedly: "Master's teachings are correct. Thank you, Master, for pointing it out."

  An Zhanggui took a look at Xu Yuansuo's wooden expression and asked his apprentice: "Do you know whose family made this fake?"

  "This medicine has a salty taste, it's either from Suzhou's Guan family or Jiaxing's Hu family." said the apprentice.

  An Zhanggui swiftly picked up a wooden ruler from the counter and slapped it onto the apprentice's face, instantly leaving a bloody mark.

  Xu Yuansuo was stunned: It's already standing in the cabinet, and it still has to suffer such abuse!

  "You good-for-nothing! I've taught you so many times, yet you still can't remember! If I let you muddle through like this and become a master, won't you end up squandering the entire fortune of the Eastern House? And trample on my face in the process!" Manager An berated loudly.

  The apprentice hastily knelt down: "Master, calm your anger, don't get angry and hurt your body."

  An Zhanggui's anger came and went quickly. Seeing that his apprentice was still quite filial, he calmed down and asked: "When were these silver coins minted?"

  Xu Yuansuo was about to answer "I don't know", when his apprentice said: "It was cast three years ago."

  Xu Yuansuo was shocked: What kind of scientific principle is this? Isn't the oxidation level of silver supposed to be related to the preservation environment?!

  "It was three years ago that the silver was cast in the imperial capital's inner warehouse!" An Zhanggui announced the answer, and then said: "The medicine of Chen Changshi from Baoding, initially smells sweet, but after a long time it becomes salty!"

  The apprentice was instantly grateful and tearfully bowed his head, saying: "Thank you, Master, for your guidance."

  Xu Yuansuo gently wiped the sweat from his forehead and couldn't help but ask: "An Zhanggu, how did you figure this out?"

  "The style, the craftsmanship, and even the dosage of medicine are all different every year." An Zhanggui was stingy with his words to outsiders, but he only revealed this because Xu Yuansu had befriended that apprentice who got beaten.

  Xu Yuansuo let out a sigh and said, "The matter of the silver is indeed profound." He paused for a moment, then continued, "An Zhanggui, in your opinion, how much real silver do you think there is inside?"

  "This big ingot," said An Zhanggui, waving his hand, "must be at least 90% genuine."

  "That's only thirteen taels and five mace left." Xu Yuansuo calculated in his heart, secretly sighing: Indeed, unexpected wealth comes quickly and goes quickly, it can't be helped that I still have to make up for it myself.

  "An Zhanggui," Xu Yuansuo brought out his first bucket of gold, "Please melt this silver ingot or make it into six five-liang pieces."

  An Zhanggui didn't move, but stared straight at Xu Yuansuo. Not only did An Zhanggui look like he was in a trance, but the other apprentices in the shop also looked at Xu Yuansuo as if they were watching something strange.

  Xu Yuansuo looked back at An Zhanggui with a slightly bewildered expression.