Chapter Fourteen White Collar

  "Welcome to our store!"

  Chen Xing had just walked to the vicinity of the pawnshop when he heard a shout from in front. It was Cai Zhanggui, accompanied by his young son, hanging up the shop sign outside the store. Chen Xing had come here several times before, but only now did he notice the name of the shop - it was called "Dongyuan".

  Chen Xin hurried over to help, Cai Zhanggui's youngest son was 16 years old, named Cai Shenju, who looked relatively mature and even had a beard. Cai Zhanggui asked him to call Chen Xin "big brother", but he unwillingly muttered something that no one could hear clearly.

  Children of this age are in a rebellious period, inferior and self-loving, like to wrap themselves up with a rebellious appearance, but actually just need to be praised a few times to easily break through this shell.

  Chen Xin warmly grasped his hand and said, "So you're the young master, taught by your father and mother. It's no wonder you're different from others. Just look at how handsome and composed you are. I'll say something that might be considered impolite: my junior brother will definitely achieve far more than you in the future."

  Now that's said, the young son finally saw a smile on his face. Cai Zhanggui naturally wouldn't mind his son being stronger than him either. He chuckled and said: "You don't have to praise him anymore, as long as he can settle down early and not let me worry, it's already good enough." Then he turned to Cai Shengjiu and said: "Don't you call Chen Dagong yet? Your Chen Dagong is a scholar who has passed the imperial examination. If you could be half as accomplished as your Chen Dagong, I would thank the Bodhisattva."

  Chen Xinyi heard this and immediately put himself and Cai Shenhou on opposing sides, which was not conducive to unity. He hastily took over the conversation and said to Cai Shenhou: "Big brother is a few years older than me, so I'll call you 'older brother' out of respect. But in my heart, I really admire you - look at how Master and Mistress care for you, and yet you're still young but able to work and support the family financially. Your big brother is still idling around at home, doing nothing. If there's anything you need from me, just let me know. However, when you become an official and get rich in the future, don't forget about your older brother!"

  At his age, a young man would immediately become proud when someone mentions his strengths. Cai Shenji heard this and began to address Chen Xin as "Big Brother Chen".

  With the rebellious period easily resolved, Cai Zhanggui also hung up the sign. After getting down from the stool, he reminded Chen Xin: "The first thing to do when opening the door is to hang the sign well, remember not to drop it on the ground, it's meant to scare away the god of wealth. If the master sees this, you'll lose your job."

  Chen Xin hastily accepted the lesson. There were still many ancient rules to break. The three of them then took down all the door boards together, and this marked the beginning of a new day.

  At this time, there was another apprentice in the store who was moving and arranging sea cucumbers to replenish the goods. Manager Cai called him over and introduced Chen Xin to him. The man's name was Lu You, from Shandong Province, honest and reliable. Old Cai casually called out to him, and after a few sentences of conversation with Chen Xin, he learned that Lu also lived on Second Avenue, but rented a house.

  The Dongyuan Pawnshop has only a few people, and at night there is another person named Old Wang who guards the shop, but he is not present during the day. The entire shop is located in the south of a three-courtyard house. Cai Zhanggui told Chen Xin that he can only move around in the first courtyard, while the second and third courtyards have the Dong family's relatives, maidservants, and wives. Unless called by the master, no one can enter. Only the master's wife, also known as the boss lady, sometimes comes to the shop. The master originally had three wives, but the first two died, leaving only a young concubine now. There is also a son and a daughter, with the daughter usually staying in the third courtyard, while the son is said to be elsewhere, and Old Cai has never seen him.

  Lao Cai led Chen Xin to take a look around, and the interior was also complete with five main rooms, with wing-rooms on both east and west sides. The southwest corner was the toilet, which was a standard layout. The reason is that the southwest corner is generally considered an unlucky position, and the foul air of the toilet can suppress the unlucky energy. The east wing-room near the south was the kitchen, while the other wing-rooms were all warehouses. The main gate of the second courtyard was just to the north of the first courtyard's main gate, and it looked even bigger inside. According to Lao Cai, a side door had been opened in the second courtyard, making it convenient for family members to enter and exit.

  Chen Xin, although called the accountant, did not have a separate room and was also in charge of collecting money in the store. He was an accountant who also handled cashiering and warehouse management. There were only some loose silver and copper coins on the counter, and it was clear that they didn't trust this new accountant very much. They agreed to lock up the day's earnings in a silver cabinet every afternoon under the care of Old Cai.

  Today's main work is the handover of the warehouse between Old Cai and Chen Xin. Old Cai took out the inventory book, opened a west wing room, and inside were all Japanese swords and folding fans. Normally, Lu You and Cai Shenju are in charge of cleaning and dusting. Old Cai said to Chen Xin: "Our Japanese swords come in different lengths, the Japanese call them 'yamato-dachi', 'kogatana', and 'uchigatana', but we just write 'long sword', 'medium sword', and 'short sword'. You need to remember to distinguish between them when keeping accounts, otherwise it will be chaotic."

  Chen Xin took out the Silver Clear Book and looked at it, writing that the price of Long Tang Dao ranged from seven taels to thirty taels. He couldn't help but ask Old Cai: "The Silver Clear Book also has several prices for Long Tang Dao, how are they divided?"

  "Long, medium and short must be divided into three products. The Japanese have many types of knives, I don't understand them either. Anyway, the top-grade Japanese knife has inscriptions on the blade, take a look." Old Cai drew out a Japanese knife, cold light flashing, the blood groove on the snow-white blade indeed had two lines of inscriptions near the guard.

  Lao Cai sheathed his sword and said to Chen Xin, "Those with inscriptions are generally top-grade. Some without inscriptions that the master finds satisfactory after testing will also be classified as top-grade, with a red cloth strip tied around the hilt. Mid-grade ones have a green cloth strip."

  Chen Xinyi looked at the knife rack and indeed saw many bundles of green and red cloth strips.

  Lao Cai showed Chen Xin the middle knife and short knife, talking about the customers of Japanese knives. Generally, they were some military officers, rich family children and bodyguards, as well as some merchants from the capital and border towns who came to purchase in bulk. Lao Cai boasted about the Japanese knives with great skill, saying that the government army should buy more, and defeating the Tartars would be a piece of cake.

  Chen Xin nodded in agreement, but he didn't think much of it. The problem with the Ming army wasn't their weapons, and even if it was, these Japanese swords were too expensive and had a poor cost-effectiveness ratio. Although they looked beautiful and intimidating, the blade was only three or four centimeters wide, long and thin, suitable for street fights, but not for real battles. If they encountered heavy infantry with long spears, big knives, and wolf-tooth clubs, they would be dead meat. The fact that Tian Dai had just broken Qing's Japanese sword with an iron rod was proof of this. In Chen Xin's opinion, the best use for these swords was to make the devils disembowel themselves.

  Lao Cai took Chen Xin to check the Japanese knives according to the catalog, and then began to check the folding fans. The folding fan was first introduced from Japan, initially used by courtesan women, but later became popular due to its convenience. The Japanese fans in the warehouse were painted with landscapes, flowers, trees, birds, and some had gold and silver decorations, just like those used by the fat man in Ji Zhou. Suzhou and Nanjing had many fan-making workshops, and there were famous fan makers like He Dezhai and Xiao Guan. One fan could be worth two or three taels of silver, and the craftsmanship was not inferior to that of Japan. Therefore, Japanese fans only had a slightly exotic flavor, and although sales were okay, they were not highly profitable goods.

  After finishing the two tasks, Old Cai was a bit tired. The two of them returned to the shop and carefully put away the Japanese swords and fans before sitting down to rest. It was still early, with only a few pedestrians on the street, and business in the shops had not yet started. Chen Xin made a cup of tea for Old Cai and also poured one for himself, looking at the situation and finding it even more relaxing than his previous job.

  Several people were chatting when Cai Shen suddenly looked at the door and whispered: "Don't come in, don't come in."

  Chen Xin sat with his back to the door, listened and turned around to take a look. It was actually the wife of Shen Lou, still wearing that same outfit from that day. Her hair bun was slightly disheveled, her expression haggard. She hadn't heard Cai Shenjiu speak, timidly walked to the entrance, looked at the signboard, hesitated for a moment before stepping inside.

  Cai Shenju and Lu You both let out a disappointed "Ah!" before Cai Shenju listlessly walked over to ask, "Is the young lady from the Shen family here to buy something?"

  Shen Niangzi carefully glanced at Cai Shenjiu and said, "Yes, I want to buy some abalone for my husband's nourishment."

  Cai Shenju didn't even look at her, turning his head to one side and saying: "The dried abalone on this side is three silver coins and five cents for two liang, the bigger ones on that side are five silver coins and five cents for two liang."

  "Ah, it's so expensive, let me take another look."

  Shen Niangzi's face turned red as she stood awkwardly beside the abalone counter. Cai Shenji raised an eyebrow, he had known from the start that Shen Niangzi couldn't afford it, and it was a waste of effort. The Japanese awabi being sold now were truly luxury goods, better than those produced in Guangdong or Fujian. Every year, only a small quantity was transported from Japan, and most of the seafood at Dongyuan Awabi Store was sent to places like Beijing, leaving only a small portion for sale on the premises, which ordinary people couldn't afford.

  Old Cai hummed softly behind the counter, Chen Xin looked at them and seemed to dislike Shen Niangzi very much. Just as he was about to ask Old Cai for a reason, Old Cai spoke up first, saying in a low voice: "As soon as we opened the door, a woman came in, which is very unlucky. Moreover, her husband is a thief. You should also remember that if the first person to enter after opening the door is a woman, you need to burn grass and fumigate the house after she leaves, and sweep the ashes out of the door. If it's a pregnant woman, it's even more unlucky, so it's best to block her at the door. This way, you won't offend the God of Wealth. You must remember this."

  Chen Xincan remembered that Lao Cai and Shen Niangzi both lived in Lijingfang, no wonder they knew about the Shen Building. However, if according to Lao Cai's theory, the maternal and infant stores of later generations would make little money.

  "Is that so? Then what if it was the wife of the Qing army commander who came in?"

  "That's different, Mrs. Tongzhi has an official air about her, how can she be compared to this kind of common woman?"

  "Ah, I see; thank you for enlightening me."