Seven, Jade Plate Falls Pearl Fake Debt Sales

  "I've also found the handwriting you left behind, it's indeed written by your father."

  Yu Yiqin said to Yu Guozhen in a neither fast nor slow tone, with a hint of mockery in his eyes. This kid is still playing tricks in front of him, now let's see what other tricks he can come up with.

  Anyway, the villains have all been taken care of by the fools in the fourth house. He just needs to report to his lord and take action, then show this kid some mercy, leaving a bad impression on the fourth house while being praised for protecting the clan, killing two birds with one stone, why not do it?

  "The head of the clan is wise, what did my late father want to borrow this 500 taels of silver for? Such a large sum... there must be some explanation." Yu Guozhen's expression was somewhat strange, as if smiling but not quite, as if crying but not quite: "When my late father passed away, I was still young, but I already understood things, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to escort the coffin back from Nanjing. But he never mentioned spending 500 taels of silver!"

  Yu Guozhen was furious in his heart. Five hundred taels of silver meant nothing to him. He was crystal clear that it was now the Chongzhen era, and the world was in chaos. The price of silver was skyrocketing, while the price of land was plummeting. Land that used to be worth 50 or even 100 taels per mu was now selling for only 4 or 5 taels per mu. This IOU for 500 taels of silver meant more than 100 mu of good land. Even if he put up all the 80 mu of land in his name as collateral, it still wouldn't be enough!

  Yu Yi Gu of the Fourth House is trying to drive him into a dead end!

  The head of the second house, doesn't he know anything about it? Yu Guozhen didn't believe it at all in his heart, but since there was still Yu Yixuan, the fifth uncle, who had passed the imperial examination and held a jinshi degree, he temporarily needed this fifth uncle's identity to reduce the land tax, so the second house couldn't afford to turn against him.

  "If it weren't for the five hundred taels of silver spent, your life wouldn't have been so prosperous these three years. Not only do you and your family eat three meals a day, but even the servants are served with big fish and meat!" Yu Yigong sneered from the side: "You're ignorant and uneducated, all you know is to idle around with the servants every day, you don't listen to my uncle's teachings, and you've caused trouble in our household..."

  As he spoke, Yu Yi-qin coughed and the people present were not just the two of them. The eldest son of the main house, Yu Yi-jian, who had never asked about anything, was staring blankly at the side, and there were also several elders from other branches. Moreover, their conversation took place in the ancestral hall of the Yu family!

  "In short, from now on, you and I have nothing to do with each other, the whole family can bear witness. Since you don't respect me as your uncle, I naturally won't regard you as my nephew either. The debt your father owed, I'll waive the interest, but the principal must be repaid!"

  After a long dispute, Yu Guozhen realized that no one in the clan was willing to take his side. He slowly nodded and knew he should present the first gift prepared by his uncle and elder cousin.

  "Since the four houses have said so much, I will take responsibility for the third house's eldest son. From today on, the third and fourth houses are strangers to each other, with no more kinship." He said bluntly: "I also despise those who calculate their own clan brother's inheritance without gratitude or righteousness!"

  This remark tore the facade, and Yu Yigou was publicly exposed by him: "Return my 500 taels of silver, don't acknowledge me if you don't want to, do you think I'm willing to be called 'Uncle' by this little beast?"

  "Five hundred taels of silver... I don't have it." Yu Guozhen said.

  "Then use the fields as compensation, use the houses as compensation, use the family slaves as compensation!"

  "The house and land are what my father left me as an inheritance, I don't want to use them as collateral!"

  "You don't have any silver, and you're unwilling to offer your land, house, or slaves as collateral. Are you trying to welch on the debt? Fine, go ahead and try to welch on it, just accompany me to see the official, and I'll let you get away with it!"

  "I didn't say I wouldn't pay the bill... Uncle." Yu Guozhen turned to Yu Yijian, who had been staring blankly and suddenly came back to his senses, "Oh" he said, looking at him.

  "Act dumb!" Many people cursed in their hearts.

  Yu Yi Jian was indeed pretending to be foolish. The Yu family's important industry in the town, Yu Ji pawnshop, had always been managed by him, and every year he would make a lot of money, even surpassing Yu Guo Zhen's 80 mu of land. However, at this moment, he did not want to intervene in the dispute between the third and fourth houses. Although he was the oldest, after all, he was just a concubine's son.

  "Uncle, please ask Mr. Chaofeng from the shop to come over." Yu Guozhen said: "I want to take out cash and use it to pay off the debt for the Fourth House."

  As soon as this was said, the expressions of everyone changed. Yu Yijian's eyes, which had been absent-minded, suddenly lit up, and he immediately ordered someone to go and summon someone.

  Yu Yigou's face changed, and he glanced at Yu Yiqin, who remained expressionless. Yu Yigou knew then that he couldn't count on Yu Yiqin anymore. He sneered coldly: "According to our pawnshop's rules, I think you can pawn it for 500 taels of silver."

  "Whether or not I can afford five hundred taels of silver is my business and has nothing to do with you." Yu Guozhen said calmly.

  Yu Yigubai was furious, and Yu Guozhen's eyes swept over him at this moment, making his heart suddenly cold. Because Yu Guozhen's eyes carried an intangible pressure, that feeling, as if he was just a mediocre person!

  When he realized that he was actually intimidated by a junior who was not yet sixteen years old, he noticed that although his face still looked young, Yu Guozhen's height had already surpassed him.

  Persevering in training and having sufficient nutrition, Yu Guozhen's height has grown to nearly 1.7 meters. In the Yu family, where height is not particularly high, he is indeed no different from an adult. Moreover, his body is muscular and sturdy. For three years, he has been learning martial arts with others, although he only learned some farmhand moves. In fact, he had a training method of his own, which made him have the strength to fight against two or even more people, completely surpassing Dazhu and Erzhu who followed him in practice.

  In the blink of an eye, Chao Feng was invited over. Yu Guo Zhen took out a small bag and then asked for a ceramic plate. When he opened the small cloth bag and poured its contents onto the plate, the clinking sound made the eyes of the Yu family members in the ancestral hall widen in shock.

  "This is... a pearl, it's a pearl!" The eunuch was an expert and let out a cry of surprise as soon as he saw it.

  Pearls are not that rare, but at this time, whether it's southern pearls or northern pearls, they have become extremely scarce. Taking the Hepu pearl as an example, the total amount of pearls harvested in the fifth year of Jiajing was only about 80 taels. The price of pearls produced in the river also rose accordingly. What surprised the imperial envoy was that these fallen river pearls were similar in size and had a bright luster, looking as if they had been freshly harvested, not at all like those discolored goods that had been stored for over a hundred years!

  This tray of river pearls of the same size can be woven into a pearl crown, and even a pearl dress. If sold, it's likely to be worth thousands of gold!

  "Come and take a look, this bag of river pearls left by my late father is worth how much."

  After a moment's stunned silence, he pulled out an abacus from his sleeve and rattled off some calculations before swallowing hard: "How is Brother Zhen going to make it right?"

  "It's a dead loss." Yu Guozhen said lightly: "If I sell it to the Huishang merchants, they will resell it in Qinhuai and get a higher price, but I don't want to bother with that. Moreover, the Fourth House may not give me time, so it's a dead loss. Thinking of my family's shop, I shouldn't be too disadvantaged - Eldest Uncle, what do you think?"

  Yu Yijian said at this time how can say is not, say is not, that is with Bai Hua's silver heart does not go!

  He didn't care about Yu Yiguk's bulging eyes, and hastily nodded his head, laughing until his eyes shone like pearls: "Of course, of course, we're family, how can we let you lose out? Others would die for it, but jewelry and accessories are all calculated at 40% of market price..."

  As he said this, he glanced at Yu Guozhen and saw that Yu was about to pick up the pearls in the plate without saying a word. He immediately spoke quickly: "We can't do this among ourselves, I'll give you five tenths of the market price..."

  Yu Guozhen burst out laughing, but his face was devoid of any smile. He looked at Yu Yigou: "I'll pay off your debt with pearls at a discounted price?"

  Yu Yigong's heart was greedy: "This whole plate of..."

  He hadn't finished speaking, when Yu Yijian added: "Zhen nephew, don't be impatient, I haven't finished yet. I think the market price is five percent off, which is still not good enough for our family. Eight percent, eight percent will do!"

  "What are you doing, big brother?" Yu Yigou suddenly became angry. He could also calculate that this plate of pearls, if sold to the Huishang merchants, would be worth at least a thousand taels. How could Da Fang snatch food from his mouth?!

  "Fourth brother, don't be too excessive. You've already driven Guo Zhen's son to this state. The pearls that Old Three left behind for him will all have to be taken out and used as a last resort. What else do you want? If it's really like you said, and you use all of these precious things to pay off the debt, how will Guo Zhen's son get married and have children in the future?" Yu Yijian said with a heavy heart: "If you..."

  "Ugh, it's precisely because of you hypocrites that I'm the one bearing the name of a villain! You're even more ruthless and greedy than me!" Yu Yigou grew impatient, his temper originally short, he shouted loudly: "You..."

  "Fourth brother, Guo Zhen also owes you 500 taels of silver. What are you going to do?" Just then, Old Fifth Yu Yixuan, who had been silent all along, spoke up.

  These words were like a basin of cold water, poured from head to toe, making Yu Yiguo calm down. It was true that the pearl had returned to the pawnshop in the clan, and the gain would be distributed among the various families in the clan. As for Yu Guozhen's return of 500 taels of silver, it was something he had obtained without spending much money.

  However, thinking of the pearl worth 200 taels of silver slipping away from his hands, Yu Yigou was still resentful in his heart. He glared at several brothers of Da Fu and Er Fang with hatred.

  Yu Guozhen sneered coldly, great, the first house, second house and fourth house had a falling out over this pearl that was worthless in his eyes, what he needed to do next would be much easier.

  "This string of pearls is worth a total of 1,200 taels of silver at market price. At 80% discount, it would be 960 taels. I'll round up the number and give you 1,000 taels of silver... Guo Zhen, do you want to receive cash or a silver note?" Yu Yijian asked after whispering with the servant for a while.

  "Now, I still have to repay the debt of the Fourth House. All of you uncles and elders have witnessed it with your own eyes. The IOU has been handed over to me. If any other IOU appears in the hands of the Fourth House in the future, it must be a fake." Yu Guozhen said calmly.

  One thousand two silver ingots were handed over, which was not a burden for Yu Guozhen. He brought the Gao brothers with him, so the remaining five hundred taels of silver were loaded onto the mule cart by the Gao brothers and taken back to their own mansion. As he left the ancestral hall, he glanced at Yu Yikun who was standing there arguing.

  Leave the remaining 500 taels of silver with him for now, and it will be returned with interest soon.