Chapter 7, Section 25: The Emperor's Incognito Visit (4)

  The middle-aged man raised the pendant and examined it carefully in the sunlight, only to see that this "jade" was warm, round and smooth, with a clear color. When the sunlight shone on it, he faintly saw a bloodstain inside the "jade". His face changed, and he exclaimed: "It's really a good piece of jade!"

  Liu Xie heard him speak out in praise, and couldn't help but smile at the old shopkeeper, saying sarcastically: "What a pity that your esteemed shopkeeper doesn't appreciate us, let's just take it away then!"

  The middle-aged man frowned and asked: "How much does this young master want?"

  The old shopkeeper curled his lip and said: "50,000 dollars!"

  "50,000 yuan?" The middle-aged man smiled and said: "It's not too much, it's not too much!"

  The old shopkeeper was shocked, this young master is also a connoisseur, although this piece of 'jade' is indeed top-grade material, it's highly likely to be the legendary blood jade from the Western Regions, but in the market, its price would never exceed 30,000 coins. Yet, this young man is asking for 50,000, and what's more, all those who come to pawn their goods are usually short on cash, so they should take advantage of the situation to lower the price, that's how a pawnshop makes money. But now, his own master not only doesn't lower the price but also raises it, truly making the old shopkeeper furious.

  Liu Xie saw that the middle-aged man had spoken and smiled, saying: "It's still this master who knows his goods!" Empress Fu covered her mouth and smiled secretly. What does this look like a monarch of a country? It's clearly just a merchant's face.

  The middle-aged man then examined the jade pendant again and nodded, saying: "50,000 dollars, I'll buy it. Does the young master want to sell?"

  Liu Xie saw that the middle-aged man was so straightforward and had a 70% appreciation for him, and hurriedly said: "Since it has already entered the pawnshop, what's the point of talking about cutting love or not? As long as this master pays the money, we'll 'hand over' the goods!"

  The middle-aged man put the jade pendant into his bosom and thought to himself, "This is good, but the 50,000 cash is not something my pawnshop can take out for the time being. Even if I could take it out, with just these two or three people accompanying the young master, I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to take it away. How about this? I'll mortgage this pawnshop to the young master instead?"

  "It's not possible!" The old shopkeeper hastily stopped him, the miscellaneous items in the store added up to at least 80,000 yuan, and some of the antiques were worth even more. To use a single "jade" pendant as collateral for the entire store was practically equivalent to giving it away for free. Moreover, if he did so, this young master would become his new boss, and after having just offended him, he would surely be fired from his job. As someone approaching 60 years of age, losing this position would make his future life truly difficult!